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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 COMMODORE BYRON MCCANDLESS
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 BY JOSIAH aUINCY, LL.D., 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
 VOLUME I. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 CROSBY, NICHOLS, LEE, & CO., 
 
 117 WASHINGTON STKEET. 
 1860.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by 
 
 THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE, 
 in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 University Press, Cambridge : 
 1'rinted by Welch, Bigelow, and Company.
 
 College 
 Library 
 
 LD 
 3i\53i 
 
 v. 
 
 TO 
 
 THE ALUMNI OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
 
 THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 > io CK . 
 <^
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THIS History had its origin in the following 
 circumstances. In March, 1836, the Author 
 accepted an invitation from the Corporation 
 of Harvard University, to prepare, as President 
 of the institution, a discourse, to be delivered 
 on the second centennial anniversary of its 
 foundation, in commemoration of that event, 
 and of the founders and patrons of the semina- 
 ry. From the researches, into which he was 
 led by this undertaking, it became apparent 
 that these topics could not be satisfactorily in- 
 vestigated before the day fixed upon for the 
 celebration. The Author, therefore, decided to 
 prepare such a general sketch of events and 
 characters as might be comprised within the 
 limits of an occasional address, and to an- 
 nounce his intention of attempting to do jus- 
 tice to the subject in a work of a more en- 
 larged form and permanent character.
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 Various considerations concurred to pro- 
 duce this determination. Many of the circum- 
 stances attending the foundation of the Col- 
 lege, and much of its subsequent history, the 
 lapse of time had already involved in obscuri- 
 ty. Important public documents were lost. 
 Some of the early records of the institution 
 had been destroyed by fire. Those which re- 
 mained were contained in two or three decay- 
 ing volumes, the loss of which would render 
 it impossible to trace consecutively the events 
 of its early history. In 1809, the importance 
 of such a work was perceived, and its immedi- 
 ate preparation was urged on the sons of the 
 College, by Buckminster, as ripe a scholar, and 
 a genius "touched to as fine issues," as any 
 one who was ever graduated at Harvard Col- 
 lege ; on the ground that, if delayed, " it would 
 soon become impracticable." * For nearly thir- 
 ty years a vote of the Corporation, requesting 
 the President to prepare a History of the Uni- 
 versity, had stood upon the records of that 
 board, and the execution of such a work had 
 long been an object of desire among the friends 
 of the institution. The laborious zeal of the 
 late Benjamin Peirce, Librarian of the semin- 
 ary, had indeed eventuated in a publication of 
 
 * See an eloquent appeal to the Alumni of the University, in an ad- 
 dress "on the Dangers and Duties of Men of Letters," pronounced be- 
 fore the Phi Beta Kappa Society, by J. S. Buckminster, and published in 
 the "Monthly Anthology" for September, 1809.
 
 PREFACE. ix 
 
 great merit and usefulness, possessing the traits 
 of that soundness of judgment and accuracy of 
 investigation so eminently his characteristics. 
 But his History of the University being left in- 
 complete * by his death, the interesting infor- 
 mation and valuable materials he had collect- 
 ed with great industry and research, although 
 in many respects thoroughly wrought and fully 
 developed, yet in others were only partially 
 prepared, and in a state to excite rather than 
 to satisfy curiosity. 
 
 A knowledge of facts could now be obtained, 
 which might soon be lost, concerning founders, 
 patrons, and officers of the institution, whose 
 wisdom and exertions had contributed to its 
 character, its success, and even to the continu- 
 ance of its existence. To rescue these facts 
 from oblivion was acknowledged by all to be a 
 solemn duty, a duty, which the Author, re- 
 flecting upon his relation to the seminary, and 
 upon the circumstances which had led him to 
 researches subsidiary to such a design, deemed 
 to be upon him imperative. To render an ap- 
 propriate and just tribute to the merits, suffer- 
 ings, and sacrifices of these founders, patrons, 
 and officers, was the conclusive motive to this 
 undertaking ; and, since no duty is more in- 
 cumbent upon seminaries of learning, than 
 the commemoration of the virtues and labors, 
 
 * See the Editor's preface to Mr. Peirce's History of the University. 
 VOL. I. b
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 which have contributed to their existence and 
 prosperity, a greater extension has been given 
 to the biographical notices in this work, than 
 is usual in a general history. 
 
 Every effort has been made to render the 
 work complete, exact, and worthy of the insti- 
 tution it was designed to illustrate. In addi- 
 tion to the archives of the College, and those 
 of the Colony and State of Massachusetts, the 
 use of the books and manuscripts belonging 
 to the Massachusetts Historical Society and to 
 the American Antiquarian Society has been 
 liberally afforded to the Author. Many an- 
 cient papers and manuscripts have been sub- 
 mitted to his inspection by those individuals in 
 whose hands they now rest. The thread of 
 the narrative has, however, been chiefly drawn 
 from the records of the Corporation and Over- 
 seers ; and no fact deemed generally impor- 
 tant and interesting, which they contain, has 
 been intentionally omitted. When views con- 
 cerning motives, characters, and events, are 
 expressed, differing from those generally en- 
 tertained, the original documents from which 
 they result are invariably annexed. The de- 
 sire to place these authorities in the hands of 
 the public, and to preserve from loss original 
 papers, illustrative of the manners and char- 
 acters of a former age, has led to an enlarge- 
 ment of the Appendix to each volume far be- 
 yond the original design.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 To render the history more complete and 
 useful, the outline of events has been brought 
 down to the present day ; but a particular no- 
 tice of living characters has been avoided, ex- 
 cept in cases where gratitude demanded a trib- 
 ute to the bounty or extraordinary services of 
 individuals ; and in such cases it is confined to 
 the language of records or public documents. 
 A similar course has been pursued in respect 
 to the narrative of contemporaneous events, 
 which has been restricted to facts deemed 
 necessary or important to be known. 
 
 A History of Harvard University, written by 
 the President of the institution, and published 
 with the sanction of the Corporation, may be 
 regarded by the public as rendering the Col- 
 lege or the Corporation responsible for the 
 views and sentiments it contains. The Author 
 of this work, therefore, deems it his duty ex- 
 plicitly to state, that the narrative of facts and 
 circumstances here given is exclusively the 
 result of his own research and selection, and 
 that, for the views and opinions it expresses, 
 he is alone responsible. 
 
 In collecting materials for this work, and 
 particularly those relating to the lives of bene- 
 factors and patrons of the institution, the obli- 
 gations of the Author to individuals have been 
 too numerous to be specially acknowledged. 
 His thanks, however, are particularly due to 
 the following gentlemen, for important docu-
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ments, or aid : to Benjamin Peirce, Profes- 
 sor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in 
 the University, for placing at his disposal a 
 collection of papers made by his late father ; to 
 the Rev. Samuel Sewall of Burlington, for per- 
 mitting the free use of the curious and graphic 
 diaries of his ancestor, the Hon. Chief Justice 
 Sewall ; to John Belknap, Esq., for a like per- 
 mission to use a manuscript collection, made 
 by his father, the late Rev. Jeremy Belknap, 
 D. D. To the Hon. John Davis, James Sav- 
 age, Nathaniel G. Snelling, the late and la- 
 mented John Farmer, and Alden Bradford, 
 Esquires, and to the Rev. Joseph B. Felt, 
 the Author is under obligations for occasional 
 assistance in difficulties, which their intimate 
 acquaintance with the early history of Massa- 
 chusetts peculiarly qualified them to resolve. 
 The benefit which all works printed at the 
 University press derive from the taste, judg- 
 ment, and assiduous fidelity of its superinten- 
 dent, Charles Folsom, Esq., is too generally 
 known and appreciated to need to be here 
 acknowledged. But that gentleman's long 
 and intimate acquaintance with the concerns 
 of the University, and the deep interest he 
 takes in every thing affecting its character 
 and prosperity, have led him to bestow on the 
 details of this work an earnest attention and 
 solicitude, which have largely contributed to 
 its correctness, and created a sense of obliga-
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 tion, which it is not less the Author's pleasure 
 than his duty to express. 
 
 This work, having been prepared without 
 any view to personal emolument, was, when 
 completed, offered to the Corporation, who ac- 
 cepted it, resolved to publish it by subscription, 
 and appropriate the proceeds of the sale to the 
 increase of the beneficiary fund of the College. 
 
 When apprized of this intention, the pub- 
 lisher, John Owen, Esq., in a spirit of liberali- 
 ty and zeal for the interests of the institution, 
 voluntarily relinquished all compensation for 
 his services, and thus secured the entire net 
 proceeds of the work to be devoted to assist 
 indigent students in the University. 
 
 The sketch of " Gore Hall," which forms 
 the frontispiece to the second volume, was 
 kindly contributed by Mr. Richard Bond, the 
 architect of the building.* And the account of 
 the Centennial Celebration was prepared, and 
 the proceedings and speeches on the occasion 
 were collected, and chiefly arranged, by a 
 Committee appointed by the alumni. 
 
 To his eldest daughter (Eliza S. Quincy), 
 the Author is indebted for the design and origi- 
 nal sketch of the frontispiece to the first vol- 
 ume, and also for the original sketches of all 
 the vignettes, with the exception of the first 
 
 * The engravings on steel in this work were executed by Mr. George 
 C. Smith, of Boston. Those on wood, excepting the Pavilion, by Mr. J. 
 A. Adams, of New York.
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 three College Halls, (which are reduced copies 
 from an ancient engraving,) the Medical Col- 
 lege, and the Pavilion. The labor of prepar- 
 ing the Index was voluntarily assumed by her, 
 and has been executed with fidelity and exact- 
 ness. Indeed, the work itself, in its progress 
 through the press, owes to her continued vigi- 
 lance, much of the accuracy, which it is hoped 
 will be found in it, and which, from the multi- 
 plicity of its details, and the constant pressure 
 of official duties, it would have been scarce- 
 ly possible for the Author otherwise to have 
 attained. 
 
 NOVEMBER 30th, 1840.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 VOLUME FIRST. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 
 Centennial Celebration in 183G. Origin and Design of this Histo- 
 ry. Vote of the General Court of Massachusetts Bay, in 1636. 
 
 Bequest of John Harvard. His Name conferred on the Sem- 
 inary. Early Donations. Nathaniel Eaton. Henry Dunster 
 elected first President. His Administration. Charters of 1642 
 and 1650. Contributions of the Colonies. Resignation of Pres- 
 ident Dunster. His Death. State of the Finances of the Col- 
 lege 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Presidency of Charles Chauncy. Previous Events of his Life. 
 Accepts the Office on the Importunity of the General Court. 
 Their Promises of Support. Not fulfilled. His Poverty. Em- 
 barrassed State of the Finances of the Seminary. Ruinous State 
 of its Buildings. Noble Conduct of the Town of Portsmouth. 
 Its Effects on Massachusetts. Leonard Hoar chosen President. 
 His previous History. Circumstances under which he was elected. 
 
 Charter of 1672. Its Fate. President Hoar's Difficulties. 
 Conduct of Oakes in respect to them. Parallelism of the For- 
 tunes of Hoar and Oakes. Hoar resigns. Urian Oakes chosen 
 President. His Conduct. Difficulty in filling President's Chair. 
 
 Patronage of the General Court. 24 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Influence of the Clergy on the College. Its catholic Spirit. 
 Causes of this traced to the Civil and Ecclesiastical Constitution
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 of the Colony. State of Religious Parties, and their Effect. 
 Influence of Increase and Cotton Mather on the College and the 
 Colony. The Administration of Andros, and its Effect. Presi- 
 dent Mather's Agency in England. His Influence in procuring 
 the Charter of the Colony in 1692, and in the Appointments under 
 it. The Witchcraft Delusion. The College connected with it 
 by the Mathers. State of Parties, which arose in Consequence 
 of that Charter 44 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 College Charter of 1692. Its History and Results. Rev. Charles 
 Morton. Degrees of Doctor in Divinity and Bachelor of Laws 
 first conferred. The General Court vote, that President Mather 
 shall reside at Cambridge. His consequent Conduct. College 
 Charter negatived by the King. President Mather's Desire of an 
 Agency in England. Origin and Motive of that Desire. Em- 
 barrassments of the College, and Settlement of it by Stoughton. 68 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 College Charter of 1696. President Mather discontented with it. 
 Takes it into a ne\v Draft. The Corporation ask the General 
 Court, that he be sent as Agent to England. Governor Bellamont 
 arrives in New York. The Corporation address him. Second 
 Application of the Corporation, that the President obtain an Agen- 
 cy. Its Failure. Project of a Vice-Presidency. Its Failure. 
 The General Court again vote, that President Mather should re- 
 side at Cambridge. Proceedings on that Vote, and its Result. 
 Arrival of Governor Bellamont in Massachusetts. College Char- 
 ter of 1699. Interference of the Clergy. Governor Bellamont 
 objects to the Charter, and it is lost. Cotton Mather's Disap- 
 pointment. . 84 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Temporary Settlement of the College. Dissatisfaction of John 
 Leverett. Governor Bellamont recommends an Application to the 
 King for a Charter. Proceedings of the General Court thereon. 
 
 Features of the New Charter. John Leverett and both the 
 Brattles excluded from the Corporation. Agency given to Gov- 
 ernor Bellamont. Disappointment of the Mathers. The General 
 Court renew their Vote for the Residency of the President at Cam- 
 bridge. President Mather removes, but soon returns to Boston. 
 
 His Letter to Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton. The General 
 Court negotiate with Mr. Willard. Proceedings in this Negotia- 
 tion. Exclusion of President Mather. . 103
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Sectarian Controversies. Attempts to remove John Leverett and 
 Thomas Brattle from the Corporation traced to them. President 
 Mather's Epistle Dedicatory to his Son's Life of Mitchell. Its 
 Effects. Foundation of Brattle-Street Church. Connexion with 
 it of Leverett and Brattle. Conduct of the Mathers in respect to 
 it. Interference of Lieutenant-Govemor Stoughton. Reconcili- 
 ation of the Mathers with Colman. Dedication of Brattle-Street 
 Church. The Mathers renew the Controversy. Its Spirit and 
 Consequences 127 
 
 CHAPTER Vm. 
 
 The Rev. Samuel Willard accepts the Vice-Presidency of the Col- 
 lege. His Character and that of Increase Mather compared. 
 Motives for Willard's Appointment. Governor Dudley's Arrival. 
 His Message concerning the College. Willard's Differences with 
 Mather. The Brattles reinstated in the Corporation. The Ma- 
 thers court Dudley. Final Attempt to obtain a Charter from the 
 Crown. Its Failure. Death of Vice-President Willard. Elec- 
 tion of John Leverett. Conduct of a Part of the Clergy on the 
 Occasion. Act fo the House of Representatives, reviving the an- 
 cient Charter of the College, approved by Dudley. Responsibility 
 of the Act. Its happy Consequences. . . . . . 145 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Retrospective View of the Benefactors of the College, during the 
 Seventeenth Century. John Winthrop. Sir Richard Saltonstall 
 and his Son. Robert Keayne. Edward Hopkins. Israel 
 Stoughton. William Stoughton. Henry Webb. William 
 Brown. John Bulkley. Lady Moulson. Sir Matthew Holwor- 
 thy. Theophilus Gale. William Pennoyer. Robert Thorner. 
 Joseph Glover. College Printing-Press. Course of Studies 
 and literary State of the College during this Century. . . 162 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Retrospect of political and religious Parties. Their Relation to the 
 College. " School of the Church" established at New Haven. 
 Charter drafted by Sewall and Addington. Views of Governor 
 Dudley, in filling up the Corporation. Disappointment of the 
 Mathers. Their Letters to Governor Dudley. Vigorous Admin- 
 istration of Leverett. Recovers the Legacy of Hopkins, and of 
 Lady Moulson. Death of Hobart. Wadsworth elected Fellow 
 of the Corporation. Death of Treasurer Brattle. John White 
 elected Treasurer. Death of the Rev. William Brattle and the 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 XV111 CONTENTS. 
 
 Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton. Election of Benjamin Colman and 
 Nathaniel Appleton as Fellows 195 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Indications of a Design to embarrass the Corporation. Pierpont 
 refused a Degree by President Leverett Appeals to the Corpora- 
 tion, who confirm Leverett's Decision . Pierpont prosecutes a Tu- 
 tor at Common Law. The Case brought before the Overseers. 
 
 The Dudleys support Pierpont Conduct of Paul Dudley on 
 the Occasion. Pierpont's Case dismissed by the Courts of Law. 
 Judge Se wall's Attack on President Leverett before the Over- 
 seers. Supported by Paul Dudley. Leverett's and Sewall's 
 respective Accounts of that Affair. Cotton Mather's Animosity 
 to the Corporation. His Letter to Governor Shute in Favor of 
 Pierpont. His Zeal in Favor of the College at New Haven. . 213 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Benefactions of Thomas Hollis.' Their Origin, Motive, and Extent. 
 
 His elevated Catholicism. Reasons for examining a Part of 
 his Bounties with Minuteness. Pretensions of Increase Mather in 
 Relation to them examined. Commencement of his Donations. 
 Origin and first Form of his Professorship of Divinity. Accepted 
 and acted upon by the Corporation. Edward Wigglesworth 
 chosen Professor. New England Scheme of the Professorship 
 of Divinity transmitted to Mr. Hollis. How modified by him. 
 Proceedings of the Overseers. Debates on the amended Scheme. 
 
 Opposition of Chief Justice Sewall. New Amendments pro- 
 posed. The Corporation choose Wigglesworth a second Time. 
 
 His Orthodoxy, how tested. Discrepancy of the Test with the 
 Statutes of Hollis. A written Obligation to conform to his Stat- 
 utes demanded of the Corporation by Hollis. They hesitate about 
 transmitting it. Patience of Hollis exhausted. He peremptorily 
 demands it A written Obligation transmitted. Liberal Char- 
 acter of Hollis vindicated. . 230 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Tutors Sever and Welsteed claim Seats at the Board of Corporation 
 by Virtue of the Term " Fellows." The Overseers appoint a 
 Committee on the Subject. Origin of the Term "Fellows" in the 
 College. History of its Introduction and Use traced through the 
 College Records. "Fellow of the Corporation," when first used. 
 
 "Fellow of the House," when introduced, and how used. 
 Distinction instituted between them. Tenure of Tutor's Office 
 limited to three Years. Sever and Welsteed each elected a Fel- 
 low of the House under that Limitation. State of Parties when
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 their claim to a Seat at the Board of Corporation was introduced. 
 
 Treatment of President Leverett by the General Court. . 265 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Proceedings of the Overseers on Sever and Welsteed's Memorial. 
 
 The Rev. Joseph Sewall chosen Fellow of the Corporation. 
 Overseers do not approve this Choice, and recommend the Elec- 
 tion of a Resident Fellow. Corporation choose Tutor Robie. 
 Overseers postpone their Approval of this Choice. Corporation 
 declare Sever no longer Fellow of the House. Overseers declare 
 him still to be Fellow of the House. Corporation reinstate Sever. 
 
 Overseers apply to the General Court to enlarge the Corporation. 
 
 General Court refuse, but resolve that Fellows of the Corpora- 
 tion shall be resident Fellows. Governor Shute conditionally 
 consents. House of Representatives request him to make his 
 Consent absolute. Shute refuses. A fifth Tutor chosen by the 
 Corporation. Negatived by the Overseers, who approve the Elec- 
 tion of Robie and negative the Limitation of a Tutor's Office to 
 three Years. House of Representatives revive their Resolve, and 
 intimate that the Corporation have not kept within their Charter. 
 
 Corporation claim a Hearing. Denied by the General Court. 
 
 Attempt to make Members of the Corporation resign. Its 
 Failure. Professor Wigglesworth chosen Fellow of the Corpora- 
 tion. Negatived by the Overseers. House of Representatives 
 again revive their Resolve. The Council give a Hearing to the 
 Corporation. Final Defeat of the Project of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. Tribute to the Spirit of the Corporation. . . 289 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Increasing Influence of the Episcopal Church. Alarm of the Con- 
 gregationalists. Relations of the College to both. Discontent 
 with the general State of the College. Visiting Committee ap- 
 pointed by the Overseers. Their Report. Its Result. Death 
 of President Leverett Professor Wigglesworth approved by the 
 Overseers as Fellow of the Corporation. Review of the Admin- 
 istration of Leverett. The Deficiency of his Salary for his Sup- 
 port. Application to the General Court for the Relief of his 
 Family. Its Result 314 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Difficulties attending the Selection of a President. Cotton Mather, 
 Wadsworth, Colman, and Joseph Sewall, Candidates. Election 
 of Sewall. Dissatisfaction of Cotton Mather. Sewall declines 
 the Appointment Election of Colman. Overseers apply to the 
 General Court for a sufficient Salary for him Vote of the House
 
 XX CONTENTS. 
 
 of Representatives on the Application. Colman makes a fixed 
 Salary the Condition of his Acceptance. House of Representa- 
 tives refuse it. Colman declines the Presidency. Wadsworth 
 chosen President. Accepts. General Court grant a Salary. 
 
 Cotton Mather attacks the Character of Leverett. Compari- 
 son of the Lives of Mather and Leverett 328 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Change in the political Relations of Massachusetts. Its Effects on 
 the College. Nicholas Sever elected Fellow of the Corporation. 
 
 English Crown and Hierarchy patronize the Episcopal Church. 
 
 Its Clergy claim Seats at the Board of Overseers. Alarm of 
 the Congregational Church at the Progress of Episcopacy. Origin 
 of the Puritans. Spirit and Policy of the first Emigrants to New 
 England. Edmund Randolph. founds the first Episcopal Society 
 in New England. Arrival of Edmund Andros. His violent 
 Seizure of the South Church for Episcopal Worship. Progress of 
 the Episcopal Church after the Revolution of 1688. " Society for 
 propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts " estahlished in its Aid. 
 
 Mr. Colman's Correspondence with the Bishop of Peterborough 
 on the Proceedings of that Society. Timothy Cutler, Rector of 
 Yale College, and Six other Clergymen of Connecticut, converted 
 to Episcopalianism. Honors and Rewards bestowed on Cutler in 
 England. He is chosen Rector of King's Chapel in Boston. 
 Claims a Seat atlhe Board of Overseers. Grounds of his Claim. 
 
 Rejected by the Overseers. He appeals to the General Court. 
 
 Overseers reply to his Appeal, which is rejected by the Gen- 
 eral Court. He renews his Claim before the Overseers. Final 
 Rejection of it by that Board 348 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Wadsworth inaugurated. General Court establish a Salary, and 
 take Measures towards building a House for the President. 
 Thanks of the Corporation. Difficulties of President Wadsworth. 
 
 Application of the Corporation to the General Court for Assist- 
 ance. Rejected. Address of the Corporation to George the 
 Second on his Accession. Disorders at the College. Com- 
 mencements made private. Overseers appoint a Committee to 
 examine into the State of the College. Their Report. Presi- 
 dent and Tutors first form a distinct Board. First Code of Laws 
 passed according to existing Forms. Dancing restrained. 
 Longloissorie prohibited teaching French. A Tutor refuses to 
 be examined concerning his Religious Opinions. Proceedings of 
 the Overseers. Public Commencements renewed. Hartshorn 
 denied a Degree. He appeals to the Overseers. Their Conduct 
 in Relation to it Thomas Hollis founds a Professorship of Math-
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XXI 
 
 ematics and Natural Philosophy. State of the College. Cor- 
 poration fail in their Suit for Lands at Merriconeag. Colman re- 
 signs his Seat in the Corporation. Cotton's Donation, and Col- 
 man's Conduct in relation to it. Death of President Wadsworth. 
 
 His Services and Character 377 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Benefactors of the College. John Hull. Samuel Sewall. Rich- 
 ard Sprague. Thomas Brattle. William Brattle. William 
 Brown. Joseph Brown, William Brown, and Benjamin Brown. 
 Samuel Brown. John and William Brown. Edmund Brown. 
 Gurdon Saltonstall. Mary Saltonstall. Dorothy Saltonstall. 
 John Frizell, and John Frizell, his Nephew. John Walley. 
 
 Ephraim Flynt. Henry Gibbs. Ezekiel Rogers. Thomas 
 Cotton. Thomas Hollis. John Hollis. Nathaniel Hollis. 
 Thomas Hollis, the second Benefactor of that Name. Exercises, 
 Studies, Discipline, and Customs of the College, during the Pres- 
 idencies of Leverett and Wadsworth. . 405 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. Early Records of the College. Harvard's Legacy. . 449 
 II. Information given by the Corporation and Overseers to 
 
 the General Court, 9 May, 1655. . . . 462 
 
 III. Answer to Mr. Dunster's Petition. . . . 465 
 
 IV. President Chauncy. ...... 466 
 
 V. Subscriptions for building Harvard Hall. . . 470 
 
 VI. President Hoar and President Oakes. . . . 471 
 
 VII. Original Grant of the General Court. . . 473 
 
 VIII. College Seal. 474 
 
 IX. Extracts from President Mather's Diary. . . 475 
 
 X. Extracts from Cotton Mather's Diary. . . .482 
 
 XI. Extracts from Judge Sewall's Diary. ... 488 
 
 XII. Application of the Corporation to the General Court. . 495 
 
 XIII. Petition of the Corporation to the General Court. . 496 
 
 XIV. Memorial of the Corporation to the General Court. . 497 
 XV. Letter of President Mather to Lieutenant- Governor 
 
 Stoughton. . . . . . .499 
 
 XVI. Letter from John Leverett to Isaac Addington. . 500 
 XVII. Letter of President Mather to Lieutenant-Governor 
 
 Stoughton. ...... 501 
 
 XVIII. Letter of John Leverett to Benjamin Colman. . 502 
 
 XIX. Address of the Corporation to Governor Dudley. . 503 
 
 XX. Address of Thirty-nine Ministers to Governor Dudley. . 504
 
 XXII 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XXI. Leverett Saltonstall. ... 505 
 
 XXIT. John Bulkley's Deed to Harvard College. . 505 
 
 XXIII. Donations to the College during the Seventeenth Century. 506 
 
 XXIV. Law authorizing Fines and Corporal Punishment in 
 
 the College 513 
 
 XXV. Cambridge Town Watch authorized to exercise their 
 
 Powers within the Precincts of the College. . 514 
 
 XXVI. College Discipline enforced by the Civil Authority. . 515 
 XXVII. The Laws, Liberties, and Orders of Harvard College 
 confirmed by the Overseers and President of the Col- 
 lege in the Years 1642, 1643, 1644, 1645, and 1646, 
 and published to the Scholars for the perpetual Pre- 
 servation of their Welfare and Government. . . 515 
 XXVIII. Orders agreed upon by the Overseers, at a Meeting in 
 
 Harvard College, May 6th, 1650. . . .517 
 
 XXIX. Letter from Messrs. Sewall and Addington, accompa- 
 nying their Draft of a Charter for the College at New 
 
 Haven. 519 
 
 XXX. Governor Dudley and Cotton Mather. . . .520 
 
 XXXI. Letter of the Trustees of Edward Hopkins's Legacy 
 
 to the Lord Chancellor Harcourt. . . . 521 
 
 XXXII. Appointment of Mr. White as Treasurer. . . 522 
 
 XXXIII. Governor Shute. . . . . . .522 
 
 XXXIV. Letter from Cotton Mather to Governor Shute. . 523 
 XXXV. Letter from Cotton Mather to Elihu Yale. . . 524 
 
 XXXVI. Letter from Cotton Mather to Governor Saltonstall. . 526 
 
 XXXVII. Extracts from Letters of Thomas Hollis to Benjamin 
 
 Colman and John White. .... 527 
 
 XXXVIII. Extract from a Letter of Thomas Hollis to Benjamin 
 
 Colman. ...... 528 
 
 XXXIX. Benefactors of the Name of Hollis. . . .529 
 
 XL. Letter from Thomas Hollis to Benjamin Colman. . 529 
 
 XLI. Letter from Thomas Hollis to President Leverett and 
 
 Benjamin Colman. ..... 529 
 
 XLII. Hollis's Orders .530 
 
 XLIII. Minutes of a Letter from the Corporation to Thomas 
 
 Hollis 531 
 
 XLIV. Election of Professor Wigglesworth. . . . 533 
 
 XLV. Letter from Thomas Hollis to Benjamin Colman. . 533 
 
 XLVI. Rules and Orders proposed relating to a Divinity Pro- 
 fessor in Harvard College in New England. . 534 
 XLVII. Form for the Inauguration of the Hollis Professor of 
 
 Divinity. . . . . . . 537
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XX111 
 
 XLVIII. Proceedings of the Overseers respecting Hollis's Rules 
 
 and Orders. ...... 538 
 
 XLIX Extract from a Letter of Thomas Hollis to Benjamin 
 
 Colman. . . . . . . 540 
 
 L. Resident Fellows. . , . . . .540 
 
 LI. Letter from President Leverett to the House of Rep- 
 resentatives. ...... 541 
 
 LII. Letter from President Leverett to John White. . 542 
 
 LIII. Letter from President Leverett to the House of Rep- 
 resentatives. ...... 543 
 
 LIV. The President's Chair . . . . .544 
 
 LV. Memorial of the Corporation to the General Court. . 544 
 
 LVI. Extract from a Letter of Thomas Hollis to Benjamin 
 
 Colman. . . . . . 546 
 
 LVII. Memorial of the Corporation to the Lieutenant-Gover- 
 
 nor and Council. ..... 546 
 
 LVIII. Extract from a Letter of Thomas Hollis to Benjamin 
 
 Colman. ...... 556 
 
 LIX. Memorial of the Rev. Mr. Wadsworth and the Rev. 
 
 Mr. Colman to the General Court. . . . 557 
 
 LX. Cotton Mather's Suggestions on points to be inquired 
 
 into concerning Harvard College. . . . 558 
 
 LXI. Memorial of the Rev. Dr. Cutler and the Rev. Mr. 
 
 Myles to the General Court. . . . .560 
 
 LXI1. Memorial of the Rev. Dr. Cutler and the Rev. Mr. 
 
 Myles to the General Court. .... 563 
 
 LXIII. Answer of the Overseers to the Memorial of the Rev. 
 
 Dr. Cutler and the Rev. Mr. Myles. . . .566 
 
 LXIV. Reply of the Rev. Dr. Cutler and the Rev. Mr. Myles 
 
 to the Answer of the Overseers. . . . 572 
 
 LXV. Overseers' Committee of Inquiry. . . . 574 
 
 LXVI. Case of Mr. Longloissorie, French Instructor. . . 574 
 
 LXVIL- Laws, Rules, and Scholastic Forms, established by 
 
 President Dunster. ..... 577 
 
 LXVIII. Acts, relating to the Constitution and Government of 
 
 the College from 1636 to 1780 586
 
 LIST OF THE ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 Vol. Page. 
 
 1. VIEW OF THE COLLEGE HALLS, AND OF THE PRO- 
 
 CESSION OF THE ALUMNI ON THE STH OF SEP- 
 TEMBER, 1836 Frontispiece. I. 
 
 2. SECOND SEAL OF THE COLLEGE 23 
 
 3. FIRST HARVARD HALL 43 
 
 4. FACSIMILE OF THE RECORD OF THE FIRST MEETING 
 
 OF THE GOVERNORS OF THE COLLEGE AFTER THE 
 CHARTER OF 1642, AMD THE ORIGINAL SEAL OF 
 
 THE COLLEGE 48 
 
 5. FIRST STOUGHTON HALL 194 
 
 6. PRESIDENT'S CHAIR 288 
 
 7. MASSACHUSETTS HALL (WITH THE FIRST HARVARD 
 
 AND STOUGHTON HALLS.) 347 
 
 8. PRESIDENT'S HOUSE 404 
 
 9. THIRD, OR PRESENT, SEAL OF THE COLLEGE. . . 612 
 
 10. GORE HALL Frontispiece. II. 
 
 11. HOLDEN CHAPEL 38 
 
 12. CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 86 
 
 13. HOLLIS HALT * 102 
 
 14. SECOND, OR PRESENT, HARVARD HALL 122 
 
 15. HOLWORTHY HALL 299 
 
 16. UNIVERSITY HALL 319 
 
 17. DIVINITY HALL 361 
 
 18. MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL COLLEGE 393 
 
 19. DANE HALL ". . 441 
 
 20. HARVARD'S MONUMENT 458 
 
 21. PAVILION, ERECTED FOR THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRA- 
 
 TION IN 1836. 708
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Centennial Celebration in 1836. Origin and Design of this History. 
 Vote of the General Court of Massachusetts Bay, in 1636. Bequest 
 of John Harvard. His Name conferred on the Seminary. Early 
 Donations. Nathaniel Eaton. Henry Dunster elected first Presi- 
 dent. His Administration. Charters of 1642 and 1650. Contri- 
 butions of the Colonies. Resignation of President Dunster. His 
 Death. State of the Finances of the College. 
 
 ON the 8th of September, 1636, the legislature of CHAPTER 
 the Colony of Massachusetts Bay passed an act, - 
 which resulted in the foundation of Harvard College, desfgnof 
 
 this Ilisto- 
 
 Two centuries after that day, on the 8th of Septem- ry. 
 her, 1836, the Corporation, the Overseers, the officers 
 of government and instruction, and the sons and 
 friends of the institution, assembled within its walls 
 to commemorate that event. 
 
 An extract from the Address, delivered by the 
 President of the University on that occasion, at the 
 request of the Corporation, will explain the origin 
 and design of this History. 
 
 VOL. i. 1
 
 2 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER " The design of this celebration is neither tempo- 
 
 _J rary excitement nor transient effect. \\ e have not 
 
 assembled, on some popular holyday, to witness the 
 play of dazzling and delusive words. We come, as 
 children, to the beloved home of our literary parent, 
 on her birthday, with greetings and gratulations, 
 with simple and child-like offerings, to be valued, 
 not for their beauty or material or workmanship, 
 but for their truth and fidelity, as evidences of in- 
 terest and attachment, as acknowledgments of bles- 
 sings received, and of hopes fulfilled. We come, in 
 her presence, to express filial and to cultivate fra- 
 ternal affections; asking for reminiscences of her ear- 
 ly years ; inquiring if research have rescued aught 
 concerning her from the ruins of time ; bringing 
 hearts disposed to magnify the minute, and to at 
 tach importance to what is common ; prepared to 
 hear again the thrice-told tale of her infant days, 
 and to listen to the touching memoirs of her poverty 
 and weakness; to us interesting, not from the great- 
 ness of the recapitulated events, but from our grati- 
 tude for experienced benefits ; bearing in their train 
 joys, which children alone know, and which strangers 
 can scarcely be expected to share, or even to under- 
 stand 
 
 "Harvard University was established under the au- 
 spices of the earliest class of emigrants to Massachu- 
 setts Bay. It was, from the first, intimately connect- 
 ed with political and religious opinions and events. 
 In every period, its destinies have been materially 
 affected by the successive changes, which time and 
 intellectual advancement have produced in political 
 relations and religious influences. It is impossible 
 rightly to illustrate its early and later historv, with-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. . 3 
 
 out referring to these connexions, and tracing to CHAPTER 
 them much of the adverse, as well as prosperous, - 
 fortunes of the seminary. 
 "The events which have affected the fortunes of Har- The history 
 
 divided into 
 
 vard College, during the last two centuries, may be f j e - 
 advantageously arranged and considered, in relation to 
 four great periods ; each embracing about fifty years. 
 The first period terminates with the College charter, 
 granted in 1692 by the first Provincial legislature, 
 assembled under the charter of King William and 
 Queen Mary. . The second extends from this time to 
 the accession of Holyoke to the presidency, in 1736y 
 The third includes the succeeding years to the ac- 
 cession of Willard, in 1780. The fourth embraces the 
 time subsequent. 
 
 "During the first period, the College was conducted 
 as a theological institution, in strict coincidence with 
 the nature of the political constitution of the colony ; 
 having religion for its basis and chief object. Al- 
 though the charter of the College gave it no sec- 
 tarian bias, it was, without question, regarded by both 
 the clergy and the politicians of the- period, as an 
 instrument destined to promote and perpetuate the 
 religious opinions predominating at the time. The 
 seminary, during this period, will be seen amidst pov- 
 erty and suffering; depending for its existence on a 
 precarious, and often penurious, benevolence ; solicit- 
 ing aid, and repulsed ; in want, and its own funds 
 withheld ; in distress, and relief denied or postponed ; 
 sometimes tossed on the waves of political, sometimes 
 on those of religious controversy, and, amidst the con- 
 flicts of both, raising as high as the times required, 
 or its resources permitted, the standard of the litera- 
 ture of the country.
 
 4 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER "In the second period, bitter controversies will be 
 
 found springing up between those religious parties, into 
 
 which the Congregational sect divided immediately 
 after the new principle of political power introduced 
 by the charter of William and Mary had deprived 
 it of that supremacy, which the old charter had 
 secured to the Congregational clergy. Of these the 
 College was often the field and sometimes the object. 
 In consequence, its sky was occasionally obscured, and 
 its progress embarrassed. It regularly, however, ad- 
 vanced under new and not inferior auspices. High 
 Calvinists, indeed, regarded it with diminished favor, 
 and even began to look elsewhere for instruments to 
 propagate their sentiments and extend their power. 
 But new friends to it arose ; its usefulness became 
 acknowledged ; and its resources increased. 
 
 "In the third period, the divisions of the Congrega- 
 tional sect grew wider and more marked. They prose- 
 cuted their animosities, notwithstanding, with a subdued 
 temper, partly from experience of the unprofitableness 
 of such controversies, and partly from a fear, enter- 
 tained in common by all the parties formed out of 
 those divisions, of the increasing power of the Epis- 
 copalian sect ; which, at this time, began to display 
 its standard with great boldness, supported by the 
 favor and funds of the transatlantic hierarchy. While 
 the leaders of each division were actively engaged 
 in one common cause, they naturally composed, or 
 treated with a politic tenderness, their mutual differ- 
 ences. The political aspect of affairs began also, early 
 in this period, to foretell the coming revolutionary tem- 
 pest. Amid the preparations for the contest, which 
 led to national independence, religious animosities 
 were suspended ; nor was their voice heard during
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. > 
 
 the din and excitement of that struggle. In the mean CHAPTER 
 
 time the College was permitted to remain in a state '. 
 
 of comparative tranquillity ; viewed, indeed, by some 
 of the Calvinistic sect with coldness and jealousy, 
 and its officers charged by some with being Ar- 
 minians, and even suspected of more fearful heresies. 
 Embracing, however, as the College did with equal 
 warmth and openness, the cause of American Inde- 
 pendence, it at the same time acquired a well-deserved 
 popularity, and shared, in common with all the other 
 institutions of the country, the pecuniary losses and 
 embarrassment consequent on that contest. 
 
 "During the fourth and last period, extending to our 
 own time, the College, now raised to the rank of a 
 University, partook, with the country at large, of the 
 vicissitudes following the war, and subsequently of the 
 prosperity, which ensued upon the adoption of the 
 federal Constitution, and on an orderly arrangement of 
 State and national affairs. From this time the semi- 
 nary began to regard itself, and to be regarded by 
 others, as an institution devoted exclusively to the ad- 
 vancement of science and general literature ; as a 
 tree, destined to support and develope all the objects 
 of human knowledge and pursuit, in proportion to 
 their respective value and importance ; of which 
 Theology should be always a branch, but no longer 
 the stem. 
 
 "In each of these periods, the occasion requires, that, 
 as we pursue the order of events, the causes of that 
 prosperity, which the seminary now enjoys, should be 
 traced to the character of its founders and patrons, and 
 to the literary, political, and religious influences of 
 successive times ; and, above all, while passing down 
 the series of succeeding years, as through the interior
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER of some ancient temple, which displays on either hand 
 
 the statues of distinguished friends and benefactors, 
 
 that we should stay for a moment in the presence of 
 each, doing justice to the humble, illustrating the 
 obscure, placing in a true light the modest, and noting 
 rapidly the moral and intellectual traits, which time 
 has spared ; to the end that ingratitude, the proverbial 
 sin of republics, may not attach to the republic of 
 letters ; and that whoever feeds the lamp of science, 
 however obscurely, however scantily, may know, that, 
 sooner or later, his name and virtues shall be made 
 conspicuous by its light, and throughout all time ac- 
 company its lustre. 
 
 "From this view, it is apparent that the occasion 
 requires, not an oration, but a treatise ; not an address, 
 but a History. 
 
 "Like the historian, then, of ancient times, when, 
 on Grecian soil and like solemn occasion, were assem- 
 bled, as now and here, the wise, the learned, the 
 pious, and the great, let us also strive to beguile the 
 passing hour with an appropriate story of former 
 years ; and like him too, leave it half told, when 
 hearers give signs of weariness, or when the herald 
 shall proclaim that the time has come for the feast and 
 the games." 
 
 On recurring to the origin of this seminary, our first 
 feelings impel us to wonder and admire. That intel- 
 lectual men should early contemplate an institution 
 for the instruction of youth in the higher branches 
 of science might be expected, and is in conformity 
 with the usual practice of mankind. But this has 
 ever happened after time had given validity to their 
 occupation of the soil, and external enemies had been 
 conquered or conciliated ; after those roots of dis- 
 
 Origin of 
 the Col- 
 lege.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 7 
 
 cord, which naturally spring up among new combina- CHAPTER 
 tions of men, had been extirpated or overpowered ; L 
 after wealth had begun to flow in, and a sense of 
 security, combining with a sense of prosperity, had 
 given power and expansion to the spirit of benevo- 
 lence. At such a stage of advancement, institutions, 
 having for their object varied, high, and exact scien- 
 tific education, might be anticipated. 
 
 Now, wonderful as is the fact, this institution was 
 projected under circumstances in every particular 
 the reverse of these. It was not among the later, 
 but among the earliest thoughts of our ancestors. 
 They waited not for days of affluence, of peace, or 
 even of domestic concord. The first necessities of 
 civilized man, food, raiment, and shelter, had scarcely 
 been provided ; civil government and the worship of 
 God had alone been instituted, when the great inter- 
 ests of education engaged their attention. Their zeal 
 was not repressed^by the narrowness of their territorial 
 limits, not yet extending thirty miles on the seacoast, 
 nor twenty into the interior ; nor yet by the terror of 
 a savage enemy, threatening the very existence of the 
 settlement ; nor by the claims on their scanty re- 
 sources, which an impending Indian war created ; nor 
 by the smallness of their numbers, certainly not then 
 exceeding five thousand families ; nor yet by the most 
 unhappy and most ominous to their tranquillity of all, 
 the religious disputes, in which they were ever im- 
 plicated. It was under a combination of disastrous 
 and oppressive circumstances, any one of which would 
 have deterred men of less moral courage and intellec- 
 tual vigor from engaging in any such general design, 
 on the eve of a war with the fiercest and most 
 powerful of all the native tribes, the Antinomian
 
 8 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER controversy at its highest and most bitter excitement, 
 
 '. an unexplored wilderness extending over their 
 
 fragile dwellings its fear-inspiring shades ; in the 
 daytime, the serpent gliding across their domestic 
 hearths, or rattling its terrors in their path ; in the 
 night, their slumbers broken by the howl of the wild 
 beast, or by the yell and warwhoop of the savage ; 
 it was amidst a complex variety of dangers, which, 
 at this day, the imagination can neither exaggerate 
 nor conceive, that this poor, this distressed, this dis- 
 cordant band of Pilgrims set about erecting a seminary 
 of learning, and appropriated for its establishment a 
 sum " equal to a year's rate of the whole colony " ! 
 For a like spirit, under like circumstances, history will 
 be searched in vain.* 
 
 The record is as simple, as its object was noble and 
 1636. its spirit elevated. Two centuries ago, on the second 
 Thursday and eighth day of September, that General 
 Court first assembled, among whose proceedings is 
 the following record. " The Court agree to give 
 Four Hundred Pounds towards a School or College, 
 whereof Two Hundred Pounds shall be paid the 
 next year, and Two Hundred Pounds when the work 
 is finished, and the next Court to appoint where and 
 what building." 
 
 To this date we trace the origin of the seminary. 
 This is 
 
 "gentis cunabula nostrae, 
 . . uberrima regna." 
 
 * "Within ten years after the little flock landed at Salem, a College 
 was endowed by them and established. It is questionable, whether a 
 more honorable specimen of public spirit can be found in the history 
 of mankind." DWIGHT'S Travels in New England, Vol. I. p. 481.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 9 
 
 vThe year ensuing (1637), the General Court ap- CHAPTER 
 
 pointed twelve of the most eminent men of the colony ! 
 
 "to take order for a college at Newtown." All of [637 - 
 them names dear to New England, on account of 
 their sacrifices, their sufferings, and virtues. Among 
 these, there were, of the clergy, Shepard and Cotton 
 and Wilson ; of the laity, Stoughton and Dudley ; and, 
 above all, Winthrop, the Governor, the guide and 
 the good genius of the Colony. Soon afterward the 
 General Court changed the name of the town from 
 Newtown to Cambridge ; a grateful tribute to the 
 transatlantic literary parent of many of the first emi- 
 grants, and indicative of the high destiny to which 
 they intended the institution they were establishing 
 should aspire. 
 
 Notwithstanding the zeal displayed, and the en- 
 couragement thus liberally promised, yet, such were 
 the poverty, danger, and disunion of the time, that it 
 would have been altogether impossible for them to 
 carry their design into effect, had not an event, wholly 
 unanticipated, supplied resources applicable immedi-r 
 ately to its execution. 
 
 In the year 1638, while they were only contem- JohnHar- 
 
 1 T , TT I ,. Vard " 
 
 plating its commencement, John Harvard, a dissenting i638. 
 clergyman of England, resident at Charlestown, died, 
 and bequeathed one half of his whole property, and 
 his entire library, to the institution. From the amount 
 of his bequest, he must have been among the most 
 wealthy emigrants. It was equal to, if not double, that 
 which the colony had ventured even to promise ; and, 
 besides, was capable of being applied at once to the 
 object. An instance of benevolence thus striking and 
 timely, proceeding from one who had been scarcely 
 a year in the country, was accepted by our fathers as 
 VOL. i. 2
 
 10 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER an omen of divine favor. With prayer and thanks- 
 giving they immediately commenced the seminary, 
 and conferred upon it the name of Harvard, thus ac- 
 knowledging him as its founder. 
 
 Of John Harvard history gives little information, 
 and that very imperfect. That he was educated at 
 Emanuel College, Cambridge, emigrated to this coun- 
 try in 1637, and was immediately admitted a freeman 
 of the jurisdiction and a member of the church in 
 Charlestown, is all that is known concerning him with 
 distinctness and certainty. His contemporaries had 
 few opportunities to become acquainted with his 
 character. He had been but a year in the country, 
 and during the whole time probably the destined victim 
 of consumption, which in that short period brought 
 him to his grave. The historians of the time apply to 
 him the epithets of " reverend," " godly," " a lover of 
 learning." How true and efficient a patron of it he 
 was, this seminary is both a witness and a monument, 
 more durable than one of marble or granite. 
 
 The catalogue of his library, consisting of two hun- 
 dred and sixty volumes, still exists among the archives 
 of the seminary, and indicates not only his professional 
 studies, but also his general scholarship. Besides a 
 formidable array of veteran champions of the ancient 
 church militant, such as Ames and Aquinas, Bellar- 
 mine, Beza, and Broughton, Chrysostom and Calvin, 
 Duns Scotus and Luther and Pelagius, there are works 
 of more general literature, such as Bacon's and Rob- 
 inson's Essays, Bacon's Advancement of Learning, 
 Minsheu's Guide to the Tongues, Heylyn's Geography, 
 and Camden's Remains, all works, at that time, of re- 
 cent publication. The classical department of his library 
 was even more rich and select. In it were Homer,
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. \\ 
 
 Isocrates, Lucan, Plutarch, Pliny, Sallust, Terence, CHAPTER 
 
 Juvenal, and Horace, the last with Stephanus's Notes * 
 
 and a folio Commentary. Such are the only indi- 
 cations, that remain, of the literary and intellectual 
 tastes of our founder. 
 
 The scanty records * of the period even leave some 
 doubt as to the amount, of his bounty. Let it have 
 been more or less, it is equally entitled to the epithet 
 " munificent," so justly conferred on the bequest of 
 John- Harvard,! in that eloquent tribute to his memo- 
 ry, occasioned by the erection, some years since, of a 
 monument to him at Charlestown, by the alumni of 
 the College. 
 
 Whatever was the amount, it was the half of his 
 whole fortune, and his entire library ; and this from a 
 man, who, although he had no children, left a widow 
 and general heirs who were dear to him. It was also 
 the earliest, the noblest, and the purest tribute to re- 
 ligion and science this western world had yet witness- 
 ed. It was equally timely and unexampled. Wisely 
 and justly did our ancestors inscribe his name upon 
 the seminary, and acknowledge him as its founder, 
 who had, at a moment so seasonable and critical, 
 afforded that efficient aid, which alone enabled them 
 at once to give it existence. 
 
 The example of Harvard was like an electric spark 
 falling upon materials of a sympathetic nature, exciting 
 immediate action and consentaneous energy. The 
 magistrates caught the spirit, and led the way, by a 
 subscription among themselves of two hundred pounds, 
 in books, for the library. The comparatively wealthy 
 
 * See Appendix, No. 1. 
 
 f See " An Address at the Erection of a Monument to John Harvard, 
 Sept. 28th, 1828, by Edward Everett."
 
 12 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER followed with gifts of twenty and thirty pounds. The 
 
 needy multitude succeeded, like the widow of old, 
 
 " casting their mites into the treasury." 
 
 The early records of the College indicate the uni- 
 versality of the will, at the same time that the nature 
 of the gifts exhibit, in a strong light, the simplicity 
 and the necessities of the period. " When we read," 
 says Peirce,* the learned and laborious historian of 
 the University, " of a number of sheep bequeathed 
 by one man, of a quantity of cotton cloth worth 'nine 
 shillings presented by another, of a pewter flagon 
 worth ten shillings by a third, of a fruit dish, a 
 sugar-spoon, a silver-tipt jug, one great salt, and 
 one small trencher-salt, by others ; and of presents 
 or legacies, amounting severally to five shillings, one 
 pound, two pounds, &c., all faithfully recorded with 
 the names of the donors, we are at first tempted to 
 smile ; but a little reflection will soon change this 
 disposition into a feeling of respect and even of 
 admiration." 
 
 Early dona- How just is the remark of this historian ! How 
 forcible and full of noble example is the picture ex- 
 hibited by these records ! The poor emigrant, struggling 
 for subsistence, almost houseless, in a manner defence- 
 less, is seen selecting from the few remnants of his 
 former prosperity, plucked by him out of the flames 
 of persecution, and rescued from the perils of the 
 Atlantic, the valued pride of his table, or the precious 
 delight of his domestic hearth; "his heart stirred and 
 his spirit willing," to give according to his means, to- 
 wards establishing for learning a resting-place, and for 
 science a fixed habitation, on the borders of the wilder- 
 
 -'V 
 * History of Harvard University, p. 17.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 13 
 
 ness ! The inhabitants of the country contributing from CHAPTER 
 their acres, or their flocks ; those of the metropolis - 
 from their shops and stores ; the clergyman from his 
 library, and the mechanic from his tools of trade ! No 
 rank, no order of men, is unrepresented, in this great 
 crusade against ignorance and infidelity. None fails 
 to appear at this glorious clan-gathering in favor of 
 learning and religion. 
 
 At this period it would be in vain to attempt to 
 recall from oblivion the names of men, some of whom, 
 it appears by the record, made it the condition of their 
 gifts, that they should be unknown ; and none of whom 
 looked, or sought, for other applause than that, which 
 
 " Lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes 
 
 And perfect witness of the All-judging, 
 
 As he pronounces lastly on each deed." 
 
 The bequest of Harvard occurred during the time Nathaniel 
 
 * Eaton. 
 
 that the infant seminary, with the title only of 
 " school," was under the superintendence of Nathan- 
 iel Eaton. Of this man nothing has been transmitted 
 worthy of being repeated. He was " convented before 
 the magistrates," and convicted of being passionate, 
 quarrelsome, negligent, and cruel. On account of the 
 scandal of his conduct to religion, and the apprehen- 
 sions it might awaken in parents, he was lined and 
 dismissed. His delinquencies are minutely recapitu- 
 lated in Winthrop's " History of New England," and 
 sufficiently justify this severity.* It appears also, by 
 the remarks of Mr. Savage, the exact and scrutinizing 
 commentator on Winthrop, that, at no subsequent peri- 
 od of the College history, has discontent with commons 
 
 * Winthrop's History of New England, with Notes by James Savage, 
 Vol. I. pp. 308-313.
 
 14 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER been more just and well-founded, than under the hus- 
 
 -'- wifery management of Mrs. Eaton. "It is perhaps 
 
 owing," he adds, " to the gallantry of our fathers, that 
 she was not conjoined in the perpetual malediction 
 they bestowed on her husband." 
 
 By the fiscal accounts of Eaton, it is apparent, 
 that the superintendence of the building then erecting, 
 the receiving of donations and applying them, were 
 all intrusted to his discretion. On his dismissal, 
 these powers were transferred by the General Court 
 to Mr. Samuel Shepard, who performed those 
 duties until the arrival in the country of the Rev. 
 Henry Henry Dunster. This occurred in the autumn of 
 
 1640. 1 640 ; and his qualifications for the office were so 
 conspicuous, that he received, from the magistrates 
 and elders, promises and encouragements* sufficiently 
 alluring to induce him to accept the appointment, 
 with the title of " President." 
 
 During the first six and thirty years after the foun- 
 dation of the seminary, its history offers little to 
 awaken general interest, except events in immediate 
 connexion with the characters and fate of the first 
 two presidents, Dunster and Chauncy. Both of them 
 were able, faithful, and earnest. Both pious, even 
 to the excess of the standard of that quality, which 
 characterized the times. Both were learned beyond 
 the measure of their contemporaries ; and probably, in 
 this respect, were surpassed by no one, who has since 
 succeeded to their chair. After years of duty unex- 
 ceptionably fulfilled, both experienced the common 
 fate of the literary men of this country at that day ; 
 thankless labor, unrequited service, arrearages un- 
 
 * See Peirce's History of Harvard University, Appendix, p. 79.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 15 
 
 paid, posthumous applause, a doggrel dirge, and a CHAPTER 
 Latin epitaph. L 
 
 Among the early friends of the College, no one 
 deserves more distinct notice than Henry Dunster. 
 He united in himself the character of both patron 
 and President ; for, poor as he was, he contributed, 
 at a time of its utmost need, one hundred acres of 
 land towards its support ; besides rendering to it, 
 for a succession of years, a series of official services, 
 well directed, unwearied, and altogether inestimable. 
 
 Under his administration, the first code of laws 
 was formed;* rules of admission, and the principles on 
 which degrees should be granted, were established ; 
 arid scholastic forms, similar to those customary in the 1642. 
 English Universities, were adopted ; many of which 
 continue, with little variation, to be used at the present 
 time. The charter of 1642 was probably, and that 
 of 1650 was avowedly, obtained on his petition.! By 
 solicitations among his friends, and by personal sacri- 
 fices, he built a President's house. He was instant in 
 season and out of season with the General Court, for 
 the relief of the College in its extreme wants. The 
 
 Commissioners of the United Colonies stood to the commis- 
 sioners of 
 people of New England, in that day, somewhat in the the United 
 
 J ' Colonies. 
 
 relation in which Congress now stands to the people 
 of the United States. They had, however, only the 
 power to recommend measures, not to enforce them. 
 Dunster formed the plan of concentrating upon the 
 College the patronage of all the Colonies. Under his 
 auspices, a memorial was addressed by Mr. Shepard, 
 pastor of the church in Cambridge, to those Com- 
 missioners, for a general contribution for the main- 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XXVII. and No. LXVII. 
 t Ibid., No. LXVIII.
 
 16 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER tenance of poor scholars at the College, to the end, 
 ' that " the Commonwealth may be furnished with know- 
 ing and understanding men, and the churches with 
 an able ministry." The tenor of this memorial strik- 
 ingly illustrates the simplicity and the poverty of the 
 times. It entreats the Commissioners to recommend 
 " to every family throughout the plantations (which 
 is able and willing to give) to contribute a fourth 
 part of a bushel of corn, or something equivalent 
 thereto," which, it declares, would be " a blessed means 
 of comfortable provision, for the diet of such students, 
 as stand in need of support." The Commissioners 
 approved the plan, and made the recommendation re- 
 quested.* 
 
 The patronage thus extended by these Commis- 
 sioners to the seminary, gave them some claim to 
 have a voice in its concerns. Accordingly, in 1646, 
 they recommended to the General Court of Massachu- 
 setts, to take some course with the parents of the 
 scholars, " that these, when furnished with learning, 
 remove not into other countries, but improve their 
 parts and abilities in the service of the Colonies. "f 
 There was some reason for the apprehension this re- 
 commendation indicates ; for, of the twenty scholars, 
 who had been graduated at the College prior to 1646, 
 tioelve had actually then gone to Europe, all of whom 
 found employment there ; and eleven of them never 
 returned to this country. 
 
 1647. In 1647, Dunster, who never omitted any oppor- 
 tunity to be useful to the College, addressed a letter 
 to the Commissioners, containing various inquiries for 
 their advice and direction ; " touching cases," says he, 
 
 * Hazard's State Papers, Vol. II. p. 17. f Ibid. p. 74.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 17 
 
 " difficult to myself, and which may be dangerous in time CHAPTER 
 ensuing to others, unless regulated by your counsels." 
 
 By this memorial it appears, that the contributions contnbu- 
 
 J tions of the 
 
 from the Colonies had amounted to fifty pounds per colonies. 
 annum. But, if the first proposition of one shilling 
 a family had been attended to, it would have amount- 
 ed to much more ; for, although " some families give, 
 some withhold." By the same document it also ap- 
 pears, that a principal part of the President's main- 
 tenance arose out of " stipends from the scholars"; that 
 the College building, in roof, walls, and foundation, 
 was out of repair ; that the library was defective in all 
 manner of books ; especially in law, philosophy, phys- 
 ics, and mathematics, " the furnishing whereof," the 
 memorialist adds, " would be both honorable and profit- 
 able to the country in general, and in an especial man- 
 ner to those scholars, whose various inclinations to all 
 professions might thereby be encouraged." * 
 
 Again, in 1651, Dunster urges upon the Com- 
 missioners the decaying condition of the College 
 buildings, and the necessity of their repair and enlarge- 
 ment ; and, in reply, the Commissioners promise to 
 propound to the several Colonies, to give " some year- 
 ly help, by pecks, half-bushels, and bushels of wheat " ; 1 6 5 1 . 
 adding, by way of hint to the " General Court of 
 Massachusetts," (and one not altogether unnecessa- 
 ry,) " that if they would please to give a leading 
 example, the rest may probably more readily follow." f 
 
 Dunster's usefulness, however, was deemed to be 
 at an end, and his services no longer desirable, in 
 consequence of his falling, in 1653, as Cotton Mather 
 
 * See Hazard's State Papers, Vol. II. p. 84. 
 t Ibid. p. 197. 
 VOL. I. 3
 
 18 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER expresses it, "into the briers of Antipaedobaptism,"* 
 
 ! and of his having borne " public testimony, in the 
 
 church at Cambridge, against the administration of 
 baptism to any infant whatsoever." 
 
 It was time, in the opinion of our worthy ancestors, 
 for them to bestir themselves, when the pious Mitch- 
 el himself declared, that his own faith in the ortho- 
 dox doctrine of Paedobaptism had been so shaken, 
 and such " scruples and suggestions," in respect to it, 
 " had been injected into him by Mr. Dunster's discour- 
 ses," that he did not dare to trust himself within 
 reach of their " venom and poison," it being " not hard 
 to discern that they came from the Evil Owe."t 
 
 Indicted by the grand jury for disturbing the or- 
 dinance of infant baptism in the Cambridge church, 
 convicted by the court, sentenced to a public admoni- 
 tion on lecture day, and laid under bonds for good 
 behaviour, Dunster's martyrdom was consummated by 
 being compelled, in October, 1654, to resign his office 
 of President, and to throw himself on the tender 
 mercies of the General Court. 
 
 President There is a simple, touching pathos, in the following 
 signa. Considerations," f he submitted to that body in the 
 ' ensuing November, showing why he should not be 
 compelled at once, for the convenience of his suc- 
 cessor, to quit the President's house. 
 
 " 1 st. The time of the year is unseasonable, being 
 now very near the shortest day, and the depth of 
 winter. 
 
 * Magnalia, Book IV. chap. 4, 10. t Ibid. 
 
 J These " Considerations " bear date the 10th day of November, 
 1654 ; and were probably presented to the Genera] Court (among 
 whose papers they were found) after his formal petition, made in con- 
 sequence of his resignation, on the 4th of November, 1654.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 19 
 
 " 2d. The place unto which I go, is unknown to CHAPTER 
 
 me and my family, and the ways and means of sub- . 
 
 sistence, to one of my talents and parts, or for the 
 containing or conserving my goods, or disposing of 
 my cattle, accustomed to my place of residence. 
 
 " 3d. The place from which I go, hath fire, fuel, 
 and all provisions for man and beast, laid in for the 
 winter. To remove some things will be to destroy 
 them ; to remove others, as books and household goods, 
 to hazard them greatly. The house I have builded, 
 upon very damageful conditions to myself, out of love 
 for the College, taking country pay in lieu of bills 
 of exchange on England, or the house would not have 
 been built ; and a considerable part of it was given 
 me, at my request, out of respect to myself, albeit 
 for the College. 
 
 " 4th. The persons, all besides myself, are women 
 and children, on whom little help, now their minds 
 lie under the actual stroke of affliction and grief. 
 My wife is sick, and my youngest child extremely 
 so, and hath been for months, so that we dare not 
 carry him out of doors, yet much worse now than 
 before. However, if a place be found, that may be 
 comfortable for them, and reasonably answer the ob- 
 stacles above mentioned, myself will willingly bow 
 my neck to any yoke of personal denial, for I know 
 for what and for whom, by grace, I suffer." 
 
 " The whole transaction of this business is such, 
 which in process of time, when all things come to 
 mature consideration, may very probably create grief 
 on all sides ; yours subsequent, as mine antecedent. 
 I am not the man you take me to be. Neither if ye 
 knew what, should, and why, can I persuade myself 
 that you would act, as I am at least tempted to think
 
 20 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER you do. But our times are in God's hands, with 
 - whom all sides hope, by grace in Christ, to find favor, 
 which shall be my prayer for you, as for myself, 
 
 " Who am, honored Gentlemen, yours to serve, 
 
 " HENRY DUNSTER." 
 
 An appeal of this kind was irresistible ; and, not- 
 withstanding "the venom" of his heresy, and the 
 detected cooperation with him of the " Evil One" the 
 General Court consented that he should remain in 
 the President's house till the March following. 
 
 Although the Court granted him this indulgence, 
 their treatment of him, in other respects, was neither 
 kind nor just. He found the seminary a school. 
 It rose, under his auspices, to the dignity of a 
 College. No man ever questioned his talents, learn- 
 ing, exemplary fidelity, and usefulness. His scanty 
 salary had been paid, not in cash, nor in kind, but by 
 transfers of town rates ; thereby vesting him with the 
 character of tax-gatherer, and exposing him to all the 
 vexations, delays, complaints, losses, and abatements 
 Hepeti- incident to that office. In 1643, he complained bit- 
 
 tions Gov- 
 
 emorWin- terly to Governor Winthrop, of the injuries he sus- 
 tained by this practice. Every year he had been sub- 
 jected to depreciation, delay, and loss, which he prays 
 may be made up to him. He concludes his petition 
 with this characteristic declaration ; " Considering the 
 poverty of the country, I am willing to descend to the 
 lowest step ; and, if nothing can comfortably be al- 
 lowed, I sit still appeased ; desiring nothing more 
 than to supply me and mine with food and raiment."* 
 Neither his modesty, humility, nor virtues stood him 
 in any stead amidst the prevailing prejudices and 
 
 * See Peirce's History, Appendix, p. 16.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 21 
 
 poverty of the time. After his resignation, the Cor- CHAPTER 
 
 poration, in May, 1655, interested themselves in his '. 
 
 behalf, and stated to the General Court, that, " not- 
 withstanding they have paid Mr. Dunster all that 
 they have been able, there is still due to him nearly 
 forty pounds, which justice and equity require should 1655. 
 be paid ; and, besides what is due in strict account, 
 they think an hundred pounds ought to be allowed 
 Mr. Dunster, in consideration of his extraordinary 
 pains in raising up and carrying on the College for 
 so many years past, and desire it may be seriously 
 considered, and hope it may make much for the coun- 
 try's honorable discharge in the hearts of all, and 
 perpetual encouragement of their servants in such 
 public works, if it be attended."* 
 
 The attempt was without success ; and a commit- Dunster's 
 
 /> i T-\ i i-i treatment 
 
 tee or the Deputies treat his appeal to their humanity bythcGen- 
 
 J era] Court. 
 
 and justice in the following heartless way. " What 
 extraordinary labor in, about, and concerning the weal 
 of the College, for the space of fourteen years, we 
 know of none, except what was the President's duty, 
 belonging to his place ; unless he can show the par- 
 ticulars of these labors, which were extraordinary." f 
 The result of the whole affair was, that he obtained 
 nothing from the General Court ; and that the Cor- 
 poration, after his death, paid to his widow twenty 
 pounds, in full of the balance due to his estate. 
 
 Notwithstanding his apparent religious fanaticism, 
 Dunster possessed a gentle heart and a noble vein 
 of Christian charity. 
 
 In his last will, he denominates President Chauncy, 
 who had taken his place in the College, and Mr. 
 
 * See Appendix, No. II. t Ibid., No. III.
 
 22 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER Mitchel, the Pastor of the church in Cambridge, who 
 
 ' thought he had the " Evil One " for his coadjutor, 
 
 "my reverend," "trusty," and "judicious friends," 
 and nominates them appraisers of his library, " some 
 of the books of which," he adds, " being in such lan- 
 guages, whereof common Englishmen know not one 
 letter." * 
 
 His death. He ordered that his body should be brought to 
 Cambridge after his decease, and be interred near 
 the seminary, which had been the scene of his labors, 
 and which he had consecrated in his affections ; and 
 in the adjoining churchyard now lie the remains of 
 as true a friend, and as faithful a servant, as this 
 College ever possessed. 
 
 Financial The loose and exaggerated terms in which Mather 
 
 state of the c . . 
 
 college. and Johnson, and other writers of that period, speak of 
 
 Jt JE It 
 
 the early donations to the College, and the obscurity, 
 not to say confusion, in which they appear in the 
 first records of the seminary, led Peirce, its historian, 
 to the opinion, that " the property of the institu- 
 tion had increased during the time of President Dun- 
 ster to at least a thousand pounds sterling, besides 
 annuities and grants of land." The fact is, that the 
 whole amount of the available funds of the College 
 from all sources, during the first eighteen years of 
 its existence, certainly did not exceed fourteen hun- 
 dred, and probably was less than one thousand 
 pounds. This had been expended in raising and re- 
 pairing the building, and in providing for the current 
 expenses of the institution. The actual state of 
 the funds, at that period, is established beyond ques- 
 tion by a document purporting to be " Jnforma- 
 
 * See his Will, in Middlesex Probate Records.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 23 
 
 tion of the present Necessities of the College" given CHAPTER 
 by the Corporation and Overseers to the General 
 Court, signed by John Endecott, Governor, and dated 
 the 9th of May, 1655. 
 
 After stating the lamentable condition of the Col- 
 lege building, which, unless repaired, was not tenant- 
 able, it proceeds ; " All the estate the College hath 
 (as appears by the inventory thereof) is only its pres- 
 ent building, library, and a few utensils, with the 
 press and some parcels of land (none of which can, 
 with any reason, or to any benefit, be sold, to help 
 in the premises), and in real revenue about twelve 
 pounds per annum (which is a small pittance to be 
 shared among four fellows), besides fifteen pounds 
 per annum, which, by the donors' appointment, is for 
 scholarships."* 
 
 * See Appendix, No. II.
 
 24 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Presidency of Charles Chauncy. Previous Events of his Life. 
 Accepts the Office on the Importunity of the General Court. 
 Their Promises of Support. Not fulfilled. His Poverty. 
 Embarrassed State of the Finances of the Seminary. Ruinous 
 State of its Buildings. Noble Conduct of the Town of Portsmouth. 
 
 Its Effects on Massachusetts. Leonard Hoar chosen President. 
 
 His previous History. Circumstances under which he was 
 elected. Charter of 1672. Its Fate. President Hoar's Difficul- 
 ties. Conduct of Oakes in respect to them. Parallelism of the 
 Fortunes of Hoar and Oakes. Hoar resigns. Urian Oakes 
 chosen President. His Conduct. Difficulty in filling President's 
 Chair. Patronage of the General Court. 
 
 CHAPTER CHARLES CHAUNCY, who succeeded Mr. Dunster 
 
 ! in the Presidency of the College, deserves particular 
 
 commemoration, on account of his talents, his suffer- 
 ings, and his services. 
 
 chauncy's While in England, he was so much distinguished 
 for his learning, as to be chosen Professor of Greek, 
 and afterwards of Hebrew, in Trinity College, Cam- 
 bridge. He seems, however, not to have possess- 
 ed the stern, uncompromising, self-sacrificing spirit, 
 which characterized his predecessor. In England, 
 having opposed the erecting of a rail round the 
 communion table, and the kneeling at the sacrament, 
 and being prosecuted for schism, he recanted in 
 open court ; and acknowledged, that " kneeling at the 
 sacrament was a commendable gesture, and " that a 
 rail in the chancel, with a bench for kneeling, was 
 a decent and convenient ornament ; " and promised
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 25 
 
 never, by word, or deed, to oppose any other of the CHAPTER 
 laudable rites of the Church of England."* For this '- 
 
 recantation he is said never to have forgiven him- 
 self. His course in this country, however, displayed 
 a like yielding spirit. For, being conscientiously 
 wedded to the belief, that immersion in baptism, 
 and celebrating the Lord's supper in the evening, 
 were true Scriptural doctrines, he refused to settle 
 at Plymouth,! when invited, on account of the dif- 
 ferent belief of that church ; and persisted in his 
 refusal, notwithstanding that they offered, by way of 
 compromise, that he and his colleague, Mr. Reyner, 
 might each baptize in his own mode. Yet after- 
 wards, on being invited to the Presidency, he made 
 no difficulty in accepting the office on the express 
 condition of " forbearing to disseminate or publish 
 any thing, on either of those tenets, and promising 
 not to oppose the received doctrines therein." 
 
 Previously to his emigration from England, Chauncy 
 had been a settled minister at Ware. After the suc- 
 cesses of the Republicans had subdued the persecuting 
 spirit of the English hierarchy, he received an invi- 
 tation from his former people to resume his connex- 
 ion with them. This he had resolved to accept, and 
 was preparing to return to his native country, when 1 6 5 4 . 
 he was induced to abandon his intention, by "the ve- No *- 2 - 
 hement importunity" of the Overseers of the College.! 
 The negotiation with him had been conducted under Accepts 
 the auspices of the General Court, who passed several dency. 
 votes, indicative of their intention to give a permanent 
 salary to the President, and of a disposition to yield 
 an efficient support to the seminary. By the urgency 
 
 * Massachusetts Historical Collections, First Series, Vol. X. p. 172. 
 t See Peirce's History, p. 22. J See Appendix, No. IV. 
 
 VOL. I. 4
 
 26 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER of the agents of the Overseers, he was induced to 
 - accept the presidency. 
 
 Nothing seems to have occurred to mar the pros- 
 perous course of his official career, except, in the lan- 
 guage of his lineal descendant and biographer, the 
 His scanty late Dr. Charles Chauncy, " his shamefully scanty 
 
 support. J ' * 
 
 support, owing, not to inability in the Province, but 
 to the niggardly dispositions of its representatives in 
 the General Court. A temper," he adds, " which 
 has been too much since greatly hurtful to the inter- 
 ests of learning at the College."* Increase Mather, 
 in a similar strain, says ; " After he (Chauncy) was 
 President of the College, the country was not so 
 grateful to him, as it ought to have been ; nor could 
 he have subsisted, if he had not received supplies 
 from England, out of estate he left there. "f 
 1655. These censures were not undeserved. A year 
 had not elapsed, before President Chauncy found, 
 that his salary was inadequate to his support ; and in 
 October, 1655, he petitioned the General Court, in- 
 timating to them their promise of " a liberal main- 
 tenance," and stating, that he had already expended 
 upwards of an hundred pounds out of his estate, in 
 the subsistence of his family ; and that his country 
 pay, in Indian corn, could not be turned into food and 
 clothing without great loss. He prayed, therefore, that 
 they would provide for him according to his present 
 necessities ; that " God may not be dishonored, nor 
 the country blemished, nor your petitioner and his 
 family cast upon temptations, and enforced to look 
 out to benefit his condition." J 
 
 * See Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. X. p. 174. 
 f Ibid. Vol. IX. p. 156. J See Appendix, No. IV.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 27 
 
 The result of this application is not known. There CHAPTER 
 
 is no reason, however, to believe that it was, in any '- 
 
 important respect successful, since, in 1663, he again petitions 
 presented to the General Court his many " grievances IQQ^ 
 and temptations," stating, " that his salary was not 
 sufficient for the comfortable supply of his family with 
 necessary food and raiment ; that he had been com- 
 pelled to expend his own estate, and besides had 
 been brought greatly into debt ; that the provision for 
 the President was not suitable, being without land 
 to keep either a horse or cow upon, or habitation 
 to be dry or warm in ; whereas, in English Univer- 
 sities, the President is allowed diet, as well as stipend, 
 and other necessary provisions, according to his wants." 
 The committee of the General Court on this peti- 
 tion, report, that " they conceive the country have done 
 honorably towards the petitioner, and that his parity 
 with English Colleges is not pertinent." A better 
 spirit was, however, displayed by the Deputies, who 
 nonconcured the report of the committee, and voted 
 that he should receive, out of the public treasury, 
 
 five pounds a quarter. On a reference of this vote to Petition re- 
 jected. 
 the magistrates for their consent, they ordered to be 
 
 indorsed upon it, " The magistrates consent not 
 thereto."* 
 
 President Chauncy had then passed his seventieth 
 year, and continued to his death, which occurred 
 
 nine years afterwards, in the service of the College, 1672. 
 
 ii. r-ii-i ij j Feb - 19 - 
 
 laborious, faithful, necessitous, and dependent. 
 
 The last page in this painful history contains the 
 petition of Elnathan Chauncy, son of the President, 
 presented, after his decease, to the General Court, 
 
 * See Appendix, No. IV.
 
 28 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER in which he states, that " his father had been servant 
 to the country, in the above trust, seventeen years, 
 
 in all which time he had never received for allow- 
 
 petition. 
 
 ance any other payment than what the country rate 
 brought in, which had greatly impoverished his family, 
 through the great straits they had been put into; so 
 that, had he not had some relief in some other kind, 
 they could not have subsisted ; and now, after his 
 decease, his children are left in a very poor condition, 
 especially one brother, that, through the Lord's afflict- 
 ing hand, is so far distempered, as to render him 
 wholly unable to do any thing towards his own main- 
 tenance, and so will be an annual charge ; and it 
 is a great addition to this so great affliction, that his 
 poor brothers have not in their hands to relieve 
 him." 
 
 The petitioner asks nothing for himself, nothing 
 for the other members of President Chauncy's family, 
 but only that what is now due of his father's salary 
 " may be paid in money," and that " our dear dis- 
 tressed brother may not perish for want of support." 
 
 On this petition, the magistrates grant, that the 
 arrearages due should be paid in money ; and the 
 Deputies, assenting, did further grant, that ten pounds 
 a year should be paid by the treasurer of the country 
 to the deacons of Cambridge, for the support of the 
 said petitioner's brother ; to which the magistrates 
 found it in their hearts to assent. 
 
 These details have been thought due to the memo- 
 ry of the two Presidents, Dunster and Chauncy, 
 who, for learning, talent, and fidelity, have been sur- 
 passed by no one of their successors ; who exceeded 
 every one of them in sufferings, sacrifices, and priva- 
 tions ; and whose fate has been little known, and
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 29 
 
 of consequence had little sympathy. And yet they CHAPTER 
 
 were both main supports of the institution for thirty '. 
 
 years, in times when its friends were fewest and its 
 condition humblest ; and were not inferior to any of 
 its friends, patrons, or officers, in establishing its 
 character and perpetuating its usefulness. * 
 
 During the greater part of President Chauncy's Political 
 
 1 r J embarrass 
 
 administration, the political embarrassments of the mente - 
 Colony, consequent upon the restoration of the English 
 monarchy, materially affected the interests of the Col- 
 lege. A political revolution, which threatened the 
 dissolution of the colonial charter, and with it an 
 eventful change in all the civil rights, liberties, and 
 properties of the inhabitants, could not but have a 
 deep influence on the prospects of the institution. 
 Circumstances excited a peculiar anxiety about its 
 fate. The inquiries made concerning it, in 1665, by 
 the Commissioners of Charles the Second, indicated 
 that its existence and importance had not escaped 
 the searching eyes of the English Council of State. 
 To seize upon the seminaries of education was ap- 
 prehended to be the policy of the parent state, as 
 auxiliary to that change in the religious relations of 
 the country, which was avowedly designed by openly 
 introducing the service 'and forms of the Church of 
 England in public worship. 
 
 In addition to these external discouragements, the Financial 
 
 embarrass- 
 
 particular condition of the seminary, during the latter m ^is. 
 part of Chauncy's presidency, was critical and ap- 
 parently hopeless. Its buildings were " ruinous and 
 almost irreparable," " the President was aged," " the 
 number of scholars short of what they had been in 
 
 * See the archives of the General Court.
 
 30 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER former days." All its efficient funds did not amount 
 
 '- to one thousand pounds ; without a new building its 
 
 situation was desperate. The political difficulties of 
 the Colony precluded any expectation of pecuniary 
 aid from the General Court, who, in their best estate, 
 had never been characterized by a disposition to give 
 aid in money. The liberality of individuals was its 
 only resource. Even among these, there did not early 
 appear any active spirit for its relief. 
 
 Ports- In this emergency the town of Portsmouth, in New 
 
 N. H./its Hampshire, first extended a helping; hand to the in- 
 
 noblecon- * ' 
 
 duct. stitution. The inhabitants of that town, in an ad- 
 1669. dress to the General Court, dated in May, 1669, after 
 expressing their thankfulness for the protection ex- 
 tended to them by Massachusetts, and saying, " that, 
 although they had articled with them for exemption 
 from taxes, yet they had never articled with God and 
 their own consciences for exemption from gratitude," 
 which " while they were studying how to demon- 
 strate, the loud groans of the sinking College came 
 to their ears ; and hoping that their example might 
 provoke the rest of the country to an holy emulation 
 in so good a work, and the General Court itself 
 vigorously to act, for the diverting the omen of ca- 
 lamity, which its destruction "would be to New Eng- 
 land," declare, that a voluntary collection had been 
 made among their inhabitants, which authorized the 
 town to pledge the payment of " sixty pounds ster- 
 ling a year for seven years ensuing ; to be improved 
 by the Overseers of the College for the advancement 
 of good literature there." 
 
 This noble example was not lost on Massachusetts. 
 Efficient measures were immediately adopted for 
 raising subscriptions in the Colony, and an agent was
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. g] 
 
 despatched to England to solicit aid from its friends CHAPTER 
 there, with letters and an urgent address to them 
 
 * O 
 
 from the Overseers. These exertions produced, in 
 the course of the ensuing year, subscriptions for 
 more than two thousand six hundred pounds.* Un- 
 der which encouragement, in 1672, authority was 
 given for the commencement of a new edifice. Sub- 
 scriptions, however, were more easily made, than 
 collected. Great delays and delinquencies occurred. 
 The General Court were compelled to interfere ; 
 and, after efforts for five or six years, first by urging, 
 then by threatening, and at last, by actually author- 
 izing the delinquent subscriptions to be collected 
 by distress, they finally succeeded in completing the 
 erection of a new College, in 1682, ten years after 
 it had been commenced. 
 
 The embarrassments of the College at this period Leonard 
 
 x Hoar cho- 
 
 were not exclusively pecuniary. In July, 1672, Leon- ^ t presi ' 
 ard Hoar, a clergyman, and a physician, was elected 1672 
 President. Though not born in the Colony, he was a 
 graduate of the College, but had been resident in 
 England nearly twenty years. He left England, on 
 hearing of the death of Mr. Chauncy, with the design 
 of offering himself as a candidate for the vacant chair. 
 For this purpose, he brought with him recommenda- 
 tions from thirteen clergymen, all of whom were distin- 
 guished friends of the Colony, and had been efficient 
 agents for procuring subscriptions in that country for 
 the College edifice. Collins, who then acted as colo- 
 nial agent in Great Britain, also recommended him, for 
 employment in the College, to Governor Leverett. 
 
 For these reasons, or some other, the General Court 
 seem to have taken a lively interest in his election ; 
 opening their hearts so far as to add fifty pounds 
 
 * See Appendix, No. V.
 
 32 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER to the hundred they were accustomed annually to 
 r grant, " on condition that Dr. Hoar be the man 
 chosen for the vacant President's place." Under 
 these auspices, he was chosen by the Corporation, 
 and approved by the Overseers. In the ensuing 
 October, the General Court passed also a new 
 
 charier of College charter. By this act the name of the Cor- 
 poration was changed from " The President and Fel- 
 lows" to that of " The President, Fellows, and Treas- 
 urer." The number of its members was not in- 
 creased. It was permitted to hold personal property 
 to any amount whatsoever, and real estate to the 
 value of jive hundred pounds per annum. Ten me- 
 nial servants of the Corporation were exempted from 
 all civil and military exercises, and the personal estates 
 of the members of the Corporation and their officers, 
 not exceeding one hundred pounds a man, were 
 exempted from taxes ; and any three of the Corpo- 
 ration, of which the President was to be one, had 
 committed to them full power to fine, sconce, or 
 otherwise correct any officer or member of said So- 
 ciety, according to the laws of the country ; and 
 for this purpose, taking a constable, to enter into 
 any house licensed for public entertainment, where 
 they should be informed, or have reason to suspect, 
 enormities were plotting or acting by any members 
 of said Society. 
 
 Although this charter is entered at large in the jour- 
 nal of the General Court, it does not appear in the 
 records of the seminary ; nor is any notice taken of it 
 in those records, nor in the general history of the times. 
 The probability is, that it was the work of President 
 Hoar, and had some connexion with that evanescent 
 influence, which he seemed, in the year 1672, to have
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 33 
 
 acquired among the members of the General Court;* CHAPTER 
 and, in consequence of that unpopularity, which _ ' 
 immediately followed his entering upon the gov- 
 ernment of the institution, its authority was never 
 recognised by the Corporation. It is certain, that 
 they never assumed the name given by the act, 
 and there exists no evidence of their having, in 
 a single . instance, modified their proceedings ac- 
 cording to its provisions. A year did not elapse, 
 after the election of President Hoar, before there 
 appeared " uncomfortable motions and debates" in 
 the College ; and a second year had not passed, 
 
 before the General Court summoned into their pres- Hoar. 
 ence the Corporation, Overseers, President, and stu- 
 dents ; and, after a full hearing, notwithstanding that 1674. 
 Dr. Hoar, in consideration of the poverty of the stu- 
 dents, voluntarily relinquished fifty pounds of his an- 
 nual salary, the Court f passed this most extraordinary 
 vote ; " That, if the College be found in the same Ian- Vote of 
 guishing condition at the next session, the President Court. 
 is concluded to be dismissed without further hearing." 
 After this decisive encouragement to malcontents, it President 
 was not difficult to anticipate the result. The Col- signs. re 
 lege continued to languish, and Dr. Hoar resigned 675% 
 his office in the March ensuing. 
 
 There is a studied obscurity thrown over the de- 
 fects, if there were really any, in the character of 
 Dr. Hoar. That he was a scholar and a Christian, 
 a man of talent and of great moral worth, is asserted. 
 Yet, for some reason, the young men of the College 
 took a prejudice against him, and, says Cotton Mather, 
 " did all they could to ruin his reputation." The 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LXV1II. 
 f See General Court Records, October, 1674. 
 VOL. I, 5
 
 34 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER cause of this prejudice is unexplained to this day. 
 '- " I can scarce tell how," says Cotton Mather, " but 
 he fell under the displeasure of some that made a, figure 
 in that neighbourhood."* "In a day of temptation, 
 which was now upon them, several good men did un- 
 happily countenance the ungoverned youth in their 
 ungovernableness." It is not difficult, from the re- 
 cords of the College, to gather to whom Cotton Ma- 
 ther here alludes ; and it is due to the memory of 
 Dr. Hoar to say, that the conduct of those " good 
 men, who made a figure in that neighbourhood," and 
 thus encouraged the discontented youth, greatly ex- 
 ceeded, in dereliction of incumbent duty, any thing 
 that appears, or was ever suggested, against him. 
 
 Dr. Hoar was, in a manner, a stranger in the 
 country. He had come strongly recommended, seek- 
 ing the presidency. The General Court had thrown 
 their whole weight into the scale in favor of his elec- 
 tion. His success, it was asserted at the time, had 
 occasioned a disappointment to " the emulation of 
 some expecting the preferment." This, probably, is 
 the clue to all the difficulties which assailed and over- 
 came President Hoar. He was chosen in July, 1672. 
 A year had not elapsed before the students began 
 " to strive to make him odious." In the midst of these 
 
 Unan difficulties, Urian Oakes, Thomas Shepard, Joseph 
 
 Oakc;; re- 
 signs IIH Brown, and John Richardson, members of the Cor- 
 
 tcut in the 
 
 tion pora ~ poration, all resigned their seats at that Board, t 
 leaving it without a constitutional majority, and 
 with no quorum to act, and the President without 
 support. They all fall within the description of 
 11 good men, who made a figure in that neighbourhood, 
 
 * Magnalia, Book IV. Part I. 5. f See Appendix, No. VL
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 35 
 
 and ivho, in a day of temptation, encouraged" the con- CHAPTER 
 
 tiimacious. Whether emulation, or hope of prefer- ! 
 
 ment, had any influence in this course of conduct, 
 must be a matter of inference. It is certain, that 
 no conduct of Dr. Hoar could justify, or even apolo- 
 gize, for such a resignation of a majority of the Cor- 
 poration in the actual state of disorderly combination in 
 the College. Their resignation occasioned an alarm 
 in the Board of Overseers ; who petitioned them to 
 continue, or at least assist at the meetings of the 
 Corporation, and finally warned the remaining mem- 
 bers, that, unless their numbers were filled up, they 
 would endanger their charter privileges. Oakes, Shep- 
 ard, and the rest persisted in their resignation. The 
 Corporation reelect Oakes and Shepard, and they 
 persist in not accepting the trust, until the 15th of 
 March, 1675. On this day, Dr. Hoar sent in his 
 resignation of the presidency. On the same day, 
 Oakes and Shepard took their seats as members of 
 the Corporation, and the seat Dr. Hoar had quitted 
 was given to the Rev. Mr. Oakes. An instant accept- 
 ance of the office would have probably given rise 
 to suspicions, which, considering the part he had 
 taken relative to the difficulties of his predecessor, he 
 must have been willing to avoid. Being importuned 
 to accept the presidency, he refused, but took the Oakes ac- 
 superintendence of the College, with the rank and superin- 
 duties of President, which he held four years. During. 1675. 
 this period the Rev. John Rogers was elected Presi- 
 dent, but declined ; and William Stoughton, then in 
 England, was authorized to provide a President of the 
 College in Europe, in which he could not succeed. 
 
 In February, 1679, Oakes, being again elected, Amuiic 
 
 presidency. 
 
 accepted the office, which he held till his death, 1679.
 
 36 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER in 1681. In the mean time Dr. Hoar had died, in 
 ' obscurity and sorrow, impressed with a deep sense 
 of the wrongs he had sustained, and, as was said, 
 with a broken heart.* 
 
 There was a singular parallelism in the fortunes 
 of Mr. Oakes and Dr. Hoar, of a nature not unlikely 
 to excite an " emulation" between them in respect 
 to the presidency of the College ; an office, which 
 at that time placed the incumbent at the head of the 
 clergy, who then possessed almost a predominating 
 influence in the Colony. Neither of them was a na- 
 tive ; both were brought into the country during their 
 childhood by their parents. They had been contem- 
 poraneously members of the College ; the former hav- 
 ing graduated in 1649, the latter in 1650. Both had 
 returned to England soon after taking their degrees. 
 Both had been settled in the ministry there ; had 
 been ejected for nonconformity ; and again emigrated 
 to this country within a year of each other ; Oakes, 
 in 1671, on an invitation from the church at Cam- 
 bridge to become its pastor ; Hoar, in 1 672, on a 
 like invitation to become its pastor from the Old South 
 Church in Boston. 
 
 The former, being settled in Cambridge, and a fel- 
 low of the Corporation, before the arrival of Dr. Hoar, 
 and possessing qualities suited to the appointment, 
 had probably ingratiated himself with the students 
 and with persons of influence in the immediate vicinity 
 of the College, and had been regarded by them as the 
 natural successor of President Chauncy ; an expecta- 
 tion which it is not unlikely his own heart fostered. 
 The strong recommendations brought by Dr. Hoar, 
 
 * Eliot's Biography, articles " Hoar " and " Oakes."
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 37 
 
 and the efficient declaration in his favor by the Gen- CHAPTER 
 
 eral Court, in a manner compelled his election. The ' 
 
 event disappointed both the students and Mr. Oakes, 
 and led the former, in the language of Cotton Ma- 
 ther, to " turn cudweeds and travestie whatever he 
 did and said, with a design to make him odious," 
 and the latter to countenance these proceedings, by 
 relinquishing his seat in the Corporation until Dr. 
 Hoar had resigned. " The emulation of some seeking 
 the preferment," to which Mather attributes the diffi- 
 culties of Hoar, is applicable to no one except Oakes. 
 It appears also, that, on some account, Oakes was 
 suffering about this time under a great mental excite- 
 ment, which, from the connexion in which it is men- 
 tioned, seems to have reference to this very subject. 
 Governor Leverett, in a letter written in August, 1 674, 
 relating to the troubles of Dr. Hoar, after referring 
 them to " the animosities and perverse spirit of his 
 opposers," proceeds to state, that " Mr. Oakes hath 
 had a distemper hang upon him, which hath much 
 weakened him, the greatest occasion of which is, I 
 think, some exercise of mind."* 
 
 That Oakes had, or believed himself suspected to 
 have, some agency in the , discontent of the College 
 and the troubles of Dr. Hoar, may be surmised from 
 the following entry in the Journal of Judge Sewall, 
 who was at this time a resident graduate of the Col- 
 lege. "5 June, 1674. Mr. Oakes gave me to un- 
 derstand, that, though he respected and loved me as 
 formerly, yet he desired that I would refrain coming 
 to his house, and that he did it se defendendo, lest 
 he should be mistrusted to discourage and dissettle me." 
 
 * Hutchinson's Collection of State Papers, p. 464.
 
 38 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER That, in the opinion of Sewall, the difficulties of the 
 
 '. seminary were not exclusively attributable to Dr. 
 
 Hoar, is to be gathered from another expression in his 
 Journal, under the date of the 16th of October, 1674. 
 " By Mr. Richardson's means I was called upon to 
 speak. The sum of my speech was, that the causes 
 of the lowness of the College were external, as well 
 as internal." However questionable, in respect to 
 Dr. Hoar, the course pursued by Mr. Oakes may 
 have been, the character given of him by Cotton 
 Mather, as " faithful, learned, and indefatigable in 
 all the services of a President," seems to have been 
 well deserved. 
 
 At this period, the difficulty of finding persons suit- 
 able and willing to accept that office was great. 
 In 1681 the Rev. Increase Mather was chosen, and 
 declined. In the same year the Rev. Samuel Torrey, 
 of Weymouth, was chosen, and also declined. In 
 1683, the Rev. John Rogers was again chosen, ac- 
 cepted, and was inaugurated. He did not survive 
 that event one year. 
 
 In 1684, the chair was offered to the Rev. Joshua 
 
 Moody, who declined it. ( And on the llth of June, 
 
 Math" 6 1685, the Rev. Increase Mather was requested " to 
 
 President. ta j^ e S p ec i a l care o f the government of the College, 
 
 and, for that end, to act as President until a farther 
 
 settlement be made." 
 
 Mr. Mather retained this relation sixteen years ; 
 during eight of which he held the office of Pre- 
 sident, although non-resident at Cambridge. The 
 period, which elapsed while the College was under his 
 superintendence, is the most interesting, the most 
 critical, and the most decisive of its destinies, of any 
 in its history. The political and religious parties of
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 39 
 
 the country were, during the whole time, in a state of CHAPTER 
 
 excitement and struggle. The College became one of ' 
 
 the chief arenas and objects of the contests of both ; 
 resulting in events of general and absorbing interest. 
 
 Before entering upon the topics, however, which patronage 
 
 * i i i i i of the Gen- 
 
 Were involved in those contests, it is orderly and 
 
 proper, first, to turn and examine the nature and de- . 
 gree of patronage the College received, during the 
 period now under consideration, from the State ; de- 
 nominated, in this early time, " the country " or " the 
 jurisdiction," afterwards the " Colony " or " Prov- 
 ince," of which the General Court was, in every 
 period, the organ and representative and supreme 
 legislature. During these first seventy years of its 
 existence, the College is indebted to the Court for 
 many instances of countenance, encouragement, and 
 support. 
 
 Their vote in 1 636 planted the first germ of its being. 
 Their acts, in 1642, 1650, and 1657,* gave to it an effi- 
 cient corporate form and powers. They are entitled to 
 be denominated its earliest friends and constant patrons. 
 The character of "founder," the General Court never 
 claimed. On the contrary, in the year 1661, in an 
 address to the Commissioners of Charles the Second, 
 they expressly concede the title of " principal foun- 
 der " to John Harvard. 
 
 Of the General Court, and of the nature and de- 
 gree of patronage which the College received from 
 them, during its early years, justice and truth require 
 us to speak in terms of respect and honor ; although, 
 in fact, their favor and bounty were only a refined 
 and intelligent self-interest, supporting an institution, 
 with whose prosperity their own, and that of their 
 country, were inseparably identified. 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LXVIII.
 
 40 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 II. 
 
 Grants of 
 money. 
 
 Grants of 
 land. 
 
 In respect to grants of money, the patronage of the 
 General Court, during this first period of seventy 
 years, certainly never exceeded, and there is no 
 known documentary evidence, that it ever equalled, 
 the annual payment of 100 until the year 1673, and 
 that of 150 during the subsequent years of this 
 period. These payments, with the income of the 
 Ferry, were the only resources of the institution, of 
 a permanent character, for the support of the Pre- 
 sident and officers. The deficiency was made up 
 by assessments on the students. With the exception 
 of this annual stipend, there is no evidence of grants 
 of money, or even transfers of rates, except at times, 
 when the treasury of the Colony actually possessed an 
 amount greatly exceeding such grant or transfer, re- 
 ceived from private donations, on account of the Col- 
 lege. During that whole period its officers were 
 dependent for daily bread upon the bounty of the 
 General Court. They always stood before the Court 
 in the attitude of humble suppliants, destitute of the 
 power even to enforce their rights ; and found, by 
 bitter experience, how miserable is he who hangs on 
 a sovereign's favor, be that sovereign one or many, 
 prince or people. 
 
 In respect to grants of land, the General Court, in 
 1652, gave to the College eight hundred acres, and 
 in 1653, two thousand acres. Both grants failed. 
 In 1658 the Court attempted to indemnify the Col- 
 lege for this loss, by granting to it two thousand 
 one hundred acres of land, being, as they thought, a 
 part of their share of the plunder accruing from their 
 victory over the Pequods. The Colony of Connecticut, 
 however, claimed these lands as their own portion of 
 the spoils, and dispossessed the College of them ; and it
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 41 
 
 is not known or believed, that the College obtained CHAPTER 
 
 any thing from that grant. In 1683, the General ! 
 
 Court made another attempt to patronize the College 
 by a grant of one thousand acres of land at Merri- 
 coneage. This grant, however, had the fate of its 
 predecessors. The College gained nothing by it, but 
 a lawsuit and a judgment disaffirming its title. During 
 the first seventy years, the College derived no aid from 
 the General Court towards the erection of its buildings 
 or the increase of its funds, in consequence of any 
 grant or donation. These were altogether the result 
 of individual munificence. So that the whole bounty 
 of that body, during this entire period, was limited 
 to the annual payment, at first, of 100, and after- 
 ward 150, as above stated, and the income of the 
 Ferry. 
 
 Neither does it anywhere appear that the original 
 grant of 400 was ever specifically paid.* As far as 
 can now be ascertained, the above annual grants were 
 deemed a sufficient fulfilment of that vote. 
 
 Let not these statements lead to the conclusion, 
 that the degree of patronage extended by the General 
 Court was of little worth, or is intended to be under- 
 valued. Notwithstanding the deficiency in direct dona- 
 tives, the College is largely indebted to them for the 
 actual prosperity, to which, during the period in ques- 
 tion, it attained. The necessities of the country were 
 extreme ; its available resources scanty and precarious. 
 The people were struggling with the parent State for 
 their charters, and with the Indians for their existence. 
 Their annual revenues were regularly exhausted. 
 Surplus they had none. The power, of raising rev- 
 
 * See Appendix, No. VII. 
 VOL. I. 6
 
 42 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER enue by credit, either did not exist, or was extreme- 
 ii. 
 
 - ly limited. They had only influence and authority. 
 
 These they exerted largely, unsparingly, and efficiently 
 for its support and advancement. 
 
 In respect to the patronage of the General Court, 
 it cannot fail to be gratifying to the friends of the 
 College to be assured, that, from unquestionable 
 documents it is manifest, that neither the erection of 
 its buildings, nor the creation of its funds, added any 
 thing to the embarrassments of the country, nor were 
 they objects of any appropriation of its revenues during 
 the whole of this first period of its existence. On 
 the contrary, it is manifest, that the treasury of the 
 Colony, having been the recipient of many of the early 
 donations to the College, was not a little aided by the 
 convenience, which, in the poverty of the time, these 
 available funds afforded to its pecuniary necessities. 
 Some of those funds, although received by the treasury 
 of the Colony in 1647, were not paid over to the 
 treasury of the College, until 1713; then, indeed, the 
 College received an allowance of simple interest for 
 the delay. 
 
 There is a curious evidence of the opinion enter- 
 tained, on this subject, by the Corporation of the 
 College, in a memorial addressed by them to the Gen- 
 eral Court in 1697, having for its object to induce the 
 Court to aid in obtaining a charter for the College from 
 the King. " The time has been," say the Corpora- 
 tion in this memorial, " when the College has accom- 
 modated this Colony with a considerable sum of money, 
 not repaid to this hour ; and we would persuade our- 
 selves, that this Province will, in point of gratitude, 
 not refuse to be helpful unto the good settlement of
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 43 
 
 that society, on which the welfare of the public so CHAPTER 
 
 much depends." ! 
 
 With regard, therefore, to the annual allowance of 
 100, whereby they enabled the President of the 
 College simply to exist, it is proper to observe, that 
 there was not probably one year in the whole seventy, 
 in which, by moneys collected from friends of the 
 institution in foreign countries, by donations of its 
 friends in this country, by moneys brought by students 
 coming from other colonies for education here, and, 
 above all, by furnishing the means of education at 
 home, and thus preventing the outgoing of domestic 
 wealth for education abroad, the College did not re- 
 munerate the Colony for that poor annual stipend five 
 hundred fold. Well and truly did the Earl Bellamont, 
 when Governor of Massachusetts in 1699, say to the 
 General Court, " It is a very great advantage you 
 have above other provinces, that your youth are not 
 put to travel for learning, but have the Muses at their 
 doors." 
 
 HARVARD HALL, BUILT IN 1682 ; DESTROYED BY FIRE IN 1764.
 
 44 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Influence of the Clergy on the College. Its catholic Spirit. Causes 
 of this traced to the Civil and Ecclesiastical Constitution of the 
 Colony. State of Religious Parties, and their Effect. Influence 
 of Increase and Cotton Mather on the College and the Colony. 
 The Administration of Andres, and its Effect. President Mather's 
 Agency in England. His Influence in procuring the Charter of 
 the Colony in 1692, and in the Appointments under it. The 
 Witchcraft Delusion. The College connected with it by the 
 Mathers. State of Parties, which arose in Consequence of that 
 Charter. 
 
 CHAPTER THE Congregational clergy next demand our notice. 
 To them this institution is perhaps more indebted, 
 than to any other class of men, for early support, if 
 not for existence. Of money and lands, they had little 
 or none, a few of them only excepted. The power 
 which they possessed, they exerted for the College 
 with zeal and affection. They promoted its interests 
 by every instrument of authority, and every legitimate 
 form of influence, at their command. It was the 
 frequent topic of their sermons, and the constant 
 object of their prayers. They were active for it in 
 private solicitation, and urgent in public assemblies. 
 Its founder was a member of their body. Those of 
 them, who had wealth, contributed according to their 
 means, in money or in books. Everywhere they 
 were its unceasing and unwearied advocates. Pos- 
 sessing, at that day, a predominating influence in the 
 Colony, they did not fail to associate the College with
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 45 
 
 the all-absorbing passions and prejudices of the time. CHAPTER 
 
 They denominated it " the School of the Prophets," ! 
 
 and identified its success with all the prospects and 
 all the hopes of religion in the Province.} 
 
 Above all, we are, probably, indebted to the clergy 
 for the catholic and liberal spirit breathed into its first, 
 and into each successive, Constitution ; in every pe- 
 riod its vital principle and distinguishing characteris- 
 tic ; to which may be chiefly ascribed its success and 
 prosperity. 
 
 The erection of a seminary of learning, particularly E'y w>- 
 if it have for its object instruction in theology, is of of . t]}e . in - 
 
 * CV ' stitution. 
 
 all opportunities the most favorable to the establish- 
 ment of sectarian tenets, if such exist at the time and 
 have influence. Now the clergy of that early period 
 were, not only a learned and wise, but eminently a 
 practical body of men. They were also conscienti- 
 ously imbued with certain peculiar religious opinions, 
 which constituted the prevalent doctrines of all Prot- 
 estant Christendom in that day. Their influence over 
 the statesmen of the Colony was second to none the 
 world ever witnessed. The religion of both was not 
 so much coincident, as identical. Both were well 
 apprized of the advantages resulting to worldly power 
 from the possession and control of the seminaries of 
 education. We expect, therefore, on opening the 
 several charters, which form the Constitution of this 
 University, to find it, with certainty, anchored head 
 and stern, secure against wind, tide, and current, 
 moored firmly on all the points which, in that day, 
 were deemed fixed and immutable. We expect to 
 find, in these instruments, some " form of sound 
 words," some " creed," some " catechism," some 
 " medulla theologize," established as the standard of
 
 46 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER religious faith, to which every one, entering on an 
 
 ! office of government and instruction, shall be required 
 
 to swear and subscribe, and, at the hazard of perjury 
 and hypocrisy, under the combined temptations of loss 
 of place, of caste, and of bread, at stated periods to 
 renew his oath and subscription. 
 
 Yet, surprising as is the fact, there is not, in any 
 one of the charters that form the Constitution of this 
 College, one expression, on which a mere sectarian 
 spirit can seize to wrest it into a shackle for the 
 human soul. The idea seems never to have entered 
 the minds of its early founders, of laying conscience 
 under bonds for good behaviour. It is impossible, 
 even at this day, when the sun of free inquiry is 
 thought to be at its zenith, to devise any terms more 
 unexceptionable, or better adapted to assure the en- 
 joyment of equal privileges to every religious sect or 
 party. 
 
 The first Constitution of Harvard College, estab- 
 lished in 1642, in enumerating the powers granted 
 and the objects proposed to be attained by its foun- 
 dation, makes use of these simple and memorable 
 terms ; " To make and establish all such orders, sta- 
 tutes, and constitutions, as they shall see necessary 
 for the instituting, guiding, and furthering of the said 
 College, and the several members thereof, from time 
 to time, in piety, morality, and learning." Nor does 
 the charter of 1650, although it somewhat varies the 
 expressions, introduce any thing indicative of a design 
 to give the institution a sectarian bias. Its objects 
 are in this charter stated to be, " the advancement of 
 all good literature, arts, and sciences," and " the edu- 
 cation of the English and Indian youth of this country 
 in knowledge and godliness" The only terms, used
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 47 
 
 in either of these charters connecting this institution CHAPTER 
 with the religious principle, are "piety" and " godli- - 
 ness " ; terms of all others the least susceptible of 
 being wrested to projects merely sectarian. 
 
 In the conduct of the College, also, the fathers 
 of New England evidenced a singular freedom from 
 sectarian influence. The first two Presidents, and 
 the only ones appointed by the early emigrants, were 
 known unbelievers in points of religious faith to which 
 the Congregational clergy of that time rigidly adhered. 
 
 Those emigrants were Psedobaptists ; that is, be- 
 lievers in infant baptism as a divine rite. Dunster 
 was, as has been stated, an avowed antipaedobaptist ; 
 yet he was chosen and continued President of the 
 seminary fourteen years ; and would never have been 
 compelled to resign, had not his excited zeal for his 
 own sectarian faith led him, in a moment of indis- 
 cretion, to overstep the bounds of prudence, and to 
 bear public testimony, in the church at Cambridge, 
 against infant baptism. 
 
 The second President, Chauncy, was not less he- 
 retical than his predecessor, according to the standard 
 of religious faith adopted by the early emigrants ; 
 and also on this very point of infant baptism. He 
 did not, indeed, like Dunster, hold that adults were 
 the only subjects of this rite. His heresy consisted 
 in this, that, whereas the prevailing faith among the 
 emigrants was, that in baptism " a sprinkling was 
 sufficient," the faith of President Chauncy was, says 
 the historian Hubbard, " that the infant should be 
 washed all over." " An opinion," he adds, " not 
 tolerable in this cold region, and impracticable at 
 certain seasons of the year." */ 
 
 * See Mass. Hist. Coll., Second Series, Vol. VI. p. 544.
 
 48 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER The original seal of the College is also illustrative 
 of its early independence of a sectarian spirit. At 
 the first " meeting of the governors of the College " 
 after the first charter was obtained, on the 27th of 
 December, 1643, a College seal was adopted, having, 
 as at present, three open books on the .field of an 
 heraldic shield, with the motto " Veritas" inscribed. 
 The books were probably intended to represent the 
 Bible ; and the motto to intimate, that in the Scrip- 
 tures alone important truth was to be sought and 
 found, and not in words of man's devising. This is the 
 only College seal which has the sanction of any record.* 
 Whether this or any other indication of a liberal 
 spirit, exhibited by the clergy, who, in that day, 
 guided the seminary, had given offence, does not ap- 
 pear from history. It does however appear, that, for 
 some cause, the Congregational clergy of that period 
 were subjected to the charge of "dethroning Christ 
 and setting up for themselves,"! made against them 
 by a class of enthusiasts, who pretended to greater 
 purity and a more evangelical spirit. Concerning 
 which class of enthusiasts, Thomas Shepard, one of 
 the Overseers of the College, and a man of eminent 
 learning and piety, in one of his writings published 
 about this time (1645), speaks with great asperity, 
 as aiming, under these pretences, to establish worldly 
 power, and to gratify their own personal ambition ; 
 and he calls them "Evangelical hypocrites."! "The 
 
 * The adjoining fac-simile of the original design of this seal sug- 
 gested the vignette on the title-page, in which it is represented in a 
 more regular form. 
 
 t Savage's Winthrop, Vol. I. p. 289. 
 
 | New England's Lamentations for Old England's Errors s in a 
 Letter from Thomas Shepard. Dated, Cambridge, Dec. 10th, 1644. 
 London, printed 1645.
 
 FAC SIMILE OF A PART OF THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE FIRST MEETING OF THE 
 GOVERNORS OF THE COLLEGE UNDER THE CHARTER OF 1642 . 
 
 f, 
 
 c/U 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 /$?#< (Jj-n^S- k. I&- fiufcji&j. 
 
 P 
 
 p*/***. 
 
 fa
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 49 
 
 Epistles of James and John," says he, " are antidotes CHAPTER 
 
 against this kind of poison ; and I look upon them as '. 
 
 lamps, hung up .to discover these men." " The most 
 subtle hypocrites," he adds, " appear, or seem to be, 
 under grace, and their external operations are chiefly 
 evangelical; hence I call them Evangelical hypo- 
 crites." * 
 
 Whatever was the cause, it appears that the motto 
 " Veritas " was soon exchanged for " In Christi glo- 
 riam." f After many years there was another change. 
 Circumstances give color to the conjecture, that this 
 took place during the Presidency of Increase Mather, 
 when a violent struggle was making to secure the Col- 
 lege under the influences of the old established Con- 
 gregational church.J At this time, there is reason to 
 believe, that, instead of "In Christi gloriam," the 
 motto now in use, " Christo et Ecclesm," was adopt- 
 ed. There is, however, no authority for either of 
 these mottos in any existing College record ; nor is 
 it known, with certainty, when either was introduced. 
 
 There is, unquestionably, a liberality of religious cause of 
 principle manifested in the several charters of this spirit. 
 College, apparently irreconcilable with the general 
 conduct and policy resulting from predominating re- 
 ligious opinions in that day. But it is well known, 
 that, among the early emigrants, there existed men, 
 who were true disciples of the great principles of the 
 Reformation, and who even carried them to a degree 
 of theoretic perfection, scarcely exceeded in our time. 
 It is possible, nay, even probable, that the reason of 
 the entire absence of any reference to points of re- 
 
 * The Parable of the Ten Virgins, by Thomas Shepard. London, 
 1695. Fol. 
 
 t See above, p. 23. J See App. No. VIII. See the end of this volume. 
 VOL. I. 7
 
 50 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER ligious faith in the charters of the College was,~that 
 
 '- these early emigrants could not agree concerning them 
 
 among themselves, and preferred silence on such points 
 to engaging in controversy, when establishing a semi- 
 nary of learning, in favor of which they were desir- 
 ous to unite all the varieties of religious belief. The 
 right of exercising private judgment in matters of 
 religion was, at that day, in terms at least, univer- 
 sally recognised. It is not possible more expressly 
 to maintain the right of every man to construe Scrip- 
 ture for himself, as a fundamental principle, than did 
 some of the most distinguished and approved leaders 
 of that period. This assertion might easily be sup- 
 ported by quotations from the writings of many of 
 them. It will be sufficient, however, to refer to those 
 of that most famous and efficient religious champion, 
 John Robinson, whose influence, more than that of 
 any other individual, presided over the first emigration 
 to New England. The parting lesson he gave to his 
 church, when about departing for this country, is fa- 
 miliarly known ; " To think for themselves, and not, 
 like the Lutherans and Calvinists, stop short where 
 their leaders stopped ; but to follow their leaders no 
 farther than they followed Christ." 
 
 It is difficult to conceive of a more catholic and 
 liberal spirit, than that which is indicated in all his 
 writings. He says ; " God, who made two great 
 lights for the bodily eye, hath also made two lights 
 for the eye of the mind. The one, the Scriptures, 
 for her supernatural light, and the other, reason, for 
 her natural light. And, indeed, only these two are a 
 man's own, and so is not the authority of other men. 
 The Scriptures are as well mine as any other man's ; 
 and so is reason, as far as I can attain to it. But the
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 51 
 
 authority of others is not mine, but theirs."* Again; CHAPTER 
 
 " When we avow the Scriptures' perfection, we ex- 
 
 elude not from men common sense and the light of 
 nature, by which we are both subjects, capable of 
 understanding them, and are directed in sundry man- 
 ners of doing things commanded by them."f And 
 again ; " This is the first thing we are to believe, 
 that we are to believe nothing but according to the 
 Scriptures. All things else are human ; and human it 
 is to err and be deceived. The custom of the church 
 is but the custom of men ; the sentence of the 
 fathers but the opinions of men ; the determinations 
 of councils but the judgments of men."J 
 
 To such a degree of liberality had this great divine 
 in that age attained, that, in the figurative language 
 then common, he represents the yielding of implicit 
 reverence to the opinions of the church or of men, to 
 be one of the choice arts of the Devil. " In former 
 ages," says he, " the Devil has so far prevailed, as 
 that men, in superstitious reverence, have, as it were, 
 pinned their faith and religion upon the sleeves of the 
 church's authority or clergy's learning, putting out or 
 winking with their own eyes, that their guides might 
 lead them. And this blindfold devotion is yet affected 
 by too many."^ 
 
 The existence and the nature of this liberal spirit 
 in many of the early emigrants, and the causes which 
 checked and limited its developement, will be ren- 
 dered further apparent from the political and religious 
 controversies relative to the College, which occurred 
 
 * Essays, Divine and Moral, by John Robinson. 3d Edit. Lon- 
 don, 1638. p. 118. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 100. + Ibid. p. 102. Ibid. p. 119.
 
 52 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER during the presidency of Increase Mather, and which 
 constitute the most critical and eventful chapter of its 
 history. It is impossible to understand the bearings of 
 those controversies, which began at that time, and have 
 not wholly ceased in our day, without recurring to the 
 first charter of the Colony, and the powers assumed 
 and the civil constitution established under it by the 
 first emigrants to the Massachusetts Bay. Nor can 
 we otherwise account for the remarkable fact in the 
 history of this College, that a literary institution, 
 founded for the instruction of the whole people 
 in general science, should have been, from the first, 
 spoken of, lauded, and conducted, as though it had 
 been a theological seminary, destined exclusively for 
 the benefit of one order of men ; and that this lan- 
 guage in respect to it should have been continued to 
 be used, with few exceptions, during the whole of the 
 century in which it was established, and have, in a 
 degree, prevailed even in our own time, 
 objects of The emigrants, who, in 1630, brought with them 
 emigration, to this country the first charter of Massachusetts, 
 came here, to use the language of the famous John 
 Cotton, " for the purpose of securing to themselves 
 and their posterity, the pure .and peaceable enjoyment 
 of the ordinances of Christ, in church fellowship with 
 his people." They were, or at least assumed that 
 they were, in a condition, and with powers, " to 
 mould or form a commonwealth, as should appear 
 best to them." Being in this condition, they chose, 
 that " religion should be the end of their civil govern- 
 ment." " There are," says the same distinguished 
 divine, " two administrations or polities, ecclesiastical 
 and civil, which men commonly call the Church and 
 Commonwealth. Both agree in this, that they have
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 53 
 
 the common welfare for their scope and aim ; yet the CHAPTER 
 
 things, about which the civil power is primarily con- ! 
 
 versant are bodies ; the things of this life, as goods, 
 lands, honors ; the liberties and peace of the outward 
 man. The things, whereabout the church power is 
 exercised, are things of God; as the souls and con- 
 sciences of men, the doctrine and worship of God, the 
 communion of saints." 
 
 With these views and this understanding, the early 
 emigrants deliberately adopted, as the fundamental 
 principle of their civil constitution, that " the power 
 of electing and being elected to office should be exclu- 
 sively vested in church members ; " that is, " to these 
 alone the management of all public affairs of impor- 
 tance should be committed." 
 
 From this fundamental principle of their constitu- 
 tion, there resulted, and for the first sixty years after 
 their emigration there was upheld, in Massachusetts, 
 as complete an intertexture of Church and State, as 
 perfect a church establishment, as ever existed in any 
 country. Nor was this unknown, or unavowed. On 
 the contrary, it was openly asserted and vindicated, 
 as natural and necessary. The same leading divine, 
 John Cotton, speaks to this point in language un- 
 equivocal. " In England," says he, " none but mem- 
 bers of the Church of England are entrusted with the 
 management of affairs. In Popish countries, none but 
 such as are Catholics. In Turkey itself, none but 
 men devoted to Mahomet. Yea, these very Indians, 
 that worship the Devil, will not be under the govern- 
 ment of any Sagamores, but such as join with them 
 in the observance of their pawawes and idolatries ; so 
 that it seems to be a principle, imprinted in the minds 
 of men, in the equity of it, that such a form of gov-
 
 54 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 III. 
 
 CHAPTER eminent, as best serveth to establish their religion, 
 should, by the consent of all, be established in the civil 
 State"* 
 
 The effect of this civil constitution was, first, that 
 none but members of the church were freemen of the 
 state ; secondly, as none could be church members 
 whom the minister did not approve, it followed that 
 the ecclesiastical ruler had an efficient negative on 
 the admission of every freeman ; and thirdly, as ex- 
 communication from the church created a civil, as 
 well as ecclesiastical disability, it also followed, that 
 both the attainment and continuance of political rights 
 were, to all practical purposes, in the hands of the 
 ecclesiastical rulers."]/ 
 
 The nature of this civil constitution is a further 
 explanation of the cause of the liberal features of the 
 College charters. The ecclesiastical rulers, being 
 all-sufficient under the civil constitution, required no 
 special provision against contumacious consciences in 
 those charters. It also explains why a literary insti- 
 tution, founded for objects of general science, with no 
 reference to particular religious opinions, was con- 
 sidered and permitted, by the civil authorities, to be 
 conducted as though it were a theological seminary. 
 For, the end for which civil government was here 
 established being religion, all the institutions of the 
 country, and especially those of education, were natu- 
 rally to be made subservient to the great end of the 
 civil constitution. And, above all, does it explain the 
 origin and causes of those political and religious con- 
 
 * A Discourse about Civil Government in a Plantation, whose 
 Design is Religion ; by John Cotton. 1663. 
 t See Hutchinson's Collection of State Papers. Boston, 1769. p. 520
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 55 
 
 troversies, which occurred about the College, imme- CHAPTER 
 
 diately upon the dissolution of the old and the estab- ! 
 
 lishment of the new Colonial charter, which was 
 granted by William and Mary in 16920 
 
 That charter effected in Massachusetts as perfect General ef- 
 and thorough a revolution, as ever was produced by colonial 
 
 3 . J charter of 
 
 a similar act in any state or nation. It changed, not 1692. 
 only the form of the government, and the relations 
 of power among the people, but also the entire foun- 
 dation and objects of the government. By making 
 freehold and property, instead of church member- 
 ship, the qualification of the right of electing and 
 being elected to office, religion became no longer the 
 end and object of the civil government.) In the lan- 
 guage of John Cotton, civil government in Massa- 
 chusetts was no longer " exercised about the things 
 of God, the souls and consciences of men, the doc- 
 trine and worship of God, and the communion of 
 saints," but had exclusively for its end " the things 
 about which the civil power is usually conversant ; 
 goods, lands, honors, the liberties and peace of the 
 outward man." 
 
 The direct effect of this new charter was therefore, 
 manifestly, to deprive the clergy of the Province 
 of that civil power, which they had, from the first 
 settlement of the country, enjoyed. This effect was 
 instinctively perceived by the ecclesiastical leaders, 
 who were unremitting and vigorous in their endeav- 
 ours to retain the civil authority they had so long 
 possessed. Of these leaders, Increase Mather, and influence 
 Cotton Mather, his son, were the most active, able, tatter 
 and indefatigable. The extraordinary influence of 
 President Mather, during the period immediately 
 preceding and succeeding the new charter, is insep-
 
 56 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER arably identified with the history of the Province. 
 In nothing, however, is it more apparent than in 
 the manner in which he was permitted to manage 
 the affairs of the College, and shape them to his own 
 purposes. He was appointed to the superintendence 
 of the institution in 1685, immediately afterward made 
 Rector, and soon President. He held the relation to 
 it of head for sixteen years ; during all which time 
 he was not resident at Cambridge (six months ex- 
 cepted) ; four of which years he was in Europe ; 
 and during eight he was perpetually assailed by votes 
 of one or the other branch of the General Court, and 
 required to be resident at the College. All these 
 requisitions he found means to evade, until 1701. 
 Being then compelled by the urgency of the General 
 Court to reside there or resign, he considered him- 
 self extremely ill treated ; and his son Cotton declares 
 " his abdication was not brought about as fairly as it 
 should have been," and takes credit to himself " for 
 not telling the whole story."* Of the motives and 
 master passions of his eventful presidency, we are 
 enabled to speak with great certainty. There is no 
 class of men, to whom history is under so many obli- 
 gations as to those, who submit to the labor of keep- 
 ing diaries. On the one hand, they enjoy a great 
 advantage over their contemporaries, by being thus 
 enabled to tell their own story to posterity in their 
 own way, when there are none living to explain or 
 contradict ; yet, on the other hand, nature establishes 
 for this advantage a compensation, in the fact, that 
 they are often led, by vanity, passion, or inadvertence, 
 to state facts and make records, which place their 
 
 * Life of Increase Mather, by his Son, p. 173.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 57 
 
 III. 
 
 own characters and views, or those of their friends, CHAPTER 
 in lights which they had carefully concealed from their 
 contemporaries; views which the world, although it 
 might have suspected, could not otherwise have made 
 certain. This is remarkably the case in respect to 
 President Mather and his son. They both kept diaries, 
 in which they have themselves recorded their motives 
 and purposes ; so that in relation to either there can 
 hardly be any mistake. 
 
 In June, 1685, Increase Mather was requested by 1685. 
 the Overseers to " take special care for the govern- 
 ment of the College, and for that end to act as Presi- 
 dent until a farther settlement be orderly made."* To 
 this he acceded. His oversight, however, was neces- 
 sarily formal and occasional. He lived in Boston, and, 
 besides his parochial labors, was actively engaged in 
 the absorbing politics of the period. In consequence, 
 the annual grant of the General Court to the President 
 for his services was, this year, placed at the disposal 
 of the Corporation, to be applied by them " for the 
 encouragement of such as have done the ivork."^ 
 Under that vote nothing was given by the Corpora- 
 tion to Increase Mather ; but whatever was distributed 
 " on account of the President's work," was given to 
 John Leverett and John Cotton ; the former of whom 
 was, about this time, appointed fellow of the Cor- 
 poration, and commenced an active fulfilment of his 
 duties as instructor in the College. 
 
 During the period which elapsed between the dis- 
 solution of the old charter of the Colony in 1684, 
 and the arrival of the new charter in 1692, the Col- 
 lege partook of the embarrassments of the Colony. 
 
 * College Records, Book I. p. 68. t Ibid. p. 69. 
 
 VOL. I. 8
 
 58 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER The public records of the latter, for several years, 
 '- are lost,* and those of the former are extremely de- 
 ficient. It appears, however, from such of them as 
 Dudley's remain, that Joseph Dudley, who held, between May 
 of the** and December, in the year 1686, the commission of 
 i 6 sV President of the Colony, and William Stoughton, who 
 held, during the same time, that of Deputy Pres- 
 ident, availed themselves of their transitory power 
 to place the College on a basis adapted to the uncer- 
 tainty which hung over its destinies, in common with 
 those of the Colony. On the 23d of July in that 
 year,f they, with their Council, met at Cambridge, 
 and appointed Increase Mather, Rector, and John 
 Leverett and Thomas Brattle, Tutors, enjoining upon 
 the Rector to make his " usual visitations," and vest- 
 ing in the two last " the government " of the College. 
 Andros. Andros, during his short arid violent rule, inter- 
 fered but little, if at all, with this settlement. On 
 the departure of Increase Mather for England, in 
 1688, he appointed William Hubbard temporary Presi- 
 dent or Rector, J for the purpose of officiating at 
 Commencement. It appears also, by Judge Sewall's 
 1686. Diary, that, in July of that year, Andros attended 
 Commencement, bringing with him Ratcliffe, a clergy- 
 man of the Church of England, who, by his orders, 
 had a seat assigned to him in the pulpit with the Presi- 
 dent. This circumstance was sufficiently annoying, 
 and probably was regarded as an intended insult, to 
 the stern Congregationalists, who then governed the 
 College. They extended, however, to Ratcliffe no 
 professional comity ; nor was he permitted to take 
 
 * Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, Vol. I. p. 317. 
 
 t College Records, Book IV. p. 1. 
 
 J See Mass. Hist. Coll., Third Series, Vol. I. p. 83.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 59 
 
 any part in the ceremonies. For Sewall carefully CHAPTER 
 records, that President Mather " prayed both forenoon 
 and afternoon, and also craved blessing and returned 
 thanks in the Hall." 
 
 It was customary at this period for the President 
 to make an oration on Commencement day. Sewall 
 relates, that President Mather, after giving the degrees 
 in 1685, made an oration in praise of academical 
 studies and degrees. At the Commencement also, 1688. 
 in 1688, Hubbard, when officiating as President under 
 the appointment of Andros, " made an oration," ac- 
 cording to Sewall, " in which he compared Sir William 
 Phips (who had been knighted for discovering and 
 taking possession of the wealth of a sunken Spanish 
 galleon) to Jason bringing home the golden fleece." 
 
 In the course of this year President Mather sailed President 
 
 *'.' ' . ' . . Mather's 
 
 for England at the instigation of the civil and eccle- agency in 
 
 England. 
 
 siastical authorities of the Colony. The openness 
 and boldness, with which he had resisted the tyran- 
 nical acts of Andros and Randolph, rendered him 
 extremely popular with both those orders, and not less 
 odious to each of these individuals. He was in 
 Europe during the Revolution of 1688, watched its 
 progress with solicitude, was soon appointed one of 
 the agents of the Colony at the Court of Great 
 Britain, and was chiefly instrumental in forming the 
 new Provincial charter of 1692, and in persuading 
 the people of the Colony to accept it. Being con- 
 sidered as the head and representative of the clergy 
 of Massachusetts, the ministers of the crown were 
 desirous to conciliate him ; well knowing, that the 
 ecclesiastical was in fact the predominating estate 
 of the Colonial realm. To this end, they gave him 
 the nomination of the Governor, the Council, and
 
 60 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER all the officers appointed under the new charter. 
 
 in. 
 
 These were of course taken from among his friends. 
 Political He returned to this country in 1692, possessing the 
 
 influence of j n , . r , f 
 
 President unexampled influence resulting from the fact, that all 
 
 Mather. . b 
 
 the members of the executive branch of the new gov- 
 ernment were indebted to him for their nomination. 
 To the Mathers this was a subject of extreme exulta- 
 tion, and particularly the appointment of Sir William 
 Phips as Governor. 
 
 " The time has come ! the set time has come ! " 
 exclaims Cotton Mather, in his Diary under the date 
 of April, 1692; " I am now to receive an answer of 
 so many prayers. All the Counsellors of the Province 
 are of my own father's nomination ; and my father- 
 in-law, with several related unto me, and several 
 brethren of my own church, are among them. The 
 Governor of the Province is not my enemy, but one 
 whom I baptized ; namely, Sir William Phips, one 
 of my own flock, and one of my dearest friends." 
 wiiiiam William Stoughton also was under obligation to the 
 
 Stoughton. . c . 
 
 Mathers lor his appointment as Lieutenant-Governor. 
 The circumstances under which it took place ren- 
 dered their favor peculiarly grateful and impressive. 
 Of all the victims of the Provincial Revolution of 1688, 
 Joseph Dudley, next to Andros, was most obnoxious 
 to the people of Massachusetts. That Stoughton en- 
 tertained for him a strong personal attachment was 
 well known. He had also coincided in Dudley's 
 political course, and had accepted, with him, a seat in 
 the Council of Andros. On these accounts he lost much 
 of the public confidence, had been excluded from the 
 Board of Assistants, and the state of his political in- 
 fluence had consequently become precarious and un- 
 pleasant. His popularity, being in these straits, took
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 61 
 
 refuge under the shadow of the influence of the Ma- CHAPTER 
 
 thers. He made, it appears, about this time, effectual - 
 
 court to Cotton Mather, who is found, accordingly, 
 recommending to his father, then agent in Great Bri- 
 tain, to provide for Stoughton, as " a real friend to 
 New England," as " willing to make amendment for 
 all his miscarriages," and one whom he desired his 
 father " to restore to the favor of his country."* 
 This recommendation, if it were not the cause of the 
 nomination of Stoughton by Increase Mather, had 
 unquestionable weight in effecting his appointment as 
 Lieutenant- Governor. 
 
 It cannot be doubted, that the coincidence of 
 Stoughton's passions, prejudices, and policy, with those 
 of the Mathers, was the cause of his immediate ap- 
 pointment, after the organization of the Provincial 
 government in 1692, to the office of Chief Justice 
 on the trials for witchcraft, then instituted under their 
 auspices. This appointment was made in the first 
 year of the administration of Phips, while the Ma- 
 thers were in the flush of their political influence. 
 Taking, as they did avowedly, a lively interest in the 
 result of those trials, it admits not of a doubt, that 
 Stoughton owed this, to him a melancholy eminence, 
 to the agreement of his and their views. He fully 
 justified the expectations of, his patrons. The con- 
 tinuance and cruel destructiveness of that popular 
 infatuation are associated so closely and disgracefully 
 with the memory of no individual, as with that of 
 William Stoughton. The only refuge for his charac- 
 ter, against charges of a deeper die, is the sealed 
 blindness of his bigotry. 
 
 * See Hutch. Hist. Mass. Edit. 1795. Vol. I. p. 365.
 
 62 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER The particulars of that excitement scarcely fall 
 
 '. within the sphere of this History. Some reference 
 
 Excitement to it, however, is required by the fact, that, as the 
 
 concerning ,..,. , / i -i i ' 
 
 witchcraft, belief in the agency of the invisible world began 
 to lessen, and some of those, who were the chief 
 actors in the tragedy, to feel the weight of public 
 indignation pressing upon them, they, being mem- 
 bers of the Corporation, brought this body into the 
 field for the purpose of giving countenance to that 
 belief, and of sustaining this decaying faith. In 
 March, 1694, a paper,* purporting to be proposals 
 made by the President and Fellows of Harvard Col- 
 lege, prepared by both the Mathers, and signed by 
 the whole board, was circulated throughout New 
 England ; inviting all men, and particularly the clergy, 
 to observe and record " the illustrious discoveries of 
 Divine Providence in the government of the world," 
 and among others, " apparitions, possessions, enchant- 
 ments, and all extraordinary things, wherein the ex- 
 istence and agency of the invisible world are more 
 sensibly demonstrated." 
 
 That both the Mathers had an efficient agency in 
 producing and prolonging that excitement, there can 
 be, at this day, no possible question. The conduct of 
 Increase Mather in relation to it was marked with cau- 
 
 Cotton tion and political skill ; but that of his son, Cotton 
 Mather, ,was headlong, zealous, and fearless, both as 
 to character and consequences. In its commencement 
 and progress, his activity is everywhere conspicuous. 
 The part he acted in that tragedy has left on his 
 memory a stain, which time has deepened rather than 
 
 * See Robert Calef's "More Wonders of the Invisible World." 
 Reprinted at Salem, 1796. p. 92.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 63 
 
 removed. Belief in invisible agencies was adapted to CHAPTER 
 
 a mind naturally active, imaginative, and ambitious. L_. 
 
 He had been early taught the power of the imagina- 
 tion in matters of religion, and by the precept and 
 example of his father had been instructed in the lan- 
 guage of excitement and alarm. No sooner was the 
 field left open to him, by the absence, in Europe, of 
 his father and colleague, than he entered upon it with 
 an ardor natural to his youth, and congenial with his 
 temperament. Regarded as the hope of the clergy, 
 he aspired to be their champion, and, for a short time, 
 became their idol. At the age of twenty-seven, he was 
 raised to a seat, by the side of his father, in the Cor- 
 poration of the College. A short time afterward, the 
 General Court constituted him their preacher on Elec- 
 tion day. He was courted and consulted by the Gov- 
 ernor and Lieutenant-Governor, Phips and Stough- 
 ton ; both of whom were conscious, that they were 
 largely indebted to his influence for their respective 
 appointments. 
 
 Excited and emboldened by the elevated station he 
 had obtained, in relation both to the Colony and the 
 College, Cotton Mather seized, with a sagacity char- His agency 
 acteristic of zeal and ambition, on that popular be- witchcraft 
 
 delusion. 
 
 lief in invisible agencies, which the general tenor of 
 the preaching of that day had encouraged and made 
 almost universal in New England. His discourses 
 from the pulpit were passionate and exciting; and 
 awakened perpetually into action this popular delusion. 
 He employed himself sedulously in seeking out every 
 case, which encouraged faith in supernatural agencies. 
 Thus standing before his contemporaries in the light, 
 he incurred the responsibility, of being its chief cause 
 and promoter. In the progress of the superstitious fear,
 
 64 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER when it amounted to frenzy, and could only be satis- 
 
 '. fied with blood, he neither blenched nor halted ; but 
 
 attended the courts, watched the progress of invisible 
 agency in the prisons, and joined the multitude in 
 witnessing the executions. After " two hundred per- 
 sons had been accused,* one hundred and fifty im- 
 prisoned, nineteen hanged, one pressed to death, and 
 twenty-eight condemned, one third of whom were 
 members of the churches, and more than half of good 
 general conversation," he wrote a formal treatise, 
 entitled " Wonders of the Invisible World," approving 
 the proceedings of the courts, and exciting the multi- 
 tude to a continuance in the belief, and the courts 
 to a perseverance in their vindictiveness. 
 
 After the excitement had passed away, and shame 
 had succeeded to passion, those, who had guided or 
 submitted to its course, gave it the name of " popular 
 delusion," or of " a visitation of Providence." But the 
 delusion of the multitude is never general or violent, 
 unless those, who are their natural or assumed leaders, 
 countenance or encourage it. Nor ought human agents 
 to be permitted to evade just responsibility, under pre- 
 tence of supernatural suggestions and impulses. The 
 guilt of the excesses and horrors, consequent on that 
 excitement, rests, and ought to rest, heavily upon the 
 leading divines and politicians of the Colony at that 
 period; who had either the hardihood to uphold, or 
 the cowardice not to withstand, the madness of the 
 populace, of which they had been, in 110 small degree, 
 the authors. Cotton Mather, however, with the sin- 
 gular infelicity of judgment, which constituted an 
 
 * See Calef's "More Wonders of the Invisible World." Edit. 
 1796. p. 233.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 65 
 
 element of his character, while his contemporaries and CHAPTER 
 
 coadjutors were drawing off from the delusion, and '- 
 
 some of them, under the influence of shame and re- 
 morse, were confessing their sins, and asking pardon 
 of Heaven and their fellow-citizens, exhibited no un- 
 easiness, no self-upbraidings. On the contrary, he 
 continued to avow his belief, and thus connected his 
 name and fame inseparably with that excitement, as 
 its chief cause, agent, believer, and justifier. 
 
 In the year 1690, Cotton Mather had been elected 
 a member of the Corporation. His father, on his 
 return from England, found accordingly his influence 
 over the College increased by the introduction of his 
 son into that board. 
 f The new relations in the political system of Mas- Effects on 
 
 f the College 
 
 sachusetts, resulting from the charter of the Pro- , oft . h f c ," 
 
 lonial char- 
 
 vince granted by William and Mary, were of a nature 
 strongly to influence the fortunes of the College. 
 No sooner had it gone into operation, than the 
 Calvinistic leaders of the Province realized, that, as 
 a necessary consequence, the sceptre they had so 
 long possessed, had passed from their hands ; and, 
 being desirous to secure whatever yet remained of 
 their former authority, sought to possess themselves 
 of such instruments of power as were yet within 
 their grasp. Of all the institutions of the country, 
 the College, next to the civil government, was that 
 which they deemed the most important, and to 
 which they thought they were best entitled, as it had 
 been founded under their auspices, and had been at 
 all times under their control. 
 
 At this period, however, there sprang up powerful 
 rival and somewhat hostile influences among those 
 citizens, who had been excluded, under the old colo- 
 
 VOL. i. 9
 
 66 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER nial charter, from all political power, some from their 
 
 l attachment to the Church of England, others, though 
 
 Congregationalists, because they were too conscien- 
 tious to pretend to religious doctrines which they did 
 not believe, or to religious experiences which they 
 had not attained, for the sake of being admitted mem- 
 bers of the church, and thus becoming freemen of the 
 State. Such men, naturally, thought they had as much 
 right, as the strict adherents to the Calvinistic doc- 
 trines, to have a share in the government of the Col- 
 lege, as a literary institution. They saw no reason, 
 why they should be excluded from such share in time 
 to come, because they had been so in time past. And 
 particularly were they of this opinion, since, in the 
 qualities of " piety and godliness," the only intimated 
 requisites in the College charters, they were not 
 disposed to yield to any pretensions to superiority, 
 made by others ; and because, also, in their own 
 number they were able to reckon some of its most 
 liberal, early, and uniform friends and benefactors. ; 
 
 Now it appears, from the history of the controver- 
 sies and events of those times, that Increase Mather, 
 and Cotton Mather, his son, aspired to become, were 
 best entitled to be called, and perhaps, from learning, 
 activity, and talent, were best qualified to be, chiefs 
 among the Calvinistic leaders. Both were members 
 of the Corporation, and the former was President 
 of the College. On the other hand, John Leverett 
 and William Brattle, both tutors as well as members 
 of the Corporation, who had been the principal su- 
 perintendents and instructers of the College during 
 the four years' absence of President Mather in Eu- 
 rope, though not aspiring to the character of leaders 
 of any party, were inclined to the order of things
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 67 
 
 which was coming, rather than to that which had, so CHAPTER 
 
 far as the civil constitution had influence, already - - 
 
 passed away. 
 
 It was, in the nature of things, so impossible for 
 the adherents to the ancient doctrines, after having 
 lost their power over the civil government, to retain 
 exclusive possession of the College, the charter of 
 which contained no handle on which the sectarian 
 spirit could seize, that it is probable they would have 
 yielded to the apparent necessity of the case, and have 
 permitted the College to follow the fate of the civil 
 government, as a literary institution, had they not 
 been kept in a state of perpetual excitement by the 
 two Mathers, both of whom had private objects to 
 attain, and personal ends to answer, by the agitations 
 they produced.
 
 68 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 IV. 
 
 1692. 
 
 College 
 Charter of 
 1692. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 College Charter of 1692, Its History and Results. Rev. Charles 
 Morton. Degrees of Doctor in Divinity and Bachelor of Laws first 
 conferred. The General Court vote, that President Mather shall 
 reside at Cambridge. His consequent Conduct. College Charter 
 negatived by the King. President Mather's Desire of an Agency 
 in England. Origin and Motive of that Desire. Embarrass- 
 ments of the College, and Settlement of it by Stoughton. 
 
 No SOONER was the Provincial government organ- 
 ized under the charter of William and Mary, than a 
 bill for a new charter for the College was introduced 
 and passed by the General Court.* This was effected 
 at the suggestion, and was the work, of President 
 Mather, in pursuance of advice received by him in 
 England, as his son Cotton asserts, f 
 
 The provisions of this charter were most extraor- 
 dinary. It constituted a Corporation of ten persons, 
 with the usual powers and perpetual succession by 
 filling up their own vacancies, and vested them with 
 authority to elect all the officers of the institution. It 
 conferred the right to hold lands to the value of four 
 thousand pounds per annum, and personal estate to 
 any amount whatsoever. It exempted all the estate, 
 real and personal, of the College and of the President 
 
 * See College Records, Book IV. p. 1.- Also, Append., No. LXVIII. 
 t Memoirs of Increase Mather, by Cotton Mather. Edit. 1724. 
 p. 170.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 69 
 
 and resident fellows from public taxes : and also the CHAPTER 
 
 IV. 
 
 President, three of his servants, the fellows and twelve '. 
 
 servants, from all civil and military offices and services. 
 It gave the power of conferring academical degrees, 
 as extensively as it existed in the English Universities. 
 And, above all, it vested these powers in this Cor- 
 poration of ten persons absolutely, without any control 
 or responsibility ; making no provision for a board of 
 Overseers, or a visitatorial power of any kind. 
 
 All the members of this Corporation were selected 
 by President Mather. One of them was his son, 
 Cotton Mather. 
 
 This charter of incorporation passed the first Pro- 
 vincial Assembly, and received the approbation of 
 Governor Phips on the 27th of June, 1692. It was 
 transmitted to England for the approbation of the 
 King, and, on the 26th of July following,* the Corpo- 
 ration established by it met, organized itself, and, 
 without waiting for the decision of his Majesty, pro- 
 ceeded to exercise the several authorities granted by 
 the charter. At their first meeting, all the former 
 laws of the College were continued ; the several 
 officers of it were chosen, and their compensation was 
 fixed. One of the members of the Corporation (Ne- 
 hemiah Hobart), appointed by the charter, having 
 declined, the Rev. Charles Morton was chosen in his Rev. 
 place. This gentleman had been about six years in Morton. 
 the country, having emigrated from England among 
 the ejected ministers, and was settled at Charlestown. 
 He was now sixty-six years of age, and enjoyed a 
 great and just reputation, here and in England, for 
 talents, learning, and experience. His general reli- 
 
 * College Records, Book IV. p. 5.
 
 70 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER gious views coincided with those of the Mathers, and 
 
 IV 
 
 he was an active supporter of all their measures.* 
 His original emigration was connected with the hope 
 of being made President! of the College. But 
 arriving in 1686, during Dudley's short administra- 
 tion, the expectation of the coming of Andros, and 
 Morton's known obnoxiousness to the ruling powers 
 in England, rendered such an appointment either im- 
 possible or unadvisable. He therefore accepted a call 
 from the church at Charlestown to become their pastor. 
 Morton was well qualified for the office of President. 
 He had been a highly acceptable instructor of youth 
 in England. On his arrival in this country, he en- 
 gaged in the same occupation. His fame and success 
 gave uneasiness to the Corporation, t This led him 
 to abandon the employment. His introduction into 
 that body was probably connected with a design of 
 investing him with the Presidency ; an office which 
 President Mather began now to think of exchanging 
 for an agency in England, with the hope of fixing 
 himself permanently there. After his admission into 
 the Corporation, no jealousy seems to have been 
 entertained of Morton's powers, nor any disposition 
 to diminish his celebrity. On the contrary, two 
 of his manuscript works, " A System of Logic, " 
 and " Compendium Physicae," were received as text- 
 books in the College, the students being required 
 to copy them. He was often placed, out of respect 
 to his age and acquirements, next to President Mather 
 in the records of the Corporation, and, as we shall 
 
 * Eliot's Biog., art. Morton. 
 
 t Hutch. Coll. of State Papers. Edit. 1769. p. 551. 
 J Mass. Hist. Coll., Second Series, Vol. I. p. 161. 
 Mass. Hist. Coll., Second Series, Vol. II. p. 115.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 71 
 
 soon see, was, on the first opportunity, raised to the CHAPTER 
 
 office of Vice-President, probably as a preliminary ! 
 
 step to his further advancement, in case the project of 
 a European agency should be effected for President 
 Mather. Morton, on his part, will be found earnestly 
 pressing that appointment for the President, in which, 
 from his influence, he would doubtless have been suc- 
 cessful, had it not been for his death, which occurred 
 in 1698. 
 
 The Corporation were not deterred by the fact, that 
 the fate of the charter yet depended on the royal 
 approbation, but proceeded at their second meeting to 1692. 
 gratify President Mather with the degree of Doctor in 
 Divinity, the first it had ever assumed the authority 
 to confer. This distinction, Cotton Mather asserts, 
 the Corporation granted from " a sense of duty "* to 
 the President. It was certainly as well deserved, as 
 it was acceptable both to father and son. It was not, 
 however, a solitary instance of self-gratification, en- 
 joyed by the members of the Corporation ; since, on 
 the same day, John Leverett and William Brattle,! 
 both fellows of that body, had each conferred upon 
 him the degree of Bachelor in Divinity, this being 
 also the first instance of a grant of a degree of this 
 class by the Corporation. As the charter, under which 
 they now acted, required no concurrence of any other 
 board, the process of conferring these degrees was 
 equally easy, expeditious, and conclusive. 
 
 The alacrity and adroitness with which President 
 Mather thus availed himself of the great influence 
 which, during the first year of the operation of the 
 
 * Memoirs of Increase Mather, by Cotton Mather, p. 171. 
 t College Records, Book IV. p. 5.
 
 72 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER new charter, he possessed over the Governor and 
 
 ' Council, are indicative both of talent and sagacity. 
 
 The state * of the popular branch of the legislature 
 also, which during the same period was composed 
 chiefly of those, who had been members of the same 
 branch under the old charter, and who probably un- 
 derstood and coincided in his views, greatly contrib- 
 uted to his success. In no other possible state of 
 things could a charter, thus giving a permanent and 
 independent character to the College Corporation, and 
 setting the institution absolutely free from all legis- 
 lative control, have been obtained from the colonial 
 government. President Mather seems to have acted 
 under the impression, that, whatever was to be done, 
 must be effected speedily and thoroughly. He proba- 
 bly anticipated great alterations in the character of both 
 branches of the government, as soon as the change 
 of the qualification of electors from church-membership 
 to freehold should have had time to produce its full 
 effect. He had sufficient knowledge of human nature 
 to apprehend, that the continuance of his own influence 
 was, at least, precarious. He had, indeed, gratified 
 those friends whom he had nominated to the Council. 
 But, on the other hand, he had offended all those,f who 
 had previously held the station of Assistants, and whom 
 he had neglected to nominate for that body. These 
 were neither few, nor without influence. Notwith- 
 standing the fate of the College charter depended 
 upon the royal approbation, he proceeded in the same 
 spirit of vigor and expedition, which had character- 
 ized his obtaining it from the legislature, to avail 
 
 * Hutchinson's Hist. Mass., Vol. II. pp. 64-69. Boston, 1795 
 t Ibid. p. 69.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 73 
 
 himself of the power it conferred, precisely as though CHAPTER 
 it were irrevocable. ! 
 
 That President Mather anticipated great changes 
 in the civil and ecclesiastical influences of the Prov- 
 ince, in consequence of the new Provincial charter, president 
 is apparent from his Election Sermon, preached before election 
 the second General Court, convened under it. This 1692. 
 duty had been assigned to him by the preceding legis- 
 lature. He selected as the topic of his discourse, 
 " the great benefit of primitive counsellors," and took 
 occasion to warn the legislature against " the removal 
 of wise counsellors," as " threatening a sore judg- 
 ment," and particularly not to elect " malcontent and 
 disaffected " persons, or such as " the Governor would, 
 though unwilling, be compelled to negative." A 
 course sufficiently bold, considering that it was well 
 known, that his opinion had been taken, and was con- 
 clusive, in the selection of all the members of the 
 existing Council. The General Court, however, far 
 from following his advice, left out ten of those, who 
 owed their seats in it to him, and six of the new 
 members were persons, who, having been Assistants 
 in former years, had been omitted the previous year 
 in his nomination. They also chose, * as one of them, 
 Elisha Cooke, who, having been one of the Colonial 
 agents with Mather in Great Britain, had opposed 
 the new charter in every form ; who, since his re- 
 turn, had expressed in unqualified terms his dissatis- 
 faction with it ; and who was also, on other accounts, 
 so personally obnoxious to Governor Phips, that he 
 immediately applied to him his official negative. 
 
 These indications of change, combined with the 
 
 * Hutch. Hist. Mass., Vol. II. pp. 69. 70. 
 VOL. I. 10
 
 74 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER calumnies to which he had been subjected in conse- 
 _ quence of his agency in procuring the new charter, 
 induced President Mather to prefix to his Election 
 Sermon, on its publication, an Address to the inhabit- 
 ants of Massachusetts Bay. This is a sensible, plain, 
 and satisfactory vindication of his conduct ; severe 
 on " those ill spirits, who make it their design by slan- 
 ders to disaffect others ; " full of feeling and affection ; 
 at the same time in a temper of sufficient loftiness 
 and self-esteem, of which the motto, " Bene agere 
 et male audire reginm est" is an indication. 
 
 In the course of this Address he states, that friends 
 of his in England, being desirous that " he should 
 spend the remainder of his days among them," had 
 told him, that " the people of New England were 
 always ungrateful towards their public servants," and 
 that they doubted " if they would be sensible of his 
 services." " My reply was," he adds, " that I would 
 go to New England, and see ; and, if I found their 
 prognostications true, I should then see my call clear 
 to return to England again." 
 
 Whatever apprehensions this narrative was calcu- 
 lated or designed to excite, it had little effect on the 
 General Court. For, at their very next session, far 
 from acquiescing in President Mather's non-residency, 
 which, it was well known, he meant to continue, 
 they passed a vote,* " that the President of Har- 
 vard College, for the time being, shall reside there, 
 as hath been accustomed in time past." Presi- 
 dent Mather, adopted no measures in consequence 
 of this vote, nor, as far as now is ascertained, took 
 any notice of it. He undoubtedly viewed it as an in- 
 
 Proceed- 
 
 ings of the 
 
 General 
 
 Court. 
 
 * Records of General Court, Dec. 2d, 1693.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 75 
 
 dication, that his influence was on the wane ; and it CHAPTER 
 
 was one of the many intimations of this fact, which ' 
 
 probably filled his mind with that strong desire 
 his Diary about this time shows he felt, of return- 
 ing to England. He determined, therefore, notwith- 
 standing this vote of the General Court, to maintain 
 his present position in respect to the College. In 
 this determination, strange as it now seems, he had 
 the countenance and support of the College Corpora- 
 tion itself. The residue of the year 1693 and the 
 whole of 1694 passed without any further attempt, on 
 the part of the legislature, to interfere with the rela- 
 tions of the President of the College. But, on the 
 5th of June, 1695, a vote, of a character not to be 
 mistaken or overlooked, passed the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. In this, they " desire Mr. Mather to go 
 and settle at the College, that the College may not 
 be destitute any longer of a settled President ; that, 
 if he take up with this proposal, he shall be allowed 
 annually one hundred and fifty pounds ; but, if said 
 Mr. Mather do not settle there, then that the Cor- 
 poration do propose some other meet person to the 
 General Court, who may be treated with to settle 
 there, that the College may no longer be destitute 
 of a settled President." 
 
 It does not appear that the Council concurred in 
 either of these votes. Although the former had 
 been passed over by President Mather in silence and 
 neglect, the latter was too pointed and personal to 
 be treated in the same manner. Being deeply af- President 
 fected by it, he forthwith gave notice to the Cor- proposes 
 
 ~ , . . , . -IT ff r to resign. 
 
 poration of his intention to relinquish the omce or 
 President. This drew from them the following vote,
 
 76 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER which passed unanimously.* " Whereas the Reverend 
 - ! President (who was and is settled in his presidentship 
 by an act of the great and general Assembly, &c.), 
 by reason of a late vote of the House of Representa- 
 tives, hath signified to the Corporation his design to 
 relinquish his service in the College as President, the 
 fellows of said College (though they should heartily 
 rejoice, if the Rev. Mr. Increase Mather could have 
 such encouragement as might induce him to reside at 
 the College, yet), considering how advantageous his 
 sustaining the office and performing the work of Presi- 
 dent (as hitherto) hath been, and foreseeing how 
 many ways it may prove detrimental to the affairs of 
 this society, both at home and abroad, should he pur- 
 sue such a design, do unanimously request the said 
 Rev. Mr. Mather, that, laying aside such thoughts, 
 and not too deeply resenting the matters of discourage- 
 ment laid before him in said vote, he would continue 
 his care and conduct of this society as formerly." 
 
 In conformity with this solicitation he resolved to 
 
 retain his office and continue his non-residence. To 
 
 encourage and support him in which resolution, on the 
 
 Proceed- 6th of the ensuing April, the Corporation of the Col- 
 
 tion p ra ^ e & e P asse d a vote m tne following words. f " Voted, 
 that whereas the Reverend President has, by his 
 manifold services to the College, laid us under deep 
 obligations to acknowledge the same, the Corporation, 
 out of a sense hereof, and as a testimony of their 
 gratitude, do pray him to accept of, and hereby do 
 order the Treasurer forthwith to pay unto the said 
 Reverend President, the sum of seventy pounds out of 
 the College Treasury ; " and in the June following the 
 
 * College Records, Book IV. p. 11. t Ibid.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 77 
 
 Corporation passed another vote, " that the College CHAPTER 
 
 Treasurer should pay to the Reverend President such '. 
 
 money as he should need to purchase a horse with, 
 for the better capacitating him to make his visits at 
 the College." 
 - The affairs of the College were thus situated when College 
 
 V i 11 charter 
 
 information was received, that the charter granted by negatived. 
 the colonial legislature in 1692, had been negatived 
 by the King on account of its omission of any provision 
 for the exercise of a visitatorial power. 
 
 This event was probably anticipated by President 
 Mather ; possibly it was not unwelcome to him. The 
 affairs of the College were thrown by it into a state 
 of inexplicable embarrassment. The sense of the im- 
 portance of his experience and services was greatly 
 augmented, and the chance of his attaining the object 
 of his returning to England on a new agency in- 
 creased in consequence of it. This object, it is ap- 
 parent, he began now to propose to himself, accom- 
 panied with a strong desire " to spend and end his 
 days" in that country. Such a state of feeling 
 was most natural. When a young man, he had 
 visited England ; and his residence and reception 
 there had been so satisfactory,* that he would prob- 
 ably have never returned to this country, had he not 
 been compelled either to give up the living, which 
 he then held there, or conform to the established 
 Church. He refused the latter, and returned to 
 Massachusetts in September, 1661. Even at that 
 time, however, he seems to have looked with a wish- 
 
 * See Notes to two Discourses, containing the History of the Second 
 Church in Boston, delivered 20th May, 1821, by the Rev. Henry Ware, 
 Jun., p. 46.
 
 78 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 IV. 
 
 CHAPTER ful eye, perhaps with a faint hope, towards a settle- 
 ment in England. For, in May, 1 664, on accepting 
 the call of the North Church, in Boston, to be its 
 pastor, he annexed to his acceptance the following 
 condition, among others, that " he should be at liberty, 
 in case the Lord should call him to a greater service 
 elsewhere, to return to England, or to remove else- 
 where." During his recent four years' residence in that 
 country, his reception and treatment had again been 
 so flattering, that he would willingly have remained 
 there. And, although he returned to New England 
 with a well-earned consciousness that he had fulfilled, 
 during his residence abroad, his entire duty to the 
 Colony, and that, in the charter he had brought 
 home, he had conferred on it a blessing, yet great 
 numbers, perhaps even a majority of the inhabitants 
 of the Province, did not coincide in his opinions on 
 that subject ; and, while by some he was received with 
 coolness or treated with neglect, by others he was 
 regarded in the light of a traitor. Many interests and 
 passions combined to produce this state of feeling 
 and conduct. 
 
 To those, who had formerly had the chief influence 
 in civil matters, the loss of the power of appointing 
 the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Secretary, 
 which the new charter vested in the crown, was ex- 
 tremely obnoxious. To those, who had possessed the 
 chief ecclesiastical influence, the principle of tolera- 
 tion, and of freehold property as the basis of political 
 power, was not more satisfactory. The recognition 
 of judicial appeals to England, and of the royal power 
 of negative on legislative acts, was equally unpopular 
 with all. The privileges thus lost were deemed inhe- 
 rent in the old charter, the prejudices in favor of 
 
 Cause of 
 President 
 Mather's 
 unpopular- 
 ity.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 79 
 
 which were universal. President Mather himself had CHAPTER 
 
 been greatly instrumental in deepening and ex- ' 
 
 tending these prejudices. He had gone to Europe 
 on a special mission to uphold that charter. He 
 had returned after having, not only consented to its 
 abandonment, but become the open advocate of an 
 instrument, which annihilated the basis, on which 
 civil and ecclesiastical power had rested from the first 
 settlement of the Colony. The opportunities he had 
 enjoyed in England, of convincing himself of the 
 impossibility of effecting the object of his mission, 
 and of the necessity of acceding to the proffered 
 charter, as well as of the advantages it secured, were 
 not shared by his fellow colonists. The loss of the 
 old charter and the principles of the new were known 
 to be so obnoxious to the leading characters in the 
 Colony, that neither Oakes nor Cooke, the agents * 
 associated with Mather, had dared to assume the re- 
 sponsibility of acceding to it. One of them (Cooke) 
 was openly opposed to its acceptance. All the odium 
 attached to the instrument, therefore, was concentrated 
 on President Mather. It was reported, that the other 
 agents had said, that, " if it had not been for him, 
 they could have saved the old charter, and that he 
 had betrayed the country, "f And, although they de- 
 nied having said any such thing, yet the opinion of his 
 subserviency to the crown and his abandonment of the 
 interests of the Colony was very general. He had, 
 indeed, brought with him, in the form of letters, some 
 of them to the General Court, from the most in- 
 fluential friends of the Colony in England, both 
 clergymen and laymen, ample testimonies of his zeal, 
 
 * Hutch. Hist. Mass., Vol. I. p. 861. f See Appendix, No. IX.
 
 80 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER talent, prudence, and fidelity ; and the first General 
 
 ! Court under the new charter had returned him " thanks 
 
 for his faithful and indefatigable endeavours to serve 
 the country."* But one branch of that legislature 
 had been selected especially for the occasion by Pres- 
 ident Mather, and was so constituted as to dissatisfy 
 many. All the members of the Council were, as 
 we have seen, of his nomination, and composed 
 of " his friends," " relatives," or " brethren of his 
 church." f He was probably guided in this selec- 
 tion, not merely by personal motives, but perhaps by 
 those he deemed patriotic. Realizing the importance 
 of the new charter, and anticipating violent opposi- 
 tion to it, as well as the degree of unpopularity to 
 which he might himself become exposed, he took 
 care so to use his influence in constituting the Coun- 
 cil, as to secure its acceptance. This policy, success- 
 ful for the time being, sharpened the animosity of his 
 political enemies, and probably multiplied them. It 
 was also, unquestionably, one source of that oppo- 
 sition to his continuance as President, without being 
 resident, which began the ensuing year to appear, 
 immediately after the change in the political aspect 
 of the Council, consequent on the new elections. 
 
 It is not surprising, therefore, that an intense desire 
 should become fixed in his mind, to escape from a 
 country where he had to sustain ill will and calumny, 
 and, if possible, to establish himself in one, where he ( 
 had received honors and gathered laurels, and where 
 he had reason to hope to be kindly entertained and 
 respected. 
 
 * Life of Increase Mather, by Cotton Mather, p. 156. 
 t See above, p. 60.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 81 
 
 This desire appears, accordingly, in his Diary as CHAPTER 
 early as September, 1693, in the form of supernatural ! 
 influences and suggestions, that " to England he must 
 go." This urgency of his will, he construed into 
 " something divine and angelical." * In October and 
 December following, and in January and March of the 
 succeeding year, he had like " melting persuasions " 
 concerning going to England, f When, in the year 
 1696, the news of the royal negative upon the College 
 charter was received, he was again " wonderfully 
 melted with the assurance, that God would return 
 him into England." These natural cravings of an 
 ambitious spirit, he had convinced himself were per- 
 suasions " wrought into him by the Lord," in return 
 for " his fastings and prayers." J 
 
 As, on the rejection of the charter of the College 
 by the crown, new measures for the organization of 
 its government became indispensable, and the prospect 
 of an agency in England on its account more dis- 
 tinct, President Mather's spirits revived. ^ He saw, 
 in the event, " answers of God to his prayers of faith," 
 and an assurance, that " he would not be disappointed 
 in having an opportunity to glorify Christ in England." 
 
 When the news of this rejection of the charter by 
 the King reached Massachusetts, Phips was no longer 
 Governor of the Province. He had been ordered to 
 England, to answer certain charges of misconduct, 
 and had died there. William Stoughton had taken 
 possession, as Lieutenant-Governor, of the executive 
 chair of the Colony. On the 6th of July, 1696, the 
 Corporation of the College held its last meeting under 
 the authority of the act of 1692. From this time the 
 
 * See Appendix, No. IX. t Ibid. { Ibid. Ibid. 
 
 VOL. I. 11
 
 82 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER state of the institution was one of extreme embarrass- 
 
 IV. 
 
 '. ment. The Corporation was bereft of all charter 
 
 powers. Its former charters had been in construction 
 of law repealed, by force of the judgment- rendered 
 against the old Colonial charter. And now the new 
 charter, which had been devised as a substitute, was 
 annulled bj the royal negative. In the confusion, into 
 which the affairs of the College were consequently 
 
 college thrown, Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton assumed the 
 
 govern- . ... . . . TT 
 
 mentreor- responsibility or reorganizing its government, lie 
 Lieutenant- came to Cambridge on the 12th of October, 1696, 
 
 Governor t 
 
 stoughton. and " desired and appointed " the former President, 
 Fellows, and Treasurer, " to continue and proceed 
 in the institution and government of the house, and 
 in the management of "the estate of the College, ac- 
 cording to the late rules of said College, until his 
 Majesty's farther pleasure shall be known, or a legal 
 settlement, of said College shall be obtained."* This 
 proceeding, at the time, was deemed so critical and 
 important, that it is spread in detail on the records 
 of the Corporation, and the memory of it is carefully 
 preserved f in the Diaries of President Mather and 
 Chief Justice Sewall, both of whom were present on 
 the occasion. The Corporation, however, so far as 
 appears by their records, never held but one meeting 
 under the appointment of Lieutenant-Governor Stough- 
 ton. This occurred on the 9th of the ensuing Novem- 
 ber, when the Corporation passed votes, declaring that 
 " the obtaining a charter of incorporation for the Col- 
 lege would be of singular advantage to the churches 
 of New England, both in present and after times, and 
 that, while it continued as at present, an unhappy 
 
 * College Records, Book IV. p. 13. .t See Appendix, No. XL
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 83 
 
 settlement of it might be feared, donations to it be CHAPTER 
 
 obstructed, and its present stock endangered." For ! 
 
 the obtaining of it, they vote an humble address to 
 his Majesty, and pray the Lieutenant-Governor " to 
 facilitate the affair " ; voting at the same time an 
 address to him, acknowledging his care and favor, and 
 particularly expressing " their humble thanks for his 
 late visitation and settlement of the College."
 
 84 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 College Charterof 1696. President Mather discontented with it. 
 Takes it into a new Draft. The Corporation ask the General 
 Court, that he be sent as Agent to England. Governor Bellamont 
 arrives in New York. The Corporation address him. Second 
 Application of the Corporation, that the President obtain an Agen- 
 cy. Its Failure. Project of a Vice-Presidency. Its Failure. 
 The General Court again vote, that President Mather should re- 
 side at Cambridge. Proceedings on that Vote, and its Result. 
 Arrival of Governor Bellamont in Massachusetts. College Charter 
 of 1699. Interference of the Clergy. Governor Bellamont ob- 
 jects to the Charter, and it is lost. Cotton Mather's Disappoint- 
 ment. 
 
 CHAPTER IN conformity with the views expressed in the votes 
 
 of the Corporation, as related in the preceding chapter, 
 
 a bill for a charter of the College was introduced into 
 
 Bill for the 
 
 charter of the Council of the Province on the 27th of Novem- 
 
 the Col- 
 lege, her, 1696;* and, after a series of postponements, criti- 
 cal amendments, and warm debates, it was, on the 
 17th of the ensuing December, passed by that branch 
 of the legislature. The general and usual powers, 
 included in such charters, were granted by this bill ; 
 but very material alterations were also introduced, 
 greatly modifying the powers contained in the charter 
 of 1692, which President Mather, in the flush of his 
 political influence, had obtained from the first Provin- 
 cial legislature. Of these the most critical, and symp- 
 tomatic of legislative policy, were the following. 
 
 The number of the Corporation was increased to 
 sixteen. The office of Vice-President was created, 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LXV1II.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 85 
 
 and the name of the Rev. Charles Morton inserted CHAPTER 
 
 V 
 
 for the place. Fellows were made removable for 
 
 disability or misdemeanor. Residency at Cambridge 
 was required of the President and of all fellows re- 
 ceiving salary. None was to be a fellow longer than 
 ten years without a reelection, and all vacancies 
 were to be filled within twelve months. The right 
 to hold land was limited to two thousand pounds. 
 In all sales of land, or disposal of revenues, ten mem- 
 bers were required to be present ; in all other cases, 
 a majority. The President, fellows, scholars, steward, 
 cook, and one servant, were exempted from civil and 
 military services ; but there was no exemption from 
 public taxes for lands or persons. The Governor 
 and Council were made Visitors. 
 
 Many of these provisions were unwelcome, and 
 some very grievous, to President Mather. While 
 the bill was yet pending, he acquainted the General 
 Court with his " purpose to undertake a voyage to 
 England, for the obtaining a settlement for the Col- 
 lege ; " * indicating thereby an intention to apply to 
 the King in Council for modifications of the legislative 
 draft, should it prove unacceptable. No sooner had 
 the bill passed that body, than President Mather, his 
 son, and two other clergymen, all members of the clergy re- 
 Corporation of the College, presented to the legisla- 
 ture, in writing, objections to its final passage. 
 
 Their remonstrance is expressed with great distinct- 
 ness and boldness. In it they request, that their names 
 may not be inserted in the bill as members of the 
 Corporation, should it pass both branches without 
 alteration. The discussion excited great warmth. 
 
 * See Appendix, No. IX.
 
 86 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER " I do not know that I ever saw, 5 ' writes Sewall in 
 v. 
 his Diary, " the Council so run upon with such a 
 
 height of rage before. The Lord prepare us for the 
 issue. The ministers will go to England for a char- 
 ter, except we exclude the Council from the visitation ; 
 alleging, this reason, that the King will not pass it, 
 and so shall be longer unsettled."* 
 
 While the old colonial charter was in force, the 
 clergy were consulted by the legislature in great emer- 
 gencies, as though they had been an independent 
 state of the body politic. They had been accustomed 
 to address the General Court with a consciousness of 
 authority. The loss of their former influence, in con- 
 sequence of the provisions of the new Provincial 
 charter, they already felt very sensibly ; and a satis- 
 factory settlement of the College began to be con- 
 sidered by them as intimately connected with the 
 preservation of what yet remained of their power 
 under the old charter. They therefore concentrated 
 their efforts upon the attainment of this object, from 
 combined motives of interest of caste, and of affec- 
 tion for the institution. 
 
 1697. The features of this bill, as it had passed the Coun- 
 cil, being thus objectionable in the opinion of the 
 clergy, President Mather, after an interview with 
 President Lieutenaiit-Governor Stoughton, drew up a new char- 
 drafts a new ter himself. This, being introduced into the legisla- 
 
 charter. . . 
 
 ture, occasioned violent debates. 
 
 The principal alterations effected by this act, in 
 that which had passed the Council the preceding De- 
 cember, were the following. The Corporation was 
 increased to seventeen persons. The residency at 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XI.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 87 
 
 Cambridge of the President, and of such fellows as CHAPTER 
 received a salary, was required after the act should be 
 confirmed by the King. This had reference to Pres- 
 ident Mather, in order to enable him to continue the 
 superintendence of the seminary and yet remain in 
 Boston, until the will of his Majesty should be known. 
 The right to hold lands was so far extended as to 
 include the value of three thousand pounds. And 
 finally, all houses and lands, in the personal occupa- 
 tion of the President and fellows, were exempted 
 from taxation ; and three servants for the President, 
 and seven for the College, were exempted from all 
 civil and military offices. 
 
 In the passage of this bill, the first indications were 
 publicly given of dissensions among those, who had 
 for an uninterrupted series of years been associated 
 in the government of the College. Only four of the 
 Corporation joined in the remonstrance against the 
 charter first proposed. From the Diary of Judge 
 Sewall it appears, that in the bill drafted by President 
 Mather, and finally substituted, after being amended, 
 for that which had passed the Council,* the name 
 of John Leverett was either originally omitted, or 
 subsequently stricken out. The attempt was prob- eluded, 
 ably obnoxious to the House of Deputies, in which 
 body Leverett's name was reinserted, since it appears, 
 in the final enactment, among the other members of 
 the Corporation. 
 
 Of the religious controversies of the period, the 
 College now became the object and arena. Although 
 the particular causes, which led to this early attempt 
 to exclude Leverett from the Corporation are not, 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XI.
 
 88 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER at this day, to be ascertained, it is apparent from 
 
 '. what is known of his character and history, that his 
 
 general views on many subjects did not coincide 
 with those of the Mathers ; and that even his re- 
 ligious opinions were, in several points, adverse to 
 those, which they deemed important, if not essential. 
 His connexion with William and Thomas Brattle was 
 early and intimate. Like them, he had stood aloof 
 during the delusions of witchcraft, which President 
 Mather had countenanced, if not credited, and of 
 which Cotton Mather was either a chief cause or 
 the dupe. Leverett will be soon found, in common 
 with both the Brattles, encouraging the foundation 
 of a church on principles extremely obnoxious to the 
 adherents to the old ecclesiastical doctrines. Of these 
 both the Mathers were advocates, and aspired to be 
 leaders in their defence. It is not unlikely also the 
 President might find, that Leverett was not a thorough 
 supporter of his personal views or of his official rela- 
 tions. Perhaps his son might, even thus early, in- 
 stinctively apprehend, that Leverett's star was destined 
 to be ascendant, and to obscure for ever his cherished 
 hope of succeeding his father in the presidency of the 
 College. 
 
 John Leverett and William Brattle had been asso- 
 ciate tutors ever since 1686. They had, also, for the 
 ten years ensuing, the principal agency in the man- 
 agement of the institution and the instruction of the 
 students. In November, 1696, Brattle was chosen 
 minister of the town of Cambridge, and gave imme- 
 diate evidence of his disposition to set himself free 
 from some customs of the established Congregational 
 church. He preached at his own ordination, and 
 forbade an elder, because he was a layman, to lay his
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 89 
 
 hand upon his head during the ceremony. Both were CHAPTER 
 
 deviations from the established practice of the early __ 
 
 Congregational churches. * 
 
 In the same spirit, Brattle, during his ministry, ob- 
 tained a vote of his church, that a formal and public 
 relation of religious experiences should not be deemed 
 necessary as a qualification for church membership ; f 
 that the examination of the candidate should be 
 referred to the pastor and elders ; and that the con- 
 sent of the church to the admission of a member 
 should be signified by silence, instead of a manual vote. 
 Every one of these points was also a departure from 
 the former usage of the churches, and was deemed 
 important by both the Mathers and by other stern 
 adherents to the ancient faith and discipline. To 
 these Leverett had rendered himself obnoxious by 
 his agreement, in religious views, with the Brattles. 
 The records of those times show, that differences 
 in religious opinions began to appear, with great 
 violence, in the legislature and in the towns, and 
 that they were brought to bear upon the College, t 
 The Diaries of Judge Sewall and President Mather 
 evidence the existence of these dissensions, and their 
 connexion with the questions, which arose concern- 
 ing the institution. 
 
 The heavings of these theological tempests affected 
 the condition of President Mather as well as of the 
 College. It cannot be doubted, that the part he took 
 in them constituted one of the elements of that oppo- 
 sition, which ultimately defeated his cherished project 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XI. 
 
 t See Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. VII. p. 32. 
 
 J See Appendix, No. IX. 
 
 VOL. I. 12
 
 90 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER of being sent as an agent to England, for the purpose 
 
 ' of procuring a new charter for the College. 
 Petition for No sooner had the act of June 2d, 1697,* passed 
 
 an agency 
 
 in England both branches of the legislature, than a direct applica- 
 
 for procur- 
 ing a char- tion for the attainment of that object was made to the 
 
 ter. J 
 
 General Court by the persons named in it as members 
 of the Corporation. This application was signed, 
 " Charles Morton, with the unanimous concurrence of 
 the rest." It expresses " the great concernment to 
 these churches, both in present and after times, that 
 the College should no longer labor under the unhappy 
 uncertainties of establishment." To this end, they 
 desire, that the Rev. Increase Mather may receive 
 assistance and countenance from the General Court, 
 in undertaking a voyage to England, to obtain the 
 royal approbation of the act passed by the Assembly, 
 and, if that " cannot be, then to endeavour to obtain 
 such a charter as will be consistent with the constitu- 
 tion of the people and churches in this country.' 
 After receiving three readings in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, on the 15th of June, 1697, the proposition 
 to assist in the project received a decided negative, f ' 
 This defeat did not, however, deter the members 
 of the Corporation from presenting a petition some- 
 what more formal, signed, " Charles Morton, with 
 unanimous consent."! This was read on the same 
 day the other was negatived. In it, the petition- 
 ers state their " utter despair of obtaining an es- 
 tablishment without a personal application to his 
 Majesty," and that, " if the General Court dis- 
 countenance that proceeding, they shall have little 
 heart to accept the trust devolved on them." It was 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LXVIII. f See Appendix, No. XIL 
 
 J See Appendix, No. XIII.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 91 
 
 on this occasion, that the Corporation made the ap- CHAPTER 
 
 peal to the " gratitude " of the General Court, for the '- 
 
 accommodation received by the Colony from the use 
 of their money, which has been already the occasion 
 of remark.* 
 
 It is worthy of notice, that neither of the petitions 
 thus signed by Morton, arid stated to be " by unani- 
 mous consent," appears to have been acted upon by 
 the Corporation. There is no record of any meeting 
 on either of the days mentioned in them. 
 
 Nothing favorable to President Mather's agency Agency 
 having resulted from either of these applications, his 
 mind was reduced to a state almost of despair. The 
 first meeting of the Corporation, under the act of 
 June, 1697, was holden on the 13th of the ensuing 
 July ; but their records indicate no measures touching 
 his mission to England. Discouraged and wounded 
 by the failure of these applications, he resolved to 
 resign the presidency. His Diary, during the months 
 of July, August, and September, repeatedly avows this 
 intent, f But his affections were too intimately inter- 
 woven with his position to enable him to carry it 
 into effect. The slightest movement in the legislature 
 on the subject of the College revived his hopes. No 
 sooner has he reason to expect those letters, which had 
 been solicited from Sir Henry Ashurst, the agent of 
 the Colony in England, recommending President 
 Mather for the desired College agency, than his 
 " special faith," and " the inexpressible meltings of 
 his soul " are renewed, and his Diary indicates an 
 ecstasy of joy and gratitude, t 
 
 His mind was in this condition, when, about the 
 
 * See above, p. 42. f See Appendix, No. IX. f Ibid.
 
 92 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER middle of April, 1698, the Earl Bellamont arrived in 
 
 Y 
 
 New York, bearing a commission of Governor of that 
 Governor Colony and of Massachusetts Bay. Two meetings 
 
 Bellamont. . . . . . 
 
 ot the Corporation were held m May, in which it was 
 voted, that " a messenger should be sent to New York 
 with an address to the Governor." The records of the 
 Corporation indicate nothing concerning the object of 
 the address. But the Diary of President Mather 
 declares, that it was to " desire the Governor to en- 
 courage his going to England on the College ac- 
 count."* Bellamont put an end to all hopes concern- 
 ing this charter by unequivocally stating, that it would 
 never receive the royal approbation. The arrival, how- 
 ever, of the long-sought letters from Sir Henry Ashurst, 
 recommendatory of President Mather's agency, raised 
 his mind to a state of extreme delight. This was 
 further increased, when, as his Diary asserts, it ap- 
 peared on the return of the messenger, that Bellamont 
 had expressed an opinion favorable to his wishes. 
 Petition for In consequence of this encouragement, a formal ad- 
 in England dress was presented, on the 14th of June, 1698, to the 
 General Court, signed by " James Allen, socius se- 
 nior," f in the name and with the unanimous concur- 
 rence of the Corporation, praying that President 
 Mather might be sent to England ; and stating, in 
 detail, the importance of a charter ; the danger of 
 losing the College without it ; the loss of consider- 
 able donations on account of its unsettled condition ; 
 the opinion of the Earl of Bellamont, that the royal 
 approbation would not be given to the present charter, 
 and that the President's presence in England would 
 
 * See Appendix, No. IX. 
 
 t The Rev. Charles Morton had died the April preceding.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 93 
 
 be of use, an opinion to this effect being also expressed CHAPTER 
 
 by the colonial agent, Sir Henry Ashurst ; that thus - 
 
 the desire of a resident President at the College might 
 be obtained ; and that " no one understood, better than 
 President Mather, the state of the College, or had a 
 greater acquaintance and interest in England, or on 
 whose discretion, fidelity, and integrity, more depend- 
 ence could be placed, for the true interest of the 
 College and our churches." 
 
 This memorial was read on the same day in Coun- petition 
 cil, and rejected.* 
 
 In the debate on this memorial, the conduct of 
 President Mather was the subject of severe animad- 
 version. The pertinacity with which he pressed his 
 mission to England had occasioned disgust. He was 
 thought to use his ecclesiastical influence too obtru- 
 sively in the gratification of his interest or ambition. 
 His strong desire, to transfer permanently his resi- 
 dence to England was known ; and his zeal for 
 the settlement of the College began to be deemed 
 but a pretence for the advancement of other pro- 
 jects. A strong party appeared in both branches 
 of the legislature, and especially in the Council, dis- 
 posed to thwart his plans. His disappointment was 
 extreme, and this state of feeling continued some 
 months. Suddenly, however, his " glorious, heart- project of a 
 melting persuasions, that the Lord hath work for 
 him in England," return in full force ; and for no 
 other reason now to be ascertained, than that a propo- 
 sition had been started (November 26th, 1698), by his 
 friends in the Corporation, for the appointment of a 
 person to be Vice-President, f " to remove to the Col- 
 
 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XIV. f See Appendix, No. IX.
 
 94 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER lege, and do the work usually attended to by Presidents 
 
 '. resident at the College ; " and also that, on a petition 
 
 to the General Court for assistance and countenance 
 in that project, " a discourse had arisen in that body, 
 about an agent to be sent to England." On such 
 slender encouragement he writes, " Let me turn all 
 into prayer. Will the Lord cause me to hear out of 
 England what will revive me ? Shall I see, that faith 
 shall not suffer an utter disappointment ? " 
 
 On the 3d of December, 1698, the project of a 
 
 vice-presidency wholly failed, and the General Court 
 
 General renewed their vote, that President Mather " remove to 
 
 quire the the College, and take up his residence there ; and 
 
 President . 
 
 to reside at for his encouragement vote a salary oi two hundred 
 
 Cambridge. * . 
 
 pounds per annum, out of the public treasury, from 
 the time of his removal during his residence at the 
 College." Nothing could have been more contrary 
 to his expectations, or adverse to his hopes, than this 
 vote. It indicated no disposition to encourage him 
 in his projected agency in England. He perceived, 
 that, by acceding to it, he put an end to the gratifi- 
 cation of that hope. His enemies in the legislature 
 were not ignorant of the repugnancy of this propo- 
 sition to his views. They anticipated, that by his 
 removal to Cambridge his political influence would be 
 diminished, and a new obstacle interposed to his em- 
 ployment in Europe. He was a man, whom it was 
 thought, on the one hand, not desirable further to 
 elevate, nor, on the other, politic to offend. Perhaps, 
 under the influence of the sectarian jealousies of the 
 age, some deemed it not safe to trust him. Their 
 course of proceeding was therefore, at once, decided, 
 respectful, and conciliatory. A committee of the legis- 
 lature was appointed to communicate the substance
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 95 
 
 of the above vote, and to urge him to concur in its CHAPTER 
 
 views. Two detailed contemporaneous accounts of '. 
 
 the interview between President Mather and this com- 
 mittee, exist ; one contained in the Diary of Judge 
 Sewall, a member of the committee ; the other, in the 
 Diary of President Mather himself. 
 
 The interview occurred on the 8th of December, President 
 
 Mather ob 
 
 1698.* On the one side, President Mather expressed jectstore- 
 
 siding at 
 
 his dissatisfaction with the limitation of the office to Cartfafca. 
 five years, and that his name was not inserted in the 
 vote ; his discouragement from the reduction, in the 
 House, of the salary proposed by the Council ; the un- 
 settled state of the College charter, and the want of 
 a President's house ; urging also the unwillingness of 
 his church in Boston to part with him, and, above 
 all, his love of preaching, which, he said, he " pre- 
 ferred before the gold and silver of the West Indies." 
 
 On the other side, the legislative committee deny 
 that any " disrespect " to him was intended by their 
 proceedings ; they flatter him as being " the object 
 of general desire," and as " loving work ftither than 
 wages"; and, as to preaching, that he would " preach 
 twice a day to the students, expounding the Scrip- 
 tures." The interview resulted in a promise of the 
 President to communicate his answer through the 
 Lieutenant-Governor. 
 
 This he accordingly did on the 16th of December, President 
 
 to J \ Mather's 
 
 1698, in a letter equally illustrative of his purpose and letter to 
 
 ]* J t Lieutenant- 
 
 of his character;! in which he declines the proposition 
 of the General Court, urging his health, his advanced 
 age (being nearly sixty), the necessity it would in- 
 duce of desisting from his public ministry, as other 
 
 * See Appendix, No. IX. and No. XI. f See Appendix, No. XV.
 
 96 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER Presidents had been obliged to do, on account of their 
 - other work. " Should I leave preaching to fifteen 
 hundred souls (for I suppose so many ordinarily attend 
 our congregation), only to expound to forty or fifty 
 children, few of them capable of edification by such 
 exercises, I doubt I should not do well." In one 
 paragraph he states it to be well known, that " I have 
 had a strong bent of spirit to spend and to end the 
 remainder of my few days in England." In another, 
 he complains, that his zeal for the settlement of the 
 College had been attributed to a desire to gratify that 
 inclination. To put to silence, therefore, these re- 
 proaches, he resolves to resign. This he proceeds to 
 perform in the following cautious manner, address- 
 ing Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton ; " I have often 
 (as your Honor well knows) desired to resign my 
 relation to that society ; and, if it will not be grievous 
 to you, I shall to-morrow (if you please) deliver 
 a resignation of the presidentship to the Senior Fel- 
 low of the Corporation, for him to call a Corporation 
 meeting, in order for the choosing another President." 
 This threat of resigning had been so often repeated 
 by President Mather, that it was well understood. 
 In the course of the discussions, arising out of this 
 subject, he was told by one of the Council, in the 
 presence of the Board, that " his pretence of resign- 
 ing was but a flourish."* 
 
 President Mather was too well apprized of the 
 sense entertained of the importance of his services, 
 in the station he then held, by the predominating 
 ecclesiastical sect of the Province, and of Stough- 
 ton's conformity to its views, to fear any decision 
 
 * See Appendix, No. IX.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 97 
 
 favorable to his resignation from him, particularly CHAPTER 
 
 at a moment when a great struggle was commenc- 1__ 
 
 ing, for the purpose of placing the College perma- 
 nently under the management of that ecclesiastical 
 sect. This became distinctly developed in the course 
 of the discussions, which occurred on the passage of 
 the next proposed charter of the institution. 
 
 The urgency of the General Court, however, on 
 this occasion, greatly distressed him, " it being," as 
 his Diary states, " a thing so contrary to the faith 
 wrought into my soul, that God will give me an op- 
 portunity to glorify Christ in England." 
 
 Early in the ensuing year (1699) he consulted his 
 church on the proposal of the legislature, and, on 
 the 6th of February, his church unanimously refused 
 their consent to his removal. On the 23d of this 
 month the Council of the Province and the Corpora- 
 tion of the College met on the subject. " I told 
 them," he adds, " that, if my church and my wife 
 would consent to my removal to Cambridge, I would 
 go. Only I put in this caution, except some tidings 
 from England prevent" * 
 
 The affairs of the College, and the negotiation 
 with President Mather relative to his removal to 
 Cambridge, were in this state, on the arrival of Gov- 
 ernor Bellamont in Massachusetts, which occurred in 
 May, 1699. In his message, at the opening of the 
 General Court, on the 2d of the ensuing June, he 
 introduced the subject of the College by saying, that 
 " he would very gladly promote a charter of incor- 
 poration for the College at Cambridge, and would 
 heartily join in an address to his Majesty for his royal 
 
 * See Appendix, No. TX. 
 VOL. I. 13
 
 98 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER grant of such privileges and franchises, as his Majesty, 
 
 ' in his goodness, shall think fit." In consequence of 
 
 college 8 this encouragement, a bill was brought into the House 
 
 1099. of Representatives on the 8th of July following. This 
 bill, in its general features and powers, conforms to 
 that passed in June, 1697. The only material excep- 
 tions are contained in two provisions ; the one relative 
 to the visitatorial power ; the other to a religious quali- 
 fication, now for the first time attempted to be intro- 
 duced into the charter of the College. The visita- 
 torial power was reserved by this act exclusively 
 " to his Majesty and his Governor and Commander- 
 in-chief, for the time being, of this Province." 
 
 To compensate the Council for their loss of the 
 visitatorial power, five members of that body were 
 appointed members of the Corporation ; and the act 
 declared, that, "whenever any of those five die, or 
 be otherwise removed, or dismissed, such vacancy 
 shall be filled up out of the Council from time to 
 time." The objections of the Council were thus 
 obviated ; and the act was so modified, as to coin- 
 cide with the views of the King; which were fixed 
 upon establishing the principle, that the visitatorial 
 power, as a branch of his prerogative, should not 
 be shared with the Council. It is probable that this 
 charter would have received the sanction of Gov- 
 ernor Bellamont, and ultimately of the King, had it 
 not been for a new element of discord inserted at 
 the express urgency of clergymen of the Province, 
 with President Mather at their head. Actuated by 
 apprehensions arising from the increase of the Epis- 
 copalian sect, and still more from the spread of lib- 
 eral principles adverse to the rigorous doctrines and 
 severe discipline of the early colonial church, while
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 99 
 
 the new College charter was preparing, and on the CHAPTER 
 
 day before its first reading, eight clergymen, of the '. 
 
 greatest influence in the Province, all members of the 
 Corporation, presented a petition to the General 
 Court. * 
 
 In conformity therewith, and in the terms pro- 
 posed by these ministers, the following proviso was Petition of 
 
 * the clergy. 
 
 inserted into this charter when it passed both branches 
 
 * " To his Excellency the Governor, and the Honorable the great 
 and general Assembly, now met at Boston. 
 
 " The address of sundry ministers, who were members of the late 
 Corporation of Harvard College. 
 
 " Upon consideration of the deplorable state whereunto the College 
 is now, for want of charter settlement, reduced and threatened with 
 no less than a dissolution and dissipation of that society (the conse- 
 quences whereof would be very fatal), if due means be not used, 
 without any delay, to prevent so terrible a calamity, we have thought 
 it our duty, once again to address the honorable Assembly, that a 
 charter settlement of that society may be, by them, endeavoured. 
 
 " And we do more particularly pray, that, in the charter for the 
 College, our holy religion may be secured to us and unto our pos- 
 terity, by a provision, that no person shall be chosen President, or 
 Fellow, of the College, but such as declare their adherence unto the 
 principles of reformation, which were espoused and intended by those 
 who first settled the country and founded the College, and have 
 hitherto been the general profession of New England ; and that the 
 power of visitation be so expressed, as that we may have reason to 
 hope that the charter will be favored with the royal approbation. 
 
 " And inasmuch as the surest and the most likely, if not the only 
 way to obtain the charter settlement, so much desired, is to send over 
 an agent to solicit so important an affair, we pray the General Assem- 
 bly to take that matter into their serious consideration. 
 
 " If these things be done, since the God of Heaven hath given us a 
 Governor, who will improve his great interest for us, we are not 
 without hope but that the College may again flourish, to the manifold 
 advantage of more than this whole Province, both in present and 
 future times. 
 
 " Increase Mather. Peter Thacher. 
 
 James Allen. John Dan forth. 
 
 Samuel Torrey. Cotton Mather. 
 
 Samuel Willard. Benjamin Wadsworth." 
 
 Boston, July 1th, 1699.
 
 100 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER of the legislature. " Provided, that no person shall 
 '. be chosen and continued President, Vice-President, 
 or Fellow of said Corporation, but such as shall de- 
 clare and continue their adherence unto the principles 
 of reformation, which were espoused and intended 
 by those, who first settled this country and founded 
 the College, and have hitherto been the profession 
 and practice of the generality of the churches of Christ 
 in New England." 
 
 This bill passed on the 13th of July, 1699,* and, on 
 
 the 18th of the same month, it appears by the records 
 
 Governor of the General Court, that " the bill for incorporating 
 
 objects to Harvard College at Cambridge was read, and His 
 
 the reli- 
 gious quaii- Excellency objected to one clause or paragraph there- 
 
 fication. J J r r 
 
 in, that none should be President or Fellow of said 
 Corporation, but such as declare themselves, and con- 
 tinue to be, as to their persuasion in matters of 
 religion, such as are known by the name of Congre- 
 gationalist, or Presbyterian." 
 
 " And the question being put to the House, whether 
 they could consent to pass the said bill, leaving out 
 that paragraph, it was carried in the negative." 
 
 " Then William Stoughton, Elisha Cooke, Samuel 
 Sewall, Esquires, and the Secretary, were nominated 
 and appointed to acquaint the House of Representa- 
 tives, that His Excellency could not consent to the 
 said bill, with the aforesaid clause therein, and that 
 he rather advised to address his Majesty for a royal 
 charter of incorporation." 
 
 From the terms of the objections made by Gov- 
 ernor Bellamont to the obnoxious clause in this bill, 
 it is apparent, that he apprehended it was levelled 
 against members of the Church of England. The 
 force of it was, however, far from being so limited 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LXVIII.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 101 
 
 as to affect only those, who were not " known CHAPTER 
 
 y 
 
 by the name of Congregationalist or Presbyterian." 
 The criterion established in the act, being " ad- 
 herence to the principles of reformation, which were 
 espoused and intended by those, who first settled 
 this country and founded the College," is obvious- 
 ly quite as effectual to exclude those persons from the 
 government of the College, who, although Congre- 
 gationalists, adopted religious principles and discipline, 
 different from what were sanctioned by the platform 
 and the practice of the early New England churches. 
 That such was the intent, and that for this purpose 
 the clause was carefully constructed, the collateral 
 contemporaneous evidence is, perhaps, conclusive. 
 The original petition, proposing this clause, was signed 
 by none of the laymen of the former Corporation. 
 Four of the twelve clergymen (Michael Wigglesworth, 
 Nehemiah Hobart, Nehemiah Walter, and William 
 Brattle), who composed the Corporation, were not 
 signers of it. The names, also, of John Leverett and 
 Thomas Brattle were omitted in the new act ; and, 
 for the purpose of excluding the last, the Treasurer 
 was no longer permitted to be, as he had been pre- 
 viously, ex officio, a member of the Corporation. The 
 two vacancies, thus created, were filled by " the two 
 senior tutors resident at the College for the time 
 being." 
 
 The religious controversies of the period, which 
 there will be occasion to notice hereafter, and the part 
 which Leverett and Thomas Brattle took in them, 
 sufficiently explain their exclusion from the bill, to 
 the framing of which the adherents of the early 
 colonial church brought their united influences. The 
 extreme rigor of this church, during the existence of
 
 102 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER the old charter, had not only given great dissatisfac- 
 
 ! tion to members of other sects and to hostile churches, 
 
 but had scattered seeds of discontent among those, 
 who preferred the Congregational forms, and who 
 even embraced the general doctrines which have ob- 
 tained the name of " orthodox." 
 
 Until the introduction into the General Court of 
 this bill for a charter of the College, nothing appears 
 in the Diary of Cotton Mather, indicating any con- 
 currence or interest in his father's views concerning 
 an agency in England. But no sooner had this bill 
 been introduced, than he enters upon the topic, and 
 watches the progress of it with characteristic zeal and 
 sympathy. His own " particular faith " gradually 
 became very vivid. It was " assured to him in the 
 spirit from Heaven, that his father should be carried 
 into England and made there a wonderful glory and 
 service unto the Lord, and that his own opportunities 
 to glorify the Lord on that occasion will be gloriously 
 accommodated."* Circumstances about this tii. on- 
 curred to excite hopes in Cotton Mather's mind, of 
 succeeding to the presidency of the College, in case 
 his father should be called into England. Morton, 
 who had hitherto been regarded as the candidate for 
 that office, was dead ; and few, if any, of the clergy of 
 the day could compare with Cotton Mather, in classical 
 learning, extensive reading, or literary industry and 
 reputation. These hopes were probably the " glo- 
 rious accommodations," to which he alludes. The 
 negative of Governor Bellamont to that bill put an 
 end to these expectations. His disappointment is 
 strongly and feelingly expressed in his Diary. 
 
 * See Appendix, No. X.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 103 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Temporary Settlement of the College. Dissatisfaction of John 
 Leverett. Governor Bellamont recommends an Application to 
 the King for a Charter. Proceedings of the General Court there- 
 on. Features of the New Charter. John Leverett and both the 
 Brattles excluded from the Corporation. Agency given to Gov- 
 ernor Bellamont. Disappointment of the Mathers. The General 
 Court renew their Vote for the Residency of the President at Cam- 
 bridge. President Mather removes, but soon returns to Boston. 
 His Letter to Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton. The General 
 Court negotiate with Mr. Willard, Proceedings in this Nego- 
 tiation. Exclusion of President Mather. 
 
 AFTER the negative of the bill for a new charter CHAPTER 
 by Governor Bellamont, as related in the last chapter. - - 
 
 1699 
 
 " a temporary settlement " of the College was made. Temporary 
 
 This appears from a letter written by John Leverett to 
 Mr. Addington, but there is no account of it, either c 
 in the College records, or in those of the General Court. 
 In this letter Leverett complains in no measured terms 
 of the proceedings of the Corporation at a meeting 
 holden under that " new settlement " ; doubts its va- 
 lidity, all the members of the former Corporation not 
 having been summoned ; and considers it " wonderful, 
 that an establishment for so short a time, as till October 
 next, should be made use of so soon to introduce an un- 
 necessary addition to that society."* The language of 
 Leverett indicates, that he was not a member of the 
 Corporation under this new settlement ; which is also 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XVI.
 
 104 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER to be gathered not only from his exclusion from the 
 VI ' former bill, but also from his name not appearing on 
 the records of the Corporation among those present 
 at that meeting. The letter sufficiently evidences 
 his dissatisfaction with the proceedings of President 
 Mather. 
 
 The year 1699 closed upon President Mather under 
 circumstances well calculated to create despondency. 
 The fourth draft of a charter had been negatived, and 
 the favorite clause, on which the clergy relied for re- 
 taining their supremacy over the College, had been 
 the occasion of that negative. No substitute seemed 
 likely to be agreed upon. Governor Bellamont, al- 
 though bent upon rendering himself popular with the 
 predominant party in the country, yet dared to do 
 nothing which should recognise or extend the superi- 
 ority of the Congregational church. To secure this, 
 and to place the College permanently and exclusively 
 under its power, were the objects President Mather 
 proposed to himself. The tedious drama, however, 
 was now drawing to a close, which was destined to 
 display to him and his son the groundlessness of their 
 " celestial assurances " and " special faith " ; and, in- 
 stead of placing either of them at the head of the 
 College, removed both from all future important in- 
 fluence in its concerns. 
 
 The subject of the College charter slept after the 
 last negative of Bellamont, until the meeting of the 
 General Court, in May, 1700. Then the Governor 
 again revived it in his, address at the opening of their 
 first session, by expressing his regret, that " what he 
 had proposed last May session for the advantage of 
 the Province, in relation to the settlement of the 
 College, had been so coldly received." " I am, in
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 10o 
 
 consequence," he adds, " about discouraged from re- CHAPTER 
 newing my advice on this head ; yet my zeal for the 
 
 . ,. . ... ~ . . Governor 
 
 public service will not suffer me to pass it over m Beiiamont 
 silence. The settlement of the College will best be mends' 
 obtained, in my opinion, by addressing the King; for to the King 
 
 J r . ' J for a char- 
 
 hlS royal charter of privileges." ter. 
 
 In consequence of this suggestion, a vote passed 
 the Council on the 1 1 th of the ensuing June, that an 
 application should be made to his Majesty, by way Proceed- 
 of address, for the settlement of the College. This bin for a 
 
 If T T 1 f neW C " ar ' 
 
 mode or proceeding did not receive the concurrence of ter. 
 the House of Representatives. They preferred to 
 prepare a charter in form, which should be " hum- 
 bly solicited " from his Majesty. In the course of 
 preparing it, the question concerning the right of 
 nominating the members of the Corporation assumed 
 a somewhat serious aspect. The strength of the 
 Mathers and the ministers lay in the House of 
 Representatives. The Council had given great dis- 
 satisfaction to both by the pertinacity it had mani- 
 fested on the subject of the visitatorial power, where- 
 by one charter had been lost. Nor were they more 
 content with the manner in which the Council had 
 yielded its claim to a portion of that power, by 
 insisting upon such a modification of the last act, 
 as that five of its members should always con- 
 stitute a portion of the Corporation. In order to 
 secure to themselves the control of the election, 
 the House of Representatives, on the 28th of June, 
 sent up to the Council a resolve, that " the nomination 
 of persons for the Corporation of Harvard College be 
 attended this afternoon, and be proceeded in, in the 
 same manner as the election of Counsellors." As 
 under the charter of William and Mary the General 
 VOL. i. 14
 
 106 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER Court J or Assembly chose Counsellors by joint ballot 
 ' in convention, the effect of this resolve was to deprive 
 the Council of their negative upon the election of 
 members of the Corporation. The resolve was, of 
 course, negatived in that body ; and, a conference, 
 which was proposed and accepted, resulted in the 
 nomination, by the House of Representatives, of 
 President, Vice-President, and all the members of the 
 Corporation, which, after having been " read " and 
 " voted severally," was agreed upon in concurrence 
 by the Council. 
 
 The number of the Corporation was, by the pro- 
 visions of this act, as in the preceding, seventeen, but 
 the Council no longer was to be represented by five 
 
 Exclusion of its members. By omitting the name of William 
 
 of Leverett _. .. ' i 
 
 and the .Brattle, minister of Cambridge, and also that of " the 
 
 Brattles. 
 
 Treasurer," (Thomas Brattle,) they were both ex- 
 cluded from the board. This exclusion had unques- 
 tionable reference to religious opinions ; and, if not 
 their work, was, it cannot be doubted, very accept- 
 able to the Mathers, at that time engaged in a bitter 
 theological controversy, in opposition to doctrines 
 which the Brattles favored. The name of Leverett 
 also no longer appears among the members of the 
 Corporation, although, being at that time Speaker of 
 the House of Representatives, his appointment might 
 have been expected, as likely to be pleasing to the 
 legislature, and also on account of his acquaintance 
 with the interests of the College, and the share he 
 had so long possessed in its government. But these 
 considerations were outweighed by the fact, that he 
 had identified himself with the Brattles in support 
 of doctrines, deemed heretical bv those who took the
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 1Q7 
 
 VI. 
 
 Platform of the New England churches as the stand- CHAPTER 
 ard of orthodoxy. 
 
 Although Governor Bellamont had negatived the 
 act which passed in 1 699, on account of the associa- 
 tion of the Council with him in the visitatorial power, 
 jet a like provision was inserted in the act now 
 passing ; the only difference being, that, in the former, 
 the visitatorial power was directly invested, arid in the 
 latter it was reserved. The clause containing it was 
 as follows ; " And, for preventing of irregularity in 
 the government of the College, we do hereby reserve 
 a power of visitation thereof in ourself, our heirs, and 
 successors, by the Governor and Commander-in-chief, 
 together with our Council for the time being, of our 
 Province of Massachusetts Bay aforesaid, to be exer- 
 cised by our Governor, or Commander-in-chief, and 
 Council, when and so often as they shall see cause." 
 
 The clause providing for a religious qualification in 
 the officers of the government and instruction was 
 omitted in this act. The ancient ecclesiastical pre- 
 ponderance was, however, secured, by excluding the 
 names of Leverett and of the Brattles, and by in- 
 serting in their place, and in that of the five mem- 
 bers of the Council, the names of Peter Thacher, 
 Samuel Angier, Henry Gibbs, Jonathan Pierpont, 
 Benjamin Wadsworth, and John White. The seven- 
 teen members of the Corporation, with the exception 
 of White and the Senior Resident Fellows, were thus 
 all clergymen ; of whom a great majority were of the 
 predominating religious sect. 
 
 This act was in the form of " heads of a char- 
 ter," to be presented to his Majesty for enactment. 
 While it was in its passage, an address to Governor 
 Bellamont, being prepared, was passed contempora-
 
 108 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER neously with the act on the 9th of July, 1700.* Ill 
 
 __ this address the General Court say ; "It having 
 
 pleased your Excellency to consent and join with us 
 in our humble address to his Majesty, for a settlement 
 of the College at Cambridge, within this Province, 
 agreeably to the ends and intent of the first founders ; 
 and several articles as the heads of a charter for the 
 incorporating the said College having been agreed to ; 
 we are bold to present the same to your Lordship, 
 Agency and withal humbly to pray, that your Lordship would 
 
 for the . . . . . 
 
 charter be pleased to improve your interest with his Majesty 
 Governor and the ministers of state, in behalf of this Province, 
 
 Bellamont. 
 
 for the obtainment of his Majesty's grace and favor in 
 this matter." 
 
 This application to Bellamont, instead of a special 
 agency in England, was a death-blow to President 
 Mather's expectations. His own Diary, for this period, 
 is missing. That of his son exists ; f in which an 
 intense desire that his father should be gratified, and 
 his own self-delusion on the subject of his special faith, 
 are manifested to a degree, that would be incredible, 
 had we not his own authority in evidence of his ex- 
 treme infatuation. 
 
 After a series of exciting exercises of prayer and 
 faith, after genuflexions and prostrations and super- 
 natural spiritual elevations, and after an angel had 
 confirmed his special faith in the certainty of a mission 
 to England for his father, the whole resulted in utter 
 disappointment. In the bitterness of his anger he 
 exclaims, that " Governor Bellamont, not without 
 base unhandsomeness " had deceived him ; and that 
 Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton, " who had formerly 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LXVIII. f See Appendix, No. X.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 109 
 
 been for his father's agency, now (not without great CHAPTER 
 ebullition of unaccountable prejudice and ingratitude) - '. 
 appeared with all the little tricks imaginable to con- 
 found it." 
 
 Thus this particular faith, which had been enter- 
 tained, with various interchanges of hope and fear, 
 for more than eight years, in President Mather's 
 mind, proved at last a delusion ; excited by the nat- 
 ural wishes of his own heart, and encouraged by the 
 vain promises of two or three slippery politicians, 
 who, when their own ends were answered, were 
 not unwilling to disappoint his expectations. 
 
 After this sad termination of President Mather's 
 
 -n ment of the 
 
 hopes, all thoughts of an agency in England were, for Mathers. 
 the present at least, laid aside. The projected College 
 charter was intrusted, for its negotiation, to Governor 
 Bellamont, who died before he returned to England. 
 With him perished all expectation of attaining it ; 
 and no subsequent attempt was ever made to obtain 
 a College charter from the crown. 
 
 Contemporaneously with the project of transferring 
 the contemplated agency from President Mather to 
 Earl Bellamont, that of compelling the former either 
 to reside at Cambridge, or to resign his presidency, 
 was adopted by the General Court. On the 10th of 1700. 
 July, a resolve was sent up from the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, and was immediately concurred in by the 
 Council and approved by the Governor, " that two 
 hundred and twenty pounds per annum be allowed, 
 and to be paid out of the public treasury, to the 
 President of the College ; that the person chosen 
 President should reside at Cambridge ; " and a Com- 
 mittee was appointed by both branches, " to wait on 
 the Rev. Increase Mather, and acquaint him, that this
 
 110 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER Court hath chosen him President of Harvard College. 
 
 VI 
 
 '. and desire him to accept of said office, and so expect 
 
 that he repair to and reside at Cambridge as soon as 
 may be. The said Committee to make report of said 
 President's answer to this Court." 
 
 On the llth of July, they reported, "That Mr. 
 Mather could not remove without acquainting his 
 church. If they consented to give him up to this 
 work, he would, as to his own person, remove to 
 Cambridge, but could not see his way clear to remove 
 his family, until he heard of the passing of the char- 
 ter in England." 
 
 The uncertainty which this answer indicated, was 
 not satisfactory to the General Court, and a message 
 was immediately sent to Mr. Mather by them, " to call 
 a meeting of his church this evening on the said occa- 
 sion." Accordingly, on the next day, it was notified to 
 the Council by one of the members of Mr. Mather's 
 church, that, " having had a meeting in pursuance of 
 the directions of the Court, they had consented to his 
 going to Cambridge, and that said Mr. Mather re- 
 ferred himself to his former answer." 
 
 On the next day a Committee was appointed, " to 
 take care that a suitable place be provided at Cam- 
 bridge for the reception and entertainment of the 
 President, and to consider what ought to be done 
 with respect to a house already built for a Presi- 
 dent's house." 
 
 President The Committee immediately attended to their duty,* 
 
 Mather re- , , - . . 
 
 moves to and, the necessary accommodations being prepared, 
 President Mather, in July, 1700, apparently estab- 
 lished himself permanently at Cambridge. 
 
 * See Records of General Court.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 1H 
 
 In the same session the General Court passed a CHAPTER 
 vote, vesting in Increase Mather, as President, Samuel ' 
 
 Willard, as Vice-President, and the other persons 
 named in the last-mentioned College charter, the 
 general care and superintendence of the College. * 
 
 President Mather continued his residence at Cam- 
 bridge, however, no longer than till the 17th of Octo- 
 ber following. On this day he removed to Boston, and 
 addressed a letter to Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton, 
 " giving an account of his inspection of the College 
 whilst he resided there, and containing the reasons 
 for his removal from Cambridge, as not having his 
 health there, and desiring that another President may 
 be thought of." 
 
 This letter was communicated to the General Court 
 on the 26th of February, 1701, and, on the 14th of 
 March following, a resolve passed that body, which, 
 after reciting, that, " forasmuch as the Constitution 
 requires that the President reside at Cambridge, which 
 is now altered by his removal from thence, and to the 
 intent, that a present necessary oversight be taken of 
 the College," proceeds to invest all the former mem- 
 bers of the Corporation with the superintendence of 
 the College ; " and, in case of Mr. Mather's refusal, 
 absence, sickness, or death, Mr. Samuel Willard is 
 
 nominated to be Vice-President ; and, with the others pointed. 
 before named, invested with like powers and au- 
 thority, in all respects." 
 
 On the ensuing day the General Court appointed 
 a Committee, of which John Leverett was chairman, 
 " to take effectual care that the President's house be 
 repaired," the charges for which are to be allowed 
 
 * See Records of General Court.
 
 112 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER by the Governor and Council, and paid out of the 
 
 VI. 
 
 treasury. 
 
 Upon this it appears, that President Mather again 
 transferred his residence to Cambridge, and remained 
 there until the 30th of June, 1701, when he addressed 
 
 President a letter to Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton,* equally 
 
 m| , , O 9 JL / 
 
 letter to illustrative of his motives and character ; in which 
 
 Lieutenant. . . 
 
 Governor he unequivocally indicates, that his expectation and 
 
 Stoughton. _ . . 
 
 intent were to retain the office of President, and avoid 
 the obligation of fixing his residence at Cambridge. 
 His letter is well adapted to remove objections to his 
 views, and to excite a spirit favorable to their attain- 
 ment. He carefully limits the grounds of his unwill- 
 ingness to remove his family to Cambridge, to " the 
 unsettled state of the College ; " a reason, which, as 
 a settlement was daily expected, would be considered 
 as temporary, and the more likely to be acquiesced in 
 by the General Court, f In order that the spirit of 
 sectarianism should come in aid of his views, he also 
 takes care to sound the alarm upon points of religious 
 controversy then in a state of heated excitement, and 
 to warn the legislature, " how fatal it would be for 
 the interest of religion, should one disaffected to the 
 order of the Gospel, as professed and practised in the 
 churches of New England, preside over the semi- 
 nary." 
 
 This letter was laid before the General Court early 
 in the ensuing August (1701), and was received and 
 entertained by them with every outward mark of 
 respect. They immediately appointed a Committee 
 to " signify to President Mather that the Court desired 
 to speak with him at 3 o'clock, post meridiem, relating 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XVII. f Ibid.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 113 
 
 to the affairs of the College." On his attendance, CHAPTER 
 
 the record states, that " Mr. Speaker and the Repre- L_ 
 
 sentatives were desired to come up to the Council 
 Chamber, when Mr. Mather acquainted the Court, 
 that he was removed from Cambridge to Boston, 
 and as the College remained unsettled, he did not 
 think fit to continue his residence there, and looked 
 at it as a hardship to expect his removing his family 
 thither ; but, if the Court thought Jit to desire he should 
 continue his care of the College as formerly, he would 
 do so." * 
 
 This intimation of President Mather received no Proceed- 
 
 ings of the 
 
 favor in either branch of the legislature. After having General 
 been for eight years foiled in their attempts to estab- 
 lish a resident President at the College by the 
 pertinacious resistance of Mr. Mather, a prevalent 
 disposition was manifested to look elsewhere for a 
 head of the institution, and no longer to submit its 
 welfare to the caprice of an individual, who would 
 neither reside nor resign. 
 
 The House of Representatives immediately sent 
 up to the Council a resolve founded upon the fact, 
 " that the Rev. Mr. Increase Mather had acquainted 
 this Court, that he can with no conveniency any 
 longer reside at Cambridge, and take care of the 
 College there," and appointed a committee to be 
 joined by the Council " to wait upon the Rev. Samuel 
 Willard, arid desire him to accept the care and charge 
 of the said College, and to reside in Cambridge, in 
 order thereunto." This committee was immediately 
 joined in the other branch. 
 
 To this application Mr. Willard having replied on 
 
 * General Court Records, August 1st, 1701. 
 VOL. I. 15
 
 1 14 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER the 2d of August, that " he would consider thereof 
 vi 
 
 '. and advise with his church and give his answer," the 
 
 Council took such a deep interest in its success, that 
 they appointed on the 5th of the same month a special 
 committee, consisting of Elisha Cooke and Penn 
 Townsend, " to attend the meeting of Mr. Willard's 
 church, and desire their consent that he might go and 
 reside at Cambridge to take care of the College." 
 
 Difficulties having been, however, thrown in the 
 way of their success, the Council, on the 8th of the 
 same month, again resolved, that " further application 
 be made to Mr. Willard's church for their consent to 
 his going to reside at Cambridge to take care of the 
 College." 
 
 Negotla- While this negotiation with Mr. Willard and his 
 
 tion with 
 
 Mr.wn- church was in progress, the House of Representatives, 
 
 lard, who 
 
 accepts the j n contemplation of an adjournment of the General 
 
 vice-presi- 
 dency. Court, by a resolve passed on the 9th of August, 
 
 devolved the whole power relative " to the settlement 
 of the College, until the next assembling of the 
 General Court, upon the Honorable the Council." 
 From this resolve it is apparent, that the difficulty of 
 obtaining a resident President was great ; since it 
 provides, that, "if it may be, the person, who shall 
 have the chief government of the College reside there, 
 and perform the duties that have formerly been dis- 
 charged by the President;" thereby indicating, that 
 success in this endeavour was dubious. 
 
 From the course of events, also, it is apparent that 
 Mr. Willard, although he was willing to take the 
 superintendence of the College, would not pledge 
 himself for the present, to reside permanently at 
 Cambridge. The cause of his reluctance thus to 
 reside, does not appear. It threw, however, such
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 115 
 
 an obstacle in the way of success in the negotia- CHAPTER 
 
 tion with him, as gave the friends of Dr. Mather 
 
 hopes, and a pretence for rallying in his favor. 
 Accordingly, on the 5th of September following, no 
 arrangement with Mr. Willard having been made, the 
 House of Representatives, in which Dr. Mather's 
 strength lay, passed a resolve, which they sent up to 
 the Council for concurrence, " desiring Mr. Increase 
 Mather to take care of and reside at the College." 
 No sooner was this read in the Council, than that 
 board, wholly passing over the object of the resolve 
 of the House of Representatives, appointed their 
 former Committee " to go, with such as the Repre- 
 sentatives should think fit to accompany them, unto 
 Mr. Samuel Willard, to whom this Court had made 
 application to attend that service, to speak to him, and 
 to receive his answer thereabout." On the same day, 
 Mr. Cooke, chairman of the committee, " acquainted 
 the board, that himself and the other gentleman had 
 spoken with Mr. Willard, who declared his readiness 
 to do the best service he could for the College, and 
 that he would visit once or twice every week, and 
 continue there a night or two, and perform the services 
 there to be done by former Presidents." * 
 
 The proceedings of the ensuing day, as they closed increase 
 finally the connexions of Dr. Mather with the presi- excluded 
 
 from the 
 
 dency, deserve to be stated at large, as they appear presidency, 
 on the Records of the General Court. " 6th of Sep- 
 tember, 1701. The resolve, passed in the House of 
 Representatives, and sent up for concurrence, and read 
 yesterday, at the Board, viz., * That Mr. Increase 
 Mather be desired to take care of and reside at the 
 
 * See the Records of the General Court at the respective dates.
 
 116 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER College,' was again read, and upon the question put 
 for a concurrence, it was carried in the negative." 
 " Then a resolve being drawn up in the words follow- 
 ing, was read, passed, and sent down to the Repre- 
 sentatives for concurrence, viz. Resolved, that the 
 Rev. Mr. Samuel Willard, nominated Vice-President 
 of the College, (together with the gentlemen named 
 for the Corporation, in the order of this Court,) be 
 desired to take the oversight of the College and the 
 students there, according to the late establishment 
 made by the Court, and to manage the affairs thereof 
 as he has proposed in his answer to the Court, viz. to 
 reside there one or two days and nights in a week, 
 and to perform prayers and expositions in the Hall, 
 and to bring forward the exercise of analyzing." 
 
 " Which resolve being returned from the Repre- 
 sentatives with their concurrence thereto, the same 
 was signed by fourteen members of the Council 
 present at the board." 
 
 This last formality was essential, as the Council 
 then held the Executive authority of the Province ; 
 no successor having been appointed to Bellamont, and 
 Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton having died in the 
 preceding July. 
 
 The eventful presidency of Increase Mather was 
 thus brought to its close by the will and direct applica- 
 tion of the authority of the legislature. That he was 
 well qualified for the office, and had conducted him- 
 self in it faithfully and laboriously, is attested by the 
 history of the College, the language of the legislature, 
 and the acknowledgment of his contemporaries. It 
 seems obvious, that it was honorable and useful 
 to the institution, to have for its head an individual 
 who had taken so large a share in the politi-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 117 
 
 cal, religious, and literary controversies of the times, CHAPTER 
 
 and had in consequence acquired both celebrity abroad . _J . 
 
 and influence in his own country. Nor does the 
 avowed motive, " his refusal to transfer his residence 
 to Cambridge," sufficiently account for the determined 
 spirit with which his exclusion was pursued ; particu- 
 larly as it appears by the vote of the legislature itself, 
 that the superintendence of the seminary was granted 
 to Mr. Willard upon conditions, which did not re- 
 quire him to fix his personal residence at Cambridge. 
 This he never did, although he continued more than 
 six years the chief superintendent of the College, in 
 the office of Vice-President. From all which it is 
 reasonable to conclude, that the avowed were not the 
 prevailing motives for the exclusion of Dr. Mather. 
 That such was the fact, his son unequivocally sug- 
 gests ; and the circumstances of the case sufficiently 
 indicate that this suggestion was not altogether gra- 
 tuitous. 
 
 Cotton Mather, in his Life of his father, directly 
 asserts, that " the College was taken out of his 
 hands." The causes of this proceeding he thus re- 
 capitulates. 
 
 " There were some disaffected persons, who were 
 for some reasons (God knows what they were) willing 
 to have the College taken out of Dr. Mather's hands. 
 To accomplish it they obtained a vote of the General 
 Assembly, which appeared of a plausible aspect ; that 
 no man should act as President of the College, who 
 did not reside at Cambridge. The leaders in this 
 vote knew very well, that the Doctor would not re- 
 move his habitation from a loving people at Boston, 
 to reside at Cambridge, while the College was as it 
 then was. But yet his abdication was, after all,
 
 118 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 VI. 
 
 brought about, I will but softly say, not so fairly as it 
 should have been. I think there are thanks due to 
 me for my forbearing to tell the story."* 
 
 Language of this temper, used two-and-twenty 
 years after the blow had been given, sufficiently evi- 
 dences, that the wound inflicted by it had been deep 
 and immedicable. Cotton Mather saw plainly, that 
 there were, in the General Court, persons " disaffect- 
 ed " towards his father. But he was not in a position 
 to discern, or to judge accurately, of the causes of 
 that " disaffection." 
 causes of These causes, however, are here proper subjects of 
 
 President . . . r r J __ 
 
 Mather's investigation, as the exclusion or Increase Mather 
 
 exclusion. 
 
 from the presidency was an important crisis in the 
 history of the College. They are intimately con- 
 nected with the characters of both the Mathers, and 
 with the impressions concerning them, made upon 
 their contemporaries by their respective religious and 
 political courses ; a general developement of which 
 is indispensable to a just estimate of the results. 
 
 Increase Mather had scarcely passed the threshold 
 of manhood, when he dashed headlong into the re- 
 ligious controversies of the period ; joining ardently 
 the side of those, who maintained the doctrines and 
 discipline established by the early emigrants to Massa- 
 chusetts in the utmost strictness and rigor. 
 
 The great question, which divided our ancestors 
 of the second generation, and which was the chief 
 occasion of the synod of 1662, when divested of 
 the technicalities of the age, was, whether any chil- 
 dren but those of parents in full communion were 
 subjects of baptism. The decision of the synod had 
 
 * Life of Increase Mather, by Cotton Mather, p. 173. Art. 29.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 119 
 
 been favorable to the extension of the rite to others CHAPTER 
 
 VI 
 
 than children of such parents. Against this decision ! . 
 
 President Chauncy came out with great learning and 
 power, in a work entitled " Antisynodalia America- 
 na." Increase Mather joined the side of President president 
 
 Chauncy, and wrote in defence of his opinion ; and early reii- 
 
 i . r. , . . g ious 
 
 in opposition to his own father, who was a minister course. 
 
 of respectable standing at Dorchester. His eagerness 
 to engage in controversy, which seems to have been 
 his character through life, made him obnoxious to the 
 doubt, expressed in after times, whether his motives 
 were " zeal for truth, or a desire to show his talents." * 
 He had soon occasion to repent his haste, and to 
 regret the part he had taken on this question. The 
 side he had embraced proved to be neither popular nor 
 prevailing. There occurred, therefore, to Mr. Mather, 
 what his son calls " second thoughts." Availing him- 
 self of the argument of his opponent, Mr. Mitchell, 
 he declared himself " vanquished," and, passing away 
 from the side of President Chauncy, he joined that 
 of Mr. Mitchell ; and, with the zeal natural to new 
 converts, in the language of his son, " obliged the 
 church of God, by publishing to the world a couple 
 of unanswerable treatises in defence of the si/nodical 
 propositions." f 
 
 In a like spirit of adhesion to the " faith and order 
 of the evangelical churches established by the early 
 fathers of Massachusetts," he joined the party, who 
 " would not hear of toleration," and wrote an essay 
 full " of erudition, in favor of the power of the civil 
 magistrate in matters of religion." This essay be- 
 
 * Mass. Hist. Coll., Second Series, Vol. I. p. 204. 
 
 t Life of Increase Mather, by Cotton Mather, p. 50. Art. 12.
 
 120 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER came also the subject of " second thoughts." It " was 
 
 never published." " And it was well," adds Cotton 
 
 Mather, " he did not ; for anon he became fully satis- 
 fied, in the declared will of our Saviour, that the tares 
 must have toleration"* 
 
 These retractions of avowed opinions, adopted with 
 more zeal than foresight, would have been visited in 
 after times with a milder judgment, had he not, in 
 both cases, yielded to the tide of public opinion ; which 
 the deviations in his course indicated at once an in- 
 clination to stem and an inability to resist. It is not 
 surprising, therefore, that, among the stricter sect of 
 his brethren, in consequence of these first essays, he 
 became obnoxious to the charge of " apostasy from the 
 principles of New England" and of having an eye 
 to " self-interest and self-ends"^ 
 
 Whatever suspicions of his principles his conduct 
 in these instances might have raised, they were all 
 dissipated by the subsequent tenor of his life and 
 writings. For the ensuing twenty-five years he was 
 regarded as the champion of the sternest principles of 
 the doctrines and discipline of the fathers of Massa- 
 chusetts. His zeal and boldness, combined with his 
 position as pastor of the second church in the metrop- 
 olis, placed him at the head of the clergy ; a relation, 
 which, in that day, the President of the College was, 
 by universal consent, acknowledged to possess. In 
 all forms of government which have, like that framed 
 by the people of Massachusetts under the old charter, 
 religion for their great object, the political and eccle- 
 siastical leaders become identical in policy, if not in 
 
 * Memoirs of Increase Mather, by Cotton Mather, p. 58. Art. 13. 
 t Magnalia, Book IV. c. 4. 11.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 121 
 
 person. Under a constitution, in which none were CHAPTER 
 
 admitted to be freemen except church members, civil '. 
 
 and religious liberty became inseparably interwoven 
 in the minds of those freemen. As, in a govern- 
 ment thus constituted, the only path to influence in 
 the state is coincidence with the received doctrines 
 of the established church, it results, that politicians 
 never fail to assume the aspect of divines, and divines 
 to possess the weight, and often openly to assume 
 the attitude, of politicians. 
 
 No man understood better than President Mather 
 the nature of the constitution under which he lived. 
 He realized the advantages he possessed, and had 
 every disposition to avail himself of them. Happily President 
 
 ... ",, Mather's 
 
 duty to his country, religious interests, and love of early poiiti- 
 
 ,. . . V. . , ,. cal course. 
 
 distinction all united in giving a right direction to 
 his course. In the great crisis, which then impended 
 over Massachusetts, he gratified them all by placing 
 himself in the front rank of those, who resisted the 
 insidious policy of Randolph, and the unveiled des- 
 potism of Andros. Denounced and persecuted by 
 those enemies of New England for the boldness of 
 his opposition and the severity of his invectives, he 
 became a favorite both of the freemen and of the 
 clergy. So that, when the interests of the Province 
 demanded that it should be represented in Great Brit- 
 ain by a confidential agent, Mr. Mather was deemed, 
 " by the principal men of the Colony," best qualified 
 for that office ; * as uniting, more than any indi- 
 vidual, the influence of the clergy and the confidence 
 of the freemen. The interests of no class of men 
 were so identified with the preservation of the old 
 
 * Hutch. Hist. Mass., Vol. I. chap. 3. 
 VOL. I. 16
 
 122 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER charter as were those of the clergy, and the policy of 
 
 ' having for a representative abroad the head of that 
 
 body was as wise, as in the event it proved to be 
 happy. All the friends of the charter realized, that 
 they possessed in him its most vigorous defender ; 
 nor can it be questioned, that he sailed for Europe 
 with the fixed intent to relinquish none of the priv- 
 ileges the colonists had enjoyed under it. 
 
 When, therefore, after the lapse of four years, he re- 
 turned to New England, bringing with him, not the old 
 charter, that desire of so many hearts, but a new one, 
 which no person sought or anticipated ; when in this 
 the appointment of Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, 
 and Secretary of State was taken from the people, 
 and the preeminence of the Congregational church 
 was wrested from the clergy ; a negative on the ap- 
 pointment of Counsellors reserved to the Governor, 
 and on the acts of the legislature to the King ; when 
 religion was no longer the object of the frame of 
 government, but the world and its concerns ; and an 
 independence of transatlantic control, which had been 
 enjoyed by two successive generations, was aban- 
 doned ; the agent, who, in opposition to all his col- 
 leagues, had accepted and approved an instrument so 
 repugnant to the expectations and hopes of all, and 
 so contrary to his antecedent opinions and promises, 
 could not but expect to meet from his countrymen 
 signs of deep and insurmountable discontent, if not 
 visitations of public indignation. 
 
 As Mr. Mather had, in his negotiation in Europe, 
 President conducted with exemplary fidelity, so on his return. 
 
 Mather's J J , 
 
 negotiation all his measures to meet the exigency 01 the occa- 
 
 in Europe. 
 
 sion were wise and prudent ; but, though they saved
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 123 
 
 the state, they caused to him the loss of popularity CHAPTER 
 
 and influence. By letters and certificates approving ' 
 
 his course, from clergymen known to be distinguished 
 for their friendship to the Colony, he deadened the 
 opposition of the clergy, or secured partially their 
 support. By procuring the nomination of his per- 
 sonal friends as the first Counsellors, he filled that 
 board with men on whom he could rely to give a right 
 impulse to the government in its outset. By obtain- 
 ing the appointment of Sir William Phips to the 
 Governor's chair, he gratified the people among whom 
 he was a favorite, and insured an administration likely 
 to agree with him in policy, and to be guided by 
 his counsels. The personal qualifications of Phips for 
 the office of Governor being few, and some of the 
 Council unpopular, Mr. Mather's course became sub- 
 jected to censure, and his motives to impeachment. 
 At this day, however, it scarcely admits a question, that 
 his precautions were wise, and his arrangements justi- 
 fiable. It was a case, in which the interest of the 
 agent was identified with that of the public. He, who 
 had taken so great a responsibility in favor of a new 
 form of government, had surely a right to provide, 
 that its first movements should be in the hands of his 
 friends, and not be placed, by any false delicacy, at 
 the mercy of its enemies. His policy was eminently 
 successful. Whatever opinions we may be compelled 
 to entertain concerning his measures and motives 
 on other occasions, his conduct in this great crisis of 
 his country entitles him to unqualified approbation. 
 It is scarcely possible for a public agent to be placed 
 in circumstances more trying or critical ; nor could 
 any one have exhibited more sagacity and devotedness 
 to the true interests of his constituents. By his
 
 124 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 ' 
 
 CHAPTER wisdom and firmness in acceding to the new charter, 
 and thus assuming a responsibility of the weightiest 
 kind, in opposition to his colleagues in the agency, 
 
 the colonial , , in- 
 
 charter of he saved his country, apparently, from a rebellion or a 
 revolution, or from having a constitution imposed by 
 the will of the transatlantic sovereign, possibly at the 
 point of the bayonet. * The event, though prosperous 
 for his country, was to him an abundant source of 
 calumny and animosity, and ended in his loss of politi- 
 cal influence, and his severance from all subsequent 
 public employment. 
 
 The political and religious controversies, which en- 
 sued upon the change of influences consequent on 
 the charter of William and Mary, were unavoidably 
 numerous and bitter. The statesmen of the Colony, 
 whose office Mather had assumed, and whose part he 
 had successfully played in Great Britain, saw with little 
 complacency a clergyman, in opposition to his col- 
 leagues in the agency, taking a lead in new modelling 
 its constitution, selecting those who were destined to 
 give it the first impulse, and having the boldness, in 
 doing this, to gratify some, and to disappoint ana* 
 deeply offend others. There was also a class of inhab- 
 itants, who, although able, respectable, and wealthy, 
 had been hitherto precluded from all political power, 
 in consequence of not being willing, though Con- 
 gregationalists, to subscribe the creed, or submit to 
 the customs and discipline, required by the church of 
 New England. To both these classes, of politicians 
 and religionists, President Mather had rendered himself 
 particularly obnoxious. To the former, because, as 
 
 * Memoirs of Increase Mather, by Cotton Mather, p. 134.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 125 
 
 the open advocate and the supposed author of the CHAPTER 
 new charter, they attributed to him all the loss of 
 
 . a i M i Animosity 
 
 influence and privileges consequent on that mstru- ofthepoii- 
 
 m i i MI i ticians to 
 
 ment. io the latter he was still more obnoxious, as President 
 the unqualified asserter and earnest defender of the 
 doctrines and discipline of the established Congre- 
 gational church. At the head of the political party 
 opposed to him were the whole body of former As- 
 sistants, whom he had neglected to nominate to the 
 first Provincial Council of 1692 ; many of whom were 
 chosen into that Council by the legislature on the first 
 opportunity of exerting their authority, in 1693. His 
 colleagues in the agency saw with dissatisfaction the 
 successful operation of the new charter. The feelings 
 of Elisha Cooke, one of the number, were also quick- 
 ened into resentment, when, after having been nom- 
 inated to the Council by the legislature, he found 
 himself negatived by Governor Phips. His friends 
 were many, and his influence weighty ; and his ani- 
 mosity unavoidably became directed towards Mather, 
 who was well known to be the confidential friend and 
 counsellor of the Governor. 
 
 The loss of influence and of place, the ultimate lot 
 of President Mather, is not, however, solely to be 
 attributed to his political course, or to his religious 
 zeal. In both politics and religion, the tone of his 
 writings was lofty and magisterial. He made no con- 
 cealment of the high opinion he entertained of his 
 own public services, and their claims to gratitude and 
 reward. The want of delicacy with which his ap- 
 pointment to another agency in England was pressed, 
 both by his personal friends and by the Corporation, 
 of which he and his son were the guiding spirits, had 
 a natural tendency to disgust his contemporaries, and
 
 126 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER excite in them an inclination to thwart his plans and 
 
 VI. ,. . ,. 
 
 limit his power. 
 
 character The character of Cotton Mather, his son and as- 
 
 and lan- 
 
 c"cmon 0f s ciate in the pastoral care of the North Church in 
 Mather. Boston, was of a nature to repel and not to conciliate. 
 Indefatigable, learned, laborious, but vain, opinionated, 
 irritable, and ambitious, he held no measures with 
 those, who crossed his own or his father's path ; and 
 was equally open and imprudent in expressing his 
 resentments. 
 
 The Journal of Judge Sewall contains graphic 
 sketches of the language and conduct of Cotton 
 Mather on the proceedings in the Council relative to 
 his father. * 
 
 Sewall agreed with the Mathers in their general 
 views of politics and religion. As a member of the 
 Council, he had taken an active part in those measures 
 which preceded the exclusion of President Mather from 
 the College chair. His expressions in the course of 
 debate had given offence to the father and son. Their 
 language on the occasion was characteristic of their 
 temperament. Words and demeanor so unguarded 
 and irritating, as Sewall records, towards men of rank 
 and influence in the Province, must have deeply af- 
 fected their popularity ; nor can it be doubted, that 
 they were among the causes, not only of the father's 
 exclusion from office, but also of that comparative 
 neglect and loss of influence, which were the fate of 
 both, during the remainder of their lives. 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XI.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 127 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Sectarian Controversies. Attempts to remove John Leverett and 
 Thomas Brattle from the Corporation traced to them. President 
 Mather's Epistle Dedicatory to his Son's Life of Mitchell. Its 
 Effects. Foundation of Brattle Street Church. Connexion with 
 it of Leverett and Brattle. Conduct of the Mathers in respect 
 to it. Interference of Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton. Recon- 
 ciliation of the Mathers with Colman. Dedication of Brattle 
 Street Church. The Mathers renew the Controversy. Its Spirit 
 and Consequences. 
 
 THE sectarian controversies, which at this period CHAPTER 
 
 agitated the Province, the Corporation, and the Col- ! 
 
 lege, were among the causes of the exclusion of In- 
 crease Mather, and, after the lapse of a few years, 
 led to the introduction of John Leverett into the 
 presidency. 
 
 Thomas Brattle, William Brattle, John Leverett, 
 Ebenezer Pemberton, and Benjamin Colman, were all 
 graduates of the College, and, with the exception of 
 Colman, had been connected with its government 
 while Increase Mather presided. All were men dis- 
 tinguished for zeal in the cause of learning and re- 
 ligion, and highly esteemed by their contemporaries 
 for moral worth and intellectual attainments. None 
 of them were adherents to the rigid doctrines of the 
 early established Congregational church of New Eng- 
 land, or concealed their preference of those milder 
 and more liberal views of the Christian dispensation, 
 which, after the charter of William arid Mary had
 
 128 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER deprived the clergy of their civil power, began to be 
 
 ! openly avowed. 
 
 During the absence of President Mather in Europe, 
 the instruction and superintendence of the College 
 had devolved upon John Leverett and William Brattle, 
 as tutors. Both continued in their respective offices 
 after his return. Both were made members of the 
 Corporation by the College charter, passed in 1692. 
 When this charter was negatived by the King, both 
 held that relation, and were among those, who, in 1696, 
 were reinstated in their offices by Lieutenant-Governor 
 Stoughton. It does not appear, that during this period 
 they thwarted any of the views of the President rela- 
 
 Courseof tive to the College. On the contrary, they supported 
 
 Leverett 
 
 and Brattle, him in his neglect of the recommendation of the legis- 
 lature to remove to Cambridge in 1693, and joined in 
 requesting him, in 1696, not to "resent" their re- 
 newed recommendation to the same purport, and not 
 to resign in consequence of it. They did not, how- 
 ever, concur in the remonstrance of the other mem- 
 bers of the Corporation against the bill concerning 
 the College in 1696, and, from their known religious 
 views, could not be relied upon to support the project 
 then contemplated, and afterwards openly attempted, 
 to establish an absolute control of the College in the 
 hands of the adherents to the early ecclesiastical doc- 
 trines. This contumacy of Leverett probably explains 
 the endeavour made to exclude him from the Cor- 
 poration, in the bill introduced into the General Court 
 in 1697 by President Mather ; who was of a tem- 
 perament not to permit his animosities to be con- 
 cealed, or their causes misapprehended. From their 
 proceedings it cannot be doubted, that both the 
 Mathers had determined to resist, with a strong hand,
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 129 
 
 the tendency to deviate from " the good old scriptural CHAPTER 
 
 ways," which, as they thought, was countenanced in 1 
 
 the College and the community, by the Brattles, Lev- 
 erett, and Pemberton ; Colman being then in Europe. 
 The agreement of these members of the College in 
 religious sentiment was a subject of general notoriety. 
 In 1697, Leverett and Pemberton were tutors, Thomas 
 Brattle was Treasurer of the College, and William 
 Brattle had just exchanged his office of tutor for that of 
 pastor of the church in Cambridge. In the same year 
 Cotton Mather published his Life of Jonathan Mitchell. 
 Availing himself of this occasion, President Mather 
 wrote an Epistle Dedicatory for that work, addressed President 
 
 J Mather's 
 
 " to the church in Cambridge, and to the students in e P ist ie 
 
 ^ dedicatory. 
 
 the College there." In this Epistle he enumerates the 
 great lights Cambridge and the College had formerly 
 enjoyed ; and reminds them of the many countries 
 and places, which, after possessing a faithful ministry, 
 had become, through " young profane mockers, and 
 scornful neuters, overgrown with thorns and nettles, 
 so that the glory of the Lord had gradually departed." 
 " Mercy forbid," he adds, " that such things should 
 be verified in Cambridge." The publication of his 
 son's Life of Mitchell, he considers "not to have been 
 without the providence of Christ, at such a time, 
 when there are agitations about some disciplinary 
 questions among yourselves." 
 
 The questions agitated at that time chiefly re- 
 spected the qualifications and examination to be re- 
 quired as conditions of admission to the ordinance 
 of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 The opinion of Mitchell, that " doctrinal knowl- 
 edge and outward blamelessness were not sufficient 
 
 VOL. i. 17
 
 130 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER for such admission, but that practical confessions, or 
 L_ some relation of the work of conversion, were neces- 
 sary," President Mather applauds, maintaining, that 
 " to admit persons to partake of the Lord's Supper, 
 without any examination of the work of grace in the 
 heart, would be a real apostasy and degeneracy from 
 the churches of New England." Taking advantage 
 of the fact, that Mitchell had been once " a tutor" in 
 the College, he urges upon " the tutors " the example 
 of Mitchell, and, " praying that they may have wisdom 
 to follow it," warns them not to become " degenerate 
 plants, or prove themselves apostate." * 
 
 The time, manner, and language of this publica- 
 tion could not but have been deeply offensive to 
 the Brattles, Leverett, and Pemberton. Under the 
 mask of advice, it was a reproof given to them before 
 the students of the College and the world, with an 
 evident design, in connexion with their known opin- 
 ions, to load them with the reproach of degeneracy 
 and apostasy. An address thus personal and magis- 
 terial naturally strengthened their determination to 
 countenance, or to unite with, that sect of the Con- 
 gregational church, who were preparing to vindicate 
 their right to construe the Scriptures for themselves, 
 and no longer to subscribe to the infallibility of the 
 authors of the Cambridge Platform. Accordingly, 
 that very year, Thomas Brattle took the lead in form- 
 ing an association of enlightened and pious Christians 
 in Boston, for the purpose of establishing there a new 
 Congregational church, constituted on principles de- 
 viating from the Platform, and expressly rejecting 
 " the imposition of any public relation of experi- 
 
 * Magnalia, Book IV. ch. 4.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 ences," or any other examination, than by the pastor, CHAPTER 
 
 as the condition of admission to the Lord's Supper. vn ' 
 This society, in January, 1698, purchased of Thomas 
 Brattle a lot of land, in Boston, called " Brattle's 
 
 close " ; and there laid the foundation of that church, Foundation 
 
 which is now known by the name of the " Church street 
 
 T i <n 11 .. church, 
 
 in Brattle square. 1698. 
 
 Soon afterward the Rev. Benjamin Colman was 
 elected their pastor. He was at that time preaching 
 in England under the authority of the London Pres- 
 bytery ; having been absent from America more than 
 four years. Colman accepted the invitation ; and, at 
 the suggestion of the associates, he obtained an ordi- 
 nation in London from the Presbytery of that city; 
 his friends anticipating the difficulty of procuring the 
 ceremony to be performed in Boston, in consequence 
 of the prevailing prejudices against the new church 
 among the clergy of Massachusetts. 
 
 The records of the church sufficiently indicate the 
 interest taken in its establishment by the members 
 of the Corporation and the College, who have been 
 already named. Mr. Colman, by whom the early 
 records were written, thus states in them the motives, 
 which induced him to accept the election of the 
 associates. 
 
 " This invitation was accepted by me, and the 
 more acceptable it was, by reason of the kind and 
 encouraging letters, which accompanied it from my 
 excellent friends, the Hon. John Leverett, the Rev. 
 William Brattle, Ebenezer Pemberton, Simon Brad- 
 street, and others." 
 
 * See Records of Brattle Street Church. Also a Sermon preached 
 to the Church in Brattle Square, July 18th, 1824, by the Rev. John G. 
 Palfrey; and the Notes annexed.
 
 132 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER The connexion of Leverett with the new church, 
 
 VII. 
 
 and the open encouragement he gave it, are expressed 
 agedby in his letter to Colman, and are illustrative of the 
 and Brattle, events of the time, and of the subsequent religious 
 character of the College, in forming which he was 
 destined to have a decisive influence.* 
 
 The church in Brattle Square was the first-fruit of 
 that religious liberty, which the charter of William and 
 Mary introduced into Massachusetts. The associates 
 were, generally, men of known character and weight 
 in the Province ; and they reckoned in their number, 
 and among their friends, individuals distinguished for 
 learning, private worth, exemplary piety, and official 
 station. These symptoms of revolt from the rigor 
 of the religious dogmas, which had been transmitted 
 in the systems established by the first emigrants to 
 Massachusetts, were too powerful and well . sustained, 
 not to excite apprehensions of approaching innova- 
 tions among all the stern adherents to its ancient 
 ecclesiastical constitution. 
 
 As in theological, not less than in other controver- 
 sies, men are apt to mistake the impulse of their pas- 
 sions, or their interests, for the dictates of conscience, 
 the opponents of the new church conducted their 
 attack, in the first instance, neither with temper nor 
 policy. The character of this opposition is probably 
 attributable chiefly to the Mathers, to whom contro- 
 versy was not so much an incident, as an element of 
 their natures. The chief friends and founders of the 
 new church, also, stood toward both of them in re- 
 lations, which tended to make their opposition assume 
 a personal as well as theological character. The in- 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XVIII.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 133 
 
 terests and future hopes of both were connected with CHAPTER 
 the event of the present controversy. '. 
 
 Increase Mather, as the head of the clergy of the Opposed by 
 Colony, regarded himself and was regarded by others and cotton 
 as the natural defender of its early ecclesiastical con- 
 stitution. He had put his popularity with the pre- 
 vailing sect to a severe trial in the part he had 
 taken relative to the new Colonial charter ; and he 
 had no other way to reestablish himself in their con- 
 fidence, than by an unwavering maintenance of the 
 fundamental doctrines of that constitution. All his 
 hopes of future influence, of being permitted to con- 
 tinue head of the College and yet non-resident, of 
 success in his earnest desire of another agency in 
 Great Britain, rested on the same foundation. 
 
 His temper was excited, and his pride wounded, at 
 finding the leaders in these innovations were his own 
 pupils, members of the Corporation of which he was 
 the head, who were indebted to him for their station 
 in the College, and, as he probably imagined, for their 
 influence in society. Such feelings and opinions are 
 clearly discernible in his controversial writings at this 
 period. After perceiving that the solemn reproof, 
 which, in his Epistle Dedicatory to the Life of Mit- 
 chell, under the form of admonition, he administered 
 to the contumacious " youths," had the effect to excite 
 and stimulate, rather than to reform them, he seems 
 to have lost all patience and self-possession. 
 
 Mr. Colman arrived in Boston on the 1st of No- 
 vember, 1699, and, on the 17th of the same month 
 the new church issued a " manifesto or declaration of 
 their aims, designs, principles, and rules, to prevent 
 apprehensions and jealousies." This publication gave
 
 134 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER to that Society the name of " the Manifesto Church," 
 
 VII 
 
 '. by way of opprobrium ; a designation by which it 
 
 was distinguished during the succeeding half century. 
 The opportunity, which this exposition of princi- 
 ples opened for a theological combat, was too tempting 
 for the Mathers. Both prepared to enter the lists 
 against so dangerous an " apostasy." 
 
 The account, which Cotton Mather gives of his feel- 
 ings and proceedings on the occasion, is curious and 
 characteristic. He calls the leaders of that church 
 " headstrong men," " full of malignity towards the holy 
 ways of the churches," who had published a manifesto 
 " utterly subverting them and tending to throw all into 
 confusion." " The ministers," he adds, " who are 
 faithful to the Lord Jesus, are driven to a necessity 
 of appearing in defence of the churches ; no little 
 part of which falls unavoidably to my share ; I have 
 already written a large monitory letter, lovingly penned, 
 which yet enrages their lusts to carry on the apos- 
 tasy." * 
 
 Lieutenant- The Mathers, however, began soon to be aware, 
 stoughton that some of the pillars of the early churches of the 
 
 interferes. . 
 
 Province, were not prepared to give support to their 
 violent and fulminatory measures. The politicians, 
 who, in all governments, in which there is an inter- 
 texture of church and state, are always careful to 
 guide practically the divines, readily anticipated, that 
 persecution would strengthen rather than weaken the 
 foundations of the new church. Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor Stoughton and Chief Justice Sewall accord- 
 ingly united with Willard, Clark, and Danforth, all 
 clergymen of distinction, to still the waves of theo- 
 
 * See Appendix, No. X.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 135 
 
 logical controversy ; and their labors were so efficient, CHAPTER 
 
 that both the Mathers were compelled to smother _ ! _ 
 their resentments, and to take part in the religious 
 services at the dedication of the new church. Presi- 
 
 tion of the 
 
 dent Mather even preached on the occasion, from Mathers 
 
 1 andCol- 
 
 Heb. xii. 14, " Follow peace with all men, and holi- inan 
 ness ; " and thence deduced the doctrine, that peace 
 must be followed " so far as consists with holiness" a 
 reservation which opened ample scope and apology 
 for the future attacks he meditated on the new society. 
 
 The account given by Cotton Mather in his Diary, 
 of the manner and agents by which this reconciliation 
 was effected, is singularly illustrative of his disposition 
 to wrest every occurrence into a subject of eulogy 
 on himself or his father. 
 
 In this document he states without reserve, that Cotton 
 " the attempt to bring the people of the new church account of 
 
 I'll. i thatrecon- 
 
 to reason, ' originated with him ; that he " drew up dilation. 
 the conciliatory proposal " ; that he, with another min- 
 ister, carried it to them ; that they embraced it, and 
 that the result filled " all hearts with joy, and caused 
 much relenting in some of their spirits, when they 
 saw our condescension, our charity, our compassion." 
 " Overlooking all offences," he adds, " we kept the 
 public fast with them. My father preached, and I 
 concluded with prayer."* 
 
 Contemporaneous documents, however, compel the 
 belief, that the glory of effecting the reconciliation, 
 thus obtrusively claimed by Cotton Mather, was wholly 
 without foundation ; that he neither drew up the paper, 
 uor had any material efficiency in producing it. In 
 this, as in many instances in his voluminous writings, 
 
 * See Appendix, No. X.
 
 136 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER the conviction is forced upon the mind, that he was 
 
 VII 
 
 - - not quite so scrupulous as might be wished, in his 
 relation of facts, particularly in cases where his own 
 or his -father's reputation was likely to be affected. 
 
 The records of the church in Brattle Square still 
 exist, in the handwriting of its pastor, the Rev. Mr. 
 Colman, who thus notices the difficulties which the 
 church had to encounter, and those who had been the 
 chief authors of its relief. 
 
 " I omit, on purpose, the differences and troubles 
 we had with any neighbours about our proceedings. 
 I only am obliged to leave this acknowledgment of 
 our great obligations to the Hon. William Stoughton, 
 Esquire, Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, the 
 Rev. Mr. William Brattle, of Cambridge, the Rev. 
 Mr. Clark, of Chelmsford, and Mr. Danforth of Dor- 
 chester, for their good and kind endeavours for our 
 peaceable settlement." 
 
 Now, if the exertions of the Mathers for this recon- 
 ciliation, had been so exceedingly conspicuous and 
 the occasion of such " wonderful joy and relentings," 
 as Cotton Mather's Diary asserts, Colman, in his 
 recapitulation of the authors of such a blessing to his 
 church, obviously flowing from the fulness of a grate- 
 ful heart, would certainly not have omitted to name 
 the Mathers. 
 
 There exists evidence, however, on this point, more 
 
 therecon- direct and conclusive. Judge Sewall, who had no 
 
 ciliation. . . . . 
 
 motive to induce unfairness or interpolation, also kept 
 a Diary, to which we have already had frequent occa- 
 sion to refer, and in it he enumerates the agents chiefly 
 instrumental in effecting the reconciliation.* Sewall's 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XI.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 137 
 
 Diary is precisely what such a record ought to be, a CHAPTER 
 simple account of events, without any laudatory 
 illustration, or specious supposition of motives. His 
 statement is apparently irreconcilable with that of 
 Cotton Mather. 
 
 From Sewall's Journal it appears, that this recon- 
 ciliation, instead of being effected by "a proposal 
 drawn up " by Cotton Mather on the 21 st of January, 
 and originating with him, as his Diary asserts, was, in 
 truth, effected by "a paper drawn up by William 
 Brattle on the 24th of January " ; that, so far from 
 writing the paper, it does not appear that Cotton 
 Mather was even present, or consulted, when it was 
 prepared ; that Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton was 
 the prime mover and leading agent in the affair, as 
 Colman states in his Records ; and that, when the 
 Mathers were called to the conference, on the 25th 
 of January, " there was some heat," but that after- 
 wards an agreement took place. In whom this heat 
 appeared Sewall does not state. From the tempera- 
 ture of the theological zeal of the Mathers, which 
 was always at the boiling point, there can be little 
 doubt to whom the " heat" is to be attributed. The 
 account given by Sewall is natural ; such as might 
 rationally be expected in such a state of things. The 
 account by Cotton Mather, considering the vehemence 
 of his passions, and his and his father's violent ani- 
 mosity to the new church and its founders, which cir- 
 cumstances soon after developed, is altogether out of 
 nature and incredible. 
 
 The immediate consequence of this reconciliation of 
 the church in Brattle Square with the other churches 
 of the Province is stated in the Records of the former, 
 
 VOL. i. 18
 
 138 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER and particularly in a very full and satisfactory man- 
 - ner, in Sewall's Diary. * 
 
 It might reasonably have been expected, after a 
 reconciliation so happily effected, which, if Cotton 
 Mather's Diary were to be credited, he had labo- 
 riously sought, and in which he heartily rejoiced, 
 that both he and his father would have been willing 
 to permit the churches to remain at peace. At least, 
 that, after such pathetic prayers for Colman and his 
 flock, they would have waited for some experience of 
 the ill consequences of their " apostasy," before they 
 stirred the embers of contention, which such pains 
 had been taken to quench. They were, however, of 
 a different opinion. They had prepared " an antidote 
 against the infection of the churches, by the example 
 of the new church." " They had actually put it to 
 the press." " This they had stopped, in order to 
 bring this people to reason." This having been done, 
 and the reconciliation attained, both probably per- 
 suaded themselves, that it was a great pity, " an an- 
 tidote " thus laboriously composed, and " so lovingly 
 penned," f should be lost to the world, particularly, as 
 it is not unlikely they had persuaded themselves, ac- 
 cording to the doctrine of President Mather's sermon, 
 that, " to follow peace with these men was not con- 
 sistent with holiness. "f 
 
 President Accordingly, on the 1st of March, 1700, President 
 
 Mather re- r j , 
 
 news the Mather commenced an attack upon the new church, 
 
 contro- 
 versy, its friends, and founders, in a general treatise, entitled 
 
 " The Order of the Gospel professed by the Churches 
 of Christ jn New England Justified," &c. The style 
 of this publication is sufficiently indicative of a spirit 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XI. f See Appendix, No. X. 
 
 J See above, p. 135.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 139 
 
 willing no peace, except through victory and sub- CHAPTER 
 
 mission. In the progress of the controversy, which 
 
 this work induced, President Mather was led to the 
 exhibition of great violence and personality ; partly 
 through the excitement of his own feelings ; partly 
 through sympathy with the characteristic support given 
 to him by his son, in a pamphlet abounding in reck- 
 less, virulent invective. 
 
 " The Order of the Gospel " was a batterv erected, President 
 
 J ' Mather's 
 
 apparently, against the new church in Brattle Square "Order of 
 
 rr J 7 the Gos- 
 
 and its founders. It was, however, so placed and P el -" 
 played, as to bring the College, its tutors, and the 
 innovating members of the Corporation, within the 
 range of its missiles. This position and action, 
 alone, connect that treatise, and the controversy 
 it produced, with the history of this seminary. In 
 his Epistle Dedicatory to the work, the President 
 takes care to lament " the decay of the power of 
 religion throughout all New England," and to inti- 
 mate, as one of the causes, " universal toleration and 
 the corruption of the schools." " In these," he says, 
 " declension has not gone so far but that it may be 
 stopped," and he calls upon the churches, therefore, 
 " to pray for the College," " particularly that God 
 may ever bless that society with faithful tutors, that 
 will be true to Christ's interests and theirs, and not 
 hanker after new and loose ways." 
 
 Facts, notorious at the time, and apparent in the rec- 
 ords of the period, gave a certain personal direction and 
 sharpness to these shafts, which, at first view, appear 
 to be thrown into the air, without special aim, and 
 solely for general effect. That they were felt, and 
 their intended direction perceived, is sufficiently appar- 
 ent from the answer, which, in the course of the same
 
 140 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAITER year (1700) appeared to President Mather's "Order 
 of the Gospel," under the title of " Gospel Order 
 
 Revived " ; and published by " sundry ministers of 
 the Gospel in New England." The authors of this 
 reply turn upon the President the same weapons of 
 personality and insinuation, masked in like manner 
 under generality of remark. They indicate very plain- 
 ly the opinions of the time in relation to his public 
 course and writings, and an intention to make him 
 feel, if they could not make him desist. 
 
 " They will not guess the reverend author's secret 
 aim, or whom, in particular, he raises his batteries 
 against." " They charitably hope he has no private 
 interest to bribe him in this affair." " It is well 
 known how liberal some men are of the odious brand 
 of apostates, for every one who cannot digest the late 
 published ' Orders.' ' They repel, as " a groundless 
 calumny, his suggestion, that the latitude they contend 
 for is a betraying of the liberties and privileges which 
 the Lord Jesus Christ has given to his church ; " and 
 intimate very distinctly, that, " through the power 
 of interest, faction, passion, and personal opposition, 
 he had become so blinded, on a sudden, as to fight 
 with truths, which he had learned and reverenced 
 from his infancy." * 
 
 President Mather, in his " Order of the Gospel," 
 having aimed one piece of masked artillery at the 
 pastor of the new church, who had been ordained in 
 London, f by saying, " that pastor and flock are re- 
 lates, and therefore one cannot be without the other," 
 and " that to say a wandering Levite, who has no 
 
 * Gospel Order Revived, printed in 1700, page 16. f Page 101.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 141 
 
 ilock, is a pastor, is as good sense, as to say, that he CHAPTER 
 
 that has no children is a father, and that the man who 
 
 has no wife is a husband;" the authors of the " Or- 
 der of the Gospel Revived " turn the battery with 
 dexterity upon the President himself, by showing that 
 he was of opinion, and had justified by his own writ- 
 ings and practice, " that, though there be a relation to 
 a particular flock, yet a minister is so authorized by 
 Jesus Christ, that he is capable, in his name, to per- 
 form ministerial acts in other places and upon all 
 occasions ; " adding, " and were not the President 
 sincerely of this opinion, we cannot but think he 
 would highly condemn any minister that should be 
 absent from his flock four years together, upon any 
 service whatsoever. Sure, if he be no way capable 
 to act as a minister of Jesus Christ, he is all that 
 while a stray bird, idly wandering from his nest." 
 
 This answer of the ministers excited both the indignation 
 Mathers to such a height of indignation, that they Mathers. 
 seem to have lost all sense of prudence and character. 
 A pamphlet immediately appeared (1701), entitled 
 " A Collection of some of the many offensive Matters 
 contained in a Pamphlet, entitled ' The Order of the 
 Gospel Revived ' ; " not indeed having the name of 
 Cotton Mather, but universally attributed to him, 
 never denied, and bearing unquestionable marks of 
 the style and temper, which characterize his contro- 
 versial writings. To leave no question, however, con- 
 cerning its author, it came attended with an address 
 " to the reader," under the sign-manual of Increase 
 Mather himself, dated December 31st, 1700. 
 
 In this pamphlet no term of vituperation, expressive 
 of anger and contempt, seems omitted. The work 
 of these " ministers " is characterized as " a volume
 
 vir. 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER of invectives against the * Order of the Gospel,'" and 
 its author " highly scandalous and scurrilous " ; as 
 violating the third commandment by " profane scoffs, 
 and flouts, and jeers, at the churches of the Lord, and 
 some of their very solemn and sacred services ; " as 
 tending by its example " to bring in profaneness and 
 atheism ; " calling them " bold youths, who violate the 
 fifth commandment, without the least spark of shame 
 in them, to cry shame of their rude and vile threats 
 given by them unto the aged President of the Col- 
 lege," and reiterating charges of " impudence," 
 " rudeness," " gross falsehoods," " injustice," " craft," 
 " malicious flings," " deep apostasy," and " profane 
 scurrility." This tirade of opprobrious epithets, un- 
 surpassed for its violence and bitterness, is concen- 
 trated in a pamphlet of only sixteen pages. 
 
 President Mather, by prefixing to this pamphlet an 
 Epistle to the Reader, not only adopts it as his own, 
 by introducing it with words of approbation, but fol- 
 lows out the vituperative spirit of his son with like 
 asperities. 
 
 The obnoxious pamphlet, he says, instead of being 
 called " The Order of the Gospel Revived," might 
 more properly be denominated " The Order of the 
 Gospel Reviled " ; and, instead of having been pub- 
 lished by " sundry ministers of the Gospel," was done, 
 some say, " by sundry underminers of the Gospel." 
 Taking it for granted, contrary to fact, that Mr. Col- 
 man was its author, he speaks of him as "a little 
 thing," " not worth while to notice," as " a youth, 
 who had not feared to mock his fathers," using " rude, 
 unmannerly, and unmanly expressions," " a scandalous 
 scoffer," " a raw, unstudied youth, of a very unsanc- 
 tified temper and spirit ; his arguments nothing but
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 143 
 
 scoffs and foolish jeers, without so much as one solid CHAPTER 
 
 reason throughout his whole discourse." In the whole 
 
 scope of theological and political controversy, there is 
 scarcely an example extant, of more select, concen- 
 trated, and unmixed personal abuse, than is exhibited 
 in this pamphlet and its preface. 
 
 It is melancholy, as well as humiliating, to trace 
 such evidences of an ill-governed and overbearing 
 spirit, especially in one, who, on many accounts, is 
 worthy of esteem arid approbation ; but the truth of 
 history requires, that such unquestionable characteris- 
 tics of mind and manners, as this controversy presents, 
 should not be passed over in silence. The vices, weak- 
 nesses, and passions, of those men, whose character 
 and conduct, through the circumstances of particular 
 times, and their connexion with them, have shaped 
 the destinies of a city, state, or party, when apparent 
 on the records of the period, belong to its history, 
 and are inseparable from any just developement of 
 it. Their nature constitutes an essential element 
 of the judgment of after times, not only on former 
 events, but also on the proportion of merit, or de- 
 merit, in the men who have influenced those events. 
 The criminations and reproaches of rival interests 
 and parties should be received at their worth, 
 after exact analysis, and not according to their cur- 
 rency when first issued ; but those features of char- 
 acter, which the writings of active men themselves 
 display, are, of all documents explaining their minds 
 and motives, the most unquestionable and satisfactory ; 
 and also of the minds and motives of those, whom 
 such men have led or influenced. 
 
 It is impossible not to realize what an effect a pub- 
 lication of this temper must have had on the reputation
 
 144 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER and influence of both the Mathers. Its connexion 
 
 ! with the events already related cannot be mistaken. 
 
 their 5 ian- It was written in December, 1700, and issued to the 
 
 guage and , , r t 
 
 conduct on world at the commencement 01 the year ensuing ; at 
 the very time when the legislature of the Province 
 were insisting, and President Mather at first reluct- 
 antly yielding, and immediately after absolutely re- 
 fusing, to take up his residence at Cambridge. It 
 cannot be doubted, that such a display of mind and 
 passions must have greatly weakened his influence in 
 that body, disgusting some and provoking others. 
 The part he took in this controversy is one of the 
 causes which enable us satisfactorily to account for the 
 obvious determination, evinced by a great and ulti- 
 mately a successful party in the legislature, no longer 
 to permit the continuance of the relation he had so 
 long held to the College, or to gratify him in his 
 earnest desire after another agency in Great Britain. 
 His enemies, probably, were well aware of the fact, 
 which his son so distinctly asserts, that " President 
 Mather would not remove his habitation from Bos- 
 ton ; " and availed themselves of this knowledge, to 
 insist upon his removal, and negative his nomination 
 on that account, and thus put an end to a presidency, 
 from which they could reasonably anticipate nothing 
 but violent personal quarrels and religious contro- 
 versies.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 145 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Rev. Samuel "Willard accepts the Vice-Presidency of the College. 
 
 His Character and that of Increase Mather compared. Motives 
 for Willard's Appointment. Governor Dudley's Arrival. His 
 Message concerning the College. Willard's Differences with Ma- 
 ther. The Brattles reinstated in the Corporation. The Mathers 
 court Dudley. Final Attempt to obtain a Charter from the Crown. 
 
 Its Failure. Death of Vice-President Willard. Election of 
 John Leverett. Conduct of a Part of the Clergy on the Occasion. 
 
 Act of the House of Representatives, reviving the ancient Char- 
 ter of the College, approved by Dudley. Responsibility of the 
 Act. Its happy Consequences. 
 
 THE exclusion of Increase Mather from the presi- CHAPTER 
 
 VIII. 
 
 dency, and the appointment of the Rev. Samuel Wil 
 
 lard to the superintendence of the College, occurred denc y p of 81 
 
 Samuel 
 
 on the same day ; and were the result of the votes 
 which passed in the legislature on the 6th of Septem- 
 ber, 1701. Mr. Willard held the station of Vice- 
 President more than six years, and until his death. 
 His duties were not less arduous than those of his pre- 
 decessors, and his fulfilment of them was equally punc- 
 tual, laborious, and successful. Under the influence 
 of that modesty, which was a predominant feature 
 of his character, he was content with this compara- 
 tively inferior title. Our historians have found it diffi- 
 cult to account satisfactorily for this anomaly in the 
 title of the executive of the College. 
 
 Peirce, with his characteristic sagacity, intimates, 
 that it might have been an " evasion." * Such it un- 
 
 * See Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., pp. 73, 78. 
 VOL. I. 19
 
 146 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER questionably was ; and resulted from the position in 
 ' which the legislature found themselves placed, be- 
 tween the vote they had passed, that " the President 
 should reside at Cambridge," and the determination 
 of a majority to rid themselves of President Mather. 
 That vote they were not willing to rescind in favor of 
 Willard, after having for a series of years pertinaciously 
 insisted upon it in relation to Mather. But, Willard 
 being as unwilling as Mather to accept the office on 
 condition of residence, and as they could not agree 
 on a third person, they resorted to the subterfuge of 
 continuing Willard in the office he then held of Vice- 
 President, and vesting him with the power and duties 
 of President. Thus, without rescinding their former 
 vote, or any apparent inconsistency, they permitted 
 Willard, during his life, to occupy at the same time 
 the office of superintendent of the College and that 
 of pastor of a church in Boston ; and to perform the 
 duties of President under the title of Vice-President, 
 by occasional visits, without actual residence at Cam- 
 bridge. These were precisely the relations Mather 
 was desirous, and had offered, to sustain ; * and, on 
 account, apparently, of their incompatibility, he had 
 been excluded from office. 
 
 Many circumstances united to render Willard, in the 
 state of the religious and political parties of the time, 
 far more generally acceptable than Mather. Both 
 possessed the confidence of the prevailing Calvin- 
 istic sect ; for they were equally learned and sound 
 in the articles of faith by that sect deemed fun- 
 damental. But their writings and demeanor exhibited 
 a remarkable contrast. Willard was quiet, retiring, 
 
 * See above, p. 118.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 147 
 
 phlegmatic, and unpretending ; Mather, restless, ob- CHAPTER 
 
 trusive, excitable, boastful of his public services, and '. 
 
 complaining of neglect and ingratitude.* 
 
 The life of the former had been devoted to pro- 
 fessional research and pastoral duties. His study was 
 the scene of his private labors ; his church the theatre 
 of his public action. These had constituted a sphere 
 of usefulness, to which his ambition had been limited ; 
 which he did not quit until after repeated legislative 
 applications, for one higher and wider, and then with 
 reluctance. 
 
 The life of the latter, on the contrary, had been one 
 series of theological and political controversy. He was 
 a partisan by profession ; always harnessed, and ready, 
 and restless for the onset ; now courting the states- 
 men ; now mingling with the multitude ; exciting 
 the clergy in the synod, and the congregation in the 
 pulpit, and the people in the halls of popular assembly. 
 
 Amid the agitations consequent on that insanity of 
 the age, denominated " the Salem witchcraft," the 
 conduct of Willard was marked by prudence, firmness, 
 and courage. He neither yielded to the current, nor 
 feared to cast the weight of his opinion publicly in 
 opposition to the prevailing delusion ; f an independ- 
 ence the more remarkable and honorable, as Stoughton 
 and Sewall, two of the Judges of the Court of trial, 
 men of great influence in the Province, both his per- 
 sonal friends, and the latter a principal member of his 
 
 * See his " Address to the Reader," on his publication of two ser- 
 mons in 1702, entitled " The Righteous Man a Blessing." 
 
 " This is the last sermon I will preach at the lecture in Boston ; the 
 ill treatment I have received from those, from whom I had reason to 
 expect better, have discouraged me from being any more concerned 
 in such vocation." 
 
 t See Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. V. p. 76.
 
 148 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER church, were deeply infected by the distemper of the 
 1_ times. His tongue and his pen were, notwithstand- 
 ing, employed to bring back peace and reason to his 
 country.* Increase Mather, on the contrary, although 
 he had cooperated in that excitement with far less zeal 
 than his son Cotton, and his course had been more 
 prudent, yet shared, in the event, a full proportion of 
 that odium, which attached ultimately to all the clergy 
 and politicians, who had countenanced the infatua- 
 tion. 
 
 After it had subsided, the circumspection and bold- 
 ness of Willard, in that trying season, was remem- 
 bered and honored, and he derived thence a weight 
 of popularity, which President Mather had lost by his 
 conduct during the excitement. The resulting general 
 impressions concerning the character of each were, 
 undoubtedly, among the causes of that preference, 
 which the exclusion of Mather and the appointment 
 of Willard by the legislature indicate. 
 
 The family connexion, which subsisted between 
 Mr. Willard and Joseph Dudley, who became, the 
 very next year, by royal appointment, Governor of the 
 Province, might also have had some effect, in fixing 
 attention thus strongly on Mr. Willard. They had 
 married sisters, the daughters of Edward Tyng,f one 
 of the earliest, wealthiest, and most influential fa- 
 milies in the Colony. The appointment of Dudley 
 was anticipated ; and the friends of the College could 
 
 i 
 
 * His course was so bold and unhesitating, that he became exposed 
 to the malignity of the " afflicted," and was actually " cried out upon " 
 by one of them, at a period of the excitement, when " to be cried out 
 upon by the afflicted " was regarded as sufficient evidence to justify 
 imprisonment for witchcraft, if not conviction of it. See Hutch. Hist. 
 Vol. II. ch. I. p. 56. 
 
 t Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., First Series, Vol. X. p. 181. 
 
 Family 
 connexion 
 between 
 Dudley and 
 Willard.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 149 
 
 not deem it indifferent to its interest with the new CHAPTER 
 
 VIII 
 
 Governor, whether he should find the President's ' 
 
 chair filled by Mather, an active leader of that political 
 and religious party, which had imprisoned him and 
 Andros, with whom his name and character had been 
 an unvaried theme of abuse, or by Willard, a brother- 
 in-law, who enjoyed at once his private confidence 
 and personal respect. 
 
 Accordingly, Dudley, on his arrival, took an early Governor 
 opportunity to bring the affairs of the College before message 
 
 concerning 
 
 the legislature. In his message of the llth of March, theCoi- 
 1703, at the opening of the General Court, he thus intro- 17 03 . 
 duced the subject.* " Gentlemen, I am often solicited 
 and spoken to, referring to the College at Cambridge. 
 I am sorry for the mistake of this government, at any 
 time, in that affair. If there be any thing that imports 
 me, referring to that affair, when it shall be communi- 
 cated, I shall very freely do my duty, to lay it before 
 her Majesty." This part of the Governor's message 
 excited some feeling, and, on the 9th of March, a 
 Committee of the House of Representatives f " waited 
 on him with a message, praying him to inform the 
 House of the mistakes committed by the government 
 in the affair of the College, intimated in his Excel- 
 lency's speech, and to desire to know what he would 
 please to direct in that affair." 
 
 " His Excellency acquainted them, that the mis- 
 takes he referred to were, a first, second, and third 
 draft of a charter of incorporation for the College, 
 sent to England, and there refused." t 
 
 The records of the legislature indicate no further 
 general proceedings in it, concerning the College, 
 
 * See Records of the General Court. f Ibid. J Ibid.
 
 150 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER during this and the two ensuing years. But existing 
 ' contemporaneous documents sufficiently evidence, that, 
 in these years, the influences controlling it were un- 
 dergoing changes, and that the government of it still 
 continued to be an object of the ambition of both the 
 Mathers. 
 
 As early as 1697, Willard and Increase Mather had 
 adopted different, probably irreconcilable, views rela- 
 tive to the individuals, who ought to be introduced 
 into the Corporation. The attempt made in that year 
 to exclude Leverett from the board has been already 
 stated. * 
 
 It appears, by Sewall's Journal, that in November, 
 1697, .there was "a falling out" between President 
 Mather and Mr. Willard, relative to the choosing of 
 fellows, f This fact, with others of a general charac- 
 ter, sufficiently show, that the views of Willard, 
 in respect to the auspices under which the College 
 was to be placed, were not consentaneous with those 
 The Brat- of tne Mathers ; and now, when the influence of his 
 stotecTin brother-in-law was paramount, Thomas Brattle and 
 mion 0rp " William Brattle were reinstated Fellows of the Cor- 
 poration, both of whom had been excluded during the 
 ascendency of President Mather. At the same time 
 Josiah Willard, son of the Vice-President, was chosen 
 a tutor. The records of the Corporation do not in- 
 dicate under what circumstances, or to fill what vacan- 
 cies, the Brattles were elected. 
 
 The Diary of Judge Sewall thus supplies the de- 
 ficiency. " 1703. August 10th. This day is a 
 Corporation meeting at Cambridge. Choose Mr. 
 Thomas and Mr. William Brattle into the Corpora- 
 
 * See above, p. 87. f See Appendix, No. XL
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 151 
 
 tion, instead of Mr. Allen and Mr. Walter, who have CHAPTER 
 abdicated, as they reckon." ! 
 
 By comparing the names of the seventeen mem- 
 bers of the Corporation, chosen by virtue of the act 
 which passed 9th of July, 1700,* with those, who, 
 as the records show, attended its meetings during 
 the Vice-Presidency of Willard, it is apparent, that 
 Mr. Walter and Cotton Mather were the two, who 
 were thus construed to have " abdicated." Nei- 
 ther of them attended any meeting of the Corpora- 
 tion after the exclusion of President Mather. But 
 the name of Allen appears occasionally among those 
 present at the board, quite down to the change intro- 
 duced by the revival of the first charter of the Col- 
 lege, at the time of the accession of Leverett to the 
 presidency. 
 
 The election of the Brattles was inauspicious to 
 the projects of the Mathers, whether they were intro- 
 duced by way of filling vacancies, or increasing the 
 number. The admission of the son of Willard to an 
 office in the College, indicates, that the proceedings 
 harmonized with the wishes of the Vice-President. 
 
 Of all the statesmen, who have been instrumental influence 
 
 i f TT i r~\ n T i of Govern- 
 
 in promoting the interests of Harvard College, Joseph or Dudley. 
 
 Dudley was most influential in giving its constitu- 
 tion a permanent character. The Mathers, who 
 never ceased to entertain ulterior views, in rela- 
 tion to the College, paid early and distinguished 
 obeisance to this rising sun. Increase Mather, in a 
 sermon preached on the day of general election, in 
 1702, at which Dudley was expected to be present, 
 placed in high relief the topics on which the clergy 
 
 * See above, page 107.
 
 152 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER of Massachusetts, and especially those in the superin- 
 
 ! tendence of the College, were divided ; " the Order 
 
 of the Gospel," and " the Platform of the Churches," 
 warning and exhorting, that such measures might be 
 adopted, as that " the generations which were to come 
 should not deviate from the holy ways in which their 
 The Math- fathers had walked." As Governor Dudley was not 
 
 era laud 
 
 Dudley. present on the occasion, the President availed himself 
 of the circumstance, to prefix to that sermon an " Epis- 
 tle Dedicatory " to the Governor. In this he extols 
 the father of Governor Dudley as " a principal founder 
 and pillar of the Colony of Massachusetts, and as a 
 nursing-father of the churches," and lauds the Gov- 
 ernor himself as " blessed with rare accomplishments, 
 natural and acquired," assures him of " the greatness 
 of 'his soul," and that he "is, beyond. all others, ad- 
 vantaged to serve and honor Christ, by promoting 
 the welfare of his churches." 
 
 Dudley re- Dudley, who well knew the activity and influence of 
 President Mather, reciprocated his civilities in language 
 equally flattering; taking occasion to say, so that it came 
 to the knowledge of President Mather, that, " if he ever 
 had a spiritual father, Mather was the man." * Cotton 
 Mather, not less ambitious than his father, had been 
 even more prescient of the coming of this new politi- 
 cal influence. While Dudley was yet in Europe, he 
 became so assured of his success, as to write a letter 
 in favor of Dudley's pretensions, which Dudley read to 
 the King, and was said to have been not without 
 effect on his appointment, f 
 
 It appears also, by Cotton Mather's Diary, that he 
 
 * See Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. III. p. 127. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 128. Also Hutch. Hist. Mass. Vol. II. chap. 1. p. 115.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 153 
 
 was visited by Dudley immediately on his arrival as CHAPTER 
 
 Governor. During this interview, Mather took occa- ! 
 
 sion to warn Dudley against Byfield and Leverett, as 
 those he deemed leaders in opposition to the " order 
 of the Gospel," and " the true construction of the 
 Cambridge Platform." Dudley was too old a poli- 
 tician not to discern Cotton Mather's motives, and, 
 being inclined to the party opposed to the Mathers, 
 did not fail to inform both Byfield and Leverett of this 
 warning. This drew from Cotton Mather, in his Diary, 
 the following characteristic comment. " The WRETCH 
 went unto those men and told them, that I had ad- 
 vised him to be no ways advised by them, and inflamed 
 them into an implacable rage against me."* 
 
 Notwithstanding this cause of discontent, Cotton 
 Mather maintained a friendly intercourse with the 
 Governor during the vice-presidency of Willard ; and 
 circumstances indicate, that neither he nor his father, 
 during the whole period, ceased to flatter themselves 
 with the belief, that Dudley's weight would finally 
 be thrown into their scale. 
 
 No further movement took place in the legislature 
 of the Province relative to the College until the year 
 1705, when the records of the Council contain the 
 following statement. " 2d January, 1705. His Ex- Dudley's 
 
 message 
 
 cellency intimated to the Council, that, by letters from concerning 
 
 J J the Coi- 
 
 England, there was encouragement to hope, that a le &|L- 
 
 1 i o 
 
 charter of incorporation might be obtained from her 
 Majesty for Harvard College, in Cambridge, if proper 
 application was made ; and the draft, proposed in his 
 late Majesty's reign, was ordered to be laid on the 
 table to be read." 
 
 * Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. III. p. 137. 
 VOL. I. 20
 
 154 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER No measures, however, were taken in either branch 
 - in consequence of these suggestions of Governor Dud- 
 ley ; and this was the last attempt ever made to obtain 
 a charter for the College from the crown. 
 
 The circumstances of the period render it probable, 
 that the politicians and divines of that day perceived, 
 with certainty, that no charter could be obtained from 
 the English sovereign, which would be acceptable to 
 either of those ecclesiastical parties, which were then 
 striving for ascendency in Massachusetts. Both, 
 
 state of however differing with each other, concurred in being- 
 parties, and . . 
 
 itsconse- alike jealous of the increasing power of the Episco- 
 
 quences. 
 
 pal Church ; which, being considered inimical as 
 well to the civil as to the ecclesiastical liberties of 
 Massachusetts, became equally the object of re- 
 ligious prejudice and of popular dislike. The root, 
 which the Episcopal Church was now beginning to 
 strike in the land, under the direct patronage of the 
 English hierarchy, became a common object of fear 
 with every class of Congregationalists. All perceived 
 the hope to be vain, that the English monarch would 
 permit the chief seminary of learning in the Province 
 to obtain a charter, unless it received an ominous in- 
 fusion of Episcopalian influences. 
 
 Every antecedent application for a charter had been 
 made at the suggestion of President Mather, and was 
 coupled with a project, avowed or understood, that he 
 should have the negotiation of it at the British court. 
 This, and probably this alone, rendered such an appli- 
 cation safe, in the opinion of the stern adherents of 
 the early New England Congregational church ; since 
 upon him they could rely, not only for resisting any 
 attempt favoring Episcopacy, but also for securing to 
 themselves that predominancy, which they claimed,
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 155 
 
 and which was in danger of passing out of their CHAPTER 
 
 hands, in consequence of the schisms beginning to ' . 
 
 arise among Congregationalists. 
 
 The conflict of interests and passions, which this 
 state of things induced, made all parties unwilling to 
 cooperate in the suggestions of Governor Dudley. It 
 is possible, also, that a w r ant of confidence in the 
 sincerity of Dudley himself might have increased their 
 hesitation to make an application for a charter under 
 his auspices. Dudley was a thoroughly educated 
 courtier ; and the people of Massachusetts had re- 
 peatedly witnessed his willingness to serve the crown 
 in cases contrary to their interests, or counteracting 
 their prejudices. They had reason to anticipate, that 
 any condition the monarch might choose to insert, 
 however opposed to their religious views, would re- 
 ceive the support of a courtier equally shrewd and 
 fearless ; skilful, under every aspect of the political 
 sky, to shape his course by his interests. 
 
 Whatever were the motives, it is certain, that Dud- 
 ley's intimation received no countenance from any 
 party, religious or political. The friends of the Col- 
 lege now became convinced, that its satisfactory settle- 
 ment, in respect to a charter, could only be effected 
 through the instrumentality of the Provincial legisla- 
 ture. Of this policy, Dudley, if he was not the author, 
 as is probable, was certainly the supporter. He gave 
 it his countenance, possibly because that division of 
 the Congregationalists which he favored, predominated 
 in the Corporation, and was the least obnoxious to 
 the Episcopal church, which he cherished, and whose 
 worship he attended. Measures having this tendency 
 were not developed during the life of Vice-President 
 Willard. His death, which occurred on the 12th of Sep-
 
 156 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER tember, 1707, gave publicity to this new policy; which 
 was adopted and carried into effect with equal boldness 
 and success. On the 28th of October following that 
 
 lard. event, the Fellows of Harvard College met, and chose 
 
 j 707. 
 
 John Leverett President. The records of the Corpora- 
 tion simply state, that he was " chosen President of 
 Harvard College." In the address of the ministers, 
 favoring this appointment, to Governor Dudley, it is 
 said, that " he was chosen by a unanimous vote." 
 The Diary of Judge Sewall gives a more natural, and 
 probably an authentic account of the transaction. 
 Leverett By his statement it appears, that fourteen members 
 
 elected / ^ . 
 
 President, of the Corporation were present. In this he concurs 
 with the records. His Diary proceeds to state, that 
 eight votes were given for Leverett, three for In- 
 crease Mather, one for Cotton Mather, and one for 
 Mr. Brattle, and that one member declined voting.* 
 This, upon the supposition, which the known relations 
 of things render almost certain, that the vote of Lev- 
 erett (he being himself a member of the Corporation) 
 was thrown for Brattle, gives a fair representation of 
 the comparative power of the religious parties, as 
 they were then represented in that body. 
 
 On the llth of the ensuing November, the election 
 of Leverett was presented officially to Governor Dud- 
 ley, by the Corporation, recommending the President 
 " to his favorable acceptance, and praying, that he 
 would move the General Assembly for his honorable 
 subsistence." f The recommendation was, as the rec- 
 ords of the Court state, " accompanied with addresses 
 from thirty-nine ministers." This was, unquestion- 
 ably, a wise precautionary measure, in a state of 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XI. t See Appendix, No. XIX.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 157 
 
 theological controversy then extremely vivid and CHAPTER 
 
 VIII 
 
 exciting, and one which the call of a layman to a _ ! 
 chair, that had never before been occupied except 
 by a clergyman, rendered not so much expedient as 
 necessary. In this address the signing ministers ex- Address 
 
 of the mift 
 
 press their "great joy at the choice of Leverett, istersm 
 
 fc J J favor of 
 
 " their affection and esteem for him," " their satisfac- 
 
 tion and assurance of his religion, learning, and other 
 excellent accomplishments for that eminent service ; a 
 long experience of which," they add, " we had while 
 he was the Senior Fellow of that House ; for that, 
 under the wise and faithful, government of him and 
 the Rev. Mr. Brattle of Cambridge, the greatest part 
 of the now rising ministry in New England were 
 happily educated ; and we hope, and promise our- 
 selves, through the blessing of the God of our fathers, 
 to see religion and learning thrive and flourish in that 
 society under Mr. Leverett's wise conduct and in- 
 fluence, as much as ever yet it hath done." * 
 
 These proceedings being communicated by the 
 Governor to the Council on the same day, the election 
 of Mr. Leverett was accepted by them, and the vote 
 sent down to the Representatives for their concur- 
 rence. 
 
 This branch seem not to have been prepared, how- 
 ever, for the measure ; for they immediately non-con- 
 curred in the vote of the Council, and, adopting the 
 policy of postponement, on the 29th of November sent 
 up to the Council a message in writing, for " the choice 
 of a suitable person to take care of the College until 
 the session of the Court in May next." 
 
 The Council, on the 3d of December, after a con- 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XX.
 
 158 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER ference with the House, refused to join in the choice 
 
 vriT 
 
 - of a person to take charge of the College till May. 
 
 From the subsequent proceedings of the House of 
 Representatives it is natural to infer, that their non- 
 concurrence in Leverett's election proceeded from a 
 spirit of economy rather than from any objections to 
 him, personal, religious, or political. 
 
 In July, 1700, when the friends of President Mather 
 were desirous of removing all his objections to fixing 
 his residence at Cambridge, a resolve had passed, 
 " allowing the sum of two hundred and twenty pounds 
 to the President already chosen, or that shall be 
 chosen, by the Court, he residing at Cambridge." 
 It was perceived, that, if Leverett's election had been 
 confirmed, his right to this salary would have attached ; 
 and those disposed to counteract the proceedings of 
 the Corporation availed themselves of this circum- 
 stance, first to induce the House to non-concur in the 
 vote of the Council, and next to propose a postpone- 
 ment until the next General Court. After the firm- 
 ness displayed by the Council in opposition to this 
 proposition, a resolve passed the House, declaring void 
 the resolve of July, 1700 ; and, as soon as this re- 
 scinding vote was known to have received the consent 
 of Governor Dudley, another resolve, founded upon 
 the acceptance and approval of Mr. Leverett as Presi- 
 dent by the Governor and Council, was passed in 
 Council, proposing, that " the House of Representa- 
 tives consider of and grant a suitable salary to be paid 
 to the President annually, out of the public treasury, 
 for his encouragement and support during his con- 
 tinuance in the said office, residing at Cambridge, and 
 discharging the proper duties to a President belong- 
 ing, and entirely devoting himself to that service."
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 159 
 
 To the above was subjoined the following compre- CHAPTER 
 
 hensive, substantive, and efficient clause, furnishing at '. 
 
 once the long-sought charter for the College, and ful- 
 filling the utmost desire of its friends, in a form not 
 requiring the sanction of the crown, and deriving all 
 its efficacy from 'the authority of the Provincial legis- 
 lature. 
 
 "And, inasmuch as the first foundation and establish- f 6 h ^ rt r e e r . of 
 ment of that House and the government thereof had its TiTed - 
 original from an act of the General Court, made and 
 passed in the year one thousand six hundred and fifty, 
 which has not been repealed or nulled ; 
 
 " The President and Fellows of the said College are 
 directed from time to time to regulate themselves accord- 
 ing to the rules of the constitution by the act prescribed ; 
 and to exercise the powers and authorities thereby 
 granted for the government of that House, and support 
 thereof." * 
 
 This charter, after having annexed to it a vote of 
 the Representatives, establishing a salary for the Presi- 
 dent of one hundred and fifty pounds, was enacted *on 
 the 6th of December, 1707, by the official consent 
 of Governor Dudley. f 
 
 This measure had, probably, its origin in the depths 
 of Dudley's own mind, and is marked with boldness 
 and sagacity, eminently characteristic of him. It is 
 hardly probable that any other person -would have ven- 
 tured to propose a course so full of responsibility, and 
 so apparently irreconcilable with the duties growing out 
 of the relation in which he stood to the British sove- 
 reign. It was, in fact, a measure in contradiction of 
 the avowed principles, which the government of the 
 parent state had adopted and acted upon in relation 
 to Massachusetts. 
 
 t See Appendix, No. LXVIII.
 
 160 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 CHAPTER Those principles were, that the first colonial charter 
 was only a private act of incorporation, and gave no 
 right to create other charters ; that, by the judgment 
 upon quo warranto, in 1684, the first charter of the 
 Colony had been vacated, and that all charters grant- 
 ed under its authority were, on this account also, ab- 
 solutely void ; principles, which Dudley himself had 
 openly asserted, and consequences, which he had pub- 
 licly maintained.* 
 
 The power of granting charters was deemed by the 
 crown one of its most precious prerogatives ; and one, 
 the infringement of which was the subject of extreme 
 jealousy. Charters of the College, also, had been 
 several times subjected to the consideration of the King 
 or of his royal Governors, and had been rejected 
 avowedly on the ground, that they did not vest the 
 visitatorial power exclusively in the King, or in his 
 colonial Governor. 
 
 In defiance of all these recognised principles, all 
 these evidences of royal interests and royal claims, 
 Dudley had the boldness to consent to revive the Col- 
 lege charter of 1650; and thus established a char- 
 ter without, and contrary to, the will of the British 
 sovereign ; including a visitatorial power, which the 
 colonial Governors shared with a board appointed by 
 the colonial legislature ; the whole effected by the 
 form of a simple legislative resolve, which, in its 
 nature, did not require the sanction of the sovereign, 
 and of course was never submitted to his inspec- 
 tion. 
 
 By what means the vigilance of the British states- 
 men was in this instance deceived, whether Dudley 
 
 * Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. III. p. 126.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 161 
 
 relied on their ignorance of colonial affairs or their CHAPTER 
 
 VIII, 
 
 indifference to them, or whether he took measures to 
 
 satisfy the British Court of their expediency in the 
 actual state of things in Massachusetts, does not appear 
 from history. It does appear, however, that he took 
 the great responsibility of the policy, and that those to 
 whom it was obnoxious attributed it to his influence. 
 He deserves, therefore, all the credit of its benefits 
 and its success. 
 
 It is also certain, that the measure received the 
 almost universal approbation of the people of Massa- 
 chusetts ; that the act of 1650, thus revived by a 
 legislative resolve, has been ever since recognised as 
 the charter of the College ; that, during the contin- 
 uance of the colonial relation, it received the uniform 
 support of judicial decision and legislative sanction ; 
 and that, on the adoption of the State Constitution, in 
 1780, it was ratified and confirmed. Thus, by virtue 
 of uniform judicial construction, successive legislative 
 sanctions, and ultimate constitutional ratification, the 
 charter of 1650 has been established on a firm and 
 now incontrovertible basis. 
 
 VOL. i. 21
 
 162 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 John Win- 
 throp. 
 
 Retrospective View of the Benefactors of the College, during the Sev- 
 enteenth Century. John Winthrop. Sir Richard Saltonstall and his 
 Son. Robert Keayne. Edward Hopkins. Israel Stoughton. 
 William Stoughton. Henry Webb. William Brown. John Bulk- 
 ley. Lady Moulson. Sir Matthew Holworthy. Theophilus Gale. 
 William Pennoyer. Robert Thorner. Joseph Glover. College 
 Printing Press. Course of Studies and literary State of the College 
 during this Century. 
 
 THE restoration of the early charter of Harvard 
 College, under the auspices of Dudley, forms an era in 
 its history. The almost universal acquiescence in the 
 policy of the measure terminated all attempts to seek 
 a more formal establishment from the crown. The Col- 
 lege was thus placed in new relations, and those more 
 literary and less exclusively theological. Gratitude de- 
 mands, that we should here stay our narrative, and pay 
 a passing tribute to those generous and public-spirited 
 individuals, who, in times of political convulsion, amid 
 poverty and embarrassment, by the protection and aid 
 they extended, gave a vigor and expansion to the in- 
 stitution, which rendered it, in the coming age, an 
 object of pride and patronage to the people and legis- 
 lature of Massachusetts. 
 
 Next to Harvard, John Winthrop, the leader of the 
 Massachusetts Colony, and seven times its elected 
 Governor, deserves grateful commemoration. The 
 loss of property, from the sacrifices he had made in 
 support of the Colony, or from unfaithfulness in those
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY 163 
 
 to whom he had intrusted his affairs, deprived him, CHAPTER 
 indeed, of the means of great pecuniary benefactions ; ' 
 but his donation of books was large and valuable. 
 In that early day, forty volumes made an important 
 addition to the library of the institution. A list of 
 these is yet preserved in its archives. His name and 
 influence were always given in its support. There 
 is probably no one, to whose patronage the College 
 was more indebted, during the period of its infancy, 
 and consequent weakness and dependence. His vir- 
 tues and public services have been too frequently the 
 subject of history arid eulogy, to need in this work 
 any illustration. 
 
 Second only to Harvard and Winthrop, in order of 
 time, amount of benefactions, and value of services, 
 stands Sir Richard Saltonstall ; * that " excellent sir Richard 
 
 Saltonstall. 
 
 knight," as he is called by Mather, that " much hon- 
 ored and upright-hearted servant of Christ," as he is 
 denominated by Johnson. f He came over in 1630 
 with Winthrop. But soon, " wearied of this wilderness 
 work," he returned to England ; and, during a life 
 protracted beyond the middle of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, continued the faithful, active, devoted friend of 
 the Colony and the College. He defended both against 
 the assaults and aspersions of their respective ene- 
 mies, and, on all occasions, vindicated their character 
 and interests. He was not, however, blind to the 
 failings, nor insensible to the inconsistencies, of the 
 ecclesiastical leaders of the Colony. His kind and 
 catholic spirit was touched with sorrow at the perse- 
 cutions they were carrying on against liberty of con- 
 
 * See Mass. Hist. Coll., Second Series, Vol. IV. p. 155. 
 t Ibid., Vol. III. p. 147.
 
 164 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER science. Nor could the interest, which he took in the 
 
 IX 
 
 honor and welfare of New England, be, in any way, 
 more strikingly manifested, than it is in that deep and 
 solemn tone of remonstrance, in which he addresses 
 John Cotton and John Wilson, the most powerful of 
 all those ecclesiastical leaders, on the " tyranny and 
 persecutions of New England." * " We pray for 
 you," says he, " that the Lord will give you light and 
 love." " These rigid ways are laying you very low 
 in the hearts of the saints." " By compelling any in 
 matters of worship, you make many hypocrites." 
 " Do not assume to yourselves infallibility of judg- 
 ment, when the most learned of the apostles con- 
 fesseth he knew but in part, and saw but darkly as 
 through a glass." During life he had contributed by 
 his purse and influence to the foundation and advance- 
 ment of the seminary. At his death he made a lib- 
 eral bequest for its support. 
 Richard His son, of the same name, a kindred spirit, and 
 
 Saltonstall. 
 
 of like moral worth, imbibed his father's attachment 
 to the College, and displayed equal zeal and self- 
 devotion in advancing its interests. This country 
 being the place of his principal abode, he had opportu- 
 nities of rendering frequent useful services, of which 
 he never failed to avail himself. It appears, by the 
 records of the College, that, of two hundred and fifty 
 pounds sterling, subscribed in 1654 for the repairs of 
 its buildings, by twenty-six individuals, his subscription 
 amounted to one hundred and four pounds. Subse- 
 quently, being in England, he transmitted three hun- 
 dred and twenty pounds for its benefit. Whether 
 this was a donation of his own, or was his father's 
 
 * See Mass. Hist. Coll., Second Series, Vol. IV. p. 171.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 165 
 
 legacy, has been made a question. It is a point, how- CHAPTER 
 
 ever, of little consequence. The deed belongs to the ! 
 
 honors of the name of Saltonstall, emblazoned in 
 every period of our history by its public spirit and its 
 private charities. 
 
 Richard Saltonstall, not less than his father, was 
 distinguished for fixedness of purpose and indepen- 
 dence of opinion, and was as much in advance of his 
 age and country in his views of civil, as was his father 
 in his, of religious liberty. In 1637, he took the side 
 of Winthrop in the struggle against the ascendency 
 of Vane, and, on its success, came into the Board of 
 Assistants, when Winthrop was elected Governor.* 
 Notwithstanding his political predilections were in 
 favor of Winthrop, yet his principles of liberty were 
 so repugnant to the idea of " a standing Council, com- 
 posed of members elected for life," that he wrote a 
 book expressly against it ; denominating the Council , 
 " a sinful innovation, which ought to be reformed."! 
 The boldness and spirit which characterized the work 
 displeased Winthrop and the ecclesiastical leaders. 
 Deeming it an attempt to undermine the essential 
 foundations of the government, Governor Winthrop 
 " twice moved, that the matter of that book " should 
 be taken into the solemn consideration of the General 
 Court. Such, however, was the popularity of Salton- 
 stall, and probably so congenial were the principles 
 of the work with the views of the majority, and so 
 satisfied were they of " the honest intentions of the 
 writer, and that his design was in favor of popular 
 liberty," that the Court would not even inquire into 
 
 * Savage's Winthrop, Vol. I. p. 220. 
 
 f Mass. Hist. Coll., Second Series, Vol. VI. p. 385; Vol. III. 
 p. 147.
 
 166 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER the subject, until they had first " voted an indemnity 
 
 ' to the author against any censure." * 
 
 In the succeeding age we shall have occasion to 
 dilate on the worth and the virtues of Gurdon and 
 Mary and Dorothy Saltonstall, whose noble benefac- 
 tions continue to diffuse blessings even in our own 
 times. Nor does truth permit us to fail in remem- 
 bering, that this family, distinguished in every age 
 for intellect, faithfulness, and honor, as w.ell as for 
 intense attachment to Harvard College, is, at this day, 
 especially fortunate, that the heir of their house is 
 also the heir of their affections and virtues, f 
 
 Robert Among our earliest benefactors, Robert Keayne is 
 
 Keayne. . 
 
 entitled to grateful and special remembrance. He 
 came to New England with Winthrop, and is charac- 
 terized by him, as a man of " eminent parts," " an 
 ancient professor of the Gospel," " coming over for its 
 advancement and for conscience' sake"; as " wealthy," 
 " given to hospitality," " very useful to the country," 
 and a large contributor to its free " schools." t He 
 was first Captain of the Boston Artillery Company, 
 now distinguished by the appellation of " The Ancient 
 and Honorable " ; for several years a representative 
 of that town in the General Court; being a firm ad- 
 herent of the colonial government, and possessing its 
 confidence in a high degree'. In the civil dissensions in 
 1637, when the Antinomians were disarmed, his house 
 was appointed to be the place for safe-keeping of the 
 arms, || of which the malcontents had been deprived. 
 Notwithstanding his usefulness and virtues, he became 
 
 * Savage's Winthrop, Vol. II. pp. 89, 116. 
 
 t See Appendix, No. XXI. 
 
 J Savage's Winthrop, Vol. I. p. 315. Ibid. 254. || Ibid. 248.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 167 
 
 obnoxious on account of the " corrupt practice " of CHAPTER 
 
 " selling dearer than most traders." For this offence 
 
 he was " convented before the incensed deputies," and, 
 after solemn trial, " convicted," fined two hundred 
 pounds, publicly admonished by the church, and hardly 
 did he escape excommunication. These civil and reli- 
 gious persecutions did not subject him to any perma- 
 nent loss of the confidence of his fellow-citizens. He 
 was subsequently elected four times a Representative 
 of the town of Boston, and once Speaker of the House 
 of Deputies. In his last will he took care to inter- 
 weave self-vindication with noble donations to public 
 uses ; thus compelling the officers of government to 
 put upon the public records his defence against " the 
 hard measures meted to him by the government of the 
 country." This will occupies one hundred and forty- 
 eight folio pages of the Probate Records of the County 
 of Suffolk. After vindicating his character, with a 
 pathos indicative of a keen sense of the injustice to 
 which he had been subjected, and appropriating two 
 hundred pounds sterling, to be paid to any man, who 
 shall make it satisfactorily appear he has been wronged 
 or defrauded by him, he speaks of the government of the 
 country in a Christian and forgiving spirit, " as having 
 failings," yet, on the whole, as being, he believes, " the 
 happiest and wisest, this day, in the world." He then 
 adds, that, " though he has suffered enough from the 
 public to tie up both his hands," yet, " being desirous 
 to requite evil with good, and though he cannot forget, 
 being willing to forgive," and " deeming it a want 
 of gratitude to God, for prosperous men to leave all 
 to wife, children, or relatives, and nothing to the 
 public, or to charity," and declaring his estate to be 
 four thousand pounds sterling, he proceeds to give
 
 168 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER twelve hundred pounds to objects of public use or 
 
 '. private charity ; included in which were two hundred 
 
 and fifty pounds to Harvard College ; * adding, with 
 no less point than prudence and wisdom, that none 
 of it should be spent in brick and mortar, or repairs ; 
 " for buildings and halls it belongs to the public to 
 find." 
 Kdward Next in order of time, the noble beneficence of 
 
 Hopkins. 
 
 Edward Hopkins stands in bold relief; exceeded by 
 that of none of his contemporaries in original value, 
 Sir Matthew Holworthy and William Stoughton alone 
 excepted ; and, at the present day, greatly surpassing 
 those of both, in amount and efficiency. Few, if any 
 of the early emigrants to New England, have left a 
 name surrounded by a purer or more unfading lustre. 
 In the parent State, as well as in the Colony, his tal- 
 ents and virtues received the reward of place, pre- 
 ferment, and authority. After having pursued the 
 mercantile line with success in London, and lived in 
 that city in splendor and the exercise of hospital- 
 ity until the year 1637, he emigrated to this coun- 
 try ; f being then about thirty-eight years of age. 
 His great estate, eminent abilities, and distinguished 
 piety and integrity, made him a welcome visitant, and 
 every inducement was proffered by the legislature of 
 the Colony, the inhabitants of Boston, and the settle- 
 ments in its vicinity, to induce him to fix his residence 
 in Massachusetts, without success, t The fertile soil 
 
 * See Suffolk Probate Records, Vol. I. p. 116, etc. 
 
 t See Mass. Hist. Coll., Second Series, Vol. V. p. 262 ; Vol. VI. 
 p. 329 ; Vol. I. p. 231 ; Vol. VII. p. 8 ; First Series, Vol. IV. pp. 15 
 and 182 ; Vol. VII. p. 22. 
 
 J Trumbull's Hist, of Connecticut, chap. VI. and VII. Savage's 
 Winthrop, Vol. I. p. 228 ; Vol. II. pp. 216, 329.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 169 
 
 on the Connecticut had charms for him, which the CHAPTER 
 
 T-y 
 
 rock-bound shores of the "Bay State " did not pos- 
 
 sess. He was desirous of planting a Church and a 
 State, approaching nearer to that model of perfection, 
 which he had conceived in fancy, and to which the 
 first settlers in Massachusetts had not, in his judgment, 
 attained. Led by this desire, Hopkins accompanied 
 John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton, whose views 
 were consonant with his own, to the west. Daven- 
 port and Eaton established themselves at New Haven ; 
 Hopkins took up his residence at Hartford. There 
 he was immediately appointed a magistrate. He soon 
 after assisted in framing the first constitution of the 
 Colony, and, for several years, alternated with John 
 Haynes in the office of Governor. He was also one 
 of the Commissioners, who formed the articles of con- 
 federation of the United Colonies of New England 
 in 1643; the precursor of that confederation, which, 
 nearly a century and a half afterwards, was the 
 instrument of American Independence. He suc- 
 ceeded Winthrop as President of that board, which, 
 for forty years, was the refuge and defence of the 
 fathers of New England, and the medium of all gen- 
 eral attempts to extend to the savages of the wilder- 
 ness the knowledge of the Gospel. In 1652, Hopkins 
 returned to England, where his integrity and talent 
 were soon noticed and called into public service by 
 that keen observer of human nature, Cromwell, who 
 successively appointed him First Warden of the fleet, 
 and Commissioner of the army and of the navy ; and 
 afterwards, through the same influence, he obtained 
 a seat in Parliament. His spirit was not only active, 
 but elastic ; since it seems neither to have been sub- 
 dued by a grievous pulmonary affection, which pur- 
 VOL. i. 22
 
 170 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER sued him during thirty years of his life, and finally 
 
 . brought it to a close ; nor yet crushed under the 
 
 weight of the severest of all domestic afflictions, the 
 irrecoverable derangement of a wife, who, before her 
 bereavement of reason, was distinguished for her vir- 
 tues, her intelligence, and accomplishments. 
 
 His last will is an interesting monument of private 
 friendship and public spirit ; and justifies the universal 
 language of his contemporaries, who, in eulogizing 
 his character, never fail to celebrate his possession of 
 those qualities, which make a man beloved. To nu- 
 merous friends and domestics he bequeathed legacies, 
 amounting to four thousand pounds sterling ; to insti- 
 tutions in Connecticut, for the promotion of religion, 
 science, or charity, one thousand pounds sterling. For 
 the advancement of the same noble objects in Massa- 
 chusetts, the bequest of five hundred pounds, vested 
 in trustees, was destined to find its sphere of useful 
 ness in Harvard College, or its vicinity.* After an 
 unceasing flow of annual benefits for more than a 
 century, his bounty now exists on a foundation of 
 productive and well-secured capital, amounting nearly 
 to thirty thousand dollars. 
 
 Thus did this lofty and intellectual spirit devise 
 and distribute blessings in his own age, and, by his 
 wisdom, prepare and make them perpetual for suc- 
 ceeding times. 
 Israel Of the benefactors of Harvard College, during this 
 
 Stoughton. . & ' 
 
 first period of its existence, the name of Stoughton is 
 deservedly among the most known and most honored. 
 Two of this family were early contributors to Harvard 
 College. Israel Stoughton was one of the early emi- 
 
 * Savage's Winthrop, Vol. I. p. 228 ; Vol. II. pp. 216, 329.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 171 
 
 grants to Massachusetts. Being a member of the CHAPTER 
 House of Deputies in 1634, he joined the popular ' 
 party, placed himself in opposition to the magistrates, 
 and published a book against their negative voice. 
 The vigor of the government, at that day, did not 
 allow contumacy of this kind to pass unpunished, 
 even in a Deputy to the Assembly. He was disen- 
 abled by that body from holding any public office 
 within the jurisdiction during three years, for his 
 offence, in " affirming that the Assistants were not 
 magistrates." The discipline had a proper effect upon 
 Stoughton. He forthwith declared the book to be 
 both " weak and offensive," and desired the Court 
 to cause it to be burnt.* His humility soon restored 
 him to favor. Taking part with Winthrop in the 
 struggle against the ascendency of Vane, he was, in 
 1637, elected an Assistant. He commanded the Mas- 
 sachusetts forces in the war against the Pequods, and 
 in that service gave evidence of zeal, courage, and 
 activity, united with exemplary fidelity and eminent 
 wisdom, f His letter to Governor Winthrop, dated 
 " from Pequid, the 2d day of the 6th week of our 
 warfare," while it abundantly indicates his vigor and 
 enlargement of views, is remarkable for its disposition 
 rather to undervalue than to exaggerate his services 
 and sufferings ; t notwithstanding, in that campaign, 
 the former had been great and the latter severe. 
 
 This war having been closed with success, Stough- 
 ton was successively employed by the people as an 
 
 * See Savage's Winthrop, pp. 155, 220, 223, 233. 
 
 t See Mass. Hist. Coll., Second Series, Vol. VIII. p. 145; Vol. 
 X. p. 59. 
 
 I "We do thankfully acknowledge your care and tenderness towards 
 us, signified by your writings, and sending my provisions, &c., and 
 desire we may deserve it. For the hardship you conceive you put us
 
 172 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER Assistant, and by the government as a Commissioner 
 
 IX. 
 
 - to run the boundary line between Massachusetts and 
 Plymouth. Being called to England in 1644, his love 
 of arms, or of the cause, triumphed over his love for 
 his adopted country, and he joined the army of the 
 Parliament, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, in 
 a regiment of which Rainsborow was Colonel, and 
 probably served under him, among the reserves, at the 
 battle of Naseby;* which event he did not long sur- 
 vive. He had been one of the earliest contributors 
 to the College, and, at his death in England, many 
 years after its foundation, remembered it in a bequest 
 of three hundred acres of valuable land in the town 
 of Dorchester. 
 William William Stoughton, bis son, inherited his father's af- 
 
 Stoughton. 
 
 fection for the institution, and gave early promise of tal- 
 ent and usefulness. His manhood more than verified 
 the promise of his youth. Rising gradually in rank and 
 influence, he filled a sphere of greatness and benevo- 
 lence, surpassed by none of the Colonists. After being 
 graduated at Harvard College, in 1650, he followed, as 
 may be inferred from events, the bias of the times and 
 of the country, rather than of his own genius, when 
 he selected the pulpit as the station in which he was 
 to seek employment and distinction. He continued, 
 however, more than twenty years in the service of the 
 altar, was well esteemed as a preacher, although never 
 a pastor of any particular church ; declining invita- 
 
 to, and pity us for, for my part, what I endure is so little thought of, 
 that it is not worth pity, neither doth it trouble me, and therefore 1 
 desire that it may trouble none of my friends. It is what I have been 
 acquainted with, in part, before ; and, if I never be more put to it 
 for God's cause's sake, it is much less than I have expected. Whilst 
 we enjoy part in what is there to be had, I hope we shall be satisfied." 
 * Harris's Life of Cromwell, London Edit, of 1772. p. 126.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 173 
 
 tions from Cambridge and Dorchester, and other eli- CHAPTER 
 
 gible offers of settlement in the ministry. '. 
 
 About the year 1671 he abandoned the desk, and, 
 following probably the original bent of his mind, be- 
 came a magistrate and a politician. In his new path, 
 the extent and zeal of his Calvinism tended greatly 
 to his advancement, under a constitution founded on 
 religion, and in a period of society and a country, 
 in which the influence of the clergy predominated. 
 During that age, in all negotiations of the Colony 
 with the parent State, one of the clergy was deemed 
 indispensable to any agency, either for success abroad, 
 or confidence at home. Accordingly, when Charles 
 the Second directed Massachusetts, in the year 1676, 
 to send over agents to make answer against the com- 
 plaints of Gorges and Mason, Stoughton, though now 
 a magistrate, was deemed sufficiently identified with 
 the clergy, to be appointed one of the agents, as 
 their representative, and went to Europe in that ca- 
 pacity, with the full approbation of the ecclesiastical 
 leaders of the Colony. He remained in England 
 until 1679, but attained nothing, except time and 
 a further opportunity for the Colony to comply with 
 the requisitions of the crown. His success did not 
 fulfil the expectations of the colonists ; who were 
 ever too apt to expect impossibilities of their agents, 
 and to attribute to timidity, or time-serving, a failure 
 to obtain a recognition of their cherished principles 
 of construction of the first charter of the Colony, 
 notwithstanding some of them were obviously incom- 
 patible with the relations of a colony to a parent 
 state. The claims of the sovereign to unqualified 
 obedience, and those of the colonists to at least a 
 qualified independence, were the source of controver-
 
 174 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER sies, which no agents could reconcile, and the occa- 
 
 IX. 
 
 sion of that unpopularity, which invariably followed 
 the return of all the agents sent to England during 
 the first charter. Their residence in that country 
 compelled them to take views of the reciprocal rela- 
 tions of Great Britain and Massachusetts, to which 
 the inhabitants of this Colony were wholly unwilling 
 to accede. The statement of these views was re- 
 ceived by the people as indicative of changes pro- 
 duced by the influence of the British cabinet, and 
 was often attributed to selfish motives. Early in his 
 agency Stoughton had remonstrated by letters with 
 some freedom on the neglect, by the colonists, of 
 the acts of navigation, and had ventured to intimate, 
 that, " without a fair compliance in that matter, 
 nothing could be expected but a total breach and 
 storms of displeasure." His urgency produced an 
 order for the faithful obedience to those acts. Not- 
 withstanding which they remained afterwards little 
 more than a dead letter on the statute book. His 
 conduct in this, and in some other respects, did not 
 coincide with the interests and prejudices of his coun- 
 trymen, and consequently gained him little popularity. 
 On his return, he received no marks of disapprobation 
 from the General Court, but, on the contrary, their 
 thanks for his services. A deep and ill-concealed dis- 
 satisfaction, however, existed, on account of the result 
 of his agency ; and he became obnoxious to jealousy 
 and censure. Of this he was well apprized ; and when, 
 at a subsequent period, a like mission was offered to 
 him, he utterly declined it. The evidences he soon 
 received of the confidence of the British monarch 
 confirmed the opinion of those, who were disposed to 
 believe, that, like his friend Joseph Dudley, he had
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 175 
 
 in Europe been less active in defending colonial rights CHAPTER 
 
 TY 
 
 than in conciliating court favor. Like him, he was - 
 reckoned among those, who were in favor of surren- 
 dering the old charter, in preference to taking the 
 chance of a quo warranto. In 1683 he was appointed 
 by the crown one of the Commissioners to inquire 
 into the titles in the Narraganset country, and, in 
 1686, on the seizure of the government of the coun- 
 try by the King, he was selected, next to Dudley, as 
 one of the Council of the Colony. These appoint- 
 ments were deemed rewards, and, in the violence of 
 the party feelings of the time, he was considered as 
 one of those politicians, who change their principles 
 with times, and shift their sails so as to catch every 
 favorable breeze. Nor do these suspicions seem to 
 have been wholly without foundation ; since Edward 
 Randolph thus draws his character in 1686. "Mr. 
 Stoughton is inclined to the Non-conformist ministers, 
 yet stands right to his Majesty's interests." * 
 
 The course of Stoughton had been cautious, if not 
 timid. With Dudley he had been associated, very 
 intimately, both in policy and friendship.! The de- 
 gree to which this extended is strongly evidenced by 
 the fact, that, when, in consequence of the state of 
 parties, in May, 1686, Stoughton had been elected to 
 the magistracy, and Dudley had been omitted, the 
 former " refused to serve, out of complaisance to the 
 latter." He was probably aware, that a commission, 
 appointing Dudley as President and himself as Vice- 
 President of the Colony, was then on its passage from 
 England. This arrived before the end of the same 
 
 * Hutch. Coll. of Original Papers, p. 548. 
 
 t Hutch. Hist. Mass., Vol. I. chap. 2. pp. 206, 806, 815.
 
 176 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER month, and was published. Although he was the 
 
 IX ' avowed friend and confidant of Dudley, and shared 
 
 in the honors bestowed on that politician, yet he had 
 the address to make the people believe him not un- 
 friendly to the civil constitution of the Colony. To the 
 ecclesiastical constitution his attachment was regarded 
 as sincere, both on account of his early prejudices 
 and his present interest. Dudley in vain attempted 
 to gain for himself a similar confidence. In the crisis 
 of the affairs of the Colony, during the administration 
 of Andros, Stoughton again accepted with Dudley a 
 seat in the Council. But, being one of those against 
 whom the charge was made, of " having more of the 
 willow than the oak in his constitution," he did 
 nothing either greatly to satisfy or greatly to dissatisfy 
 the popular party. In the rising of the people, at 
 the time Andros and Dudley were imprisoned, Stough- 
 ton had no participation. He joined, indeed, Brad- 
 street and the other magistrates, on the 18th of April, 
 1689, in their request to Andros to deliver up the fort, 
 in order to prevent the effusion of blood. His name, 
 however, does not appear among those, who, on the 
 day following, formed themselves into a body, under 
 the title of a " council of safety of the people and 
 conservation of the peace." Nor did he return to 
 take a share in any of the administrations that inter- 
 vened, until the arrival of the charter of William and 
 Mary, in 1692; being excluded from them by vote, 
 in consequence of his having accepted the office of 
 Assistant under Andros.* 
 
 When, under this charter, Sir William Phips re- 
 ceived, by the nomination of Increase Mather, the 
 
 * Hutch. Hist. Mass., Vol. I. chap. 3. pp. 317, 337, 340.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 177 
 
 appointment of Governor, Stoughton obtained that of CHAPTER 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor of the Province. As has already '. 
 
 been stated, he was probably indebted for this eleva- 
 tion to the assurance given by Cotton Mather,* that 
 he " was ready to make amends for all his mis- 
 carriages," and to the knowledge Increase Mather 
 possessed, that his appointment would be acceptable 
 to the clergy. 
 
 To the same influence may be attributed the 
 lamentable distinction he attained by his appointment 
 as Chief Justice in the special commission issued for 
 the trial of those confined on charges of witchcraft, 
 at the time of the excitement, called " the Salem 
 delusion." If it were possible, it would be grateful 
 to throw the mantle of oblivion over the part acted 
 by Stoughton in that tragedy. But the stern law of 
 history does not permit. The high station he held for 
 so many years in the Province, as commander-in- 
 chief ; the acceptable manner in which he conducted 
 himself in this office; his popularity with the clergy, 
 the chief eulogists and historians of that time ; his 
 noble donation to Harvard College ; above all, the 
 number, among the most influential in every rank and 
 profession, implicated as actors, or as applauding or ac- 
 quiescing witnesses, of that appalling drama, have been 
 the occasion of less strictness of investigation, and a 
 more politic tenderness of statement, than are due to 
 truth or justice. There is no class of public men, 
 towards whom history should be more inexorably 
 severe than to those, who, through fear, passion, or 
 policy, lend themselves to popular excitements, and 
 become panders or instruments of the gross desires, 
 
 * See above, p. 61. 
 
 VOL. i. 23
 
 178 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER wayward humors, or furious rage of a multitude. 
 
 The truth, painful as it is, cannot be concealed. On 
 no individual does the responsibility of the sad con- 
 summation of that excitement rest more heavily than 
 on William Stoughton. Cotton Mather may have had 
 more agency in its origin and progress ; but the coun- 
 tenance it received from the court of justice gave 
 vitality to the epidemic rage, and deprived innocence 
 of its security, and terminated the cruel tragedy in 
 blood. 
 
 On the 14th of May, 1692, Sir William Phips 
 arrived in Massachusetts, bringing with him his own 
 commission as Governor, and that of William Stough- 
 ton as Lieutenant-Governor, of the Province.* Belief 
 in the existence of witchcraft, which then prevailed 
 in New England, was apparently held by no one with 
 more solemn conviction than by Stoughton. This 
 rendered him less qualified to hold, and, it is prob- 
 able, the more anxious to obtain, a seat on the bench 
 of justice. He was, as Lieutenant-Governor, one 
 of the constitutional advisers of Phips, and it can- 
 not be doubted, that the idea of a special court to 
 try the accused, if it did not originate with him, 
 had at least his entire concurrence ; and the office of 
 Chief Justice in that commission, if he did not seek, 
 he certainly accepted. The union of the office of 
 Lieutenant-Governor and Chief Justice in the person 
 of Stoughton was calculated to give a weight to his 
 opinion altogether conclusive. In eighteen days after 
 he received his commission as Lieutenant-Governor 
 from the crown, he took that of Chief Justice under 
 
 * Hutch. Hist, Mass., Vol. I. p. 367; Vol. II. p. 19. More 
 Wonders of the Invisible World, by Robert Calef, p. 214.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 179 
 
 this special commission from Governor Phips, and CHAPTER 
 
 proceeded to open a court by virtue of it, under a ! 
 
 charter, which gave the power of constituting courts 
 exclusively to the legislature ; the appointing and com- 
 missioning of the justices and commissioners of courts, 
 established by the legislature, being the extent of 
 the Governor's power under the charter. Scruples 
 of that kind did not affect Stoughton and the other 
 judges appointed in that commission. Under an 
 authority thus,, at least, questionable, a court was 
 suddenly organized. It proceeded hastily towards 
 judgment, and before the ensuing October, for this 
 imaginary crime of witchcraft, swept Massachusetts 
 with that desolating besom, miscalled " judicial de- 
 cision " ; the effects of which have been already enu- 
 merated. * 
 
 The degree to which his infatuation extended, and 
 his cooperation with Cotton Mather's popular appeals, 
 in support of the proceedings of his court, belong to 
 general history, and may be omitted in a work, which, 
 as far as truth and duty permit, would touch no other 
 chord than that which vibrates gratitude to William 
 Stoughton. 
 
 Strange as at this day it appears, his conduct in 
 relation to these trials for witchcraft detracted nothing 
 from his popularity. He was chosen Assistant, though 
 Lieutenant-Governor, " so agreeable was he to the 
 people. "f Notwithstanding Stoughton always was, 
 in heart, attached to Joseph Dudley and his party, yet 
 he succeeded in retaining his popularity from the time 
 of the departure of Governor Phips, in 1694, to the 
 coming of the Earl of Bellamont, in May, 1699. 
 
 * See above, p. 64. f Hutch. Hist. Mass., Vol. II. ch. I. p. 70.
 
 180 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER The difficulties with the Indians and the French 
 
 IX 
 
 kept the attention of the people directed towards their 
 
 external relations, and no controversy occurred be- 
 tween the Executive and the other branches of the 
 legislature. So that the prejudices, which his con- 
 nexion with Andros and Dudley had excited against 
 him, gradually subsided ; and the whole course of his 
 administration in the office of Commander-in-chief was 
 acceptable to the Province. 
 
 In March, 1698, Stoughton first intimated his design 
 of erecting an additional building for the accommoda- 
 tion of the students of Harvard College, and a com- 
 mittee of the Corporation was appointed " to treat on 
 that subject concerning which he had made proposals." 
 The records of the Corporation contain no further 
 account of proceedings on this offer. The building 
 was erected, and the Donation Book of the University 
 shows, that the cost was one thousand pounds, Massa- 
 chusetts currency; but, as those records many years 
 afterwards state, " being an unsubstantial piece of 
 masonry," it grew weak with age, and, after many 
 repairs, was taken down in 1780. 
 
 Part of the income of Stoughton Hall, and the rents 
 of twenty-seven acres of land in the town of Dor- 
 chester, bequeathed by him to the College, were 
 appropriated by his last will for the benefit of "a scholar 
 of the town of Dorchester ; and, if there be none such, 
 then of the town of Milton ; and, in want of such, 
 then to any well deserving, that shall be most needy." 
 The income from the land remains active and bene- 
 ficial at the present day. 
 
 In the year 1806 a substantial brick building being 
 erected by the Corporation, the name of Stoughton 
 was given to it ; a suitable acknowledgment for his 
 bounty and proved affection for the institution.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 181 
 
 Henry Webb is another benefactor of this early CHAPTER 
 
 IX 
 
 period, of whom, however, time has left few memorials. '. 
 
 It is only known, that he was a merchant of great Webb. 
 wealth, according to the standard of the time, of sagac- 
 ity in business, and no less distinguished for his charities 
 than for his opulence. He bequeathed to the College 
 a house and land in Cornhill, now a part of Washing- 
 ton Street, in Boston, valuable at all times from its 
 locality, still retained by the institution, and one of the 
 most productive portions of its real estate ; to which 
 he added a legacy of fifty pounds, the income and 
 interest " to be improved either for the maintenance 
 of some poor scholar, or otherwise for the best good 
 of the College." 
 
 Among the benefactors of this period, the name of 
 Brown is honorably recorded. William Brown was 
 the ancestor of a family distinguished in the succeed- 
 ing age for munificence and public spirit. He emi- 
 grated from England in 1635, became a merchant in 
 Salem, where he was eminent for his exemplary life 
 and his public charities. In 1673 he paid one tenth 
 part of the cost of a church erected in that town, and 
 at his death left valuable bequests to the schools of 
 Salem and Charlestown, besides large sums for pious 
 uses. During his lifetime he contributed liberally to 
 the support of the College, and by his last will be- 
 queathed one hundred pounds for the benefit of poor 
 and meritorious students. 
 
 John Bulkley, a member of the class of 1642, the 
 
 ley. 
 
 first which was graduated at Harvard College, deserves 
 respectful remembrance among our earliest benefac- 
 tors. In the year 1645, he executed a deed of about 
 an acre of valuable land, now owned by the College, 
 and situated nearly in the centre of the town of Cam-
 
 182 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER bridge. It is the earliest conveyance on the records 
 
 ! of the College, is in Latin, and on that account 
 
 curious. It is also interesting for the affection it in- 
 dicates for President Dunster, and for the College. 
 He characterizes himself as " nuper studens Collegii 
 Harvardini" gives the occupation of the land during 
 life to Henry Dunster, " utpote eidem ob plurima atque 
 ampla accepta beneficia devinctissimus." In case of his 
 death or resignation, he thus directs the course of his 
 bequest ; " Turn velim ut Collegium, tanquam ASTTZW 
 tenue ab alumno maxime benevolo, sibi in perpetuum 
 appropriaret."* After paying this affectionate and valu- 
 able tribute to his literary parent, he left America, and 
 settled in the ministry in England ; preaching to good 
 acceptance, until he was ejected for non-conformity. 
 He then studied medicine,! became duly qualified as 
 a physician, and practised with success in the suburbs 
 of London. 
 
 Lady Among the early transatlantic benefactors of Har- 
 
 vard College, Lady Moulson, Sir Matthew Holworthy, 
 and Theophilus Gale, were chiefly distinguished. 
 
 Of Lady Moulson nothing is known, except that 
 she was among the earliest of this class of benefactors, 
 that she contributed one hundred pounds sterling for 
 the College, and paid the amount over to Welde and 
 Peters, the agents of the Colony in Great Britain. 
 It appears, by the records of the Governors of the 
 College, that her gift was known in this country as 
 early as December, 1643, but that it was not at that 
 time received. Welde and Peters settled for this 
 amount, and for sums given also by others, with the 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XXII. 
 
 t Savage's Winthrop, Vol. II. p. 240. Calamy's Account of 
 Ejected Ministers, Vol. II. pp. 811, 312.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 183 
 
 General Court ; who kept it in their treasury, arid CHAPTER 
 
 voted to allow for it to the College an annuity of about '. 
 
 fifteen pounds per annum. Fortunately for the Col- 
 lege, Lady Moulson had taken a bond of Welde, that 
 the money should not be diverted from the charitable 
 objects to which she had devoted it. For in 1655, 
 on a petition of the College for relief, in a state of 
 great distress on account of the insufficiency of their 
 buildings, the House of Deputies ordered the amount 
 due on account of her gift to be " improved for " the 
 repairs of those edifices. This vote the magistrates 
 non-concurred in, " because the amount was given by 
 the Lady Moulson and others for scholarships, annually 
 to be maintained there, which this Court cannot alter, 
 and therefore desire their brethren, the Deputies, to 
 consider of some meet way for the repairing of the 
 College ; " * an instance of self-control, and of the 
 acknowledgment of restraint by principle, as honor- 
 able as it is exemplary. 
 
 After considerable research, little has been discov- sirMat- 
 
 /ci'iiTi ^ ew Hol- 
 
 ered concerning the life and fortunes of Sir Matthew worthy. 
 Holworthy. It is ascertained, that he was a merchant 
 of Hackney, in the county of Middlesex, that he was 
 knighted by Charles the Second in 1665, possessed 
 great wealth, was distinguished for charity and piety, 
 and that he died in 1678. 
 
 His bequest to the College was the largest pecuniary 
 gift it received during the seventeenth century. His 
 bounty was wise in its form and noble in its nature ; 
 expressed in terms the most useful, because the most 
 unrestricted. He made the amount applicable at once 
 to the wants of the institution, by placing it at the 
 
 * See Appendix, No. II.
 
 184 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER immediate control of its governors, indicating a con- 
 
 _! fidence in them, and an elevated spirit in himself, 
 
 free from all selfish and ambitious views. The sim- 
 plicity and directness of his language deserves to be 
 preserved both as an honor and an example. 
 
 " Item. I give and bequeath unto the College or Uni- 
 versity in or of Cambridge, in New England, the sum of 
 one thousand pounds (sterling), to be paid over to the 
 Governors and Directors thereof, to be disposed of by 
 them as they shall judge best for promoting of learning 
 and promulgation of the Gospel in those parts; the 
 same to be paid within two years after my decease." 
 The character as well as the amount of this dona- 
 tion entitled him to the distinction which his name 
 received in the year 1812, when it was given to the 
 Hall then erected by the University ; as well as to 
 the just tribute paid to his memory by President 
 Kirkland, in an address on laying the foundation of 
 Hoi worthy Hall ; who, after stating that little was 
 known of this benefactor, observes, " We have evi- 
 dence, however, that he was one of those generous 
 spirits, who are interested in human nature and human 
 happiness wherever found. He extended his solicitude 
 to this seminary, then obscure and little considered by 
 the w r orld, and capable of adding little to the character 
 of its benefactors, and contributed a bounty which did 
 much to rear it to a manly strength."* 
 TheopMius Theophilus Gale,f dying; in 1677, devoted his whole 
 
 Gale. 
 
 estate, real and personal, to the advancement of edu- 
 
 * President Kirkland's Address on laying the Foundation of Hoi- 
 worthy Hall. Corporation Records, August 18th, 1812. 
 
 t Wilson's History of the Dissenting Churches, Vol. III. p. 163. 
 London Edit. 1810. Wood's Athenae Oxonienses, Vol. III. p. 1149. 
 London Edit. 1820. Mather's Magnalia, Book IV. Part I.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 185 
 
 cation and the promotion of learning. His library, CHAPTER 
 
 one of the most select and valuable in the possession 
 
 of a private individual in that day, he bequeathed to 
 Harvard College ; and it constituted for many years 
 more than half of the whole College Library. This 
 divine was one of the most distinguished men of his 
 time ; being justly admired for his reasoning powers, 
 his learning, and his piety. He was a philologist, a 
 philosopher, and a theologian. His writings, which 
 were numerous and highly esteemed, " spread his 
 fame," says his biographer, "throughout Europe." The 
 fact presents a striking and instructive lesson. Where 
 is that voice which once filled Europe with his name ? 
 It is silent. Where those glories, which assured per- 
 petuity to his memory ? What coruscations of genius 
 now emblazon his fame ? Alas ! they are lost in the 
 lapse of years ; overpowered and obscured by nearer 
 and more recent radiance. It is not his learning nor his 
 private labors, the acuteness of his controversial nor 
 the ceaseless activity of his intellectual powers, which 
 lead the sons of Harvard, on days of solemn com- 
 memoration, to dwell with gratitude on his memory ; 
 but a well-directed and well-devised charity, confirm- 
 ing the declaration of Scripture, that, to effect an 
 enduring remembrance, " charity is better than to 
 have the gift of prophecy, or to understand all myste- 
 ries and all knowledge." 
 
 William Pennoyer and Robert Thorner, among our 
 early benefactors, are next deserving grateful recog- 
 nition. Both were English gentlemen of fortune, 
 patrons of science, and eminent for their deep religious 
 affections. But little is known of the life and for- 
 tunes of either. The former was one of the first wniiam 
 to establish a permanent fund for those periodical 
 
 VOL. i. 24
 
 186 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER distributions of money to indigent students, called 
 
 "' "Exhibitions." By his will, dated in May, 1670, 
 
 he constituted a rent charge upon an estate in the 
 county of Norfolk, in England, of forty-four pounds 
 per annum, for ever ; of which sum thirty-four pounds 
 were appropriated " for the education of two fellows 
 and two scholars, for ever, in the College called 
 Cambridge, in New England." 
 
 Robert Robert Thorner was also one of our noblest as well 
 
 Thorner. 
 
 as earliest benefactors. By his will, dated on the 31st 
 of May, 1690, he gave to Harvard College five hun- 
 dred pounds sterling, to be paid after the expiration 
 of certain specified leases. This contingency did not 
 occur until more than seventy years had elapsed. 
 Then the legacy was punctually paid by the trustees 
 appointed under his will. Thorner was a maternal 
 uncle of Thomas Hollis ; and, by appointing him one 
 of those trustees, he introduced Harvard College to 
 the knowledge and notice of the greatest of its early 
 patrons, and became the cause, as well as precur- 
 sor, of the rising upon our horizon of that constella- 
 tion of benefactors bearing the name of Hollis ; the 
 number and the value of whose bounties it will be the 
 duty of this history hereafter to record. 
 
 otherbene- To these benefactors are to be added Sir Kenelm 
 Digby, Sir Thomas Temple, Sir Henry Ashurst, Ser- 
 geant Maynard, and John Dodderidge ; men distin- 
 guished in their age and country, for their virtues, their 
 religious and literary zeal, and the diffusiveness of 
 their benevolence. Conjoined with these in the spirit 
 of kindness for our institution, there exist on its 
 records, names of benefactors,* of whom nothing is 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XXIII.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 187 
 
 now known, except the example and the blessing of CHAPTER 
 
 their bounty ; men, possessing in large measure the ! . 
 
 spirit of charity, but limited in its exercise by the 
 scantiness of their fortunes ; yet, giving according to 
 their mediocrity or poverty, they are to be cherished 
 with a veneration and affection as deep and sincere, 
 as the memory of those who have given us of their 
 abundance. 
 
 Among our earliest benefactors, " Joseph Glover," Joseph 
 
 9 Glover. 
 
 and " some gentlemen of Amsterdam," deserve no- 
 tice, not so much from the amount as from the nature 
 and consequences of their respective benefactions. 
 That of the former was a " font of printing letters," 
 and that of the latter was " forty-nine pounds and 
 something more towards furnishing of a printing press 
 with letters." Both are recorded in the Donation 
 Book of the College as occurring in 1642, and are 
 worthy of memory, as connected with " the first print- 
 ing press established north of Mexico, and which for 
 many years continued to be the only one in British 
 America."* 
 
 This press Glover was bringing with him to New Printing 
 England in 1638, but died on his passage. His widow, 
 being possessed of considerable property, purchased 
 an estate in Cambridge, and settled there. The press 
 was set up in this town in 1639,* under the auspices 
 of the magistrates and elders ; Stephen Daye, who 
 had been brought over by Glover for this purpose, 
 being the first printer. Jt was regarded as a public 
 concern. President Dunster, who married the widow 
 of Mr. Glover, had the management of it in right of 
 
 * See Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ.j p. 6. Felt's Annals of Salem, 
 p. 120. Thomas's History of Printing, Vol. I. pp. 203, 224,231.
 
 188 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER his wife and as President of the College. It was at 
 
 TV 
 
 first placed in the President's house, where it re- 
 mained until the year 1655.* Its profits were small, 
 but constituted a part of the revenues of the College. 
 The President superintended and was deemed re- 
 sponsible for its publications. The first of these was 
 " The Freeman's Oath." To this succeeded an 
 Almanac, a Psalm Book, a Catechism, the body of 
 Liberties and Laws of the Colony. To works of 
 this character it was confined while under the su- 
 pervision of Dunster. In 1654 it was taken into 
 the service of the Commissioners of the United Col- 
 onies, had its types and resources greatly enlarged 
 by the Corporation for propagating the Gospel among 
 the Indians ; and in 1658 commenced the publica- 
 tion of that extraordinary result of persevering in- 
 dustry and pious zeal, " The Bible in the Massachu- 
 setts Indian Language, by John Eliot." In 1662 
 the jealousy of the clergy and magistrates was ex- 
 cited by some religious treatises it published, and it 
 was subjected to a board of licensers, of which, in 
 1 664, the President of the College was placed at the 
 head. It attained success and celebrity, to which its 
 connexion with the College, and the influence ex- 
 erted over it by its governors, greatly contributed. 
 
 Discipline Touching discipline, the course of studies, and the 
 
 and course 
 
 of study. nature and efficiency of literary instruction, in the Col- 
 lege during the seventeenth century, our means of in- 
 formation are limited and unsatisfactory. Its discipline, 
 unquestionably, partook of the austerity of the period, 
 and was in harmony with the character of the early 
 emigrants.! Tradition represents it to have been se- 
 
 * See Appendix, No. I. f See Appendix, No. XXIV.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 189 
 
 IX. 
 
 vere, and corporal punishments to have been among CHAPTER 
 the customary sanctions of College laws. The im- 
 mediate government kept no record of their proceed- 
 ings. The tutors chastised at discretion, and on very 
 solemn occasions the Overseers were called together, 
 either to authorize or to witness the execution of the 
 severer punishments. Judge Sewall, in his Diary, 
 relates an instance of the mode in which these were 
 inflicted, illustrative of the manners of the age, and of 
 the discipline of the College. It occurred in 1674. 
 The offence was "speaking blasphemous words." After 
 examination by the Corporation, the offence was sub- 
 mitted to the Overseers for advisement. The offender 
 was sentenced to be " publicly whipped before all the 
 scholars," to be " suspended from taking his bachelor's 
 degree," and " to sit alone by himself uncovered at 
 meals during the pleasure of the President and Fel- 
 lows," to be obedient in all things, and, in default, to 
 be finally expelled from the College. The execution 
 of the sentence was no less characteristic than its 
 nature. It w^as twice read publicly in the Library, in 
 the presence of all the scholars, the government, and 
 such of the Overseers as chose to attend. The of- 
 fender having kneeled, the President prayed, after 
 which the corporal punishment was inflicted ; and the 
 solemnities were closed by another prayer from the 
 President.* There is no reason to suppose, that there 
 was any thing revolting in this, either to the opinions 
 or the feelings of the age or country. On the con- 
 trary, it was in strict accordance with the habits and 
 general notions of discipline prevalent at the period. 
 These formal inflictions gradually grew out of use ; 
 
 * Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ. 3 p. 227.
 
 190 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 but more than a century elapsed after the foundation 
 
 TV 
 
 ! of the College, before corporal punishments were ob- 
 literated from its code. 
 
 As early as 1659, "the exorbitant practices of some 
 students," and their abuse of the " town watch," 
 occasioned an order of the Corporation, recognising 
 the subjection of the students to the law of the land, 
 and providing the manner and limitations under which 
 the watch of the town should exercise their usual 
 power and authority within the precincts of the Col- 
 lege.* And in 1682 the civil arm was formally recog- 
 nised as the last resort for enforcing, in extreme cases, 
 its discipline.! 
 
 A document, purporting to be the " Laws, Liberties, 
 and Orders of Harvard College," confirmed by the 
 President and Overseers,! gives the best evidence now 
 extant, of the early principles and requisitions of the 
 College laws ; as do also the Orders of the Overseers, 
 in 1 650,^ of their progress and mode of enforcement. 
 
 In relation to the course of studies, and the degree 
 of literary instruction in the seminary during this 
 period, little exact and authentic information exists. 
 " So much Latin as was sufficient to understand Tully, 
 or any like classical author, and to make and speak 
 true Latin, in prose and verse, and so much Greek as 
 was included in declining perfectly the paradigms of 
 the Greek nouns and verbs," were the chief, if not 
 the only requisites for admission. The exercises of 
 the students had the aspect of a theological rather 
 than a literary institution. They were practised twice 
 a day in reading the Scriptures, giving an account of 
 their proficiency and experience in practical and spirit- 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XXV. f Ibid., No. XXVI. 
 
 t Ibid., No. XXVII. Ibid., No. XXVIII.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 191 
 
 ual truths, accompanied by theoretical observations CHAPTER 
 
 on the language, * and logic, of the sacred writings. ! . 
 
 They were carefully to attend God's ordinances, and 
 be examined on their profiting ; commonplacing the 
 sermons and repeating them publicly in the hall. The 
 studies of the first year were " logic, physics, etymol- 
 ogy, syntax, and practice on the principles of gram- 
 mar." Those of the second year, " ethics, politics, 
 prosody and dialects, practice of poesy, and Chaldee." 
 Those of the third, " arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, 
 exercises in style, composition, epitome, both in prose 
 and verse, Hebrew, and Syriac." 
 
 In every year and every week of the College course, 
 every class was practised in the Bible and catechetical 
 divinity ; also in history in the winter, and in the na- 
 ture of plants in the summer. Rhetoric was taught 
 by lectures in every year, and each student was re- 
 quired to declaim once a month. 
 
 Suchf were the principles of education established 
 in the College under the authority of Dunster. Nor 
 does it appear, that they were materially changed 
 during the whole of the seventeenth century. Im- 
 provements were introduced but gradually, and neither 
 their date nor their particulars are anywhere distinctly 
 stated in the College records. 
 
 An early, systematic attempt to extend the advan- 
 tages of a liberal education to the aboriginals was 
 made by the first settlers of Massachusetts in the 
 vicinity of Harvard College, and under the auspices 
 of its governors. Preparatory instruction in Greek, 
 Latin, and English, was provided, an Indian Cate- 
 
 * See Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. I. p. 243. 
 f See Appendix, No. XXVII. and No. XXVIII.
 
 192 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER chism, Grammar, and various religious tracts in that lan- 
 ' guage were printed, and an Indian College was erected, 
 chiefly by funds furnished by the Society for propa- 
 gating the Gospel among the Indians. Daniel Gookin, 
 the active and earnest associate of Eliot in civilizing 
 the Indians, thus speaks concerning the project and 
 the result. " The design was prudent, noble, and 
 good, but it proved ineffectual."* Some of the schol- 
 ars died. Some, after making good proficiency, grew 
 disheartened, and returned to their native haunts. A 
 few became schoolmasters and mechanics among the 
 natives. Those, who persevered fell victims, to con- 
 sumption, the effect of the " change of diet, lodging, 
 apparel, and studies." A single individual, " Caleb 
 Cheeshahteaumuck, Indus," stands alone on the Cata- 
 logue of the graduates of Harvard College ; the only 
 representative of the native tribes. 
 
 The number of students graduated at the College 
 from its foundation to the presidency of Leverett, was 
 five hundred and thirty-one, one half of whom became 
 in after life clergymen ; a proportion which that pro- 
 fession had maintained through the whole period. 
 
 To the general student, and such as were not des- 
 tined to " the work of the ministry," the exercises 
 of the College must have been irksome, and, in their 
 estimation, unprofitable. The reading every morning 
 a portion of the Old Testament out of Hebrew into 
 Greek, and every afternoon a portion of the New 
 Testament out of English into Greek, however it 
 might improve their knowledge of those languages 
 respectively, could not greatly accelerate or enlarge 
 their acquaintance with Scripture, or tend vividly to 
 
 * See Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. I. p. 172.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 193 
 
 IX. 
 
 excite their piety. The exposition, required by the CHAPTER 
 laws of the College to be made by the President, of 
 the chapters read at the morning and evening services, 
 although greatly lauded for its utility, and made the 
 repeated subject of inquiry by active members of the 
 Board of Overseers, seems not to have been of any 
 material efficiency in point of instruction. President 
 Mather himself, as we have seen in his letter to 
 Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton, characterizes the 
 students as " forty or fifty children, few of them capa- 
 ble of edification by such exercises." * And President 
 Leverett, when assailed for neglect of it, pointedly 
 told the Board of Overseers, that, if it was to be 
 continued, he must be " supported " ; f indicating dis- 
 tinctly, by this expression, that, in the state of 
 society to which the country had advanced, this ex- 
 ercise was so irksome and annoying to the young men, 
 as to subject him to disturbance or insult. 
 
 At a period when Latin was the common in- 
 strument of communication among the learned, and 
 the official language of statesmen, great attention was 
 naturally paid to this branch of education. Accord- 
 ingly, " to speak true Latin, both in prose and verse," 
 was made an essential requisite for admission. Among 
 the " laws and liberties " of the College we also find 
 the following. " The scholars shall never use their 
 mother tongue, except that, in public exercises of ora- 
 tory or such like, they be called to make them in 
 English." This law appears upon the records of the 
 College in the Latin as well as in the English lan- 
 guage. The terms in the former are indeed less re- 
 strictive and more practical; " Scholares vernacula 
 
 * See above, p. 96. f See Appendix, No. XL 
 
 VOL. i. 25
 
 194 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER lingua, intra Collegii limites, nullo pretextu utentur." 
 ' There is reason to believe, that those educated at the 
 College, and destined for the learned professions, ac- 
 quired an adequate acquaintance with the Latin, and 
 those destined to become divines, with the Greek and 
 Hebrew. In other respects, although the sphere of 
 instruction was limited, it was sufficient for the age 
 and country, and amply supplied all their purposes 
 and wants. The best part of the education at this 
 College, and that for which its students have, in every 
 period of its history, been distinguished, was, that 
 they were taught, according to the language of Presi- 
 dent Mather, in one of his public orations on Com- 
 mencement day, " libere philosophari, et in nullius 
 jurare verba magistri." 
 
 STOUGHTON HALL, BUILT IN 1700 ; TAKEN DOWN IN 1780.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 195 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Retrospect of political and religious Parties. Their Relation to the 
 College. " School of the Church" established at New Haven. 
 Charter drafted by Sewalland Addington. Views of Governor Dud- 
 ley, in filling up the Corporation. Disappointment of the Mathers. 
 
 Their Letters to Governor Dudley. Vigorous Administration of 
 Leverett. Recovers the Legacy of Hopkins, and of Lady Moulson. 
 
 Death of Hobart. Wadsvvorth elected Fellow of the Corpora- 
 tion. Death of Treasurer Brattle. John White elected Treasurer. 
 
 Death of the Rev. William Brattle and the Rev. Ebenezer Pem- 
 berton. Election of Benjamin Colman and Nathaniel Appleton 
 as Fellows. 
 
 To attain a correct understanding of the contro CHAPTER 
 
 versies which occurred during the presidency of Lev- ___J 
 
 erett, it will be useful to cast a retrospective glance 
 on the civil and ecclesiastical history of Massachu- 
 setts. The early settlers of this Province emigrated, 
 not for the establishment of any particular tenets, but 
 for the enjoyment, in the modes of worship which 
 they deemed evangelical, of those points of faith, in 
 which, generally speaking, they all agreed. In the 
 form of government they established, neither subscrip- 
 tion to creeds, nor declaration of articles of belief, 
 was required. Nor were they necessary. The prin- 
 ciple, that none should be a freeman of the State, who 
 was not a member of the Church, sufficiently secured 
 the supremacy of the religious opinions of the pre- 
 dominant party. The inquisitorial power was vested 
 in the church and its officers. The State thus enjoyed
 
 196 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER the benefit of that power, without the obloquy at- 
 
 _ tached to its exercise. 
 
 Creeds and confessions of faith were equally un- 
 necessary in the foundation of the College, either as 
 a condition of office, or of obtaining the benefits of the 
 institution. The magistrates of the jurisdiction, and 
 the elders of the specified congregational churches, 
 were the Overseers of the College. They were all 
 necessarily church members, and, on the uniformity 
 of the faith of the churches, they relied for the per- 
 petuity of religious opinions, which they deemed 
 fundamental. 
 state of re- This security, however, was destroyed by the char- 
 
 hgious and J ' J J 
 
 ter of William and Mary, which made property, 
 instead of church-membership, the qualification for 
 the enjoyment of civil rights. During the first forty 
 years after this charter came into operation in Mas- 
 sachusetts, violent struggles occurred, inevitable at 
 all times in states, when power is changing hands, 
 and one party is striving to seize what another is 
 striving to retain. Political controversy was active ; 
 theological, intense. The early New England con- 
 gregational church having lost the constitutional se- 
 curity and power it originally possessed in the State 
 and the College, it became the guiding principle of 
 the policy of the clergy of that sect, in the succes- 
 sive schemes of a charter for the College during Dr. 
 Mather's presidency, so to arrange its powers or its 
 principles as to secure the institution from those great 
 changes in religious opinions, which they had reason 
 to anticipate, and which they called " heresies." 
 
 While the chair of state was occupied in succession 
 by Phips and Stoughton, the early ecclesiastical in- 
 fluences were paramount. But seceders from their
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 197 
 
 religious doctrines increased gradually in power and CHAPTER 
 
 numbers. A natural coalition took place between ' 
 
 them and the adherents to the Church of England, 
 from identity of interest and a common dislike of 
 the predominating religious opinions. Thus Gover- 
 nor Bellamont, in negativing the clause relative to 
 religious qualifications in the College charter of 1699, 
 was actuated by a perception of its bearing on the 
 members of the Church of England ; yet he negatived, 
 perhaps unconsciously, a much more extensive power, 
 adapted and devised to exclude all from government 
 and instruction in the College, who seceded from 
 the doctrines of the Reformation, as espoused and 
 intended by the first settlers. * 
 
 In 1698, when that secession from the principles 
 of the Cambridge Platform occurred, which eventu- 
 ated in the foundation of the Brattle Street Church 
 in Boston, an alarm was excited among all those, 
 who claimed for themselves the character of exclu- 
 sive representatives of the religious faith of the fathers 
 of New England. This alarm was increased, when, 
 in the course of events, the tutors of the College 
 were reasonably suspected of being infected with this 
 " apostasy," as it was studiously denominated. 
 
 The first settlers of Connecticut had emigrated coiiegeat 
 from Massachusetts for the purpose of being under founded. 
 a stricter form of worship than they could here at- 
 tain. A desire had long existed in that Colony, for 
 the establishment in it of a " school of the prophets," 
 constructed with reference to their peculiar religious 
 views. To this object the crisis of affairs in Massa- 
 chusetts was deemed favorable, and measures were 
 
 * See above, p. 101.
 
 198 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER adopted for founding such an institution in the neigh- 
 
 ' bourhood of New Haven. The projectors of it were 
 
 aware of the advantage which would result to their 
 seminary, should it be made satisfactory to the pre- 
 dominant religious party in Massachusetts, and es- 
 pecially if its constitution should be clear and fixed 
 on the points by that party deemed essential. They 
 took their measures accordingly with promptness and 
 sagacity. 
 
 Among the firmest adherents to the doctrines of the 
 early New England churches, were Sewall, afterwards 
 Chief Justice, and Addington, then Secretary of State. 
 They were both statesmen of the old charter cast, in 
 whom the characters of politician and theologian were 
 combined in nearly equal proportions. Both were dis- 
 satisfied with the state of things in Harvard College. 
 Both were zealous and vigorous defenders of the doc- 
 trines of the early Congregational church. To these 
 statesmen the clergy of Connecticut applied for a draft 
 of a charter for their proposed institution ; * and re- 
 ceived from them an instrument, not founded, like the 
 charters of Harvard, on " the instituting, guiding, and 
 furthering of the said College, and the several mem- 
 bers thereof, from time to time, in piety, morality, and 
 learning," but on something which they, doubtless, 
 deemed more safe and scriptural, " the reciting me- 
 moriter the * Assembly's Catechism,' in Latin, Dr. 
 Ames's ' Medulla,' and also his ' Cases of Con- 
 science,' accompanied on the Sabbath by expositions 
 of practical theology, and the repeating of sermons by 
 the undergraduates ; and on week days by reading and 
 
 * Trumbull's History of Connecticut, Vol. I. pp. 500, 501.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 199 
 
 x. 
 
 expounding the Scriptures according to the laudable CHAPTER 
 order and usage of Harvard College." 
 
 Some of the points here secured were undoubtedly 
 introduced by Sewall and Addington, on account of 
 their being those, from which they apprehended Har- 
 vard College to be in a state of declension. The last 
 article, although inserted in avowed coincidence with 
 the " order and usage of Harvard," was, in fact, the 
 one to which Sewall attached the highest importance, 
 and about which he was most solicitous. A neglect 
 of those expositions, notwithstanding their irksome- 
 ness and doubtful utility, * he made, a few years 
 afterwards, the subject of a direct attack on Presi- 
 dent Leverett. 
 
 The founders of the College in Connecticut adopted, 
 without any material alterations, the draft made by 
 Sewall and Addington, who, in an accompanying 
 letter, did not fail to indicate their dissatisfaction 
 with the state of things at Harvard College, by say- 
 ing, " how glad we were to hear of the flourishing 
 schools and colleges of Connecticut, as it would be 
 some relief to us against the sorrow we have conceived 
 from the decay of them in this Province." f 
 
 From this period the College of Connecticut began 
 to be deemed by the stricter sect of Calvinists the 
 strong-hold of their opinions. Their favor soon be- 
 came to that institution an element of worldly pros- 
 perity and success ; some of the more zealous ad- 
 herents to those doctrines, who were sons of Harvard, 
 taking it under their patronage, soliciting for it dona- 
 tions, and even attempting to give the tide of indi- 
 
 * See above, p. 193. f See Appendix, No. XXIX.
 
 200 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER vidual bounty, which was flowing towards Cambridge, 
 
 X 
 
 a direction towards New Haven. 
 
 The success which had attended the exertions of 
 Sewall and the leaders of the Calvinistic party in 
 Massachusetts, in establishing a safe test of their faith 
 in the College of Connecticut, reconciled them in a 
 degree to the disappointment they had sustained by 
 Governor Bellamont's negative of the clause having 
 a like tendency in the charter of Harvard College. 
 Willard, Stoughton, and the more prudent leaders 
 of this party, finding that the violent attack of the 
 Mathers on Colman, the Brattles, Leverett, and the 
 other seceders, had no tendency to check that " apos- 
 tasy," and having so far effected a reconciliation, as 
 to induce an acknowledgment of Congregational 
 church rights and pastoral relations with the church 
 in Brattle Street, there resulted, and was maintained 
 during the whole of the vice-presidency of Willard, a 
 species of theological armistice. The animosity, how- 
 ever, which the controversy had enkindled, was never 
 quenched. Circumstances prevented its appearance 
 in the open air. The surface was, indeed, smooth, 
 and the outside fair ; but, when occasions arose to 
 excite, or to stir, the glimmering of concealed fires 
 might be seen under the external covering. In the 
 nature of things it was impossible true reconcile- 
 ment should take place ; and that the adherents of 
 a church which refused to inquire into the regenera- 
 tion of communicants, denied the necessity of explicit 
 covenanting with God and the church, admitted that 
 persons, not communicants, might elect pastors, re- 
 ferred admission to the sacraments to the prudence 
 and conscience of the minister, and held that ad-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 201 
 
 mission to the pastoral relation might be valid with- CHAPTER 
 
 V 
 
 out the approbation of neighbouring churches, and 
 
 other not less obnoxious deviations from the early 
 platform and discipline, could ever be cordially ac- 
 knowledged as brethren by the strict adherents of the 
 ancient Congregational church. 
 
 On the 14th of January, 1708, John Leverett was induction 
 inducted into the office of President of the College Leverett 
 by Governor Dudley ; the Overseers, Corporation, presidency. 
 and Resident Fellows being present on the occasion. * 
 Conformably to the resolve of the legislature and the 
 charter of 1650, the number of the Corporation was 
 reduced to seven, and was thus constituted ; John 
 Leverett, President ; Nehemiah Hobart, William Brat- 
 tle, Ebenezer Pemberton, Henry Flynt, Jonathan 
 Remington, Fellows ; Thomas Brattle, Treasurer. In 
 this selection of members, Governor Dudley gave a 
 decided preponderance to those seceders from the 
 Platform of the New England church, who had been 
 the objects of the denunciation of the Mathers. 
 
 The election of Leverett was insupportably griev- 
 ous to Increase Mather and his son. They had 
 anticipated, that the choice would have fallen upon 
 one or the other of them. Between them there was 
 no rivalry. For the' disappointment of both they 
 were not prepared. Their indignation was excited 
 against Dudley, who, as they thought, had buoyed 
 up their hopes until he had arranged measures and 
 agents to insure their defeat. On the 20th of Letters of 
 January, 1707, they each addressed a letter to Gov- erstoGov- 
 
 -r^,, , i . . . r i -i ernorDud- 
 
 ernor Dudley, breathing a spirit or abuse and viru- ley. 
 lence, of which the records of party animosity contain 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XI. 
 
 VOL. i. 26
 
 202 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER but few parallels, and well deserving the character 
 
 ! given of them by Dudley, in his reply, as "an open 
 
 breach upon all the laws of decency, honor, justice, 
 and Christianity." * " Covetousness," " lying," " hy- 
 pocrisy," "treachery," "bribery," "Sabbath-break- 
 ing," " robbery," and " murder," are charged upon 
 the chief magistrate of the Province, in terms of no 
 dubious import. Nor was the bitterness of reproach 
 'and insinuation allayed by being made in the char- 
 acter, respectively assumed by each, of " spiritual fa- 
 ther," and "faithful adviser," having "sad fears con- 
 cerning his soul," and earnestly solicitous, that, " in 
 the methods of piety, he would reconcile himself to 
 Heaven, and secure his happiness in this world and 
 the world to come." 
 
 The coincidence of these letters in point of time 
 and of temper left no doubt in Dudley's mind, of 
 their origin and motive. " I should be stupid," 
 he says in reply, " not to distinguish between re- 
 proaches and Christian admonitions." " Every one 
 can see through the pretence, and is able to ac- 
 count for the spring of these letters, and how they 
 could have been prevented, without easing any griev- 
 ances you complain of." " I desire that you will keep 
 your station, and let fifty or sixty good ministers, 
 your equals, in the Province, have a share in the 
 government of the College, and advise thereabouts 
 as well as yourselves." 
 
 The friends of the College, and of Dudley, did 
 not fail to appear in his defence, and to express pub- 
 licly their reprobation of the conduct of the Math- 
 ers. The clergy, also, took sides on the occasion. 
 
 See Mass. pist. Coll., First Series, Vol. HI. pp. 126, 123, 135.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 The pulpit, according to the too frequent custom of the CHAPTER 
 
 period, was made the organ of crimination and recrimi- ! 
 
 nation. The Mathers " preached and prayed about 
 their contest with the Governor." Mr. Pemberton 
 " resented Cotton Mather's letter," and said, that, " if 
 he were Dudley, he would humble him, though it cost 
 him his head." And Colman, preaching at the lecture 
 in Boston, treated the topics of " envy and revenge," 
 in connexion with the question, whether " the spirit 
 was truly regenerated or no," in a manner to be 
 " reckoned that he lashed " the Mathers and their 
 party. * 
 
 From this time the Mathers ceased all official in- 
 terference in the affairs of the College, notwith- 
 standing they were both members of the Board of 
 Overseers, in virtue of their pastoral relation to a 
 Congregational church in Boston. It appears by the 
 records of the Overseers, that Increase Mather never 
 subsequently attended a meeting of that board, and 
 Cotton Mather only one during the presidency of 
 Leverett ; the occasion of which will be noticed 
 hereafter. The breach between Cotton Mather and 
 Dudley seems never to have been closed by con- 
 cession or explanation. When, in 1712, the Univer- 
 sity of Glasgow, in Scotland, conferred on Cotton 
 Mather the degree of Doctor in Divinity, the state 
 of feeling known to exist between him and the Gov- 
 ernor was the occasion of some embarrassment to 
 President Leverett, on the question of inserting this 
 transatlantic honor in the Triennial Catalogue of the 
 College. Dudley, however, relieved him from his 
 anxiety, by expressly authorizing the insertion of the 
 title, f 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XI. f Se e Appendix, No. XXX.
 
 204 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER The presidency of Leverett was distinguished for 
 -- . vigorous and active endeavours to increase the funds, 
 me g aTures enlarge the accommodations, arid establish the neg- 
 lected or dormant claims of the College. The suc- 
 
 cess which attended these efforts, considering the 
 pecuniary embarrassments of the Province, and the 
 religious animosities, which the College had to en- 
 counter, is remarkable, and reflects great honor on 
 the wisdom and fidelity of the President and the 
 Corporation ; which was, at that period, happily con- 
 stituted for the advancement of the general interests 
 of the seminary. 
 
 From the academic habits of his early life and his 
 subsequent acquaintance with the world, Leverett was 
 eminently qualified to take the management of the 
 College. In the offices of Judge, Legislator, and 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives, his capacity 
 for business and intellectual labor was known, and 
 highly appreciated. Thomas Brattle, who held the 
 office of Treasurer twenty years, was no less distin- 
 guished for his knowledge of affairs, and for the zeal 
 and accuracy with which he watched and enlarged the 
 funds of the institution. William Brattle and Ebenezer 
 Pemberton were clergymen whose acquirements and 
 characters were well adapted to extend and strengthen 
 the natural influences of their station and profession. 
 Flynt was shrewd and skilful in the scholastic sphere 
 in which he passed his life. Hobart was a clergyman 
 highly esteemed by his contemporaries. Of Reming- 
 ton no particular account is preserved. 
 
 Edward In June, 1709, the Corporation took measures to 
 
 legacy re- secure the legacy of Edward Hopkins. More than 
 
 covered. * 
 
 fifty years had elapsed since the death of this bene-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 205 
 
 factor, and his heirs interposed obstacles, which ren- CHAPTER 
 dered the pursuit of the claim of the College trouble- ' 
 some and expensive, and final success dubious. Not 
 deterred by these difficulties, the Corporation appointed 
 Henry Newman, of London, their agent, and remit- 
 ted forty pounds sterling, for the prosecution of their 
 rights. The object was pursued with perseverance, 
 and a favorable decree in Chancery obtained in March, 
 1712-13, by which eight hundred pounds sterling, 
 the amount of the principal legacy with the accu- 
 mulated interest, was vested in a Board of Trustees, 
 and by them laid out in the purchase of an extensive 
 tract of land, to which the name of Hopkinton was 
 given, in honor of the donor. This purchase was 
 subsequently enlarged by " a quantity of country land 
 adjoining,"* which, being included within the bounds 
 of the original act of incorporation of that town, was 
 given by the General Court to the Trustees, " to the 
 same good and pious uses, ends, and purposes," to 
 which the donation of Mr. Hopkins had been appro- 
 priated, f The gratitude of the Trustees was ex- 
 pressed to Lord Chancellor Harcourt in very lively 
 terms, in a letter signed by the whole body and by 
 Governor Dudley. J 
 
 Great losses and many obstructions, arising in later 
 times from the nature of the investment, prevented 
 the Trustees from attaining by that donation all the 
 advantages, which the original rents were calculated 
 to yield. After a long-protracted opposition from the 
 inhabitants of Hopkinton, a final settlement was as- 
 sented to by the Trustees in 1832, graduated by a 
 
 * Records of the General Court, 13th of December, 1715. 
 
 t Ibid., 1st of December, 1716. f See Appendix, No. XXXI.
 
 206 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER scale of expediency, and not of strict right. The 
 funds of this trust, notwithstanding the deductions 
 to which they were subjected, now amount to nearly 
 thirty thousand dollars. 
 
 In the same vigorous pursuit of the interests of 
 
 Moulson's 
 
 obufned tne College, Leverett, on the 25th of July, 1712, 
 brought the state of Lady Moulson's donation before 
 the General Court, and obtained upwards of four hun- 
 dred pounds currency, being the principal and ar- 
 rears of interest of her gift, which had been retained 
 upwards of seventy years in the treasury of the 
 Colony. 
 
 Robeit The legacy of Robert Thorner was now entered 
 
 Thorner's , , ., , ~ 
 
 legacy se- upon the records of the Corporation ; a measure 
 
 cured. . . . , . 
 
 which had an important effect in its ultimate at- 
 tainment. 
 
 During the administration of Dudley the Corpora- 
 tion received his uninterrupted countenance and favor, 
 until toward the end of his official career, when they 
 incurred % his resentment, for not choosing, at his ur- 
 gent request, his son, William Dudley, Treasurer of 
 the College. 
 
 Until the death of the Rev. Nehemiah Hobart, in 
 August, 1712, no event occurred bringing to a test 
 the religious opinions of the Corporation and Over- 
 seers. On the 9th of September, the vacancy in the 
 ' former board, thus occasioned, was filled by the elec- 
 1712. ti n f tne R CV - Benjamin Wadsworth. When Presi- 
 dent Leverett announced this choice to Governor 
 Dudley, he expressed his approbation ; but recommend- 
 ed that the meeting of the Overseers for its approval 
 should be postponed, saying, that the Lieutenant- 
 Governor and Mr. Sewall were about to be absent 
 on a journey, and that he was desirous they should
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 207 
 
 be present. * Accordingly the meeting of the Over- CHAPTER 
 
 seers did not take place until the 5th of November. ! 
 
 Wadsworth was known to coincide in the religious 
 opinions of Pemberton and Leverett, from which the 
 Lieutenarit-Governor and Sewall differed ; but, though 
 both were present on this occasion, no opposition oc- 
 curred. It is, however, remarkable, that, at an elec- 
 tion, having a direct bearing on the religious character 
 of the College, out of forty members, of whom the 
 board was composed, only ten were present, and not 
 a single clergyman. 
 
 After the election of Wadsworth, no subsequent 
 vacancy occurred in the Corporation until the death 
 of Thomas Brattle, the Treasurer of the College, on 
 the 13th of May, 1713. 
 
 The Rev. William Brattle, his brother and executor, 
 at the request of the Corporation, took immediate 
 possession of the funds of the College, and performed 
 the duties of Treasurer, until another was regularly 
 chosen. In this election great difficulties and delays 
 occurred. Governor Dudley hadf "a vehement de- 
 sire," that his youngest son, Colonel William Dudley, 
 should succeed Thomas Brattle in that office. In 
 this wish the Corporation, for some reason not now 
 known, did not concur. After a short delay, they 
 chose John White, on the 13th of October, 1713. 
 When the committee of the board 1 waited upon JohnWhit* 
 
 elected 
 
 Governor Dudley to inform him of this election, he ex- Treasurer. 
 pressed great dissatisfaction, recommended that White 
 should not accept the office, and advised the Corpo- 
 ration not to insist upon a call of the Overseers for 
 
 * Leverett's Manuscript, p. 55. f See Appendix, No. XI. 
 
 $ See Appendix, No. XXXII.
 
 208 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER their approval. The Corporation so far acceded to his 
 recommendation, as to omit insisting upon an imme- 
 diate meeting of that board. They, however, took 
 no measures to reconsider the election of White ; and, 
 after the lapse of nearly a year, as they persisted in 
 their choice, Dudley ordered a meeting of the Over- 
 seers in a manner altogether irregular and unsatisfac- 
 tory,* on a notice of only three days. His policy, if 
 it had in view the defeat of White's election, was 
 unsuccessful. The friends of the Corporation and the 
 enemies of Dudley rallied in favor of White. Among 
 the last, Cotton Mather, not displeased to thwart the 
 wishes of Dudley, took his seat, as an Overseer. This 
 was the only instance of his presence at the board 
 during the administration of Leverett. White was 
 chosen, but circumstances, not now known, prevented 
 his entrance upon the active duties of Treasurer until 
 the July following (1715). During the whole period 
 of the vacancy of that office, William Brattle managed 
 the pecuniary concerns of the institution with the 
 intelligence and fidelity, for which his conduct and 
 that of his brother were distinguished. The demise 
 of Queen Anne occurred in 1714. This event ren- 
 dered the tenure of Governor Dudley's office preca- 
 rious ; his influence began to decline, and there is 
 no subsequent evidence of his direct participation in 
 any measures affecting the seminary. 
 
 Arrival of Colonel Shute, who succeeded to the Governor's 
 shute. chair in October, 1715, favored the party which sup- 
 ported the policy of his predecessor. He early re- 
 ceived and reciprocated the civilities of the College, f 
 
 * October 7th, 1714. Leverett's Manuscript, p. 94. 
 t See Appendix, No. XXXIII.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 209 
 
 Taking the oath of office on the 5th, he visited the CHAPTER 
 College on the 15th of October, where he was re- 
 ceived with the usual classic honors. One of the grad- 
 uates addressed him in Latin ; and the Governor re- 
 plied with commendations, and assurances of his favor. 
 President Leverett accompanied him on a tour to 
 New Hampshire, and records, in terms of great praise, 
 the demeanor and conversation of the Governor ; who 
 proved himself in almost every exigency an efficient 
 supporter of the measures of the Corporation, and a 
 firm friend of the College. 
 
 In 1717 the Corporation lost two of its most valued Death of 
 members. Ebenezer Pemberton, senior pastor of the Pemberton 
 
 and Wil- 
 
 Old South Church in Boston, died on the 13th of lia 
 
 tle. 
 
 February ; and William Brattle, pastor of the Church 
 in Cambridge, on the 15th of that month. Brattle 
 and Pemberton were both men in life beloved, and in 
 death deeply lamented. " A great part of the beauty 
 of our Israel is fallen," exclaims Colman in a funeral 
 sermon on the occasion. " They were stars of the 
 first magnitude. Providence set them at the head of 
 the country for learning and usefulness. They were 
 singular ornaments of it, pillars in the church of Christ 
 here, and among the fathers of the College ; " " alike 
 philosophers and divines," " faithful in their trusts," 
 " distinguished for their judgment," and " for their 
 mutual friendship and affection." 
 
 The filling of the vacancies thus occasioned, became 
 to each of the rival religious parties an object of solici- 
 tude ; and was considered by each as a test of the re- 
 ligious influences under which the College was to be 
 continued. The relations of the bereaved churches 
 had been always intimate with the seminary. All the 
 ministers of the Old South Church had been succes- 
 
 VOL. i. 27
 
 210 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER sivelj members of the Corporation of the College. 
 - . The surviving pastor, Joseph Sewall, was distinguished 
 for his piety and doctrinal zeal. He was the son 
 of Chief Justice Sewall, who, of all the laity, was the 
 most earnest and active supporter of the Calvinistic 
 faith ; and was the favorite candidate of those, who 
 were desirous that the doctrines of that sect should 
 prevail and be established in the College. To this 
 party Colman, the pastor of " the Manifesto Church," 
 was more obnoxious than any other individual, who 
 was likely to be a candidate. The pastor of the 
 church in Cambridge, also, had always been a mem- 
 ber of the Corporation ; and it was all-important, that 
 this church should elect a clergyman, who should be 
 an acceptable member of that board. In the crisis of 
 the religious character of the College, which these 
 contemporaneous vacancies presented, the Corporation 
 conducted with equal vigor, decision, and openness. 
 On the 14th of April, 1717, within two months after 
 the decease of William Brattle, measures were taken 
 to supply the vacancy in the Cambridge church. 
 Among the candidates was Nathaniel Appleton, a 
 young man, who was graduated in 1712, and on whom 
 the wishes of the Corporation concentrated. President 
 Leverett took an active part, as a member of the 
 church, in effecting the election of Appleton; was 
 moderator of the meeting, presided in all the delibera- 
 tions of the church and congregation ; and, when Ap- 
 pleton, by a great majority, was declared to be chosen, 
 on entering the proceedings in his Diary, concludes 
 his record with a " Laus Deo." * The Corporation 
 having attained their wishes in thus supplying the 
 
 * Leverett's Manuscript, p. 120.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 211 
 
 pastoral office in Cambridge, did not wait even for the CHAPTER 
 
 y- 
 
 ordination of Mr. Appleton, but immediately elected . 
 him a member of their board, in the place of Mr. Appleton 
 Brattle. At the same time they elected the Rev. mincoi- 
 
 r in i i fTi/rTT man elect- 
 
 Uenjamm Colman a member in place or Mr. rember- edfeiiows. 
 ton. These elections were approved by the Overseers 
 without contest ; although passing by Sewall, the 
 late colleague of Pemberton and successor of Willard, 
 was regarded by the strict adherents to the Calvin- 
 istic doctrines, as identifying the College with those 
 heresies, which were viewed by them as sapping the 
 foundations of the Congregational church. Opposition 
 would have had no chance of success in the board of 
 Overseers, in relation to clergymen of the weight of 
 character of Colman, and of the popularity of Apple- 
 ton, connected, as they both were, with churches re- 
 spectable for wealth, influence, and numbers. The 
 strength of the high Calvinistic party was then in the 
 House of Representatives, which could not on that 
 election be brought into the field. Those violent 
 political passions, which disturbed the popular branch 
 of the Provincial legislature during the whole admin- 
 istration of Governor Shute, had already begun to 
 rage ; and it would have been difficult to find space 
 for a theological controversy in such an arena. Dis- 
 cussions concerning paper money, and private banks, 
 and land banks, with the depreciating state of the 
 currency, and the consequent embarrassment of in- 
 dividuals, were the absorbing interests of the legis- 
 lature. Cooke, * the leader of the popular party, had 
 just commenced an avowed opposition to Governor 
 Shute, who was represented as a weak man, under 
 
 * See Hutch. Hist. Mass., Vol. II. chap. 3
 
 212 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER the influence of the Dudleys, and inclined to principles 
 
 x ' of government dangerous to the liberties of the people. 
 
 Among the rigid Calvinists these elections to the Cor- 
 poration were the occasion of a deep and settled ani- 
 mosity to the College, malign and determined, though 
 concealed, by the circumstances of the time, under 
 general courtesy of language and demeanor. But 
 means were soon discovered to embarrass, and ulti- 
 mately almost to break down, the Corporation, by 
 attempts to eject the obnoxious individuals. These 
 endeavours would unquestionably have been success- 
 ful, had it not been for the firmness of Governor Shute, 
 and the resolved, self-sustaining spirit of the assailed 
 members.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 213 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Indications of a Design to embarrass the Corporation. Pierpont 
 refused a Degree by President Leverett. Appeals to the Corpora- 
 tion, who confirm Leverett's Decision. Pierpont prosecutes a 
 Tutor at Common Law. The Case brought before the Overseers. 
 
 The Dudleys support Pierpont. Conduct of Paul Dudley on 
 the Occasion. Pierpont's Case dismissed by the Courts of Law. 
 Judge Sewall's Attack on President Leverett before the Overseers. 
 
 Supported by Paul Dudley. Leverett's and Sewall's respective 
 Accounts of that Affair. Cotton Mather's Animosity to the Cor- 
 poration. His Letter to Governor Shute in Favor of Pierpont. 
 His Zeal in Favor of the College at New Haven. 
 
 THE animosity to the College, excited by the CHAPTER 
 
 election of Colman and Appleton into the Corpora '- 
 
 tion, was soon manifested. A year did not elapse 
 after that event, before the quiet of the seminary 
 began to be disturbed, and the Corporation embar- 
 rassed, by questions undermining the authority of the 
 board. From the nature of these questions, and 
 the countenance given to those who agitated them by 
 leading members of the board of Overseers, it is 
 apparent, that other motives than those avowed were 
 in action, and that they had their origin in external 
 influences of more importance than the apparent 
 agents in these troubles. 
 
 In the year 1718, a graduate by the name of Pier- 
 pont was refused his second degree by President 
 Leverett, on the ground of allegations brought against
 
 214 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER him by Mr. Sever, a tutor, " of contemning, reproach- 
 
 : ing, and insulting the government of the College, 
 
 and particularly the tutors, for their management in 
 admission of scholars." No further account of these 
 insults is given, but the proceedings, which grew out 
 of them, are recapitulated with minuteness in the 
 records of the Corporation and Overseers ; and also in 
 the Diaries of President Leverett, and of Henry Flynt, 
 senior tutor of the College. These evidence, that the 
 attack on the government was of a very serious char- 
 acter. Both expressly state, that it " threatened the 
 dissolution of the College." 
 
 In consequence of this refusal of his degree, Pier- 
 pont, with several of his friends, came before the 
 Corporation on Commencement day, and demanded 
 a hearing. This was granted, and, the evidence in 
 support of the charges against him being adduced, 
 after " long and impertinent talk," as President Lev- 
 erett characterizes the speeches of Pierpont and his 
 friends, the Corporation " declared seriatim their 
 opinion, and uno ore voted, that said Ebenezer Pier- 
 pont ought not to be admitted to his second degree 
 this day."* 
 Pierpont Dissatisfied with this result, Pierpont immediately 
 
 prosecutes ~ __, 
 
 Tutor Sev- prosecuted Mr. Sever at common law. This open 
 defiance of the authority of the Corporation, in a case 
 deemed by them wholly within their jurisdiction, led 
 to a meeting of that body on the 1 1 th of Septem- 
 ber following, for " consultation on the measures 
 to be taken to secure and support the government 
 of the College against the attack made upon it 
 
 * Records of the Corporation. Leverett's Manuscript, pp. 144, 
 145. '
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 215 
 
 by Pierpont, in his extraordinary prosecution of Mr. CHAPTER 
 Sever." - 
 
 From the proceedings of this meeting, which was 
 informal, and from the Diaries of President Leverett 
 and Tutor Flynt, it appears, that the Corporation had 
 reason to believe, that Dudley, the former Governor, 
 and his son Paul Dudley, then Attorney-General of 
 the Province, were the origin of these difficulties. 
 
 The former, although no longer chief magistrate of 
 the Province, retained considerable influence, which, in 
 a degree, extended over Shute, his successor. Dudley Discontent 
 
 .',... . . . r> of the Dud- 
 
 Was by nature vindictive, craving, and ambitious. By leys. 
 
 rejecting his urgent nomination of his son, William 
 Dudley, as Treasurer of the College, the Corporation 
 had incurred his resentment. Their election of an- 
 other to that office was, probably, regarded by him 
 as a mark of ingratitude and disrespect. Paul Dud- 
 ley, his eldest son, shared the discontent of his father. 
 In early life he had courted the favor of the crown, 
 and openly joined those who were zealous to abridge 
 the privileges of the Province.* He received, as his 
 reward, in 1702, the appointment of Attorney-General, 
 and became obnoxious to the people, as an enemy to 
 their liberties. Being ambitious of place and political 
 influence, he studiously endeavoured to remove those 
 early prejudices. To this end it was then necessary to 
 join the stricter sect of the Calvinists, and he became 
 one of its most open and active adherents. The Col- 
 lege owed the restoration of its early charter to Gov- 
 ernor Dudley, and the independence of his influence, 
 which the government of the institution now showed, 
 excited his animosity and that of his family. Judge 
 
 * Eliot's Biog. Diet., art. Dudley.
 
 216 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTEH Sewall, whose son had married a daughter of Governor 
 
 XI 
 
 ' Dudley, participated in their dissatisfaction. 
 
 Apprized of the state of feeling which existed 
 towards them in the Dudley family, the Corporation, 
 at this informal meeting, appointed a committee, in 
 the language of President Leverett, " to take the 
 first opportunity to discourse with Governor Dudley, 
 and his son, Mr. Paul Dudley, who have been sus- 
 pected to be not a little the occasion of the present 
 disturbances given to the President and Fellows, and 
 that they make report of their interview."* 
 
 No such report was ever made ; and the conduct 
 of Paul Dudley, on subsequent occasions, sufficiently 
 evidences, that the " suspicions " of the Corporation 
 were well founded. 
 
 1718. On the 15th of September the Corporation "voted 
 to apply to Governor Shute for a meeting of the 
 Overseers," and made a formal address to him, in 
 writing, stating the appeal by Pierpont, from the 
 decision of the Corporation to the courts of common 
 law, representing " the emergency to be of great 
 importance to the College," and apprehended by 
 them "to be hurtful to the rights and privileges of 
 that seminary, and tending to weaken the govern- 
 ment thereof." 
 
 Governor Shute deemed this application for a call 
 of the Overseers sufficiently important, to ask the 
 advice of his Council upon granting it. They being in 
 favor of the measure, he authorized President Leverett 
 to call a meeting of the board, with instructions, that 
 Sever and Pierpont should both be summoned to attend. 
 
 This meeting took place on the 31st of the suc- 
 
 * Leverett's Manuscript, pp. 142, 146, 149.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 217 
 
 ceeding October. The general attendance on the CHAPTER 
 
 occasion sufficiently indicates the interest felt in the . ! 
 
 result. Besides Governor Shute, Lieutenant-Governor Ihe e ove g r- of 
 Tailer, and President Leverett, there were present 
 twenty-one lay and twelve clerical members. After 
 the address of the President and Fellows to the Gov- 
 ernor, and the act of Council, advising him to call 
 a meeting of the Overseers, were read, the board 
 proceeded to hear the several allegations and the 
 evidence adduced by each of the parties. The lan- 
 guage of Pierpont on the occasion, is represented 
 by President Leverett to have been marked with 
 " confusion, impertinence, and impudence " ; that of 
 Sever " with plainness, modesty, and honesty." The 
 former adhered to his determination, " to convent 
 Sever before his Majesty's justices of the peace," 
 for " slandering, belying, and abusing him."* 
 
 The debate was long and animated. At length 
 the Overseers, embarrassed by the support given to 
 Pierpont, condescended to cause a formal draft of 
 an acknowledgment, such as they thought Pierpont 
 ought to make, to be prepared, expressive of his 
 great regret at his " heat and passion," of his desire 
 to be forgiven, and admitted to the honors of the 
 College. This draft, having been prepared and sanc- 
 tioned by the board of Overseers, a committee was 
 appointed, of which Chief Justice Sewall was chair- 
 man, to offer it to Pierpont for his signature. After 
 a long delay and negotiation, the committee returned 
 and reported to the Overseers, that. Pierpont utterly 
 refused to sign any such acknowledgment. Upon 
 which the board, without taking any further measures 
 
 * Leverett's Manuscript, pp. 149, 150. 
 
 VOL. i. 28
 
 218 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER on the subject, broke up, in a manner equally disor- 
 - derlj and unjustifiable. 
 
 President Leverett gives the following account of 
 these proceedings ; 
 conductor " Mr. Paul Dudley gave himself a great liberty, to 
 
 Paul Dud- iv J J- 
 
 ley. patronize rierpont, and made sundry motions, tending 
 to embarrass the proceedings of this meeting ; and, 
 while he endeavoured to hide, he did but the more 
 discover his partiality ; and it was to be wished he 
 had been less indulged than he was by ." 
 
 This blank can apply only to Governor Shute, who, 
 as presiding officer, had alone the power to extend 
 or deny indulgence to those engaged in the debate. 
 His conduct at the close of the meeting is also 
 represented as very exceptionable and undignified. 
 
 " While the Chief Justice and Mr. Gibbs," says 
 Leverett, " were gone into the lobby, the Governor 
 and Lieutenant-Governor withdrew, and went out 
 from the board at the door where Pierpont's gang 
 were waiting ; Mr. Dudley having whispered the 
 Governor. Soon after the report was made, his Ex- 
 cellency left his chair, followed by the Lieutenant- 
 Governor, and, passing by, ordered Mr. Hiller, the 
 clerk of the Council, to adjourn the Council ; and so 
 abruptly left the Overseers in some confusion and 
 great dissatisfaction." 
 
 The Corporation, thus left by the Overseers with- 
 out either support or advice, had no other resort than 
 in the firmness and independence of the courts of 
 law. Happily by them they were not abandoned. 
 1718. When, in the November following, the prosecution 
 which Pierpont had instituted came to be heard before 
 the justices at common law, they ordered " the com- 
 plaint to be quashed, and the defendant to be dis-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 219 
 
 missed," upon the ground, that " the matter in dif- CHAPTER 
 ference had already had a hearing, according to the - 
 charter of Harvard College and the laws and cus- complaint 
 toms thereof, before the Corporation and Overseers of 
 said College." 
 
 The remarks of President Leverett on this decision 
 of the courts of law indicate the critical nature of 
 this difficulty, and that it involved more important 
 consequences than could have resulted from a mere 
 dispute between a graduate and a tutor. 
 
 The above determination of the justices, says Lev- 
 erett, " put an end to an affair that was very trouble- 
 some, and that which threatened the dissolution of the 
 College ; and caused many thoughts in those that had 
 the welfare and safety of that society, which had been 
 so signal a blessing to New England, at heart. A 
 particular history of the affair, may, if God directs 
 and spirits the President thereto, hereafter be given." 
 
 This " dissolution of the College," which President 
 Leverett and Tutor Flynt apprehended in case the 
 result at common law had been different, can only 
 allude to a determination, which existed among the 
 high and honorable men who then composed the 
 Corporation, to resign their seats in case the author- 
 ity of that board were treated with the same neglect 
 and indifference by the courts of law, as it had been 
 by the Overseers. To effect a change in the religious 
 influence of the board, by resignation or otherwise, 
 was, it cannot be doubted, the policy of the eccle- 
 siastical faction, which had the ascendency in the 
 Province, and of which the Mathers, Chief Justice 
 Sewall, and Attorney-General Dudley, were the lead- 
 ers. Other occurrences of the period, besides this
 
 220 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER encouragement given to the contumacy of Pierpont, 
 ' render this conclusion irresistible. 
 
 Circumstances of a similar character, and still more 
 illustrative of motives, took place at succeeding meet- 
 ings of the Overseers. 
 
 On the 31st of October, Governor Shute had agreed 
 with President Leverett, that there should be a meet- 
 ing of the Overseers on the 7th of November follow- 
 ing, for the presentation of a memorial to the General 
 Court for enlarging Massachusetts Hall, the building 
 of which was then commenced, to the length of one 
 hundred feet, instead of fifty, which was the first plan. 
 As the sole end of that meeting was to agree on this 
 memorial, to which the clerical members of the board 
 could not possibly have any objection, they were not 
 duly warned to appear. On the day appointed by 
 the Governor, President Leverett, Mr. Colman, and 
 Mr. Wadsworth waited on his Excellency and the 
 Council board at their chamber. * After a draft of the 
 proposed memorial had been read, Paul Dudley, who 
 was a member of the Council, objected to further 
 proceedings, because, as the ministers, Overseers of 
 the College, had not been summoned, " the meeting 
 was not regular," and because " it was not proper for 
 the Council to address themselves." " Though these 
 objections," says Leverett, " were accounted but frivo- 
 lous ones, yet the meeting was dropped ; " and the 
 Governor appointed another on the 12th of Novem- 
 ber, ordering the attendance of the Council on that 
 day, and desiring the President to cause the minis- 
 ters to be warned. 
 
 On the day appointed there was a full meeting of 
 
 * Leverett's Manuscript, p. 153.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 221 
 
 the Overseers. At the request of the Governor, Presi- CHAPTER 
 dent Leverett stated, that the object of the meeting 
 
 . . * s-*t i /-^ i i Meeting of 
 
 was to petition the General Court to enlarge the theOver- 
 
 ,.,,., ~ , r, ,, /. seers, Nov. 
 
 building they were then erecting for the College from i2th. 
 fifty to one hundred feet. He then read the draft of 
 a memorial for that object, which, at the request of 
 the Governor, he had prepared, and which stated, at 
 considerable length, the general reasons for the appli- 
 cation. After he had read the memorial, he delivered 
 it into the hands of Governor Shute. The occur- 
 rences, which succeeded, will best be related in the 
 words of President Leverett. 
 
 " When the President had read the above memorial, Leveretfs 
 
 . . . account of 
 
 he delivered it into his Excellency's hand, who dis- it- 
 coursed in short in favor of it, and seemed to be ready 
 to put it to vote. But Mr. Dudley prayed he might 
 look upon it, to whom it was handed ; and while he 
 was looking on it, there was an interval of silence. In 
 which space Judge Sewall stood up, and said to this 
 effect ; ' While we are considering to enlarge the 
 College for the receiving students, I desire to be in- 
 formed how the worship of God is carried on in the 
 Hall, and to ask Mr. President, whether there has 
 not been some intermission of the exposition of the 
 Scriptures of late. ' The President, after a short 
 pause, answered, ' that he thought the present busi- 
 ness of the meeting was to be attended, and not to 
 be interrupted by any surmise of a neglect in the 
 administration of the affairs of the College, and that 
 the place where the Overseers were now convened 
 was not the proper place for such an inquiry. That 
 if the Overseers, who are the visitors of the College, 
 had any informations laid before them of omissions 
 or neglects of duty, or maladministration, by any
 
 222 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER of the persons that had the immediate administration 
 
 XI 
 
 of the College in their hands, that the Overseers 
 should make a visitation, and inquire into those mat- 
 ters upon the very place, either in the College Hall or 
 Library.' And the President added, ' he did not ex- 
 pect such a question should have been moved at this 
 time, in interruption of the business before the Over- 
 seers, and for the considering and advising upon which 
 this meeting was called ; and that he was surprised, 
 and little expected such a treatment from the honor- 
 able person that moved it, having never once sug- 
 gested anj thing of his suspicion or apprehension of 
 any failure in his duty from his Honor.' 
 
 " His Excellency took up the matter, and declared, 
 that the motion, whatever occasion there might be for 
 it, though he knew none, was very improper, and 
 altogether out of course ; and the whole board seemed 
 to be of the same opinion, except Mr. Dudley, who, 
 (it may be supposed, by concert with somebody, it may 
 be then not present,* contrived the interval of silence, 
 by poring on the memorial, that so the zealous Judge 
 might have the opportunity to make his impertinent, 
 not to say, in him, invidious motion), raising his head 
 and eyes from the paper he seemed to be intent in 
 reading, said, * he, for his part, seconded his Honor 
 the Chief Justice's motion.' 
 
 " However, this motion was put by, and the busi- 
 ness of the meeting was reassumed. And yet sundry 
 motions were made again by Mr. Dudley, tending to, 
 if not designed for, a diversion ; but at length the 
 question was put, Whether it be the mind of the 
 Overseers of Harvard College, that the General As- 
 
 * Alluding, probably, to Governor Dudley.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 sembly he addressed to perfect the new building of a CHAPTER 
 
 College in Cambridge to one hundred feet in length ? ! 
 
 Which passed in the affirmative." A Committee was 
 then appointed to present the memorial to the Gen- 
 eral Court ; and a vote, in conformity with the motion 
 of Judge Sevvall was also passed, that " the Presi- 
 dent shall entertain the scholars in the College with 
 frequent expositions of the Scriptures."* 
 
 The account given by Judge Sewall of these pro- 
 ceedings does not materially differ from that of Presi- 
 dent Leverett. As a characteristic indication of the 
 passions and policy of the factions which then agi- 
 tated the Province and the board of Overseers, and 
 as a curious illustration of this portion of the history 
 of the College, it is worthy of preservation.! 
 
 The support given to Pierpont by some of the 
 Overseers, and this public attack made upon Lev- 
 erett in their presence, place beyond any reason- 
 able doubt, the existence of a party in that board, 
 ready and prepared to find fault with the measures 
 and embarrass the proceedings of the Corporation. 
 Nor can it be questioned, from the nature and time 
 selected for this attack upon the President, that it 
 had for its object to bring into public suspicion the projects of 
 religious state of the College, and to lead to such contents. 
 changes in the Corporation and government of the 
 College, as might place both under influences more 
 congenial to the prevailing sect in the Province. 
 
 The attack made by Sewall upon Leverett seems, 
 by the acknowledgment of both, to have been as un- 
 expected as it was direct. The manner in which 
 Leverett expresses himself relative to the conduct of 
 
 * Overseers' Records. f See Appendix, No. XI.
 
 224 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER the malecontent Overseers, unequivocally indicates, 
 '. that there were ulterior objects in view, well under- 
 stood, for the advancement of which occasions would 
 be sought, and of the existence of which the coun- 
 tenance given to Pierpont, and the zeal about expo- 
 sitions in the Hall, were but symptoms, having their 
 origin, however, in a settled design to effect a change 
 in the influences which then controlled the institu- 
 tion. 
 
 From the religious and political relations of the 
 period, the chance of success in this design was 
 flattering, and all those who favored it endeavoured 
 by zeal and activity to advance so desirable an event. 
 cotton Among the rest, Cotton Mather, notwithstanding he 
 conduct. scrupulously abstained from attending the meetings 
 of the board of Overseers, of which he was a mem- 
 ber in right of his pastoral office, did not fail to en- 
 courage dissatisfaction, and promote discontent with 
 the management of the College. 
 
 As soon as Shute took possession of the Chair of 
 State, this spirit begins to appear in Mather's Diary, 
 his letters, and his acts. In July, 1717, he speaks of 
 " Commencement, as they call it, as a time of much 
 resort in Cambridge, and sorrily enough thrown away." 
 The College he represents as being " in a very neg- 
 lected and unhappy condition, and as betrayed into 
 vile practices," so much so, that he states,* " he re- 
 mained at home on that day in prayer, that it might 
 be restored, and become a nursery of piety, industry, 
 and all erudition." 
 
 When the attack, made upon the Corporation by 
 Pierpont, was in discussion before the Overseers, the 
 
 * Sparks's American Biography, Vol. VI. p. 297.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 225 
 
 opportunity to gratify his enmity to the administration CHAPTER 
 
 of the College was too favorable to be passed by '. 
 
 without an exertion, on his part, to aid in their dis- 
 comfiture. He had early taken occasion to exhibit 
 the qualities of Shute in malign contrast with those 
 he attributed to his predecessor. " Our excellent 
 Governor," he writes, " who has delivered the coun- 
 try from a flood of corruptions, which was introduced 
 by selling places, is to be encouraged, and a course 
 must be taken, that he may be vindicated from the 
 aspersions of a cursed crew in this place, that traduce 
 him."* Preparing the way for favor by language of 
 this kind, he addressed a letter to Governor Shute on His letter 
 the 31st of October, 1718, being the very day on norShute. 
 which the Overseers met to consider the complaints of 
 Pierpont. In this, he lauds the Governor for " know- 
 ing no other interest than for the public " ; speaks 
 scornfully of " the unaccountably called Overseers of 
 the College " ; attempts to excite in Shute a preju- 
 dice against them, for not acknowledging their de- 
 pendence on him, in whose "breath of favor" he 
 intimates they exist ; represents the charter under 
 which they act as " a pretence and presumption " ; 
 calls Pierpont " the abused and oppressed " ; and 
 requests the Governor to bring " to a compendious 
 issue the dispute between Pierpont and the pretended 
 President," which he denominates a contest between 
 a frog and a mouse (" /Sarpo^op^a/m "). After a 
 course of remark thus opprobrious and hostile, he 
 concludes with the following request, characteristic 
 of his mind and of his motives. " Your Excellency's 
 incomparable goodness and wisdom will easily discern 
 
 * Sparks's American Biography, Vol. VI. p. 296. 
 
 VOL. i. 29
 
 226 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER and approve the intention of the freedom used in this 
 
 XI 
 
 letter, and have it and its writer covered under the 
 darkest concealment. And the rather, because, for 
 some reasons, I desire to keep at the greatest distance 
 from all the affairs of Harvard."* 
 
 Not satisfied with these exertions to embarrass the 
 government of the College at home, Cotton Mather 
 directed his endeavours to injure its interests abroad. 
 His letter In January, 1718, he addressed a letter to Elihu 
 Yale. Yale, praising him for his " overflowing liberalities to 
 objects on this side of the Atlantic," and extolling his 
 inclination to do good ; " bespeaks his favor for a people 
 who are sound and generous Christians and Protestants, 
 having a College at Saybrook, Connecticut ; " intimates 
 to him, that his munificence to it might " obtain for 
 it the name of Yale College, which would be better 
 than the name of sons and daughters. A seminary," 
 he adds, "from whence a good people expect the sup- 
 ply of all their synagogues ."f From the temper of 
 his mind at this time, it cannot be questioned, that he 
 meant that Mr. Yale should understand, that Harvard 
 College was not such a seminary. On the 25th of 
 September of the same year, the College in Saybrook 
 His letter having then received the name of Yale, he writes to 
 nor Saiton- Governor Saltonstall, of Connecticut, telling him, 
 " that Yale has done very little in proportion to what 
 he will do, when once he finds the name of it ; " and, 
 taking to himself the credit both of the donation and 
 the policy, he adds, " I confess it was a great and 
 inexcusable presumption in me to make myself so far 
 the godfather of the beloved infant as to propose a 
 name for it." After saying, that " it is a thousand 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XXXIV. f See Appendix, No. XXXV.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 227 
 
 pities the dear infant should be strangled in the birth CHAPTER 
 
 by a dissension," he thus utters his malediction upon '- 
 
 Harvard College. " When the servants of God meet 
 at jour Commencement, I make no doubt, that they 
 will deliberate on the interests of education and of 
 religion, and not suffer an interview of your best men 
 to evaporate in such a senseless, useless, noisy imper- 
 tinency, as it used to be with us at Cambridge."* 
 
 In the same spirit of hostility, and in a like under- 
 hand way, in which he attempted to injure Harvard 
 College in the case of Pierpont, there is reason to 
 believe, that he attempted, a few years afterwards, 
 to turn the bounty of Thomas Hollis from Cambridge 
 into the New Haven channel. The facts which lead 
 to this conclusion claim to be recapitulated here, as 
 they throw a strong light on the character of Hollis, 
 and place in an interesting point of view the strength 
 of his affection for Harvard. The connexion between 
 Cotton Mather and Yale and Saltonstall, on the sub- 
 ject of favor and increased patronage of New Haven, 
 is sufficiently established by the letters above quoted. 
 In the former of these he refers Yale to "an ex- 
 cellent friend, our agent, Mr. Jeremiah Dummer, who 
 has been a tender, prudent, and useful patron of the 
 infant College at Connecticut, and who will doubtless 
 wait upon you, propose to you and concert with you 
 the methods in which your benignity to New Haven 
 may be best expressed." 
 
 The bounty of Hollis began to flow towards Har- 
 vard College in the year 1719. In the succeeding 
 year its friends had their expectations greatly raised 
 by the hopes he had excited of founding in it a Pro- 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XXXVI.
 
 228 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER fessorship of Divinity, and of more extensive bounties. 
 XI ' In September of this year, Mr. Dummer, the agent 
 for New Haven, sent for Mr. Hollis to meet him at 
 a coffee-house, to show him a letter, and " to ac- 
 quaint him about a College building at New Haven, 
 and proposing it for his bounty." Hollis not encourag- 
 ing the application, Dummer, in the February follow- 
 ing, brought to him another letter, dated the July 
 preceding, " handsomely worded, but no name to it, 
 recommending to him the Collegiate School at New 
 Haven. This letter came enclosed in one from Gov- 
 ernor Saltonstall, of Connecticut, earnestly pressing 
 the same affair." Hollis being neither pleased with 
 the mode, the object, nor the agent (for he appears to 
 have had no great respect for Dummer), utterly de- 
 clined taking the subject into consideration. Dum- 
 mer and his underhand mover were not, however, dis- 
 couraged. In July and August, 1721, Hollis received 
 two other " anonymous letters about Yale College." 
 It is a curious fact, that, although one of these letters 
 came under cover from Governor Saltonstall of Con- 
 necticut, Hollis believed the writer to be in Bos- 
 ton, or its vicinity, for he sends the letter to White, 
 Treasurer of Harvard College. " I suppose him," 
 Hollis writes, "to be urged on to it by your agent 
 Dummer. I inclose it to you. I have no inclination 
 to be diverted from my projected design. If you 
 know the author, pray let him know so. I have told 
 Dummer the same." * When we consider, that Gov- 
 ernor Saltonstall would hardly have consented to have 
 been the medium of an anonymous letter, unless he 
 had known the author to be of some weight of char- 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XXXVII.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 229 
 
 XL 
 
 acter, how unlikely it is, that such a person in CHAPTER 
 Connecticut could have had a motive for concealment 
 in respect to such an application to Hollis, the 
 connexion now established between Mather, Salton- 
 stall, and Dummer, on this very subject of " benig- 
 nity to New Haven," Mather's avowed, new-born 
 affection for that " dear infant Yale," and his disgust 
 with Harvard, the many motives Mather must have 
 had to conceal any attempt of his to turn the bounty 
 of Hollis away from Harvard, the ceaseless activity 
 which characterized him, and his capacity to resort to 
 underhand measures to gratify his passions ; the opin- 
 ion, that he was the author of this attempt is forced 
 upon the mind by a powerful concurrence of circum- 
 stances. He probably persuaded himself, that it was 
 " an essay to serve the kingdom of God, and to beat 
 Satan out of his quarters," * as he denominated the 
 College. Nor was he the only clergyman engaged in 
 the design, of turning the bounties of Hollis away 
 from Harvard. Thomas Prince, an alumnus, and min- 
 ister of the Old South Church, in Boston, persuaded 
 himself, also, of the wisdom or piety of that project. 
 About this period he wrote a letter, to be communi- 
 cated to Hollis, urging him to transfer his bounty to 
 the library of the Old South Church, and suggesting 
 to him by way of motive, that " we did not know 
 into what hands the great library at Harvard College 
 might fall, but that this private one would be secure to 
 posterity."! The noble and faithful Hollis was indig- 
 nant at the proposition. " 1 was disgusted," says he, 
 " at the suggestion, and refused to read on, and di- 
 rected Prince to be informed, that I disliked his 
 motion, and would not be concerned." 
 
 * See Sparks's American Biography, Vol. VI. p. 329. 
 f See Appendix, No. XXXVIII.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Benefactions of Thomas Hollis. Their Origin, Motive, and Ex- 
 tent. His elevated Catholicism. Reasons for examining a Part 
 of his Bounties with Minuteness. Pretensions of Increase Math- 
 er in Relation to them examined. Commencement of his Do- 
 nations. Origin and first Form of his Professorship of Di- 
 vinity. Accepted and acted upon by the Corporation. Edward 
 Wigglesworth chosen Professor. New England Scheme of the 
 Professorship of Divinity transmitted to Mr. Hollis. How modi- 
 fied by him. Proceedings of the Overseers. Debates on the 
 amended Scheme. Opposition of Chief Justice Sewall. New 
 Amendments proposed. The Corporation choose Wigglesworth a 
 second Time. His Orthodoxy, how tested. Discrepancy of the 
 Test with the Statutes of Hollis. A written Obligation to con- 
 form to his Statutes demanded of the Corporation by Hollis. 
 They hesitate about transmitting it. Patience of Hollis exhausted. 
 
 He peremptorily demands it. A written Obligation transmitted. 
 
 Liberal Character of Hollis vindicated. 
 
 OUR narrative having arrived at the period when 
 the first Hollis commenced his donations to Harvard 
 College, gratitude demands they should be enumerated 
 and acknowledged. One portion of his bounty having 
 been forced into the service of ecclesiastical contro- 
 versy, and the motives and principle of his charity 
 called in question, a minute investigation and a strict 
 historical statement of it will be given, in justice to 
 the memory of the greatest of the early benefactors 
 of the College. 
 
 In the literary horizon of Harvard the name of 
 Hollis is applicable, not to a single star, but to a
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 231 
 
 constellation. Six individuals* bearing it are entitled CHAPTER 
 
 XII 
 
 to rank high in the list of its benefactors. Of these, 
 
 the first and greatest was Thomas Hollis, who was 
 born in 1659, and died in 1731. Being educated 
 by his father in the Baptist persuasion, he adhered 
 to it through life with invincible attachment. The 
 descendant of a family long eminent for piety and 
 benevolence, he soon gave evidence of being heir 
 of the faith and virtues, which had distinguished 
 his ancestry. His attention had been directed 
 towards Harvard College as early as 1690, in con- 
 sequence of his being named one of the trustees in 
 the will of his maternal uncle, Robert Thorner, in 
 which it had been made the object of a noble be- 
 quest. Dr. Mather, President of the College, being 
 about that time in England, Hollis communicated to 
 him an account of Thorner's legacy, with a copy of 
 the clause containing it, for the purpose of being 
 registered in the archives of the College. He soon 
 after named it as the object of a legacy in his own 
 will, as we learn from a letter written by Henry 
 Newman, the agent of the Corporation in England, 
 to President Leverett, dated the 26th of June, 1710. 
 Newman had been directed by Leverett to make 
 inquiries concerning Sir Robert Thorner's legacy. In 
 this letter, after acknowledging the full satisfaction he 
 had received from the trustees on that subject, he 
 adds, " Mr. Thomas Hollis, one of the trustees, at the 
 Cross Daggers, in Little Minories, desires his will 
 may be inquired for after his decease." Thus careful 
 was Hollis, that the College should reap the benefit 
 of his own and his uncle's bounty, and thus early 
 did his friendship for it commence. 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XXXTX.
 
 232 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER After this time the records of the College indi- 
 
 ! cate no intercourse with Hollis, until the spring of 
 
 first dona- 1719, when, having watched the course of the semi- 
 nary for many years, and satisfied himself, that the 
 views of the Corporation were catholic and liberal, 
 he resolved to be the executor of his own will, and 
 to have the pleasure of witnessing the result of his 
 own benevolence. In that year he made his first 
 remittance of books for the College Library, and of 
 moneys " for the assistance of pious young men, who 
 were destined for the ministry." The motives to his 
 bounty are thus stated by him, in a letter to Dr. 
 Colman, whom he selected as the chief medium of 
 his communications.* "After forty years' diligent 
 application to mercantile business, my God, whom I 
 serve, has mercifully succeeded my endeavours, and, 
 with my increase, inclined my heart to a proportional 
 distribution. I have credited the promise, * He that 
 giveth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord,' and have 
 found it verified in this life." 
 
 From this time his bounty flowed towards the Col- 
 lege in a continuous stream, enlarging its beneficiary 
 fund, increasing its library, and at last concentrating 
 in the establishment of two Professorships, one of 
 Divinity, the other of Mathematics and Natural Philos- 
 ophy, and amounting in the whole to nearly five thou- 
 sand pounds Massachusetts currency, not including 
 various contributions to the Library, numerous, select, 
 and costly; a munificence, in point of value and 
 amount, then without example in this country, and 
 which, considering the value of money at the time, 
 bears an honorable comparison with that of any sub- 
 sequent period. 
 
 * January 28th, 1721.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 233 
 
 " The free and catholic spirit of the seminary," CHAPTER 
 says Dr. Colman, " took his generous heart." Al- '. 
 
 , ,, . . -.. , His mo- 
 
 though some of its superintending powers, at that tiyes 
 period, had little claim to this character, yet, from 
 the influences which predominated, it was more de- 
 serving of that title than any of its contemporaries, 
 either in Europe or America. This was perceived 
 by Hollis, who, during life, through good report and 
 evil report, adhered to his predilection for Harvard. 
 
 The religious spirit of Hollis was elevated and 
 comprehensive. It is difficult to conceive of a charity 
 more truly regulated by the principles of Christianity, 
 than that evidenced by the whole tenor of his corre- 
 spondence with the College and its officers ; " envying 
 not ; vaunting not ; seeking not its own ; not easily 
 provoked ; rejoicing in the truth ; believing all things ; 
 hoping all things ; enduring all things." 
 
 Attached to his Baptist faith, with a firmness which 
 admitted neither concealment nor compromise, he 
 selected for the object of his extraordinary bounties, 
 an institution, in which he knew those of his faith 
 were regarded with dread by some, and with detesta- 
 tion by others, and where he had reason to think, as 
 he averred, that the very portrait of a Baptist, though 
 of a benefactor, would be the subject of insult. Yet 
 he suffered neither his affection nor his charity to fail, 
 being actuated by the elevated motive, that it was 
 more catholic and free in its religious sentiment than 
 any other institution existing at that period. In 
 establishing conditions for enjoying the benefit of his 
 bounty, he claimed no concession, he made no ex- 
 clusion. He required only, that the Baptist faith 
 should not be deemed a disqualification for partak- 
 ing his bounty, or for being a candidate for his Pro- 
 
 VOL. i. 30
 
 234 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER fessorship. In order to place an insurmountable bar- 
 
 XII 
 
 !__ rier against the imposition of artificial creeds, woven 
 
 in words of men's devising, he made the simple pro- 
 vision, that the only articles of faith, to which the 
 Professor on the Divinity foundation, which he estab- 
 lished, should be required to subscribe, was, " his 
 belief that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments are the only perfect rule of faith and manners." 
 Thus did this noble and generous spirit break away 
 from the thraldom of sects. It is delightful to con- 
 template a benefactor thus divested of all that is mean, 
 and vain, and selfish ; opening the hand of his charity 
 without the dictation of party spirit ; guiding himself 
 
 Hia de- by the oracles of God, and not by the inventions and 
 
 voted char- *, . . . 
 
 il y- worldly devices of men ; fixed in his own faith, yet 
 
 candid in judging, and charitable in construing, the 
 faith of others. " I love them," he writes in a letter 
 to Dr. Colman,* "that show, by their W 7 orks, that 
 they love Jesus Christ. While I bear with others, who 
 are sincere in their more confined charity, I would 
 that they would bear with me in my more enlarged. 
 We search after truth. We see but in part. Happy 
 the man, who reduces his notions in a constant train 
 of practice. Charity is the grace, which now adorns 
 and prepares for glory. May it always abide in your 
 breast and mine, and grow more and more." 
 
 The several donations of this benefactor demand, 
 as has been intimated, an exact statement, not only 
 
 on account of their extent and extraordinarv character, 
 
 >i 
 
 but from the misapprehensions which have arisen con- 
 cerning some of them. Singular as is the fact, a 
 portion of his bounty has been made the occasion of 
 
 August 1st, 1720.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 235 
 
 an attempt to give a party bias to the institution, and CHAPTER 
 
 XII 
 
 to introduce an examination into articles of faith as a ! 
 
 condition of office. One of the most catholic and lib- 
 eral of men has been made to appear in the light of a 
 sectarian to some, and of a bigot to others. A 
 thorough investigation of the order and nature of his 
 benefactions is, therefore, equally due to gratitude and 
 justice. 
 
 As already stated, * the first donation of Mr. Hollis 
 was made in the year 1719. It was transmitted to 
 Mr. Craddock, in articles to be sold on his account, 
 and the proceeds to be paid over to Mr. Leverett, 
 President of Harvard College. The product, amount- 
 ing to about three hundred pounds Massachusetts 
 currency, was paid, according to this order, to the 
 Treasurer of the College, and the thanks of the Cor- 
 poration were given to Mr. Craddock, " for his gen- 
 erous care of managing the donation of Mr. Hollis, and 
 not charging commissions." On the same day a vote 
 passed that body, granting the interest of Mr. Hollis's 
 donation, and of another by Mr. Hulton, to the son of 
 Cotton Mather, for his support in College, f " pursuant 
 to the desire of the Rev. Dr. Increase Mather, his 
 grandfather, who was instrumental in procuring these 
 donations." This claim of Dr. Mather, " founded on 
 his instrumentality," was immediately made the sub- 
 ject of a question. President Leverett, who kept a 
 duplicate of the records, thus states the counterpart 
 in his Diary. Of Hulton's legacy he says, that " Dr. 
 Mather was," and of Hollis's, that " he might be, 
 instrumental in procuring it," intimating an uncer- 
 tainty, without any offensive contradiction. 
 
 * See above, p. 232. f College Records, Vol. IV. p. 65.
 
 236 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER When Dr. Benjamin Colman informed Hollis of this 
 
 ! claim set up by Dr. Mather, for the income of his 
 
 fund, Hollis, in reply,* expresses his surprise and 
 sorrow, that Dr. Mather's grandson should need the 
 aid of his bounty ; and adds, " I have nothing to 
 object, rather glad he is first preferred." Concerning 
 Dr. Mather's " instrumentality " in obtaining it he is 
 silent, but immediately proceeds to state the real 
 Hoiiis ; s source of his good will towards the College. " I 
 
 statement . 
 
 concerning have had many thoughts of showing some liberality 
 to it ever since the death of my honored uncle, Robert 
 Thorner, who made me one of his trustees." By 
 thus carrying back the origin of his good intentions 
 to a time antecedent to any possible influence of Dr. 
 Mather, he obviously intended to exclude any ac- 
 knowledgment of it. He then proceeds to state the 
 actual intercourse between them. " When Dr. Mather 
 was in England, I gave him a minute out of the said 
 will to register in your College ; but the payment is 
 yet very distant, many years. I hope it will be hon- 
 estly transmitted in the time." Delicacy did not 
 permit Hollis to say more. What he does say, how- 
 ever, is sufficient to show the groundlessness of Dr. 
 Mather's claim to instrumentality in procuring his 
 bounty, and his indisposition to recognise it. Not- 
 withstanding this, Cotton Mather, in the year 1724, 
 at a time when the benefactions of Thomas Hollis 
 had already become, from their number and amount, 
 the objects of general gratitude and admiration, in 
 writing the life of his father, thus boldly asserts him 
 to have been the moving cause of these benefactions. 
 " It was his (Increase Mather's) acquaintance with, and 
 
 * Hollis's letter to Colman, January 14th, 1720.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 237 
 
 his proposal to that good-spirited man, and lover of CHAPTER 
 
 all good men, Mr. Thomas Hollis, that introduced his '. 
 
 benefactions unto that (Harvard) College ; to which Mother's 
 
 ... 111 i n -i i statement. 
 
 his incomparable bounty has anon flowed unto such 
 a degree, as to render him the greatest benefactor it 
 ever had in the world."* An assertion, there is 
 reason to believe, wholly gratuitous, but in character 
 with Cotton Mather's self-glorifying spirit, f 
 
 On the 14th of the succeeding April, J Hollis trans- Seconddo- 
 mitted his second donation to the College Treasurer, Hoiiis. 
 amounting to about seven hundred pounds currency. 
 The object of this and his former bounty had been 
 previously stated by him in his letters to Colman,^ 
 to be " the maintenance and education of pious young 
 men for the ministry, who are poor in this world." 
 In this letter he intimates, that his gifts may be in- 
 creased, and inquires " in what manner he might best 
 express his gift, so as to answer his intention to assist 
 poor and pious young men in their studies for the 
 ministry." Both branches of the College government 
 were naturally impressed by the amount, and kind 
 spirit indicated by these remittances, and with the 
 propriety of fully expressing their grateful acknowledg- 
 ments. On the 24th of May, the Corporation voted corpora- 
 their thanks to him ; and on the 23d of the succeed- overseers 
 ing June the Overseers appointed a Committee to Hoiii. 
 prepare a letter of thanks, which, being reported and 
 approved, they ordered, on the 6th of the ensuing 
 July, to be signed and transmitted to him. || 
 
 Before these proceedings had reached Hollis, he 
 had addressed another letter to Colman, dated the 
 
 * Life of Increase Mather, by his Son, p. 170. 
 
 t See above, p. 135. J 1720. January 14th, 1720. 
 
 || Overseers' Records. Leverett's Manuscript, pp. 174, 178.
 
 238 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER 1st of August, stating in general terms his inten- 
 tions relative to his donations ; reserving to himself, 
 during life, the nomination of those students, who 
 were to receive the income of his bounty, and after 
 his death devolving that duty on the Corporation of the 
 College. In this letter also, he declares his prefer- 
 ence of adult baptism, and his spirit of catholic com- 
 munion with all ; and expresses the hope, " that, while 
 he bears with others in their more confined, that they 
 would bear with him in his more enlarged, charity." 
 
 The thanks of the Board of Overseers seem to 
 have been couched in terms sufficiently laudatory ; for, 
 in a subsequent letter to Colman, he says, " they 
 made him blush, that he is weary of their thanks, 
 and begs they might cease." 
 
 This intervention of the Overseers alarmed Hollis. 
 He well understood the prevailing bigotry of that 
 board, and he had, by the advice of Colman, specially 
 intrusted the Corporation with the distribution of his 
 funds. He inquires, therefore, in a letter dated the 
 10th of September, 1720, apparently with some anx- 
 iety, " whether that body will have any voice in the 
 nomination of his beneficiaries." * 
 
 Before this period, Hollis had entertained no idea 
 of establishing a Professorship of Divinity. His plan 
 of bounty had been limited to that most useful and 
 effective of all endowments, the establishing funds 
 for the education of poor, pious, and able young men 
 for the ministry. This is evident from his next letter 
 to Colman and Leverett, dated the 23d September, 
 1720, by which it appears, that they had " proposed 
 to him to establish a suitable stipend for a Divinity 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XL.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 239 
 
 Professor, to read lectures in the Hall to the stu- CHAPTER 
 
 dents." In his reply, he expresses his surprise at . 
 
 their deficiency in this respect, and requests them " to 
 explain more largely that matter to him, and to tell 
 him how much will be called an honorable stipend."* 
 
 Without waiting for an answer to these inquiries, Divinity 
 
 Hollis, on the 14th of February, 1721, executed for- ship found- 
 ed by 
 mal " orders " relative to the moneys he had sent over 
 
 to New England. This instrument is the true foun- 
 dation of that Professorship. In it he establishes that 
 office in the College, and provides for the support 
 of his Professor. And, as it is indicative of his pure 
 intent and catholic spirit, the original document is 
 subjoined, as it now exists in the archives of the 
 College, subscribed by his hand.f 
 
 The foundation of the Professorship is in these 
 words. " I order and appoint a Professor of Divinity, 
 to read lectures in the Hall of the College unto the 
 students ; the said Professor to be nominated and ap- 
 pointed from time to time by the President and 
 Fellows of Harvard College ; and that the Treasurer 
 pay to him forty pounds per annum for his service, 
 and that when choice is made of a fitting person, to 
 be recommended to me for my approbation, if I be 
 yet living." 
 
 The instrument then proceeds to appoint a com- 
 pensation to the Treasurer for the care of his funds ; 
 and to specify the disposition to be made of the remain- 
 ing income of his bounty, in terms the most liberal and 
 free from all words of sectarian import ; the only 
 allusion to religious opinion being, that no " candidate 
 should be refused on account of his belief and practice 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XLI. f See Appendix, No. XLII.
 
 240 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER of adult baptism." Being a Baptist himself, and 
 
 XII 
 
 '. - being about to found a Professorship of Divinity, and 
 to extend, in other ways, a helping hand to an in- 
 stitution under the influence of men, with whom the 
 divine right of infant baptism was an essential article 
 of their creed ; and making on his part no condition 
 that Baptists should be preferred, it was a fixed pur- 
 pose of his mind, that Baptists, on account of their 
 faith, should not be excluded from any of the advan- 
 tages of his bounty. This fixed intent appears from 
 the tenor of all his letters, and was the extent and 
 the limit of the influence of religious opinion on his 
 mind. 
 
 iu unre- Such was the foundation of the Hollis Professorship 
 nature. of Divinity, as it was first conceived and laid by this 
 eminent benefactor ; with no words of technical or 
 theological art ; with nothing mysterious, equivocal, 
 restrictive, or doctrinal, prescribed by way of qualifi- 
 cation of the Professor or students. 
 
 Neither does it appear from any word or intimation 
 in his correspondence, that he asked or contemplated 
 any other rule or restriction, except that Baptists 
 should be regarded, in relation to the application of 
 his funds, on the same footing as other denomina- 
 tions of Christians. He inquires of Colman, " how 
 much will be called an honorable stipend for his Pro- 
 fessor," and asks him to " explain more largely that 
 matter " (the want of a Divinity Professor) " to him." 
 He had indeed several times inquired of Mr. Colman, 
 " in what manner he had best express his gift." In 
 every instance this inquiry had relation, as appears by 
 his letters, to the income of his funds, intended for the 
 benefit of " poor and pious young men." His letters 
 bear traces of his belief in those general doctrines, in
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 241 
 
 which all the prevailing sects of Christians throughout CHAPTER 
 
 Christendom at that day concurred ; but they contain . ' . 
 
 not a word indicative of a design or desire to use the 
 power his wealth conferred, to establish his belief as 
 a standard for future times. 
 
 The course of the bounty of Thomas Hollis has been 
 thus traced to the first form in which his Professorship 
 of Divinity appeared, and the result has shown, that 
 the nature of the foundation was consonant to the 
 well-known characteristics of his mind, free from 
 bigotry, of a comprehensive charity, in the spirit of 
 which he submitted, in unqualified terms, the selection 
 of his Professor, and the conduct of his Professorship, 
 to the decision of the President and Fellows of the 
 Corporation, for the time being, without other rule 
 than such as from time to time their own consciences 
 and views of the interests of the College might dictate. 
 
 It now becomes a curious and interesting subject 
 of investigation, how this unshackled, free condition 
 of the first foundation of the Hollis Professorship of 
 Divinity was attempted to be changed ; how these 
 attempts were met by the generous and catholic spirit 
 of Hollis ; and by what means words were introduced 
 into formal statutes subsequently signed by Hollis, 
 and a contemporaneous construction of them given, 
 so as to make this most liberal of all minds to ap- 
 pear in after times, as a founder of a religious test in 
 an institution into which such test had never been 
 introduced, and but once attempted and then rejected ; 
 and, what is more wonderful still, how such a course 
 of proceeding was pursued, as to make Hollis appar- 
 ently acquiesce in such a contemporaneous construc- 
 tion of these introduced terms, as should allow a 
 belief in the divine right of infant baptism to be an ex- 
 
 VOL. i. 31
 
 242 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER amined and required article of a Professor's faith, 
 - under statutes in which he had expressly provided, that 
 the belief his Professor should declare, was, " that the 
 Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the only 
 perfect rule of faith and manners," and under "orders 
 concerning the disposition of his moneys sent to New 
 England, that none should be refused on account of his 
 belief and practice of adult baptism." 
 
 The records of the College, illustrated by contem- 
 porary documents and well-known history, will render 
 this investigation both easy and satisfactory. 
 
 Proceed- The " orders," dated the 14th of February, were 
 
 ings of the " 
 
 corpora- accompanied by letters from Mr. Hollis and Mr. 
 
 tion relative r 
 
 to the Di- N ea l. The letters are acknowledged to have been 
 
 vmity Pro- 
 fessorship, communicated at a meeting of the Corporation on the 
 
 25th of April, 1721, and "to relate to the setting 
 up a Professorship of Divinity at the College, and 
 desiring some further advice and information in that 
 affair." As these letters are missing, the proceed- 
 ings of the Corporation are the only means of ascer- 
 taining the advice and information they sought. On 
 receiving these communications a committee was 
 immediately appointed " to prepare a draft of such 
 information in order to its being forwarded." On 
 the 2d of May, 1721, the draft was reported, ac- 
 cepted, and ordered to be transmitted to Mr. Hollis 
 and Mr. Neal. On the 21st of June this report was 
 spread at large on the records of the Corporation, 
 under the title of " minutes directory, in answer to 
 Mr. Hollis his letters." * In these, " thanks were 
 given for his bounty ; his candor and confidence in 
 leaving his institution open and alterable, acknowl- 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XLIII.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 243 
 
 edged ; various prudential arrangements of his funds CHAPTER 
 suggested ; and rules relative to the lectures of the 
 
 xi r. 
 
 Professor, and studies on his foundation, proposed ; but 
 not one word indicative of a design to give a sectarian 
 bias, or to establish a religious test, was introduced. 
 The only expressions having a tendency towards a re- 
 ligious qualification are conceived in a noble spirit of 
 liberality, consentaneous with that of which Mr. Hollis 
 had set the example, and worthy of the men who then 
 constituted the Corporation ; such as Leverett, Col- 
 man, Wadsworth, and Appleton. " As to the Pro- 
 fessor's being in communion with a particular church, 
 we judge it," say they, " highly expedient ; and, as 
 to the limitation of that communion, we leave it to Mr. 
 Hollis." 
 
 The next step taken by the Corporation, was to They 
 
 i T c f ' choose 
 
 elect a Professor, in strict conformity with the " or- wiggiea- 
 ders " of Mr. Hollis, and with the most marked so- fessor - 
 lemnity and formality. A special meeting of the 
 board was held on the 28th of June, 1721. No other 
 business was transacted. Six of the seven members 
 of which the board was composed were present. 
 The question of proceeding to elect a Professor to 
 be presented to Mr. Hollis, was formally proposed 
 and voted. Ballots were brought in, and Edward 
 Wigglesworth was accordingly declared, and his name 
 ordered to be sent to Mr. Hollis, as " the Professor 
 of Divinity, chosen upon his institution."* The exact 
 formality, with which this record is marked, becomes 
 important to be noted, in consequence of subsequent 
 proceedings. 
 
 Thus far the Corporation had pursued the measures 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XLIV.
 
 244 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER prescribed in the letters and " orders " of Mr. Hollis. 
 They had chosen a Professor. They had ordered 
 " advice and information " to be transmitted to him. 
 No record of the Corporation or the Overseers indi- 
 cates, that "a scheme for the Professorship of Divinity" 
 had been asked for by Mr. Hollis, or been submitted 
 to the consideration of either board, or been autho- 
 rized to be transmitted to him. It is not therefore 
 without surprise, that, on the 8th of August, 1721, 
 Mr. Hollis is found acknowledging the receipt of five 
 letters (dated the 5th of April, the 5th of May, and 
 the 6th, 9th, and 26th of June) from Mr. Colman 
 and Mr. Leverett, accompanied by " a scheme for the 
 Professor's work." 
 
 The motives which induced Mr. Colman and Mr. 
 Leverett thus to change the " advice and informa- 
 tion," authorized and voted by the Corporation in the 
 " minutes directory in answer to Mr. Hollis his let- 
 ters," into " a scheme of a Professorship," no docu- 
 ments indicate. It is, however, one of the sympto- 
 matic circumstances attending the early correspondence 
 concerning this Divinity Professorship, that, while the 
 other letters of Mr. Hollis to Mr. Colman are appa- 
 rently complete and well preserved, those between the 
 28th of January and the 8th of August, 1721, the 
 period of the early stage of that negotiation, have dis- 
 appeared as well as all those written by Neal, Colman, 
 and Leverett. Yet it is apparent, that many very im- 
 portant and critical letters must have passed.* We are 
 left, therefore, necessarily to draw such conclusions con- 
 cerning the motives of this policy, as the known rela- 
 tions of the religious sects of the time, and subsequent 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XLV.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 245 
 
 unquestionable occurrences authorize. At this period CHAPTER 
 
 XII 
 
 of colonial history the sect of the Baptists was pecu- 1 
 
 liarly obnoxions to that division of the Congregational aiarmand 
 church, which comprised the strictest adherents to 
 the Calvinistic doctrines. To them the fact, that an 
 avowed member of the Baptist persuasion was about 
 to establish a Professorship of Divinity in Harvard 
 University was a subject of great anxiety ; but, when 
 they ascertained that Mr. Hollis had reserved to 
 himself the right of establishing, during his life, or 
 by his will, such rules relative to his Professorship, 
 as he might deem proper, their apprehensions were 
 raised to the highest point of excitement and alarm. 
 It is apparent, that the Corporation of the College 
 did not participate in these fears, from the confi- 
 dence their language indicates in Mr. Hollis, and 
 their hitherto exact acquiescence in the course of 
 measures he had marked out in his " orders " of the 
 14th of February, 1721. But the members of the 
 Corporation themselves were, on certain points, as 
 we have seen, deemed by some of the stricter Cal- 
 vinists little better than heretics, and by others had 
 been denounced for " apostasy." 
 
 The acceptance of Hollis's Professorship and ap- 
 proval of his Professor, did not exclusively depend on 
 the votes of the Corporation. The concurrence of the 
 Overseers was requisite in respect to both. The 
 strength of the sectarian spirit, then existing in that 
 board, was known to the Corporation ; and it can- 
 not be doubted, that the course of measures they 
 subsequently adopted was intended to remove or 
 diminish the apprehensions, which the circumstances 
 attending the foundation of this Professorship had ex-
 
 246 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER cited among the Overseers. New " orders " were 
 
 XII. 
 
 - therefore sought from Mr. Holiis, couched in lan- 
 Engiand guage more acceptable to the adherents of the Cal- 
 viriistic faith. Of the " orders " of the 14th of 
 February preceding, nothing is said in the records 
 either of the Corporation or the Overseers. They 
 would not, probably, have been preserved among the 
 archives of the College, if they had not been connected 
 with other funds besides those appropriated to his 
 Professorship. The " advice and information " re- 
 quested by Mr. Holiis was construed to authorize the 
 transmission of a formal draft of " rules and orders " 
 for the Professorship. These were prepared, doubt- 
 less, with great care and consultation, and, being sent 
 out, were denominated by Mr. Holiis, " the New 
 England scheme for the Professor's work." Of the 
 origin, preparation, or transmission of this " scheme," 
 nothing is said in any record ; and its existence would 
 now be unknown, were it not for letters, and subse- 
 quent documents, transmitted by Mr. Holiis. The 
 advantage of making the first draft of an instrument 
 of this kind is very obvious. It gave an opportunity 
 to introduce such terms, as, being used sometimes in 
 a technical and sometimes in a popular sense, would 
 Policy of render it difficult for Mr. Holiis to perceive the con- 
 
 the mea- -,-, -, i c i 
 
 sure. struction intended to be given to them ; or, if he 
 perceived it, would render it even more difficult for 
 him either to erase, or so to qualify, as to preclude the 
 sectarian spirit from evading them. That such was the 
 policy of the measure, admits at this day no question, 
 since such words were introduced into " the New Eng- 
 land scheme," and such a construction was afterwards 
 made of them, notwithstanding their inconsistence 
 with the unvaried tenor of Mr. Hollis's existing let-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 247 
 
 ters, and the express terms of his statutes and " or- CHAPTER 
 
 XII 
 
 ders." 
 
 " The scheme," as it came from New England, 
 was not approved by Mr. Hollis. " I have received Not ap- 
 your letters and scheme," says he, " and on due Hoiiis. 
 consideration I think it requires some amendments;" 
 for which purpose, he informs Col man, that he had 
 delivered it over to " several worthy pastors of 
 churches here," desiring them to make alterations 
 and remarks upon " the scheme transmitted," which, 
 when finished, he says, " I shall send over for your 
 more mature consideration." The spirit in which he 
 declares this course was adopted by him is admirable, 
 and worthy of all praise ; " Believing," says he, " that 
 you and they have nothing in view herein, but fur- 
 thering of the glory of God, promoting good literature, 
 and the true knowledge of theology and the well 
 understanding the sacred Scriptures."* 
 
 The particular points in the " New England 
 scheme," to which he objected, and which he thought 
 required amendments, are not stated by Mr. Hollis, and 
 are only to be inferred from his known sentiments, and 
 the views he avowed in establishing his professorship. 
 In the New England scheme the terms " sound and 
 orthodox " were, however, of a character most adapted 
 to excite his apprehensions. By other of his letters 
 it appears he knew well, that, in New England, 
 and particularly among leading members of the board 
 of Overseers, " the divine right of infant baptism 
 was one of the essential points of orthodoxy ; " and 
 he could not but perceive, that, under this term, by 
 New England construction, a Baptist might be for 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XLV.
 
 248 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER ever excluded from his professorship. It is evident 
 
 XII. 
 
 '. there was a fixed purpose in Mr. Hollis's mind, on 
 
 the one hand, that he would not require a Baptist 
 should be chosen to his professorship, and on the 
 other, that a Baptist, on account of his faith, should 
 not be excluded. It can, therefore, scarcely be doubt- 
 ed, that these terms were among those, which he 
 considered required amendment or modification. This 
 his subsequent conduct evidences very clearly. 
 HOW modi- " The worthy pastors," seven in number, to whom 
 Mr. Hollis delivered the " New England scheme " for 
 his professorship, returned it to him, after solemn de- 
 liberation, in due time, amended. This original paper, 
 with the signatures of these pastors, exists at the 
 present time among the archives of the University. 
 It is dated, "London, August 22d, 1721," and con- 
 tains eleven articles, in which the differences from 
 the New England scheme are noted.* 
 
 It appears, that all the articles as modified by the 
 seven pastors were acceded to by Mr. Hollis, except 
 the eleventh, which was in these words. 
 
 " XI. That it be recommended to the electors, that 
 at every choice they prefer a man of solid learning 
 in divinity, of sound and orthodox principles ; one 
 who is well gifted to teach ; of a sober and pious life, 
 and of a grave conversation." 
 
 The form of this article, although it had retained 
 the term " orthodox " only as a recommendation to 
 the electors, and not in the form of a qualification 
 of the Professor, it appears did not satisfy Mr. Hollis. 
 He was obviously placed in a dilemma. He could 
 not strike out the word " orthodox " on the one hand, 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XLVI.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 249 
 
 because, in a certain sense, it belonged to him, and CHAPTER 
 
 XII 
 
 he recognised it. On the other hand, in a New Eng- '- 
 
 land sense, it did not belong to him, and he rejected 
 it. Yet he anticipated, that, if the scheme were signed 
 as reported by " the worthy pastors," it might be 
 construed into a test and qualification of his professor; 
 a result, of all others, which his generous and catholic 
 
 spirit deprecated. The course he adopted, as his HOW far- 
 ther modi- 
 statutes show, was to accept the eleventh article, fiedby 
 
 ' Hollis. 
 
 in the terms proposed by the " pastors" ; and to cause 
 immediately to be subjoined,* and made a substantive 
 part of his statutes, that the only article of belief 
 required of his Divinity Professor at his inauguration 
 should be, " that the Scriptures of the Old and New 
 Testament are the only perfect rule of faith and man- 
 ners." Thus successfully did Hollis, as he thought, 
 secure his professor from the yoke of sects, which 
 he feared might be laid upon him ; and guard against 
 such a construction of the term " orthodox," as should 
 exclude a Baptist from his professorship. The event 
 showed how weak are rules and statutes when they 
 thwart sectarian interests or policy. 
 
 The " New England scheme," thus modified, was 
 transmitted by Mr. Hollis to the Corporation, and by 
 them submitted to the Overseers on the 10th of Jan- 
 uary, 1721-2. After voting thanks to Mr. Hollis, p />j- 
 the Overseers unanimously resolved, " that the estab- Ov. <-., 
 lishing a Professorship of Divinity at the said College, 
 under proper regulations, will, by the blessing of God, 
 very much conduce to the advancement of theology 
 among the students there, to promote the true Chris- 
 tian religion throughout the whole land, and there- 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XL VII. 
 
 VOL. i. 32
 
 250 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER in very much answer the great and pious end of incor- 
 
 porating the said College." * They then proceeded to 
 
 declare, by way of preamble, that " the qualifications 
 and regulations of the said professorship were a matter 
 of very great importance to the religion of New Eng- 
 land, and that the founder himself also had been 
 pleased, in his own letter to the Corporation, to desire 
 them duly to consider of the said rules and orders, and 
 send over such needful amendments as should be 
 thought fit," and after making some additional pro- 
 visions relative to the duty of the professor, and some 
 verbal alterations, they come to the eleventh article, 
 which was the real object of all their policy. Their 
 purpose, it appears, was twofold ; first, to modify this 
 article in such a manner as to constitute a test or 
 qualification, and thus introduce an examination, in- 
 quisition, and declaration of particular faith by the 
 professor ; and next, to give to it such a contem- 
 poraneous construction as should exclude, if possible, 
 a Baptist for ever from the professorship. This policy 
 is developed by the subsequent proceedings, and is 
 farther illustrated by the account given by Chief Jus- 
 tice Sewall of the nature and violence of the debates 
 which occurred on this occasion, and of the measures 
 Their vio- in which they eventuated. His Diary states, that the 
 bates. 6 debate, commenced in the forenoon, was continued 
 through the day, and that the Governor left the board 
 in displeasure late in the afternoon. By the records 
 of the Overseers it also appears, that the meeting 
 was adjourned, without completing the business before 
 them, from the 10th to the 24th of January. The 
 objections made are stated distinctly in Judge Sewall's 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XLVII1.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 251 
 
 Diary. The whole passage is sufficiently important CHAPTER 
 
 to be given in his words. " January 10th, 1721. 
 
 Overseers of the College meet at the Council Cham- J. ud ge 
 
 oewall s 
 
 ber, to consider Mr. Hollis's proposals as to his Pro- 
 fessor of Divinity. Debate was had in the forenoon 
 about the article * He shall be a master of arts, and 
 in communion with a church of Congregationalists, 
 Presbyterians, or Baptists.' I objected against that 
 article, as choosing rather to lose the donation than 
 accept it. In the afternoon I said, ' One great end 
 for which the planters came over into New England 
 was to fly from the cross in baptism. For my part, 
 I had rather have baptism administered with the 
 incumbrance of the cross, than not to have it ad- 
 ministered at all. This qualification of the Divinity 
 Professor is to me a bribe to give my sentence in 
 disparagement of infant baptism, and I will endeavour 
 to shake my hands from holding it.' 
 
 " When it came to the vote, very few appeared in 
 the negative. I desired to have my dissent entered. 
 The Governor denied it with an air of displeasure, 
 saying, ' You shall not have itS It was seven or eight 
 o'clock before we had gone through the constitutions. 
 His Excellency went away long before." 
 
 The principles on which the opposition of Sewall 
 was founded, satisfactorily explain the motives of the 
 Overseers in these and their subsequent proceedings. 
 By striking out of the New England scheme, as it 
 was returned amended by Hollis, the words " recom- 
 mendatory to the Electors," and inserting those imply- 
 ing a qualification, the Overseers had established, as 
 they intended, a test. It now only remained to give 
 such a contemporaneous construction of that article as 
 should form a precedent of examination, inquisition,
 
 252 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER and declaration, conformable to the New England no- 
 
 XII 
 
 '- tion of orthodoxy, including particularly " faith in the 
 
 divine right of infant baptism," which the statutes and 
 " orders " of Hollis put in such eminent hazard. For 
 this purpose, an adjournment was made by the Over- 
 
 overseers seers to the 24th of January. That such was their 
 object is apparent from the next measures of the 
 Corporation, which, considering the eminently fair 
 and catholic spirit of its members, can only be 
 accounted for, on the supposition, that they acted 
 under the direct pressure, if not absolute dictation, 
 of the board of Overseers. The Corporation had 
 probably ascertained, that the bounty of Hollis would 
 be rejected by the Overseers, and his good will con- 
 sequently lost, unless they complied with the course 
 which the proceedings of the Overseers indicated 
 that board required of them. 
 
 The Corporation had already reciprocated the lib- 
 eral spirit of Mr. Hollis in the most unqualified terms, 
 and expressly submitted to him the " limitation of the 
 communion of his professor." In conformity with his 
 " orders " of the 24th of February, 1720-21, they had 
 in the month of June succeeding elected Mr. Wiggles- 
 worth Professor of Divinity, without applying any 
 test, or making any examination into his faith. This 
 election had been by ballot, in a meeting of the board 
 at which six members were present, and his name 
 had been, in the most formal manner, " sent to Mr. 
 Hollis for his approbation, iu a letter signed by the 
 President and Mr. Colman."* 
 
 It is evident, that the action of the Corporation on 
 the subject of Mr. Wigglesworth, was completed, 
 
 * See above, pp. 239-243.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 253 
 
 and that, after the approval of Mr. Hollis was re- CHAPTER 
 
 XH 
 
 ceived, it only remained for them to present the 
 
 election of Mr. Wigglesworth to the Overseers for 
 their approbation. 
 
 It is not, therefore, without surprise, that we find the 
 following statement on the records of the Corporation. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Corporation of Harvard Col- Meeting 
 lege, at the House of the Rev. Mr. Wadsworth, in portion. 
 Boston, January 23d, 1721-2. Present, Mr. Presi- 
 dent, Mr. Wadsworth, Mr. Colman, Mr. Treasurer 
 Hutchinson. The Corporation, having discoursed 
 among themselves about choosing a Professor of Di- 
 vinity on Mr. Hollis's foundation, and having formerly 
 their thoughts upon Mr. Edward Wiggleswortk for that 
 service, they sent for him, and, having discoursed him 
 in general, and put such questions unto him in par- 
 ticular, as by his answers gave them satisfaction about 
 the soundness and orthodoxy of his principles in di- 
 vinity, they did elect the said Mr. Edward Wiggles- 
 worth to be Professor of Divinity on Mr. Hollis's 
 foundation." 
 
 Thus, on the 23d of January, 1722, the Corpora- Elect wj g - 
 
 ~ , . . , . , , f. glesworth a 
 
 tion are found in a meeting, at which only four second 
 
 * . time. 
 
 members were present, representing an election of 
 a Professor, made on the 28th of June preceding, at a 
 meeting when six members were present, and which 
 had been sent to Mr. Hollis for his approbation, as only 
 " having formerly their thoughts upon Mr. Wiggles- 
 worth " ; and then, after sending for him, and examin- 
 ing him as to his " soundness and orthodoxy," pro- 
 ceeding to declare his election, without ballot, and 
 with the presence only of a mere quorum of the board. 
 The extraordinary nature of these proceedings suf- 
 ficiently indicates, that they had relation to the meeting
 
 254 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER of the Overseers, which had been adjourned to the 
 
 XII 
 
 ! day following, and had particular reference to the 
 
 contemporaneous construction of those technical terms, 
 which the objections made in that board required of 
 the Corporation ; and that the chief object of this 
 meeting was to establish the precedent of examina- 
 tion into " soundness and orthodoxy." 
 
 Cause of The Corporation, however, had the prudence and 
 
 this pro- r 
 
 ceeding. delicacy to leave the particular points of their ex- 
 amination, by which they tested Mr. Wigglesworth's 
 orthodoxy, unspecified on their records. They had 
 also, probably, conscientious misgivings, that some 
 of the topics of inquiry did not altogether coincide 
 with their implied engagements to Mr. Hollis. The 
 acquiescence of such men as Leverett, Colman, and 
 Wadsworth, in measures thus inconsistent with the 
 liberal spirit, for which they were distinguished, is 
 not, however, to be attributed solely to their fear 
 of losing the Professorship of Divinity by the nega- 
 tive of the Overseers, but to the violence of party 
 spirit, which was raging in that board and the House 
 of Representatives against the Corporation, and which 
 was then countenancing measures tending to remove 
 the obnoxious members of it from their seats. The 
 nature of these will be hereafter stated and explained. 
 The considerations of prudence and delicacy, evi- 
 denced in the records of the Corporation, did not 
 answer the purposes of the Overseers. They wanted 
 not merely a general examination into the " sound- 
 ness and orthodoxy " of the candidate, but a special 
 statement of their construction of those terms, for 
 the guidance of future times. Therefore, at their 
 meeting on the 24th of January, 1722, the day after 
 the meeting of the Corporation, when the Presi-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 255 
 
 dent of the College reported their choice of Mr. CHAPTER 
 
 Wigglesworth for confirmation, stating, " that, preced- 
 
 ing the choice, they had examined him upon several 
 important heads of divinity ; the Overseers, first ap- 
 proving that examination, and then confirming Mr. 
 Wigglesworth, immediately caused the following order Further 
 to be entered upon their records, under the head of Fngsof the 
 " Professor Wiggles worth's creed." " Ordered by the 
 Overseers, that a minute be taken and recorded, of 
 the several heads in divinity, upon which the Corpo- 
 ration examined Mr. Wigglesworth, viz. that he ap- 
 peared before the Corporation, and declared his assent, 
 1. To Dr. Ames's * Medulla Theologiae.' 2. To the 
 Confession of Faith contained in the Assembly's Cate- 
 chism. 3. To the doctrinal Articles of the Church 
 of England. More particularly; 1. To the doctrine 
 of the Holy Trinity. 2. To the doctrine of the eter- 
 nal Godhead of the blessed Saviour. 3. To the doc- 
 trine of Predestination. 4. To the doctrine of special 
 efficacious grace. 5. To the divine right of infant 
 baptism." 
 
 By thus enumerating all the particular points on 
 which Mr. Wigglesworth had been examined, in- 
 cluding " the divine right of infant baptism," the 
 Overseers unquestionably intended to fix, by con- 
 temporaneous construction, the meaning of the terms 
 " sound and orthodox." 
 
 These proceedings can hardly be reconciled with Their in- 
 good faith to Mr. Hollis ; first, in the attempt to tency with 
 
 good faith. 
 
 establish the divine right of infant baptism as a re- 
 quired article of belief, under statutes established by 
 a Baptist, which expressly provided that the professor 
 might be of the Baptist communion ; and under " or- 
 ders " concerning the disposition of his monevs sent
 
 256 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER to New England, " that none should be refused on 
 
 "V IT 
 
 ' . account of his belief and practice of adult baptism ; " 
 
 secondly, in compelling a professor to make a formal 
 declaration of belief in all the points of high Calvin- 
 ism, under statutes which expressly provide, that the 
 only declaration required of the professor should be, 
 " that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments 
 are the only perfect rule of faith and manners." 
 
 Notwithstanding these deviations from the princi- 
 ples of Mr. Hollis's statutes and orders, unanimity 
 was not obtained. Three out of the fourteen mem- 
 bers of the board, who voted on the approval of Mr. 
 Wigglesworth, were, according to Mr. Sewall's Diary, 
 dissentient, f It is probable, however, that the course 
 adopted tended to reconcile the other members of the 
 board, and established his election. 
 
 This construction of the terms "sound and ortho- 
 doxy" and this required declaration of all the high 
 points of Calvinism, were, it can scarcely be doubted, 
 never made known to Mr. Hollis. They were in 
 such direct opposition to the spirit and letter of his 
 statutes and orders, that if they had been communi- 
 cated to him, it is hardly possible he should not have 
 severely commented upon them. 
 
 By Hollis's letter to Colman, of June 8th, 1722, 
 subsequent to these measures, it appears he had 
 notice of the acceptance of his professorship by the 
 Overseers ; that " a fair copy of his orders, with the 
 amendments of the board of Overseers," had been 
 sent to him ; which he approved, " depending upon 
 your (Mr. Colman's) judgment, that for the pres- 
 ent it is best." " I am thinking," he writes, " to 
 
 * See above, p. 242. \ See Appendix, No. XI.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 267 
 
 add some clause more binding, that my heirs and CHAPTER 
 
 successors may have power to see my rules and ! 
 
 orders fulfilled, according as I hinted to you last 
 year in my letters." 
 
 It appears, also, by this letter, that Mr. Hollis 
 had been informed of the debates in the board of 
 Overseers on his statutes and orders, and of the part 
 the Governor had taken in their favor ; but no allusion 
 is made to the examination and declaration required 
 of his professor on certain articles of belief previous 
 to his admission to the office. " I am sorry," he ob- 
 serves, " to hear of some men's spirits, and grieved I 
 have occasion to say so much of my own particular 
 persuasion about baptism, a point I am far from im- 
 posing on any, nor for writing or discoursing about 
 unless necessarily called unto it." 
 
 " In relation to my devoted moneys," he adds, " I 
 have confidence in the present Corporation, that they 
 will not alter my intended purposes (which are sacred 
 to me) without my leave, while I live, whatever 
 changes in my rules and orders it may come into 
 their heads to make after I am dead." His anxiety Hoiiispost- 
 
 ... -i . pones sign- 
 
 On this subject is again intimated in a postscript to ingthe 
 
 amended 
 
 the same letter. " I must pray you to have regard to orders. 
 the rules relating to my trust, which you have by you 
 under my hand, till such time as I return you the 
 fair copy, signed in form, with your amendments." 
 These successive expressions would certainly not have 
 been used by Mr. Hollis, had he been correctly in- 
 formed of the total disregard of his statutes, in re- 
 spect to Baptists, evinced by the Overseers, and of the 
 declaration of faith they had required of his professor. 
 These proceedings of the Overseers were confined to 
 their records, to which Mr. Hollis had no means of 
 VOL. i. 33
 
 258 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER access. But. aware of the sectarian spirit prevalent in 
 
 XII. 
 
 that board, and of the bigotry of some of its members, 
 
 his fears were excited relative to the perversion of 
 his funds, and he demanded farther security for the 
 observance of his statutes. His letter to Dr. Colman, 
 
 Hoiiis dated August 18th, 1722, renders this evident. "I 
 
 alarmed for 
 
 his trusts. (J o now, Sir, entreat you to acquaint Mr. President 
 and the Corporation, that they should send me over 
 some writing obligatory, that they will now, and in 
 time following, perform this my trust, committed to 
 them pursuant to my orders, which I have signed or 
 shall sign with my hand and seal ; which I may leave 
 with my heirs at my decease, who may have some 
 power to examine that your successors are faithful in 
 the trust, and do not divert the principal nor income 
 to other purposes." " The late uncharitable reflections 
 of some upon the Baptists as not orthodox, together 
 
 Hesitates with the present or later motions of some to alter, 
 
 about sign- -i i . . . . 
 
 ing the by changing or increasing hands in the governing 
 
 amended f i /-^ i 1-1- i 
 
 statutes. power of the Corporation, makes me think it to be 
 needful, and I hope they will grant it me." " I 
 have some minutes by me to strengthen my orders, 
 as I think, but am not yet resolved, whether to add 
 it to your present parchment writing you sent me, or 
 to leave it sealed up with my will." 
 
 " I have been prevailed upon, at your instances, to 
 sit the first time for my picture, a present to your 
 Hall. I doubt not but that they are pleased with my 
 moneys; but I have some reason to think, that some 
 among you will not be well pleased to see the shade 
 of a Baptist hung there, unless you get a previous 
 order to admit it, and forbidding any indecency to it ; 
 which, if they do, though I am at a distance, the
 
 XII. 
 
 Being apprized of the temper, in which the New His opinion 
 
 * of the re- 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 259 
 
 birds of the air will tell it. and I shall be grieved ; CHAPTER 
 as I have been already." 
 
 Being apprized of the 
 T, V . . . 
 
 England religious controversies were in that day con- 
 
 J . spirit of 
 
 ducted, he adds. " I pray God to allay the unchristian New Er) g- 
 
 r J J land. 
 
 heats, that have been among you of one sort and 
 another. Be at peace, and continue not to divide 
 and bite one another." As if anticipating, that the 
 term " orthodox " was about to be abused to the 
 propagation of an antichristian spirit, he takes occa- 
 sion to advise Mr. Colman in relation to Mr. Monis 
 (instructor in Hebrew, a converted Jew), " to instruct 
 him a little farther in the Christian doctrine of more 
 extensive charity, and not to judge too hastily of his 
 neighbour, and exclude from salvation every one that 
 differs from him in the explication and belief of the 
 article of the Trinity. A glorious truth it is, but the 
 manner of explaining it appears difficult ; so difficult, 
 that scarce two can say exactly alike, except they 
 agree on a form and agree to write after it." 
 
 How little did Mr. Hollis imagine, at the time he 
 wrote this letter, that measures had been adopted by 
 the board of Overseers, which placed among the tests 
 of orthodoxy a belief in the divine right of infant bap- 
 tism ; and that amendments and papers had been so 
 devised, as to make him apparently instrumental in 
 such a construction, as would for ever exclude a Bap- 
 tist from a professorship, to which his statutes had 
 made a specific provision that he might be eligible ! 
 
 In a subsequent letter to Colman, dated the 14th 
 of January, 1722-23, he thus writes, "I am not 
 unacquainted, by books I have read, what treatment 
 Baptists have met with in New England in former 
 times, and been sorry for it. I am glad to see and
 
 260 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER hear by divers letters and books, that they have been 
 "' better treated of late, and that a better spirit of love 
 and charity now shows itself in Boston. But it may 
 not be amiss to let you know, that the speeches of 
 some on that head, at reading my orders, have come 
 to the knowledge of many ministers and gentlemen 
 in London, which have occasioned many very hard 
 speeches against your College, in my hearing, to my 
 sorrow." 
 
 With this clear comprehension of the difficulties 
 and differences attending the explanation of the term 
 " orthodox," Mr. Hollis would not have permitted its 
 introduction into his statutes, had he not thought he 
 had sufficiently guarded against its misconstruction by 
 the only declaration of faith, which he required of 
 his professor. Nor would he have confined his re- 
 marks to " the speeches of some on that head" if he 
 had been apprized that the Overseers of the College 
 had already made and acted upon a construction of 
 the term " orthodoxy," which, if followed as a prece- 
 dent, would for ever exclude a Baptist from being a 
 professor on his foundation. 
 
 Finally From this letter it appears, that his " orders " were 
 
 signs the 
 
 statutes of nO w finally " written over fairly on vellum," and that 
 
 his Profes- J . . 
 
 sorship of n w hat relates to the Professor is verbatim as you 
 
 Divinity. v 
 
 (Mr. Colman) sent it me over." The " orders " sent 
 by Mr. Hollis, which may be considered as the real 
 foundation of his professorship, are dated February 
 14th, 1720 - 21 . The " orders " above specified were 
 dated " the ninth year of George the First, 10th 
 January, 1722-23, nearly two years subsequent to 
 the date of his first orders. So much time had this 
 negotiation occupied. 
 
 Mr. Hollis recurs again in this letter to his " writing
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 261 
 
 obligatory." " I wait to see," says he, " your Corpo- CHAPTER 
 
 ration's obligation, and how you shall continue to act. 
 
 If one or the other is not to my liking, I can, by the claims a 
 
 _ writing ob- 
 
 powers 1 reserve, add it as a codicil, or part ot my ' 
 will ; but I have hopes I shall not need." 
 
 In a letter dated on the 2d of March, 1723, he re- 
 peats his " expectation, that what I last year desired, 
 a College obligation for performance of my trusts to 
 me and my successors, should be sent out to me." 
 
 This demand of a writing obligatory for the faith- 
 ful performance of his trusts occasioned the Overseers sending 
 and Corporation some embarrassment. As Hollis said, 
 " they liked his moneys," but his " writings obliga- 
 tory " were not quite so much to their fancy. Presi- 
 dent Leverett therefore replied, " that the Corpora- 
 tion, upon second thoughts, could not find how to bind 
 themselves faster than they are already, in justice." 
 
 On this refusal, Mr. Hollis called a meeting, in 
 London, of his friends, at which Governor Shute, 
 who was then in England, was present, and submitted 
 President Leverett's letter for their " advice," in 
 which, says he, " they were unanimous, that I should 
 insist on it, to have such an obligation as strong as 
 may be, according to your promise." 
 
 That this demand might be the more certainly 
 effectual, he put the Corporation under a high pressure. 
 " It will not be prudent," he adds, " for you to delay Hoiiis de- 
 it " (sending the required obligation) ; " for, though I 
 think I have sent enough, yet more was designed, as I 
 hinted, in my will, but that it is as yet in my own 
 power to alter, if I may not be gratified in this.* 
 
 Upon this urgency, an obligation was transmitted. 
 
 * Hollis's letter, 18th March, J722-3. Appendix, No. XLIX.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER Its terms, however, were not satisfactory to Hollis. 
 - On the 15th of August, 1723, he writes to Colman ; 
 
 tionu-ans- " I have now received from Mr. Treasurer a draft of 
 
 obligation, a College obligation to perform my trusts. I shall 
 return it again with some very little alteration. I 
 think the Corporation need not be so scrupulous, and 
 fearful of me, in coming into such a deed ; I mean 
 them no harm, no difficulty." " Since my orders are 
 now signed and sealed with you, keep but honestly 
 to them, and I shall be pleased, not having any 
 design at present to alter them, unless I see some 
 very great reason for it." 
 
 The reluctance of the Corporation was not over- 
 come until the month of September, 1725, when they 
 finally transmitted to Mr. Hollis a formal obligation 
 for their faithful fulfilment of his trusts. 
 
 We have thus traced, historically, through its sev- 
 eral stages, the foundation of the Professorship of 
 Divinity, in Harvard College, by the first Thomas 
 Hollis, with an exactness of investigation and a 
 minuteness of statement, demanded by both justice 
 and gratitude. 
 
 Result of The investigation, it is believed, has resulted in 
 
 the invest!- . . 
 
 gation. establishing, beyond any reasonable question, the 
 following points. 
 
 1. That the Professorship of Divinity, as it first 
 came from the hands of Hollis, was absolutely with- 
 out restriction or qualification ; and not only free from 
 any sectarian test, but so broad and unequivocal in 
 language, that no sectarian test could be extracted 
 or deduced from it. 
 
 2. That the terms, out of which the attempt to 
 establish a test has grown, were of New England 
 invention and transmission.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 263 
 
 3. That Hollis, by providing that the only declara- CHAPTER 
 
 XH 
 
 tion required of his professor should be, " his belief ' 
 that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are 
 the only perfect rule of faith and manners, and that 
 he promise to explain and open the Scriptures to his 
 pupils with integrity and uprightness, according to 
 the best light that God shall give him," established 
 his professorship upon the broad basis of a belief 
 in the Scriptures ; a foundation wholly inconsistent 
 with a required belief in any specified sectarian points 
 or creeds. 
 
 4. That the construction, which substituted, in place 
 of the simple declaration required by Hollis of his pro- 
 fessor, an examination and declaration of faith in all 
 the high points of New England Calvinism, including 
 a belief in the divine right of infant baptism, could 
 not have received the approbation or consent of Hollis ; 
 and that there is no evidence, or reasonable ground 
 to believe it was ever communicated to him, or known 
 by him, to the day of his death. 
 
 From these points, thus established, it unavoidably 
 results, that the suspicions of double dealing, to which 
 an overheated zeal for sects and tests has subjected 
 the character of Hollis, are wholly unfounded. Thomas 
 Hollis was a man incapable of the meanness of at- 
 tempting to do indirectly, by the use of a word of 
 equivocal meaning, that which, had he done it directly, 
 would have contradicted the whole tenor of his life, 
 and the trait of character which he most valued, 
 charity. Much more was he incapable of the hypoc- 
 risy of prescribing in terms, that a belief in the sacred 
 Scriptures should be the only declaration required of 
 his professor, and, in the same instrument, by construc- 
 tion, clandestinely providing that his professor should
 
 264 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER be examined, and declare his belief, in all the high 
 points of New England Calvinism. Above all, he 
 was incapable of being a traitor to the faith he pub- 
 licly professed, by establishing directly, in one clause 
 of his statutes, that his professor might be of the 
 " Baptist communion," and constructively, by the use 
 of an equivocal word, in another clause requiring, in 
 direct contradiction of the peculiar tenets of the Bap- 
 tist faith, that, as a condition of admission, his pro- 
 fessor should declare his belief in the divine right of 
 infant baptism. 
 
 The negotiations relative to the establishment of 
 the Hollis Professorship of Divinity were finally closed 
 but a short time before the death of President Lev- 
 erett, which occurred in May, 1724. Reserving the 
 other noble donations of Hollis for the history of the 
 presidency in which they were received, we shall 
 proceed to narrate in the order of time the other 
 events affecting the prosperity of the College during 
 the administration of Leverett.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 265 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Tutors Sever and Welsteed claim Seats at the Board of Corporation 
 by Virtue of the Term "Fellows." The Overseers appoint a 
 Committee on the Subject. Origin of the Term " Fellows" in the 
 College. History of its Introduction and Use traced through the 
 College Records. "Fellow of the Corporation," when first used. 
 "Fellow of the House," when introduced, and how used. 
 Distinction instituted between them. Tenure of Tutor's Office 
 limited to three Years. Sever and Welsteed each elected a Fel- 
 low of the House under that Limitation. State of Parties when 
 their Claim to a Seat at the Board of Corporation was intro- 
 duced. Treatment of President Leverett by the General Court. 
 
 WHILE the Overseers of Harvard College were CHAPTER 
 
 VTTT 
 
 carefully shaping by act and construction the statutes 
 of the Hollis Professorship of Divinity into a form, 
 adapted to establish in the College a creed and 
 religious test, an event occurred, which opened a 
 prospect of removing from their seats, those members 
 of the Corporation who were most distinguished for 
 the liberality of their religious opinions. On the 23d 
 of June, 1721, in the very week the Corporation had 
 chosen Mr. Wigglesworth Professor of. Divinity, in 
 conformity with Mr. Hollis's original orders, without 
 any examination into his " soundness and orthodoxy," 
 two Tutors, Nicholas Sever and William Welsteed, Scver a " d ' 
 
 ' Welsteed's 
 
 presented to the Overseers a memorial, claiming, under memorial. 
 the charter of the College granted in 1650, seats at 
 the board of Corporation, by virtue of being fel- 
 lows and actual residents at the College, engaged in 
 VOL. i. 34
 
 266 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER the business of instruction, and receiving a stipend. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 The Overseers referred this memorial to a large com- 
 mittee, of which Chief Justice Sewall was chairman, 
 with instructions to," inquire into the grounds and rea- 
 sons of that memorial, to consider what is proper and 
 necessary to be done upon it, and make report thereof 
 to the Overseers." Although the memorial itself is 
 not preserved, the principles upon which the claim 
 of these tutors was founded are apparent from the 
 records of the Overseers and from contemporary 
 documents. From its intimate connexion with the 
 history of the College, it requires, in this place, to be 
 stated and illustrated with minute exactness. 
 
 By the charter of 1650, the Corporation was to 
 consist of seven persons ; a President, a Treasurer, 
 and Jive Fellows. The claim of these tutors was 
 founded upon the term " fellows " in that charter, 
 which they maintained was technical, and to be con- 
 strued according to its use in the English Universities ; 
 in which residence at the College, engagement in in- 
 struction, and receiving therefor stipend, were essen- 
 tial requisites to the character of " fellow." 
 
 At the time this memorial was presented to the 
 Overseers, no vacancy existed in the board of Cor- 
 poration. The seven members were, Leverett, Presi- 
 dent; White, Treasurer; and Flynt (Tutor), Wads- 
 worth, Colman, Appleton, and Stevens, the five 
 Fellows. According to the view of these memorial- 
 ists, Flynt alone possessed the qualities essential to 
 constitute " a fellow." The four others were neither 
 residents, instructors, nor stipendiaries. If these 
 qualities should be declared essential to constitute a 
 member of the Corporation, the seats of these four 
 would be vacated, and three of them would rightfully
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 261 
 
 belong to Sever, Welsteed, and Robie, another tutor CHAPTER 
 
 and " resident fellow," who, for some reason, did not 
 
 unite in Sever and Welsteed's memorial. 
 
 Each of these tutors had accepted his appointment 
 upon an express understanding, that he was chosen 
 not a " fellow of the Corporation," but only a " fel- 
 low of the College or House " ; a distinction, which 
 had been sanctioned by successive votes of the Cor- 
 poration, approved by the Overseers. 
 
 The claim of Sever and Welsteed rested solely on 
 the construction of the term " fellows " in the charter 
 of the College. They maintained that this term in- 
 tended not " associates " in a genera] sense, but " resi- 
 dent instructors at the College " in an academic 
 sense ; and that it could not be satisfied, except by 
 electing resident instructors, or by the elected persons 
 becoming resident instructors after their election. 
 
 Regarding exclusively the use and connexion of the Meaning of 
 term " fellows" in the charter, nothing could be more i 
 
 ,, , . , . . . l 
 
 grOUndleSS than this claim ; since that instrument, un- ter. 
 deriiably, gave to the Corporation the right of electing 
 its members from the " inhabitants of the Bay " at 
 large, without any precedent or subsequent restriction, 
 qualification, or condition. To maintain the technical 
 meaning of this term, it was therefore necessary to 
 prove, either, that, antecedent to the charter of 1650, 
 tutors and instructors in the College were designated 
 by the term " fellows," and that the use of that term 
 in the charter was intended to express a class of 
 academic men then known by that name, or that the 
 five persons named in the charter were in fact " resi- 
 dent instructors." 
 
 To the first position, the general history of the coun- 
 try, and the particular history, records, and known re-
 
 268 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER lations of the College, gave either no support, or such 
 . ' as was altogether shadowy and unsubstantial. 
 
 The name of " fellows," applied to instructors in 
 Harvard College, is not to be found in any history, 
 general or particular, or in any public document, or 
 in any College record, antecedent to 1650, with one 
 exception ; and, in this instance, its use satisfactorily 
 indicates the time and manner of its introduction. 
 
 The College, although founded in 1636, had at- 
 tained, prior to 1639, notwithstanding the donation of 
 Harvard, no higher appellation than that of " school." 
 Eaton, its master, had assistant instructors, called 
 " ushers."* 
 
 In the invitation given to Dunster to accept the 
 place of President, there is no mention of " fellows." 
 Neither is there any in the order of the General Court 
 in 1642, which has been called the first charter of the 
 College. There exists only a single record of any 
 meeting of the board constituted by this act. At this 
 meeting, on "the 27th of the 10th month, 1643,"f 
 the settlement of the account of John Harvard's ad- 
 ministrator was authorized, a treasurer appointed, a 
 seal established, and two instructors were chosen " for 
 the present help of the President to read to the junior 
 pupils as the President shall see fit." The two 
 Bachelors, Sir Bulkley and Sir Downing, were the 
 persons thus chosen, and each was allowed a salary 
 of four pounds per annum. 
 
 This is the only evidence, existing on the College 
 records, of the appointment of any instructor by any 
 title before the year 1650; and it appears by this record, 
 that the persons chosen to assist the President in the 
 
 * Savage's Winthrop, Vol. I. pp. 308, 309. f See above, p. 48.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 269 
 
 business of instruction, had not acquired the name CHAPTER 
 
 XII I 
 
 of " fellows." This is farther corroborated by the '. 
 
 T 11 i i TA i Term"So- 
 
 circumstance, that Bulkley and Downing have never ci us ,"when 
 had the term " Socius " applied to them in the Trien- 
 nial Catalogue ; although, if at that time instructors 
 had acquired the name of " fellows," they are as 
 much entitled to it as any of their successors. The 
 fact, that the first five " Socii " are those first named 
 as such in the College Catalogue, demonstrates, that, 
 antecedent to the charter of 1650, no one had ac- 
 acquired the name of " socius " or " fellow." 
 
 Before the date of that charter, the institution was 
 designated, and made capable of taking gifts and grants 
 in law, by the name of the " College at Cambridge," 
 or " Harvard College." Accordingly, all the deeds 
 and grants to the seminary, which appear on its rec- 
 ords, antecedent to 1650, bear that designation and 
 none other. The deed of John Bulkley, in Latin, 
 of the date of December, 1645, strongly corroborates 
 the position, that the term " fellows " was not then in 
 use in the College. " Socius," the Latin term for 
 " fellow," is not in that deed. By it Bulkley gave 
 to Dunster, the President of the College, two acres 
 of land in Cambridge, therein described, for his life. 
 The deed then proceeds ; " If at any time he shall 
 leave the presidency, or shall decease, I then desire 
 the College to appropriate the same to itself for ever, 
 as a small gift from an alumnus, bearing towards it 
 the greatest good will."* 
 
 Many years afterward, this deed was inserted in 
 the Donation Book of the College, and is there intro- 
 duced as " Extractum Doni Pomarii Sociorum per 
 
 * See Appendix, No. XXIL
 
 270 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER Johannem Bulkleium." But this descriptive title, 
 
 XIII 
 
 .! which was prefixed in later times, gives no support 
 
 to an argument in favor of the antecedent use of the 
 term " fellows," inasmuch as it is not found in the deed 
 itself. After President Dunster's resignation, the Cor- 
 poration gave the income of Bulkley's donation to 
 the tutors, who received it for many years, and hence 
 the enclosure obtained the name of " Tutors' Pasture," 
 or " Fellows' Orchard." On transcribing Bulkley's 
 deed into the College records, this descriptive title 
 was prefixed, either to give countenance to the name, 
 or in consequence of it. Notwithstanding this descrip- 
 tive title, therefore, it is evident, that Bulkley's deed 
 adds nothing in favor of the argument, that the term 
 "fellow" was in use in the College antecedent to 
 1650 ; but on the contrary, so far as it has any effect, 
 it supports the reverse. 
 
 A conclusive argument, that this term " fellow " 
 was not in use in the College antecedent to 1647, is 
 drawn from the fact, that the first statutes on the 
 records of the College are introduced with the follow- 
 ing preamble ; " The laws, liberties, and orders, of 
 Harvard College, confirmed by the Overseers and 
 President of the College in the years 1642, 1643, 
 1644, 1645, 1646, and published to the scholars for 
 the perpetual preservation of their welfare and gov 
 ernment." 
 
 In these " laws, liberties, and orders," the term 
 " fellows " is not applied to any class of instructors 
 or rulers, as it would have been, if any having that 
 denomination then constituted a part of the govern- 
 ment of the College. The term " tutor " occurs fre- 
 quently, and the term " fellows " once ; but in the 
 sense of " companions " (being rendered in an accom-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 271 
 
 panying Latin translation " sodales," and not " socii"), CHAPTER 
 
 and is used in direct contrast with the term " tutor." 
 
 " The scholars shall attend the lectures, and if of 
 any thing they doubt, they shall inquire of their fel- 
 lows, or, in case of non-resolution, modestly of their 
 tutors." A use of terms indicating almost conclusive- 
 ly, that " tutor " and " fellow " had not then in the 
 College an identical meaning. 
 
 The only instance in which this term appears in the 
 records of the College before 1650, in a sense ap- 
 plicable to instructors, is in an original contract, in- 
 serted in those records, and signed by one Richard 
 Taylor. The contract is in the handwriting of Presi- 
 dent Dunster, and is dated on the 13th of January, 
 1646-7. In it Taylor, after declaring, that, " where- 
 as he is in possession, on a tenancy of fifteen years, 
 of a shop in Boston, which had been given to the 
 College for ever by Major Robert Sedgwick," to 
 which "five years more had been added by Henry 
 Dunster, President of Harvard College," the said 
 Richard accordeth to pay a specified rent, and leave 
 the same in good repair, at the end of the term, " to 
 Harvard College, the President and Fellows thereof." 
 
 This entry indicates very clearly two things ; that 
 the term " fellows " had not acquired any authori- 
 tative use, and that its introduction was then contem- 
 plated by Dunster. The deed of Sedgwick was " to 
 the College." The extension of the lease, five years, 
 was by " the President." The tenement was to be 
 delivered at the end of the term " to Harvard Col- 
 lege," the only name by which it was then capable 
 of being legally contracted with. No mention is 
 made of President and Fellows, until all the essential 
 parts of the contract were closed. These terms were
 
 272 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER then introduced, probably, in expectation that a 
 
 XIII. 
 
 change would take place in the name of the society 
 before Taylor's lease terminated. If it did, these 
 terms would be directory to the tenant. If it did not, 
 they would be surplusage, and could not vitiate. In 
 fact, the change did take place. 
 
 No argument, in favor of the technical use of the 
 term " fellow " in this country, antecedent to the 
 charter of 1650, can be drawn from the early forms 
 of induction of " Fellows " or " Socii." These ap- 
 pear upon the College records, in the handwriting of 
 Dunster. But none of them were inserted antecedent 
 to 1650. They are recorded in the same page with 
 similar forms used in respect to the Overseers, and 
 no evidence or reasonable pretence exists, that either 
 kind of form was ever used in the College prior to 
 the date of that charter. Such is all the light to be 
 derived from the records of the College, on the ques- 
 tion of the technical construction of the term " fel- 
 lows," on which the claim of Sever and Welsteed was 
 founded. 
 
 The result is, that, antecedent to 1650, no class 
 of persons was known in the College by the gen- 
 eral, authorized denomination of " fellows." At that 
 early period there were two or three persons, who 
 held the station of tutors; but the President practi- 
 cally concentrated in himself all the powers of the 
 institution, and took the chief agency in the office 
 of instruction. The probability is, that, when the 
 charter was drafted, Dunster selected " President 
 and Fellows," as the term most appropriate and 
 scholastic, to become the corporate name of the gov- 
 ernment of the College, without intending to indicate 
 any class of men as exclusively eligible, or any aca-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 273 
 
 demic quality as essential. This seems to be the CHA *TER 
 plain view common sense suggests, of the origin of 
 these terms in the charter. 
 
 The general language of this instrument gives even "Fellows, 
 less color to the claim of Sever and Welsteed. The > the 
 
 charter. 
 
 selection of " President and Fellows," as the name 
 of the Corporation, implied, in respect to either, no 
 special qualification or duty, even upon the supposition 
 that there had previously existed, in connexion with 
 the College, persons to whom either designation had 
 been applied. Either President or Fellow might be 
 resident or non-resident, employed in instruction or 
 not ; these qualifications or duties wholly depending, 
 by force of the charter, upon the unrestricted exercise 
 of the authority to choose and to regulate, vested in 
 the Corporation by that instrument. 
 
 With respect to the position, that the five persons 
 named in the charter were resident fellows, there 
 cannot be a question, that some were non-residents, 
 and neither engaged in instruction nor receiving sti- 
 pend ; it being altogether incredible, that, at this 
 early period, when the College was struggling with 
 poverty, and actually dependent for its existence on 
 charity, when the number of students had at no 
 time exceeded twenty-five, and generally could not 
 have amounted to sixteen, it should yet maintain a 
 corps of five resident instructors, besides the Presi- 
 dent. In 1674, their number appears by the records 
 to have been three, called a senior, a second, and a 
 third fellow. Nor is there any reason to believe, that, 
 from the foundation of the College until that time, 
 the number of resident instructors was ever greater, 
 or that it was increased for many years afterwards. 
 Notwithstanding the deficiency of the early records 
 
 VOL. i. 35
 
 274 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER O f th e College, it does not admit of a doubt, that 
 xnr. 
 
 - there were always some of the five members of the 
 Corporation, neither resident, nor giving instruction, 
 nor receiving stipend. Those records satisfactorily 
 show, that, as early as 1666, there were fellows, non- 
 resident, who did not receive stipend ; since they pre- 
 scribe certain duties to be performed by such as are 
 fellows of the College and receive salaries, and espe- 
 cially that they " shall have their constant residence 
 in the College."* A provision, which would scarce- 
 ly have been made, if there had been no fellows, 
 except such as were resident instructors, receiving 
 stipend. 
 
 ^The'cor The President and Fellows of Harvard College 
 Eow'lc-'" being the only Corporation in the Province, and so 
 quired. continuing during the whole of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, they early assumed, and had by common usage 
 conceded to them, the name of " The Corporation," 
 by which they designate themselves in all the early 
 records. Their proceedings are recorded as being 
 done " at a meeting of the Corporation," or intro- 
 duced by the formula, " It is ordered by the Corpora- 
 tion," without stating the number or the names of 
 the members present, until April 19th, 1675, when, 
 under President Oakes, the names of those present 
 were first entered on the records, and afterwards 
 they were frequently, though not uniformly, inserted. 
 
 Proceed- I n the year 1674, the Corporation had been re- 
 
 ings of * ' 
 
 Dec. 11, duced by death and other causes to three mem- 
 
 1674. 
 
 bers, besides Dr. Hoar, the President. These were 
 Gookin and Thacher, both resident instructors, and 
 Richards, the Treasurer. On the special recommen- 
 
 * See Appendix, No. L.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 275 
 
 dation of the Overseers, the Corporation proceeded CHAPTER 
 
 xnr. 
 to fill up the vacancies in their body, and elected three 
 
 non-residents, all of whom retained their seats in the 
 board without becoming resident, or engaging in in- . 
 struction, or receiving stipend. These three were 
 Urian Oakes, minister of Cambridge, Thomas Shep- 
 ard, minister of Charlestown, Increase Mather, min- 
 ister in Boston. The Overseers, instead of question- Jan. 15, 
 ing their eligibility, or requiring from them residence 
 in the College, approved them as being orderly elected, 
 and entreated them to accept their trust. From this 
 time, it is apparent from the College records, that a 
 majority of the five fellows were non-residents ; and 
 the distinction between resident and non-resident fel- 
 lows is plainly and frequently to be seen in them. 
 Sometimes they were elected under the name of "Fel- 
 lows of the College," in which case they sometimes 
 are found enumerated among the members of the Cor- 
 poration, and sometimes they do not appear to have 
 taken their seats in consequence of such election. In 
 January, 1678, upon the death of Thomas Shepard, Proceed- 
 minister of Charlestown, the Overseers passed a vote, 1678. 
 recommending to the Corporation to choose a Fellow 
 in his room, " and one to officiate in the place, if they 
 judge it needful." The Corporation, judging that one 
 to officiate in the place was not needful, chose " Mr. 
 John Sherman, pastor of the church in Watertown, 
 to be a Fellow of the Corporation, all consenting." 
 This election was approved by the Overseers ; and is 
 the first instance in which this designation, " Fellow 
 of the Corporation," was applied to a member of that 
 body on its records. 
 
 No other light on the subject of this research is 
 given by the College records antecedent to the judg-
 
 276 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 CHAPTER ment against the charter of the Colony, in 1684. 
 Nothing, however, is more clear from those early 
 records, than that, up to this time, persons, not having 
 the character of residents, instructors, or stipendiaries, 
 had been elected members of the Corporation, and 
 continued members without its being required of them 
 to take upon themselves any one of these characters. 
 It is equally manifest by the records, that this course 
 of proceeding received the uniform sanction of the 
 board of Overseers. 
 
 By the revocation of the colonial charter of Massa- 
 chusetts in 1684, the charter of the College was, 
 by necessary construction, also vacated. * In relation 
 to the future, both the Colony and the College were 
 in a state of utter uncertainty. The officers of the 
 seminary naturally felt reluctant to take the responsi- 
 bility of managing its funds, or conducting its ad- 
 ministration. In these difficulties,! Joseph Dudley 
 assumed the authority, under the commission he held 
 as Governor of the Colony, to organize the College. 
 On the 23d of July, 1686, he appeared with his Coun- 
 cil at Cambridge and appointed the Rev. Increase 
 Mather Rector, and John Leverett and William Brat- 
 tle Tutors. The records do not indicate the state of 
 the Corporation after this event until June 2d, 1690, 
 when they state, that " at a meeting of the Corpora- 
 tion, present Major John Richards, Treasurer, Nehe- 
 miah Hobart, John Leverett, and William Brattle, the 
 Rev. Mr. Nathaniel Gookin and the Rev. Mr. Cotton 
 Mather were chosen Fellows of the Corporation," 
 which was thus composed of a Rector, two resident, 
 three non-resident Fellows, and a Treasurer. 
 
 From this period until the year 1707, when the 
 
 * See Mass. Hist Coll., First Series, Vol. III. p. 126. 
 t See above, p. 58.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 277 
 
 charter of 1650 was revived, under the auspices of CHAPTER 
 
 the same Dudley,* the successive Governors of the '- 
 
 Province were accustomed to assume the whole con- 
 trol, in respect to the organization of the College. 
 The short, turbulent, and grasping administration of 
 Andros had no important effect on its affairs. Dud- 
 ley, Phips, Stoughton, and Bellamont were all friends 
 of the institution. Their measures were in concur- 
 rence with the wishes of those, who had its interests 
 at heart. In the unsettled state of the government 
 of the Colony, and the consequent uncertainty con- 
 cerning the fate of the College, its friends and offi- 
 cers were naturally desirous to place it under the 
 protection of the chief magistrate. 
 
 In all the charters, and in every organization of state of 
 
 i /~i f i i'ii things in 
 
 the Corporation occurring after the new colonial char- 1692. 
 ter in 1692, a majority of the Fellows were non- 
 resident, and neither instructors nor stipendiaries. 
 While the number of the Corporation was seven, that 
 of the resident instructors never exceeded two. After 
 Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton, in 1696, took upon 
 himself to organize the Corporation, the number of 
 that body was increased to ten, twelve, and once even 
 to fifteen ; yet the number of resident instructors, it 
 is believed, at no time, exceeded three. It is evi- 
 dent, therefore, that between the revocation of the 
 charter of 1650, in 1684, and its revival by the vote 
 of the General Court in 1707, the claim, on the part 
 of resident instructors, of an exclusive right to be 
 Fellows of the Corporation, was as groundless and 
 without just pretence, as at previous periods. 
 
 In organizing the Corporation under this vote of 
 
 * See Hutch. Hist. Mass., pp. 159, 160.
 
 278 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER the General Court, Governor Dudley, with their ap- 
 ' probation, as well as with that of the Overseers, had 
 filled up the number of five Fellows, with three non- 
 resident fellows, Hobart, Brattle, and Pemberton, and 
 two resident, FJynt and Remington. 
 
 It appears by the records of the Corporation, that 
 these five Fellows were at that time called " Fellows of 
 the House." The equivocal meaning of this term, 
 from its being also applied to instructors, who did 
 not belong to the Corporation, was perceived by 
 President Leverett ; for, in his duplicate record of the 
 proceedings of the Corporation and the Overseers, he 
 designates the persons abovenamed thus, " Fellows 
 of the House, i. e. of the Corporation." * 
 
 Flynt and Remington were tutors as well as " fel- 
 lows." At the same time there was a third tutor, 
 John Whiting, who, by courtesy, had, as well as they, 
 the title of " Fellow of the House," or resident 
 Fellow, and yet had no right to be a " Fellow of the 
 Corporation"; and this indeed he could not be, without 
 displacing one of the non-resident members of that 
 body, inasmuch as by the charter the number of 
 " fellows " was restricted to seven. 
 
 A year did not elapse before an attempt was made, 
 as appears upon the records, to distinguish between 
 these two classes of fellows. On the 14th of Decem- 
 ber, 1708, the expulsion of a student for an offence, 
 is stated to have been done by " the President and 
 resident Fellows, with the advice and consent of 
 Faculty of the non-resident Fellows of this House." In this 
 
 the Col- 
 lege, vote is to be seen the first shadowing out of what 
 
 at this day is called the Faculty of the College, in 
 
 * Leverett's Manuscript, p. 8.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 279 
 
 contradistinction to the Corporation. The same form CHAPTER 
 
 ~ . ., . i T i XIIL 
 oi vote, on a similar occasion, was adopted in the 
 
 March following. Nothing occurs to throw any 
 light on the point on which this controversy turned, 
 until the 20th of August, 1711, when, on the resig- 
 nation of Remington, John Whiting was chosen " Fel- 
 low of the Corporation." On this occasion, Whiting, 
 who had been for several years known as Tutor and 
 " Fellow of the House," but had never, in conse- 
 quence, been deemed, or pretended to be, a member 
 of the Corporation, was admitted to a seat in that 
 board. The circumstance probably showed the Cor- 
 poration the necessity of dropping altogether the name 
 of " Fellow of the House " as applicable to a member 
 of that body, and establishing for themselves the more 
 convenient, ancient, and appropriate title of " Fellow 
 of the Corporation." From this time, therefore, the 
 term " Fellow of the College " or " House " was 
 restricted by their use to resident instructors, who 
 were not members of the Corporation, by virtue of 
 such election. Accordingly, on the 24th of December, 
 1711, Joseph Stevens was chosen "Fellow of the 
 College, or House," and as such was approved by 
 that board, in the language of the records, " to supply 
 a vacancy in one of the Fellowships of the House." 
 
 Upon this election Stevens was inaugurated as inaugura- 
 " Fellow of the House," " secundum formam anti- Feiiowof 
 
 the House, 
 
 quitus prsescriptam ; " a formality which had been Feb - 14 J- 
 discontinued since the revival of the charter of 1650, 
 and had never been practised with regard to non- 
 resident fellows. The proceedings on the occasion 
 are described with minuteness by President Leverett, 
 in his Journal ; " the solemnity," he writes, " being 
 the first of this sort that was celebrated, since the
 
 280 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER restoration of Harvard College to its first constitu- 
 
 XIII 
 
 ' tion." By the President's Latin address, which is 
 
 transcribed at large, it appears, that these formalities 
 were not revived solely on his suggestion, but by 
 the express injunction of the Governor and Over- 
 seers. * The object in thus reviving the early form of 
 inaugurating resident fellows, on an occasion when 
 the distinction between " Fellows of the House," and 
 " Fellows of the Corporation," was first introduced, 
 was obviously to make that distinction plain and pal- 
 pable, and to the end it might be understood, that, 
 being chosen " Fellow of the House " conferred no 
 right to a seat in the Corporation, and imposed a very 
 different class of duties. Accordingly Stevens made 
 no claim, and was never admitted to a "seat in the 
 Corporation in consequence of that election and in- 
 auguration. Upon the resignation of Whiting, Stevens 
 was elected " Fellow of the Corporation," and on 
 the same day Edward Holyoke was elected " Fellow 
 of the House." Here the distinction was maintained, 
 in direct contrast, in two elections made on the same 
 day. It is apparent, that the Overseers knew of this 
 distinction, and that it was adopted with their entire 
 approbation ; for on the same day (9th of July, 1712,) 
 Stevens was presented by the President to the Over- 
 seers, as chosen " Fellow of the Corporation," and 
 Holyoke as " Fellow of the House," and both were 
 respectively as such approved. 
 
 On the 5th of November, 1712, Benjamin Wads- 
 worth was presented to the Overseers by President 
 Leverett as being chosen " a Fellow of the Corpora 
 tion in the room of Nehemiah Hobart, deceased," 
 and approved as such by that board. 
 
 * Leverett's Manuscript, p. 84.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 281 
 
 In February, 1713, Stevens, having been settled as CHAPTER 
 
 pastor over the church in Charlestown, resigned his 
 
 seat as a member of the Corporation ; and, on the 
 7th of April following, Hoi joke was chosen in his 
 place, " a Fellow of the Corporation," and Robie 
 " a Fellow of the House." Both were reported to the 
 Overseers, and approved in their several stations by 
 that board. 
 
 In February, 1715-1716, Holyoke resigned his 
 office of Fellow of the Corporation. 
 
 On the 9th of April, 1716, the Corporation passed Limitation 
 a vote, " that no Tutor, or Fellow of the House, now office of 
 or henceforth to be chosen, shall hold a fellowship the House. 
 with a salary for more than three years, except con- 
 tinued by a new election." 
 
 On the same day they chose the Rev. Joseph 
 Stevens, minister of Charlestown, " a Fellow of the 
 Corporation," and Mr. Nicholas Sever " Fellow of the 
 House," and presented both to the Overseers, by whom, 
 on the 16th of April, they were "accepted in their 
 respective stations, to which they are chosen accord- 
 ingly." Robie was then also Fellow of the House. 
 At this time Sever made no claim to be admitted as 
 a member of the Corporation. This board was now 
 composed of four non-resident and only one resi- 
 dent Fellow (Flynt). The Corporation began to per- 
 ceive the inconvenience arising from the introduction 
 into the College government of very young men with- 
 out limitation of time, who, if they possessed good 
 talents would speedily be induced to resign, and, if 
 they did not possess the ability to become eminent 
 in a profession, might be fixed upon the College 
 for life. Flynt had then been a tutor for sixteen 
 years, and Robie, who had held that office three 
 
 VOL. i. 36
 
 282 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER years, they might apprehend would be equally per- 
 ' manent. 
 
 In order therefore to prevent unsuitable instruc- 
 tors fixing themselves permanently on the College, 
 they passed the vote, limiting the continuance in 
 office of a tutor, or Fellow of the House, to three 
 years, except with " a new election." As nothing 
 could be more wise than a precaution of this kind, 
 so it could be no occasion of just complaint to Sever 
 or any other tutor subsequently chosen, as the tenure 
 of their office was explained to them before their 
 election, and they knew the condition on which they 
 accepted of it. 
 
 In September, 1717, Colman and Appleton were 
 chosen Fellows of the Corporation, in place of Brattle 
 and Pemberton, deceased, and were approved subse- 
 quently as such by the Overseers. Thus the propor- 
 tion of non-resident to resident fellows remained un- 
 changed, four to one. 
 
 April 28th, 1719, it appears by the records of 
 the Corporation, that, " the three years since Mr. 
 Nicholas Sever was chosen to be Fellow of the House 
 being expired, he is now renewedly chosen Fellow 
 of the House for three years." 
 
 On the 24th of May, 1720, the Corporation voted, 
 " That a fourth Fellow of the House be now elected, 
 there being occasion for another by reason of the 
 great number of students now at the College." 
 
 The Corporation immediately chose William Wei- 
 steed to be the fourth fellow, and the President was 
 desired to present him to the Overseers, "for their 
 approbation and allowance, as elected for three years." 
 
 On the 23d of June, 1720, the following votes 
 appear on the records of the Overseers. " Voted,
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 283 
 
 that Mr. Nicholas Sever, having been rechosen by the CHAPTER 
 Corporation a Fellow of the House for three years, 
 be allowed and approved. 2dly. That Mr. Welsteed, 
 having been chosen by the Corporation a Fellow of 
 the House for three years, be allowed and approved." 
 At this time there existed in the board of Overseers 
 and House of Representatives a party, having it for 
 their object to effect a change in the Corporation, 
 either by the voluntary resignation or compulsory re- 
 moval of some obnoxious members of that board. The 
 schemes of this party extended apparently to Presi- 
 dent Leverett himself, if we may judge by the nature 
 of their attacks, and by their refusal of grants for his 
 necessary support. At the head of this party were Treatment 
 Paul Dudley and Chief Justice Sewall. On the 6th dentLever- 
 of December, 1720,* President Leverett addressed a General' 
 supplicatory letter to the House of Representatives, 
 stating his " difficulties, inconveniences, discourage- 
 ments," and his " want of necessary support," and 
 ending with expressing the utter " impossibility of his 
 entertaining so much as a thought that his application 
 would be neglected." It was, however, altogether 
 disregarded. So that he began to infer from their 
 proceedings, that it was their " mind to starve him 
 out of the service." If such be " their mind," he 
 adds, " it is but letting me know, and I will not 
 put the House to exercise that cruelty." f This 
 was the moment which Dudley took to assail the 
 President with calumny. He declared openly in 
 the House, that " the President had not given three 
 expositions in the Hall for a twelvemonth, and that 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LI. f See Appendix, No. LII.
 
 284 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER one of the fellows had said, he would give his oath 
 
 XIII. ,. . 
 
 of it." 
 
 This drew from President Leverett a letter, dated 
 on the 15th of December, 1720,* addressed to the 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives, declaring 
 positively, that " it was false," protesting against the 
 injustice of the representation, and demanding " the 
 name of the fellow who was thus disposed to make 
 oath to a falsehood." He had inquired of all the 
 fellows, and all had denied the fact. " I will not 
 
 Paul Dud- pretend to say," he adds, "what the gentleman (Dud- 
 ley's con- i\-i ii' T 
 
 duct in re- ley ) designed to serve by his representation : but 1 
 
 spectto JJ ,j 
 
 President am sure he could not pretend to serve his country 
 
 Leverett. 
 
 by such an averment, our just country are not 
 willing to be served by a falsehood." How Dudley 
 relieved himself from the imputation cast upon him 
 by President Leverett in his letter, does not appear. 
 Either from principle or policy he had joined with 
 Chief Justice Sewall in measures to introduce new 
 influences into the Corporation. Their course of pro- 
 ceedings, in relation to the attack of Pierpont on that 
 body, sufficiently indicates little delicacy as to the 
 means, and a settled determination as to the end. 
 
 In June, 1721, the proposed foundation of a Pro- 
 fessorship of Divinity in the College by a Baptist had 
 excited an alarm, and the manner in which the Cor- 
 poration reciprocated the liberal spirit of Mr. Hollis, 
 by " leaving to him the limitation of the communion 
 of his Professor,"f had no tendency to allay it. Such 
 was the moment which Sever and Welsteed chose, 
 for introducing this new element of discord ; and they 
 selected Sewall as the medium for its conveyance. 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LIII. f See above, pp. 243-245.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 President Leverett, in his Diary of the date of the CHAPTER 
 17th of June, 1721, states, " Upon the motion of 
 Judge Sewall, to whom Mr. Sever and Welsteed had 
 written a letter, His Excellency appointed an Over- 
 seers' meeting." But Governor Shute being satisfied 
 that he had exceeded his powers, as a previous re- 
 quest of the Corporation was then necessary to au- 
 thorize a special call of the board of Overseers, the 
 meeting thus called was dissolved, and a new one was 
 summoned on the 23d of June, 1721, the previous 
 consent of the Corporation having been obtained. * 
 
 That two tutors, young men, who had both been 
 chosen " fellows " under express votes of the Cor- 
 poration, sanctioned by the board of Overseers, which 
 limited their name and powers to the College, or 
 " House," and by long known and approved prac- 
 tical construction excluded them from a seat in the 
 Corporation ; one of whom had held that office five 
 years without making any claim to such seat, and both 
 of whom had been elected to it and accepted the 
 office under a limitation of three years, which was in 
 itself inconsistent with that claim ; should at once, 
 and at such a moment of theological discontent, 
 awaken into an imagination of rights withheld from 
 them, can only be accounted for on the supposition, 
 that they had encouragement, as the event proved, 
 from members of the board of Overseers themselves, 
 or from powerful influences in the legislature, prepared 
 to second and, if possible, make good these most ex- 
 traordinary pretensions. 
 
 Viewed in the calm light of history, and under the 
 guidance of the familiar principles which common sense 
 
 * Leverett's Manuscript, p. 193.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER suggests, it cannot fail, at this day, to be a subject 
 
 Xllf 
 
 . of surprise, that, under the circumstances of the Col- 
 
 lege at that time, this claim should have been enter- 
 tained by a board of Overseers having no personal 
 or party interest to serve, any longer than was neces- 
 sary to satisfy the memorialists that their pretensions 
 had been fairly considered, were well understood, and 
 intelligently decided. When, therefore, the relations 
 of the subject strongly indicate, that the claim itself 
 had its origin in the expectation, probably in the 
 knowledge, that it would receive support in that 
 board, and when we find, in fact, that it was there 
 encouraged and sustained, and, so far as a vote of 
 a majority of the Overseers had effect, was com- 
 pletely successful ; and that finally it was defeated 
 only by the firmness of the Governor of the Province ; 
 it is reasonable to conclude, that the avowed and 
 ostensible were not the real motives which ac- 
 tuated a majority of the board of Overseers, in adopt- 
 ing the measures in which their deliberations termi- 
 nated. Considering also the violence of the religious 
 parties, which then divided the Province, each having 
 for its object to gain or retain possession of the Col- 
 lege, it cannot be questioned, that the opportunity a 
 support of this claim offered, to remove at once from 
 the Corporation three of its members, and those most 
 obnoxious for their religious opinions, was the gov- 
 erning motive of their proceedings. Indeed, no pos- 
 sibility of doubt remains, when, in the conclusion of 
 this long and eventful struggle, the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, in July, 1722, are found, as we shall have 
 occasion to show hereafter, declaring without any con- 
 cealment, that their object was to remove those three 
 " Fellows," Appleton, Colman, and Wadsworth, from
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 287 
 
 their seats in the Corporation, and that Governor CHAPTER 
 
 Shute, by making it a condition that they should not 
 
 be removed, had " defeated their design and purpose." 
 
 The nature of the project was, in itself, most ex- 
 traordinary, and, considering the relations of the re- 
 spective individuals whom it was proposed, on the one 
 hand to remove, and on the other to introduce, alto- 
 gether irreconcilable with any true regard to the 
 interests of the College. 
 
 At the moment this design was avowed by the 
 House of Representatives, Wadsworth had been ten 
 years, Appleton and Colman five years, members of 
 the Corporation, elected according to early and, until 
 this time, unquestioned practice. They were all of 
 mature age, clergymen of great learning, weight, and 
 influence in the Province ; active, able, and successful 
 in advancing the prosperity of the institution. One 
 of them (Colman) was the confidential friend and 
 correspondent of Thomas Hollis, and the selected 
 medium of that unparalleled series of bounties he was 
 then bestowing on the College. These three were 
 the individuals the House of Representatives claimed 
 of the Governor the right to remove, for the purpose 
 of introducing three tutors, comparatively young men, 
 little known, and without personal weight, influence, 
 or experience. 
 
 The evidence upon this point of controversy has 
 been thus traced through the College records with the 
 more minuteness, because the utter want of a colorable 
 pretence for the exclusion of all these non-resident 
 Fellows from seats in the Corporation, by force of 
 either the terms of the charter of 1650, or of more 
 than seventy years' construction and practice under 
 it, renders the conclusion unavoidable, that the at-
 
 288 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER tempt, in 1722, to sweep all the non-resident fellows 
 
 XIIL from their seats in the Corporation, had no foundation 
 
 either in expediency or sound principle; but was a 
 spasmodic exertion, made under the influence of 
 strong interests or strong passions, which, when they 
 prevail in political or religious assemblies, seldom fail 
 to create a regard for the end, and a disregard for 
 the means ; and, in eagerness for success, to cause 
 to be trampled down every moral, social, and even 
 religious obligation, which impedes their progress. 
 
 PRESIDENT S CHAIR. 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LIV.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 289 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Proceedings of the Overseers on Sever and Welsteed's Memorial. 
 The Rev. Joseph Sewall chosen Fellow of the Corporation. Over- 
 seers do not approve this Choice, and recommend the Election of a 
 Resident Fellow. Corporation choose Tutor Robie. Overseers 
 postpone their Approval of this Choice. Corporation declare Sever 
 no longer Fellow of the House. Overseers declare him still to be 
 Fellow of the House. Corporation reinstate Sever. Overseers 
 apply to the General Court to enlarge the Corporation. General 
 Court refuse, but resolve that Fellows of the Corporation should 
 be resident Fellows. Governor Shute conditionally consents. 
 House of Representatives request him to make his Consent abso- 
 lute. Shute refuses. A fifth Tutor chosen by the Corporation. 
 Negatived by the Overseers, who approve the Election of Robie 
 and negative the Limitation of a Tutor's Office to three Years. 
 House of Representatives revive their Resolve, and intimate that 
 the Corporation have not kept within their Charter. Corporation 
 claim a Hearing. Denied by the General Court. Attempt to 
 make Members of the Corporation resign. Its Failure. Professor 
 Wigglesworth chosen Fellow of the Corporation. Negatived by 
 the Overseers. House of Representatives again revive their 
 Resolve. The Council give a Hearing to the Corporation. 
 Final Defeat of the Project of the House of Representatives. 
 Tribute to the Spirit of the Corporation. 
 
 AT a meeting of the Overseers on the 23d of June, CHAPTER 
 
 XIV 
 
 1721, a committee was appointed to inquire into ! 
 
 " the grounds and reasons of the memorial of Mr. 
 Nicholas Sever and Mr. William Welsteed, and con- 
 sider what is proper and necessary to be done upon 
 it, and make a report thereof to the Overseers in 
 August next." The committee were, Judge Sewall, 
 Mr. President Leverett, Judge Davenport, Colonel 
 VOL. i. 37
 
 290 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER Fitch, Colonel Quincy, the Rev. Mr. John Danforth, 
 
 "YfV 
 
 and the Rev. Mr. Joseph Sewall. Previous events 
 indicate the views of Judge Sewall and his son, but 
 at this day we have no means of ascertaining the 
 other members of the committee who favored the 
 claims of the memorialists. 
 
 The Overseers adjourned to the second day of 
 August, for the special purpose of receiving the re- 
 port of this committee. A meeting of the board did 
 not take place on that day, and there is no notice 
 of further proceedings on this memorial before 
 March, 1722. The intermediate meetings of the 
 Overseers, in December and January, were occupied 
 with the election of Edward Hutchinson, Treasurer, 
 in the place of White, deceased, and with those 
 agitating questions and altercations concerning the 
 Hollis Professorship of Divinity, which have been 
 already related. 
 Joseph In November, 1721, the Rev. Joseph Stevens, 
 
 Sewall t ' r 
 
 chosen fei- minister of the church in Charlestown, and fellow of 
 
 low of the 
 
 Uon p ra tne Corporation, died ; and, on the 23d of January 
 ensuing, the Rev. Joseph Sewall, pastor of the South 
 Church, in Boston, was chosen by the President 
 and Fellows to supply the vacancy thus occasioned. 
 The Corporation probably expected to conciliate Chief 
 Justice Sewall by this election of his son, and, by 
 thus introducing a clergyman of eminent piety, and 
 a peculiar favorite of the zealous adherents to the 
 Calvinistic doctrines, to defeat the scheme of the 
 resident fellows. That scheme was, however, too 
 promising, and the prospect of removing at once, 
 from the Corporation the three obnoxious individuals, 
 too flattering, to be abandoned by the Overseers for 
 the sake of either individual or party gratification.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 291 
 
 The choice of Mr. Sewall was presented to the CHAPTER 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Overseers by President Leverett on the next day 
 (January 24th, 1721-2) for their approval. That prowS'by 
 
 11 ill- MI the Over- 
 
 DOard suspended their answer until the committee on seers. 
 
 the memorial of Sever and Welsteed should make 
 their report. For a knowledge of this fact, we are 
 solely indebted to the records of the Corporation. 
 Those of the Overseers take no notice either of the 
 presentation of Mr. Sewall at that meeting, or of 
 the postponement of their approval. Both these 
 occurrences took place at the meeting when the 
 Overseers were actively engaged in defeating the 
 provision in Mr. Hollis's statutes, which rendered a 
 Baptist eligible to his professorship, and in substitut- 
 ing, in place of the belief in the Scriptures of the 
 Old and New Testament, required of his professor, 
 a declaration of faith in all the high points of New 
 England Calvinism. Either the absorbing interest 
 excited by this enterprise occasioned the omission of 
 a notice of the election of Mr. Sewall on the records 
 of the Overseers, or it was designed to keep from 
 those records a statement of the fact, that Mr. Sewall 
 had been presented as an elected member of the 
 Corporation, and not accepted by the Overseers. 
 
 From President Leverett's Diary alone, we derive Proceed- 
 
 f 1 T f 1 ' ln S 3 OI1 
 
 an account of the proceedings of the committee on sever and 
 
 Welsteed's 
 
 the memorial of Sever and Welsteed. By this it memorial. 
 appears, that they met on the 19th of July, 1721, 
 but came to no result, and, after " some altercations 
 between President Leverett and the Rev. Mr. Dan- 
 forth and Mr. Sewall, concerning the state of the 
 College," * they adjourned. This committee did not 
 
 * Leverett's Manuscript, p. 202.
 
 292 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER meet again to any efficient purpose, until the 20th of 
 - . February, 1722. The proceedings on this occasion 
 are thus stated by President Leverett in his Diary. 
 " The committee formed their report to this purpose ; 
 * That they are of opinion, that it is proper for the 
 Corporation to choose one of the Resident Fellows of 
 the House, or Tutors, to be a member of the Corpo- 
 ration in the place of the Rev. Mr. Joseph Stevens, de- 
 ceased ; 7 whose report was signed by the chairman of 
 said committee, the Honorable Judge Samuel Sewall. 
 
 " Mem. The President, being one of the committee, 
 was asked, whether he consent to the said report ; 
 answered, that he could not consent thereunto, because 
 that the Corporation had chosen the Rev. Mr. Joseph 
 Sewall to fill up the vacancy in the Corporation by the 
 death of the Rev. Mr. Joseph Stevens, and had pre- 
 sented him to the Overseers, who had not declared 
 themselves thereupon, so that as to him the Corpo- 
 ration was full." * 
 
 On the 9th of March ensuing, this committee 
 made their report to the Overseers, who, without 
 noticing the previous election and presentation of 
 Mr. Sewall by the Corporation, accepted it, as ap- 
 overseera pears by their records in these words, " That they 
 judge it proper, that the vacancy in the Corporation, 
 
 reitowbe made by the decease of the Rev. Mr. Stevens, be 
 
 low of the filled up by the election of a resident fellow in his 
 
 tion. stead." Thus the Overseers negatived, by construc- 
 
 tion, the election of Mr. Sewall, without its appearing 
 
 on their records, that such election had been ever 
 
 made, or presented to, or acted upon by, their board. 
 
 Nor should we, at this day, be able to trace the course 
 
 * Leverett's Manuscript, p. 216.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 293 
 
 XIV. 
 
 of this policy, and the nature of their proceedings, CHAPTER 
 had not the Corporation wisely and faithfully spread 
 the whole transaction at length upon their own records. 
 
 At the next succeeding meeting of the Corporation 
 (3d of April, 1722), the vote of the Overseers came 
 under consideration. Their proceedings were firm 
 and conciliatory ; and their importance requires a 
 statement of them in the words of the record. 
 
 " At a meeting of the President and Fellows of 
 Harvard College, in Cambridge, April 3d, 1722. 
 Whereas at a meeting of the President and Fellows 
 of Harvard College, January 23d, last past, the 
 Rev. Mr. Joseph Sewall, pastor of the Third Church, 
 in Boston, was chosen a Fellow of the Corporation, 
 and, on the 24th day of the same January, the Presi- 
 dent presented the said Mr. Sewall to the Overseers 
 for their acceptance and allowance ; and whereas the 
 Honorable and Reverend the Overseers pleased to 
 suspend their answer to the said presentation to a 
 further meeting, having a committee appointed to 
 consider of a memorial laid before the said Overseers, 
 and until the said committee should make their report 
 thereupon, who made their report March 9th, 1721 -2, 
 in these words, ' That they judge it proper, that the 
 vacancy in the Corporation, by the decease of the 
 Rev. Mr. Joseph Stevens of Charlestown, be filled up 
 by the election of a resident fellow in his stead,' which 
 being read, was accepted by the Overseers; by the 
 acceptance of which report the election of the Rev. 
 Mr. Joseph Sewall, made by the Corporation as afore- 
 said, was, by implication, plainly not allowed of, 
 though it was declared, that it was not designed that 
 any disrespect to the Rev. Mr. Sewall should be con- 
 ceived to be offered by the Overseers, however it
 
 294 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER may seem to be a more than ordinary determining 
 xtv ' upon the Corporation : Wherefore it is voted, That 
 the Corporation, saving to themselves the right of 
 electing members of the Corporation, upon any va- 
 cancy, according to the powers vested in them by the 
 College charter, they will proceed to fill up the va- 
 cancy occasioned by the decease of the Rev. Mr. 
 Stevens, by electing one of the Fellows of the House. 
 But yet this shall not, for the future, be brought into 
 example to limit the right of the Corporation in the 
 election of their members. Hereupon the President 
 desired the Fellows of the Corporation to bring in 
 their votes for the election of a Fellow to fill up the 
 vacancy in the Corporation, occasioned by the decease 
 of the Rev. Mr. Joseph Stevens ; and accordingly the 
 fellows brought in their votes in writing. And Mr. 
 
 Thomas Thomas Robie, one of the Fellows of the House, 
 
 Robie 
 
 chosen was chosen unanimously a Fellow of the Corporation ; 
 
 Fellow of J > ' 
 
 theCorpo- an( j the President was desired to present the said 
 
 ration. * 
 
 Mr. Thomas Robie to the Overseers for their appro- 
 bation and allowance." 
 
 The result of this election was equally unexpected 
 and unwelcome to the malecontents in the board of 
 Overseers. Neither Sever nor Welsteed had obtained 
 the object of their memorial. Robie, who was also 
 a " resident fellow," and of elder appointment than 
 either, had obtained the distinction they solicited, and 
 for which he had not memorialized. The vote of the 
 Overseers was thus complied with ; the proportion 
 of resident to non-resident fellows, which Governor 
 Dudley, in 1707, had sanctioned, in the reinstatement 
 of the charter of 1650, with the approbation of the 
 Overseers and the General Court, and which the 
 practice of sixty years, if not of the whole period
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 295 
 
 XIV. 
 
 since that charter, justified, was restored. Had the CHAPTER 
 object of the Overseers been limited to a restoration 
 of the early proportion of resident and non-resident 
 fellows, it was attained, and they had every reason 
 to be satisfied ; but their proceedings show that their 
 object was very different. 
 
 When, on the next day (4th of April, 1722), the 
 election of Robie was presented to the Overseers for 
 approbation, it appears by their records, that " it was 
 not agreed to, it being proper first to consider a me- 
 morial still depending before the Overseers, formerly 
 exhibited by Mr. Nicholas Sever and Mr. William 
 Welsteed." 
 
 President Leverett gives a more graphic account 
 of this meeting in these words. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Overseers, in the Council 
 Chamber, Boston, April 4th, 1722, Mr. Thomas Robie 
 was presented to the Overseers in proper form and 
 order by the President ; but, it being moved (after a 
 vote upon the presentation of Mr. Robie was called 
 for) that a memorial was depending ; not without 
 great debate and some heat, this order was broke in 
 upon, and it was overruled, that the memorial should 
 be considered, and the vote upon Mr. Robie sus- 
 pended. The memorial was read, and Jong debate 
 thereupon. The meeting concluded by a resolute 
 adjournment by His Excellency the Governor, to 
 April llth, 10 o'clock, A. M. The Governor and the 
 President left them ; and the rest continued, and un- 
 willingly and murmuringly agreed." * 
 
 Strictly speaking, the memorial of Sever and Wel- 
 steed was not " depending." The committee had 
 finished their deliberations and reported their opinion ; 
 
 * Leverett's Manuscript, p. 220.
 
 296 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER their report had been accepted by the Overseers, and 
 
 ! acceded to by the Corporation, who had, in conformity 
 
 with the report, elected a resident fellow to fill the 
 vacancy in their board. The memorial had attained 
 its purpose, and the action of both boards was com- 
 pleted. The revival of that memorial, therefore, 
 proved that the design of those Overseers, by whom 
 Sever and Welsteed were countenanced, if not insti- 
 gated, was not to restore the former proportion of 
 resident fellows in the Corporation, but to remove 
 certain obnoxious individuals from their seats in that 
 board. 
 
 In pursuance of the policy, which dictated this 
 memorial, it was therefore determined to consider it 
 yet " depending," and thus revive the discussion. 
 second Sever and Welsteed immediately followed up, as 
 
 memorial - 1 ' 
 
 of pr er i we learn from the records of the Overseers, their 
 
 and Wel- 
 steed. memorial with another paper subscribed by the me- 
 morialists, entitled, " An extract from the College 
 charter of 1650, the English laws," &c. 
 
 No such paper is now extant on the records. It 
 appears, however, by those of the Overseers, that, 
 at this period of the proceedings, Governor Shute 
 interposed, ordered the meeting to be adjourned, and 
 the books and records of the College to be brought, 
 and all the members of the Overseers to be specially 
 summoned to attend on the llth of April. At this 
 meeting, the records of the Overseers state, that " after 
 a great deal of debate upon the subject of Mr. Sever 
 and Mr. Welsteed, nothing was concluded ; " and that 
 an adjournment took place to the 2d of May ensuing. 
 On this day a meeting was held, but nothing con- 
 clusive was done ; and it was adjourned to the 23d of 
 May.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 297 
 
 About this time the three years, for which Mr. CHAPTER 
 
 xrv. 
 
 Sever had been elected a Tutor, or " Fellow of the 
 House," expired. This "occasioned a question to be 
 moved," at a meeting of the Corporation on the 30th of ration to be 
 
 no longer 
 
 April, 1722, " and put, whether the said Mr. Sever is Feiiowof 
 
 ' ' r the House. 
 
 to be deemed as a Tutor, or Fellow of the House, or 
 can act as such ? Upon which the members of the Cor- 
 poration declared themselves seriatim, and said, that 
 they deem the said Mr. Nicholas Sever to be no longer 
 a Tutor or Fellow of the House, nor may he act as 
 such unless he be reflected by the Corporation." In 
 consequence of this resolve, the class formerly taught 
 by Sever was immediately placed under the instruc- 
 tion of another fellow. 
 
 This decisive step, which the Corporation probably 
 deemed necessary for the vindication of their authority, 
 and the peace and order of the seminary, which Sever 
 had shown himself well inclined to disturb, became 
 immediately a new element of trouble, and source of 
 discord between that : board and the Overseers. At 
 their meeting on the 23d of May, holden according to 
 adjournment, the records of the Overseers state, that, 
 " upon Mr. Nicholas Sever's representing to the Over- 
 seers a matter of importance referring to the College, 
 the Overseers deferred the consideration of it until it 
 be offered in writing at their next meeting." On 
 the 6th of June ensuing, Sever's memorial being ac- 
 cordingly read, President Leverett moved, that the 
 Corporation might be furnished with a copy, for the 
 purpose of making an answer. The motion was sus- 
 tained, and, after " several papers were read, some for, 
 others against, the design of the memorial, and things 
 were largely debated," the Overseers " voted, that a 
 committee be appointed to draw up a memorial to the 
 
 VOL. i. 38
 
 298 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER General Court respecting the enlargement of the 
 
 XIV 
 
 . ' number of the Corporation, by adding the resident 
 
 tutors to it." Of this committee Judge Sewall was 
 appointed chairman, and the farther consideration of 
 the subject was postponed to the meeting of the Over- 
 seers on the 13th of June. 
 
 At this meeting both of the contending parties ap- 
 pear to have rallied their whole strength. Besides 
 the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and the Presi- 
 dent, there were present nineteen civil and twelve 
 clerical members. 
 
 Proceed- The committee appointed at the last meeting pre- 
 
 ings of the 
 
 Overseers sented the memorial they had prepared, respecting 
 the enlargement of the Corporation by adding the 
 resident tutors, which was read, and ordered by the 
 Overseers to be presented to the General Court by 
 the committee that had drafted it. The meeting was 
 then adjourned to the afternoon, when " Mr. Sever's 
 memorial respecting his dismission from his fellowship 
 was read, as also a reply to it by the Corporation ; 
 and, after large debate on the matter," it was voted, 
 that " Mr. Nicholas Sever still continues a Fellow 
 of the House, notwithstanding what has been done 
 with reference to him by the Corporation upon a 
 by-law not approved of by the Overseers." After 
 these proceedings the meeting was adjourned. 
 
 The Appendix to the College charter, passed in 1657, 
 had expressly authorized the Corporation " to make 
 such orders and by-laws, for the better ordering and 
 carrying on of the work of the College, as they shall 
 see cause, without dependence upon the consent of the 
 Overseers, foregoing." And although, by the same 
 act, orders and by-laws passed by the Corporation 
 were alterable by the Overseers at their discretion ;
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 299 
 
 yet, until they were altered, they were of consequence CHAPTER 
 valid and obligatory. 
 
 The by-law, referred to by the Overseers as not ap- 
 proved by them, had been passed by the Corporation 
 on the 9th of April, 1716, and was in these words; 
 " No tutor, or Fellow of the House, now or henceforth 
 to be chosen, shall hold a fellowship, with salary, for 
 more than three years, except continued by a new elec- 
 tion."* It had not, indeed, been formally presented to 
 the Overseers for their approbation; but after that by- 
 law had passed the Corporation, and on the same day, 
 Nicholas Sever was chosen by that board, and on the 1716. 
 16th of April was approved by the Overseers as Fellow 
 of the House, and when those three years had expired, 
 he, being rechosen by the Corporation, and presented to 
 the Overseers on the 23d of June, 1720, was approved 
 by them as " rechosen Fellow of the House for three 
 years," and on the same day William Welsteed was 
 approved also by the Overseers as " chosen Fellow of 
 the House for three years." f Whatever course there- 
 fore the Overseers might choose to pursue relative to 
 the alteration of this by-law, as it respected Sever 
 and Welsteed it was valid and unobjectionable. The 
 Overseers could not aver that they had not approved 
 of this limitation of their term of office, without con- 
 tradicting their own records. The declaration of the 
 Overseers, that Sever " was yet a Fellow of the 
 House," notwithstanding the term for which he had 
 been elected with their approbation had expired, was 
 of consequence a gratuitous assumption of power, 
 strongly indicative of the violence of party spirit in 
 the board. 
 
 * See above, p. 281. t Ibid., p. 283.
 
 300 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER On the 30th of July, 1722, the proceedings of the 
 ! Overseers came under the consideration of the Cor- 
 poration. Their vote on this occasion, from its im- 
 portance, deserves also to be stated at large. 
 
 " Whereas the Corporation, at a meeting, April 
 30th, last past, gave their sense concerning Mr. Nicho- 
 las Sever, who was twice chosen a tutor, or Fellow 
 of the House, for three years, and the last time con- 
 firmed as such by the Overseers, which last three 
 years ended on the 28th of April this present year ; 
 that the said Mr. Sever no longer continued a tutor, 
 nor could act as such unless reflected by the Corpo- 
 ration, which sense or apprehension the Corporation 
 are more confirmed in, by an Appendix made to the 
 College charter of 1650, by the General Court, on 
 October 14th, 1657 ; and whereas at an Overseers' 
 meeting, June 13th, 1722, they signified by vote, that 
 the said Mr. Sever still continues a fellow, notwith- 
 standing what has been done with reference to him 
 by the Corporation ; we agree as follows, that, saving 
 the proper rights and privileges of the Corporation, and 
 to prevent further debates and contentions (which we 
 look on as threatening to the welfare of the College), 
 sever rein- that the said Mr. Sever again act as a tutor, or Fellow 
 
 stated by 
 
 theCorpo- O f tne House, and that he take care of the classes 
 
 ration. 
 
 formerly under his tuition." 
 
 The Corporation then, " in consideration of the 
 President's indisposition," desired Mr. Wadsworth to 
 present the above votes to the Overseers, and to revive 
 the presentation, that had been made of Mr. Robie 
 as an elected " Fellow of the Corporation," in that 
 board. In these proceedings the firm, faithful, and 
 conciliatory spirit of the Corporation are strikingly 
 manifested.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 301 
 
 A memorial, praying for an enlargement of the Cor- CHAPTER 
 poration, was presented to the General Court on the - '. 
 13th of June, 1722, being the same day it was voted 
 by the Overseers. That board gave no official notice 
 of their design to the Corporation, whose records afford 
 no evidence of their having been consulted on this 
 memorial. It was received and entertained by the 
 General Court with a like indifference to their in- 
 terests and disregard to their relation to the sub- 
 ject. The only reasons given in this memorial, for 
 the alteration it proposed, were, that the number 
 of students, and the business of the College, had 
 greatly increased, which rendered it expedient, in 
 the apprehension of the Overseers, that the Corpo- 
 ration .should be enlarged. And their prayer was, Memorial 
 
 _. . _, . , . of the Over- 
 
 that the General Court would make a "convenient seers to the 
 
 addition to the Corporation, and therein to have re- ture, to en- 
 
 large the 
 
 gard to the resident fellows, or tutors, that they may 
 be of that number." This memorial was referred to 
 a joint committee of both branches of the legislature, 
 composed of five members of the Council and five 
 of the House of Representatives. 
 
 It is obvious from the course of these proceedings, 
 that the proposition for an enlargement of the Cor- 
 poration was the result of a compromise in the board 
 of Overseers. To the project of those who supported 
 or had instigated Sever and Welsteed's memorial it 
 was not conformable, as it would only introduce the 
 resident tutors into the Corporation, but would not 
 remove the obnoxious members. There was no ground 
 for the pretence, that for all the objects within the 
 powers of the Corporation, seven were not an adequate 
 and, in fact, a much more efficient board than a larger 
 number. The real project of the malecontents among
 
 302 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER the Overseers was well understood by the committee 
 
 XIV 
 
 - to whom their memorial was referred, live of them 
 being members of that board, and of these some were 
 the most decided opponents of the Corporation. They 
 accordingly voted, that an enlargement of the number 
 of the Corporation was inexpedient, and adopted 
 resolutions, which, if carried into effect, would sweep 
 all the non-resident, and consequently all the obnox- 
 ious, members from the board of Corporation. In 
 conformity with these views, on the 28th of June, 
 
 1722, they reported, that, having taken the subject into 
 consideration, and perused the charter, the present 
 constitution of the College, and the memorial, they 
 " came to the following resolutions, which, being put 
 in practice, would answer the end of the memorial, 
 and be more beneficial to that society than enlarging 
 the number of the Corporation." 
 
 " First, that it was the intent of the said College 
 charter, that the tutors of the said College, or such as 
 have the instruction and government of the students 
 there, should be Fellows and Members of the Corpo- 
 ration of said College, provided they exceed not five 
 in number. 
 
 " Secondly, that none of said Fellows be Overseers. 
 
 " Thirdly, that the President and Fellows of the 
 said College, or the major part of them, are not war- 
 ranted to fix or establish any salary or allowance for 
 their service, without the approbation and consent 
 of the Overseers."* 
 
 This report was accepted in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, and concurred in by the Council. 
 
 Governor Shute, well aware that this measure did 
 
 * See Records of the General Court.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 303 
 
 not originate in just views of the interest of the CHAPTER 
 College, and that the avowed were not the real mo- - 
 tives, adopted a course of policy which gave an 
 instantaneous developement to the whole project. 
 Instead of giving the resolutions his official negative, Go 
 on the 2d of July he returned them signed, with this 
 
 i. . _ ditionally. 
 
 conditional approval. " 1 consent to these votes, pro- 
 vided the Rev. Mr. Benjamin Wadsworth, and the 
 Rev. Mr. Benjamin Colman, and the Rev. Mr. Ap- 
 pleton are not removed by said orders, but still remain 
 Fellows of the Corporation." By the tenor of the 
 Governor's concurrence, the concealed design of the 
 House of Representatives, as if touched by the spear 
 of Ithuriel, 
 
 " returned 
 
 Of force to its own likeness, .... 
 Discovered and surprised ! " 
 
 Although nothing could have been more easy than 
 a temporary arrangement, which would have complied 
 with the conditions proposed by the Governor, had 
 the motive really been the permanent interest of the 
 institution, the House of Representatives lost their 
 prudence in their passion, and their project with their 
 temper. They avowed, without qualification, their 
 design, and demanded of the Governor an uncondi- 
 tional approval. 
 
 On the 5th of July, 1722, they voted, " That a Remon- 
 
 TT . _, , _, stranceof 
 
 message be sent up to His Excellency the Governor, the House 
 to acquaint him, that, whereas he has been pleased to 
 make a proviso in his consenting to the votes, passed 
 by both Houses, relating to Harvard College, which 
 has a tendency entirely to defeat the design and pur- 
 pose of those votes, therefore to desire His Excellency 
 to pass absolutely thereupon, according to the constant
 
 304 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER usage and practice ever since the present happy con- 
 - stitution." 
 
 An avowal of this kind had the effect it was 
 naturally calculated to produce. The Governor be- 
 came more fixed in his purpose, and returned at 
 once by his secretary the following decided and well- 
 considered reply. 
 
 Reply of Gentlemen, I received your message relating to 
 shutc. the affairs of the College ; and, although I am not 
 obliged to give my reasons for my manner of signing, 
 or my refusing to sign, any vote, yet I think it proper 
 so to do upon this occasion ; and therefore I do now 
 inform you, that the limitations, with which I signed 
 the resolve, were agreeable to the explanations made 
 to me by the Council at the time of my signing, and 
 also agreeable to the intention of the Overseers, in 
 their address to the General Court ; wherefore I 
 cannot consent to these votes upon any other terms 
 than what I have already done, until I have appointed 
 an Overseers' meeting for their further opinion in 
 that matter." 
 
 Governor Shute had unquestionably ascertained, that 
 an enlargement of the Corporation was not the real 
 wish of either of the parties which divided the board 
 of Overseers, but was the result of a compromise 
 between them founded upon the basis, that the resi- 
 dent fellows should be admitted and the non-resi- 
 dent not removed from the board. At that period, 
 the strength of the stricter sect of the Calvinists 
 was concentrated in the House of Representatives. 
 Although church members were not, as under the old 
 charter, exclusively freemen of the Province, yet from 
 the impulse and direction, which that charter, by its 
 long continuance, had given to the religious sentiments
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 305 
 
 of the people, the influence of church members retained CHAPTER 
 
 xiv 
 a decided ascendency. Belief in the predominating ! 
 
 religious opinions continued to be an essential requi- 
 site to political advancement, and the influential men 
 in each town represented the prevalent faith of 
 the church or churches, of which it was composed. 
 The House of Representatives, therefore, were re- 
 solved not to lose, by any compromise, the oppor- 
 tunity they now possessed of changing the influences 
 then ascendant in the Corporation. They, therefore, Proceed- 
 immediately responded to the message of the Governor House of 
 
 T i TT T- Represent- 
 
 in the following terms ; " In the House of Kepresenta- atives. 
 
 tives, voted, that the explanations made by the Coun- 
 cil to His Excellency, seem inconsistent with their 
 own vote upon the resolves ; and therefore this House 
 insists upon their desire, that His Excellency would 
 pass upon it absolutely, without any proviso or limi- 
 tation." 
 
 No notice appears to have been taken by the Gov- 
 ernor of this vote ; and the subject was not again 
 called up for consideration in that session. 
 
 During the ensuing recess of the legislature the 
 Overseers continued to thwart the measures of the 
 Corporation, and to indicate towards that board a spirit 
 of determined hostility. The health of President 
 Leverett became at this time precarious. In the in- 
 struction of the undergraduates he had been accus- 
 tomed to take a part, but was now compelled to 
 allow the whole of this labor to devolve on the 
 tutors. The Corporation, in this exigency, deeming 
 a fifth tutor necessary, elected William Cook to that 
 office. When this choice was presented to the Over- 
 seers for approval, they at once negatived his election, 
 
 VOL. i. 39
 
 306 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER and voted, that " four tutors were sufficient at present 
 
 XIV 
 
 ! for the instruction of the scholars." The Corpora- 
 
 Aug. i4. tion made a deliberate declaration, that a greater 
 number of tutors was necessary for the inspection and 
 
 Sept. s. instruction of the students, and passed a vote, request- 
 ing a conference on the subject with the Overseers. 
 To this request it does not appear that this board 
 ever acceded. It is certain, that Cook was never 
 approved by them as a tutor, nor did he ever officiate 
 in that capacity. 
 
 Aug. 14. About this time the nomination of Robie as a mem- 
 ber of the Corporation came under the consideration 
 of the board of Overseers. They passed a vote in 
 the affirmative, annexing this proviso, " during his 
 residence as a tutor at the College ; " a limitation 
 wholly unauthorized by the College charter. 
 
 Aug. so. The Overseers next proceeded to order, that the 
 act of the Corporation for the choice " of tutors every 
 three years should be laid before them for their con- 
 
 Nov.21. sideration." This was accordingly done at the next 
 meeting by the Corporation, and the act received a 
 decided negative from the Overseers. 
 
 House of The House of Representatives, in a like spirit of 
 aUveTre- animosity, passed, on the 22d of November, 1722, a 
 
 new their ..... ~ ,' , ' 
 
 attack on resolution intimating, that the Corporation had not 
 
 the Corpo- r 
 
 ration. kept strictly within the rules prescribed by the charter 
 of the College ; and, after expressing their concern 
 thereat, recommended " a greater caution, lest they 
 endanger the early privileges of the institution." 
 
 This resolution drew forth from the 'Corporation a 
 formal memorial on the 10th of December, 1722, to 
 the Governor and legislature, in which they aver, 
 that they are not sensible of having done any acts not 
 warranted by their charter, and praying, " that they
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 307 
 
 may be admitted to a hearing in the premises, the Cor- CHAPTER 
 
 XIV. 
 
 poration not having as jet been heard thereupon." 
 
 This memorial was read on the 12th of Decem- tion re- 
 quest a 
 
 ber in the House of Representatives, who imme- Baring. 
 diately voted, " that it be dismissed, for that the 
 prayer of the memorial is altogether groundless, and Their pe- 
 
 ,..,.,.. ji. i i ft tition is 
 
 no ways to be justified ; " * and, in the course or that dismissed. 
 session, they took up the resolves, which had been 1723. 
 passed at the previous session, and which had been 
 lost in consequence of the conditional consent of 
 Governor Shute ; and, after recapitulating those re- 
 solves, in their very terms, they passed an additional 
 resolve, " that the same be and hereby are revived 
 and declared to be the rule for the future proceedings 
 of Harvard College."! 
 
 In this resolve a majority of the Council refused 
 to cooperate ; and the House of Representatives, being 
 thus defeated in their project, made no farther attempt 
 to renew the controversy during that session. This 
 attack on the Corporation was probably encouraged 
 by the absence of Governor Shute, who had sailed 
 for England on the 1st of January, 1723. From 
 Lieutenant-Governor Dummer the House of Repre- 
 sentatives probably expected greater complacency to- 
 wards their policy, or less ability to resist it. But 
 their design had been anticipated by Governor Shute, 
 who had a great personal respect for Colman, Wads- 
 worth, and Appleton; and, in 1723, when in London, 
 he assured Mr. Hollis, that, if the vote to remove the 
 three non-resident members succeeded in the House 
 of Representatives, it should not receive the concur- 
 rence of the executive authority.! 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LV. t See Records of the General Court. 
 if: See Appendix, No. LVI.
 
 308 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER The Overseers continued to seize every opportunity 
 
 ' to excite and keep alive a spirit of opposition to the 
 
 Corporation, and their proceedings render the conclu- 
 
 Attempts sion unavoidable, that a majority had determined, that, 
 
 to induce . 
 
 members if they could not remove the obnoxious members of 
 
 of the Cor- J 
 
 poration to that board from their seats by the arm of power, they 
 
 resign. 
 
 would compel them to resign by the treatment to 
 which they subjected them. 
 
 In conformity with this policy, one of the Dudleys 
 informed the House of Representatives, that " Mr. 
 Colman and Mr. Wadsworth would resign their places, 
 and then the way will be cleared." His wishes were 
 the parents of that prophecy. It indeed appears from 
 Hollis's letters, that, in October, 1722, Colman had 
 thought of resigning his seat in the Corporation, which 
 probably had been communicated to Dudley, who 
 hoped, by this public annunciation,, to induce the act. 
 But it had a contrary effect ; for, no sooner had Lev- 
 erett notice of Dudley's speech, than he addressed a 
 letter to Mr. Colman, dated November 26th, 1722,* 
 expressing " his hope of better things " from him and 
 Mr. Wadsworth; and intimating that his own situation 
 would be much more difficult should they withdraw. 
 The violent spirit which actuated the House of Repre- 
 sentatives is indicated by this letter, in which Leverett 
 states, that he is informed, that the House intend " to 
 refuse the Governor's allowance, unless he comt into 
 their scheme, without reserve, of alterations in the 
 Corporation." He adds ; " His Excellency has told 
 me, that he is so well satisfied, that the project will 
 be fatal to the College, that he will never come into 
 it, let what will come." 
 
 * Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., p. 119.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 309 
 
 There is no reason to believe, that any serious inten- CHAPTER 
 
 XIV 
 
 tion to resign ever existed in the minds of those firm - 
 
 - \rit~* Conduct of 
 
 and conscientious men, whose removal from the Corpo- the corpo- 
 ration was the object of the House of Representatives, the occa- 
 The true arid elevated spirit by which they were 
 actuated is feelingly expressed in the close of that 
 memorial, which the Corporation addressed to the 
 Lieutenant-Governor and Council on the 23d of Au- 
 gust, 1723.* " We thank your honors for this opportu- 
 nity granted us faithfully to discharge our consciences, 
 in what we really think would be for the good of the 
 College ; making this representation not for any by- 
 ends or self-interest. Those of us, whose ejectment is 
 so earnestly sought for, neither seek nor find any re- 
 ward for all that time we spend or pains we take, as 
 members of the Corporation. If we have served the 
 College in any kind and degree, we thank God for the 
 time and assistance. We heartily wish and pray for 
 its welfare, and for the flourishing of religion and 
 good literature in it, to the glory of God, and the good 
 of this people, even to the latest posterity ; if it may be 
 the divine pleasure so to order it. We wish its enemies 
 may not find nor take any occasion against it by its 
 late unhappy discontents and differences ; the fault 
 whereof lies at their door, who have contrived and 
 fomented them. A house or city divided against 
 itself, what is likely to come of it ? God avert the 
 omen ! " 
 
 In February, 1722-3, Thomas Robie, the senior Robie re- 
 resident tutor and Fellow of the Corporation, resigned s^aTinthe 
 both those offices. Robie had joined Sever and Wei- tiom r< 
 steed in none of their cabals, and had fulfilled all his 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LV1I.
 
 310 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER duties, to the entire acceptance of the Corporation. 
 
 XIV 
 
 The President accordingly returned him thanks for his 
 good services both as a tutor and a Fellow of the 
 Corporation, and made the following entry in his 
 Diary. " It ought to be remembered, that Mr. Robie 
 was no small honor to Harvard College, by his mathe- 
 matical performances, and by his correspondence there- 
 upon with Mr. Durham and other learned persons in 
 
 those studies abroad." * 
 
 
 
 The vacancy occasioned by Robie's resignation was 
 immediately filled by the election of Nathan Prince, to 
 be a tutor for three years. As this limitation might 
 be considered by the Overseers a defiance of their 
 authority, the Corporation passed a vote, declaring it 
 was not done " in contradiction to the Overseers, nor 
 in any disparagement of the person elected, but as 
 what, upon mature deliberation, they esteem most for 
 the good of the College. And, if the election shall 
 not be acceptable to the Overseers, they direct that 
 it should then be presented as if it were made with- 
 out limitation of time." 
 
 When Mr. Prince was presented to the board of 
 Overseers, as a tutor for three years, they negatived 
 his election. Being then presented to them as tutor, 
 without limitation of time, they passed a vote in 
 the affirmative? 
 Third me- Sever and Welsteed, on the 7th of June, 1723, 
 
 mortal of , , . , i p i 
 
 sever and presented another memorial, complaining of their 
 
 Welsteed. L f r . . 
 
 salaries. Although an interference of the Overseers 
 with the Corporation in relation to salaries had been al- 
 together unprecedented since the revival of the charter, 
 the Overseers made no scruple on the subject, but 
 
 * Leverett's Manuscript, p. 252,
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 311 
 
 declared the salaries of both insufficient, and " ad- CHAPTEK 
 
 XIV 
 
 vised the Corporation to make further and suitable - 
 addition to the yearly salaries of both." This vote 
 was passed without calling upon the Corporation for 
 any explanation on the subject. It does not appear, 
 however, that the Corporation took any notice of 
 this interference. 
 
 On the 4th of June, 1723, Professor Wigglesworth professor 
 was unanimously elected a Fellow of the Corporation. wJSh 
 Every consideration of age, permanent relation to the Feiiow of 
 
 /-. ii 11- !/ r f i theCorpo- 
 
 College, and literary qualification, were in favor of this ration. 
 selection ; but to Sever and Welsteed it was a sig- 
 nal, that their hopes of admission to that board were 
 again about to be foiled. Their friends rallied in their 
 favor ; but, to defeat this nomination, they had a 
 peculiar difficulty to encounter. Mr. Hollis, whose 
 bounties were at this time flowing, in full tide, to- 
 wards the College, had expressed in his letters a 
 strong desire, that his professor should be admitted to 
 a seat in the Corporation. The fear of offending this 
 benefactor was not strong enough, however, to arrest 
 the determined spirit of party in its course. The Negatived 
 Overseers negatived the election of Mr. Wigglesworth, overseers. 
 and appointed a committee " to prepare a letter, set- 
 ting forth to Mr. Hollis the grounds upon which the 
 Overseers have disapproved of the choice of Mr. 
 Wigglesworth as a Fellow of the Corporation." 
 
 During the session of the General Court in June, 
 1723, the theses of the Bachelors to be graduated 
 at the Commencement in July were published accord- 
 ing to custom ; and the House of Representatives, for 
 some reason not to be ascertained from their records, 
 took offence " at the dedication of them as not prop- 
 erly addressed," and passed a formal vote, " That it
 
 312 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER is derogatory to the honor of the Lieutenant-Governor, 
 
 ' who is now Commander-in-chief of the Province, and 
 
 the head of the Overseers of the College, to have the 
 
 impression of these theses go out as they now are ; and 
 
 therefore ordered, that the printer, Mr. Bartholomew 
 
 Green, be, and is hereby, directed not to deliver any 
 
 of the theses till they shall be properly addressed." * 
 
 The coun- The Council again put a check on the temper of 
 
 concur. the House, and non-concurred the order. 
 
 House of In the August ensuing the House of Representatives 
 
 atmls re- took up for the third time their former resolves, which 
 
 resolve had been lost by the conditional consent of Governor 
 
 against the 
 
 corpora- Shute, and sent them to the Council for concurrence. 
 
 tion. 
 
 This was done without any notice being given to the 
 Corporation, notwithstanding their solicitation to be 
 heard at the preceding session. They were, however, 
 not deterred by the chilling repulse their former re- 
 1723. quest had received. On the 9th of August the Corpo- 
 ration again met, and prepared a formal address to the 
 Lieutenant-Governor, Council, and House of Repre- 
 sentatives, declaring it to be, in their apprehension, 
 their bounden duty, although their former application 
 had not been successful, humbly to petition for a 
 hearing, before further proceedings should be had on 
 the subject of those resolves. The address was pre- 
 sented to the Council, before whom the resolves of the 
 House were then pending for concurrence. The hear- 
 ing requested by the Corporation was granted by the 
 Council on the 23d of August, 1723, and the result 
 was effectual and final, f The Council again non- 
 concurred in the resolves of the House, and they were 
 never after revived in that or any succeeding legis- 
 lature. 
 
 * See Records of the General Court. f See Appendix, No. LVII.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 313 
 
 Thus at last this reiterated and violent attempt to CHAPTER 
 
 XIV 
 
 change the charter of the College terminated in the 
 
 complete triumph of the Corporation. 
 
 History has seldom to record a firmer or better prin- Tribute to 
 
 . I,..,,. , the spirit 
 
 cipled spirit of resistance to attempted encroachments oftheCor- 
 
 . , T i i i poration. 
 
 on charter rights, than that displayed in this exigency 
 by Colman, Wadsworth, and Appleton. The circum- 
 stances in which they were placed were full of trial 
 and discouragement. Party spirit had no path to its 
 object, but by making them its victims ; and their re- 
 moval became, therefore, its settled policy, at first 
 covertly, at last openly. They as well knew, that 
 Sever and Welsteed's attack was levelled at them per- 
 sonally on the day their memorial was offered, as 
 they did two years afterwards, when the House of 
 Representatives unequivocally avowed their object. 
 They had no motives to maintain the struggle, but a 
 sense of duty, and a deep conviction that this attempt, 
 if successful, would be fatal to the interests of the 
 College. Their places in the Corporation were offices 
 of mere labor and responsibility, with no emolument. 
 They had to resist a numerous, active, prejudiced, and 
 powerful class of individuals in the Province, occasion- 
 ally able to command the superior vote, both in the 
 board of Overseers and in the Council. In the House 
 of Representatives there was at that time a majority, 
 actuated by as overbearing a spirit of party, as at any 
 previous period had existed in the Province ; possess- 
 ing a predominating popularity ; active and fearless, 
 with no delicacy as to its means, and determined 
 as to its objects. The whole administration of Shute 
 was tempestuous ; and the affairs of the College were 
 affected by the passions and interests which embar- 
 rassed the Colonial government. 
 VOL. i. 40
 
 314 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Increasing Influence of the Episcopal Church. Alarm of the Con- 
 gregationalbts. Relations of the College to both. Discontent with 
 the general State of the College. Visiting Committee appointed by 
 the Overseers. Their Report. Its Result. Death of President 
 Leverett. Professor Wigglesworth approved by the Overseers as 
 Fellow of the Corporation. Review of the Administration of 
 Leverett. The Deficiency of his Salary for his Support. Ap- 
 plication to the General Court for the Relief of his Family. Its 
 Result. 
 
 CHAPTER IN the party spirit which characterized and em- 
 
 - barrassed the Massachusetts House of Representatives 
 
 theEpisco- during the administration of Governor Shute, the 
 
 pal church. 
 
 elements of civil and ecclesiastical policy were inti- 
 mately combined. Political jealousy and theological 
 zeal reciprocally stimulated each other. The fears of 
 the politicians were excited by the increasing influence 
 of the English crown ; those of the clergy, by the 
 proselyting spirit of the English hierarchy. Both 
 divisions of the Congregational church saw, with un- 
 disguised anxiety, Episcopacy daily gaining strength 
 and gathering converts, by the aid of transatlantic 
 funds and missionaries. But the feelings and conduct 
 of the parties were modified by their respective char- 
 acters and religious opinions. 
 
 Brattle, Colman, Pemberton, Wadsworth, and Ap- 
 pleton, belonged to a class of divines, which first 
 appeared, when the civil power the clergy had wielded 
 under the old charter was beginning to be dissolved
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 315 
 
 by the influence of the new principles introduced CHAPTER 
 
 by that of William and Mary. They were eminent 
 
 ly liberal in their religious views, and, although not- 
 friendly to the influence of the Church of England, 
 they regarded the introduction of Episcopacy as un- 
 avoidable, considering the relation of the Province to 
 the parent State. Thomas Brattle, Treasurer of the 
 College, and for more than twenty years an active 
 member of the Corporation, made no concealment of 
 his decided preference for the Episcopalian forms of 
 worship. 
 
 As the College was, in that day, dependent on the Relation to 
 
 favor of the General Court for the support of its Presi- governors 
 
 of the coi- 
 dent, it was the policy as well as the duty of its gov- lege. 
 
 ernors to conciliate the Chief Magistrate of the Pro- 
 vince, and as far as possible to harmonize with a 
 church, which, from his official relations, if not from 
 principle, he was compelled to patronize. Colman, 
 the leading member of the Corporation, was highly 
 esteemed by some of the dignitaries of the English 
 hierarchy. He was a correspondent of the Bishop of 
 Peterborough, who was disposed to consider " the 
 catholic spirit," for which the College was distin- 
 guished, as attributable to his influence ; and even 
 expressed a wish that he should therefore be advanced 
 to the President's chair, when a vacancy occurred by % 
 
 the death of Leverett. * 
 
 The policy and spirit, thus manifested by leading 
 members of the Corporation, was equally offensive to 
 the political and religious zealots of that period. The 
 one considered the College as inclining to the side 
 of prerogative ; the other, as verging towards here- 
 
 See Turell's Life of Colraan, p. 136.
 
 316 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER sy, and not sufficiently inimical to the English hier- 
 
 XV 
 
 ! archy. With both parties it became an object of 
 
 Its effects . . * 
 
 on the severe scrutiny and some misrepresentation. Its moral 
 of the and religious condition was canvassed with asperity, 
 and its character assailed by general suggestions of 
 declension, easily made, and difficult wholly to re- 
 fute, but, in the degree insinuated, utterly devoid 
 of probability. 
 
 Thus Cooke, the leader of the patriotic party in the 
 House of Representatives, being in England in the 
 spring of 1724, is found representing to Mr. Hollis 
 the very bad state of the College, and attributing it 
 to the fact, that " the Corporation was not composed 
 of resident fellows," yet at the same time acknowledg- 
 ing, that " the present non-resident fellows were as 
 worthy persons as the country afforded, or as could 
 be chosen."* As if three or four tutors, mostly young 
 men just out of College, whose connexion with the 
 seminary was usually short and precarious, without 
 experience, and having 110 external influence, were 
 likely to manage its concerns better than such men 
 as Colman, Wadsworth, and Appleton. 
 
 overseers On the 18th of January, 1723, the House of Re- 
 take meas- 
 
 ires indie- presentatives revived the resolves they had passed 
 content. a t | ne previous session, on the memorial of Sever 
 and Welsteed, and which Governor Shute had nega- 
 tived, and, passing them a second time, sent them 
 to the Council for their concurrence. This body re- 
 ferred the subject to the ensuing May session ; and, 
 in the month of August, the resolves were taken up 
 for discussion. While the project of removing the 
 obnoxious members of the Corporation was in progress, 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LVIII.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 317 
 
 the moment was thought favorable to commence in CHAPTER 
 
 "VV 
 
 the board of Overseers measures strongly indicating '. 
 
 discontent with the state of the College. Accordingly, 
 on the 9th of August, a formal vote was passed by the 1723. 
 Overseers, " that a visitation of the College would 
 very much serve the interests of religion and learning 
 in that society," and should be made accordingly ; 
 and a committee, of which Judge Sewall was chair- 
 man, was appointed " to prepare and lay before the 
 Overseers at their next meeting, such heads or arti- 
 cles which may be thought proper for the aforesaid 
 visitation of the Overseers to proceed upon." This 
 committee made a report, which on the 30th of Sep- 
 tember was read, and the several articles proposed 
 were voted in the board of Overseers. 
 
 These articles were ten in number, of which three Heads of 
 had reference to the general conduct of the College ; 
 and seven, exclusive reference to its religious and 
 moral condition ; indicating very distinctly the points 
 on which there existed, or there was a disposition to 
 create, suspicions. These articles of inquiry were ; 
 
 1. " What are the stated exercises enjoined on the 
 students, and how attended by them. 
 
 2. " What are the books in Divinity, which are 
 most used, and more particularly recommended to 
 the students. 
 
 3. " How are the Saturday exercises performed, 
 and are the great concerns of their souls duly incul- 
 cated on the youth. 
 
 4. " What is the state of the College as to the 
 morals of the youth. 
 
 5. " Whether the Holy Scriptures be daily read in 
 the Hall, and how often expounded. 
 
 6. " Whether the tutors and students do duly give
 
 318 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER their attendance on the public prayers and readings 
 
 XV 
 
 ! of the Holy Scriptures in the Hall, morning and 
 
 evening. 
 
 7. " Whether many of the students are not allowed 
 to be too often and too long absent from the College. 
 
 8. " Whether the tutors duly visit their pupils' 
 chambers and oblige them to their proper hours. 
 
 9. " How the Lord's day is observed, and the pub- 
 lic duties of it attended by that society. 
 
 10. " How the lectures and other exercises of the 
 Hollis Professor are performed and attended by that 
 society." 
 
 Report of The report of this committee of visitation, made 
 
 the com- * 
 
 mitteeof on the 9th of October, 1723, breathes a spirit of 
 
 inquiry. 
 
 subdued discontent with the College, yet its sharpness 
 is sufficient to give color of justification for antecedent 
 apprehensions. Did we not know the violence of the 
 times, and the natural tendency of party spirit to 
 exaggerate, we should be led to lament the moral 
 degeneracy of the institution, and to make no favor- 
 able conclusions concerning its management. But the 
 scrutiny had been commenced when there were vivid 
 expectations of success in the project connected with 
 the revival of the resolves, in which Sever and Wei- 
 steed's memorial had resulted. The report was made 
 after the malecontents with the Corporation in the 
 board of Overseers and the House of Representatives 
 had been defeated by the firmness of the Council, who 
 admitted the Corporation to a hearing which the 
 House had denied, and afterwards finally non-con- 
 curred in the resolves. A course suited to the actual 
 state of things was adopted. The governors of the 
 College were passed over without censure ; but a 
 minute detail was given of crimes and offences, suffi-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 319 
 
 XV. 
 
 cient to justify the insinuations which had been made CHAPTER 
 concerning the moral and religious declension of the 
 institution. 
 
 To the first inquiry the committee report, " That 
 the stated exercises in the College are generally the 
 same which they have formerly been ; and that there 
 is too common and general a neglect of the stated 
 exercises amongst the undergraduates, and that the 
 Masters' disputations and Bachelors' declamations, en- 
 joined by the laws of the College, have been a long 
 time disused." 
 
 As to the second inquiry, " That there does not 
 appear to have been any great recommendation of 
 books in Divinity to the students, but that they have 
 read promiscuously, according to their inclinations, 
 authors of different denominations in religion ; and, 
 by some information given, the works of Tillotson, 
 Sherlock, Scott, and Lucas, are generally most used." 
 
 As to the third inquiry, " That the Greek Cate- 
 chism is recited by the Freshmen without exposition. 
 Wollebius' and Ames's Systems of Divinity by the 
 other classes, with exposition on Saturdays ; and repe- 
 titions of the sermons of the foregoing sabbath are 
 made by the students on Saturday evenings, when the 
 President is present." 
 
 As to the fourth, " That, although there is a con- 
 siderable number of virtuous and studious youth in 
 the College, yet there has been a practice of several 
 immoralities ; particularly stealing, lying, swearing, 
 idleness, picking of locks, and too frequent use of 
 strong drink ; which immoralities, it is feared, still 
 continue in the College, notwithstanding the faithful 
 endeavours of the rulers of the House to suppress 
 them."
 
 320 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER As to the fifth, " That the Scriptures are read in 
 xv. r 
 
 the Hall, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and 
 
 Thursdays, when the President is present, and once 
 a week expounded by the President." 
 
 As to the sixth, " That the tutors and graduates do 
 generally give their attendance on the prayers in the 
 Hall, though not on the readings ; and that the under- 
 graduates attend both prayers and readings ; but they 
 attend in greater numbers at prayers when there are 
 no readings." 
 
 As to the seventh, " That the scholars are, many 
 of them, too long absent from the College ; but their 
 long absence is not with allowance." 
 
 As to the eighth, " That the tutors do duly visit 
 their pupils' chambers, and oblige them to their 
 proper hours." 
 
 As to the ninth, " That there are prayers, and a 
 psalm sung, in the Hall on the Lord's day mornings ; 
 and repetition of the sermons by one of the scholars ; 
 and a psalm and prayers in the evening ; and that the 
 scholars do generally attend the public worship ; and 
 that the scholars too generally spend too much of the 
 Saturday evenings in one another's chambers ; and 
 that the Freshmen, as well as others, are seen, in great 
 numbers, going into town, on Sabbath mornings, to 
 provide breakfasts." 
 
 As to the tenth, " That the public lectures of the 
 Hollis Professor are well performed, and are attended 
 by the scholars ; but the private lectures are very much 
 neglected by the scholars." 
 
 No direct action upon this report appears to have 
 been had, not even an acceptance of it by the Over- 
 1723. seers. On the 18th of the ensuing November, in- 
 deed, a committee was appointed, to revise the laws
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 321 
 
 of the College, and with instructions to consider CHAPTER 
 
 xv 
 " what farther is requisite to be done, beyond what - 
 
 has been done, in pursuit of the Overseers' inquiry." the inquiry. 
 It does not appear by the records of either the Cor- 
 poration or the Overseers, that this committee ever 
 made a report. 
 
 The death of President Leverett, in May, 1724, 
 gave an entirely new direction to the views and inter- 
 ests of parties. The Overseers met on the succeeding 
 day, and, Professor Wigglesworth having been rechosen 
 on the 25th of December a Fellow of the Corporation 1723. 
 by that board, the Overseers now " reconsidered their 
 reasons for their former non-acceptance of him," and 
 concurred in his election. Yielding either to the 
 arguments or the authority of the Council of the Pro- 
 vince, the House of Representatives took no farther 
 measures on the claim of Sever and Welsteed, which 
 was never afterwards renewed. The three obnoxious 
 members of the Corporation were permitted to retain 
 their seats unmolested, and the vacant chair of the 
 President concentrated the attention of all parties. 
 
 The administration of President Leverett was la- 
 borious, difficult, and eventful. By the very force of 
 the factions, which divided the politics and religion of 
 the country, the prosperity of the College had been 
 advanced, and its usefulness extended. Institutions 
 amid the tumults of party discord, like ships amid the 
 strife of warring elements, are often urged onward 
 with accelerated force by the tempest, which at first 
 retarded their progress, and even threatened their 
 destruction. Success in both cases depends on the 
 firmness and skill of the pilot. 
 
 During the administrations of Governors Dudley 
 and Shute, the affairs of the Colony were subjected 
 
 VOL. i. 41
 
 ;322 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER to great pecuniary embarrassment. The wars of 
 
 Queen Anne had created a considerable public debt. 
 
 embarniM- Taxes were heavy. The population of Massachusetts 
 
 merits of . . . n i / i 
 
 Massachu- was increasing;, but in a smaller ratio than formerly. Its 
 
 setts. 
 
 finances were depressed in consequence of the practice 
 of issuing paper money without adequate funds for re- 
 demption. Yet in times thus unpropitious the Corpo- 
 ration of the College, under the auspices of Leverett, 
 obtained from the legislature of the Province a succes- 
 sion of efficient grants unparalleled in the previous his- 
 tory of the institution. All their donations to it in land 
 had hitherto failed, either from want of title or of means 
 to enforce it. With the exception of the profits of the 
 ferry over Charles River, the patronage of the Province 
 had been limited to an annual grant for the support of 
 the President, and this had been the only direct pecu- 
 niary aid the College had received from the treasury. 
 But in November, 1717, on the memorial of the Corpo- 
 ration, stating that " a considerable number of students 
 were obliged to take lodgings in the town of Cambridge 
 for want of accommodations in the College, and pray- 
 ing the assistance of the General Court for erecting 
 a suitable building," the legislature took the subject 
 General into consideration, and in May, 1718, ordered an edi- 
 
 Court erect 
 
 Massachu. fice three stories high, fifty feet in length, and of the 
 
 setts Hall. * 
 
 same breadth with Harvard Hall, to be erected at the 
 expense of the Province. In 1719 this building was 
 extended in length to one hundred feet, and was 
 completed in 1720, at a cost of about three thousand 
 five hundred pounds, currency of the Province. This 
 edifice received the name of Massachusetts Hall, and 
 continues in good preservation to this day. For the 
 liberality of the General Court on this occasion, the 
 College was chiefly indebted to the influence of Gov-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 323 
 
 ernor Shute, who made two special recommendations CHAPTER 
 
 xv. 
 on the subject in public messages. Notwithstanding - 
 
 the embarrassed state of their finances, it was not 
 easy for the General Court to resist the zeal and 
 urgency of the chief magistrate, in aid of an insti- 
 tution, which had been the object of the favor of the 
 people of the Province from its first settlement, and 
 which was evidently in extreme want of the accom- 
 modation solicited. The disposition manifested about 
 this period, by wealthy individuals among the Dis- 
 senters in Great Britain, to patronize and endow the 
 College, also tended to excite the legislature to aid 
 its advancement. In concurring with the recom- 
 mendations of Governor Shute, the House of Repre- 
 sentatives expressed their thanks for " his care to 
 promote good literature, without which religion will 
 not be upheld among us." * 
 
 The death of President Leverett was sudden, un- Death of 
 expected, and deeply lamented. On the morning Leverett. 
 of the 3d of May, 1724, he was found dead in his 
 bed, to which he had retired the night before, suffering 
 under what was considered a slight indisposition. The 
 funeral sermons delivered on the occasion, by his 
 friends Colman, Wadsworth, and Appleton, are replete 
 with sorrow and eulogy. Chief Justice Sewall also, 
 in an address to the Grand Jury, spoke of President 
 Leverett, " as one, who had been an ornament to the 
 Bench of Justice and Court of Probate, full of sweet- 
 ness and candor, displayed in the government of the 
 College, tempered by convenient severity." 
 
 The abilities of Leverett seem to have been of a 
 superior order, which the events of his life had en- 
 
 * See Records of the General Court, 14th of February, 1718.
 
 324 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER abled him to improve and refine by an extensive inter- 
 course with books and mankind. His talents were 
 
 Character 
 
 ofpresi- eminently practical. He knew better than most men 
 
 dent Lev- 
 
 erett. what course to shape in difficult times, and how 
 political and religious factions were to be managed or 
 controlled. To these characteristics the College owed 
 much of the prosperity it enjoyed at that period ; and 
 these conferred the reputation for success, which has 
 ever since rested upon his administration. In all his 
 official relations, his industry, vigor, arid fidelity were 
 conspicuous and exemplary. He was a man more 
 actuated by a sense of duty than by desire of fame, 
 and no important monuments of his literary or scien- 
 tific attainments remain, except such as are identified 
 with the prosperity of the College while under his care. 
 
 The religion of President Leverett was enlight- 
 ened and catholic. In a country, and at a period 
 of society, when the sectarian spirit was strenuously 
 contending for power and supremacy, he maintained 
 his integrity, and preserved the College in that in- 
 dependence of religious sects, which was established 
 by the terms of its first charter. To his firmness, and 
 that of his associates, under circumstances of great 
 trial, and in opposition to an almost overwhelming 
 power, the institution is, probably, in a great measure 
 indebted for its religious freedom at this day. 
 
 While he was able to maintain the College in the 
 
 . , ... . . 
 
 independence of its early constitution, he was com- 
 pelled himself to become the victim of poverty and 
 disappointment; a fate he might probably have avoid- 
 ed, had he been more subservient to the times, and 
 less conscientiously scrupulous. For his own support 
 and that of his family, he was chiefly dependent on 
 grants from the General Court. These had not been
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 325 
 
 enlarged in proportion to the increase of the expense CHAPTER 
 
 of living, and the depreciation of money consequent '. 
 
 on a paper currency. As early as November, 1711, 
 he addressed a letter to the General Court, in which 
 he stated that he had been " invited to the cares and 
 services of the office of President of the College, 
 by the votes of that Court, and with a demand of 
 devoting himself entirely to those cares and services," 
 which he had done without any diversion ; that the in- 
 sufficiency of the salary was at the time of his appoint- 
 ment universally known and acknowledged, even by 
 the General Court itself, who had " declared that it 
 must be and should be seasonably advanced " ; that, 
 relying on the justice and honor of the Court, and at 
 the instance of well-wishers to the public as well as to 
 himself, he was persuaded to accept the office without 
 insisting on the insufficiency of the salary ; that he had 
 been four years President, and had found by experience 
 that his salary had fallen far short of his maintenance. 
 He therefore petitioned, that he might be indemnified 
 for the loss he had sustained, for, unless this should be 
 done, " the damage would prove insupportable, not to 
 say irreparable." The urgency and justice of this peti- 
 tion drew nothing from the General Court except a re- 
 solve, " that the sum of thirty pounds be added to the 
 allowance of the memorialists/or the year next coming." 
 And a like sum, which sometimes was increased to 
 forty, and once to fifty, pounds, was granted in sub- 
 sequent years, " in consideration of the extraordinary 
 scarcity and dearness of provisions and other neces- 
 saries of housekeeping." In December, 1720, Presi- 
 dent Leverett addressed a supplicatory letter to the 
 General Court, praying for an indemnification for 
 the diminution of his subsistence by reason of the
 
 326 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER " demolition of the President's House," and the in- 
 
 XV 
 
 '- adequacy of his support. * This application having pro- 
 duced no effect, two of the Fellows of the Corporation, 
 Mr. Wadsworth and Mr. Colman, in the ensuing May 
 addressed the legislature on the subject, wholly, as they 
 assert, " from their own mere motion, and without 
 any agency of President Leverett's," stating the utter 
 insufficiency of his salary for his necessary annual 
 expenses, and urging, with great pathos, the reason- 
 ableness and necessity of some addition to his present 
 allowance.! The* memorial was treated by the legis- 
 lature, as far as its records indicate, with total neglect. 
 The President was left to struggle with poverty and 
 embarrassment. The result was, that, after sixteen 
 years of faithful and laborious service, on a salary of 
 one hundred and fifty pounds per annum, exclusive 
 of the abovementioned grants, his estate, at his death, 
 was found bankrupt ; being in debt upwards of two 
 thousand pounds, for the payment of which sum his 
 children were compelled to sell the mansion-house of 
 Governor Leverett, which had descended to them from 
 their great-grandfather. These circumstances appear 
 on the records of the General Court, in a memorial 
 Memorial presented by the daughters and heirs of President 
 daughters Leverett, in the year 1726, in connexion with this 
 
 for an al- *.''.."'. 
 
 lowance. further statement, that their father had been " neces- 
 sitated, for the decent support of his family, to sink 
 the yearly rent of his own estate, and to fall in debt 
 one hundred pounds every year during his presidency," 
 and that, the President's house having been pulled 
 down to make way for the new College, their father 
 had been subjected for four years to the additional 
 
 * See above, p. 283. t See Appendix, No. LIX.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 327 
 
 expense of twenty pounds annual rent ; and that rent CHAPTER 
 for two months was due for their house while occu- L 
 
 pied by President Wadsworth. 
 
 This memorial was first presented to the Council P 
 
 T i -11 * n S 8 there- 
 
 of the Province, and was by them transmitted to the on of the 
 
 J m . Council ; 
 
 House of Representatives, with a special and earnest 
 message, recommending it to their favor, accompanied 
 by a solemn declaration, that, " in the opinion of that 
 board, the justice and honor of this Court are much 
 concerned in making compensation to the heirs of 
 President Leverett for the loss accruing to his estate 
 through the insufficiency of his allowance." 
 
 This message and the memorial were received and 
 acted upon by the House of Representatives, in the and of the 
 
 * House of 
 
 cold spirit of calculation, or under the influence of the Represent- 
 atives. 
 
 vindictive spirit of party. They voted " thirty pounds 
 to the petitioners in full satisfaction of and in answer 
 to the petition," declaring, that of this sum twenty 
 pounds were for the arrearages of salary occurring in 
 the month antecedent to the President's death, and 
 ten pounds for the two months' rent remaining due, 
 as stated in the memorial. 
 
 It would have been grateful to have left this last- 
 mentioned feature of the period in the oblivion, to 
 which it well deserves, from its character, to be con- 
 signed. But public bodies, acting in subserviency to 
 the corrupt propensities or party passions of the day, 
 are only amenable to a returning sound state of public 
 opinion. And the sole principle of control upon such 
 bodies is identified with the certainty, that, sooner or 
 later, History, in the exercise of an inexorable fidelity, 
 will drag the meanness or injustice of power, whether 
 of one or of many, to receive its ultimate reward of 
 disgrace from her tribunal.
 
 328 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Difficulties attending the Selection of a President. Cotton Mather, 
 Wadsworth, Colman, and Joseph Sewall, Candidates. Election 
 of Sewall. Dissatisfaction of Cotton Mather. Sewall declines 
 the Appointment. Election of Colman. Overseers apply to 
 the General Court for a sufficient Salary for him. Vote of the 
 House of Representatives on the Application. Colman makes a 
 fixed Salary the Condition of his Acceptance. House of Repre- 
 sentatives refuse it. Colman declines the Presidency. Wads- 
 worth chosen President. Accepts. General Court grant a 
 Salary. Cotton Mather attacks the Character of Leverett. Com- 
 parison of the Lives of Mather and Leverett. 
 
 CHAPTER AFTER the death of President Leverett the attention 
 
 XVI. 
 
 of the friends of the College was concentrated on the 
 
 Difficulties , _ . . __,. . _ . ... 
 
 in choosing choice of his successor. 1 he relations ol the religious 
 
 a Presi- i ,'" / i T t t i 
 
 dent. and political parties or the Province, and the depend- 
 ence of the College on annual grants from the legis- 
 lature for the support of the President, rendered a 
 satisfactory selection among the candidates for the 
 office unusually difficult, and gave intensity to the 
 interest of the occasion. 
 
 The independent and successful stand made by the 
 Corporation against the attempt to remove three of 
 their number, on the claim of Sever and Welsteed. 
 had no tendency to conciliate the favor of the House 
 of Representatives. That conclusive defence of the 
 chartered rights of the Corporation had been chiefly 
 the work of Colman and Wadsworth. The talent 
 and fidelity they had thus manifested had endeared
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 329 
 
 both to the friends of the institution ; to whom the CHAPTER 
 
 XVI. 
 
 elevation of either to the President's chair would have - 
 been, perhaps, equally acceptable. The claims of tiv "claims 
 
 _, l J . .... ofColman 
 
 Colman, though the younger of the two candidates, andWads- 
 were, from his more extensive acquaintance with life 
 and the world, higher than those of Wadsworth. But, 
 as the first pastor of the Manifesto Church, and as 
 the leader of that ominous secession from the doctrines 
 of the early Platform, he was peculiarly obnoxious to 
 the stricter sect of the Calvinists. His spirit was more 
 active than that of Wadsworth ; his temper, bolder 
 and more ardent. The Corporation, aware of the re- 
 lations of individuals and parties, were unwilling to 
 choose a member of their own board, and, in a spirit 
 eminently catholic, gave a pledge of their desire to 
 soften the asperities of religious controversy, by se- 
 lecting a President from the ranks of their opponents. 
 
 The Rev. Cotton Mather and the Rev. Joseph 
 Sewall at that time were held in high esteem by the 
 Calvinistic party. Both were clergymen holding pas- 
 toral relations to churches in Boston. Both had given 
 unequivocal evidence of their discontent with the re- 
 ligious influences and literary state of the College. 
 
 In favor of Mather, Dr. Eliot asserts,* " The voice claims of 
 of the people cried aloud, and it was declared even Mather. 
 in the General Court, that he ought to be President ; 
 but it was decided otherwise by the Corporation." 
 This assertion is considered by Peirce,f as " a charge 
 made against the Corporation, of disregarding the 
 voice of the people," which he examines and seriously 
 refutes. But probably it was the intention of Eliot 
 
 * Biography, art. Cotton Mather. 
 
 t See Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., p. 135. 
 
 VOL. I. 42
 
 330 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER only to state, that it was the opinion of many indi- 
 viduals that Cotton Mather should be selected, with 
 whom, as the result showed, the Corporation did not 
 coincide. 
 
 The learning and industry of Cotton Mather, his 
 voluminous writings, and his theological zeal, gave him 
 popular and ostensible claims to the presidency of the 
 College ; a station to which, it is well known, he had 
 long aspired. But violence of passion, frequent coarse- 
 ness of language, and deficiency in judgment, to a 
 degree at times scarcely reconcilable with common 
 sense, rendered him obnoxious to those who disa- 
 greed, and little acceptable to those who coincided 
 with him, in their view of church discipline and re- 
 ligious doctrines. By the former his election would 
 have been considered as *a positive evil, and by the 
 latter as a very uncertain good. His pretensions were, 
 therefore, passed over by a general consent, and, on 
 
 The Rev. the llth of August, 1724, the Rev. Joseph Sewall was 
 
 sewaii elected President of Harvard College by the Corpora- 
 chosen * 
 President, tion, and on the 26th of the same month was approved 
 
 by the Overseers. Cotton Mather notices this ap- 
 pointment in his Diary with one of those bitter sar- 
 castic sneers, in which he was accustomed to indulge. 
 " This day," he writes, " Dr. Sewall was chosen 
 President for his piety"* 
 
 In another place he thus gives scope to his feelings ; 
 " I am informed that yesterday the six men who 
 call themselves the Corporation of the College met, 
 and, contrary to the epidemical expectation of the 
 country, chose a modest young man, of whose piety 
 (and little else) every one gives a laudable character. 
 
 * Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., p. 141.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 331 
 
 " I always foretold these two things of the Corpo- CHAPTER 
 
 "jf vr 
 
 ration ; first, that, if it were possible for them to steer '. 
 
 clear of me, they will do so ; secondly, that, if it were 
 possible for them to act foolishly, they will do so. 
 
 " The perpetual envy with which my essays to serve 
 the kingdom of God are treated among them, and the 
 dread that Satan has of my beating up his quarters at 
 the College, led me into the former sentiment; the 
 marvellous indiscretion, with which the affairs of the 
 College are managed, led me into the latter."* 
 
 Cotton Mather well understood, that, by the election 
 of Sewall, the Corporation sought to conciliate the 
 predominating religious influences of the Province. 
 Sewall, though not deficient in other qualifications for 
 the President's chair, besides piety, was not distin- 
 guished for possessing them. The office was not 
 suited either to his character or his views. Amiable, 
 faithful, and affectionate, he was peculiarly adapted 
 to the office of teacher and pastor. He had the good 
 sense to realize the advantages he possessed ; and his 
 church, by refusing their assent to his removal to the 
 College, expressed the wishes and affections of their 
 pastor not less than their own. 
 
 Mr. Sewall having declined the appointment, the Mr.sewaii 
 selection of a President devolved again on the Corpo- thepresi- 
 ration, who, on the 18th of November, 1724, fulfilled 
 that duty by the election of the Rev. Benjamin Col- The Rev. 
 man. This eminent divine, though, to use his own coC m 
 expression, " long disused to academical studies and President, 
 exercises," possessed, in a high degree, the confidence 
 of the best friends of the College, and his qualifica- 
 tions for the office were many and important. His 
 
 * Sparks's American Biography, Vol. VI. p. 329.
 
 332 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER talents were unquestionable, and his industry exem- 
 XVT plary. As a member of the Corporation, his zeal 
 for the advancement of learning and the interests of 
 the College had been evidenced by a series of perse- 
 vering and successful efforts. He was the corre- 
 spondent of Thomas Hollis, of many other friends of 
 the College among the Dissenters in England, and 
 of White Kennett, afterwards Bishop of Peterborough, 
 to all of whom he was endeared by his catholic spirit. 
 No individual in the Province possessed higher quali- 
 fications for the office than Mr. Colman. 
 
 His election was undoubtedly not acceptable to 
 many of the Overseers, but they had no candidate 
 to interpose with any hope of success, and his ap- 
 pointment was consequently approved by that board 
 on the 24th of November, 1724. Cotton Mather, 
 who had continued to cherish hopes that the in- 
 fluences of the predominating religious party in the 
 Province would eventually effect his election, thus 
 indicates the disappointment he experienced, in his 
 Diary, on the 22d of November, 1724; "The Cor- 
 poration of the miserable College do again (on a 
 fresh opportunity) treat me with their accustomed 
 indignity." 
 
 Financial At this period the prospects of the College were 
 mentofthe affected by pecuniary embarrassments. Its funds 
 
 College. J r j 
 
 were scanty and, almost the whole of them, specifi- 
 cally appropriated. The support of its President, 
 even in the humble style which the simple state of 
 society then required, was dependent upon the favor 
 of the General Court, who made an annual grant of 
 one hundred and fifty pounds, Massachusetts currency, 
 generally without regard to the depreciation of the 
 circulating medium. The insufficiency of this grant
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 333 
 
 had been strikingly manifested by the fate and for- CHAPTER 
 
 tunes of Leverett; and the friends of the College ! 
 
 now resolved to attempt, if possible, to enlarge the 
 amount, and, by connecting it with the acceptance of 
 the office, to give the transaction the aspect of a con- 
 tract, and thus place it upon a surer basis than the 
 precarious favor of the General Court. To this end 
 the Overseers, at the same meeting in which they ap- 
 proved the election of Mr. Cohnan, having appointed 
 a committee to give him notice of the choice, and 
 to apply to his church for his discharge from their ser- 
 vice, directed the committee to wait upon the General 
 Court, to inform them of his election, and to " move 
 for a proper salary for his encouragement." The com- 
 mittee accordingly presented to them a memorial, on 
 the llth of December, 1724, praying that they would 
 " appoint a larger salary than has been usually allowed, 
 for the honorable maintenance of the President," on 
 which the following vote was passed. " In the House of 
 
 House of Representatives read, and forasmuch as at atives re- 
 fuse a grant 
 
 present it is uncertain whether the church, of which toMr.coi- 
 
 man. 
 
 the Rev. Mr. Colman is pastor, can be persuaded to 
 part from him, or whether Mr. Colman is inclinable 
 to leave his church and undertake the office of Presi- 
 dent of Harvard College, and this being a matter of 
 great weight and importance, especially to the estab- 
 lishment of the churches in this Province, as well as 
 to the said College ; Therefore voted, that the further 
 consideration of this memorial be referred until the 
 said Mr. Colman's mind, as well as of the church of 
 which he is pastor, be communicated to this Court, 
 and made certain, whether he and they are willing he 
 should accept of the choice and- undertake the office
 
 334 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER of a President of Harvard College, to which he is 
 '. chosen as aforesaid." 
 
 This vote having been passed in the House of 
 Representatives was not concurred in by the Council. 
 
 The disposition of the House of Representatives in 
 relation to the election of Mr. Colman, was indicated 
 by the debate and their proceedings. One of the 
 members of the House of Representatives from Bos- 
 ton declared in his speech, that " Dr. Colman was a 
 man of no learning compared with Dr. Mather." The 
 tenor of their vote gave no evidence of a desire to 
 encourage the former to accept the appointment, and 
 a settled determination was apparent, that their pro- 
 ceedings should be such as not to admit of being 
 construed into a contract for a fixed salary. 
 
 The state of feeling towards Mr. Colman in the 
 House of Representatives, thus indicated, was far 
 from being propitious ; and he had too much spirit 
 and wisdom, voluntarily to trust the fortunes of his 
 life to their future favor. The history of the Province 
 Mr. Coi- was faM f evidence touching the nature of the regard 
 P a id by the General Court to the wants of the Presi- 
 the dents of the College ; and Mr. Colman was deter- 
 rV e mined, that he would not add another to the list of 
 ' their disappointed dependants. 
 
 He knew that Dunster,* after long, faithful, and 
 most successful services, had been compelled to resign 
 by the prevailing Paedobaptist fanaticism, under cir- 
 cumstances of great pecuniary embarrassment ; and 
 the application of the Corporation for his relief, re- 
 jected by the General Court with a cold and somewhat 
 contemptuous denial. He knew that Chauncy, after 
 
 * See above, pp. 18-21.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 335 
 
 accepting the office of President on a promise of CHAPTER 
 
 liberal maintenance by the General Court, * had been 
 
 stinted in his resources, and his touching appeals to 
 their humanity and good faith neglected ; and that, 
 aftej a long, laborious, and useful life, he left a help- 
 less family, who were compelled to expose to the 
 world their utter poverty, in order to awaken that body 
 to the performance of a simple act of retributive justice. 
 He had seen Mather and Willard, dependent for their 
 compensation upon annual grants, and chiefly indebted 
 for their support to their pastoral relation. And last 
 of all, he had witnessed Leverett, after entering upon 
 the presidency, and resigning all his other offices under 
 full assurances of a liberal maintenance, neither sup- 
 ported adequately to his station, nor even requited 
 according to the depreciation of the currency, and, 
 after services which have rendered his presidency an 
 era in the history of the College, dying bankrupt, 
 and his children compelled to sell the estates of their 
 ancestors to pay the debts of their father ; the Gen- 
 eral Court regardless of all solicitations for sympathy, 
 and of all claims but those of strictly legal obligation.! 
 Had Colman, therefore, deemed them favorable to his 
 election, the past gave him no reason to rely on their ( 
 sense of justice, or their generosity. He knew well, 
 also, that he was particularly obnoxious to a majority 
 of the members of the House of Representatives, among 
 whom, from circumstances already explained, theo- 
 logical zeal had concentrated the high Calvinistic 
 influences of the Province. Of all persecutors, poli- 
 ticians whose power depends upon a display of re- 
 ligious zeal, are naturally the most bitter. Colman 
 
 * See above, pp. 25-28. f Ibid., p. S27.
 
 336 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER thus writes to the Bishop of Peterborough on this 
 
 XVI 
 
 - subject, " I am not well in the opinion of our House 
 of Representatives of late years, on whom the Presi- 
 dent depends for his subsistence, and they could not 
 have pinched me without the chair's suffering with 
 me, which I could by no means consent it should do 
 for my sake."* For this ill opinion there existed no 
 cause but his theological course and his fidelity to 
 the interests of Harvard College. Colman was the 
 recognised leader of the most liberal religious party 
 of the Province, and had dared openly to declare, in 
 defiance of the adherents to ancient creeds and plat- 
 forms, that " the Bible was his platform. "f 
 
 With a perfect understanding of the existence 
 and the causes of that " ill opinion " entertained for 
 him by the General Court, Mr. Colman determined 
 to bring to a quick decision the question pending 
 before them, respecting his support. After receiv- 
 ing private information of the vote, which passed the 
 House of Representatives on the llth of Decem- 
 ber, and of the rejection of it by the Council, he im- 
 His letter mediately addressed a letter to the Honorable Samuel 
 
 to Chief J 
 
 justice Sewall, chairman of the committee, " fearing lest on 
 
 bewail. t 
 
 my account there may be like to ensue any difficulty 
 to the honorable government, or detriment to the Col- 
 lege, for want of an honorable allowance or salary 
 to the President."! In this letter, after stating his 
 disinclination to accept the office of President, his 
 reluctance to leave his church, and the zeal with 
 which he had served the College as a member of 
 the Corporation, he supplicates the General Court to 
 enable any one who may be elected to that station, 
 
 * Turell's Life of Colman, p. 136. 1 Ibid., p. 96. % Ibid., p. 56.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 337 
 
 to apply himself to the studies and exercises appro- CHAPTER 
 
 xvr. 
 priate to the office, by granting a sufficient and honor- - _ . 
 
 able support ; and he proceeds to declare, that, " for 
 the Honorable Court to insist on those terms, of 
 knowing my mind, whether I am willing to accept of 
 the choice, and to undertake the office of President, to 
 which I am chosen, and also of knowing my church's 
 mind, whether they can part from me, before they 
 will fix any salary for me in the said office, must de- 
 termine me to give my 'answer in the negative to the 
 Honorable and Reverend Overseers of Harvard Col- 
 lege, which in that case I now do." 
 
 On the 17th of December, 1724, this letter from Mr. 
 Colman w r as read before the board of Overseers, who 
 directed a committee to wait on the General Court 
 with Mr. Colman's answer, and to pray, " that the 
 matter of a salary may be considered by them, and 
 so acted upon as may be most for the speedy settle- 
 ment of a President in the said College, and therein 
 for the good of the whole Province." 
 
 The proceedings of the House of Representatives 
 on this petition are thus stated on their records. 
 
 " 18th December, 1724. A vote of the Overseers 
 of Harvard College, for applying to the General As- 
 sembly for the settling a salary on the President of 
 the said College. 
 
 " In the House of Representatives read, and the House of 
 
 , i f^ . ,, i v i Represent- 
 
 question was put, whether the Court will establish ativesre- 
 a salary or allowance for the President of Harvard salary. 
 College, for the time being, before the person chosen 
 for that office has accepted the duty and trust thereof; 
 it passed in the negative, nemine contradicente." 
 The Council, indeed, non-concurred in the vote of the 
 House ; but the symptoms of hostility were too strong, 
 VOL. T. 43
 
 338 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER and Mr. Colman had too much spirit and experience 
 
 '. to trust the future support of himself and family to 
 
 favor so precarious. On the 26th of December, there- 
 fore, in reply to another application from the board of 
 Overseers, he transmitted his final answer, declining 
 the presidency of the College. 
 
 The difficulties attending the selection of another 
 candidate were numerous and agitating, and further 
 action on the subject was postponed for nearly six 
 months. 
 
 During the intervening period, the wishes of the 
 
 friends of the College had united in favor of the Rev. 
 
 The Rev. Benjamin Wadsworth, pastor of the First Church in 
 
 wadsworth Boston, who was elected by the Corporation on the 
 
 elected J 
 
 President. 8th, and approved by the Overseers on the 10th, of 
 June, 1725. From his Diary it appears, that his 
 reluctance to accept the office was extreme. After 
 the application made by the Overseers to his church, 
 " for their consent to part with him for that ser- 
 vice," on being called upon officially, " by the three 
 deacons of his church, to know his mind about the 
 call given to him to be President," he thus writes ; 
 " I told the messengers from our church, that I had 
 kept off my own being chosen as long and as far as 
 I dared to do, and had heartily desired and endeav- 
 oured to have the vacancy filled up otherwise ; that, 
 as to my own desires and inclinations, I had much 
 rather stay with the church than go to Cambridge ; 
 yet, considering of how great weight and importance 
 the College is for the welfare of the country, so far 
 as concerned myself, I dared not negative the call given 
 me to be President." His church having " resolved 
 (after serious consideration and prayer to God for di- 
 rection) that, if our Reverend pastor, Mr. Wadsworth,
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 339 
 
 xvr. 
 
 judges it to be his duty to accept of the call given CHAPTER 
 him, we will humbly submit, and say ' The will of 
 the Lord be done,' " he addressed a letter to the Over- 
 seers, accepting the office. In this letter he declares 
 how sensible he is of his " insufficiency to the weighty 
 arid important service to which he was called." " If 
 I had consulted flesh, and blood," he adds, " I think 
 I should have returned a speedy and peremptory nega- 
 tive to this call. So far as I know my own heart, no 
 carnal or worldly views have at all moved me to think 
 of an affirmative answer ; yet, considering the glory of 
 God, the interest of religion in the present and suc- 
 ceeding generations, the good of the whole Province 
 in various regards, are deeply concerned, as I humbly 
 conceive, in the settlement of the College ; and sundry 
 essays for its settlement having proved abortive and 
 unsuccessful ; I say, seriously considering these things, 
 I dare not (for fear of offending that God, whose I am 
 and whom I serve,) give a negative answer to the 
 invitation I have to be President of the College." 
 
 The refusal of Mr. Colman to accept the station 
 of President, until some specific engagement was 
 made by the General Court, sufficiently and publicly 
 indicated a want of confidence in their indefinite 
 promises of support, and awakened them to an earnest 
 and active exhibition of interest in the College. 
 
 On the 18th of June, 1725, being the day after 
 Mr. Wadsworth had declared his acceptance of that 
 office, the General Court granted him one hundred 
 and fifty pounds " to enable him to enter upon and 
 manage the great affair of that presidency ; " and a 
 committee of the House of Representatives was ap- 
 pointed to inquire into the revenues, appropriations, 
 and expenditures of the College, with powers " to look
 
 340 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER out a suitable house for the reception of the President," 
 
 XVI. 
 
 and make report at the next session, " that so an 
 honorable settlement and support may be allowed to 
 the Rev. President of Harvard College, which is the 
 full intention of this Court." 
 
 Although Mr. Wadsworth belonged to the liberal 
 class of the clergy, he was less obnoxious than Col- 
 man to the predominating religious sect in the Pro- 
 vince. He was of a temperament less bold, ardent, 
 and active, than Colman, and his church had been 
 formed on the early synodical Platform, and not, 
 like that of which Mr. Colman was pastor, in oppo- 
 sition to some of the cherished principles of the ad- 
 herents to that instrument. Even Cotton Mather 
 derived a qualified consolation for his own disappoint- 
 ment, from the fact, that Mr. Colman had not suc- 
 ceeded. In a letter to Mr. Hollis, he expressed a 
 favorable opinion of Mr. Wadsworth. But he could 
 not omit the opportunity to display his malevolence 
 towards President Leverett, although he had now 
 passed that " bourn," at which envy withdraws from 
 its victim, and hatred usually listens to the suggestions 
 of humanitv. 
 
 */ 
 
 Although Cotton Mather pretended " to keep at 
 the greatest distance from all the affairs of Harvard,"* 
 yet he eagerly seized every occasion to excite sus- 
 picions concerning both its literary and religious 
 character. When, in August, 1723, the Overseers 
 instituted a committee of inquiry into the state of 
 the College, under circumstances indicating doubts 
 upon that subject,! his never-sleeping animosity was 
 roused into immediate action. Among his papers 
 
 * See above, p. 226. t See above, p. 317.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 341 
 
 there is yet preserved a document in his own hand- CHAPTER 
 
 XVI. 
 
 writing, purporting to be " points needful to be in- 
 
 quired into relating to the education at Harvard 
 College." It is without date, but by its referring to 
 " some newly passed through the College," and to " the 
 performances of a deceased person of distinguished 
 industry and fidelity to the churches," the period at 
 which it must have been written is sufficiently indi- 
 cated, as Cotton Mather undoubtedly referred to his 
 own son, who was graduated in July, 1723, and to 
 Increase Mather, who died in August of the same year. 
 In this month the labors of the investigating committee 
 of the Overseers commenced, and they reported in 
 October. It hardly admits of a doubt, therefore, that 
 this writing was prepared with reference to that com- 
 mittee, and was intended to excite and direct their 
 inquiries. It carefully enumerates " the points need- 
 ful to be investigated," and breathes a spirit of settled 
 animosity to the government of the College, and discon- 
 tent with its state ; intimates that " learning is there 
 notoriously on its decay," that the speaking of Latin is 
 neglected ; the authors allowed to be read are " un- 
 profitable and of little regard " ; the students are com- 
 pelled " to get by heart a deal of insipid stuff, of which 
 the tutors teach them to believe nothing ; " the scho- 
 lars' studies are filled with books, " which may truly be 
 called Satan's library " ; books having " the spirit of 
 the Gospel " are not recommended, but those " erro- 
 neous and dangerous " ; the tutors, having no regard 
 " to the doctrines of grace," set themselves to instil 
 contrary principles, and grievously neglect the souls 
 of their pupils ; children, who left home " with some 
 gospel symptoms of piety, quickly lose all ; " and 
 " young ministers, who are the gifts of Christ in the
 
 342 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER service of our churches, declare, that, before they 
 
 XVI. 
 
 - came to be what they are, they found it necessary 
 to lay aside the sentiments which they brought from 
 the College with them."* 
 
 The ill impression concerning the seminary this 
 paper was calculated to excite, is the more worthy of 
 notice because it stands in singular contrast with the 
 impression conveyed in letters written to President 
 Leverett but a few years before by this same Cotton 
 Mather, in which he expresses his satisfaction at the 
 number of the sons of the church who were edu- 
 cating at the College, and of its " flourishing state 
 under Leverett's sway." 
 
 During the last years of Leverett's life and presi- 
 dency, a son of Cotton Mather was a member of the 
 College, and had received from him a letter of intro- 
 duction to Leverett, in which he expresses " a full 
 persuasion that the President would be a father to 
 him." This confidence was not misplaced ; for, in a 
 subsequent letter to Leverett, Mather expresses his 
 obligations to him, and the Corporation " under your 
 influence, for the generous allowance to assist the 
 education of my son," declaring that it ought to be 
 most gratefully acknowledged, and shall be so. He 
 adds, " Your own more particular kind aspect upon 
 the child obliges me to be very thankful for the 
 kindness of God therein shown unto him ; and I am 
 so. His delight in the College, which, indeed, is in 
 a singular manner owing to your smiles upon him, 
 and the acceptance he finds with his superiors there, 
 is to me no little consolation. And it is no less a 
 satisfaction that I can reckon sixteen or seventeen sons 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LX.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 343 
 
 of tlic church whereof I am the servant, ivho belong at CHAPTER 
 
 XVI 
 
 this time unto the College. Your paternal wisdom _ 
 and goodness is what I much rely upon." He con- 
 cludes with " hearty prayers, that the Lord would 
 prosper you, and grant his blessing on your whole so- 
 ciety flourishing under your sway, and make you a 
 rich blessing to them and all of us." 
 
 Mather's son was graduated at the College but a 
 few months before Leverett died. Notwithstanding 
 the obligations these expressions imply, a year probably 
 did not elapse, before he made the following un- 
 warrantable attack on the memory of President Lev- cotton 
 
 * . Mather's 
 
 erett, as stated in a letter preserved in the archives of attack on 
 
 1 the charac- 
 
 the College, from Thomas Hollis to Mr. Colman, dated twof 
 
 er 
 
 on the 10th of February, 1726. " I have received a 
 letter from Dr. Cotton Mather, which gives me a good 
 account of Mr. President Wadsworth, with hopes of 
 his being very useful to the College, preferring him 
 much to the infamous drone, his predecessor." 
 
 The kind-hearted Hollis was struck with astonish- 
 ment at this wanton calumny sent across the Atlantic 
 with intent to depreciate a distinguished head of the 
 College in the opinion of its most eminent friend and 
 benefactor. 
 
 " I have written," continues Hollis, " to Cotton 
 Mather, desiring an answer by the first opportunity, 
 why he brands the memory of that man, now dead, 
 with such a character. You have, in years past, re- 
 presented him to me, as a gentleman deserving a 
 much better character, and I am surprised at it." 
 
 A mind like Cotton Mather's could neither thorough- 
 ly understand, nor justly appreciate, the character of 
 Leverett. His election in 1707, as President of the 
 College, had interfered with Mather's long-cherished
 
 344 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER hope of succeeding his father in that office. And it 
 ! was Mather's custom to speak and to write, in mo- 
 ments of passion, with great license, concerning any 
 one, whom it was his interest or will to disparage, 
 injustice of Judging by all that is known of the life, actions, 
 and thoughts of Leverett, the epithet " infamous " was 
 never applied with less color of truth or show of 
 reason. That of " drone " was equally gratuitous and 
 unjustifiable. The history of Leverett's presidency is 
 one continuous testimony to his active and laborious 
 fulfilment of every official duty. 
 
 Leverett's life was now ended, and that of Mather 
 drawing swiftly to a close. He survived the writing 
 of this letter only two years, and it appears to have 
 been the last of his acts affecting the character of the 
 College or its officers. Mather and Leverett both held 
 a high place among their contemporaries. They were 
 within two years of the same College standing. Their 
 lives were passed in the same vicinity, and their talents 
 and qualities excited and put to trial by the same in- 
 fluences and events. Both were learned men, and 
 sufficiently, though differently, qualified for the office 
 of President of the College, which the one eagerly 
 sought but failed to attain, and which the other re- 
 luctantly accepted. The conduct and events of their 
 lives exhibit their characters in remarkable contrast. 
 The spirit of Leverett was calm, chastened, disinter- 
 ested, not indifferent to fame, but seeking it solely 
 by the path of well-discharged duty. That of Mather 
 was restless, violent, selfish, and passionate, craving 
 distinction, and claiming it by every form of self- 
 illustration and display. The former, in the unwa- 
 vering confidence and honor of his fellow-citizens, 
 received through life the reward due to his fidelity,
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 345 
 
 judgment, and integrity. The latter, possessed of a CHAPTER 
 
 mind wayward and ill-regulated, disgusted his con- 
 
 temporaries by the unrestrained license of his tongue 
 and his pen, and became the frequent subject of ridi- 
 cule and derision.* The clergy of the period, admiring 
 the variety of Cotton Mather's attainments, the ex- 
 tent of his learning, his ready invention, ceaseless ac- 
 tivity, and invincible industry, and, above all, honoring 
 his professional zeal, threw the broad shield of their 
 authority, or the more becoming mantle of their 
 charity, over his frailties. 
 
 " Could I imagine," exclaims the Rev. Joshua Gee, 
 in a funeral sermon preached on the occasion of his 
 death, " that any in this assembly belong to that herd 
 of abandoned mortals, whose sport it has been to wreak 
 their venom upon a faithful servant of God, in profane 
 and ungodly scorn and derision, I would, in compas- 
 sion to their poor souls, turn my discourse to them, 
 and say, 'Mourn, O forsaken wretches, mourn at length 
 the death of that saint, who endeavoured, by his holy 
 exhortations and fervent prayers, to keep you from 
 the damnation of hell fire, and turn you to the wisdom 
 of the just, while he lived above the reach of your 
 envy and malice, and, in imitation of his great Master, 
 Jesus Christ, was grieved for the hardness of your 
 hearts. If you will not mourn his death, God only 
 knows how soon, if he have mercy on you, you will 
 be constrained to it at your own ; like some others, 
 already, who have found it impossible to take comfort 
 in the hopes of the mercy of God till they had re- 
 pented and bewailed their abuse of his servant.' " f 
 
 * See Sparks's Amer. Biog., Vol. VI. p. 334. 
 
 t See " A Sermon preached on the Lord's Day after the Death of the 
 very reverend and learned Cotton Mather, D. D., F. R. S., Pastor 
 
 VOL. i. 44
 
 346 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER The Rev. Mr. Colman, on the other hand, who had 
 more than any other clergyman been the object of 
 Cotton Mather's attacks, after repeating, in a funeral 
 sermon, the usual topics of eulogy on his character, 
 declares his wish " to draw a veil over every failure," 
 and intimates to " his brethren, the prophets, that 
 they have the mantle of Elijah wherewith to cover 
 his defects and infirmities." * Time, however, has 
 unavoidably lifted that " veil," and thrust aside that 
 " mantle," which the tenderness of his friends and 
 professional interest desired to spread. Letters and 
 diaries of his contemporaries, as well as his own, have 
 cast a light upon his character, of which it is impossi- 
 ble for History, with any regard to truth, not to avail 
 herself. 
 
 Through her faithful medium Cotton Mather must 
 be transmitted as an individual of ungovernable pas- 
 sions and of questionable principles ; credulous, in- 
 triguing, and vindictive ; often selfish as to his ends, 
 at times little scrupulous in the use of means ; way- 
 ward, aspiring, and vain ; rendering his piety dubious 
 by display, and the motives of his public services sus- 
 pected by the obtrusiveness of his claims to honor 
 and place ; whose fanaticism, if not ambition, gave 
 such a public encouragement to the belief in the 
 agencies of the invisible world, as to have been one 
 of the chief causes of the widest spread misery and 
 disgrace, to which his age and country were ever 
 subjected. 
 
 of the North Church in Boston. By Joshua Gee, M. A., Pastor of the 
 same Church." p. 20. 
 
 * See " A Sermon preached at the Lecture in Boston, two Days after 
 the Death of the very reverend and learned Cotton Mather, D. D. 3 
 F. R. S., by Benjamin Colman." p. 24.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 347 
 
 In the character of Leverett, there was no obtrusive CHAPTER 
 
 display, and no subsequent disgrace and disappoint- 
 ment. He studied not to gratify vanity, but to enable 
 himself better to perform his duty. His labors were 
 practical, and in the shades of the Academy he pre- 
 pared himself for the various and important stations, 
 to which he was called by the voice of the commu- 
 nity. A perfect fulfilment of whatever he undertook 
 was the object to which he limited his endeavours. 
 At this he aimed ; in this he succeeded. His ad- 
 ministration of the affairs of the College, in circum- 
 stances of great delicacy and difficulty, reflected an 
 honor on his name and character, which his contem- 
 poraries almost unanimously acknowledged, and which 
 has been confirmed by the judgment of posterity. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Harvard Hall. Stoughton Hall. Massachusetts Hall. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS HALL ; BUILT IN 1720.
 
 348 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Change in the political Relations of Massachusetts. Its Effects on 
 the College. Nicholas Sever elected Fellow of the Corporation. 
 English Crown and Hierarchy patronize the Episcopal Church. 
 Its Clergy claim Seats at the Board of Overseers. Alarm of the 
 Congregational Church at the Progress of Episcopacy. Origin of 
 the Puritans. Spirit and Policy of the first Emigrants to New 
 England. Edmund Randolph founds the first Episcopal Society 
 in New England. Arrival of Edmund Andros. His violent 
 Seizure of the South Church for Episcopal Worship. Progress of 
 the Episcopal Church after the Revolution of 1688. " Society for 
 propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts " established in its Aid. 
 Mr. Colman's Correspondence with the Bishop of Peterborough on 
 the Proceedings of that Society. Timothy Cutler, Rector of Yale 
 College, and Six other Clergymen of Connecticut, converted to 
 Episcopalianism. Honors and Rewards bestowed on Cutler in 
 England. He is chosen Rector of King's Chapel in Boston. 
 Claims a Seat at the Board of Overseers. Grounds of his Claim. 
 Rejected by the Overseers. He appeals to the General Court. 
 Overseers reply to his Appeal, which is rejected by the General 
 Court. He renews his Claim before the Overseers. Final Re- 
 jection of it by that Board. 
 
 CHAPTER ABOUT this period many circumstances indicate the 
 
 XVII. 
 
 advance of a new era in Massachusetts. More than 
 thirty years had elapsed since the Charter of William 
 and Mary had changed the political relations of the 
 Province. All those individuals, whose characters and 
 opinions had been formed under the " Old Charter," 
 had passed, or were rapidly passing, away. The con- 
 cerns of the Province were now governed by the 
 general rules of political wisdom. The Clergy began 
 to perceive, that their influence on public affairs, al-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 though yet great, was diminishing. By the events of CHAPTER 
 the last thirty years they had become convinced, that ' 
 neither the power of the Gospel nor their own was 
 advanced by those violent doctrinal dissensions, which 
 had been excited and perpetuated chiefly by the 
 Mathers. The several divisions of the Congregational 
 church began to evince towards each other a more 
 catholic spirit, and the character and prospects of Har- 
 vard College were favorably affected by the gradual 
 cessation of their controversies. By silent though 
 apparently common consent, its theological character 
 was by degrees modified, and it was encouraged to 
 assume more decidedly the aspect of a literary insti- 
 tution. 
 
 The acceptance of the President's chair by Mr. Nicholas 
 Wadsworth occasioned a vacancy in the Corporation, chosen into 
 which was immediately filled by the election of Nicho- rat e ion rp ' 
 
 1725. 
 
 las Sever, a tutor, and one of the individuals, whose sept \s. 
 claim to a seat that board had resisted with firmness 
 and success. A seat, which the Corporation would 
 not concede to a claim of right, they now voluntarily 
 gave by election. The pretensions of Sever had been 
 supported in their full extent by the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. His election, having the appearance of 
 submission to their authority, was very acceptable to 
 that body, as also to the high Calvinistic clergy, who 
 had uniformly and zealously advocated his claims to 
 a place in the Corporation. By the election of Sever, 
 and that of Mr. Sewall as President, the Corporation 
 were regarded as giving evidence of a disposition to 
 coalesce with the predominating religious influences 
 of the Province. The increasing favor with which 
 the College was viewed by the General Court was 1726. 
 evinced the succeeding year by an extraordinary dis-
 
 350 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER play of liberality in their provision for the support 
 _ ~ of President Wadsworth, and for the erection of a 
 
 President's house. 
 Alarm or The wisdom of terminating their disputes, and of 
 
 the clergy ' , . . . . . ' . 
 
 m the pro- soltening asperities, began about this time to be im- 
 
 gress of 
 
 Episco- pressed on both divisions of the Congregational clergy 
 by very ominous events. Since the commencement 
 of the eighteenth century they had seen the Episcopal 
 church establishing itself in almost every important 
 settlement of New England, aided by the bounty and 
 upheld by the authority of the English crown and 
 hierarchy. The fears and antipathies of the poli- 
 ticians harmonized with those of the divines. Both 
 viewed with equal jealousy these encroachments of 
 transatlantic power. The ecclesiastical and monarchi- 
 cal influences of the parent state were, in their appre- 
 hension, identical in interest and policy, and alike 
 opposed to the civil and religious establishments of 
 New England. 
 
 Early in the presidency of Wadsworth the Episco- 
 pal clergy of Boston claimed seats in the board of 
 Overseers as " teaching elders " of one of the six 
 towns enumerated in the College charter. Their 
 attempt thus to obtain an introduction into the govern- 
 ment of the College occasioned one of the most agi- 
 tating controversies of that period. To form a correct 
 estimate of the motives and passions it involved, a 
 brief statement will be given of the causes and events, 
 which had excited throughout New England a deter- 
 mined opposition to every form of Episcopal influence.- 
 origin of The sect of the Puritans originated in Germany 
 tans. about the year 1556, among the English reformers, 
 who fled from the persecutions of Queen Mary. One 
 congregation, which had taken refuge at Strasburgh,
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 351 
 
 determined on the use of the service-book of King CHAPTER 
 
 XVII 
 
 Edward, while another, established at Frankfort, re- - 
 
 jected not only the English Litany, Liturgy, and sur- 
 plice, but also the practice of answering aloud after the 
 minister, and that of reading portions of Scripture in 
 the public worship of the Sabbath. The disputes on 
 this subject between these societies becoming serious, 
 they applied for advice to John Calvin, who was 
 esteemed an oracle on such occasions. In reply, Cal- 
 vin characterized the English liturgy as " the leavings 
 of Popish dregs," and recommended to them " to 
 enterprise a farther reformation, and to set up some- 
 thing more filed from rust, and purer"* 
 
 From this language of Calvin, and from the object 
 at which their reformation aimed, the Puritans derived 
 their name and characteristics. 
 
 When life was restored to the Reformation by the 
 accession of Queen Elizabeth, those exiles returned to 
 England, and brought with them a rooted animosity 
 to the English hierarchy, and a settled determination 
 not to conform to the service, customs, and discipline 
 of the English Church. The persecutions they and 
 their proselytes subsequently suffered, during the reigns 
 of Elizabeth and James the First, fixed in the minds 
 of their descendants an utter detestation of the Eng- 
 lish hierarchy, Church service and discipline, and oc- 
 casioned the emigration to New England. Though 
 compelled by circumstances sometimes to conceal, and 
 sometimes to deny, this antipathy, it was, in truth, one 
 of the master passions in the breasts of those early 
 emigrants, and constitutes a principal clue to their 
 language, conduct, policy, and laws. 
 
 * Neal's History of the Puritans, Vol. I. chap. iii. p. 72.
 
 352 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 /> 
 
 CHAPTER The form of government they adopted in Massa- 
 chusetts had for its object the supremacy of the Con- 
 
 
 IO"EPUCO- gregational church, and the exclusion of the Episcopal 
 JSewEng- and all other sects from political power and influence. 
 
 land. . .,,,/> 
 
 During the thirty years m which the hrst emigrants 
 conducted the affairs of Massachusetts, the civil wars 
 which harassed 'the parent state, and the coincidence 
 in religious and political views of the chiefs of the 
 English Commonwealth and the leaders of the New 
 England colony, gave this antipathy to Episcopacy a 
 fixed root among the people of New England ; the 
 fibres of which were spread throughout the whole 
 settlement. The language and writings of the early 
 divines were carefully calculated to keep alive these 
 passions, and to inspire a universal dread of the Eng- 
 lish church and hierarchy.) 
 
 A generation of men, for the most part born on the 
 soil of New England, and educated under the preju- 
 dices and antipathies of the first emigrants, began to 
 take a lead in the concerns of the colony, about the 
 time of the restoration of the English monarchy under 
 Charles the Second. At this period the English male- 
 contents studiously endeavoured to establish at home, 
 and to propagate through the English colonies, an 
 opinion that the English monarch was a Papist at 
 heart, and that his policy had for its object the recon- 
 cilement of England to the See of Rome. The ap- 
 prehensions thus excited were strengthened by the 
 avowed determination of the government of the parent 
 state to change the principles of their charter, and with 
 it the foundation of their civil and ecclesiastical rights 
 and privileges. 
 
 The disadvantageous light in which professed Epis- 
 copalians were thus viewed, and the real inconven-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UiNIVERSITY. 353 
 
 iences they suffered, prevented their erection of a CHAPTER 
 
 XVII 
 
 church, or any public observance of their forms of '. 
 
 worship, for the first fifty years after the settlement 
 of Massachusetts ; so that in 1686 a majority of its 
 inhabitants had never seen an assembly in which re- 
 ligious service was performed according to the rites 
 and ceremonies of the Church of England. * 
 
 Edward Randolph, who, during the reign of Charles 
 the Second, was the most active emissary of the crown, 
 suggested, as early as 1682, the plan of propagating . 
 Episcopacy in New England, by means of funds de- 
 rived from the parent state. In letters to Sancroft, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, after stating that the Epis- 
 copalians in Massachusetts were compelled to pay 
 rates for the support of the Congregational clergy, 
 and also to maintain their own ministers by contribu- 
 tion, Randolph proposed, " that able ministers might 
 be appointed to perform the offices of the Church with 
 us, and that for their maintenance a part of the money 
 sent over hither and pretended to be expended amongst 
 the Indians should be ordered to go towards that 
 charge."^ 
 
 A more gross perversion of funds can scarcely be 
 imagined, than that included in the proposition of 
 Randolph. - It was, however, in unison with the vio- 
 lence of his character, and the utter disregard of 
 private rights and public morals, which characterized 
 the reigns of Charles the Second and his successor, 
 James. 
 
 The funds which Randolph thus proposed to seize 
 and devote to the establishment of the Episcopal 
 
 * See Hutch. Hist. Mass., Vol. I. chap. iii. p. 318. Edit. 1785. 
 t See Hutch. State Papers, p. 531. 
 
 VOL. i. 45
 
 354 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER Church in New England were the product of sub- 
 
 XVII. 
 
 - scriptions collected among private individuals for the 
 purpose of instructing the heathen natives, and were 
 limited to that object by the constitution of the 
 Society intrusted with their management and distri- 
 bution. 
 First so- The first of these societies was incorporated in 
 
 ciety for < f f 
 
 propagating 1649, by the English Parliament, in the time of the 
 
 the Gospel J 
 
 in New Commonwealth. It was denominated " The President 
 
 England. 
 
 and Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New 
 England." It was authorized to collect moneys and 
 receive donations, and transmit them to the commis- 
 sioners of the United Colonies, by them to be dis- 
 posed of so as " shall best and principally conduce to 
 the preaching and propagating of the Gospel among 
 the natives, and for maintenance of schools and nur- 
 series of learning for the education of the children of 
 the natives."* 
 
 On the restoration of Charles the Second, in 1660, 
 this Society, having derived its existence from the 
 Commonwealth, was deemed dead in law, and at- 
 tempts were made to seize upon their funds and con- 
 vert them to private use. 
 
 second so- Through the agency of Robert Boyle, Sir Henry 
 propagating Ashurst, and other friends of the settlement, a new 
 
 the Gospel 
 
 Company was formed, denominated " The Company 
 for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, 
 and Parts adjacent, in America." By this charter the 
 objects of this Society and the application of its funds 
 were as strictly limited, as those of the former, " to 
 the civilizing, teaching, and instructing the heathen 
 natives and their children, in religion, morality, and 
 
 * Hazard's State Papers, Vol. I. p. 635, where this charter is given 
 at large.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 355 
 
 the English tongue, and in other liberal arts and CHAPTER 
 
 M * XVI1 - 
 
 sciences. 
 
 There is no evidence, that the proposal of Randolph 
 to pervert these funds received at the time any en- 
 couragement ; but it appears from one of his letters 
 to the Archbishop of Canterbury, that he renewed 
 those suggestions in 1686, and that Sancroft had been 
 so far influenced by them, as to express his desire, 
 that " the moneys in the hands of the Corporation 
 for evangelizing the Indians should be inquired after, 
 and applied to build a church for Episcopal worship, 
 and a free school, that our youth may be no longer 
 poisoned by the seditious principles of New Eng- 
 land."! 
 
 Either this Corporation was found to be unman- First E P is- 
 
 copal so* 
 
 aeeable, or the scheme itself was deemed too great cietyin 
 
 . Boston. 
 
 an outrage upon the rights of corporate property ; since 
 it does not appear, that the proposed perversion of 
 the funds was ever effected. Randolph saw plainly, 
 that the influence of the English crown could never 
 become predominant in the colony unless in connexion 
 with the English hierarchy. Bold, active, and in- 
 telligent, he directed all his efforts to this object, and 
 incessantly urged its importance upon the Lords of 
 the Council and the dignitaries of the Church, t He 
 was the chief founder of the first Episcopal society 
 in New England ; and in June, 1686, he associated 
 himself with Ratcliffe, and nine other individuals, for 
 that purpose. Although they were few in number, poor 
 
 * Life of Robert Boyle, fol. edit. London, 1744, p. 98, where this 
 charter is given at large. Neal's Hist, of New England, Vol. I. 
 p. 260. 
 
 t Hutch. State Papers, p. 551. 
 
 J Greenwood's History of King's Chapel, p. 16.
 
 356 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER in revenue and resources, and discountenanced by all 
 . ' the predominating colonial powers, yet their proceed- 
 ings indicate a spirit sufficiently lofty and determined. 
 Excluding from their records all recognition of the 
 authorities of Massachusetts, not even referring to the 
 colony by name, they laid hold of the horns of the 
 transatlantic altar, placed their society under the 
 shadow of the sceptre of the monarch, and denomi- 
 nated themselves " the members of the Church of 
 England .by law established, under the gracious in- 
 fluences of the most illustrious Prince, our sovereign 
 Lord, James the Second, by the grace of God, of 
 England, Scotland, and Ireland, King, Defender of 
 the Faith, &c., Anno Domini, 1686, and in the second 
 year of his said Majesty's reign, at Boston, within 
 his said Majesty's territory and dominion of New 
 England, in America." * 
 
 Among their acts at this first meeting were an 
 humble address to his Majesty, and letters to the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, 
 imploring their favor. Edward Randolph was also 
 appointed chairman of a committee* " to wait on the 
 President and Council about our Church affairs." In 
 the July ensuing they made application to the chief 
 authorities of Massachusetts, for a brief to pass 
 through the whole of New England, to collect and 
 receive " voluntary donations towards the building of 
 an Episcopal church in Boston, to be erected for the 
 service of God, and for the use of the Church of 
 England by law established." 
 
 The administration of the colony was, at that time, 
 in the hands of Dudley as President, and the Council, 
 
 * Greenwood's History of King's Chapel, p. 22.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 357 
 
 temporarily established by a commission from King CHAPTER 
 
 James. The application, however repugnant to their 
 
 prejudices, was too reasonable to be denied. The 
 " brief " was granted, and also a room in the Town 
 House, where public worship was first commenced in 
 the capital of New England, under a license from the 
 colonial authority, according to Episcopalian forms. 
 Andros, the royal Governor, on his arrival in 1686,* violent 
 
 j i i i r f proceed- 
 
 determmed to obtain, by favor or force, a more suit- mgs of An- 
 dros. 
 able and commodious place for the Episcopal service. 
 
 Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, had suggested, 
 that one of the Congregational meetinghouses might 
 be obtained for Episcopalian worship by way of 
 compromise with the clergy of that sect, in exchange 
 for liberty of conscience. In accordance with this 
 suggestion, Andros, on the day of his arrival, in a 
 conference . with three Congregational clergymen of 
 the place, intimated, that one church might admit 
 two assemblies, and thus the Episcopal service be 
 accommodated without interfering with the Congre- 
 gational. This proposition was, in the opinion of 
 these divines, equivalent to an assent to the desecra- 
 tion of the church which should accede to it ; and 
 they answered with one voice, that they " could not 
 consent, that any of their meetinghouses should be 
 used for Common Prayer worship." Being desired 
 to permit their bell to be tolled at nine o'clock on 
 Wednesdays and Fridays for the Episcopal meeting 
 for prayers, they replied, that. " they could in no wise 
 assent, it intrenching on their liberty of conscience. "f 
 Andros waited until the March following, in the 
 
 * Hutch. State Papers, p. 550. Greenwood's History of King's 
 Chapel, p. 37. Sewall's Diary, 
 t Hutch. State Papers, p. 553.
 
 358 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER hope of effecting his object by negotiation. Being 
 
 XVIf 
 
 ! disappointed in this expectation, he commanded on 
 Good Friday the doors of the South Church to be 
 
 church for opened, and the bell to be rung for the Church of 
 worship. England service ; which continued to be performed 
 there during the whole period of his administration. 
 This violent invasion of the rights of private property, 
 and open defiance of the religious prejudices of 
 the colony, deepened the hereditar}' fear of the Epis- 
 copal church. The alarm was strengthened by the 
 well-founded apprehension, that the English monarch 
 designed to seize on the seminaries of education.* 
 These were probably among the causes of the little 
 civility paid to Ratcliffe, the Episcopalian clergyman, 
 when, by the authority of Andros, he took his seat 
 in the pulpit, and attended the services on Com- 
 mencement day.f 
 
 The antipathy of the clergy to the Episcopal church 
 was shared by the laymen of the Congregational per- 
 suasion. When, in 1688, the same Ratcliffe, for the 
 purpose of building an Episcopal church, applied to 
 Judge Sewall for the purchase of an estate on " Cot - 
 ton Hill " in Boston, formerly belonging to the Rev- 
 John Cotton, Sewall replied, that " he would not put 
 Mr. Cotton's land to such a use, nor be concerned in 
 setting up that, which the people of New England 
 came over to avoid." In the same spirit, more than 
 thirty years afterwards, when Governor Shute pro- 
 posed to adjourn the Court on account of Christmas, 
 Judge Sewall, being one of the Council, told the 
 Governor, that " the Dissenters had come a great way 
 for their liberties, and now the Church had theirs, yet 
 
 * See above, p. 29. f See above, p. 58.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 359 
 
 they would not be contented except they might tread CHAPTER 
 all others down." * 
 
 After the deposition of Andros by a popular insur- 
 rection, in 1688, a small wooden building was erected 
 on the site of the present King's Chapel, in Bos- 
 ton, with funds gradually collected from voluntary do- 
 nations, and the service of the Episcopal church was 
 henceforth tolerated but not encouraged. When the 
 arbitrary rule of the Stuarts terminated, by the acces- 
 sion of William arid Mary, Episcopacy was viewed 
 with a subdued animosity, but it never obtained either 
 the confidence or favor of the Congregational church. 
 
 From this time the patronage of the crown and 
 hierarchy was extended to the infant Episcopal church 
 in New England. Aware that it was a ready path to 
 royal favor, Joseph Dudley, when he came as Gov- 
 ernor of the Province, in 1702, joined himself to that 
 Society, and with Lieutenant-Governor Tailer became 
 one of its active vestrymen.; 
 
 Episcopacy, having taken such strong hold of the 
 soil of New England, wanted nothing to secure its 
 permanency and expansion, except pecuniary funds 
 for its support and encouragement. These were soon 
 supplied by an association, denominated the " Society 
 for propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts." The 
 incorporation of this Society constitutes an era in the 
 progress of Episcopacy in New England, and was 
 the precursor and cause of that controversy, which 
 connects the history of the Episcopal church with 
 that of Harvard University. 
 
 The funds of the " Company for the Propagation 
 of the Gospel in New England and Parts adjacent 
 
 * Sewall's Diary.
 
 360 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER in America," incorporated in 1660, had fallen under 
 
 _J the agency of Presbyterians or Congregationalists, 
 
 and of men attached to the dissenting interests.* 
 
 It became, therefore, apparent to Tillotson, who 
 succeeded Sancroft in the See of Canterbury, that 
 the attempt to divert the funds of that Society to the 
 establishing Episcopacy in the settled parts of North 
 America, and especially in New England, could not 
 be carried into effect. The plan recommended by 
 Randolph, and acceded to by Sancroft, was accord- 
 ingly abandoned as impracticable. 
 
 Episcopal These circumstances led to the formation of a 
 propagating Society under Episcopal influences, which was ulti- 
 
 thc Gospel J 
 
 in Foreign mately incorporated by William the Third, in 1701, 
 and denominated " the Society for the Propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." The chief 
 dignitaries of the English hierarchy were constituted 
 members, and all the individuals named in the act 
 were of the Episcopal persuasion. In the enumer- 
 ation of the objects of that Society all reference 
 to the instruction of the heathen or of the Indian 
 nations was carefully avoided. And to the end that 
 there might arise no embarrassment in the application 
 of its funds, those objects were declared to be " to 
 instruct our loving subjects in our plantations, in the 
 principles of true religion," " to supply them with the 
 administration of God's word and sacraments," and 
 " to provide a sufficient maintenance for an orthodox 
 clergy, the provision for ministers being in some of 
 those plantations very mean, and in others wholly 
 wanting, "f 
 
 * Hutch. State Papers, pp. 552. 
 
 t See the act given at large in Dr. Humphrey's " Historical Ac- 
 count of the incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
 in Foreign Parts," p. xv.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 361 
 
 Considering the phraseology of this act and the CHAPTER 
 
 tendency of all religious sects to restrict the term 
 
 " true religion " to their own forms of worship, doc- 
 trines, and observances, the New England clergy had 
 no doubt that the real purpose of this Society was the 
 establishment and extension of Episcopacy in the colo- 
 nies. It became, therefore, an object of their extreme 
 jealousy and animosity. 
 
 The proceedings of this Society did not tend to Proceed- 
 calm these apprehensions. Instead of applying their society for 
 
 r i ,.,i.. , thePropa- 
 
 lunds to those colonial districts where there was no gationof 
 
 ft ' t ?^ e Gospel 
 
 religious instruction, their efforts were chiefly directed i Foreign 
 
 ralTS. 
 
 to the ancient towns of New England, where only a 
 few Episcopalians existed. Here they established 
 Episcopal ministers, with salaries greater and better 
 paid than those of a majority of the Congregational 
 clergy.* At Stratford in Connecticut, at Braintree 
 and Marblehead in Massachusetts, and in other prin- 
 cipal towns, their missionaries were stationed, and 
 their labors and resources apparently applied, not to 
 furnish destitute places with Christian ministers, but 
 to make converts from Congregationalism to Episco- 
 pacy ; so that at the end of fifty years from the in- 
 corporation of this Society it was estimated, that the 
 Society had " laid out one hundred thousand pounds 
 sterling under the notion of propagating the Gospel 
 in America," of which " twenty thousand pounds had 
 been expended in supporting Episcopacy in the single 
 town of Stratford in Connecticut, f " 
 
 These proceedings early excited animadversion 
 among the sects into which the Congregational church 
 
 * Turell's Life of Colman, p. 124. 
 
 f Hobart's " Address to the Members of the Episcopalian Persua- 
 sion in New England," pp. 53, 129- 134. 
 
 VOL. I. 46
 
 362 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER began to be divided. The Rev. Mr. Colman, al- 
 
 though he was himself obnoxious to the stricter 
 
 sect of Congregationalists for so far conforming to 
 the practice of the Church of England, as to use 
 the Lord's Prayer and read the Scriptures in public 
 worship, and for enlarging the freedom of coming to 
 the sacrament, was also alarmed and indignant at 
 what he deemed an abuse and manifest perversion 
 Mr. coi- of the funds of the Society. In November, 1712, he 
 tuDean er addressed a letter on the subject to White Kennett, 
 then Dean, afterwards Bishop, of Peterborough. Col- 
 man was, at that time, one of the Corporation of 
 Harvard College, and, for the purpose of impressing 
 Dean Kennett with his impartiality and freedom from 
 prejudice, he states, that, while in England, he had 
 been strengthened " in the generous principles of an 
 enlarged catholic spirit, cherished in me by my tutor, 
 Mr. Leverett, now President of Harvard College ; 
 and, if I am able to judge," he adds, " no place of 
 education can well boast a more free air than our 
 little College may." * After acknowledging the pro- 
 ject of sending the Gospel to the heathen, " and 
 settlements void of the form of religion," to be a noble 
 charity, he complained, that its funds had been per- 
 verted to encourage discontent, and to create divisions, 
 in towns where the Gospel was already preached and 
 the sacraments administered, and, instead of spread 
 ing, had actually obstructed, the success of the Gos 
 pel. By the hope of a better salary for the ministei, 
 out of the funds of the Society, than the Congrega- 
 tionalists gave, and by the expectation of a lighter 
 church rate for the parishioner, the Church of Eng- 
 
 * Turell's Life of Colman, pp. 123, 125.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 363 
 
 land had been planted under the auspices of that CHAPTER 
 
 XVII 
 
 Society, and the Congregational churches had been 
 
 either divided or embarrassed. 
 
 In reply, Dean Kennett states, that, if abuses had Dean Ken- 
 occurred, the Society had been imposed upon, and sept, is, ' 
 their proceedings in such cases had been the result 
 of mistake. To obviate the effects of future misin- 
 formation, he intimates the design of some members 
 of the hierarchy to settle bishops in the Province ; 
 a remedy, in the opinion of the Congregational 
 clergy, somewhat worse than the disease. In this 
 letter, however, Kennett unequivocally acknowledges, 
 that the general aim of the Society was, " to plant 
 Christianity according to the Church of England," 
 and that, not only in places where there was no settled 
 ministry, but also in those where there was a settled 
 ministry,* " if numbers were there, who could not in 
 conscience conform to the ways of worship different 
 from the English established Church." To establish 
 schools and universities, under the influence of bishops 
 appointed by the English hierarchy, was avowed to 
 be a project connected with the general plan of ap- 
 pointing bishops in New England. The design rela- 
 tive to the seminaries of education excited peculiar 
 alarm in the Congregational church, as it was ob- 
 viously directed to enlarge the boundaries of the 
 Episcopal church by influencing the rising generation 
 to quit the faith of their fathers. 
 
 Dean Kennett, in another letter to Mr. Colman, 
 dated on the 28th of July, 1716,f admits that these 
 designs were among the known and unquestionable 
 objects of the Society for propagating the Gospel in 
 Foreign Parts. 
 
 * Turell's Life of Colman, p. 127. f Ibid., 130.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER During the first twenty years of the operations of 
 
 ! this Society the gradual increase of Episcopacy 
 
 was perceptible, but no very distinguished convert 
 had as yet been made from the ranks of the Con- 
 gregational clergy. In September, 1722, an event 
 occurred in Connecticut, equally unexpected and 
 Mr. cut- alarming. Seven clergymen of the Congregational 
 version to order, at the head of whom was Timothy Cutler, 
 
 Kpisco- ' 
 
 P ac y- Rector of Yale College, openly avowed, before the 
 trustees of that seminary, their doubts concerning 
 the validity of Presbyterian, and their belief in the 
 validity of Episcopalian ordination.* This event shook 
 Congregationalism throughout New England like an 
 earthquake, and filled all its friends with terror and ap- 
 prehension. The effect of the direct operations of the 
 " Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
 Parts " was seen and recognised in these conversions. 
 They had occurred in Stratford, or its vicinity ; a 
 place in which the funds of the Society had been 
 most lavishly expended ; and the fact, that the head of 
 one of the most cherished seminaries of learning in 
 New England had yielded to its influence, was indic- 
 ative of its power and ominous of Episcopal success. 
 Cutler had been graduated at Harvard College in 
 1701, been settled over the Congregational society in 
 Stratford,f Connecticut, in 1709, and made Rector of 
 Yale College in 1719. In consequence of his avowed 
 conversion to Episcopacy, he was " excused from all 
 further service " by the trustees of Yale College ; and 
 he immediately sailed for England, where honors and 
 
 * Eliot's Biog., art. Cutler , Timothy . Dr. Humphreys' " Historical 
 Account of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
 Parts," p. 339. 
 
 f Allen's American Biography.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 365 
 
 reward awaited him. In the following January (1723), CHAPTER 
 
 xvn 
 
 being in London, he was invited by the honest 
 and zealous Hollis to a conference, in the hope of 
 converting him from Episcopalianism. To this invita- 
 tion Cutler acceded. The conference, however, never 
 took place. " I am no doubter," said Cutler to Hollis, 
 " I am resolved.* I hope to be speedily ordained. 
 I may with as much reason hope to bring you over to 
 me, as you can hope to bring me over to you. I 
 have a wife and seven children, am not yet forty 
 years old. I have lost all my old friends. I am 
 turned out of all. And if I should do any thing now 
 that looked like doubting, it were the way to lose 
 my new friends." " I was never in judgment heartily 
 with the Dissenters, but bore it patiently until a favor- 
 able opportunity offered. This has opened at Boston, 
 and I now declare publicly what I before believed 
 privately." " After such positive barring cautions, I 
 thought," says Hollis, " the proposed conference would 
 be of little service." 
 
 Cutler was received with great distinction by the Mr. Cut- 
 dignitaries of the Church, episcopally ordained, and tionin 
 
 c j t. r ^ A- i. En & !and - 
 
 gratified by a degree or Doctor in Divinity both at 
 Oxford and Cambridge. In the mean time a society 
 was formed for him in Boston, and he returned to 
 America under an allowance, as missionary, of sixty 
 pounds sterling per annum. 
 
 Such was the general state of feeling in New Eng- 
 land relative to the Episcopalian power and policy 
 when Dr. Cutler arrived in Massachusetts, in 1724. 
 In concurrence with Mr. Myles, the Rector of King's 
 Chapel, he soon commenced prosecuting a claim on 
 
 " Hollis's letter to Colman, January 14th, 1723.
 
 366 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER their part to be admitted of right, as ministers of the 
 ' Episcopal Church in Boston, to the board of Over- 
 cWouft seers of the College. This claim was deemed insep- 
 boardof arably connected with the prospects of Episcopacy in 
 New England, and as such received the support of all 
 its powers. As early as August, 1725, the vestry of 
 King's Chapel authorized the churchwardens of that 
 society " to sign a memorial to the General Court, in 
 relation to the ministers of the Church of England, 
 in Boston, being Overseers of the College in Cam- 
 bridge." And at a subsequent meeting these officers 
 were authorized to expend "out of the contingent 
 charges of the church, for the purpose of prosecuting 
 to effect the memorial of the Rev. Dr. Cutler and 
 Mr. Myles, and of maintaining their right to a seat at 
 the Overseers' board."* The attempt was sufficient- 
 ly bold, considering that the right to such seat was 
 restricted by the charter of the College to " teach- 
 ing elders," and that this term was exclusively of Dis- 
 senting, if not Congregational, origin and use, and 
 neither authorized nor acknowledged by the Church 
 of England. The auspices under which the College 
 had been established and hitherto conducted, and the 
 opinions and influences predominating among the 
 Overseers and in the General Court, rendered suc- 
 cess in this claim improbable, if not hopeless. After 
 Dr. Cutler's return from England, he was regarded in 
 Massachusetts in the light of a pensioner on the Eng- 
 lish hierarchy ; and this attempt was naturally deemed 
 to be made in coincidence with their views, and to 
 be an evidence of a design to introduce Episcopalian 
 influences on an equality with Congregational, into 
 the great seminary of learning in the Province. 
 
 * See Records of King's Chapel, of this date.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 367 
 
 This claim derived some color from the fact, that CHAPTER 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Mr. Harris, who had been sent out in 1709, by the 
 Bishop of London, as Assistant to Mr. Myles, the thisciaim. r 
 Rector of King's Chapel, had been summoned about 
 the year 1720, and permitted to take his seat at the 
 board of Overseers, as appears by their records, several 
 times during the years 1720, 1721, and 1722. It 
 does not appear, that either Cutler or Myles ever took 
 a seat at that board, or attempted to do it, although 
 in their memorial it is asserted that they had been 
 summoned to attend. The two facts, that Harris had 
 been permitted to take a seat, and that Cutler and 
 Myles had been summoned to attend, are not ac- 
 counted for by the records of the College, or the 
 history of that period. It is probable, that under the 
 influence of the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor 
 of the Province, who worshipped with Episcopalians, 
 and were, ex officio, at the head of the Overseers, 
 Harris had been summoned and admitted without 
 question to take a seat at the board. But, with the 
 apprehensions consequent upon the " apostasy " of 
 Cutler from Congregationalism, a rigid inquiry into 
 this right was determined upon, for the purpose of 
 preserving the College from Episcopalian influences. 
 The attempt of Cutler and Myles thus to intro- 
 duce themselves into the board excited a sensation 
 throughout the Province somewhat proportionate to 
 the greatness of the anticipated consequences. The 
 defection of Cutler from Congregationalism was open- 
 ly avowed by him at New Haven, in September, 
 1722, and in December of that year is the last 
 record of the presence of Harris at the board of 
 Overseers. He was, probably, from that time omit- 
 ted to be summoned, in conformity with the policy
 
 368 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER of excluding Episcopalians, then resolved upon. Al- 
 
 XVII 
 
 - though it appears by the records of King's Chapel, 
 that, as early as August, 1725, a memorial had been 
 presented either to the General Court or to the 
 board of Overseers, yet the records of neither take 
 any notice of the presentation of any such me- 
 morial antecedent to the 18th of May, 1727. On 
 that day the records of the Overseers state, that 
 His claim " His Honor, the Lieutenant-Governor, informing the 
 the over- board, that application had been made to him by the 
 Rev. Dr. Cutler, that he might be notified to be 
 present at the meetings of the Overseers, after a 
 debate had thereon, the question was put, whether 
 he, the said Dr. Cutler, be notified accordingly, and 
 it passed in the negative ; the board apprehending 
 that he is not entitled thereunto." On the 25th of 
 May following, a copy of the above vote was ordered 
 to be delivered to Dr. Cutler, and at a meeting on the 
 ensuing 8th of June, an adjournment took place to 
 that day sevennight ; and the clerk was ordered " to 
 make Dr. Cutler acquainted with the time and place 
 of this adjournment." Accordingly, on that day, the 
 records of the Overseers state, that, " a motion being- 
 made to this board by the Rev. Dr. Timothy Cutler, 
 in writing as follows, viz. Whether he was not entitled 
 to be present at the meetings of the Overseers of Har- 
 vard College, when he was notified by their clerk to 
 be present at one of said meetings, nor at any time 
 since he has been an Episcopal minister of the town 
 of Boston, or whether he has forfeited that title since, 
 and by what means ? the Overseers having taken 
 said motion into their consideration, and maturely con- 
 sidered their constitution, are of opinion, that the Rev. 
 Dr. Timothy Cutler has not, nor ever had, by the said
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 369 
 
 XVII. 
 
 constitution, a right to sit as Overseer of Harvard CHAPTER 
 College. 
 
 " To which vote the Honorable William Tailer, 
 Esquire, entered his dissent." 
 
 A copy of the above vote was ordered to be de- 
 livered to Mr. Cutler. 
 
 On the same day " the Rev. Mr. Samuel Myles 
 presented his desire in writing to the Overseers, that 
 he might be notified as formerly to sit at the meetings 
 of the Overseers of Harvard College, and, if that be 
 denied, he humbly craved of the honorable board that 
 he might be favored with the reasons of it." Upon 
 which a vote was passed by the Overseers similar 
 to that passed in the case of Dr. Cutler. 
 
 Immediately on this rejection of their respective 
 applications by the board of Overseers, Dr. Cutler 
 and Mr. Myles memorialized the General Court, 
 stating the terms of the act of 1642, the general 
 grounds of their application to the Overseers, and the 
 rejection of their petition ; and asking redress from 
 the legislature for the wrongs they have sustained, in 
 being " excluded, as ministers of the Church of Eng- 
 land, from the inspection and ordering of Harvard Col- 
 lege." They aver that " the orthodoxy of that church 
 is questioned by no sound Protestant," that " its mem- 
 bers in this government bear an equal proportion in 
 all public charges to the support of said College," that 
 " its ministers are equally with any others qualified 
 and disposed to promote the interests of religion, 
 good literature, and good manners," and that, by their 
 ordination and induction into their respective churches 
 of the town of Boston, they are fairly included within 
 the denomination of " teaching elders," and as such 
 
 VOL. i. 47
 
 370 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER entitled to a seat at the board of Overseers of Har- 
 
 xvir. j ,-, . , * 
 
 __ vard College. 
 
 ^ This memorial of Dr. Cutler and Mr. Myles was 
 E^scopai' 6 supported by a contemporaneous petition, signed by 
 churches. a ^ out seventy persons, embracing all the principal 
 members of the several Episcopal churches in Boston 
 and the vicinity. These petitioners assert, that " the 
 ministers of the Church of England in Boston have 
 been, by force of the first constitution of Harvard Col- 
 lege, deemed and taken to be Overseers of the College, 
 and from time to time ever since have assembled and 
 met together, and ordered and disposed the affairs of 
 said College as the Overseers ; " that within the last 
 three years they have been " neglected and not called 
 to their meetings " ; and that, on application made by 
 Dr. Cutler and Mr. Myles, two of the ministers of 
 the Church of England, to the Overseers, they had 
 " voted, declared, and recorded their opinion, that the 
 said Dr. Cutler and Mr. Myles have not, nor ever had, 
 by the constitution of Harvard College, a right to sit as 
 Overseers." The petitioners then proceed to state, that 
 " they consider that College as the common nursery 
 of piety and learning to New England in general, as 
 well to those that are of the order of the Church of 
 England as to them that are of the order of the 
 churches of New England ; that it is the common 
 interest of both to support it, and a blessing to both 
 when it flourisheth ; and therefore they apprehend it is 
 a pity those different orders should be made different 
 parties, not only in the churches where they are dif- 
 ferent, but in the College, where they are entirely 
 one ; which will tend to discourage those of the order 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LXI.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 371 
 
 of the Church of England from doing those services to CHAPTER 
 
 the College, or receiving that benefit from it, as other- . ll_ 
 
 wise they might ; " that it is impossible to imagine 
 the admission of these two gentlemen can " serve any 
 secret designs or separate interests, and that the 
 petitioners only seek that all especial notes of ground- 
 less distinction and disesteem may be abated, and a 
 universal good understanding established." As the 
 rejection of the claim of these ministers seemed to im- 
 ply that they were not regarded by the Overseers as 
 " teaching elders," the petitioners aver, that both Dr. 
 Cutler and Mr. Myles were " ordained as such by the 
 Bishop of London, and were sent to execute that 
 their function in Boston, and that their being such 
 had never before been questioned by those of the 
 order of the churches of New England, as they have 
 heard of; " and they pray, therefore, the General Court, 
 as their last resort, and as the best expositors of their 
 own acts, would declare these Episcopal clergymen 
 to be, according to the original fundamental con- 
 stitution of the said College, two of its Overseers.* 
 The General Court, in August, 1727, referred the 
 subject of these memorials to its next autumn session seers - 
 for consideration, and caused the Overseers to be 
 served with copies of them, who, in October, ap- 
 pointed a committee " to draw up an answer," and, 
 in December following, made a formal reply to them, 
 justifying their vote, refusing to summon the me- 
 morialists to attend the meetings of the board, and 
 denying utterly their right to a seat by force of 
 the terms " teaching elders," in the first charter of the 
 College. They contended, that, by known rules of 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LXII.
 
 372 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER construction, the signification of those terms must be 
 
 '. decided by the established and general acceptation of 
 
 them in the places and at the times in which they 
 were used ; and that " the known construction of these 
 terms in this country from the very beginning is this, 
 namely, the pastors and teachers of a complete Con- 
 gregational church, who have the full power both of 
 teaching and administering the sacraments, and of 
 ruling in the said church, being the very same which 
 the Scriptures call bishops." They maintained that 
 this signification had been given in all former times 
 to those terms, in all public and controversial writings, 
 in the judgments of synods, in the General Court, and 
 in the laws of the jurisdiction ; that " this is the known 
 use and signification of them at the present day " ; and 
 " that for above fifty years after the settlement of the 
 colony there was no minister, magistrate, or represent- 
 ative, in the General Court, professedly of the Church 
 of England, and, for above forty years after the act 
 constituting the College, there were no other teaching 
 elders, except those of Congregational churches, then 
 in being in this country." To such teaching elders 
 alone, therefore, they maintained that these terms could 
 be applied ; and, from the laws of the jurisdiction, from 
 the declarations of magistrates, ministers, churches, 
 courts, synods, and people, they " draw the undeniable 
 conclusion, that the reverend memorialists neither have, 
 nor ever have had, a right to sit among us as Over- 
 seers of Harvard College." By way of corroborating 
 this opinion, they state, that " all the insinuations of 
 the memorialists, about their being teaching elders, 
 are groundless and vain, because no such denomination 
 as * teaching elder' can ever be found attributed to 
 ministers of the Church of England, either abroad
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 373 
 
 or here, but is only now assumed to serve their present CHAPTER 
 
 turn, and to break in upon our ancient constitution ; " 1_ 
 
 that even the memorialists carefully avoid styling them- 
 selves " teaching elders," but call themselves " incum- 
 bents " of Christ Church and King's Chapel ; and, 
 further, that " they never pretended, nor may they 
 pretend, to assert themselves to be bishops, and to have 
 the full and unsubordinate power to teach, feed, and 
 govern their particular churches." As it respects the 
 fact, that the memorialists had been summoned to 
 attend the meetings of the board, they state, that the 
 occurrence had taken place without the direction of the 
 Overseers, through error, which was corrected as soon 
 as noticed ; that the notification had been of recent 
 occurrence, and that ministers of the Episcopal church 
 had for many years existed in Boston, yet had never 
 been summoned to attend those meetings, nor deemed 
 Overseers, nor ever had complained on this account ; 
 and that notification through error could give no right, 
 where no right previously existed ; that neither of the 
 memorialists, if they had been summoned, had ever 
 personally attended, or on any occasion had acted as 
 Overseers. As to the " argument from the College 
 being a nursery of piety and learning " as well to those 
 of the Church of England as to others, they answer ; 
 " We account it the distinguishing honor of our Col- 
 lege, that education there is free, without oaths or 
 subscriptions to any particular sort of church order or 
 discipline ; and that, though the government of the 
 College be of the Congregational order, yet, agreeably 
 to their known principles of liberty, the sons of the 
 Church of England are as welcome to the learning 
 and academical honors there as any of our own chil- 
 dren ; and this is as much as the memorialists can in
 
 374 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER honor or justice desire, of those who are intrusted 
 - '. with a constitution settled for above fourscore years, 
 before any of their order pretended to a right to come 
 among us, and even above forty years before any of 
 the said reverend order was settled in this country." 
 Considering " the said .act and constitution a sacred 
 deposit, put into their hands to keep inviolate by the 
 excellent and ancient fathers of the country," they 
 pray the General Court to adhere to the said ancient 
 constitution, and not adjudge the reverend memorial- 
 ists to be such " teaching elders " as the act consti- 
 tuting the College intends, nor declare them to be of 
 the number of the Overseers of Harvard College.* 
 The re pty of Dr - Cutler and Mr. Mylcs, to this 
 
 Myies. r answer of the Overseers, was prepared and signed by 
 their counsel, John Read, one of the most eminent 
 lawyers of that, period in New England ; and their 
 right to a seat in the board was maintained on the 
 following grounds. 
 
 1 . That Episcopal ministers, by force of ordination, 
 institution, and induction, are in fact proper teaching 
 elders. 
 
 2. That these ministers were meant and intended 
 to be included in that act, by the plain force of its 
 terms. 
 
 3. That they have the same right now as they 
 would have had in case they had applied for it forty 
 years before. 
 
 4. That the liberty of individuals to form churches, 
 under the New England ecclesiastical law, did not 
 deny to members of the Church of England the right 
 to have their ministers ordained by bishops, nor in- 
 
 * See Appendix, No 
 
 . LXIII.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 375 
 
 tended to refuse ministers so ordained the character CHAPTER 
 
 P . . XYII. 
 
 or teaching elders. 
 
 5. That, by the ecclesiastical law of Massachusetts, 
 the whole power of ordaining, expelling, and disposing 
 of the pastors is vested in the fraternity ; so that the 
 teaching elder of a Congregational church has no more 
 an unsubordinate, and is no more a ruling, power, than 
 are ministers of the Church of England ; and, of con- 
 sequence, has no more right to regard himself in the 
 light of a bishop than they ; both being officers to teach 
 and to feed the flock ; and both, having the same office 
 and faculty, were equally entitled to the denomination 
 of " teaching elders" ; so that ministers of the Church 
 of England in Boston have as much right to call the 
 College theirs, and the said act their " depositum," 
 as had Congregational ministers ; they therefore pray, 
 that their right to a seat at the board of Overseers 
 may be confirmed, whereby the Congregational min- 
 ister would not have the less benefit of the institu- 
 tion, and the Episcopalian have the more charity, and 
 the better title to confer a blessing on it. * 
 
 The result of these memorials was such as, from Result - 
 the temper of the times and the predominating in- 
 fluences in the legislature, the memorialists probably 
 anticipated. Oil the 28th of December, 1727, the 
 memorials, with the answer of the Overseers, and the 
 reply of the memorialists, were taken into considera- 
 tion by the legislature, and largely debated ; and upon 
 the question, " whether it is within the intent and 
 meaning of the charter granted to the said College, 
 that the reverend memorialists ought to be deemed 
 members of the Overseers," it passed in the nega- 
 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LXIV.
 
 376 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 CHAPTER tive. This vote was concurred in by the Council, 
 and approved by Lieutenant-Governor Dummer. 
 
 On the llth of January, 1728, the House of Repre- 
 sentatives revived, and "entered further into consider- 
 ation of the subject matter of, these petitions, and the 
 following question was thereupon put, viz. Whether 
 it is within the intent and meaning of the act of the 
 General Court, anno 1642, and referred to in said 
 memorial, constituting the board of Overseers, that the 
 reverend memorialists, the said Dr. Timothy Cutler and 
 Mr. Samuel Myles, ought to be deemed members of 
 the board of Overseers ? It passed in the negative. 
 In Council read and concurred. Consented to, William 
 Dummer." 
 
 Dr. Cutler seems not to have been content with 
 this decision, publicly and deliberately as it had been 
 made. On the 16th of June, 1730, he again memo- 
 rialized the Overseers upon the subject of his right 
 to a seat at their board, on which they passed a reso- 
 lution as follows, viz. " A memorial of Dr. Timo- 
 thy Cutler, bearing date the llth of June, 1730, was 
 this day read, and, inasmuch as the affair referred to 
 in this memorial has been once and again maturely 
 considered by this board, and afterwards by the Gen- 
 eral Court, upon his own appeal to them, and at 
 length by them determined, voted, that the said me- 
 morial be dismissed." A copy of this vote was 
 ordered to be delivered to Dr. Cutler, which closed 
 for ever his further pursuit of this fruitless and agi- 
 tating claim.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 377 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Wadsworth inaugurated. General Court establish a Salary, and take 
 Measures towards building a House for the President. Thanks 
 of the Corporation. Difficulties of President Wadsworth. Ap- 
 plication of the Corporation to the General Court for Assistance. 
 Rejected. Address of the Corporation to George the Second 
 on his Accession. Disorders at the College. Commencements 
 made private. Overseers appoint a Committee to examine into 
 the State of the College. Their Report. President and Tutors 
 first form a distinct Board. First Code of Laws passed according 
 to existing Forms. Dancing restrained. Longloissorie prohibited 
 teaching French. A Tutor refuses to be examined concerning 
 his Religious Opinions. Proceedings of the Overseers. Public 
 Commencements renewed. Hartshorn denied a Degree, He 
 appeals to the Overseers. Their Conduct in relation to it. 
 Thomas Hollis founds a Professorship of Mathematics and Natural 
 Philosophy. State of the College. Corporation fail in their Suit 
 for Lands at Merriconeag, Colman resigns his Seat in the Cor- 
 poration. Cotton's Donation, and Colman's Conduct in relation 
 to it. Death of President Wadsworth. His Services and Char- 
 acter. 
 
 THE inauguration of President Wadsworth took CHAPTEK 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 place on Commencement day, the 7th of July, 1725. 
 The records of the Corporation state, that there was 
 
 i i President 
 
 a procession, as had been usual on such occasions, Wads- 
 from the College to the meetinghouse. " The Bache- 
 lors of Art walked first, two in a rank, and then the 
 Masters, all bareheaded ; then followed Mr. Wadsworth 
 alone as President ; next the Corporation and Tutors, 
 two in a rank ; then the Honorable Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor Dummer and Council, and next to them the 
 VOL. i. 48
 
 378 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER rest of the gentlemen." After prajer by the Rev. Mr. 
 
 !_ Colman, the Governor, on delivering the keys, seal, 
 
 and records of the College, to the President elect, as 
 badges of authority, addressed him in English, invest- 
 ing him with the government thereof, to which the 
 President made a reply, also in English, after which 
 he went up into the pulpit, and " pronounced me- 
 moriter a Latin oration " ; and afterwards presided 
 during the usual exercises on Commencement day.* 
 The report of the committee appointed by the 
 General Court on the 18th of June, 1725, was made 
 in the ensuing December ; and, after considerable de- 
 bate and interchange of amendments between the two 
 branches, resulted in a vote establishing the salary of 
 
 Liberality the President at four hundred pounds annually, which 
 
 General the General Court declare to be, " in their opinion, 
 
 Court. . . . r 
 
 a sufficient and honorable maintenance for him, the 
 President, for one year." To this object they appro- 
 priated the future rents and income of Massachusetts 
 Hall, and expressed a " hope, that there will not be 
 like occasion, in future, to make such drafts on the 
 public Treasury, but that the Corporation will be able 
 to support the President, in a great measure, out of 
 their unappropriated rents and incomes." And, " fur- 
 ther to encourage Mr. Wadsworth cheerfully to go 
 through the momentous affairs of his office, they re- 
 solved, that one thousand pounds should be paid to 
 the Corporation by them, to be used for the building 
 a handsome wooden dwellinghouse, barn, and out- 
 houses, on some part of the College land, for the re- 
 ception and accommodation of the President of Har- 
 vard College for the time being." 
 
 * See Records of the Corporation. Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., 
 p. 146.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 379 
 
 In consequence of this unprecedented act of liber- CHAPTER 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 ality, the Corporation prepared a formal address to - 
 the General Court, in which they declare, that "the thanks by 
 Court had shown themselves kind and bountiful pa- ration. 
 trons of the College, by the steady and constant care 
 they have taken of it, and the salary they have given 
 out of the public treasury for the support of the suc- 
 cessive Presidents, and at sundry particular times by 
 expending considerable sums for the accommodating 
 scholars and furthering the good purposes for which 
 the College was founded." 
 
 The style of this address of the Corporation is 
 sufficiently humble and laudatory, considering that 
 both bodies were servants of the Province, and that 
 the bounty thus praised was necessary to the existence 
 of a public institution, which, the address proceeds to 
 state, the Honorable Court themselves must " esteem 
 to be one of the greatest blessings of the whole Prov- 
 ince ; for, besides the good supply which most of 
 the pulpits through the land have from thence, many 
 of your own honorable members have had the benefit 
 of an education there, and attained those desirable 
 accomplishments which make our country justly esteem 
 them the more fit to serve the public in sundry of the 
 most important posts." 
 
 By way of reply to the hope expressed in the 1726. 
 resolve of the legislature, that the Corporation would 
 be able to support the President out of the College 
 stock, they, in this address, proceed to state, that, 
 though " we are heartily willing to do what we can 
 towards the annual support of a President, yet we 
 shall not be able to do any thing considerable therein 
 without diminishing the College stock or principal." 
 
 Anticipating probably the inadequacy of the sum
 
 380 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CM AFTER granted for the building of a President's house, the 
 
 address expresses " a willingness to employ it for that 
 
 purpose as well as we can, unless the General Court 
 should see meet to entertain a new thought, and build 
 it by a committee of their own choosing, which would 
 be no way unacceptable to us." A suggestion, how- 
 ever, which the General Court did not " see meet 
 to entertain." 
 
 This address was delivered by the President and a 
 committee of the Corporation to Lieutenant-Governor 
 Dummer and the Council in the council-chamber, and 
 by them communicated to the House of Representa- 
 tives. 
 Difficulties Notwithstanding; these flattering appearances ac- 
 
 ofPresi- b r / 
 
 lent wads- companying the commencement of this presidency, 
 Wadsworth, like his predecessors, soon found other 
 thorns in his path besides those strewed by official 
 duty and College discipline. By the appropriation of 
 the rents of Massachusetts Hall, the legislature had 
 indeed placed a portion of his compensation upon a 
 somewhat more solid foundation, than former Presi- 
 dents had enjoyed ; but the unappropriated funds of 
 the College were wholly inadequate to supply the 
 residue, and the precarious favor of the General Court 
 continued to be the sole dependence of the President 
 for an important part of his maintenance. The pe- 
 cuniary embarrassments of the period also did not 
 cease, and, with the depreciation attendant on a cur- 
 rency chiefly paper, soon reduced his efficient income 
 nearly to the same level with that of his predeces- 
 sors ; and Wadsworth, although not compelled like 
 Leverett to incur debt, derived only a scanty support 
 from his office. 
 
 In other respects the difficulties he had to encounter
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 381 
 
 were annoying and painful. After the lapse of a year, CHAPTER 
 
 the building erecting for the President's house was L- 
 
 not in a tenantable condition. The sum granted by 
 the General Court, as had been anticipated, proved 
 insufficient, and, being expended, the Corporation had 
 no other resource than to apply to them again for 
 relief. Accordingly, in August, 1726, they addressed corpora- 
 a memorial to the legislature, acknowledging thank- for relief to 
 
 the General 
 
 fully their bounty in granting a thousand pounds, court; 
 which although they had expended with " the utmost 
 care and frugality," the President's house was not yet 
 finished ; and, after proffering an exhibition of their 
 accounts to whomsoever the General Court should 
 appoint, they " humbly entreat the Court to enable 
 them to obey their former order, viz. to build and 
 finish a handsome house for the President ; " and they 
 terminate their urgent request for an additional grant 
 with the following graphic account of the difficulties 
 in which President Wadsworth and his family were 
 involved. " He can nowhere hire a convenient house 
 for himself, and his family is divided, some dwelling 
 in one house and some in another. His household 
 goods are disposed of in several houses and barns. 
 These difficult circumstances render the speedy finish- 
 ing a house for his reception very necessary, which 
 have obliged us to take the first opportunity to lay 
 this representation before the Honorable Court, which 
 we do in all humility." 
 
 A statement of difficulties like these had not the which is 
 power to open the purse, or soften the heart, of the 
 General Court. The request of the Corporation being 
 refused, they immediately called a special meeting of 
 the Overseers, to ask their advice as to the further
 
 382 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER steps to be taken for the speedy finishing of the 
 
 President's house. 
 
 1726. The Overseers at their meeting recommended the 
 
 Oct. 6. 
 
 Corporation to proceed to finish the house " with all 
 convenient speed and frugality, so as to receive the 
 President before winter, and prepare their accounts to 
 be laid before the General Court." 
 
 On this recommendation the Corporation proceeded 
 to finish the house upon " credit, as far as might be 
 without a present advance of money to the workmen, 
 and agreed with the workmen accordingly." 
 
 The inconveniences to which President Wadsworth 
 and his family were subjected from the want of a 
 comfortable residence were so intolerable, that, as ap- 
 pears by his Diary, they took possession of the house 
 on the 4th of November, 1726, "when not half 
 finished within." 
 
 corpora- It being completed in the ensuing January, a meet- 
 again for ing of the Corporation was called, and a memorial to 
 
 relief, and r 
 
 the result, the General Court prepared, stating the debt they 
 had incurred on the recommendation of the Overseers, 
 and the urgency of the workmen for their pay, and 
 entreating a farther grant for their relief. The appli- 
 cation received from the legislature a decided nega- 
 tive. The Corporation had therefore no other resource 
 than to order their treasurer to pay the amount out 
 of the College treasury, " as far as the state of it will 
 allow"; and the General Court, by paying one thou- 
 sand out of eighteen hundred pounds* 'of the cost, 
 have enjoyed the credit, ever since, of building a 
 house for the President of the College. 
 
 The accession of George the Second to the British 
 
 * Peirce's Hist. Haw. Univ., p. 151.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 383 
 
 throne occurred in June, 1727. It was deemed by the CHAPTER 
 Corporation a fit occasion to express their loyalty and L_ 
 
 , , i TT-- i i Address of 
 
 patriotism by an address to the King, which was care- the corpo- 
 fully prepared, and " sent over to Mr. Thomas Hollis George the 
 
 Second, on 
 
 and Mr. Henry Newman, to be presented by them hisa 
 and such as they should choose to go with them." In 
 this address they set forth the zeal of the College 
 " for the Protestant succession in your Majesty's per- 
 son," their " tears over the grave of the great king your 
 father," and say, that they " bring hearts full of joy for 
 'your Majesty's peaceful accession." They proceed ; 
 " Our fathers were some of the old Puritans, so called 
 from their purer church state and way of worship, and 
 manner of godly discipline, which, in their apprehen- 
 sions, they sought and practised. To their immortal 
 honor it must be remembered and recorded, that, as 
 they sought a quiet seat and retirement for themselves 
 and their posterity in the deserts of America, so they 
 were likewise animated with a prospect of enlarging 
 the English empire in regions not known to former 
 ages. And as, under the encouragement of royal char- 
 ters granted them, they cheerfully planted and sub- 
 dued a vast wilderness at their own expense, and not 
 without many hardships and hazards, so religion was 
 always their first and chief care, and, in order to that, 
 learning. In this they were singular among the Pro- 
 vinces, and we their posterity reap the honor and 
 happy fruits of it. In one of their first towns they 
 planted a seminary for learning, and called it by the 
 worthy name of Cambridge. In this College are 
 taught the learned languages, the liberal arts and 
 sciences, unto this day, and from it our many churches 
 have (through the favor of God) been supplied with 
 pastors, and the highest chairs of honor among us
 
 384 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER have been sometimes laudably filled, to the service 
 ' of the King and the good of the country. 
 
 " Nothing but learning and good morals are here 
 required to qualify persons for the honors and favors 
 of the house, but they are equally dispensed unto 
 Protestants of all persuasions. The principles of 
 loyalty and religion are here taught and instilled into 
 our youth ; and our many churches are, at this day, 
 famous for their zeal for the true Protestant religion, 
 according to the doctrinal articles of the Church of 
 England, which divine truths we see with joy secured 
 to us in your Majesty's possession of the throne of 
 your ancestors." 
 
 The address concludes with a prayer, that the Col- 
 lege may find favor and protection with his Majesty, 
 and also " grace in the eyes of her Majesty, your 
 royal consort, who, with her royal offspring, are to 
 us as the light of our eyes and the breath of our 
 nostrils." 
 
 1723. The body of the address above quoted, had been 
 prepared four years before, on occasion of the detection 
 of a conspiracy against the person and government 
 of George the First, in favor of the Pretender, and 
 sent to England, to Mr. Hollis, for presentation ; but, 
 arriving after the death of that king, it failed of its 
 object. Having been read at that time " paragraph by 
 paragraph, and approved of," it was thought too good 
 to be lost ; and, after changing the beginning and the 
 end, to suit the new occasion, it was inserted bodily 
 into an address to George the Second, congratulatory 
 upon his accession. 
 
 Its style and topics were, it is very obvious, better 
 suited to the atmosphere of New than of Old Eng- 
 land, and adapted rather to that of a synod than of a
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 385 
 
 court. Mr. Hollis, to whom it had been sent when CHAPTER 
 
 designed for George the First, perceived the inapti- 1_ 
 
 tude of the address, and, in a letter to Mr. Colman, 
 dated the 22d of July, 1727, he thus expresses him- 
 self concerning it. 
 
 " I have showed your address to sundry persons, Remarks 
 
 ,. , of Thomas 
 
 who say your compliments to our court now are nity Hoiiison 
 
 ... J J , * the address. 
 
 if not one hundred years too ancient for our present 
 polite style and court. If you reassume the thoughts 
 of addressing the new King, let me recommend to your 
 reading over the addresses of the London Dissenting 
 ministers, the University of Cambridge, and the Qua- 
 kers, all of which are printed, with many more good 
 ones, in our London Gazette, from which you may make 
 one that will be better accepted at St. James's. This 
 is now flirted at, as 'a Bible address,' says one; 'a 
 Concordance address,' says another ; though I think it 
 an honest-meaning, Christian address. Plain dealing 
 will not go down among flatterers. I have not seen 
 the Governor (Shute) lately, nor had opportunity to 
 show it unto him for advice. Perhaps he may be 
 displeased, if I should, because you have not men- 
 tioned his name. What have courts to do to study 
 Old-Testament phrases and prophecies ? It is well if 
 they read the Common Prayer Book and Psalter care- 
 fully." 
 
 In a subsequent letter he repeats his advice as to 
 the models for an address, but declines the honor of 
 presenting it. " I have no acquaintance with the 
 great ones at the court. I live privately among my 
 own family, and decline the public show." 
 
 The state of the institution during the presidency 
 of Wadsworth was troubled and disorderly. If records 
 and diaries are to be credited, there is cause for the 
 
 VOL. i. 49
 
 386 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER consoling exclamation of the Preacher : " Say not 
 xvnr 
 
 thou, What is the cause that the former days were 
 
 better than these ? for thou dost not inquire wisely 
 concerning this."* 
 Disorders Great excesses, immoralities, and disorders occurred 
 
 at Com- 
 mence- about this period. These were peculiarly annoying at 
 
 the Commencement season. Five years before, on 
 the llth of June, 1722, a check upon them had been 
 attempted by a vote of the Corporation and Over- 
 seers, prohibiting Commencers from " preparing or 
 providing either plumb cake, or roasted, boiled, or 
 baked meats, or pies of any kind," and from having in 
 their chambers " distilled liquors, or any composition 
 made therewith," under penalty of being " punished 
 twenty shillings to be paid to the use of the College," 
 and of forfeiture of the provisions and liquors, " to be 
 seized by the tutors." On Commencement day the 
 President and Corporation were accustomed to visit 
 the rooms of the Commencers, " to see if the laws 
 prohibiting certain meats and drinks were not vio- 
 lated."! But, the disturbances incident to the day 
 not being prevented by these measures, a vote, in 
 April, 1727, passed both boards, that " Commence- 
 ments for time to come be more private than has 
 been usual ; and, in order to this, that the time for 
 them be not fixed to the first Wednesday in July, as 
 formerly, but that the particular day should be deter- 
 mined upon from time to time by the Corporation, and 
 that the Honorable and Reverend Board of Overseers 
 be seasonably acquainted of the said day, and be de- 
 sired to honor the solemnity with their presence." 
 Neither the penalty of the law, nor the vigilance 
 
 * Ecclesiastes, vii. 10, f Wadsvvorth's Diary, pp. 45, 63.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UiNIVERSITY. 387 
 
 of both boards, was effectual to restrain the tendency CHAPTER 
 
 X VI 1 1. 
 
 to expense at Commencement ; and, on the 12th of 
 
 June, 1727, a vote passed the Corporation, and was 
 subsequently approved by the Overseers, declaring, 
 that " if any who now do, or hereafter shall, stand 
 for their degrees, presume to do any thing contrary 
 to the act of llth of June, 1722, or go about to evade 
 it by plain cake, they shall not be admitted to their 
 degree, and if any, after they have received their 
 degree, shall presume to make any of the forbidden 
 provisions, their names shall be left or rased out of the 
 Catalogue of the graduates." 
 
 To prevent disorders, at the suggestion of the im- 1728. 
 mediate government, a formal request also was made 
 by the President, to Lieutenant-Governor Dummer, 
 praying him to direct the sheriff of Middlesex to pro- 
 hibit the setting up of booths and tents on those public 
 days.* 
 
 Some years afterwards, in June, 1733, "an inter- 
 view took place between the Corporation and three 
 Justices of the Peace in Cambridge, to concert mea- 
 sures to keep order at Commencements, and under 
 their warrant to establish a constable with six men, 
 who, by watching and walking towards the evening 
 on these days, and also the night following, and in 
 and about the entry at the College Hall at dinner 
 time, should prevent disorders." 
 
 Circumstances indicate that offences incident to Disorders 
 College life were, from some cause, greatly multiplied, iege. e 
 and that insubordination was not confined solely to 
 students. At the Commencement in 1731, President 
 Wadsworth states in his Diary, that " three of the tu- 
 ws were absent (two of them purposely, a thing never 
 
 * Wadsworth's Diary, p. 63.
 
 388 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER known before) ; a third, though he stayed at College, 
 and went to the meetinghouse, yet did not appear to 
 act as fellows used to do, in keeping good order in the 
 Hall at dinner time, nor in walking in the procession 
 as usual." 
 
 overseers The general state of the College attracted the at- 
 
 appoint a 
 
 committee tcntion of the board of Overseers in November, 1731 ; 
 
 of inquiry, 
 
 who report, at which time a committee was appointed, to inquire 
 into its condition, and " to report proposals for its 
 benefit." Neither the President, nor Mr. Colman, nor 
 any of the Corporation, although several of them were 
 members of the board of Overseers, was included 
 in this committee; and, as the result proved, it w r as 
 composed of individuals not unwilling to find. faults, 
 and little scrupulous about giving them publicity.* 
 After an investigation of eight months, in September, 
 1732, the committee made a report, " that the govern- 
 ment of the College is in a weak and declining state, 
 partly through a deficiency of laws, partly by reason 
 of some disputes and difficulties which have arisen 
 respecting the execution of the laws in being; that 
 religion, one great end of that society, is much upon 
 the decay ; a manifest evidence of which is, that the 
 worship of God in the Hall is scandalously neglected, 
 or but partially and not seasonably attended by many ; 
 that great disorders have of late appeared amongst the 
 students ; some gross immoralities are growing, and 
 many customs, that have a bad influence, indulged ; 
 that the long-accustomed method of instruction re- 
 quires alterations, and that the general condition of 
 the College calls loudly for the interposition of the 
 wisdom and authority of the Overseers." 
 
 H 
 
 * See Appendix, No. LXV.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 389 
 
 By way of remedy for these evils the committee CHAPTER 
 
 xvnr. 
 
 laws. 
 
 made seven proposals. 
 
 First Proposal. That the laws should be revised Proposals 
 
 for a revi- 
 
 and adapted to the present circumstances or the so- 
 ciety ; that all be in Latin, and each student have 
 a copy. 
 
 Under this head the committee made the following 
 specifications of laws. 1. That pecuniary mulcts or 
 fines, be specified in the quarter bills and sent to par- 
 ents. 2. That mulcts for absence from chapel prayers, 
 from public worship, and divinity lectures, be raised, 
 and followed up by admonitions, degradation, and ex- 
 pulsion. 3. Students sick on the Lord's day, to give 
 notice to the President or fellows, before meeting, that 
 their case may be inquired into. 4. That tutors take 
 care, that students early retire to their chambers on 
 Saturday evening, and that disorders on Sabbath even- 
 ing be punished like those on the Sabbath. 5. That 
 students remiss in attending College exercises be pun- 
 ished by fine, admonition, degradation, or expulsion. 
 6. That the tutors, to quicken diligence, visit cham- 
 bers in the day, in study hours, and at night after nine 
 o'clock. 7. That Hollis scholars be deprived of his 
 bounty, unless they attend the instructions of his Pro- 
 fessor. 8. That students should not allow strangers 
 to lodge in their rooms without leave of the President 
 or a tutor. 9. That students and graduates be pre- 
 vented from using punch, flip, and like intoxicating 
 drinks. 10. That laws with severe penalties be made 
 against immoralities, particularly against profane swear- 
 ing, cursing, taking the name of God in vain, sabbath- 
 breaking, light behaviour, playing or sleeping at public 
 worship or prayers ; against drunkenness, uncleanness, 
 lying, and stealing ; breaking open chambers, studies,
 
 390 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER letters, desks, chests, or any place under lock and 
 
 '. key ; and having picklocks. 1 1 . That graduates, 
 
 bachelors, and masters, who set a bad example to the 
 undergraduates by idleness, extravagance, neglect of 
 public worship, or disorders in their chambers, or by 
 showing contempt to the authority of the College, be 
 subject to be admonished, to be deprived of their 
 chambers and residence, and to have their rooms 
 visited by the President. 12. That fellows and grad- 
 uates, who have chambers in the College, board in 
 commons. 13. That commons be of better quality, 
 have more variety, clean tablecloths of convenient 
 length and breadth twice a week, and that plates be 
 allowed. 14. That students discontinuing the occu- 
 pation of a study three months be deprived of it. 
 15. That the annual vacation after Commencement be 
 only six weeks, and students staying away beyond 
 that time be punished. 
 
 Second Proposal. That the salaries of the tutors 
 and instructors be paid quarterly. 
 
 Third Proposal. That the Overseers reassume their 
 ancient right of consenting to and allowing salaries. 
 
 Fourth Proposal. That the Corporation, in the 
 election of President and Fellows, procure the presence 
 of the Overseers. 
 
 Fifth Proposal. That the Fellows be all resident 
 in Cambridge, and be such as are employed in the 
 instruction of the College. 
 
 Sixth Proposal. That tutors be chosen for a term 
 of years, at the expiration of which a new election 
 shall be made. 
 
 Seventh Proposal. That the Overseers have two 
 stated meetings at the College, of the nature of visi- 
 tations,
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 391 
 
 That there was cause for dissatisfaction with the CHAPTER 
 
 moral conduct of some of the students, about this _ 
 
 time, is certain ; but whether greater than at former 
 periods, considering the relative numbers, is question- 
 able. On this point we have no means of compari- President 
 son ; since no records are extant of the proceedings first form a 
 
 distinct 
 
 of the President and tutors acting as a distinct board board. 
 previous to the presidency of Wadsworth. Under 
 his auspices the immediate government first assumed 
 the character, and adopted the forms, of an inde- 
 pendent board, on all subjects of discipline. This 
 had been administered before by the tutors, who, on 
 their personal authority, inflicted fines, or " boxed " 
 the students at discretion, provided only that it was 
 not " immoderate or inhuman." Great offences, re- 
 quiring admonition, degradation, or expulsion, were 
 punished by the President after consulting the tutors, 
 but no systematic account was kept of their pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 The records of the immediate government, which 
 commence in September, 1725, not only indicate that 
 a disposition to commit the offences incident to Col- 
 leges was then sufficiently active, but prove also, 
 that the will and the power to punish existed in that 
 board. From increasing wealth, population, and in- 
 tercourse with Europe, the strictness of ancient man- 
 ners had been greatly relaxed about this period in the 
 Province, and the College was naturally the point at 
 which the effects of this change would appear. Causes 
 enough existed for a revision of its laws, but appar- 
 ently none sufficient to justify the broad denunciations 
 and intimations contained in the report of this com- 
 mittee. 
 
 The charges thus brought, in no very measured
 
 392 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER terms, against the government of the seminary, as 
 
 L_ being " weak and declining," and the lamentations 
 
 concerning " the decay of religion," were probably 
 understood at the time to be the exaggerated ex- 
 pressions of a sectarian party of considerable power, 
 then struggling to regain their ancient ascendency, 
 both in the College and in the Province ; and who 
 were willing to attribute the disorders, incident to the 
 period, to the influences of the liberal religious spirit, 
 in which its administration was conducted. From this 
 party the celebrated Methodist, Whitefield, unquestion- 
 ably derived the opinion, which he expressed some 
 years afterwards in his Journal, that the College was 
 " not far superior to the University of Oxford in piety 
 and godliness. "J, 
 Report re- On the reading of this report, the friends of the 
 
 committed. ... . 
 
 institution and of its administration rallied ; and the 
 first proposal, and all its specifications, were referred 
 to the committee which made the report, after adding 
 to it the President and two members of the Corpora- 
 tion ; thus giving to this body an efficient voice in the 
 committee upon all questions arising out of those 
 specifications. 
 
 The second proposal was so far accepted as to order 
 a draft of a law in conformity to it to be prepared. 
 
 The third was adopted, and a copy ordered to be 
 delivered to the Corporation. 
 
 The fourth was then so modified, as to declare, 
 that " a meeting of the Overseers should be equivalent 
 to their presence." 
 
 The fifth was negatived. 
 
 The sixth was accepted, and the term for which 
 the tutors should be chosen fixed at three years. 
 
 The seventh was accepted, and the times fixed for
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 393 
 
 the meetings of the Overseers were the last Tuesday CHAPTER 
 in March and the last Tuesday in September. 
 
 Thus both the points, on which the controversies 
 started by Sever and Welsteed turned, were, after a 
 struggle that continued nearly ten years, deliberately 
 and finally settled on the basis asserted by the Corpo- 
 ration. The election of tutors was limited to three 
 years, and Fellows of the Corporation were not re- 
 quired to be resident instructors. 
 
 The committee on a revisal of the laws reported, 
 in May, 1733, to the Overseers, who, instead of acting 
 upon the report, referred the whole subject to the Cor- 
 poration, recommending a revision of the laws, and that 
 the result be laid before the Overseers for their consent. 
 The Corporation proceeded accordingly, and, on the 
 26th of March, 1734, presented the revised code to 
 the Overseers, who consented to it with certain 
 amendments. These were also referred to the Cor- 
 poration, who, after consideration, having adopted 
 them, presented the laws thus amended to the Over- 
 seers, for their final sanction. On the 24th of Sep- 
 tember, the laws thus laboriously framed, were pub- Laws of the 
 lished in the College Hall, in the presence of the visedfand 5 
 Overseers, the Corporation, and the whole body of mtheCoi- 
 
 * lege Hall. 
 
 students. 
 
 This was the first code of laws known to have been 
 passed by both boards, with the observance of all the 
 forms of proceeding in making laws, which afterwards 
 prevailed, and which continue to this day. 
 
 On one occasion during the process of forming this 
 code of laws, the Corporation and Overseers appear 
 to have met in the College library, for the purpose 
 of mutual explanation, and facilitating the progress 
 of the work. The forms of proceeding in the^ inter- 
 
 VOL. i. 50
 
 394 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER course between the two boards were, notwithstanding, 
 __ scrupulously observed. The amendments proposed 
 by the Overseers were first recommended by them 
 to the Corporation for consideration, and all farther 
 action was suspended until " the law so amended 
 was again presented to the Overseers for their con- 
 sent." This course was pursued " until the whole 
 body of laws was agreed to both by the Overseers 
 and Corporation." * 
 
 In April, 1735, a vote passed the Overseers, re- 
 commending the Corporation " to restrain unsuitable 
 An inquiry and unseasonable dancing in the College." A corn- 
 noxious mittee was also appointed to inquire into certain dan- 
 
 bpimons of * L 
 
 instructors, gerous errors, said to have been disseminated in the 
 College by a Mr. Longloissorie, a Frenchman, em- 
 ployed under the authority of the President and tutors 
 as an instructor in the French language ; and the 
 committee were directed to report how far his errors 
 had been propagated and received.f The committee, 
 in May, 1735, reported, " that it did not appear that 
 Mr. Longloissorie had vented any of his dangerous 
 errors among the undergraduates ; but that he had 
 freely communicated them to the graduates, by none 
 of whom, however, had they been embraced." Pop- 
 ular reports upon this subject having been circulated 
 concerning Mr. Rogers, one of the tutors, the com- 
 mittee extended their inquiries to him. This officer 
 declined making a satisfactory answer to the com- 
 mittee, replying, that he thought it a hardship to be 
 examined as to his particular sentiments on the said 
 heads, when no express charges had been made against 
 him, and the committee therefore did not deem them- 
 
 * Overseers' Records. f See Appendix, No. LXVL
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 395 
 
 selves enabled to report him to be " free and clear of CHAPTER 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 the obnoxious opinions." 
 
 Upon this report, after considerable debate, the vote of the 
 
 ._ . Overseers 
 
 Overseers voted ; thereon 
 
 " That the President and tutors have not power by 
 any law to introduce or permit any person to instruct 
 scholars in arts or language in this society ; and there- 
 fore the permission, some time since granted to Mr. 
 Longloissorie, to teach the French tongue, is in itself 
 void ; and, inasmuch as this board judge it not con- 
 sistent with the safety of the College that Mr. Long- 
 loissorie should continue to teach the French tongue 
 there any longer, it was further voted, 
 
 " That the President and tutors be directed to 
 forbid the students, whether graduates or undergrad- 
 uates, from attending his instructions, either within 
 the College walls or elsewhere." 
 
 The board took no further notice of the refusal of 
 Mr. Rogers to be examined by their committee, but 
 " thought it proper to assert and declare their right to 
 examine into the principles of all those that are em- 
 ployed in the instruction of the students of the Col- 
 lege, upon- any just suspicion of their holding dan- 
 gerous tenets, although no express charge be laid 
 against them." 
 
 The Overseers also proceeded to recommend to the 
 Corporation to " take due care as to the principles of 
 such persons as shall from time to time be chosen by 
 them into any office of instruction ; and that no per- 
 son, chosen into such an office, shall be accepted or 
 continued, who refuses, when desired, to give satisfac- 
 tion to this board, as to his principles in religion."* 
 
 * Overseers' Records.
 
 396 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER For several years during the administration of Wads- 
 
 -1- worth, by a vote of the Overseers the time of Corn- 
 
 corn- 6 mencement was concealed, only a short notice being 
 
 given to the public of the day on which it was to be 
 and why. held. Ill the Diary of President Wadsworth it is 
 stated, that Friday was fixed on, for the reason " that 
 there might be a less remaining time of the week 
 spent in frolicking." At that period Commencement 
 was considered a great holiday in Boston and its 
 vicinity. This attempt, therefore, to deprive the peo- 
 ple of their chief and most cherished season of hilarity 
 was very ill received by the multitude. The clergy of 
 the Province, who almost universally assembled on that 
 occasion, were also dissatisfied, complaining, that they 
 were prevented from attending by riot knowing the 
 day ; * and that, by fixing it on Friday, those of them 
 who lived at a distance from Cambridge, were subject 
 to great inconvenience. Accordingly in 1736 this 
 practice was abandoned, and Commencement, as form- 
 erly, was held on Wednesday, to general satisfaction. 
 On this day an event occurred indicative of the 
 unsettled state of the practice of the two boards 
 which composed the government of the College, and 
 the uncertainty which existed concerning the boun- 
 daries of their respective authorities. 
 Ebenezer One Ebenezer Hartshorn, who " had formerly re- 
 
 Hartshorn 
 
 claims, and sided at the College for some time," had requested, in 
 
 is refused, a * 
 
 Bachelor's J une , 1733, to be admitted to the degree of Bachelor 
 
 degree. 
 
 of Arts. The Corporation, after taking the request 
 into consideration, decided, that he had " no just 
 claim to a degree according to the laws of the " Col- 
 lege, and that it would not be for the honor of the 
 
 * Wadsworth's Diary 3 p, 135.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 397 
 
 society to admit him to it, unless he offer himself for CHAPTER 
 
 XVtII. 
 
 examination, and be found to have made such attain- - 
 ments in academical learning as might render it pro- 
 per to confer such a degree upon him." Hartshorn 
 declined offering himself for examination, declaring, 
 "that he knew nothing of Hebrew, not even the 
 letters ; that he had never read any system of Natural 
 or Moral Philosophy ; that he was unacquainted with 
 Mathematics, and could not pretend to answer in 
 Logic ; that he chose not to put himself on examina- 
 tion, if he must be examined in those parts of academ- 
 ical learning ; and that all he could consent to be 
 examined in was Latin classic authors, the Greek 
 Testament, and his profession of physic." * In June, 
 1736, Hartshorn applied for a Master's degree, al- 
 though he had never yet obtained a Bachelor's. The 
 Corporation having voted, that it was " inconsistent 
 with the laws and interests of the College that he 
 should be favored with a degree," Hartshorn, dis- 
 satisfied with this decision, presented a petition to the 
 Overseers for a Master's degree on Commencement He claims 
 day, when it was long debated; and, although those degree, and 
 
 . is refused. 
 
 members of the Corporation, who were also members 1736. 
 of the Overseers, showed that the Corporation had 
 already negatived the petition, and how the College 
 laws expressly declared, that " no academic degrees 
 should be given but by the Corporation with the consent 
 of the Overseers," yet the Overseers proceeded to 
 vote Hartshorn his degree, f This vote occasioned 
 President Wadsworth great embarrassment ; for he was 
 obviously reduced to the dilemma of giving a degree 
 contrary to the College laws, or of refusing it in oppo- 
 
 * Records of the Corporation, Vol. IV. pp, 166, 167. 
 t Wadsworth's Diary, p. 136.
 
 398 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER sition to the vote of the Overseers. At that time, the 
 
 XVIII 
 
 ' performances of Commencement day were attended 
 
 both in the forenoon and afternoon. The President, 
 during the recess, proposed to several of the Corporation 
 to have a meeting on the subject, which was opposed ; 
 and, one of them being asked what was proper to be 
 done, he explicitly refused to give any advice. In this 
 perplexity the President had resolved " to yield to the 
 Proceed- torrent, and graduate Hartshorn." But when he was 
 >n 'of the conferring the Masters' degrees in full assembly, three 
 '^- of the Corporation (six of them being present), Dr. 
 Sewall, Dr. Wigglesworth, and Mr. Appleton, came 
 forward and opposed Hartshorn's being graduated. 
 The President then declared publicly, that it was 
 directly against the College laws that he should be 
 graduated. Whereupon the Governor arose, and de- 
 clared publicly that he ought to be graduated. The 
 debate continued long, and at last the Governor left 
 the meeting. The President then proceeded to give 
 the degrees, and refused to graduate Hartshorn, though 
 he presented himself. 
 A degree The next year Hartshorn again renewed his petition 
 
 granted to . 
 
 Hartshorn, to the Corporation, who, after declaring that " the 
 Honorable and Reverend Overseers of the College, 
 since the last vote of the Corporation upon that affair, 
 had manifested their disposition that such a favor 
 should be conferred upon him," proceeded to vote, that 
 he should be admitted to a Master's degree at the 
 then ensuing Commencement. 
 
 Foundation During the early part of Mr. Wadsworth's adminis- 
 lisprofes-" tration, that unwearied friend, the first Thomas Hoi- 
 
 sorship of.. t i i c i r T c i rn/ri 
 
 Mathemat- lis, laid the foundation of a Professorship of Mathe- 
 
 ics. 
 
 1727. matics and Natural Philosophy in Harvard College. 
 He had long meditated the subject, and thus wrote
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 399 
 
 upon it to Mr. Colman ; " Though jeered and sneered CHAPTER 
 
 at by many, I leave the issue to the Lord, for whose 
 
 sake I perform these offices and services, and hope I 
 shall be enabled to continue firm and finish this affair, 
 which 1 call a good work." He was as careful that 
 the principles, on which the Professorship was founded, 
 should be wise, as he was liberal in establishing it. 
 He called upon his educated friends for plans, and 
 received five, all of which he transmitted to the Cor- 
 poration for their selection and approval of the best. 
 They were written respectively by Isaac Watts, 
 Daniel Neal, Jeremiah Hunt, and Professor Emms, 
 all eminent for their scientific attainments and reli- 
 gious zeal ; and by Isaac Greenwood, the individual, 
 whom he had selected, and who was afterwards 
 chosen by the Corporation and Overseers, first Pro- 
 fessor on this foundation. 
 
 By the report of the investigating committee in state of the 
 1732, it appears, that "the annual income of the estate fundsln 
 
 . 1732. 
 
 of the College, not. appropriated specifically by the 
 donors, amounted to 728 7s. currency ; and that the 
 stated and incidental charges have been such for these 
 ten years past that the estate of the College had in- 
 creased about 100 per annum." 
 
 The funds of the College were diminished, during 
 Mr. Wadsworth's presidency, by the expenses and 
 result of a lawsuit, instituted for the purpose of getting 
 possession of a tract of land in Maine, called Merri- 
 coneag Neck. This tract had been granted by the 
 General Court to the College in 1682. But the Indian 
 wars, which soon after took place, had prevented the 
 legislature from bounding out the tract ; so that the 
 College had never obtained possession. The Corpo- 
 ration were very reluctant to enter upon the pursuit
 
 400 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER of their title ; but, the advice of the Overseers being 
 
 XVIII 
 
 !_ asked in November, 1731, thej recommended em- 
 ploying counsel, and putting measures in train to 
 Title of the prosecute their title to effect. This advice the Cor- 
 Merrico- poration proceeded to follow in 1732. Being soon 
 anddefeat- doubtful of success, they applied twice to the Over- 
 seers, submitting it to their judgment, whether the 
 College had not better endeavour to make a compro- 
 mise with the claimants, but to both propositions the 
 Overseers opposed a decided negative. 
 
 The Corporation, out of respect to the opinion of 
 the Overseers, persevered in their suit, which, in 1733, 
 was finally decided against the College, to its loss of 
 the lands and costs. It derived therefore no more 
 benefit from this grant of 1682, than it had previously 
 from the grants of two thousand acres in 1653, and 
 two thousand acres in the Pequod country, in 1657, 
 both of which failed ;-yet, in all succeeding times, when 
 a question has arisen in the General Court concerning 
 " what that Court has done for the College," not only 
 have both these grants been carefully enumerated, but, 
 to these ideal bounties, there has ever been added 
 " Merriconeag Neck, in Casco Say, with a thousand 
 acres adjacent." 
 Benjamin In the third year of Wadsworth's presidency trie 
 
 Colman re- .-+ *ii ** i * c i 
 
 signs his Corporation lost, by resignation, the services or the 
 Corpora- Rev. Benjamin Colman, who, during twelve years, 
 
 tion. 
 
 had been an active, faithful, and able member of the 
 board. In February, 1728, he gave notice of his in- 
 tention to resign. The Corporation, anxious to retain 
 his services, immediately passed the following vote ; 
 " Whereas the Rev. Mr. Colman has, by word of 
 mouth and letters to the President, expressed his 
 desires to resign his place in the Corporation, the
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 401 
 
 said Corporation, being sensible of his good services CHAPTER 
 past, and of the importance of his future service to - 
 the College as a member of the Corporation, are very 
 desirous of his continuing his place therein ; and ac- 
 cordingly voted, that the President be requested to 
 write a letter in the name of the Corporation, sig- 
 nifying their sentiments and desires." Colman hav- 
 ing in a letter to the President avowed his inten- 
 tion to be unaltered, the Corporation, on the 30th of 
 August, passed a second vote, " that it would tend 
 much to the peace and service of the College, if he 
 continue his standing in the Corporation, notwith- 
 standing his former desires to be dismissed from 
 it." The purpose of Mr. Colman, however, was not 
 changed. He left the board finally in December, 
 1728, and the Rev. Joseph Sewall, minister of the 
 South Church in Boston, was chosen in his stead. 
 Mr. Colman had several years contemplated this resig- 
 nation, but, out of respect to his friends and their 
 urgency, he had reluctantly retained his position at 
 the board. Among these, Thomas Hollis had prob- 
 ably the most influence. He was anxious that Mr. 
 Colman should continue in the Corporation, and that 
 ke should be made President of the College. In 
 1724, on receiving information that he had been 
 elected to that office, but that he hesitated accepting 
 it on account of the insufficiency of the salary, Mr. 
 Hollis communicated the fact to the Rev. Mr. Cot- 
 ton, a gentleman of fortune, who had known Mr. 
 Colman when in Europe. That gentleman imme- 
 diately placed in the hands* of Mr. Hollis one hun- 
 dred pounds sterling, " for Mr. Colman, President of 
 
 * Letter of Thomas Hollis to Colman, February 23d, 1724. 
 VOL. I. 51
 
 402 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 CHAPTER the College, as an augmentation of his salary, ami 
 as an encouragement to him to accept it, and for 
 the purpose of removing difficulties towards such 
 acceptance." Mr. Cotton also placed in Mr. Hol- 
 lis's hands three hundred pounds sterling more, to 
 be laid out for the College in books or charity, ac- 
 cording to the advice of Mr. Colman. This dona- 
 tion was the occasion of putting to trial Mr. Colman's 
 delicacy and disinterestedness. The first hundred 
 pounds had been bestowed in terms which authorized 
 him to consider the sum as a gift to him individually. 
 But it had been also stated to have been designed as 
 an encouragement for him to accept the presidency. 
 No sooner, therefore, had he declined that office, than 
 he applied the whole amount of Mr. Cotton's bounty 
 to the use of the College. This appears by a letter 
 to Mr. Colman from Mr. Hollis, dated August 12th, 
 1725, who treats the subject in this kind and friend- 
 ly way ; " With reference to the account you give 
 me of the proportioning the four hundred pounds Mr. 
 Cotton has ordered for bounty and charity, I do nothing 
 to contradict your agreement, and I believe my good 
 friend Mr. Cotton will also, save in one particular. 
 I think Mr. Colman is over-righteous. Mr. Cotton 
 told me, it was a present to Mr. Colman, from a long- 
 contracted friendship ; and, as he was now chosen 
 President, it might be a small inducement to en- 
 courage his accepting the chair, believing him a fit 
 person to fill it ; but it is not to Mr. President, but to 
 Mr. Colman, the present is made, as I understand it. 
 If Mr. Colman's circumstances need not such a gift, it 
 is at your liberty to do what you will with your own ; 
 but it must be Mr. Colman's gift, and not Mr. Cot- 
 ton's."
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY 403 
 
 Notwithstanding this kind remonstrance Mr. Colman CHAPTER 
 
 XVIII 
 
 adhered to his purpose. In a subsequent letter Mr. 
 Hollis acknowledges having received an account of 
 " the hundred pounds, Mr. Cotton's gift, and his 
 satisfaction with its distribution." 
 
 Mr. Colman survived the dissolution of his con- 
 nexion with the Corporation nearly twenty years ; 
 and died, at the age of seventy-three, in August, 
 1747 ; to which period is postponed the tribute due 
 to his character and services. 
 
 The death of President Wadsworth occurred on the Death and 
 
 16th of March, 1737, and was lamented with more of Presi- 
 dent Wads- 
 
 than ordinary demonstrations of sorrow. Appleton, worth. 
 Sewall, Wigglesworth, and Foxcroft, all divines of 
 celebrity, delivered funeral sermons on the occasion ; 
 and Flynt, the oldest tutor of the College, a Latin 
 oration. In those testimonies of contemporaneous re- 
 spect and affection, the general features of his char- 
 acter are sketched with a truth and accuracy, which 
 are justified by the impressions derived from the his- 
 tory of the times and of the College. 
 
 President Wadsworth was born in 1669, and was 
 graduated at Harvard College in 1690. He selected 
 the ministry for his sphere of usefulness, and held the 
 relation of pastor of the First Church in Boston from 
 1696 until his transfer to the College, in 1725. His 
 talents were solid rather than brilliant, and adapted for 
 service more than display. Many of his sermons were 
 published, and remain to evidence the character of his 
 intellectual efforts. They are plain, practical, and 
 scriptural. Being argumentative and without orna- 
 ment, their interest is the effect of the truth, earnest- 
 ness, and zeal they display. Neither a bigot nor an 
 enthusiast, and destitute of all ambition to shine or
 
 404 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER to lead, he avoided controversy. While he thought 
 xvm ' and acted with the liberal part of the clergy, he was 
 lauded during his life, and claimed, after his death, 
 by the stricter sect ; a fate common to those who 
 are not ardent in temperament, and free from the 
 spirit of party proselytism. In religion, as in politics, 
 zealots ever reckon men of this character among their 
 number, especially " after death has opened the gate 
 of fame and extinguished envy." 
 
 President Wadsworth was fifty-six years old when 
 he accepted, reluctantly, the chair of the College. 
 His health began to fail soon after he entered upon 
 its duties, which were performed, however, to general 
 acceptance, under all the disadvantages of bodily in- 
 firmity. His conduct in their discharge was marked 
 by firmness, prudence, and judgment. Faithful to 
 every trust, kind to all, calm, cautious, moderate, self- 
 possessed, and affectionate, he left a name precious to 
 his own, and appreciated highly by after times. 
 
 PRESIDENT'S HOUSE, BUILT IN 1726.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 405 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Benefactors of the College. John Hull. Samuel Se wall. Richard 
 Sprague. Thomas Brattle. William Brattle. William Brown. 
 Joseph Brown, William Brown, and Benjamin Brown. Samuel Brown. 
 
 John and William Brown. Edmund Brown. Gurdon Saltonstall. 
 
 Mary Saltonstall. Dorothy Saltonstall. John Frizell, and John 
 Frizell, his Ne'phew. John Walley. Ephraim Flynt. Henry Gibbs. 
 
 Ezekiel Rogers. Thomas Cotton. Thomas Hollis. John Hollis. 
 
 Nathaniel Hollis. Thomas Hollis, the second Benefactor of that 
 Name. Exercises, Studies, Discipline, and Customs of the College, 
 during the Presidencies of Leverett and Wadsworth. 
 
 have now arrived at a period of colonial history, CHAPTER 
 when extended commerce, increased population, and ' _ 
 
 consequent wealth, changed materially the general 
 character of New England. The severity of manners, 
 the staid demeanor, and the scriptural phraseology 
 of the early emigrants of the Puritan sect disappear- 
 ed. But their principles and institutions, their love 
 of liberty, and their stern resistance to oppression still 
 continued to influence the character and fortunes of 
 their descendants. In politics, the jealousy of the cler- 
 gy as to the measures of the English hierarchy, and 
 that of the statesmen as to the designs of the English 
 ministry, raised the dread of transatlantic control into 
 a master passion. In religion, although sects multi- 
 plied, controversy diminished and its bitterness mode- 
 rated. Before tracing the influence of this change 
 on Harvard College, gratitude demands that we again
 
 406 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER turn our thoughts towards those generous spirits, not 
 !__ yet commemorated, who encouraged or aided the pro- 
 gress of the institution by their bounty. 
 
 John HUH. The earliest of these benefactors was John Hull, 
 who, in 1681, gave to the College one hundred pounds, 
 Massachusetts currency. This donation was proba- 
 bly made in his lifetime, as he died intestate in 1683.* 
 By persevering industry, great talents for business, 
 and strict integrity, he acquired the confidence of his 
 contemporaries, rose from poverty and a low estate to 
 great affluence, was elected Treasurer of the colony 
 in 1676, and an Assistant from 1680 to 1683. In 
 1652, when the government of Massachusetts deter- 
 mined to assume the prerogative of the crown, and 
 coin money for the currency of the country, Mr. Hull 
 was appointed master of the mint ; which was built 
 upon his land. The General Court, inviting all the 
 inhabitants to bring in Spanish coin, bullion, and plate, 
 contracted to allow Mr. Hull one in every twenty 
 shillings for his services in coining.! Perceiving 
 afterwards that he had too advantageous a contract, 
 they offered him a considerable sum of money to 
 relinquish it, which he refused, and soon accumu- 
 lated a fortune, second to none of domestic creation 
 in that age, in New England. His only child married 
 Samuel Sewall, afterwards Chief Justice, and brought 
 to him in dowry, as was commonly reported, says 
 Hutchinson, " thirty thousand pounds, in New Eng- 
 land shillings."! By this marriage Sewall became 
 one of the most wealthy inhabitants of the colony. 
 
 * Farmer's Genealogical Record of the first Settlers in Massachu- 
 setts, art. Hull. 
 
 t Records of the General Court. 
 
 $ See Hutch. Hist. Mass., Vol. I. p. 164, note.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 407 
 
 On the. 24th of June, 1696, Samuel Sewall, and CHAPTER 
 Hannah, his wife, gave by deed to Harvard College, a 
 farm of five hundred acres, being a portion of a large 
 tract of land purchased by John Hull in the Narragan- 
 set country, and called the Petaquamscot purchase ; * 
 the incomes or profits of which he appropriated to 
 " the support and education at the College, of youths, 
 whose parents may not be of sufficient ability to main- 
 tain them there, especially such as should be sent 
 from Petaquamscot, English or Indians." 
 
 In recent times it has been sold, and the interest of 
 the proceeds constitutes an important part of the funds 
 of the College for the benefit of needy and meritorious 
 students, to which object it is scrupulously applied. 
 
 Samuel Sewall was born in England in 1652, came 
 with his father to Massachusetts, in 1661, and was 
 graduated at Harvard College in 1671. He studied 
 divinity, became a tutor at the College in 1674, and 
 a candidate for the ministry. In 1676, after acquiring 
 a fortune by marriage, he quitted both employments, 
 and entered the career of politician and jurist ; a transi- 
 tion not violent under a constitution founded upon re- 
 ligion. In 1684 he was chosen a magistrate, and in 
 1690 was appointed one of the commissioners with 
 William Stoughton, to meet those of the United 
 Colonies at Albany.f 
 
 By the nomination of Increase Mather he became, 
 in 1692, one of the first Council under the charter of 
 William and Mary ; an office which he retained, by suc- 
 cessive annual elections, until he declined it in 1725. 
 He was constituted one of the special justices in 
 the commission for the trial of witchcraft, of which 
 
 * See Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. V. p. 217. 
 t Ibid., Vol. VIII. Second Series, p. 233.
 
 408 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER William Stoughton was Chief Justice. Having been 
 . ! deeply implicated in the transactions consequent on 
 that delusion, he was awakened to a conviction of the 
 guilt of those proceedings by the returning sense of 
 the community, and reduced his sorrow and repent- 
 ance into the form of a confession, which, agreeably 
 to the church discipline of the period, his clergyman, 
 Mr. Willard, read publicly in full assembly at the 
 South Church, on fast day, Mr. Sewall standing up in 
 his pew during the ceremony. A species of humilia- 
 tion, to which William Stoughton, being chief magis- 
 trate of the Province through favor of the crown, and 
 less affected by the vibrations of popular opinion, re- 
 fused to submit, saying, " that -he saw no cause for 
 any public acknowledgment of error, as, when he sat 
 in judgment, he had the fear of God before his eyes, 
 and gave his opinion according to the best of his 
 understanding."* 
 
 In 1715 Mr. Sewall was made Judge of Probate for 
 the County of Suffolk, and in 1718 was raised to the 
 office of Chief Justice of the Province, which he 
 satisfactorily sustained until his resignation in 1728, 
 two years before his death. 
 
 Chief Justice Sewall was learned, according to the 
 colonial standard, being well acquainted with the 
 Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, assiduous in fulfilling the 
 duties of a Christian and a citizen, liberal, hospitable, 
 sympathetic, and practically wise in the affairs of the 
 world. He was an active member of the Company 
 for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Indians ; 
 built for their worship, at his own expense, a church 
 at Natick ; and made some laudable exertions to ren- 
 
 * See Hutch. Hist. Mass., Vol. II. p. 62.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 409 
 
 der the practice of enslaving negroes odious, writing CHAPTER 
 a pamphlet against, it, and publicly protesting against 
 the lawfulness of the traffic. A diligent and care- 
 ful observer of passing events, he kept a diary for 
 more than forty years of a life spent chiefly in the 
 public service. This curious document often lifts the 
 veil of time from the motives of men and parties, and 
 affords means of estimating the actual state of learning, 
 morals, and piety in New England at that period, far 
 superior to those furnished by general history. 
 
 Judge Sewall's doctrinal faith was conformed to that 
 of the strictest sect of Calvinists ; and, although consti- 
 tutionally of a candid and conciliatory spirit, he firmly 
 adhered to ancient customs, manners, principles, and 
 doctrines, and resisted every innovation with earnest 
 and unquenchable zeal. Among the active politicians 
 of his age, no one attained higher or more unvaried 
 tokens of public confidence, and time has disclosed 
 no circumstance to qualify the favorable opinion his 
 contemporaries formed of his worth and his virtues.* 
 
 Richard Sprague, an inhabitant of Charlestown, is Richard 
 entitled to rank high among the benefactors of Har- 
 vard College. He was the son of Ralph Sprague, 
 who came with Governor Endecott to Salem in 1628, 
 and the next year commenced a settlement at Charles- 
 town. Few traces remain of his course and character. 
 It is only known that he was among the most active 
 and useful men of his place of abode, employed 
 on all important committees of the town, and for 
 many years was its Representative in the General 
 Court. He died childless in 1703, and bequeathed 
 
 * Allen's and Eliot's Biographical Dictionaries. Prince's Funeral 
 Sermon on the Death of the Honorable. Samuel Sewall. 
 VOL. I. 52
 
 10 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER to^ the College three hundred pounds, Massachusetts 
 
 currency. He also left to the town of Charlestown 
 
 the reversion of a house and land, and a portion of 
 his personal estate, the proceeds of which now con- 
 stitute an important part of the Fund for the Poor in 
 that town. 
 
 Thomas Among those entitled to grateful remembrance for 
 
 services and bounties to Harvard College, the name 
 of Thomas Brattle is conspicuous. He was a mer- 
 chant of Boston, distinguished for opulence, activity, 
 and talent, and for the zeal and readiness with which 
 he devoted his time, wealth, and intellectual power 
 to objects of private benevolence and public useful- 
 ness. 
 
 He was born in 1657, was graduated at Harvard 
 College in 1676, and died in 1713, at the age of fifty- 
 six. He was chosen Treasurer of the College in 
 1693, and held that office twenty years, until his 
 death. In the July preceding that event, he caused 
 the settlement he had made with his predecessor, in 
 1693, and his own account of receipts and expen- 
 ditures during the intervening period, to be entered 
 on the records of the Corporation ; carefully specify- 
 ing the particulars of the real and personal estate of the 
 College, with the incomes of both ; thus giving the 
 most authentic and satisfactory developement of its 
 property and pecuniary relations at that early period. 
 Two years elapsed after his death before a successor 
 was appointed. During the interval, his brother and 
 executor, the Rev. William Brattle, at the solicitation 
 of the Corporation, took upon himself the superin- 
 tendence of the finances of the College. By the 
 accounts of these treasurers it appears, that Thomas 
 Brattle received, in 1693, from John Richards, his
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 411 
 
 
 
 predecessor, upwards of one thousand five hundred CHAPTER 
 
 XIX 
 
 and fifty pounds, lawful money, personal estate of the ' 
 
 College, and a real estate yielding one hundred pounds 
 annual income ; and that William Brattle, his execu- 
 tor, delivered over to John White, his successor, in 
 1715, nearly three thousand eight hundred pounds, 
 personal estate, and a real estate, yielding two hun- 
 dred and eighty pounds. Such was the accumulation 
 of the property of the College, while its finances were 
 under the management of these brothers. 
 
 Thomas Brattle was not unmindful, at his death, 
 of the institution, to whose prosperity he was so 
 assiduously devoted during his life. He bequeathed 
 to the College two hundred pounds, Massachusetts 
 currency, and devoted its income to the advancement 
 of Mathematical science in the institution. His in- 
 dependence of the strong and universal prejudice, 
 existing at that day in New England, against the use 
 of instrumental music in public worship, is strikingly 
 evidenced by the following clause in his last will. 
 " I give, dedicate, and devote my organ to the praise 
 and glory of God in the said Church (Brattle Street), 
 if this shall accept thereof, and within one year after 
 my decease procure a sober person that can play skil- 
 fully thereon with a loud noise." If that Church re- 
 fuse to accept the gift, he then bequeaths the instru- 
 ment on similar terms to the Church of England in 
 Boston. If this refuse, he then gives it to Harvard 
 College, on the same condition. If the College refuse 
 the organ, he bequeaths it to his brother, the Rev. 
 William Brattle. His affection for the College is also 
 
 O 
 
 indicated by his giving " half a crown to every stu- 
 dent belonging to it, who should attend his funeral." 
 Thomas Brattle was distinguished among his con-
 
 412 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER temporaries for his intellectual powers and scientific at- 
 ' tainments. Judge Sewall thus writes concerning him, 
 in a letter dated on the 18th of May, 1713, it being 
 the day of Mr. Brattle's death. " We are in danger 
 of losing Mr. Thomas Brattle, who is a great orna- 
 ment to our College, on account of his eminent learn- 
 ing, especially in the Mathematics. He is also very 
 useful as their treasurer, very serviceably and excel- 
 lently performing that office." Among the transactions 
 of the Royal Society, in London, is a communication, 
 entitled " Observatio Eclipsis Lunaris peracta Bostonii 
 Novanglorum, die quinto Aprilis, vespere, A. D. 1707, 
 a Tho. Brattle." Bailey, in his supplement to the 
 account of Flamsteed, states, that " Mr. Thomas 
 Brattle, of Boston in New England, is the anony- 
 mous person alluded to by Newton, in his Principia, 
 as having made such good observations of the comet 
 of 1680." 
 
 The views of Mr. Brattle were enlightened and 
 
 o 
 
 enlarged, and in his religious opinions he was catholic 
 and liberal. His connexion with the Brattle-Street 
 Church is indicated by its location and name. He 
 was one of its earliest founders, continued through life 
 among its firmest supporters, and was of consequence 
 involved in the ecclesiastical controversy, which origi- 
 nated in the secession of that church from the Cam- 
 bridge Platform. Like other congenial minds, he was 
 stigmatized in the party heats of the time, as an 
 " apostate " and " infidel " ; but his mind and labors, 
 devoted to science and religious liberty, have shed 
 upon his memory a light, which has survived all record 
 and tradition of the calumnies which assailed his name 
 and influence. 
 
 The account written by Mr. Brattle of the " witch-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 413 
 
 craft delusion," and of the judicial trials and execu- CHAPTER 
 
 tions at Salem for that pretended crime, is one of the ! 
 
 most interesting and illustrative productions of the 
 period, and highly honorable to his sagacity and fore- 
 sight. It was written in October, 1692, at the 
 very moment, when that destructive delusion was 
 at its height, and the terror of being " accused by 
 the afflicted," in full sway ; when the special com- 
 missioners had just finished their first tragic session;* 
 when fifty, confessing themselves guilty of witchcraft, 
 besides many others accused of it, were in prison, and 
 another session of the commissioners was approach- 
 ing, in which a renewal of the same appalling scenes 
 was anticipated ; when the writer himself could not 
 express his opinion upon the passing events without 
 " fear lest his freedom should bring him into a snare. "f 
 Under circumstances thus critical, Thomas Brattle 
 wrote a letter, in which he declares his determina- 
 tion to make " a very open communication of my 
 thoughts, and in plain terms to tell what my opinion 
 is of these proceedings."! He then with great clear- 
 ness exposes and reprobates the nature of the examin- 
 ation, the form of the indictment, the irrelevancy of 
 the admitted evidence, the guilt of the accusers, the 
 innocency of those already condemned and executed, 
 and the madness and iniquity of the course pursued. 
 His remarks are acute and conclusive, exhibiting firm- 
 ness and self-possession, and a mind elevated above 
 the agitated chaos of the time. He comments se- 
 verely on the partiality of the judges, and on the in- 
 fatuation of " the civil leaders and spiritual teachers, 
 
 * See above, p. 64. 
 
 t See Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. V. p. 61. 
 
 f Ibid., p. 62.
 
 414 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER and of those who profess high, and pass among us for 
 
 YfY 
 
 ! some of the better sort; who, instead of punishing 
 
 and preaching down such sorcery and wickedness, do 
 allow of, encourage, yea, practise this very abomina- 
 tion." * 
 
 He then proceeds to foretell, w r hat soon became 
 history, that " the justices and judges, or any else con- 
 cerned in these matters, will not be able soon to look 
 back upon these things without the greatest sorrow 
 and grief imaginable." f He does not hesitate to 
 speak, in terms implying reprobation, of " the zeal and 
 impatience" displayed by "the Chief Judge" (Stough- 
 ton) in these trials, and to express his " fear, that 
 wisdom and counsel are withheld from him in this 
 matter." Although this letter was not published at 
 the time it was written, it is an honorable testimony 
 to the clearness and independence of his judgment, 
 and his regard for justice and truth. 
 
 William Brattle, the younger brother of Thomas, 
 was alike eminent for liberality, talent, and literary 
 acquirements. He was born in Boston in 1662, and 
 was graduated at Harvard College in 1680. In 1686 
 he was appointed tutor in the College, at the same 
 time with John Leverett. They were the principal 
 instructors in the institution for ten years succeeding, 
 during four of which President Mather was absent in 
 Europe. Mr. Brattle was chosen pastor of the Church 
 in Cambridge in 1696, and, the Corporation of the 
 College carefully state on their records, that " they 
 unanimously concurred with the Church of Cambridge 
 in their invitation of the Rev. William Brattle to the 
 work of the ministry in that church." When Lieu- 
 
 * Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. V. p 70. f Ibid,, p. 74.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY 415 
 
 tenant-Governor Stoughton reorganized the govern- CHAPTER 
 
 ment of the institution in October, 1696,* on the oc- '- 
 
 casion of the negative of the College charter by the 
 King, he appointed William Brattle a member of the 
 Corporation. He held his seat in that board until 
 July, 1700, when he was excluded by the act passed 
 under the influence of President Mather.f In August, 
 1703, he was reinstated by the influence of Governor 
 Dudley and Vice-President Willard,J and retained his 
 place until his death, which occurred in the year 
 1717, in the fifty-fourth of his age. 
 
 William Brattle was alike respected as a man, a 
 scholar, and a divine. His manners were urbane and 
 polished ; and, although his habits of life were studious 
 and retired, he was yet skilful in business, and de- 
 voted to the duties of his profession. After the death 
 of his brother, at the request of the Corporation, he 
 took the office of Treasurer, and during two years 
 managed the financial concerns of the College with 
 fidelity and success. While engaged in the super- 
 intendence of the seminary, he blended a tutor's dis- 
 cipline with a parent's tenderness. At that period 
 the small-pox was an object of universal terror. In- 
 oculation had not then been introduced, and flight 
 was the only refuge of those who were liable to the 
 disorder. Mr. Brattle, though not secure from the 
 disease when it appeared in the College, instead of 
 abandoning his post, remained firm and unterrified ; 
 visited the sick students, administered to them, and 
 personally contributed to their comfort and convales- 
 cence. When suffering himself under the disease, the 
 fearlessness of his mind proved the best preservative 
 
 * See above, p. 82. f Ibid., p. 106. J Ibid., p. 150.
 
 416 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER from its malignity, and he was soon restored to 
 
 XIX 
 
 . ! health and his duties. This heroism endeared him to 
 
 the students, and he received from them, by common 
 consent, the name of " Father of the College." At 
 his death he bequeathed to the beneficiary fund of the 
 institution two hundred and fifty pounds, Massachu- 
 setts currency. His other bounties were numerous, 
 Charity was with him a principle rather than an 
 impulse, his fortune being large and his liberality 
 proportionate. He was not merely a patron of litera- 
 ture ; he was himself a man of science, and as such 
 was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society of Lon- 
 don, a distinction not easily obtained by a colonist. 
 His publications were few. The only one now known 
 is a treatise upon logic, written originally in Latin, 
 which was used many years in the College as a text- 
 book, and came to a second edition in 1758.* 
 
 Few divines of that period have obtained a purer 
 or more desirable reputation. He mingled little in 
 controversy, and never troubled himself or others with 
 unprofitable speculations, or with metaphysical theol- 
 ogy. Deeply impressed with the truth of the Scrip- 
 tures, he sought in them the rule of life and duty ; 
 led in the way of religion by the force and attraction of 
 his example ; and stood aloof from words which darken 
 counsel and obscure the simplicity of the Gospel. 
 
 He early deviated from some of the ancient prac- 
 tices of the churches in New England. Under his 
 influence, and soon after his settlement, as we have 
 already stated,f a formal, public relation of religious 
 experiences ceased to be required in the church at 
 
 Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. VII. pp. 82, 55. 
 t See above, p. 89.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 417 
 
 Cambridge, as a qualification for membership, the CHAPTER 
 examination of the candidate was intrusted to the 
 pastor and elders, and the consent of the church to 
 admission was signified by silence instead of a hand 
 vote. These were all deemed dangerous innovations 
 by those attached to the early order and practice of 
 the New England churches, and were in fact precur- 
 sors of that schism, which, under the auspices of his 
 elder brother, eventuated in the foundation of the 
 Brattle-Street Church in Boston, and the divisions 
 which ensued among the Congregational clergy. 
 
 For more than half a century, the family of Brown 
 stands distinguished among those, whose continued 
 bounty to Harvard College assumes the aspect of an 
 inheritable quality. Eight of that name are entitled 
 to grateful remembrance. Seven of them were in- 
 habitants of Salem, and held the relation to each 
 other of father, sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons. 
 William Brown, the head of the family, has been al- wniiam 
 ready the subject of notice.* He emigrated in 1635, 
 from Brandon, in Suffolk, England, to Salem, where he 
 acquired wealth, public confidence, and general esteem. 
 For several years he was Representative from Salem 
 in the General Court, afterwards was appointed an 
 Assistant, and finally one of the Council, in 1687, 
 during; the administration of Andros. He died in 
 
 c5 
 
 1688, highly esteemed for his usefulness and example 
 as a private citizen, and honored in his public station 
 for his judgment and knowledge in commercial affairs, 
 and for his practical political skill. His charities were 
 his crowning glory. To Harvard College he gave 
 forty pounds in his lifetime, and one hundred pounds 
 
 * See above, p. 181. 
 
 VOL. i. 53
 
 418 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER by bequest. The public institutions of Salem and 
 
 XIX 
 
 - Charlestown were also largely indebted to his bounty.* 
 In this munificence he was emulated by his descend- 
 ants.f 
 
 Joseph Joseph Brown, son of the preceding, was graduated 
 
 at the College in 1666. He died in early manhood, 
 before his father, in the year 1678. Partaking of his 
 spirit, he bequeathed for the use of his alma mater 
 one hundred pounds, and also fifty pounds in books 
 for the library. He was destined for the sacred desk, 
 and had received, just before his death, an invitation 
 to the pastoral care of the church in Charlestown. 
 
 William His brother, William Brown, was born in 1639, 
 
 Brown. i i / i i T i 
 
 survived his father, and, treading in his steps, was 
 successful as a merchant, and in attaining public con- 
 fidence as a Representative in the General Court, a 
 member of the Council of Safety in 1689, and a coun- 
 sellor under the charter of William and Mary. After 
 a long life of honor and usefulness, he died in 1716, at 
 the age of seventy-seven, leaving to the College a 
 legacy of one hundred pounds, currency of Massachu- 
 setts. 
 
 Benjamin Benjamin Brown, a younger brother, was born in 
 1648, and died in 1708, at the age of sixty, con- 
 cerning the course of whose life and fortunes no 
 record remains. By his last will he also bequeathed 
 a legacy of two hundred pounds to Harvard College. 
 
 Samuel Samuel, son of William Brown, last mentioned, was 
 
 born in 1669, and died in 1731, at the age of sixty- 
 two. He emulated the beneficence of his father, un- 
 cles, and grandfather, and, enlarging the measure of 
 
 * Donation Book, Vol. I. pp. 15, 23. 
 
 t Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. VI. p, 287.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 419 
 
 his bounty to the College, bequeathed, in aid of its CHAPTER 
 
 beneficiary funds one hundred and fifty pounds, and 
 
 for general purposes sixty pounds, and, in addition, a 
 house and a valuable, well-stocked farm in Hopk-inton, 
 consisting of two hundred acres.* 
 
 In a later period, John Brown and William Brown, John and 
 great-grandchildren of the first benefactor of that Brown" 1 
 name, were among the liberal subscribers in books and 
 money for repairing the loss sustained in 1764, by the 
 burning of Harvard Hall, and the destruction of the 
 library it contained.! 
 
 Edmund Brown, another benefactor, who bequeathed Edmund 
 
 * . Brown. 
 
 a legacy of one hundred pounds to the College, is not 
 known to have been related to the Salem family of 
 that name. He emigrated from England to Massa- 
 chusetts in 1637, became the first minister of Sudbury 
 in 1640, and died in 1677. He was exemplary in his 
 life, and attained professional distinction. There is 
 some doubt whether the College ever derived any 
 benefit from this legacy ; but the debt of gratitude to 
 his memory is not the less due, since the intention 
 was direct, and his property ample. He adopted one 
 Samuel Gofife as his son and heir, and made him his 
 executor. To him Mr. Brown bequeathed a large 
 real estate, on the condition of paying to Harvard 
 College, within two years after his decease, one hun- 
 dred pounds, current money of New England. This 
 condition Goffe failed to fulfil. A suit in chancery 
 was the consequence, and the College obtained and 
 levied an execution on the land, but, for some cause, 
 without any beneficial result. 
 
 * College Book, No. IV., pp. 6, 9, 12. 
 t Donation Book, Vol. I. pp. 23, 65, 67.
 
 420 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 XIX. 
 
 Gurdon 
 Saltonstall. 
 
 The family of the Saltonstalls we have already had 
 occasion to number among the earliest and most liberal 
 patrons of the College.* Gurdon, great-grandson of 
 the first Sir Richard Saltonstall, supported the char- 
 acter of the family, and extended the obligations of 
 the institution to this distinguished name. Gurdon 
 Saltonstall was born at Haverhill in 1666, graduated 
 at Harvard College in 1684, became a popular and suc- 
 cessful preacher, and in 1691 was ordained pastor over 
 the Congregational church in New London, Connecti- 
 cut. On all momentous occasions he was resorted to 
 as an oracle, and on the death of Fitz John Winthrop, 
 in 1707, both clergy and laity united to call him from 
 the care of a church to the chair of state. By the 
 law of Connecticut the people were restricted in the 
 choice of Governor to the magistrates then in nomi- 
 nation. To remove this obstacle to his election, the 
 Assembly of the colony, in 1708, repealed the restric- 
 tive law, and the ensuing year Gurdon Saltonstall was 
 chosen Governor, and was continued in that office by 
 successive elections for sixteen years, until his death 
 in 1724. In all the relations of public and private 
 life he was faithful and exemplary. In the attributes 
 of public spirit and benevolence he was not surpassed 
 by any of his contemporaries, among whom he at- 
 tained the highest rank as a divine, orator, and states- 
 man. 
 
 Gurdon Saltonstall bequeathed by will one hundred 
 pounds, lawful money, to Harvard College ; thus emu- 
 lating the example of Mary Saltonstall, his wife, who, 
 the year previous, had made a donation of a like sum 
 from her own private estate. 
 
 * See above, p. 163.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 421 
 
 Mary Saltonstall survived her husband six years, CHAPTER 
 
 XIX. 
 
 and by her last will bequeathed, in 1730, one thousand - 
 pounds to the College, for educating young men " of tonstaii. 
 bright parts and good diligence for the service of the 
 Christian church." By the same instrument she made 
 noble and judicious legacies for the advancement of 
 learning and religion, and for charitable purposes. 
 
 Uniting exemplary piety and enlarged charity with 
 a highly cultivated mind, she filled the high station, to 
 which she was called, with prudence and dignity. 
 By her contemporaries she is celebrated for the graces 
 which adorn, and the virtues which are the honor of, 
 human nature.* 
 
 To Dorothy Saltonstall, who died in 1733, the Dorothy 
 
 J . . Saltonstall. 
 
 College is indebted for a liberal bequest. This lady 
 derived her fortune from her first husband, John John 
 Frizell, an eminent merchant of Boston, who was 
 himself a benefactor to the institution. The dona- 
 tion books of the College acknowledge the receipt 
 of one hundred and fifty pounds as a legacy from 
 him ; but some obscurity rests upon his bounty, as 
 no record has yet been found of a will, nor is there 
 any account of the authority under which the donation 
 was received. His widow married Nathaniel Salton- 
 stall, and, having by her marriage contract reserved to 
 herself the power of disposing of her own estate, be- 
 queathed three hundred pounds to Harvard College, 
 and other legacies to pious and charitable uses. Her 
 benevolence and intellectual power are respectfully 
 and honorably noticed in the records of that period. 
 
 John Frizell, nephew of the last-mentioned bene- John 
 factor, was a successful merchant of Boston, and 
 
 * Allen's Biog, Diet. New England Journal, 26th January, 1729-80.
 
 422 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER is also entitled to grateful remembrance. He died 
 
 YfY 
 
 _ in 1730, and by his will left two hundred .and fifty 
 pounds to the College. There remains no record or 
 tradition concerning his life, except of his wealth 
 and his bounties. 
 
 John Walley, by a bequest of one hundred pounds 
 to the College, became another benefactor, and di- 
 rected the amount to be applied to the support of 
 " scholars devoted to the ministry." He came to this 
 country in 1662, with his father, the Rev. Thomas 
 Walley, a clergyman, ejected for non-conformity, and 
 was continually employed in offices of honor and trust 
 during the residue of his life. In 1671 and 1684 he 
 was a member of the committee appointed to codify 
 the Plymouth Colony laws. In 1687 he was member 
 from Plymouth, in the Council of Andros, and in 1697 
 had the command of the land forces in the unsuccess- 
 ful expedition against Canada. His Journal is pre- 
 served by Hutchinson,* and is the most authentic ac- 
 count, now extant, of the transactions of the invading 
 force. Under the charter of William and Mary he 
 was appointed Counsellor in 1692. In 1700 he re- 
 ceived the appointment of Associate Justice of the 
 Supreme Court of the Province, which he resigned in 
 1711. He died in 1712, at the age of sixty-eight. 
 The constancy and importance of his public employ- 
 ments indicate the confidence of his contemporaries 
 in his talents and virtues. He was subjected, like all 
 unsuccessful commanders, to the suspicion of miscon- 
 duct. But, although he solicited an investigation, none 
 was granted. Public opinion finally settled into a firm 
 conviction, that the causes of the failure were in- 
 
 * Hutch. Hist. Mass., Vol. I. p. 470.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 423 
 
 
 sufficiency of preparation, and ignorance of the diffi- CHAPTER 
 culty of the attempt, rather than want of courage and 
 talent in the commander. 
 
 Ephraim Flynt of Concord, by his last will, be- 
 
 queathed to the College one hundred pounds, Massa- 
 chusetts currency, the income to be applied for the 
 benefit of scholars, " who are studious, well disposed, 
 and need help."* He was the son of the Rev. Thomas 
 Flynt, of that place, was born in 1642, and died in 
 1723, at the age of eighty-one. Of the particulars 
 of his life nothing has been ascertained. 
 
 The Rev. Henry Gibbs, pastor of the church at Henry 
 
 J ' , r Gibbs. 
 
 Watertown, also gave, by his last will, dated on the 
 26th of December, 1722, one hundred pounds to the 
 College. He was born in 1668, was graduated at 
 Harvard in 1685, ordained at Watertown in 1697, 
 and died in 1723. He was regarded by his contem- 
 poraries among the eminent clergymen of the period ; 
 and he is ranked by Dr. Barnard among those, who 
 were " men of learning, pious, humble, prudent, faith- 
 ful, and useful, in their day."f 
 
 The Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, of Rowley, is entitled Ezekiel 
 
 * Rogers. 
 
 to remembrance, among the earliest benefactors of 
 Harvard College ; but his donation was contingent, 
 and the event on which it depended did not occur 
 until many years after his decease. His father, the 
 Rev. Richard Rogers^ was a distinguished Puritan 
 minister at Wethersfield, in Essex, England, at which 
 place Ezekiel Rogers was born in 1590. After being 
 graduated at Cambridge, he entered the family of 
 Sir Francis Barrington, as chaplain, and from his in- 
 
 * Donation Book, Vol. I. p. 243. 
 
 t Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. X. p. 170.
 
 424 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER -fluence obtained the benefice of Rowley, and became 
 
 IffY 
 
 ! eminent for his professional zeal and oratorical talents ; 
 
 but, soon rendering himself obnoxious, he was per- 
 secuted for his non-conformity, and emigrated with a 
 portion of his congregation to Massachusetts in 1638. 
 Here they purchased a tract of land from the towns 
 of Newbury and Ipswich, and gave the name of 
 Rowley, the place of their former residence in Eng- 
 land, to their new plantation. 
 
 In the early struggle between the magistrates and! 
 ministers for power and influence, Mr. Rogers joined 
 the party of the latter, and became obnoxious to 
 Winthrop and Dudley, by telling the people, that no 
 governor ought to be continued more than a year, 
 and by coinciding in the views of John Cotton, who 
 endeavoured to prove from Numbers xxvii. 21, and 
 other texts, that " the priesthood ought to be consulted 
 by the 'magistrates, not only before they went to war, 
 but in every thing appertaining to the affairs of the 
 Commonwealth." * 
 
 He is characterized by Johnson, in his " Wonder- 
 working Providence," as a "judicious and zealously 
 affected servant of the Lord " ; and his people, who 
 came with him, to the number of threescore families, 
 as " holy, humble, and industrious ; as being the first 
 who set up the making of cloth in this western world, 
 building a fulling-mill, and causing their little ones to 
 be very diligent in spinning cotton wool."f 
 
 He is represented by Cotton Mather, as " very ac- 
 ceptable " as a preacher, " exceedingly successful," 
 " marvellously profitable to the young," " being a tree 
 
 * Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, Vol. IX. p. 46. 
 t Ibid., Second Series, Vol. VII. p. 12.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 425 
 
 of knowledge, so laden with fruit, that he stooped for CHAPTER 
 
 XIX 
 
 the very children to pick off the apples, ready to drop - 
 into their mouths."* 
 
 In his old age Mr. Rogers entertained very melan- 
 choly anticipations concerning the degeneracy of the 
 times. " I tremble to think," he writes to his brother, 
 " what will become of the glorious work we have 
 begun, when the ancients shall be gathered unto their 
 fathers. I fear grace and blessing will die with them. 
 We grow worldly everywhere. Methinks I see little 
 godliness, but all in a hurry about the world ; every 
 one for himself, little care of the public good."f 
 
 Mr. Rogers was distinguished for his piety and 
 zeal. In the latter part of his life he was subjected 
 to great suffering, and died, after a lingering illness, 
 in January, 1661. His last will, dated in April, 
 1660, is an extraordinary document, and contains an 
 outline of his life and fortunes. Among the blessings 
 he enumerates as causes of thankfulness, are his being 
 " called to be a minister of the Gospel, the most 
 glorious calling in the world, in the time of the hottest 
 persecution of that bloody hierarchy, and that, being 
 enlightened concerning the evil and the snare of sub- 
 scriptions and ceremonies, I was mercifully prevented 
 from betaking myself, as I was advised, to the prac- 
 tice of physic ; which," he adds, " although it be a 
 good and necessary calling, I have observed that the 
 most, through their corruptions, have made to them- 
 selves the very temptations to covetousness." The 
 will then proceeds with a sketch of his life, until, 
 " being suspended for refusing to read that accursed 
 book, that allowed sports on God's holy Sabbath, I 
 
 * Magnalia, Book III. chap. 13. 9. f Ibid., 13. 
 
 VOL. i. 54
 
 426 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER was driven into New England, to seek that rest and 
 
 ! comfort in the way of the churches here, which I 
 
 believe to be, according to the present light that God 
 hath given, the purest in the whole world." 
 
 " Now," he continues, " age and infirmities calling 
 upon me to look daily for my change, I profess my- 
 self to have lived and to die an unfeigned hater of 
 all the base opinions of the Anabaptists and Antino- 
 mians, and of all other frantic dotages of the times 
 that spring from them. I do also protest against all 
 the evil fashions and devices of this age, both in 
 apparel and that general disguisement of long, rufrian- 
 like hair, a custom most generally taken up at that 
 time, when the grave and modest wearing of hair 
 was a part of the reproach of Christ, as appeared by 
 the term * round head,' and was carried on with a high 
 hand, notwithstanding its known offence to so many 
 godly persons." 
 
 After this preamble, and bequests to his wife and 
 other relatives and friends, he gives all his Latin and 
 some English books to Harvard College ; and to the 
 town of Rowley several large portions of his real 
 estate, upon condition, that they should maintain two 
 teaching elders in the church for ever ; and, if they failed 
 in providing themselves at any time within four years 
 after any vacancy, with two teaching elders, then " the 
 abovesaid housing and lands shall be to the use of 
 Harvard College." 
 
 After 1696 the church and town of Rowley con- 
 tinued more than four years without two teaching 
 elders, and the Corporation of the College took pos- 
 session of the lands, and after some trials at law 
 maintained their title. The property thus acquired 
 was sold in 1735, and the proceeds vested in an estate
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UN1VERS1T1. 427 
 
 in Waltham, which has recently been sold for five CHAPTER 
 
 XIX* 
 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 Of the transatlantic benefactors of the College at 
 this period, next to Thomas Hollis, the Rev. Thomas Thomas 
 Cotton of London was the most distinguished. His 
 gift, in 1724, of four hundred pounds sterling, trans- 
 mitted through the agency of Mr. Hollis to Mr. Col- 
 man, to be appropriated at his discretion,* for the 
 benefit of the College, has been already noticed. In 
 a letter dated on the 26th November, 1726,f his ap- 
 proval of the application of that donation is expressed. 
 In February, 1727, he added another gift of one hun- 
 dred pounds sterling, from himself and Bridget his 
 wife, directing its income to be appropriated to the 
 " augmentation of the President's salary for the time 
 being."! 
 
 The Rev. Thomas Cotton was born in 1653, at 
 Workley, a village in Yorkshire, England, and edu- 
 cated at the University of Edinburgh, from which he 
 received a degree of Master of Arts. After preaching 
 for a short time with great acceptance in Liverpool, 
 being prevented from farther exercising his talents in 
 the ministry by the persecution against non-conformists, 
 he passed several years in travelling through Europe. 
 On his return to England he had great offers made to 
 him, if he would join the national church. But, " upon 
 the maturest consideration, he chose to take his lot 
 with the Protestant Dissenters." 
 
 He soon after married a lady of good family, who 
 
 * See above, p. 402. 
 
 t Preserved among Judge Sewall's Papers. 
 
 I Receipt of Treasurer Hutchinson, among Judge Sewall's Papers.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER had lately come from New England, being the grand- 
 IX ' daughter of Lord Lisle, and the daughter of Leonard 
 
 o * o 
 
 Hoar, President of Harvard College. To this con- 
 nexion may be attributed the deep interest taken by 
 Mr. Cotton in the seminary, and to the harmony of 
 its catholic and liberal spirit with his own. 
 
 He was settled in London, and in 1709 he suf- 
 fered great pecuniary loss by a mob, excited by Dr. 
 Sacheverell's trial, for which he could obtain no re- 
 dress. Upon the revival of the disputes in the west 
 of England, in 1718, relating to the doctrine of the 
 Trinity, and the subsequent transactions which led to 
 the famous synod in Sailers' Hall, he became one of 
 the non-subscribing ministers, and received, on ac- 
 count of his liberality and Catholicism, very unkind 
 and censorious treatment. He strongly maintained 
 that great Protestant principle, the right of private 
 judgment, and was an enemy to all needless subscrip- 
 tions to human forms in matters of religion. When 
 some of the Dissenters used him ill on this account, 
 and discovered an intolerant disposition towards one 
 another, he used to say, " they had not seen the dra- 
 goonings and persecutions to make all of one way, in 
 France, as he had done," intimating, that, if they had, 
 they would be more candid towards each other. The 
 self-command, which he thus evinced, caused him lo 
 be respected and esteemed by those who continued 
 to differ from him He died in 1730, at the age of 
 seventy-seven.* 
 
 Hoiiis. At this period the name of Hollis stands preeminent 
 
 on the records of the College, for active endeavours lo 
 
 * Wilson's History of the Dissenting Churches, Vol. IV. p. 376.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 429 
 
 promote its prosperity, and an uninterrupted succession CHAPTER 
 of judicious benefactions. ' _ 
 
 The earliest donations of Thomas Hollis have been Thomas 
 already the subject of notice,* and other evidences of 
 his noble and faithful spirit, justly denominated " un- 
 paralleled and unceasing munificence,"! will be ad- 
 duced hereafter in connexion with the Hollis Profes- 
 sorship of Mathematics. But it is due to the number 
 and character of his benefactions, and to their happy 
 influence in exciting other individuals to like acts of 
 bounty, to relate such circumstances of his life, as are 
 not elsewhere recorded in this work. 
 
 Thomas Hollis, the father of our benefactor, was 
 born in the year 1634, and died in 1718, at the age 
 of eighty-four. In his social and religious affections, 
 and in the spirit which characterized his benevolence, 
 we see the archetype of those qualities which distin- 
 guished his son, " not delaying doing good till his 
 death," " not confining his charity to a party," " living 
 frugally, that he might have wherewith more exten- 
 sively to express his goodness," " in various methods 
 being publicly useful, by distributing books to en- 
 courage religion and virtue, by promoting schools for 
 the instruction of the poor, by erecting and found- 
 ing two churches, an almshouse, and two schools, con- 
 tributing liberally to their maintenance during life, and 
 bequeathing for their encouragement at his death." 
 Such is the character of his virtues drawn by a con- 
 temporary.:!: His son caught and wore the paternal 
 mantle with a ready and enduring spirit. The bene- 
 
 * See above, pp. 186, 230. 
 
 t Treasurer White's Letter to President Leverett, June 10th, 1721. 
 ^ The Rev. Jeremiah Hunt's Sermon occasioned by the Death of 
 Thomas Hollis, p. 33. London, 1718.
 
 430 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER factions of Thomas Hollis to Harvard College, coin- 
 
 XIX 
 
 menced the year succeeding his father's death. Being 
 then about sixty years of age, he had quitted business, 
 and lived in the vicinity of London in retirement, 
 frugally but hospitably. Regarding himself as an 
 almoner of Providence, and his wealth as a trust, 
 he constantly sought objects of just and useful chari- 
 ties. His appointment as trustee of the legacy of 
 Robert Thorner to Harvard College,* first turned 
 his thoughts to this institution ; and, once fixed, 
 they were never afterwards withdrawn. The interest 
 he took in its prosperity was general, constant, and 
 unwavering. Scarcely a ship sailed from London, 
 during the last ten years of his life, without bearing 
 some evidence of his affection and liberality. Jn 
 addition to his greater bounties, he was in the practice 
 of transmitting, almost every year, trunks of books, 
 generally well selected and valuable, with directions 
 to his correspondent, Dr. Colman, " to examine them, 
 take out for the College such as its library had not 
 already, and to give the rest to specified individuals, 
 or to such young ministers, who may need and make 
 a good use of them. " f His zeal for the increase of 
 the College library was intense. He contributed to 
 it liberally himself, and was urgent in soliciting his 
 friends for their assistance. Through his instru- 
 mentality the College received donations of books 
 from Isaac Watts, Daniel Neal, William Harris, 
 John Hollis, and others. He first suggested to the 
 Corporation the want of a catalogue, which, he writes,! 
 if he possessed, he should be able materially to serve 
 
 * See above, p. 231. f Letter, January 14th, 1721 
 
 J February 2d, and September 1st, 1722.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 431 
 
 the College, since many were deterred from send- CHAPTER 
 
 XIX. 
 
 ing books, through fear that they might be already 
 
 in the library. The Corporation immediately ordered 
 a catalogue to be prepared, and, when it was com- 
 pleted, sent eight dozen copies to Hollis for distribu- 
 tion, who, in a postscript to a letter acknowledging 
 the receipt, gives the names of the persons to whom 
 they had been sent. Finding, on perusing the cata- 
 logue, that " numbers of useful books fitting for 
 such a library were wanting," he proposed to the 
 Company for the Propagation of the Gospel in New 
 England, of which he was a member, to apply a 
 hundred pounds sterling for the " valuable purpose of 
 supplying those books." " I have read over the char- 
 ter," he said to that society, " and I think you may. 
 You send books to the Indians, you pay masters and 
 ministers to instruct them, you send out orders to seek 
 out Indian youth fitting to send to College at the Cor- 
 poration's expense. I argue, How shall youth be in- 
 structed, if such books as are necessary are wanting 
 in the library?"* This proposition was not success- 
 ful. And it appears by a subsequent letter, that he 
 adopted a course which others could not obstruct. " I 
 forward you," he writes, " about a hundred pounds 
 sterling, in books, for your library ; there is room to 
 lay out five hundred pounds sterling more, to furnish 
 it well for a public library. "f 
 
 About this time he calls for additional catalogues 
 of the College library, that " I may know what you 
 most want ; " and adds, " If some of your New 
 England merchants had the good of your College at 
 heart, you might have a great number of books sent 
 
 * Letter, May 16th, 1724. f Letter, August 1st, 1724.
 
 432 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER to you in a little time." By this letter it appears, 
 
 that the spirit of misrepresenting the state of the 
 
 pecuniary resources of the College, was of an earlier 
 origin than our own times ; for he writes, " A person in 
 my neighbourhood has discouraged one I expected a 
 present from, by telling him how rich and flourishing 
 you are, to buy books yourselves, if you want them. 
 I have been discoursing the great bookseller, Mr. Guy, 
 for some valuable books, and to settle a Professor of 
 Mathematics among you, which I also discoursed him 
 upon, with some expectation ; but he died after a short 
 indisposition, and that motion is sunk."* 
 
 His zeal and friendship was not limited to contrib- 
 uting himself, and soliciting donations for the library 
 from others. They extended to its care and manage- 
 ment. In June, 1725, he thus writes to Colman ; 
 " Your library is reckoned here to be ill managed, 
 by the account I have of some that know it. You 
 want seats to sit and read, and chairs to your valuable 
 books, like our Bodleian Library, or Sion College, in 
 London. You know their methods, which are ap- 
 proved, but do not imitate them. You let your books 
 be taken at pleasure, to men's houses, and many are 
 lost ; your boyish students take them to their cham- 
 bers, and tear out pictures and maps to adorn their 
 walls. Such things are not good. If you want room 
 for modern books, it is easy to remove the less useful 
 into a more remote place, but not to sell any ; they are 
 devoted. Your goodness will excuse me, if I hint to 
 you what I think faulty, if you are convinced my hints 
 are just. Your own prudence will rectify what is 
 amiss as far as you can." 
 
 * Letter, January 6th, 1725.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 433 
 
 XIX. 
 
 The views of Hollis concerning the nature of the CHAPTER 
 
 vr-v 
 
 works were as wise and liberal as was the spirit in 
 which he bestowed them. The Corporation had writ- 
 ten to him " about exchanging Bayle's French Dic- 
 tionary for an English one." " That set of books," he 
 replies, " are very valuable. It is very easy for one 
 versed in Latin to read French. Our students, in 
 London, who sincerely endeavour after knowledge, 
 easily attain to read French. However, upon your 
 notice, I may discourage any more French books by my 
 hand, though I should think such ought to be esteemed 
 in a public library. Mr. Hunt tells me, that Bayle's 
 Dictionary in French is worth two in English. He 
 blames me for sending Montfaucon's Antiquities in 
 English ; he would have had the French sent you. 
 But, according to your remark upon Bayle, I perceive 
 you like what you have best, as it is in English." * 
 
 In the same spirit, writing of his " expectation of 
 sending out another parcel of books," he adds, " If 
 there happen to be some books not quite orthodox, 
 in search after truth with an honest design, don't be 
 afraid of them. A public library ought to be fur- 
 nished, if it can, with con as well as pro, that stu- 
 dents may read, try, judge ; see for themselves, and 
 believe upon argument and just reasonings of the 
 Scriptures. ' Thus saith Aristotle,' ' Thus saith Cal- 
 vin,' will not now pass for proof in our London dis- 
 putations." 
 
 Hollis took an affectionate interest in whatever 
 affected the College or the Province. In consequence 
 of the uncertain foundations of the charter, frequent 
 suggestions were made during the administration of 
 
 * Letter, January 6th, 1724. 
 
 VOL. i. 55
 
 434 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
 
 CHAPTER Leverett concerning applying, in behalf of the College, 
 to the crown for a charter. Among others the opinion 
 of Hollis was asked concerning its expediency. He 
 replied ; " I am not capable of advising you about 
 the success of a new charter. If you resolve to at- 
 tempt it, your Governor Shute and Mr. Barrington, his 
 brother, can best advise you in it. But this I believe, 
 if you come over, there will be needful a long purse 
 and a large degree of patience."* 
 
 The importance of a learned ministry was not, at 
 that period, generally recognised by the Baptist Church; 
 and the fairness of Mr. Hollis's mind is evinced by 
 the freedom with which he acknowledges the de- 
 ficiency, in this respect, of those of his persuasion, and 
 his anxiety that their wants should be supplied. It is 
 also highly honorable to him, as it shows that he was 
 in advance of those with whom he was united in faith. 
 In January, 1721, he thus writes concerning the son 
 of a Baptist, who had been recommended for educa- 
 tion at Harvard College. " It is a pleasure to me, 
 because so rare in England or elsewhere, Baptists 
 devoting their children to the ministry and qualifying 
 them for it, by training them up in arts and sciences. 
 I would encourage it as a method to correct mean and 
 ignorant explications and applications of Scripture, 
 attended with a little enthusiasm too often, which 
 narrows that catholic charity among all Christians, 
 recommended by the apostles of our Lord Jesus." 
 
 In the same spirit he writes in a subsequent letter, 
 " 1 should rejoice to see or hear your College was well 
 furnished with Professors in every science, over and 
 above your resident Fellows or Tutors, that young 
 
 Letter, August 18th, 1722.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 435 
 
 xrx. 
 
 students might be completely instructed in the minis- CHAPTER 
 try, and our ministers at London encourage the send- 
 ing such like youth so designed, to Harvard College, 
 instead of Leyden or Utrecht, our present practice, 
 which would bring some money or money worth into 
 New England, and perhaps, notwithstanding the 
 charge of the voyage, would be as easy an expense 
 as they are now at in Holland. 
 
 " I have given some intimations to the Baptist 
 churches in Pennsylvania and the Jerseys of my design 
 in your College for promoting learning. They have 
 many churches and preachers among them, by the 
 accounts sent me ; but I find not one preacher among 
 them that understands the languages. If any from 
 those parts should now, or hereafter, make application 
 to your College, I beseech the College to show kind- 
 ness to such, and stretch their charity a little. It is 
 what I wish the Baptists would do, though I have no 
 great expectation ; as what I think would be for the 
 advantage of the Christian faith, especially while there 
 are so many Quakers among them." 
 
 The interest Hollis took in Harvard College led 
 him to watch with attention the political relations of 
 the Province and Great Britain, and to keep his cor- 
 respondent, Colman, informed of the prevalent opinion 
 in the parent State in respect of the conduct of the 
 Colony. Governor Shute, tired and indignant at the 
 nature and violence of the opposition made to his 
 administration by the House of Representatives of 
 the Province, had suddenly and secretly sailed * for 
 England, to carry his complaints personally to the foot 
 of the throne. He was followed immediately by 
 
 * Sec above, p. 307.
 
 436 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER Elisha Cooke, the leader of the popular party, who 
 
 XIX. 
 
 was sent out by the legislature as agent of the Pro- 
 vince to counteract the representations of Governor 
 Shute. 
 
 Hollis entertained very favorable views of the char- 
 acter of Shute, whom he represents as faithful in his 
 endeavours to serve New England, and as willing to 
 return, if he can do it with honor, and be suitably 
 maintained in his government.* He laments the party 
 divisions, which then distracted the councils of Massa- 
 chusetts, and which he deprecates, as driving the Pro- 
 vince into the hands of men, " whose resentments will 
 be found cruel." " You have enemies," he adds, " in 
 London and at court, who greatly aggravate your 
 faults, and would rejoice in the ruin of your civil and 
 religious liberties, and who say, that some of your 
 actions are high treason. "f "Boston is represented 
 as though in actual rebellion, and some speak of send- 
 ing over regular troops to keep you in subjection. "J 
 His statements concerning the feeling towards the 
 Province, among certain parties in Great Britain, 
 are supported by the complete triumph of Shute, on 
 the hearing of his memorial before the Lords of the 
 Committee of the Privy Council, who, after applaud- 
 ing his zeal and probity, declared that he had made 
 good his charge against the House of Representatives, 
 of " invading and encroaching on your Majesty's pre- 
 rogative," and intimated that, if the explanatory char- 
 ter of the Province, which they recommended, should 
 not be accepted by the House of Representatives, "fur- 
 ther provision may be necessary to support and preserve 
 
 * Letter, May 10th, 1723. f September 5th, 1723. 
 
 J July, 1724.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 437 
 
 your Majesty's just authority in that Province, and CHAPTER 
 to prevent such presumptuous invasion for the future"* - '. 
 
 Hollis, who regarded the power of the crown with 
 the loyalty of an Englishman, and New England 
 with the affection of a friend, urges upon his cor- 
 respondents to promote submission, the disannulling 
 of all offensive acts, asking pardon of the King, and 
 promising more regular proceedings in future, as the 
 only mode of preserving the provincial charter. 
 
 The advice was not suited to the temper of those 
 whom it was intended to influence, or to the state 
 of the times. His letters to Mr. Colman are honor- 
 able and continuous testimonies to the action of a 
 generous mind, excited solely by a desire to do good. 
 The disinterested zeal, the earnest, active, and un- 
 deviating affection, exhibited by Thomas Hollis for 
 the service of the College, justly render his name dear 
 to the sons of Harvard, and entitle him for ever to 
 their grateful remembrance. 
 
 John Hollis made several donations to the College, John 
 
 Hollis. 
 
 and, in the year 1724, contributed sixty-rive pounds 
 sterling, in books, for the library. He was an active 
 and successful merchant in London, the brother and 
 partner in business of Thomas Hollis. Both were 
 actuated by a kindred spirit of benevolence, but the 
 munificence of John Hollis was controlled by consider- 
 ations of duty to a family of eight children. 
 
 Nathaniel Hollis, the youngest of these three bro- Nathaniel 
 thers, although possessed of an inferior estate, also 
 extended a vigorous hand in aid of Harvard College. 
 He transmitted, in 1733, three hundred and fifty 
 
 * See the Report of the Lords' Committee upon Governor Shute's 
 Memorial, June 1st, 1725.
 
 438 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER pounds sterling, for the establishment of two scholar- 
 
 XIX. 
 
 - ships in the College, to be subjected to the general 
 
 rules and provisions established by his elder brother, 
 
 Thomas Hollis, for the ten scholarships he founded. 
 
 Thomas Thomas Hollis, the son of Nathaniel Hollis, was the 
 
 Holhs. 
 
 favorite of the great benefactor of Harvard College, 
 whose name he bore, and became, in 1731, the heir 
 of his whole estate. He survived his uncle only four 
 years ; but during that short period he diligently fol- 
 lowed his example, and in 1732 accompanied his 
 father's donation of three hundred and fifty pounds, 
 with a gift from himself, of seven hundred pounds, 
 with orders to have it " placed out on good security, 
 and that twenty pounds be added to the salaries of 
 each of the two Professors on my uncle's foundation 
 for ever, towards their more comfortable subsistence."* 
 By this noble benefaction the Corporation were en- 
 abled to raise the salaries of the Hollis professorships 
 from eighty pounds, as established by the founder, 
 to one hundred pounds per annum. f This donation 
 was not the only evidence given by Thomas Hollis, 
 of inheriting, with the estate of his uncle, his liberal 
 disposition and affection for the College. In July, 
 1732, he transmitted "a sphere, a newly-invented 
 machine, called an Orrery, and a double microscope ; " 
 and in 1733 he made a donation to the library, of a 
 valuable collection of books. This gift closed the 
 bounties of two generations of the Hollis family to 
 Harvard College. The total amount of their munifi- 
 cence exceeded six thousand pounds currency of Mas- 
 sachusetts, which, considering the value of money at 
 that period, and the disinterested spirit by which 
 
 * Hollis's Book, p. 26. f Memoirs of Thomas Brand Hollis.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 439 
 
 their charities were prompted, constitutes one of the CHAPTER 
 
 most remarkable instances of continued benevolence '. 
 
 upon record. Thomas Hollis died in 1735, his father 
 in 1738, and their fortunes concentrated upon his 
 son, who bore his name. The bounties of the other 
 branches of the Hollis family will be mentioned in 
 connexion with the succeeding period of the history 
 of the College. 
 
 The Diaries of Leverett and Wadsworth, and the 
 records of the Corporation and of the College* Faculty, 
 contain many, though incomplete accounts of the re- 
 quired exercises, studies, discipline, and customs of 
 the College at this period. 
 
 Previous to the accession of Leverett to the presi- 
 dency, the practice of obliging the undergraduates to 
 read portions of the Scriptures from Latin or English 
 into Greek, at morning and evening service, had been 
 discontinued. But in January and May, 1708, this 
 " ancient and laudable practice was revived " by the 
 Corporation.* At morning prayers all the undergrad- 
 uates were ordered, beginning with the youngest, to 
 read a verse out of the Old Testament from the 
 Hebrew into Greek, except the Freshmen, who were 
 permitted to use their English Bibles in this exer- 
 cise ; and, at evening service, to read from the New 
 Testament out of the English or Latin translation 
 into Greek, whenever the President performed this 
 service in the Hall.f 
 
 Early in the presidency of Wadsworth this exercise 
 was again discontinued, and ordered to be performed by 
 the classes at the chambers of their respective tutors. 
 
 * Leverett's Diary, pp. 12, 13. 
 
 t Neal's History of New England, Vol. I. p. 203.
 
 440 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 XtX. 
 
 CHAPTER The morning service began with a short prayer ; 
 then a chapter of the Old Testament was read, which 
 the President expounded, and concluded with prayer. 
 The evening service was the same, except that the 
 chapter read was from the New Testament, and on 
 Saturday a psalm was sung in the Hall. On Sunday 
 exposition was omitted ; a psalm was sung morning 
 and evening ; and one of the scholars, in course, was 
 called upon to repeat, in the evening, the sermons 
 preached on that day. On the Sabbath, public wor- 
 ship was attended in the parish church, where the 
 undergraduates occupied the front gallery ; and none 
 were excused on account of difference in religious 
 sentiment. 
 
 President Wadsworth in his Diary states, that he 
 expounded the Scriptures, once eleven, and sometimes 
 eight or nine times, in the course of a week. The 
 President's duty embraced these exercises, general in- 
 spection of the conduct and morals of the students, 
 presiding at the meetings of the Corporation and im- 
 mediate government, recording their proceedings, and 
 attending the meetings of the Overseers. He was 
 occasionally present at the weekly declamations and 
 public disputations, and then acted as moderator ; an 
 office, which, in his absence, was filled by one of the 
 Tutors. 
 
 The College course occupied four years, and the 
 undergraduates were divided and distinguished as at 
 present, into four classes, Senior Sophisters, Junior 
 Sophisters, Sophomores, and Freshmen. The Fresh- 
 man class were servitors to the whole College out of 
 study hours, to go on errands. Every student, on 
 admission, was required to copy out and subscribe 
 the College laws.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 441 
 
 The regular exercises are thus stated in an official CHAPTER 
 
 XIX 
 
 report, made in 1726, by Tutors Flynt, Welsteed, 
 and Prince. 
 
 " 1. While the students are Freshmen, they com- 
 monly recite the Grammars, and with them a recita- 
 tion in Tully, Virgil, and the Greek Testament, on 
 Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, in 
 the morning and forenoon ; on Friday morning Du- 
 gard's or Farnaby's Rhetoric, and on Saturday morn- 
 ing the Greek Catechism ; and, towards the latter 
 end of the year, they dispute on Ramus's Definitions, 
 Mondays and Tuesdays in the forenoon. 
 
 " 2. The Sophomores recite Burgersdicius's Logic, 
 and a manuscript called New Logic, in the mornings 
 and forenoons ; and towards the latter end of the year 
 Heereboord's Meletemata, and dispute Mondays and 
 Tuesdays in the forenoon, continuing also to recite 
 the classic authors, with Logic and Natural Phi- 
 losophy ; on Saturday mornings they recite Wollebius's 
 Divinity. 
 
 " 3. The Junior Sophisters recite Heereboord's 
 Meletemata, Mr. Morton's Physics, More's Ethics, 
 Geography, Metaphysics, in the mornings and fore- 
 noons ; Wollebius on Saturday morning ; and dispute 
 Mondays and Tuesdays in the forenoons. 
 
 " 4. The Senior Sophisters, besides Arithmetic, re- 
 cite Allsted's Geometry, Gassendus's Astronomy, in 
 the morning ; go over the Arts towards the latter end 
 of the year, Ames's Medulla on Saturdays, and dispute 
 once a week."* 
 
 By a vote of the Overseers, " all who had actually 
 studies at College and resided there, were ordered to 
 
 * Wadsworth's Diary, p. 27. 
 
 VOL. i. 56
 
 442 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER be in commons, except waiters, transient preachers. 
 
 XIX 
 
 and such whose bodily infirmities the President and 
 
 major part of the Tutors should think would not admit 
 of it."* The Tutors were also required to attend 
 " in the Hall at meal times, to prevent disorders." 
 
 All the students, except the freshmen, were obliged 
 to attend, four days in the week, the exercises of Ju- 
 dah Monis, a converted Jew, who was instructor in 
 Hebrew, unless specially exempted. Every student 
 was to have a Hebrew Bible or Psalter, and a Hebrew 
 Lexicon, and the prescribed exercises were as follows; 
 " One exercise in a week shall be the writing the 
 
 o 
 
 Hebrew and Rabbinical, the rest shall be in this grad- 
 ual method. 1. Copying the grammar and reading. 
 2. Reciting it and reading. 3. Construing. 4. Pars- 
 ing. 5. Translating. 6. Composing. 7. Reading 
 without points, "f 
 
 The discipline of the College was enforced and sanc- 
 tioned by daily visits of the Tutors to the chambers 
 of the students, fines, admonition, confession in the 
 Hall, publicly asking pardon, degradation to the bottom 
 of the class, striking the name from the College lists, 
 and expulsion, according to the nature and aggravation 
 of the offence. The manner in which this last pun- 
 ishment was inflicted is thus minutely stated by Presi- 
 dent Leverett. t " In the College Hall the President, 
 after morning prayers, the Fellows, Masters of Art, 
 and the several classes of undergraduates being pres- 
 ent, after a full opening of the crimes of the delin- 
 quents, a pathetic admonition of them, and solemn 
 obtestation and caution to the scholars, pronounced 
 
 * Wadsworth's Diary, p. 21. f Leverett's Diary, p. 226. 
 
 t Diary, p. 96.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 443 
 
 XIX. 
 
 the sentence of expulsion, ordered their names to be CHAPTER 
 rent off the tables, and them to depart the HalJ." 
 
 Mr. Flynt, in his commonplace-book, thus re- 
 cords an instance of College punishment for stealing 
 poultry. 
 
 " Nov. 4th, 1717. Three scholars were publicly 
 admonished for thievery, and one degraded below five 
 in his class, because he had been before publicly ad- 
 monished for card-playing. They were ordered by 
 the President into the middle of the Hall (while two 
 others, concealers of the theft, were ordered to stand 
 up in their places, and spoken to there). The crime 
 they were charged with was first declared, and then 
 laid open as against the law of God and the House, 
 and they were admonished to consider the nature and 
 tendency of it, with its aggravations ; and all, with 
 them, were warned to take heed and regulate them- 
 selves, so that they might not be in danger of so doing 
 for the future ; and those, who consented to the theft, 
 were admonished to beware, lest God tear them in 
 pieces according to the text. They were then fined, 
 and ordered to make restitution twofold for each theft." 
 
 The Diary of President Leverett, of the 20th of 
 March, 1714, contains an interesting account of the 
 effects of the College discipline upon a student be- 
 longing to one of the native tribes, which deserves to 
 be recorded as a tribute to his character. Larnel, 
 an Indian student belonging to the Junior Sophis- 
 ter class, had been guilty of some offence, for which 
 he had been dismissed from the College. " He re- 
 mained," says President Leverett, " a considerable 
 time at Boston, in a state of penance. He presented 
 his confession to Mr. Pemberton, who thereupon be- 
 came his intercessor, and in his letter to the President
 
 444 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER expresses himself thus ; * This comes by Larnel, who 
 
 ! brings a confession as good as Austin's, and I am 
 
 charitably disposed to hope it flows from a like spirit 
 of penitence.' In the public reading of his confession, 
 the flowing of his passions were extraordinarily timed, 
 and his expressions accented, and most peculiarly and 
 emphatically those of the grace of God to him ; which 
 indeed did give a peculiar grace to the performance 
 itself, and raised, I believe, a charity in some, that had 
 very little I am sure, and ratified wonderfully that which 
 I had conceived of him. Having made his public con- 
 fession, he was restored to his standing in the Col- 
 lege." * 
 
 On the 22d of the ensuing July, Larnel died, and 
 was buried in Boston. " He was," says Leverett, 
 " about twenty years old, an acute grammarian, an 
 extraordinary Latin poet, and a good Greek one."f 
 
 It was the custom, during the presidency of Wads- 
 worth, on Commencement day, for the Governor of 
 the Province to come from Boston through Roxbury, 
 often by the way of Watertown, attended by his 
 body guards, and to arrive at the College about ten 
 or eleven o'clock in the morning. A procession was 
 then formed of the Corporation, Overseers, magis- 
 trates, ministers, and invited gentlemen, and imme- 
 diately moved from Harvard Hall to the Congregational 
 church. The exercises of the day began with a short 
 prayer by the President ; a salutatory oration in Latin, 
 by one of tjie graduating class, succeeded ; then dis- 
 putations on theses or questions in Logic, Ethics, 
 and Natural Philosophy commenced. These were 
 generally three, and were printed, and distributed on 
 
 Leverett's Diary, p. 88. f Ibid., p. 89.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 445 
 
 Commencement day. Each question was maintained CHAPTER 
 
 XIX. 
 
 and defended by a respondent, and every member of 
 the graduating class, the respondents and orators alone 
 excepted, was obliged to adduce publicly at least 
 one opposing argument. When the disputation ter- 
 minated, one of the candidates pronounced a Latin 
 " gratulatory oration." The graduating class were 
 then called, and, after asking leave of the Governor 
 and Overseers, the President conferred the Bachelors' 
 degree, by delivering a book to the candidates (who 
 came forward successively in parties of four), and pro- 
 nouncing a form of words in Latin. An adjournment 
 then took place to dinner, in Harvard Hall ; from 
 thence the procession returned to the church, and, 
 after the Masters' disputations, usually three in num- 
 ber, were finished, their degrees were conferred, with 
 the same general forms as those of the Bachelors. 
 An occasional address was then made by the President. 
 A Latin valedictory oration by one of the Masters 
 succeeded, and the exercises concluded with a prayer 
 by the President. The students then escorted the 
 Governor, Corporation, and Overseers, in procession, 
 to the President's house, and thus closed the cere- 
 monies of the day. 
 
 In July, 1728, when William Burnett arrived as 
 Governor of Massachusetts, he was " waited upon by 
 the Corporation, to salute him, wish him assistance 
 and prosperity in his government, to ask his smiles on 
 the College, and the honor of waiting upon him 
 there." On the 21st of August ensuing he accord- 
 ingly visited the College, accompanied from Boston by 
 two members of the Corporation ; and, being met by 
 two others, the Professors and Tutors, and Masters 
 of Arts, a mile from the College, he was received by
 
 446 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 CHAPTER the President and the two remaining members of the 
 
 ' Corporation at the library. The Governor was there 
 
 addressed in Latin by a Senior Bachelor, and made 
 a short answer in the same language ; and, after 
 having gone to Tutor Flynt's chamber and " the 
 Mathematical Professor's, where he saw an experi- 
 ment," he dined, with about fifty other guests, in the 
 library, with the President and Fellows. 
 
 The visit of Governor Belcher to the College ap- 
 pears, according to its records, to have been attended 
 with like ceremonies. He was, on the 9th of Sep- 
 tember, 1730, escorted to Cambridge by " a military 
 troop, then waited on by two companies of foot." 
 When he arrived at the College, after " having been 
 awhile at Mr. Flynt's chamber, the bell tolled, and the 
 scholars assembled in the Hall, into which the Gov- 
 ernor and Corporation having entered, Mr. Hobby 
 made a Latin oration, and his Excellency made a 
 very handsome answer in Latin. This done, and his 
 Excellency the Governor, his Majesty's Council, the 
 Tutors, Professors, and sundry gentlemen, who came 
 on the occasion, dined together in the library, with the 
 Corporation." 
 
 These forms and ceremonies of the last, and of the 
 preceding age, are interesting as characteristic of the 
 customs and manners of Massachusetts under the Co- 
 lonial and Provincial governments.
 
 APPENDIX.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. See pp. 11, 188. 
 
 EARLY RECORDS OF THE COLLEGE. HARVARD'S LEGACY. 
 
 THE ancient records of the College are defective, and leave APPENDIX, 
 in obscurity points of its early history, on which questions have No ' r * 
 arisen. Some account of those records, and of their present state, Earl y rec - 
 
 ords of the 
 
 may properly be given here ; to which will be added such portions College, 
 of their contents as have been the occasion of doubts, and such 
 contemporaneous evidence as may enable the friends of the College 
 to form for themselves a judgment concerning them. 
 
 The early records of the College, which embrace the occur- 
 rences of the first century after its foundation, are contained in 
 three books, denominated College Books, Nos. I., III., and IV. 
 There is none extant denominated No. II. ; but that which is now 
 called No. I., and by President Wadsworth is referred to as such, 
 is sometimes in later College Books referred to as No. II. 
 
 College Book, No. I., is a collection of old accounts, records, 
 and papers. One of its earliest entries is in the handwriting of 
 President Hoar, and has the signature L. H., whence it has been 
 conjectured, that this book was collected and bound together in 
 his time, or about 1673. Its earliest pages contain only old accounts 
 of repairs and expenditures on College chambers and studies, of 
 the date of 1640 and 1644. 
 
 On the 23d page of this collection a double paging commences, 
 showing, unquestionably, that page 23 was page 1 of a more ancient 
 book. This page contains an account of " the studies in Harvard 
 College, with their incomes and quarterly rents." The 25th, or 
 3d page of the ancient book, contains that record of a " meeting 
 of the Governors of Harvard College," of a part of which there is 
 a fac-simile opposite to the 48th page of this volume. 
 
 Page 28th, anciently the 5th, contains the account of the re- 
 
 VOL. i. 57
 
 450 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, ceipts and expenditures of Samuel Shepard, who succeeded Na- 
 NO. i. thaniel Eaton as superintendent of the building then erecting for 
 
 Early rec- the College, 
 ores of the 
 
 College. In page 33d, anciently the 9th, the account of Tyng, the Treas- 
 
 urer of the country in 1644, with Harvard College, is also preserved. 
 
 The residue of the book contains the early laws, orders, forms 
 of admission, records of gifts, deeds, proceedings of the Corpora- 
 tion, and a few proceedings of the Overseers. All these are un- 
 questionably original records, as indicated by the variety and nature 
 of the handwriting. 
 
 The last regular entry in this book is in the handwriting of 
 President Mather, and is dated July 8th, 1686. 
 
 At this period the College Book, No. IV., being opened, No. 1. 
 ceased to record the proceedings of the Corporation. On its blank 
 leaves had been inserted, in early times, a list of the books given to 
 the College by John Harvard, John Winthrop, and Sir Kenelm 
 Digby, and in later times were added, a copy of the code of Col- 
 lege laws, passed in 1735, and a catalogue of the names of the 
 graduates from 1642 to 1795. This catalogue is thus prefaced in 
 the handwriting of President Wadsworth. 
 
 " Nomina Graduatorum. Having observed that the names of 
 the graduates in Harvard College are not recorded in any of the 
 College Books, I thought such an omission ought not to be con- 
 tinued. Therefore I (Benjamin Wadsworth, President) think meet 
 now, January 23d, 1733-4, to insert in this College Book the 
 following catalogue of graduates, printed An. Dom. 1733." 
 
 His example was followed by his successors until 1795. It ap- 
 pears conclusively from this entry, that nearly one hundred years 
 had elapsed before any catalogue of graduates was entered in the 
 College Books. 
 
 College Book, No. III., is a compilation, consisting chiefly of ex 
 tracts from College Book, No. I., with some additions. It was 
 probably made by Thomas Danforth, who resided in Cambridge, and 
 was Treasurer of the College from 1650 to 1669, when John Rich- 
 ards was appointed to that office. Danforth then took, by desire of 
 the Overseers, the office of " Steward and Inspector of the eco- 
 nomical affairs" of the College, which he held until April, 1682, 
 when Richards sailed for Europe. He then had " all the accounts 
 and papers concerning the College" placed in his hands. These 
 he held until January, 1683. Until this date, Book No. III. is 
 apparently all in his handwriting, with the exception of some
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 451 
 
 marginal insertions in the handwriting of John Leverett, then tutor, APPENDIX, 
 afterwards President, in which all entries subsequent to this date ' 
 appear. Ear] y rec - 
 
 ordsofthe 
 
 This book has therefore no claim to the character of an original College. 
 record. It commences with a statement of the vote of the General 
 Court in 1636, granting four hundred pounds for the building of 
 the College, of which the account is short and general. Con- 
 cerning Harvard's legacies its statement is as follows, in p. 1. 
 
 " The Rev. Mr. John Harvard, sometime minister of God's word 
 at Charlestown, by his last will and testament, gave towards the 
 erecting the abovesaid School or College, the one moiety or half 
 part of his estate, the said moiety amounting to the sum of seven 
 hundred and twenty-nine pounds, seventeen shillings, and two pence." 
 
 This book then narrates, historically, other donations. It also 
 contains the accounts, at large, of Eaton and Dunster, and of the 
 other Treasurers antecedent to 1693, but omits those of Shepard 
 and Tyng. Its regular entries terminate, like those in No. I., with a 
 record of the meeting of the Corporation, dated the 8th of July, 1686. 
 
 This book was superseded by College Book, No. IV., after, the 
 above date. Its blank leaves were subsequently made the recep- 
 tacle of forms of diplomas, copies of deeds, and plans of land be- 
 longing to the College. 
 
 College Book, No. IV., commences with the record of " a meeting 
 of the Honorable President and Council, at Cambridge, July 23d, 
 1686." This occurred during the short administration of Joseph Dud- 
 ley. The entries are few antecedent to the charter of the College 
 granted by the first legislature under the Provincial charter of 
 William and Mary. The last of these entries is dated, " Boston, 
 24th of December, 1691." When the College charter of 1692 
 was about to be carried into effect, this book, No. IV., was reversed, 
 without changing its denomination, and that charter was inserted 
 at length in the first, formerly the last, page, and the first meeting 
 under it was recorded July 26th, 1692. From this time the records 
 of the Corporation are preserved in this volume, with occasional 
 interruptions, until January, 1708 ; and after this date they were 
 kept in it by President Leverett, with great care and accuracy, 
 until his death ; and subsequently by the successive Presidents, in 
 their own handwriting, until September, 1750, when this volume 
 closes. 
 
 The preceding are all the books that have any claim to the
 
 452 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, character of " early records " of the College. There is a book 
 
 No ' L of recent origin, denominated " Donation Book," which contains 
 
 Early rec- an account of grants, donations, and bequests, to Harvard College 
 
 ords of the 
 
 College. from the foundation of that society to the year 1773," to which a 
 second volume has been added, of donations since that period. This 
 is a mere abstract of Books No. I. and No. III., with a few addi- 
 tions, and is stated to be " collected by order of the Corporation." 
 
 In Books No. I. and No. III., are contained the accounts of 
 Nathaniel Eaton, Samuel Shepard, and Henry Dunster, the three 
 individuals who acted as agents for the building of the first College, 
 and received and disbursed all its moneys; and also the account of 
 Tyng, the Treasurer of the country, with the College as stated in 
 1644. From these accounts is derived all that at this day is known 
 officially of the receipts and expenditures of the College during the 
 first eighteen years of its existence, from 1636 to 1654. As they 
 are few, are illustrative of the period, and have been the occasion 
 of doubts concerning the accuracy of some statements relating 
 to the College, made in popular and general histories, it has been 
 deemed proper to insert them here at length, as they stand in 
 the abovementioned records. 
 
 The account of Eaton's agency is thus stated in College Book, 
 No. III., p. 2. 
 
 " Mr. Nathaniel Eaton was chosen Professor of the said school in 
 the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-seven, to whose care 
 the management of the donations before mentioned were intrusted, 
 for the erecting of such edifices as were meet and necessary for a 
 College, and for his own lodgings ; an account of his management 
 whereof is as followeth. 
 
 " Mr. Nathaniel Eaton's Account under his own hand. 
 
 . s. d. 
 Imprimis. The frame in the College yard, and digging the 
 
 cellar, carriage, and setting up, . . 120 00 
 Item. Fencing the yard with pales, 6i feet high, . 30 00 
 " To the mason, Thomas King, for chimneys, . 6 00 
 " To the smith, paid for iron casements, . . 2 00 
 " Part of the frame for an outhouse, . . . 5 00 
 " Felling, squaring, and loading lumber, to be added, 4 00 
 " Loading stone and clay for the underpinning, . 1 10 
 " For thirty apple trees, and setting them, . . 6 00 
 " For bricks provided and laid in place, . . 3 10 
 " Paid by me to the carpenter for additions to be made 
 to the frame already raised, besides the 20 re- 
 ceived by virtue of a note from yourself to Mr. Allen, 108 00
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 453 
 
 Item. In part payment for lime to be burnt for the College, 1 00 APPENDIX, 
 
 " Unloading the lumber prepared for the addition, . 3 10 
 
 For 250 cedar boards, with the carriage of them, 10 10 Early rec- 
 
 ords of the 
 
 301 00 College. 
 
 Received of Mr. Allen, . . . 200000 
 
 Remains due, . . . 101 00 0" 
 
 College Book, No. III., p. 3, after stating, that Nathaniel Eaton, 
 having been convicted of sundry abuses, was, in September, 1639, 
 removed from his trust, proceeds thus ; " The charge of carrying 
 on the building begun by Mr. Eaton was then committed to the 
 management of Mr. Samuel Shepard, and the College Book was 
 put into his hands." 
 
 Shepard's accounts are preserved in College Book, No. I., p. 5, 
 where they appear as follows. 
 
 " Mr. Samuel Shepard's Account. 
 
 . s. d. 
 
 1639. Received imprimis Cambridge rate, . . 20 00 
 
 " " of the Ferry, . . . . .50000 
 
 " - " Mr. Sparrawk and Mr. Gourdon, . 55 00 
 
 " " Mr. Willowby, . . . . 25 00 
 
 1641. " Mr. Angier, corn at 4s. per bushel, . 40000 
 
 1C39. " Watertown rate, . . . 30 12 
 
 " " Mr. Norton, . . . . 728 
 
 " " in clapboards, . . . . 1 13 
 
 " " in work of Jo. Friend, . . . 780 
 
 " " of Mr. Nowell, . . . .2000 
 
 " " Mr. Peters and Mr. Weld, . . 10 00 
 
 .248 15 8 
 
 " " Mr. Allen, paid by Goodridge. The par- 
 
 ticulars cannot be produced. . 3 00 
 
 .251 15 8 
 Disbursed for the College, as follows. 
 
 . s.d. 
 
 1. Money disbursed by Mr. Eaton, 12 10s. and to Finch, 
 
 Eliot, Winter, and Symonds, carpenters, and Goodman 
 
 Harding, as appears, . . . . . 20 17 4 
 
 2. For work and materials for the College, all I received for 
 
 the Ferry, . . . . . . 50 00 
 
 3. Mr. Sparrawk to the workmen, as appears, . . 55 06 
 Mr. Willowby paid the workmen in commodities as appears, 21 10 
 
 4. Lost by paying out the corn received at 4s. the bushel, and 
 
 paid out at 2s. Sd., little at 3s., and some at 2s. 6d. In 
 the whole my old account is but lost 9, 8s. 9d. I doubt 
 it was more, and paid, . . . 29 11 3
 
 454 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 5. Paid for carting and other businesses and materials for the 
 
 College, as appears in particulars, 
 
 Parly rec- 6. Paid for John Friend by Mr. Norton, 3, 10*. To other 
 College' 116 workmen 3, 12s. 8d. In all, 
 
 Mr. No well paid for lime, .... 
 
 Mr. Dunster discounted with John Friend 
 
 33 104 
 
 7 28 
 
 2000 
 
 10000 
 
 Paid Captain Gibbons, 
 
 " Mr. Storer for John Friend, . . 
 
 " to Mr. Ford for John Friend, . 
 
 " to Thomas, the smith, ... 
 
 " to Nash, for meat to the workmen, 
 
 " to bricklayers, .... 
 
 " to Mr. Russell for John Friend, 
 
 " for Rich, the plasterer, . . 
 
 " for the commodities the workmen had of him, 
 
 " to Stetson, for cleaning the house, . 
 
 " to Mr. Sparrawk, . . . 
 
 " to brickmakers, .... 
 
 " to Goodman Goff, . . . 
 
 " to Goodman Freem, for hair, . . 
 
 " to John Stedman, 
 
 " to Mr. Eldred, for stones, . . 
 
 Due to him by this account, 
 
 229 17 7 
 
 . s. d. 
 10 104 
 
 5 30 
 1 150 
 
 1 56 
 
 2 00 
 
 1 150 
 
 2 20 
 130 
 2 60 
 
 16 
 
 1 00 
 
 2 150 
 
 1 183 
 28 
 300 
 
 2 26 
 
 38 99 
 
 14118 
 
 Received a goat, 305., of plantation of Watertown rate, which died ; writ 
 on the other side of the said paper as follows. 
 
 . s. d. 
 Paid Mr. Weld for Richard Harrington, a plasterer, . . 3 10 
 
 Paid him in corn, . ... 14 
 
 Put off Watertown rate, loss, . . . . 2 00 
 
 In another column, thus. 
 
 To a horse and charges to Linn, . . . .050 
 
 To Salem, twice, . . , v .,,, . . . 10 
 
 At Boston and Charlestown, . . . . .100 
 
 7190' 
 
 By the above accounts Shepard disbursed, 
 
 Total of Shepard's disbursements, 
 Total of his receipts, 
 
 229177 
 
 38 99 
 
 7190 
 
 .276 64 
 .251 158
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 455 
 
 In College Book, No. I., p. 9, Tyng's account is thus stated. APPENDIX 
 
 No. I. 
 
 " Mr. Tyng, the Treasurer for the country, has given in the Early rec . 
 following account. Collee the 
 
 Month 3d, 16th day, 1644. . d. s. 
 
 The country debtor to the College for Mr. Harvard's estate, 
 
 lent to it, . . . . . 175 3 
 
 Item for insufficient pay made to Mr. Samuel Shepard, which 
 
 he abates the College, . . . . . 1189 
 
 Item for whatever is due to the College of that which was 
 
 sent by Mr. Weld and Mr. Peters, 
 Item, by the country's gift by Court act, held at Boston, 8th 
 
 of the 7th, 1636. See Register, p. 131. . . 400 
 
 586 11 9 
 The country hath paid the College as follow eth. 
 
 . s. d. 
 
 1639. To Mr. Eaton and Mr. Samuel Shepard, by Mr. Bel- 
 
 lingham, Treasurer of the Cambridge rate, . . 20 
 
 1640. To Mr. S. Shepard of Watertown, . . 30 12 
 
 1641. To Mr. Shepard from Edmund Angier, of Cambridge 
 
 rate, . . . . . 40 
 
 Memorandum. That of this 90 12s. Mr. Samuel Shepard 
 abates the College, 11 8s. 9d. for insufficiency of pay, so 
 that the College hath but received by his account from the 
 country, 79 3s. 3d. 
 
 1642. Henry Dunster received 9, of which 12s. Gd. for 
 
 printing the laws ; for the College received, 
 Item of Cambridge rate, first and last, H. Dunster 
 
 received, ..... 
 
 Mr. Sedgwick 40, from Mr. Stoughton 16, of 
 
 them both, ...... 
 
 Item, the country has paid Mr. Allen of Hingham, for 
 
 4000 of the boards, .... 
 
 227 12 " 
 
 College Book, No. III., pp. 6 and 10, contains the account of the 
 receipts of Mr. Dunster, as follows. 
 
 " A particular account of the contributions made in the space of 
 eight years, for the benefit of the scholars, by the several Colonies 
 of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth Hartford, and New Haven. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 . s. d.f. 
 
 Boston, . . 84 18 7 2 
 
 Salem, . . .0000
 
 456 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, Charlestown, . . 37 16 2 
 
 No - T - Watertown, 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 Early rec- Lvnn > 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 ordsofthe Ipswich, 
 Colleee - Dorchester, . 
 
 . 5 
 
 4 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 Concord, . 
 
 . 8 
 
 17 
 
 4 
 
 Dedham, 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 Cambridge, 
 
 . 2 
 
 15 
 
 3 2 
 
 Brantrey, 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 Glocester, 
 
 . 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 Maulden, 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 Rowley, . 
 
 . 7 
 
 8 
 
 7 2 
 
 Roxbury, 
 
 16 
 
 18 
 
 3 
 
 Springfield , . 
 
 . 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 Newbury, 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Woburn, . . 
 
 . 5 
 
 13 
 
 7 2 
 
 Sudbury, 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 Weymouth, 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 King ham, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Salisbury, . 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hampton, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Andover, 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 llaverliill, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 HARTFORD, 
 
 
 
 
 Hartford, 
 
 . 30 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 Saybrook, . 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 Windsor, . 
 
 . 5 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 NEW HAVEN, 
 
 
 
 
 New Haven, 
 
 17 
 
 11 
 
 9 
 
 Mfflford, . 
 
 . 10 
 
 15 
 
 6 
 
 Stratford, 
 
 6 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 PLYMOUTH, 
 
 
 
 
 191 3 50 
 
 39 1 
 
 35 1 3 
 
 Plymouth town, . 4 13 4 13 
 
 269 18 80" 
 
 In College Book No. III., p. 11, the account of Mr. Dunster's 
 disbursements is thus stated. 
 
 " The distribution made of the moneys for the several Colonies 
 
 now followeth. 
 
 . s. d. 
 
 To Mr. Bulkley and Mr. Downing, . 8 18 6 
 
 " Samuel Mather, during his fellowship, . . 9 8 6i 
 
 " Samuel Danforth, Reader and Fellow six years, . 56 13 8 
 
 " Jonathan Mitchell, Fellow three years, . 26 
 
 " Comfort Star, Fellow part of two years, . 11
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 457 
 
 34 7 
 10 16 
 18 
 4 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. I. 
 
 Early rec- 
 ords of the 
 College. 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 22 8 
 
 Oi 
 
 
 11 5 
 
 3i 
 
 
 3 7 
 
 6* 
 
 
 2 6 
 
 8 
 
 
 2 16 
 
 6 
 
 
 6 10 
 
 
 
 
 9 13 
 
 4 
 
 
 9 12 
 
 
 
 
 18 11 
 
 6 
 
 
 10 7 
 
 10i 
 
 
 2 7 
 
 Oi 
 
 
 11 14 
 
 84 
 
 
 298 5 
 
 24 
 
 To Mr. Samuel Eaton, Fellow two years and a half, 
 * Urian Oakes, .... 
 " John Collins, .... 
 
 " Wigglesworth, Fellow half a year, . 
 
 " White, 
 
 " Elija Corlett, .... 
 Sir Ames, ..... 
 
 John Ames, .... 
 
 Mr. John Brock, .... 
 
 Mr. Stirk, ..... 
 Sir Hollett, steward, .... 
 Sir Phillips, steward, ... 
 
 Sir Ince, ..... 
 
 Bowers, ..... 
 
 Thompson, .... 
 
 James, by order from New Haven, . 
 Six students, for writing for the churches, 
 Mr. Jenner's sons, . . . . 
 
 " Memorandum. The several donations made to the College 
 during the time Mr. Dunster was President of said College, were 
 by said Mr. Dunster received and distributed according to the ap- 
 pointment of the Overseers, and, on the balance of account by him 
 made at the resignation of his place, said Mr. Dunster was creditor 
 to the College, as appeareth, page 18," in which this subject is thus 
 stated. 
 
 "Mr. Dunster's account presented to the College, January 15, 
 1654, wherein he makes himself debtor 110, 195. 2|d. and gives 
 himself credit for .119, 4s." 
 
 Beneath the above account in page 18, Book III., is the following 
 record. 
 
 " By order of the Overseers, paid to Mrs. Elizabeth Dunster, the 
 relict widow of the abovenamed Henry Dunster, deceased, in full 
 of the balance of account, as above, and for all other demands, by 
 Thomas Danforth, Treasurer, twenty pounds." 
 
 Neither the account of Eaton, nor of Shepard, nor of Dunster ap- 
 pears as settled on these books. 
 
 From the preceding accounts, it is apparent, that Eaton 
 received from Allen, John Harvard's administrator, .200 
 and, if the .20 specified in the 10th item of his account was 
 VOL. I. *ft 
 

 
 458 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, additional to this sum, he then received also 20 
 
 No. I. 
 
 Early rec^ making a total received by Eaton from Harvard's estate, 220 
 
 That She P ard received from the town-rates 
 of Cambridge and Watertown, or from " the 
 country," . . . . .90 12 
 
 from which deduct " insufficient pay," as ac- 
 knowledged in Tyng's account, . 1189 
 
 79 33 
 
 He received from the Ferry, . 50 
 and from various subscriptions not otherwise 
 appearing in the donation books of the Col- 
 lege, 122 12 5 
 
 Shepard's receipt, . . . 251 15 8 
 
 Dunster received from the contributions of 
 the several Colonies as stated in College Book, 
 No. III., p. 10, and which is extracted into 
 Donation Book, Vol. I. p. 6, in exact terms, 269 18 8 
 
 Total of the receipts of Eaton, Shepard, and 
 
 Dunster, . . . <741 14 4 
 
 In addition to the above the following cash 
 gifts are stated in College Book, No. III., pp. 5, 
 6, as of the year 1G42, and which do not appear 
 in either of the above accounts. They were 
 probably applied to the erection of the College 
 buildings, by whomsoever received. To this 
 object many of them appear to be specifically 
 appropriated, viz. 
 
 Henry Pool, . . . 10 
 
 Theophilus Eaton, . 40 
 
 Richard Russell, . . . . 900 
 
 Edward Jackson, . . \ 10 
 
 Mr. Wory, . . . . 400 
 
 Mr. Parish, merchant, . . 300 
 
 Mr. Holbrook 22 
 
 Mr. Greenhill, minister of God's word at Stepney, 700 
 Mr. George Glover, . . . 200 
 
 A person not willing his name should be known, 50 00 
 Willis, merchant at Boston, . . 700 
 
 Wells, of Roxbury, . . 10
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 459 
 
 Israel Stoughton, of Dorchester, . 500 APPENDIX, 
 
 Richard Parker, of Boston, woollen draper, 400 
 
 John Pratt, of Hartford, . 400 Earl y c- 
 
 i cw n n 3 f the 
 
 187 ) College. 
 
 Total of all cash receipts by the College, so 
 
 far as these books and accounts evidence, 
 
 previous to 1654, . ... . . ,928 14 4 
 
 By the accounts of those agents it appears 
 that Eaton expended, . . ,301 00 
 
 Shepard " . . . 276 6 4 
 
 Dunster " . . . 298 5 2 
 
 875 11 6 
 
 It is sufficiently apparent from the above accounts, that the state- 
 ment made by Governor Endecott, in 1655, must have been per- 
 fectly correct. 
 
 It appears by College Book, No. III., that during these first 
 eighteen years, besides these cash donations, there were others, 
 either of specific articles or in money appropriated to other objects 
 than those of the building, viz. <200 by the magistrates in books. 
 
 A font of printing letters by Mr. Glover .49 and something 
 
 more by gentlemen in Amsterdam, for furnishing the press with 
 letters. (" Benefactors to the first font of letters for printing in 
 Cambridge, their names collected by L. H. [Leonard Hoar] in 1674 : 
 Major Thomas Clarke, Capt. James Oliver, Capt. Allen, Capt. Lake, 
 Mr. Stoddard, Mr. Freake, Mr. Hues." College Boole, No. I. p. 32.) 
 
 .20 in utensils, by Mr. Bridges, Mr. Greenhill, and Mr. Glover. 
 
 150 from divers gentlemen and merchants in England, by 
 William Hibbons, Thomas Welde, and Hugh Peters, towards fur- 
 nishing the Library with books. 
 
 There exists no distinct book of records of the Overseers ante- 
 cedent to Leverett's administration. Their meetings are found 
 occasionally entered in College Books, Nos. I., HI., and IV., among 
 those of the Corporation. 
 
 The Books denominated " Records of the Overseers," commence 
 with the act of the General Court, passed in December, 1707, re- 
 viving the College charter of 1650, and have been kept regularly 
 since that time. They had no official sanction from the Overseers 
 until Nov. 1718, when the following vote passed that board. 
 
 " 1718, 12th of November. It was voted, that the votes of the 
 Overseers should be written in a book by themselves, and that, the 
 book should be produced at the Overseers' meetings."
 
 460 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. I. 
 
 HARVARD'S LEGACY. See p. 11. 
 
 Harvard's The doubt concerning the amount received from Harvard's bounty 
 arises from the fact, that only two accounts of that period contain 
 any acknowledgment of receipts from that source. 
 
 Eaton acknowledges (See above, p. 410 and p. 411). .220 
 and Tyng, the country treasurer (See above, p. 413). 175 3 
 
 395 3 
 
 This is about halt of his estate, in case the whole did not exceed 
 800. 
 
 The contemporaneous statements, which represent his whole 
 estate as double that sum, are the following. 
 
 The earliest account of Harvard's legacy is that of Governor 
 Winthrop (Savage's Winthrop, Vol. II. p. 342), who states, that 
 " Mr. Harvard gave to the College about 800." Now as Harvard's 
 bequest was not specific, but only " the half of his estate," this 
 statement by Winthrop must have been grounded on report ; for it 
 was made before 1641, and it appears by College Book, No. I., p. 3, 
 that Harvard's estate had not been settled in 1643. A committee 
 was then appointed by the governors of the College to give Mr. 
 Allen an acquittance. This appears to have eventuated in paying 
 over the balance to Tyng, Treasurer of the Colony, who credits the 
 College with 175 3s. as received from Harvard's estate, and lent 
 to the country in 1644. 
 
 The next statement of the amount of Harvard's legacy is in the 
 Almanac of the Rev. Samuel Danforth for 1648, which states as 
 follows. 
 
 " 7 m- 14 day, 1638. John Harvard, Master of Arts, of Eman- 
 uel College in Cambridge, deceased, and by will gave the half of 
 his estate (which amounted to about 700 pounds), for the erection 
 of the College." See Savage's Winthrop, Vol. II. p. 88. 
 
 The form of expression here used may imply, that the whole of 
 Harvard's estate was 700. 
 
 The next early statement of this legacy is contained in the auto- 
 biography of the Rev. Thomas Shepard,* and is in these words. 
 
 " The Lord put it into the heart of one Mr. Harvard, who died 
 worth 1600, to give half of his estate to the erecting of the school. 
 
 Edited by the Rev. Nehemiah Adams, in 1832; p. 64.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 461 
 
 This man was a scholar, and pious in his life, and enlarged toward APPENDIX, 
 the country, and the good of it, in life and death, but no sooner 
 was this given, but Mr. Eaton (professing valiantly, yet falsely and Harvard's 
 most deceitfully, the fear of God), did lavish out a great part of it." 
 
 Thomas Shepard died in 1649. His work is historical, and 
 written probably from general recollection. Facts are brought 
 together in it without regard to the order of events. Thus the 
 death and legacy of Harvard are mentioned antecedent to the date 
 of October, 1637, which was nearly a year before Harvard's death 
 occurred. What he states may be regarded as the popular opinion 
 at the time his Memoirs were written. Harvard died in September, 
 1638, and Eaton was dismissed in September, 1639. Eaton ac- 
 knowledges the receipt of .220, of Allen (Harvard's administra- 
 tor). That he should have received an additional sum of ^400, 
 and thus " lavished " upwards of 600 in the course of one year, 
 should credit only 200, and bring the College in debt 100, is 
 incredible, especially as no intimation of such receipt anywhere 
 appears. 
 
 The only specific statement is that contained in College Book, 
 No. III. p. 1, where the moiety of Harvard's estate is stated to have 
 been .779 17s. ^d.* 
 
 John Dunton, who wrote in 1686 ;t Cotton Mather, | who wrote 
 in 1696 ; and the College Donation Book, No. 1, all state the above 
 to be the amount. Hubbard, who wrote about the year 1680, states 
 it at 700. These probably all derived their authority from College 
 Book, No. III. 
 
 For all general purposes the statements in this book may well be 
 considered as authentic. But it has been doubted whether, consider- 
 ing the date when it was compiled, its referring to no authority for 
 its statements, and its general historical character, this statement 
 can countervail the presumption arising from the fact, that the only 
 known receipts from Harvard's estate, appearing on any of the 
 College Books, are those of Eaton, amounting to .220, and of 
 Tyng, the College Treasurer, amounting to ,175 3s., making in 
 all .395 3s., about one half, supposing the whole estate was 
 " about 800 " ; and from this farther extraordinary circumstance, 
 that, upon the supposition the half of his estate was " about .800," 
 
 * See above, p. 409. 
 
 t Mass. Hist. Coll., Second Series, Vol. II. p. 106. 
 
 J Magnalia, Vol. IV. p. 1.
 
 462 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, so great a sum as nearly 400 should have been received, and 
 No ' r ' no mention of it appear in the accounts of Eaton or Shepard, Dun- 
 ster or Tyng, or in any other contemporaneous document.* 
 
 No. II. See pp. 21,183. 
 
 Informa- 
 tion to the 
 General 
 Court in 
 1655. 
 
 INFORMATION GIVEN BY THE CORPORATION AND OVER- 
 SEERS TO THE GENERAL COURT. 9 MAY, 1055. 
 
 " May 9th, 1655. A brief information of the present necessities of 
 the College, which the Corporation do desire may, by the concur- 
 rence of the Overseers, be presented to the consideration of the 
 General Court, with earnest desires of their speedy and effectual 
 help for supply. 
 
 " First. We are indebted to Mr. Dunster, as expended upon account, 
 near 40, notwithstanding that he hath all that we have been able to 
 pay or assign him. Justice and equity requires that this be paid him, 
 being due debt, and apparent upon diligent examination of accounts. 
 Also, besides what is due upon a strict account, that former motion 
 sometimes made by the committee of a hundred pounds to be al- 
 lowed Mr. Dunster in consideration of his extraordinary pains in 
 raising up and carrying on the College for so many years past. We 
 desire it may be seriously considered, and hope it may make much 
 for the country's honorable discharge in the hearts of all, and per- 
 petual encouragement of their servants in such public works, if it 
 be attended. 
 
 " Secondly. The College building, although it be new ground- 
 silled by the help of some free contributions the last year, yet those 
 
 * The Honorable James Savage, the learned and laborious commentator on 
 the early history of Massachusetts, has suggested to the author, that the dis- 
 crepancy between the popular estimate of Harvard's estate and the amount 
 found acknowledged to have been received from it on the books of the Col- 
 lege, may have arisen from the circumstance, that Harvard, who had at the 
 time of his death resided only a year in the country, left probably a considerable 
 part of his estate in England, which his administrator was prevented from 
 obtaining, by the distracted state of the times, and the civil wars which 
 ensued. The same suggestion may account for the fact, that no trace of 
 Harvard's will, or of administration granted on his estate, can be found on 
 the public records of the Colony.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 463 
 
 ceasing, and the work of reparation therewith intermitted, it remains APPENDIX, 
 in other respects in a very ruinous condition. It is absolute neces- 
 sity that it be speedily new covered, being not fit for scholars long Informa- 
 
 J tion to the 
 
 to abide in as it is. And without such reparation some time this General 
 
 summer both the whole building will decay, and so the former 1*65 5. 
 charge about it will be lost, and the scholars will be forced to de- 
 part. So that either help must be had therein, or else (we fear) no 
 less than a dissolution of the College will follow. And it is con- 
 ceived that it will need a hundred pounds to set it in comfortable 
 repair. All the estate the College hath (as appears by the inven- 
 tory thereof) is only its present buildings, library, a few utensils, 
 with the press, and some parcels of land (none of which can be 
 with any reason or to any benefit sold to help in the premises), and 
 in real revenue about twelve pounds per annum (which is a small 
 pittance to be shared among four Fellows), besides fifteen pounds 
 per annum, which, by the donor's appointment, is for scholarships. 
 
 " The steward's stock is indebted for studies, and for diet of former 
 Fellows, and to the Steward's personal estate, and otherwise, near 
 as much as it is. 
 
 " Though we have the Ferry, yet what the produce of it will be 
 we have no certainty, and, whatever it be, it had need to go to 
 the Fellows, until there be some other provision for them. 
 
 "The revenue of the press (which is but small) must at present be 
 improved for the finishing of the print-house, its continuance in the 
 President's house being (besides other inconveniences), dangerous 
 and hurtful to the edifice thereof. 
 
 "The study rents, until December last, were discounted with Mr. 
 Dunster. Since that time they have been inconsiderable. And 
 there are other smaller charges (not here mentioned), more than 
 will be answered by the study rents, though they were more than 
 they be. 
 
 " Hence it appears, that the Corporation have nothing under their 
 hands which they can make use of, either for payment of debts 
 or for the repairing of the College. 
 
 " There are other things we might mention, for which there is 
 much need of help, as, viz., for some way of maintaining College 
 affairs and servants by public stock, that so the scholars' charges 
 might be less, or their Commons better ; provision of utensils want- 
 ing in the kitchen and buttery, accommodations for the scholars' 
 tables; also some fitter way of maintenance for the Fellows. 
 
 "But we are not willing to trouble or press the General Court, or
 
 464 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, others, with any thing that we can make shift either to bear, or for 
 the time to wrestle through. These two things above mentioned, 
 informa- v iz. payment of debts and repairs of the College, are of present 
 General absolute necessity ; and it cannot be conceived or expected, that 
 ' particular persons, out of their own estates, much less that those 
 who are (as most of us in the Corporation) without estates, can 
 carry on these things of themselves. 
 
 "If this work of the College be thought fit to be upheld and con- 
 tinued (as we hope that considerations of the glory of God, the 
 honorable interest of the country, the good of posterity, and ex- 
 perience of the benefits and blessings thereof, will constrain all men 
 to say it is), then something must effectually be done for help in the 
 premises. 
 
 "We are loth to seem burthensome to the country by such motions 
 as these ; but the considerations foregoing have called upon us 
 (whom the country have been pleased to employ as their servants in 
 this society) to make this faithful representation of the condition and 
 necessities thereof, that, if any decay or ruin to so good and im- 
 portant a work as this is, should ensue (which we hope and desire 
 may never be), we might not afterwards fall under blame for our 
 silence. 
 
 "We confess sundry petitions have been presented to the General 
 Court in the College's behalf heretofore, and we are not so unthank- 
 ful as not to remember, and acknowledge, that sundry efforts for our 
 help have been used, and that a considerable matter hath been 
 granted for the President's maintenance. 
 
 "But we hope all will consider, partly, not so much what hath been 
 said or attempted, as what hath been done, and partly, that the 
 things above mentioned are distinct from that particular of the 
 President's future maintenance, and that unless this, of repairing 
 the College building, be added thereto, the work cannot stand. 
 
 "Also, concerning the promised maintenance of the President, we 
 desire it might be clearly settled in some such way as may be com- 
 fortable, and that it may be commended to the General Court to 
 take order thereabout." 
 
 "The Magistrates desire that their brethren, the Deputies, consider 
 first of this present information. It is a matter that will require 
 serious agitation and speedy action. 
 
 "JOHN ENDECOTT, Governor." 
 
 "In answer to what hath been represented to this Court by the
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 465 
 
 Overseers of the College, in reference to what is necessary to be APPENDIX, 
 done there, the Deputies, understanding that there is due to the 
 College from the country about an hundred and fifty pounds, for Informa- 
 which we pay interest, do find it meet that the said 150 be added General 
 to the next country rate, and collected by the constables, to be paid ^' 
 to the country treasurer, and by him to the College treasurer, or whom 
 else this Court may or shall appoint, to be improved for the repair- 
 ing of the College, and to satisfy Mr. Dunster what shall be truly 
 due to him on account, and for an equal distribution of the same 
 upon the several towns. It is ordered, that for this present year 
 there shall be an addition of one fourth part more to the country 
 rate, payable from each town for the use and ends above mentioned. 
 The Deputies have passed this, and desire our honored Magistrates' 
 consent thereto. 
 
 " WILLIAM TORREY, Clerk. 
 "25 3d mo., 1655." 
 
 " The Magistrates cannot consent thereto because the 150 was 
 given by the Lady Moulson, and others, for scholarships annually to 
 be maintained there, which this Court cannot alter ; and therefore 
 desire their brethren, the Deputies, to consider of some meet way 
 for the repairing of the College, which is at so great hazard. 
 
 " The Magistrates desire their brethren, the Deputies, to send 
 answer to their return. 
 
 "EDWARD RAWSON, Secretary. 
 
 "JOHN ENDECOTT, Governor, 
 21 June, '55." 
 
 No. III. See pp. 21,23. 
 ANSWER TO MR. DUNSTER'S PETITION. 
 
 "In answer to the particulars of Mr. Dunster's petition,* besides Answer to 
 what is agreed by the Court, viz. That no petition is to be received petition 
 after the first week of this Court, followeth, viz. 
 
 * President Dunster's petition, to which this document refers, is printed at 
 large in Peirce's History of Harvard University, Appendix, p. 151. 
 
 VOL. i. 59
 
 466 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. III. 
 
 Answer to 
 
 Dunster's 
 
 petition. 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 " 1. In answer to that section, figure 1. What extraordinary labor 
 in, about, and concerning the weal of the College, for the space 
 of fourteen years we know of none, but what was the President's 
 duty belonging to his place ; unless he can show the particulars of 
 these labors which were extraordinary. 
 
 "2. In answer to the second. It is most unreasonable. For he 
 may protract the making up of his accounts some years, and there- 
 by hinder the comfortable being of him who is chosen to the work 
 of the College. What the President can make justly to appear to 
 be his due, it must be paid him with convenient speed. 
 
 "3. This Court doth not think it meet, for reasons (whereof Mr. 
 Dunster is not ignorant), and well known to this Court, to grant this 
 part of the petition. What other laudable or liberal calling, besides 
 preaching, and education of youth, is intended, Mr. Dunster is to 
 explain himself. 
 
 "4. We see no ground to reverse that vote referring to the exami- 
 nation of the accounts of Mr. Glover's estate. And we judge it 
 necessary, seeing Mr. Dunster made himself administrator, de facto, 
 of all that estate, and never presented an inventory of the same to 
 the General Court, in so many years past, that he satisfy all due 
 debts. And therefore judge it unmeet to make Mr. Dunster admin- 
 istrator de jure. 
 
 "Agreed on by the Magistrates, with further reference to our 
 brethren, the Deputies. 
 
 " R. BELLINGHAM, Governor." 
 
 No. IV. See pp. 25, 26, 27. 
 
 PRESIDENT CHAUNCY. 
 
 President 
 Chauncy. 
 
 See p. 25. 
 
 "At a meeting of the Overseers, 24,8th, 1654. It is agreed by 
 the Overseers, that the Rev. Mr. Richard Mather and the Rev. 
 Mr. John Norton speak with the Rev. Mr. Chauncy, and, as they 
 shall see cause, encourage him to accept of an invitation to the 
 presidency of the College, in case the Overseers give him a call 
 thereto.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 46? 
 
 " The Magistrates having lately consulted with the rest of the APPENDIX, 
 Trustees of the College concerning a fit person to be President 
 there, have fixed their thoughts on the Rev. Mr. Chauncy, who, President 
 though he is returning to England, yet, if this Court will give him 
 some small addition, by way of encouragement, to the President's 
 stipend, as might be honorable and comfortable, he might be 
 stopped, and therefore they judge it meet to commend it to the 
 consideration of their brethren, the Deputies, in the first place, to 
 declare what they judge meet to allow him in that respect, 
 
 "EDWARD RAWSON, Secretary. 
 " 30 Oct., 1654." 
 
 At the General Court holden at the time of the above application 
 from the Magistrates (October, 1654), an order was passed, that, 
 " besides the profit of the ferry formerly granted to the College, 
 which shall be continued, there be yearly levied by addition to 
 the country rates, one hundred pounds to be paid by the Treasurer 
 of the country to the College Treasurer for the behoof and mainte- 
 nance of the President and Fellows, to be distributed between the 
 President and Fellows, according to the determination of the Over- 
 seers of the College, and this to continue during the pleasure of the 
 country." 
 
 General Court Records, Vol. II. p. 231. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Honorable and Reverend Overseers of the 
 College, 2, 9, 1654. 
 
 " Mr. Mather and Mr. Norton are desired by the Overseers of the 
 College to tender unto the Rev. Mr. Charles Chauncy the place 
 of President, with the stipend of one hundred pounds per annum, 
 to be paid out of the country treasury, and withal to signify to him, 
 that it is expected and desired, that he forbear to disseminate or 
 publish any tenets concerning the necessity of immersion in baptism, 
 and celebration of the Lord's Supper at evening, or to oppose the 
 received doctrine therein." 
 
 " General Court, May 23, 1655. 
 
 " The Court doth grant the present President, Mr. Chauncy, five 
 hundred acres of land, free of former grants, and not hindering 
 a plantation, so as he continue in the place three years." 
 
 Ibid., Vol. IV. p. 205.
 
 468 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, " General Court, May 23, 1655. 
 
 " In answer to the petition of Mr. Charles Chauncy, President of 
 President Harvard College, the Treasurer is desired to disburse the sum of 
 
 <30, to furnish his necessary occasions, to be repaid out of the first 
 
 rents of the ferry." 
 
 See p. 26. 
 
 " Mr. Chauncy's Petition, 25th 8 mo. '55. 
 
 " To the Honored Governor of the Massachusetts, Mr. John Ende- 
 cott, and the rest of the Honorable Bench and Honorable 
 General Court, the petition of Charles Chauncy, President of 
 Harvard College. 
 
 " First of all thankfully acknowledging God's gracious providence 
 in so disposing your hearts to call your petitioner to this place, with 
 promise of your liberal maintenance, allowing him 100 per annum, 
 which also, in regard of the manner of the payment hath been or- 
 dered to be amended somewhat at your last session. Yet withal, 
 judging himself bound further to acquaint the Honorable Bench and 
 whole Court with his condition in the particulars following : 
 
 "1. That the former allotment and portion of English corn 
 designed to your petitioner at the last session hath been expended 
 for the payment of debts due for necessaries requisite for your 
 petitioner's fitting and supply in the College, with much more 
 afforded by the kindness of the worthy Treasurer, and also the ex- 
 pense of an 100 or thereabout of your petitioner's own estate, 
 since his entrance into this place. 
 
 " 2. That the residue of the country pay, being Indian corn, will 
 neither pass for food nor clothing. 
 
 " 3. That if any part thereof by entreaties be put oflf, twelve 
 pence or eight pence in the bushel must be lost. 
 
 " 4. That there is no ground belonging to the President to keep 
 any cattle upon, so that neither milk, butter, nor cheese, can be 
 had but by the penny. 
 
 " 5. That the country's allowance is and must be your petitioner's 
 whole means of subsistence, having no other means of farm or rents 
 which the former President had, and others have, that have any 
 allowance made them by the country. 
 
 " 6. That what benefit your petitioner may be supposed to receive 
 by the Commencement is hardly sufficient to defray the charges 
 thereof.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 469 
 
 " 7. That your petitioner's family consists necessarily of ten per- APPENDIX, 
 sons, that must needs be very chargeable. ^ 1_ 
 
 " 8. That the greatness and multitude of College businesses doth 
 require the whole man, and one free from other distractions. 
 
 " In regard of all which, though your petitioner be not desirous to 
 put the country to further charge, yet he desires the Honored Bench 
 and Court in their wisdom to provide for him according to the 
 pressing exigency of his condition, to remove his grievances that 
 God may not be dishonored, nor the country blemished, nor your 
 petitioner and his family cast upon temptations, or enforced to look 
 out to alter his condition. 
 
 " Your unworthy servant, to my power, 
 
 " CHARLES CHAUNCY." 
 
 See p. 27. 
 
 " President Chauncy's Petition, May 27th, 1663. 
 
 " To the Honored Governor of Massachusetts, John Endecott, 
 Esq., with the residue of the Honored Bench of Assistants, 
 and the Honored Court of Deputies. 
 
 " The humble petition of Charles Chauncy, President of Har- 
 vard College, in Cambridge, as followeth. 
 
 " Whereas your petitioner hath continued, with much toil and 
 many grievances and temptations, in the College about eight years ; 
 all which time, his family being great, the stipend allowed him by 
 the Honored Court hath been insufficient for his comfortable sub- 
 sistence, and the maintenance of his family with necessary supplies 
 of food and raiment ; for want whereof he hath been forced both to 
 expend his own estate that he brought with him, and is besides by 
 this means run far into debt. 
 
 " And in respect that the President hath no fit provision either 
 of land to'keep so much as one cow or horse upon, or of habitation 
 to be dry and warm in. Also seeing that there are no Colleges 
 in our English Universities (wherein the petitioner hath continued 
 long), but that the Presidents thereof, beside their yearly stipend, 
 are allowed their diet, with other necessary provisions according 
 to their wants. 
 
 " Your petitioner, with all due observance, entreats the Honored 
 Court not to take offence, if necessity constraining, no redress being 
 made of such intolerable grievances and temptations now suggested,
 
 470 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 President 
 Chauncy. 
 
 APPENDIX, he shall take his liberty upon other opportunities presented to em- 
 No, iv. Drace them, though notwithstanding his President's place in the 
 College. 
 
 " He desires also, that this petition may not be put by as unsea- 
 sonable, some other disappointments hindering before ; so shall 
 your petitioner be further engaged to pray for the peace of Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 " Your Worships' humbly devoted in the Lord, 
 
 " CHARLES CHAUNCY." 
 
 " June 9th, 1663. 
 
 " We conceive the country have done honorably towards the 
 recompense and encouragement of the Petitioner both for annual 
 allowance and grant of land, and that his parity with English 
 Colleges is not pertinent, and as for other things respecting his 
 removal, that it properly belongs to the feoffees of the College, and 
 that it be referred unto them. 
 
 " RICHARD RUSSELL. 
 
 "EDWARD JOHNSON. 
 
 "JOSEPH HILLS." 
 
 "The Deputies do not concur with the committee in answer 
 thereunto, but in regard to the urgent necessities of the Petitioner, 
 do judge meet that there be allowed five pounds a quarter out of the 
 country treasury to supply his wants, and this to be and continue 
 during the country's pleasure, with reference to the consent of the 
 Honorable Magistrates hereto. 
 
 " WILLIAM TORREY, Clerk. 
 "June 13th, 1663." 
 
 " The Magistrates consent not thereto. 
 
 " EDWARD RAWSON, Secretary." 
 
 Subscrip- 
 tions for 
 building 
 Harvard 
 Hall. 
 
 No. V. See p. 31. 
 
 SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR BUILDING HARVARD HALL. 
 
 The voluntary contributions made on this occasion by the towns 
 in Massachusetts, with the amount subscribed by each, may be 
 found at large in Appendix, No. XXIII.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 47 | 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. VI 
 
 No. VI. See p. 34. 
 PRESIDENT HOAR AND PRESIDENT OAKES. 
 
 Dr. Hoar was elected July 30th, 1672, and inaugurated September President 
 10th, 1672. College Book, No. I. p. 49. 
 
 " September 15th, 1673. At a meeting of the Overseers at the President 
 College in Cambridge, Mr. Urian Oakes, Mr. Joseph Brown, and 
 Mr. John Richardson declared that they resigned up their places 
 of Fellows in the College." College Book, No. III. p. 62. 
 
 "October 2d, 1673. It was voted, that Mr. Urian Oakes and Mr. 
 Thomas Shepard be requested to continue their assistance to the 
 College as Fellows, according as they were formerly appointed 
 thereto, and that Captain D. Gookin and the President are desired 
 to acquaint them with the mind of the Overseers thereon." Ibid., 
 p. 62. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Honorable and Reverend Overseers of the 
 College, at Boston, December 3d, 1674. The Overseers do com- 
 mend it to the President and Fellows, now remaining, that they 
 take care speedily to fill up their number, according to their charter, 
 that so their power and privilege, granted them by the General 
 Court, may not be weakened nor abated in any kind. Taken out 
 of the Old Overseers Book, p. 62." Ibid., p. 64. 
 
 "December llth, 1674. Present, the President, Mr. Gookin, Sir 
 Thatcher, Mr. Richards. The Rev. Mr. Urian Oakes, Mr. Thomas 
 Shepard, and Increase Mather, chosen Fellows of the College, to 
 fill up the Corporation in its number of seven, which vote the Presi- 
 dent is to acquaint them with, and to receive their answer in order 
 to their instalment." Ibid., p. 64. 
 
 No answer was given by any one of the above elected persons, 
 until after the resignation of Dr. Hoar, as appears by the following 
 vote and record. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Honorable and Reverend Overseers of the 
 College, at Cambridge, 15, 1, 1674-5, Mr. Urian Oakes and Mr. 
 Thomas Shepard being orderly elected Fellows of the College, and 
 presented by the Corporation for their allowance, they were accord- 
 ingly accepted and entreated to accept that trust. 
 
 " Dr. Leonard Hoar made a resignation of his presidency of the 
 College." Ibid., p. 66.
 
 472 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, The remaining votes concerning the election of Mr. Oakes are 
 
 No - vr " the following. 
 
 President At a meeting of the Corporation, 7th April, 1675. Mr. Urian 
 Oakes was desired to give his answer to a former motion of the 
 Overseers to accept of the place of President of the College pro 
 tempore. 
 
 " In answer whereto he declared a deep sense of his unfitness for 
 the work, yet, considering the present exigency the society was now 
 in, and confiding in the Overseers seasonably to endeavour the 
 settling a fit person for that work, manifesting his willingness to 
 accept of that place for a time, God enabling by health and strength, 
 and so far as his church consented." Ibid., p. 66. 
 
 From this time the records show that he was present and acted 
 as President of the College. 
 
 "Overseers' meeting, 27th, 8th, (October) 1675. Mr. Urian 
 Oakes is elected President of Harvard College, and by the Over- 
 seers importuned to accept said place and trust." Ibid., p. G7. 
 
 " 14, 3d (June) 1677. Mr. John Rogers of Ipswich then chosen 
 President of the College nemine contradicente." College. Book, 
 No. I. p. 55 ; also No. III. p. 67. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Corporation at Cambridge, June 30, 1679, 
 voted, That the Worshipful Mr. Stoughton be desired and empow- 
 ered to provide a President of the College, and that, the Honorable 
 Overseers concurring herewith, the Rev. Mr. Oakes be entreated to 
 write to Mr. Stoughton accordingly in the name of the Corpora- 
 tion." College Boole, No. I. p. 55 ; No. III. p. 69. 
 
 " At a Corporation meeting, 2d day, 12 mo. (February) 1679, 
 Mr. Urian Oakes was chosen President of Harvard College, by the 
 unanimous consent of the Fellows of said College, desiring the ap- 
 probation of the Honorable and Reverend Overseers." College 
 Book, No. I. p. 56 ; No. III. p. 70. 
 
 " February 9th, 1679. The Overseers approve of the choice of 
 the Rev. Mr. Urian Oakes to the office of President in the College, 
 and request the Worshipful William Stoughton, Joseph Dudley, and 
 Peter Bulkley, Esqrs., and the Rev. Mr. John Eliot, and Mr. In- 
 crease Mather, to present their desires to Mr. Oakes and the church 
 at Cambridge, for his acceptance of said trust, and their concurrence 
 therein." 
 
 "The Rev. Mr. Urian Oakes was installed President of Harvard 
 College by Governor Bradstreet in the College Hall, on the Com- 
 mencement day in August, 1680." College Book, No. III. p. 71.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 473 
 
 Several of the above records are inserted in the margin of College APPENDIX, 
 Book, No. III. in the handwriting of John Leverett, afterwards 
 President of the College, and are stated to be from " the Old Over- President 
 
 Oakes. 
 seers' Book, which is now lost. 
 
 No. VII. See p. 41. 
 
 ORIGINAL GRANT OF THE GENERAL COURT. 
 
 By Tyng, the country Treasurer's account,* it is evident, that the Original 
 original grant of ,400 was in 1644 acknowledged to be a debt on General 
 account, and that, after the charge of all rates received, a balance Court - 
 of upwards of .350 is apparently due. That it had not been paid 
 on the 1 3th of the ensuing November, appears also by the follow- 
 ing vote, passed on that day by the General Court. 
 
 " The 13th of the 9th mo. A. 1644. It was ordered that Mr. 
 Dunster, President of the College at Cambridge, shall have 150 
 assigned to him (to be gathered by the Treasurer for the College) 
 out of the money due for the children sent out of England, to be 
 expended for a house to be built for the said President, in part of 
 the i400 promised unto him for his use, to belong to the College." 
 
 That no part of the above ^150 was ever paid, is concluded from 
 this, that Mr. Dunster, in his petition in November, 1654, to the 
 legislature, speaks of the President's house as " the place, which, 
 upon very damageful conditions to myself, out of love to the College, 
 I have buildcd." Now if the General Court had paid towards his 
 house so great a sum, it can hardly be imagined he would have 
 failed to notice it, or would have ventured to take all the credit of 
 building it to himself. Besides, it appears by the vote, that this 
 150 was to be paid out of a particular fund, viz. " the money due 
 for the children sent out of England," and from their agent's (Mr. 
 Welde's) account. This was not settled until 1651, as appears by 
 the language of a committee of the General Court. " The com- 
 mittee had little benefit from those moneys, the entire balance of 
 Welde's account not exceeding ^200; which, after payments of 
 sums enumerated below, subscribed and included in that account, 
 
 * See above, p. 455. 
 
 VOL. i. 60
 
 474 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, as belonging to the College, did not leave but little more than 40 
 * r ' received on account of the children, and probably, considering other 
 
 Original deductions, did not leave any thing." 
 
 grant of the * 
 
 General The above appears on a settlement of Welde's account, made on 
 
 the 25th of the 8th month, 1651, and is signed, 
 
 Increase Nowell. 
 
 William Tyng. 
 
 Edward Jackson. 
 
 Nathaniel Duncan. 
 The enumerated sums are, 
 
 Lady Moulson's gift for the College, . . 100 
 
 Mr. Bridge's " 50 
 
 Other small gifts " . 12 16 4 
 
 162 16 4 
 
 From no evidence now known does it appear, that the sum of 
 .400 was ever paid over specifically to the College, so as to con- 
 stitute a part of its available funds, except to the amount stated in 
 Tyng's account. 
 
 The General Court probably deemed their obligations sufficiently 
 performed by the grant of the Ferry between Charlestown and 
 Boston, and by the annual grants made for the support of the 
 President. 
 
 No. VIII. See p. 49. 
 COLLEGE SEAL. 
 
 College This conjecture is founded on the following records, the only 
 
 ones extant concerning the College seal and arms except that stated 
 in page 48. 
 
 "At a Corporation meeting at Harvard College, June llth, 1694. 
 
 " Memorandum. That Mr. Newman's proposal about procuring 
 the College arms at Bilboa is left to the President's consideration 
 and determination." College Book, No. IV. p. 3. 
 
 That the College arms were at this time procured, and from Mr. 
 Newman, is proved by a record in the same College Book, p. 49. 
 In Treasurer Brattle's account, there stated, is the following item. 
 
 " 1694, July 20. To cash paid Mr. Newman to get the College 
 arms cut, 5."
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 475 
 
 APPENMX, 
 No. IX. 
 
 No. IX.* See pp. 79, 81, 85, 89, 91, 92, 93, 95, 96, 97. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM PRESIDENT MATHER'S DIARY. 
 
 See p. 79. 
 
 " 1693. June 30th. At the Governor's, where, in discourse with Extracts 
 Dr. Cook, and Oakes, they both denied that they ever said, that they ^ent Math" 
 could have saved the old charter if it had not been for me, and that er ' s Diai T- 
 I had betrayed the country, I declared I was willing to forgive the 
 wrongs they had done me." 
 
 See p. 81. 
 
 " 1693. September "3d. As 1 was riding to preach at Cambridge, 
 I prayed to God, begged that my labors might be blessed to the 
 souls of the students; at the which I was much melted. Also 
 saying to the Lord, that some workings of his Providence seemed to 
 intimate, that I must be returned to England again ; and saying, 
 ' Lord, if it will be more to your glory, that I should go to England 
 than for me to continue here in this land, then let me go ; otherwise 
 not.' I was inexpressibly melted, and that for a considerable time, 
 and a stirring suggestion, that to England I must go. In this there 
 was something extraordinary, either divine or angelical." 
 
 " October 29M. As I was riding thither (to Cambridge), all the 
 way between Charlestown and Cambridge I conversed with God by 
 soliloquies and prayer. I was much melted with the apprehension 
 of returning to England again ; strongly persuaded it would be so ; 
 and that God was about to do some great thing there, so that I 
 should have a great opportunity again to do service to his name." 
 
 " December 30/A. Meltings before the Lord this day when praying, 
 desiring being returned to England again, there to do service to his 
 name, and persuasions that the Lord will appear therein." 
 
 " 1694. January %7th. Prayers and supplications that tidings may 
 come from England, that may be some direction to me, as to my 
 returning thither or otherwise, as shall be most for his glory." 
 
 " March ]'3th. This morning with prayers and tears I begged of 
 
 * Under this number of the Appendix are arranged all the passages from 
 President Mather's Diary, referred to in this work ; except such as are quoted 
 at length in the text.
 
 476 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, God that I might hear from my friends and acquaintance in England 
 something that should encourage and comfort me. Such tidings 
 
 Extracts are coming, but I know not what it is. God has heard me." 
 
 from Presi- 
 dent Math- "1696. April 9th. This morning as I was reading in course 
 
 Matt. viii. 13, it was with a strong hand impressed upon my spirit, 
 as I had believed, that God would return me to England, and there 
 give me an opportunity greatly to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, so 
 it shall be done unto me. I was wonderfully melted with assurance 
 that so it will be. And after that, again, as I was praying in my 
 study. In the mean time the Lord help me diligently to improve my 
 time, to do all the good I can in New England ; which, oh ! how 
 little it is that 1 am capable of doing, because I want wisdom and 
 grace." 
 
 " April 19th. (Sabbath.) In the morning, as I was praying in my 
 closet, my heart was marvellously melted with the persuasion, that 
 I should glorify Christ in England. So again, as I was praying 
 and using soliloquies with the Lord in my study between the public 
 meetings." 
 
 " April %6th. The persuasions which have been in my heart con- 
 cerning that matter (going to England), I cannot help. ' They 
 were wrought in me with fastings and prayings by the Lord. 
 Also on Lord's day, when I have been most in the Spirit; and I have 
 left that matter wholly with God." 
 
 " May %d. I was wonderfully affected this day with suggestions 
 and impressions on my spirits, that tidings are coming from England 
 which will revive me, and let me see, that my prayers are heard, and 
 that my faith shall not suffer a disappointment." 
 
 "June 18th. God has given me to see answers of prayer and faith, 
 which I have made with respect to my having an opportunity to 
 glorify Christ in England, shall not be disappointed. Bless the 
 Lord, O my soul ! " 
 
 See p. 85. 
 
 " 1696. December llth. I was with the Representatives in the 
 General Court, and did acquaint them with my purpose of under- 
 taking a voyage for England in the Spring (if the Lord will), in 
 order to the attainment of a good settlement for the College." 
 
 "December 28M. The General Court have done nothing for 
 the poor College. Only the Council has undone what was by the 
 advice of the ministers consented unto by the Representatives. The
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 477 
 
 Corporation are desirous that I should go to England on the Col- APPENDIX, 
 lege's account." _^L_ 
 
 _^___ Extracts 
 
 from Presi- 
 dent Math- 
 See p. 89. er's Diary. 
 
 " 1696. October 3d. Things are in a great confusion in New 
 England. Divisions in the General Court. The College unsettled. 
 The Representatives have assented to a resettlement. The Coun- 
 cil obstructs." 
 
 " 16^7. March 20<A. There are miserable confusions and di- 
 visions in Watertown, Cambridge, Charlestown, and at the South 
 Church in Boston. The College still is unsettled. Humble request 
 to God in Jesus Christ, that he would order the resettlement of the 
 College in mercy, direct the General Court, now sitting, as to that 
 matter, and me also how to act therein." 
 
 " March 24fA. This morning I was sent to Watertown, where 
 was a Council of five churches, and an ordination of two minis- 
 ters (Mr. Angier and Mr. Gibbs) intended, but, because of dis- 
 sensions in the church, there was no ordination. The like not 
 known in New England." 
 
 See p. 91. 
 
 " 1697. June 7th. Discourse with ministers about the College, 
 and the Corporation unanimously desired me to take a voyage for 
 England on the College's account." 
 
 "June 12//t. As to personal concerns, the Corporation has this 
 week desired me to undertake a voyage to England on the College's 
 account. Also the Representatives and the Governor have voted a 
 concurrence therein. The matter is now before the General Court. 
 The Lord appear and direct therein to his own glory and my 
 rejoicing in the day of its still preventing my going for England, 
 except that will be for the best." 
 
 " June 15th. The Representatives this day undid their votes." 
 
 " July 3d. The College is in a ticklish state because of the spirit 
 in the General Court ; the Representatives there having voted and 
 unvoted what concerns the settlement of the College." 
 
 " July 17th. I am discouraged about the College, and inclined to 
 resign the Presidentship. The Lord help me to set aside all selfish 
 respects, and so do what shall be most pleasing to him.
 
 478 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, " Mem. A special ground of my setting apart this day by fasting 
 ' IX " and prayer to serve the Lord, was because of my being much dis- 
 
 Extracts tressed in my spirit, lest my faith as to an opportunity to do service 
 from Presi- ' . ' 
 
 dent Math- and promote the glory of Christ in England should suffer a dis- 
 appointment, since it has been so long a time delayed. But, in 
 prayer, as I was before the Lord, I was melted with hopes of re- 
 ceiving tidings coming from England." 
 
 " August 7th. I am determined (with the Lord's leave) to resign 
 my relation to the College the next week, having desired a Corpo- 
 ration meeting for that end. The Lord guide and supply the Col- 
 lege with a better than I am ; pardoning my many defects, and 
 that I have done 'no more good for the poor College." 
 
 " August 12</t. Corporation meeting at Mr. Allen's about College 
 affairs, when I desired to resign the Presidentship ; but they urged 
 me to continue still to preside, expecting a Governor from England." 
 
 " September 3rf. In the College, matters are uncomfortable. There 
 is a difficulty as to choosing new Tutors. My discouragements are 
 such, that I am fully purposed to resign the Presidentship." 
 
 "September 15th. At College to attend a Corporation meeting, 
 when I intended to resign the Presidentship ; but, it being a stormy 
 day, there wanted one to make a sufficient number for a Corpo- 
 ration meeting." 
 
 " September 26<7. Surely this Lord's day the Spirit of the Lord 
 melted my heart, that he has work for me to do in England, and 
 that there I shall glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, and do service for 
 his name, interest, and kingdom, in the world." 
 
 " November 7th. This evening again melting persuasions that 
 I shall have an opportunity and advantage put into my hands to 
 glorify Christ in England." 
 
 " 1698. January 29#A. This day again my soul was inexpressibly 
 melted with persuasions that there is work for me to do in England 
 by-and-by, and that there I shall glorify Christ." 
 
 " March 19th. As to my ever being returned to England, there 
 to glorify the name of Christ, which I have so often with tears 
 believed, the Lord order that important affair in much mercy ! and, 
 if any letters are sent to me that may be directory in that matter, 
 let the gracious providence of God cause them to come safe to 
 my hands !"
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 479 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 See p. 92. NO. ix. 
 
 Extracts 
 
 " 1698. April 16th. The expected Governor is arrived at New from Presi- 
 
 V 1 T i II * dent Matl1 ' 
 
 xork. Let me turn all into prayer. cr's Diary. 
 
 " April 18th. This morning I experienced inexpressible meltings 
 of soul, with persuasions that God has work for me to do in Eng- 
 land, and that there I shall glorify the dear name of Jesus Christ. 
 It may be, the next vessel from London will give me to understand 
 that which will make me wonder at the infinitely condescending 
 grace of God, who has vouchsafed to deal familiarly with a poor 
 sinful creature." 
 
 " May 5lh. The Corporation of the College met, and unanimously 
 concurred in an address to the Governor, desiring him to encourage 
 my going to England on the College account." 
 
 " May 12f/t. The Corporation met at Mr. Willard's, and ap- 
 pointed a messenger to go to the Governor, desiring him to assist 
 my going to England on the College's account. This day also a 
 "letter came from Sir H. Ashurst to the Council, desiring them to 
 encourage me therein. These things are astonishing to me. What 
 shall I do for God and Jesus Christ ! " 
 
 " May \4th. The Fellows of the College are sending an address to 
 the Governor, praying him to encourage my undertaking a voyage 
 for England on the College's account. Also this week a letter has 
 come to the Governor from Sir H. Ashurst to encourage them 
 therein. Turn this into prayer." 
 
 " May 2SM. And whereas one of the fellows of the College has 
 sent in an address to the Governor about my going to England, on 
 which account probably the matter will come before the General 
 Court, now sitting, the Lord in mercy appear in this, and overrule 
 all matters so that I may see the Lord directing us." 
 
 " June llth. The Governor has written from New York, that the 
 act of the General Court about the College will not obtain the 
 Royal approbation in England ; that the College sending me to 
 England will be of use. The matter is now under consideration in 
 the Assembly. The Lord overrule this affair to his own glory, and 
 so as that I may see his holy hand pointing to me what I should do." 
 
 " June 26M. This Lord's day I had such communion with God, 
 and received soul-melting persuasions that the Lord had work for 
 me to do for his name in England. The Lord prepare me for what 
 I may hear from thence." 
 
 "June 28M. Troubled at what I was told yesterday, that I had
 
 480 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, been severely animadverted on in the Council, and that some said 
 
 I deserved a year's imprisonment. Is this my reward for taking so 
 
 Extracts much pains to serve and save New England ?" 
 
 from Presi- r _ 
 
 dent Math- " July 1st. At this time, in special I humbly cry to Heaven (among 
 
 other things), that the Lord will sanctify what has lately happened in 
 the General Court respecting my intentions for England, whereby 
 that affair is delayed. What is the meaning of Providence? for 
 when that matter has come to the birth, there has not been strength 
 to bring forth. The Lord direct me what to do, as to a resignation 
 of my relation to the College ; and be with me on the Commence- 
 ment approaching ; prepare me for what his Providence shall cause 
 me to hear from England." 
 
 "September 25M. This day as I was wrestling with the Lord, he 
 gave me glorious and heart-melting persuasions, that he has work 
 for me to do in England, for the glory of his name. My soul re- 
 joiceth in the Lord." 
 
 See p. 93. 
 
 " 1698. November 26f/t. There is a motion about a Vice-President 
 at the College, there to reside. That matter is before the General 
 Court, now sitting. There is a discourse of an agent to be sent 
 to England. Let me turn all into prayer. Will the Lord cause 
 me to hear out of England what will revive me ? Shall I see that 
 faith shall not suffer an utter disappointment ? " 
 
 " December 1st. Corporation had conference with the Council 
 about the College." 
 
 " December 1st. Marvellous meltings of the soul I did this morn- 
 ing experience with respect to tidings from England." 
 
 See p. 95. 
 
 " 1698. December 8th.* This evening some from the General 
 Court came to me, viz., Mr. Sewall, Mr. Addington, Col. Byfield, 
 &c., desiring me to accept of the Presidentship, and remove to 
 Cambridge; and pressing me to receive the new salary. I told 
 them that I was discouraged, in that the Representatives had nega- 
 
 * For Judge Se wall's account of this interview, see p. 490.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 481 
 
 tived the vote of the Council, and sent another vote, in which my APPENDIX, 
 name was left out. Col. Byfield (the Speaker) said, it was not out 
 
 of disrespect to me, for every one in the House desired that I Extracts 
 
 r J . . from Presi- 
 
 should be the President, &c. I objected, that I was not willing to dent Math- 
 leave my preaching work. Mr. Sewall's reply was, I might preach 
 to the scholars by expositions every day. I told them, I could not 
 go till the church spared me." 
 
 " December IQth. The General Court having desired me to 
 go and reside at the College, I am in great distress concerning 
 it ; being, in my spirit, exceedingly against complying with the 
 motion, yet desirous to do what God would have me to do. I 
 have set apart this day to cry to Heaven for direction in this 
 matter, and that God will incline my heart to do what shall be 
 pleasing in his sight. But oh that God would accept of service for 
 me in England according to my faith ! " 
 
 See pp. 96, 97. 
 
 " 1699. January 21s. I am still distressed about the College 
 and my removal to Cambridge. How does that consist with the 
 faith I have had concerning my doing service for the name of Christ 
 in England?" * 
 
 " February 4th. Being still distressed in my spirit about the 
 motion of the General Court concerning my removal to Cambridge, 
 which is a thing contrary to the faith marvellously wrought into my 
 soul, that God will give me an opportunity to serve and glorify 
 Christ in England, I set the day apart to cry to Heaven about it. 
 And, considering that the Council is to meet next week, to consider 
 the affair of the College, the Lord be with me, and direct me what 
 to do and say to them." 
 
 " February 5th. At a church meeting of the brethren, I men- 
 tioned to them the proposal of the General Court about my re- 
 moval to Cambridge. The vote I read to them was in the words 
 following ; ' Whether do you consent, that the Pastor of this church 
 be dismissed from his relation unto, and his work in, this congre- 
 gation, that he may wholly devote himself to the service of the 
 College, and that in order thereunto he remove his habitation from 
 Boston to Cambridge ? ' When the vote was put in the affirmative, 
 not one man would lift up his hand ; when in the negative, every 
 one of the brethren lifted up his hand." 
 
 VOL. I. 61
 
 482 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, "February 17tk. In New England the College is in an uncom- 
 
 NO. ix. fortable state. I am still distressed about my removal thither. The 
 
 Extracts Council and Corporation are to meet next week about the affair. 
 
 from Presi- 
 dent Math- The Lord prepare me for what I may hear from England, and let 
 
 me once more see that the prayer of faith shall not suffer another 
 d isappointment." 
 
 " February 23<7. The Corporation met with the Council about the 
 College. I told them, that, if the church and my wife would con- 
 sent to my removing to Cambridge, I would go. Only I put in this 
 caution ; ' except some tidings from England did prevent.' They 
 generally seemed satisfied. Only Mr. Torrey said, ' All I said was 
 nothing.' He then said to me, that ' my pretending to resign was 
 but a flourish.' " 
 
 " February 24?A. Discoursed with Mr. Torrey, who desired me 
 not to resign the Presidentship, and expressed entire respect to me." 
 
 " February 26M. Why should I be so distressed in my spirit 
 about my removing to Cambridge ? Has not God told me this very 
 day, that he has work for me to do? " 
 
 No. X.* See pp. 102, 108, 134, 135. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM COTTON MATHER'S DIARY. 
 
 Kx tracts 
 from Cot- 
 ton Math- 
 er's Diary. 
 
 " 1699. 7th d. 4th m. (June.) The General Court has, divers times 
 of late years, had under consideration the matter of the settlement of 
 the College, which was like still to issue in a voyage of my father 
 to England, and the matter is now again considered. 1 have made 
 much prayer about it many and many a time. Nevertheless, I never 
 could have my mind raised unto any particular faith about it, one 
 way or another. But this day, as I was (may I not say) in the 
 Spirit, it was in a powerful manner assured me from Heaven, that 
 my father should one day be carried into England, and that he shall 
 there glorify the Lord Jesus Christ ; and that the particular faith 
 which has introduced it, shall be at last made a matter of wonderful 
 
 * Containing all the extracts from the Diary of Cotton Mather, referred to 
 in this work, except such as are quoted at large in the text.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 483 
 
 glory and service unto the Lord. And thou, oh Mather the younger, APPENDIX, 
 shalt live to see this accomplished ! " 
 
 " 16th d. 5tk m. (July}. Being full of distress in my spirit, as 
 I was at prayer in my study at noon, it was told me from Heaven, ton Math- 
 that my father shall be carried from me unto England, and that my 
 opportunities to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ will, on that occasion, 
 be gloriously accommodated." 
 
 " 18th d. 5th m. Both Houses, in our General Assembly, have 
 so passed their bill for the incorporation of the College, that 
 there appears a necessity of sending an agent to White Hall, to 
 solicit the royal approbation lor it. The agency will doubtless fall 
 upon my father, and this prove the time for its being one way or the 
 other determined. I therefore set apart this day for prayer, with 
 fasting, in my study before the Lord, especially on this occasion. 
 And when it was about noon, crying to Heaven, that the matter 
 of my father's voyage to England might be well ordered, it was (in 
 a manner that I may not utter) assured unto me, from Heaven, that 
 my father shall be carried into England, and that I should live to 
 see the glory of the Lord in this matter, and that, at this very time, 
 there was occurring that which should one day accomplish it. 
 
 " And now behold a most unintelligible dispensation ! At this very 
 time, even about noon,' instead of having the bill for the College 
 enacted, as was expected, the Governor plainly rejected it, be- 
 cause of a provision therein, made for the religion of the country. 
 But, at the same time, he told them he believed the King would 
 grant them that very provision, and security for our religion, and 
 urged them to address the King for it, and send an agent with an 
 address, and choose my father for their agent ; and added, that he 
 would heartily join with them in their doing so. The Assembly 
 was now all in confusion, and had sat many weeks, and were grown 
 impatient to be at home, and many of their members had already 
 gone home, so that no importunity of the Governor could prevail 
 with them to be willing to do any thing in this matter, until their 
 next session in October. 
 
 " Lord, preserve my faith, and assist me to wait with an holy and 
 humble patience for the issue of these mysterious things ! " 
 
 " 31st d. Wth mo. (Dec.) Observing my father, in discourse with him 
 yesterday, to be under some discouragement about the accomplish- 
 ment of the particular faith which had seemed so often infused from 
 Heaven into our minds, about his yet having an opportunity to glo- 
 4fy the Lord Jesus Christ in England, I did, this day at noon, in my
 
 484 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, study, lay that matter before the Lord ; and, as I was concluding 
 No- x ' my petitions about it, without any special operation from Heaven 
 
 Extracts upon my mind, and just ready to conclude I should have none, my 
 
 from Cot- r 
 
 ton Math- mind suddenly felt a strange and strong operation from Heaven 
 
 iar ' ' upon it, which caused me to break forth into expressions of this 
 importance ; ' The Lord will do it ! The Lord will do it ! My 
 father shall be carried into England, and he shall there have a short 
 but a great opportunity to glorify my Lord Jesus Christ. In a most 
 wonderful way it shall be brought about, and it shall at last appear, 
 that the faith which there has been concerning it was the wonderful 
 work of Heaven, and the Lord shall have revenues of glory from it.' " 
 
 See p. 108. 
 
 " 1700. 16th d. 4th mo. (Lord's day.) I am going to relate one of 
 the most astonishing things that ever befell in all the time of my 
 pilgrimage. 
 
 " A particular faith had been unaccountably produced in my father's 
 heart, and in my own, that God will carry him unto England, and 
 there give him a short but great opportunity to glorify the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, before his entrance into the he'avenly kingdom. There 
 appears no probability of my father's going thither but in an agency 
 to obtain a charter for the College. This matter having been for 
 several years upon the very point of being carried in the General As- 
 sembly, hath strangely miscarried when it hath come to the birth. 
 It is now again before the Assembly, in circumstances wherein if it 
 succeed not, it is never like to be revived and resumed any more. 
 Sundry times, many times, when I have been spreading the case 
 before the Lord, with a faith triumphantly exercised on his power 
 and wisdom and goodness, I have had my assurances, that my 
 father shall yet glorify the Lord Jesus Christ in England, renewed 
 unto my amazement. 
 
 " But the matter in the Assembly being likely now to come unto 
 nothing, I was in this day in extreme distress of spirit concerning 
 it. My fash indeed would be on all accounts imaginable against 
 my father's removal from me. It will doubtless plunge me into ten 
 thousand inconveniences. But my faith, on the other hand, having 
 been so supernaturally raised for it, the thoughts of that 's being 
 wholly disappointed were insupportable. After I had finished all 
 the other duties of this day, I did in my distress cast myself pros-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 485 
 
 trate on my study floor before the Lord. Here I acknowledged my APPENDIX, 
 own manifold and horrible sinfulness, and my worthiness, by reason 
 
 of that sinfulness, to be put off with delusions, and have a serpent Extracts 
 
 from Cot- 
 given to me when I asked and looked for the Holy Spirit. Never- ton Math- 
 
 theless, I, that am dust and ashes, and worthy to be made so by fire 
 from Heaven, craved leave to plead with Heaven concerning the 
 matter of the particular faith which had been wrought in my mind, 
 as I thought by the Lord's own holy operation. I pleaded, that 
 my Lord Jesus Christ had furnished me with his own glorious righ- 
 teousness, and was now making intercession for me in the Holy of 
 Holies, and because of his interest there I might approach to the 
 most high God, with humble boldness, as to a prayer-hearing Lord. 
 I spread before him the consequences of things, and the present 
 posture and aspect of them, and, having told the Lord, that I had 
 always taken a particular faith to be a work of Heaven on the 
 rninds of the faithful, but if it should prove a deceit in that remark- 
 able instance which was now the cause of my agony, I should be 
 cast into a most wonderful confusion; I then begged of the Lord, 
 that, if my particular faith about my father's voyage to England were 
 not a delusion, he would be pleased to renew it upon me. All this 
 while my heart had the coldness of a stone upon it, and the strait- 
 ness that is to be expected from the lone exercise of reason. But 
 now all on the sudden I felt an inexpressible force to fall on my 
 mind, an afflatus, which cannot be described in words ; none knows 
 it but he that has it. If an angel from Heaven had spoken it par- 
 ticularly to me, the communication would not have been more 
 powerful and perceptible. It was told me, that the Lord Jesus 
 Christ loved my father, and loved me, and that he took delight in 
 us, as in two of his faithful servants, and that he had not permitted 
 us to be deceived in our particular faith, but that my father should 
 be carried into England, and there glorify the Lord Jesus Christ 
 before his passing into glory; that there shall be illustrious revenues 
 of praise to the Lord Jesus Christ, from our particular faith about this 
 concern, and that I shall also live to see it, and that a sentence of 
 death shall be written on the effect and success of our particular 
 faith, but the Lord Jesus Christ, who raises the dead, is the resur- 
 rection and the life, shall give a new life unto it. He will do it I 
 He will do it ! 
 
 " Having left a flood of tears from me, by these rages from the 
 invisible world, on my study floor, I rose and went into my chair. 
 There I took up my Bible, and the first place that I opened was at
 
 486 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, Acts xxvii. 23-25, ' There stood by me an angel of God, whose 
 No- x ' I am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, thou must be brought 
 before Cresar.' I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told 
 me. A new flood of tears gushed from my flowing eyes, and I 
 broke out into these expressions. ' What ! shall my father yet 
 appear before Caesar! Has an angel from Heaven told me so! 
 And must I believe what has been told me! Well then, it shall 
 be so ! it shall be so ! ' " 
 
 Extracts 
 from Cot- 
 ton Math- 
 er's Diary. 
 
 " And now what shall I say ! When the affair of my father's 
 agency after this came to a turning point in the Court, it strangely 
 miscarried ! All came to nothing ! Some of the Tories had so 
 wrought upon the Governor, that, though he had first moved this 
 matter, and had given us both directions and promises about it, yet 
 he now (not without base unhandsomeness) deferred it. The 
 Lieutenant-Governor, who had formerly been for it, now (not with- 
 out great ebullition of unaccountable prejudice and ingratitude) 
 appeared, with all the little tricks imaginable, to confound it. It 
 had for all this been carried, had not some of the Council been 
 inconveniently called off and absent. But now the whole affair of 
 the College was left unto the management of the Earl of Bellamont, 
 so that all expectation of a voyage for my father unto England, on 
 any such occasion, is utterly at an end. 
 
 " What shall I make of this wonderful matter ? Wait ! Wait ! " 
 
 See p. 134. 
 
 "1699. 7th, 10th m. (Dec.) I see another day of temptation 
 begun upon the town and land. A company of headstrong men in 
 the town, the chief of whom are full of malignity to the holy ways 
 of our churches, have built in the town another meetinghouse. To 
 delude many better meaning men in their own company, and the 
 churches in the neighbourhood, they passed a vote in the founda- 
 tion of the proceedings, that they would not vary from the practice 
 of these churches, except in one little particular. But a young 
 man born and bred here, and hence gone for England, is now 
 returned hither at their invitation, equipped with an ordination to 
 qualify him for all that is intended on his returning and arriving 
 here ; these fallacious people desert their vote, and, without the
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 487 
 
 advice or knowledge of the ministers in the vicinity, they have APPENDIX, 
 published, under the title of a manifesto, certain articles that utterly ' X ' 
 
 subvert our churches, and invite an ill party, through all the coun- Extracts 
 
 ' ' _ from Cot- 
 
 try, to throw all into confusion on the first opportunities. This ton Math- 
 drives the ministers that would be faithful unto the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and his interests in the churches, unto a necessity of ap- 
 pearing for their defence. No little part of these actions must 
 unavoidably fall to my share. I have already written a large moni- 
 tory letter to these jnnovators, which, though most lovingly penned, 
 yet enrages their violent and imperious lusts to carry on the apostasy." 
 
 See p. 135. 
 
 "1699. 5th d. l]th m. (Saturday.) I see Satan beginning a 
 terrible shake in the churches of New England, and the innovators 
 that had set up a new church in Boston (a new one indeed !) have 
 made a day of temptation among us. The men are ignorant, arro- 
 gant, obstinate, and full of malice and slander, and they fill the land 
 with lies, in the misrepresentations whereof I am a very singular 
 sufferer. Wherefore I set apart this day again for prayer in my 
 study, to cry mightily unto God." 
 
 "21s d. llth m. The people of the new church in Boston, 
 who, by their late manifesto, went on in an ill way, and in a 
 worse frame, and the town was filled with sin, and especially with 
 slanders, wherein especially my father and myself were sufferers. 
 We two, with many prayers and studies, and with humble resigna- 
 tion of our names unto the Lord, prepared a faithful antidote for 
 our churches against the infection of the example, which we feared 
 this company had given them, and we put it into the press. But, 
 when the first sheet was near composed at the press, I stopped it, 
 with a desire to make one attempt more for the bringing of this 
 people to reason. I drew up a proposal, and, with another min- 
 ister, carried it unto them, who at first rejected it, but afterwards 
 so far embraced it, as to promise that they will the next week pub- 
 licly recognise their covenant with God and one another, and there- 
 withal declare their adherence to the Heads of Agreement of the 
 United Brethren in England, and request the communion of our 
 churches in that foundation. 
 
 " A wonderful joy filled the hearts of our good people far and near, 
 that we had obtained thus much from them. Our strife seemed
 
 488 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, now at an end ; there was much relenting in some of their spirits, 
 when they saw our condescension, our charity, our compassion. 
 We overlooked all past offences. We kept the public fast with them 
 (on 31st, 1 1th month, Wednesday), and my father preached with them 
 on following peace with holiness, and I concluded with prayer." 
 
 Extracts 
 from Cot- 
 ton Math- 
 er's Diary. 
 
 No. XL See pp. 82, 86, 87, 89, 95, 126, 136, 138, 150, 
 156, 193, 201, 203, 207, 223, 256. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM JUDGE SEWALL'S DIARY. 
 See p. 82. 
 
 Extracts President Mather's Diary is coincident with the College records. 
 
 Se wall's ge Judge Scwall's states the proceedings thus. 
 Diary. 
 
 October IZth. The Lieutenant-Governor goes to Cam- 
 bridge, complimented the President, &,c. for all their respect to 
 him, acknowledged his obligations, and promised his interposition 
 for the College, as became such an alumnus for such an alma 
 mater. Directed the President and Fellows to go on ; and enjoined 
 the students to obedience." 
 
 See p. 86. 
 
 " 1696. December 18th. Mr. Mather, Mr. Allen, Mr. Willard, 
 and Cotton Mather, give in a paper,* subscribed by them, showing 
 
 * This-paper was in these words. 
 
 " Objections made by Increase Mather and others to the above act. 
 
 " The act for incorporating the College allows no President, except resident 
 (and so the College rendered incapable of action), before the act be confirmed. 
 
 " We observe, that four thousand pounds revenue be reduced to two, and 
 know not what advantage of it Some Colleges in Oxford have thirty thou- 
 sand. 
 
 " No Corporation meeting is therein to be had, on any occasion, though 
 never so small, without advice given to sixteen, whereof some are far distant; 
 and without the presence of ten, and the consent of nine. 
 
 u There can be no execution of any statute, or order, without the incum-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 
 their dislike of our draft of the College charter ; and desiring, that APPENDIX, 
 their names may not be entered thereon. One chief reason was 
 
 the appointing the Governor and Council for visitors. Extracts 
 
 <-> -11 from Judge 
 
 " I do not know that 1 ever saw the Council run upon with such a Sewall's 
 
 height of rage before. The Lord prepare us for the issue. The 
 ministers will go to England for a charter, except we exclude the 
 Council from the visitation. Allege this reason, because the King 
 will not pass it, and so we shall be longer unsettled." 
 
 See p. 87. 
 
 " 1697. March 26M. This day Mr. Leverett was by the Council 
 denied to be of the Corporation for the College. How the deputies 
 will resent it, I know not." 
 
 See p. 89. 
 
 " 1696. November 25th. Mr. William Brattle was ordained at 
 Cambridge. He and Mr. Mather (the President) preached. It 
 was, at first, ordered that Mr. Brattle should not preach. But many 
 being troubled at it, 't was afterward altered. Mr. Bratlle also pro- 
 cured the church to order elder Clarke should not lay his hand on 
 his head when he was ordained, and he refrained accordingly. So 
 that Deacon Gile, coming home, said, he liked all very well except 
 the bill of exclusion." 
 
 brance aforesaid ; those, that know what it is to govern the College, are of 
 opinion, that these things will render it impossible. 
 
 " We see a diminution of respect to the President in the former charter, as 
 to immunity of servants. 
 
 " The visitation is such as makes it extremely probable, that the act will not 
 only miss of the Royal approbation, but also give offence by its variation from 
 the directions of the Lords of the Council ; which we intimate not from our 
 dislike of the thing, but from our concern to have no part in any thing that 
 may renew or prolong the unsettlement of the College. 
 
 " For such causes, we humbly pray to be excused from having our names 
 inserted in the act. 
 
 " Signed, INCREASE MATHER. 
 " JAMES ALLEN. 
 " SAMUEL WILLARD. 
 " COTTON MATHER." 
 
 VOL. i. 62
 
 490 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 *. 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 NO. xi. See p. 95. 
 
 Extracts 
 
 from Judge Judge Sewall, in his Diary, thus states the circumstances of the 
 
 Diary. interview between the committee of the General Court and the Presi- 
 
 dent, on the subject of his removal to Cambridge, according to their 
 vote passed the 3d of December, 1698. 
 
 " 1698. December 8th. The Speaker, Mr. Eyre, and Mr. Oliver, 
 deputy for Cambridge, were of a committee with Mr. Secretary and 
 me, to acquaint Mr. Mather with the Court's desire of his removal 
 to Cambridge, and to carry him an order for .200 per annum, so 
 long as he should reside there. Mr. President expostulated with 
 Mr. Speaker and Mr. Eyre about the votes being altered from <250, 
 as the Council had set it; and also his name being left out and 
 making him a five years' President. 
 
 " Note. By a conference the bill was made as ours, at first, saving 
 fifty pounds less. 
 
 " We urged his going all we could. I told him of his birth and 
 education there ; that he looked at work rather than wages ; that 
 all met in desiring him, and should hardly agree so well in any 
 other. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the House, earnestly desired him. 
 He objected, want of a house, bill for Corporation not passed, 
 his church, that he must needs preach once every week ; which 
 he preferred before the gold and silver of the East Indies. I told 
 him he would preach twice a day to the students ; he said that 
 exposition was nothing like preaching." * 
 
 See p. 126. 
 
 " 1701. October 20M. Mr. Cotton Mather came to Mr. Wilkins' 
 shop, and there talked very sharply against me, as if I had used 
 his father worse than a negro. He spake so loud, that the people 
 in the street might hear him. 
 
 " Mem. On the 9th of October I sent Mr. Increase Mather a 
 haunch of very good venison. I hope in that I did not treat him 
 worse than a negro. 
 
 " October 22d. I, with Major Walley and Captain Samuel Check- 
 ley, speak with Mr. Cotton Mather at Mr. Wilkins'. I expostulate 
 with him from 1 Tim. v. 1, ' Rebuke not an elder.' He said he 
 
 " For President Mather's account of the same interview, see p. 480.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 491 
 
 had considered that. I told him of his book, of the law of kind- APPENDIX, 
 ness for the tongue. Whether this was correspondent with that, 
 
 or with Christ's rule. He said, that having spoken to me before, Extracts 
 
 from Judge 
 
 there was no reason for his speaking to me again. And so justified Se wall's 
 his reviling me behind my back. Charged the Council with lying, 
 nypocrisy, tricks, and I know not what. I asked him, if this were 
 with the meekness as it should be. He answered, Yes. Charged 
 the Council in general, and then showed my share, which was my 
 speech in Council, viz. ' If Mr. Mather should go to Cambridge 
 again, to reside, with a resolution not to read in the Scriptures, and 
 expound in the Hall, I fear the example will do more hurt than his 
 going thither will do good.' This speech I owned. I asked, if I 
 should suppose he had done something amiss in his church, as an 
 officer, whether it would be well for me to exclaim against him in 
 the street for it? (Mr. Wilkins would fain have had him gone into the 
 inner room, but he would not.) I told him, I conceived he had 
 done much unbecoming a minister of the Gospel ; and, being called, 
 I went to the Council. 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25." 
 
 " October 23rf. Mr. Increase Mather said to Mr. Wilkins, ' If I 
 am a servant of Jesus Christ, some great judgment will fall on 
 Captain Sewall and his family.' " 
 
 " October 25th. This day got my speech copied out, and gave it 
 to Mr. Wilkins, that all might see what was the ground of Mr. 
 Mather's anger. Wilkins carried it to the Mathers. Writ out 
 another, and gave it to Joshua Gee. I perceive Mr. Wilkins carried 
 his to Mr. Mather. They seem to grow calm." 
 
 See p. 136. 
 
 "1699-1700. January 24fA. Lieutenant-Governor calls me, 
 with him, to Mr. Willard's, where, out of two papers, Mr. William 
 Brattle drew up a third, for an accommodation, to bring on an 
 agreement between the new church and our ministers. Mr. Colman 
 got his brethren to subscribe to it." 
 
 " January 25th. Mr. I. Mather, Mr. C. Mather, Mr. Willard, Mr. 
 Wadsworth, and S. Sewall, wait on the Lieutenant-Governor, at 
 Mr. Cooper's, to confer about the writing drawn up the evening 
 before. There was some heat, but grew calmer, and, after lecture, 
 agreed to be present at the fast, which was to be observed Jan. 31st."
 
 492 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, See p. 138. 
 
 No. X\. 
 
 Extncts " 1700. January '3lst. Fast at the new church. 
 
 from Judge " A. M. Mr. Colman reads the writing agreed on. Mr. Allen 
 
 Sewall's 
 
 Diary. prays. Mr. Colman preaches, prays, and blesses. 
 
 " P. M. Mr. Willard prays. Mr. I. Mather preaches. Mr. Cot- 
 ton Mather prays. Mr. Brattle sets Oxford tune. Mr. Mather 
 blesses. 
 
 " His text was, ' Follow peace with all men, and holiness.' His 
 doctrine, must follow peace, so far as it consists with holiness, 
 Heb. xii. 14. Mr. Colman's text was, Rom. xv. 29, ' And I am 
 sure, that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the 
 blessing of the Gospel of Christ.' 
 
 " Principal ministers, Lieutenant-Governor, and Council, present. 
 
 " Mr. Willard prayed God to pardon all the frailties and follies of 
 ministers and people ; and that they might give that respect to the 
 other church due to them, though not just of their constitution. 
 
 " Mr. Mather in sermon, and Mr. Cotton in prayer, to the same 
 purpose, and pathetically for Mr. Colman and his flock." 
 
 See p. 150. 
 
 " 1697. November 20th. Mr. Willard told me of a falling out 
 between the President and him, about choosing fellows, last Mon- 
 day. Mr. Mather has sent him word, he will never come to his 
 house more till he give him satisfaction." 
 
 See p. 156. 
 
 " 1707. October 28th. The Fellows of Harvard College met and 
 chose Mr. Leverett President. He had eight votes. Dr. Increase 
 Mather three. Cotton Mather one. Mr. Brattle one. Mr. White 
 did not vote. And Mr. Gibbs came when voting was over." 
 
 See p. 201. 
 
 Two contemporaneous accounts remain of the proceedings of the 
 meeting of the Corporation, on this occasion. One in the records 
 of the Corporation, the other in the Diary of Judge Sewall. This 
 last is the most graphic and illustrative of the period.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 493 
 
 " 1707-8. January Hth. Went to Cambridge in Mr. Briggs's APPENDIX, 
 coach, with Colonel Townsend, Mr. Bromfield, and Mr. Stoddard. 
 
 Mr. Eliakim Hutchinson went in his own chariot, taking Mr. Wads- F xtra *} ts d 
 
 worth with him. Captain Belcher carried Mr. Secretary in his Sewall's 
 
 Diary 
 
 calash. Mr. Pemberton carried Mr. Brown in his sleigh over the 
 ice. Mr. Miles carried Mr. Treasurer Brattle. Mr. Colman there. 
 Major-General Winthrop, Colonel Elisha Hutchinson, Mr. S. Foster, 
 Mr. Sargeant, Dr. Mather, Mr. Cotton Mather, Mr. Bridges. Mr. 
 Allen not there. The day was very pleasant. Colonel Phillips. 
 Mr. Russell, in his black cap. Colonel Lynde met us from Charles- 
 town. Mr. Bradstreet, Mr. Angier, there. Mr. Woodbridge of 
 Medford, Mr. Nehemiah Hobart. In the Library the Governor 
 formed a meeting of the Overseers of the College, according to the 
 charter of 1650, and reduced the number [of the Corporation] to 
 seven, viz. Mr. Leverett, President, Mr. Nehemiah Hobart, Mr. 
 William Brattle, Mr. Ebenezer Pemberton, Mr. Henry Flint, Mr. 
 Jonathan Remington, Fellows, Mr. Thomas Brattle, Treasurer. 
 The Governor prepared a Latin speech for the instalment of the 
 President; then took the President by the hand, led him down 
 into the Hall. The books of the College records, charter, seal, 
 and keys, were laid upon the table running parallel with that next 
 the entry. The Governor sat with his back against a noble fire. 
 Mr. Russell on his left, and innermost, I on his right hand. Presi- 
 dent sat on the other side of the table over against him. Mr. 
 Nehemiah Hobart was called, and made an excellent prayer, then 
 Joseph Sewall made a Latin oration. Then the Governor read his 
 speech, and (as he told me) moved the books in token of delivery. 
 The President made a short Latin speech, importing the difficulties 
 discouraging, and yet that he did accept. Governor spoke further, 
 assuring him of the assistance of the Overseers. Then Mr. Edward 
 Holyoke made a Latin oration, standing where Joseph did, at a 
 desk on the table next the entry, at the inside of it, facing the 
 Governor. Mr. Danforth, of Dorchester, prayed. Mr. Paul Dudley 
 read part of the 132d Psalm, in Tate and Brady version, Windsor 
 tune. Closed with the Hymn to the Trinity. Had a very good 
 dinner upon three or four tables. Mr. Wadsworth craved a bless- 
 ing. Mr. Angier returned thanks. Got home very well. Lous Deo" 
 
 See p. 203. 
 
 " 1707 - 8. January 23r7. Cotton Mather told me of his letter to 
 the Governor (Dudley) of the 20th inst, and lent me a copy. Dr.
 
 494 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, Mather, it seems, has also sent a letter to the Governor. I wait with 
 concern to see what the issue of this plain, home dealing will be." 
 
 Extracts January SQth. Mr. Pemberton talked very warmly about Cotton 
 
 from Judge 
 
 Sewall's Mather's letter to the Governor. Seemed to resent it, and to expect 
 the Governor would animadvert upon him. Said, that, if he were 
 the Governor, he would humble him, though it cost him his head ; 
 speaking with great vehemency. 
 
 " February 5th. Mr. Colman preaches the lecture in Mr. Wads- 
 worth's turn, from Gal. v. 25; " If we live in the Spirit, let us also 
 walk in the Spirit." Spoke of envy and revenge as the complexion 
 and condemnation of the Devil. Spoke of other walking. It blotted 
 our sermons; it blotted our prayers: blotted our admonitions and 
 exhortations. It might justly put us upon asking ourselves, whether 
 we did live in the Spirit ; whether we were ever truly regenerated 
 or no. 
 
 " It is reckoned he lashed Dr. Mather, and Mr. Cotton Mather, 
 and Mr. Bridge, for what they have written, preached, and prayed 
 about the present contest with the Governor. I heard not of it 
 before. But yesterday Colonel Townsend told me of Dr. Mather's 
 prayer, 25th January, wherein he made mention one in twenty-eight 
 being faithful ; which make many look on me with an evil eye, 
 supposing Dr. Mather meant my withdrawing my vote of the 1st of 
 November." 
 
 See p. 207. 
 
 " 1713. June 18th. As I came from Mr. Stephens' meeting Mr. 
 Pemberton joined himself to me, and told me of the Governor's 
 vehement desire, that Colonel William Dudley might be made- 
 Treasurer of the College." 
 
 See pp. 193, 223. 
 
 " 1718. November VHth. Overseers' meeting, to petition the 
 General Court to make the College one hundred feet long. One 
 calling for the memorial from the end of the table, I stood up and 
 said, what the Honorable Commissioner had in hand was of great 
 moment, but I apprehended there was an affair of greater moment. 
 I have heard exposition of the Scriptures was not carried on in the 
 Hall. I inquired of the President if it were so or no. Was silence
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 195 
 
 a little while. Then the President seemed to be surprised at rny AJEPENDIX, 
 treating him in this manner. I did not use to do so. Neither did ' xr ' 
 
 he use to treat me so. This complaint was made twice at least. Extracts 
 
 from Judge 
 Many spoke earnestly, that what was said was out of season. Mr. Sewall's 
 
 Attorney stood up and seconded me very strenuously. When I was 
 fallen so hard upon, I said, I apprehended the not expounding the 
 Scriptures was a faulty omission, and I was glad of that opportunity 
 of showing my dislike of it. President said he had begun to take 
 it up again. I said I was glad of it. At another time said, that, if 
 he ivas to expound in the Hall, he must be supported. It went over. 
 The memorial was voted. Then Mr. Belcher stood up, and moved 
 earnestly, that exposition might be attended. At last Mr. Wads- 
 worth stood up and spoke in favor of it, and drew up a vote, that the 
 President should, as frequently as he could, entertain the students 
 with expositions of the Holy Scriptures, and read it. I moved, that 
 ' as he could ' should be left out, and it was so voted. Mr. Presi- 
 dent seemed to say, softly, it was not till now the business of the 
 President to expound in the Hall. I said, I was glad the Overseers 
 had now the honor of declaring it to be the President's duty." 
 
 " November 13th. Mr. President spake to me again pretty earn- 
 estly, and intimated, it was not the President's duty before this 
 order. I said, that it was a shame that a law should be required, 
 meaning, Ex mails moribus bonce leges." 
 
 See p. 256. 
 
 "1721-2. January %4th. Overseers' meeting. Mr. Edward 
 Wigglesvvorth is presented by the President and Fellows of Harvard 
 College, elected by them the Professor of Divinity, who was ap- 
 proved by the Overseers, by papers, written, Yes and No. It was 
 voted, it should be done in that manner. Eleven yeas, three noes. 
 Directed he should be called the Hollis Professor" 
 
 No. XII. See p. 90. 
 
 APPLICATION OF THE CORPORATION TO THE GENERAL 
 
 COURT. 
 
 Application 
 
 of the Cor- 
 
 " 1697. Boston, June 7th. Upon advice, that an act of incor- poration to 
 
 porating Harvard College is lately passed in the General Assembly ; Court.
 
 496 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, we, who are informed that we are named therein, as intrusted with 
 No - xn - the care of that society, being very sensible that it is of great con- 
 Application cernment to these churches, both in present and after times, that 
 poration to the College should no longer labor under the unhappy uncertainties 
 Court? 1 " ' f establishment, have therefore judged it necessary to desire that 
 the Rev Mr. Increase Mather, a person, who may most probably 
 be instrumental in procuring so great a favor for that society, and 
 therein for the whole country, undertake a voyage for England, in 
 order for the obtaining the Royal approbation unto the said act of 
 Assembly, or in case that cannot be, then to endeavour the ob- 
 taining such a charter from his Majesty as will be consistent with 
 the constitution of the people and churches in this country. 
 
 " And we request the Rev. Mr. Allen, Mr. Torrey, Mr. Willard, 
 and Mr. Thacher, to acquaint the Honorable Lieutenant-Governor 
 and the General Court with this our desire, praying that their great 
 request for so universal a benefit, as that of the College, may still be 
 manifested by their concurrence, countenance, and assistance, to 
 this necessary endeavour for the preservation of that society. 
 " Signed, with the unanimous consent of the rest, 
 
 " CHARLES MORTON." 
 
 " June 9t7i. Read three several times in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives." 
 
 "June 15th. In the House of Representatives put to vote, 
 Whether any assistance shall be allowed out of the public treasury, 
 towards sending Mr. Increase Mather to England, for obtaining a 
 confirmation of the charter, granted to the Corporation of Harvard 
 College by this Court. 
 
 " Passed in the negative. 
 
 " PENN TOWNSEND, Speaker." 
 
 Petition of 
 the Corpo- 
 ration to 
 the General 
 Court. 
 
 No. XIII. See p. 90. 
 PETITION OF THE CORPORATION TO THE GENERAL COURT. 
 
 " To the Honorable the Lieutenant-Governor, Council, and Re- 
 presentatives of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in Gen- 
 eral Court assembled. 
 
 " Having received the grant of a charter for the incorporation of 
 Harvard College, wherein our names are mentioned, as intrusted
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 49? 
 
 with the government of that society, we judge it our duty to return APPENDIX, 
 our hearty thanks unto this great and General Assembly, for the 
 
 Petition of 
 
 respects therein put upon us. the corpo- 
 
 " And, whereas we have humbly prayed the concurrence and J* 110 ^ lo 
 assistance of this Assembly unto our most necessary endeavour to Court. 
 send over one of our members to solicit for the desired settlement, 
 we must now represent our further sense of this matter. 
 
 " We utterly despair of attaining our establishment without a 
 personal application to His Majesty. If this Honorable Assembly 
 discountenance our proceedings, it will be so extreme a discourage- 
 ment to us, that we doubt we shall have little heart to accept the 
 trust now devolved on us. Our care for the effectual support of the 
 College, in the absence of our President, we hope none that know 
 us will think so hardly of us as to question. The time has been, 
 when the College has accommodated this colony with a considerable 
 sum of money, not repaid unto this hour, and we would persuade 
 ourselves, that this Province will, in point of gratitude, not refuse to 
 be helpful unto the good settlement of that society, on which the 
 welfare of the public so much depends. 
 
 " Signed, with unanimous consent, 
 
 "CHARLES MORTON." 
 " Cambridge, June Uth, 1697." 
 
 " 1697. June 15th. Read in the House of Representatives. 
 " P. M. Read a second time." 
 
 No. XIV. See p. 93. 
 MEMORIAL OF THE CORPORATION TO THE GENERAL COURT. 
 
 " To the Honorable the Lieutenant-Governor, and Council, and Memorial 
 
 T, . . . T, of the Cor- 
 
 liepresentatives, m General Assembly now sitting in Boston, poration to 
 
 the address of the Fellows of Harvard College. 
 " We account it our duty to acquaint this Honorable Assembly, 
 that we have seen a necessity of proposing to our Reverend Presi- 
 dent the undertaking of a voyage unto England on the behalf of 
 our College, humbly to solicit His Majesty, that the late act for 
 incorporating that society may have the Royal confirmation ; or, 
 if that cannot be obtained, then to endeavour for such further settle- 
 ment as may be judged proper for us, considering the constitution 
 of our churches and of the country. And this for the ensuing 
 
 VOL. i. 63
 
 498 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, reasons. 1. It is of great consequence, both to the present and 
 after generations, that the College be settled on a charter foundation, 
 Memorial without which it will indeed be no real College, but quickly come 
 poraiion to to be nothing at all. 2. We cannot but fear, that, if effectual 
 Court 6 "* ' means be not used for expediting this affair, our College may be 
 lost, and those things happen which may frustrate all our hope about 
 it. 3. We have been informed, that the College hath lately been 
 disappointed of considerable donations designed for us, only because 
 we were not by law incorporated, which is no inconsiderable damage 
 to the public. 4. His Excellency, the Earl of Bellamont, our Gov- 
 ernor, hath abundantly expressed his apprehension, that His Majesty 
 will not give his Royal approbation to the act for incorporating our 
 College, as it is now worded, but that he believes the President's 
 going to England to solicit that matter will be of use, and, that in 
 such a way, better powers and privileges, for the advantage of the 
 College, may be obtained by a charter from His Majesty than by 
 act of the Assembly ; and therewithal declared his worthy desires 
 to have it so qualified by His Majesty's wisdom and goodness, that 
 the statutes and privileges of Harvard College may be secured 
 against invasions that may be vexatious to it. And His Excellency 
 having so graciously and generously signified his apprehension in 
 this matter, we cannot but suppose that all due respect will be paid 
 thereunto. 5. The Right Worshipful agent for this Province, Sir 
 Henry Ashurst, hath also given it as his judgment and advice, that 
 our President be encouraged to undertake a voyage to England, for 
 the service of the College in this matter, and by the late vessels 
 renewed it. 6. We are also desirous that there may be a President 
 residing at the College, and the way to have that accomplished, is 
 to get it speedily settled on a charter foundation. 7. Nor do we 
 know any one amongst us, that better understands the state of the 
 College, or that hath a greater acquaintance and interest in Eng- 
 land, or on whose discretion, fidelity, and integrity to the true in- 
 terest of the College and of our churches, we can have more 
 dependence. 
 
 " We therefore pray for such a concurrence and assistance of this 
 Honorable Assembly, as may, by the blessing of God, contribute 
 unto the good success of his undertaking. 
 
 " JAMES ALLEN, Socius Senior, 
 
 " In the name, and with the unanimous concurrence, of the 
 Corporation met in Boston, June 9th, 1698." 
 " In Council, June 14th, 1698. Read and voted in the negative. 
 
 " ISAAC ADDINGTON, Secretary."
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 499 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 No. XV. See p. 95. No ' xv " 
 
 LETTER OF PRESIDENT MATHER TO LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 
 STOUGHTON. 
 
 " To the Honorable William Stoughton, Lieutenant-Governor of Letter of 
 the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Mather^ 
 
 " Honorable Sir, Lieujenant- 
 
 Governor 
 
 " I promised the worthy gentlemen, who acquainted me with the Stoughton. 
 proposal of the General Court concerning the removal of my habita- 
 tion from Boston to Cambridge, that I would return my answer to 
 your Honor. In the first place, I, give my humble thanks as to the 
 General Assembly, so in a special manner to the Honorable Council, 
 and to your Honor in a most peculiar manner, for the respect in this 
 motion manifested. Nevertheless, as to the thing proposed, I do 
 not see my way clear. As to the salary, I make no objection, al- 
 though it is considerably less than what I have in Boston, through 
 the love and bounty of the people amongst whom God has fixed my 
 present abode. But the objections which are of weight with me 
 are these. 
 
 " 1st. If I comply with what is desired, I shall be taken off, in 
 a great measure at least, from my public ministry. Should I leave 
 preaching to one thousand five hundred souls (for I suppose that 
 so many use ordinarily to attend in our congregation), only to ex- 
 pound to forty or fifty children, few of them capable of edification 
 by such exercises, I doubt I should not do well. I desire, as long 
 as the Lord shall enable me, to preach publicly every Lord's day ; 
 and I think all the gold in the East and West Indies would not 
 tempt me to leave preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ, 
 which several of the Presidents of the College were necessitated to 
 desist from, because of their other work. 
 
 " 2d. I am now (through the patience of God) grown into years, 
 wanting but half a year of sixty, and of a weak and tender consti- 
 tution of body, not well able to endure the hardships of the presi- 
 dentship ; a younger and a stronger man would do better. 
 
 " Invalids vires ingeniumque mihi. I have labored much, both 
 in New England, and in England, to obtain a happy settlement of 
 the College. Should I at last go thither myself, the world would 
 say (as I hear some do say), that I sought myself in all those en- 
 deavours. Such reproaches will, by a resignation of my relation
 
 500 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, to that society, be for ever put to silence. One reason of my 
 
 Ko ' xv ' retaining my relation to the College thus long has been, because 
 
 Letter of jt W as thought that would facilitate its charter settlement. Could 1 
 
 President 
 
 Mather to see that done, I should with great joy give way to another President. 
 Governor " 4th. I am satisfied, that the church to which I stand related 
 Stoughton. wi jj not set me at liberty. Many say, that God has made me their 
 spiritual father, and how can they consent that I should go from 
 them? Besides, they well know, that I have had a strong bent 
 of spirit, to spend (and to end) the remainder of my few days in 
 England, and that the thing that keeps me here, now the Gospel has 
 a free passage there, is my love to them ; for which cause they will 
 not consent to my being discharged of my office-relation, without 
 which I must not remove to the College. For it is not fit I should 
 retain an office without discharging the duties of that office. 1 
 neither will nor have I obstructed the settlement of the College in a 
 better hand. I have often (as your Honor well knows) desired to 
 resign my relation to that society ; and, if it will not be grievous to 
 you, I shall to-morrow (if you please) deliver a resignation of the 
 presidentship to the Senior Fellow of the Corporation, for him to 
 call a Corporation meeting, in order to the choosing another Presi- 
 dent. And let the Corporation do as they would do if I were out 
 of the world. 
 
 " Thus have I taken the freedom to acquaint you with my present 
 inclinations, and with the reasons thereof, which I cannot answer. 
 Could I see them well answered to my own satisfaction (but of that 
 I despair), I should be capable of changing my mind ; until then, 
 and ever, I remain, 
 
 " Honorable Sir, 
 
 " Yours to serve, 
 
 " INCREASE MATHER. 
 " December 16th, 1698." 
 
 No. XVI. See p. 103. 
 LETTER FROM JOHN LEVERETT TO ISAAC ADDINGTON. 
 
 JohrfLev " Cambridge, August IQth, 1699. I have nothing proper to send 
 Isaac Ad to ^ our ^ onor > un l es s it be a short account of an election made at 
 dington. College last Monday. As soon as I got home I was informed, that
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 501 
 
 Rev. President (I. M.), held a Corporation at the College the APPENDIX, 
 7th inst., and the said Corporation, after the publication of the new ' 
 settlement, made choice of Mr. Fbint to be one of the Tutors at Better from 
 
 y John Lev- 
 
 College. They have taken off from Mr. Pemberton's salary 10 per erett to 
 
 annum, and have curtailed and docked Mr. Fitch of 15, and of a dington. 
 classis, with which they have patched up a pension for a third Fellow. 
 I have not the late act for incorporating the College at hand, nor 
 have I seen the new temporary settlement ; but I perceive, that all 
 the members of the late Corporation were not notified to be at the 
 meeting. I can't say how legal these late proceedings are ; but it 
 is wonderful, that an establishment for so short a time as till October 
 next, should be made use of so soon to introduce an unnecessary 
 addition to that society." t 
 
 " JOHN LEVERETT." 
 
 No. XVII. See p. 112. 
 
 LETTER OF PRESIDENT MATHER TO LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 
 STOUGHTON. 
 
 " To the Honorable William Stoughton, Esquire, Lieutenant- Letter of 
 Governor. Matherto 
 
 " To be communicated to the General Assembly. Lieutenant- 
 
 J Governor 
 
 " Honorable Sir, Stoughton 
 
 " I promised the last General Court to take care of the College 
 until the Commencement. Accordingly I have been residing in 
 Cambridge these three months. I am determined (if the Lord will) 
 to return to Boston the next week, and no more return to reside in 
 Cambridge; for it is not reasonable to desire me to be (as, out of 
 respect to the public interest, I have been six months within this 
 twelve) any longer absent from my family. And it is much more 
 unreasonable to desire one, so circumstanced as I am, to remove 
 my family to Cambridge, when the College is in such an unsettled 
 state. I do therefore earnestly desire, that the General Court would, 
 as soon as may be, think of another President for the College. It 
 would be fatal to the interest of religion, if a person disaffected to 
 the order of the Gospel, professed and practised in these churches, 
 should preside over this society. I know the General Assembly, 
 out of their regard to the interest of Christ, will take care to pre- 
 vent it. It is, and has been, my prayer to God, that one much more
 
 502 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, learned than I am, and more fit to inspect and govern the College, 
 VIL may be sent hither, and one whom all the churches in New Eng- 
 land shall have cause to bless the Lord for. 
 
 Letter of 
 
 President 
 
 Mather to 
 
 Lieutenant. 
 
 Governor 
 
 Stoughton. 
 
 " So I remain yours to honor and serve, 
 
 " INCREASE MATHER. 
 " From the College in Cambridge, 
 June 3Qth, 1701." 
 
 Letter of 
 John Ley- 
 erett to 
 Benjamin 
 
 Colinan. 
 
 No. XVIII. See p. 132. 
 LETTER OF JOHN LEVERETT TO BENJAMIN COLMAN. 
 
 " Cambridge, May 25M, 1699. 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " I have wrote several letters to you, but have not been sure of 
 your receiving any more than one of them. However, I hope they 
 have been so happy as to kiss your hands, and to testify to you my 
 regards. This I trust will get safe to you, since it waits upon those 
 that send their invitations to you to come over to do service in your 
 own country. The gentlemen that solicit your return inform me 
 of their doing so, and I hope their hopes of obtaining what they 
 send for, will not be frustrated, nor long deferred. I believe, Sir, 
 you have as advantageous a prospect as any our country can offer. 
 The gentlemen engaged in that affair are able, vigorous, and sin- 
 cere. They are men of honor, and can't, in an ordinary way, fail 
 a reasonable expectation. The work they have begun had its rise 
 from a zeal that is not common, and the progress of it is orderly 
 and steady. I am heartily pleased with the motion they have made 
 towards yourself, because I shall exceedingly rejoice at your return 
 into your country. We want persons of your character. You will, 
 I doubt not, let the name of your country have a weight in the 
 balance of your consideration. The affair offered to you is great, 
 and of great moment. I pray almighty God to be your director in 
 it. It is he that thrusts laborers into his harvest, and bounds the 
 habitations of the sons of Adam ; that yours (if it may be for your 
 advantage) may be where you have this invitation, is heartily de- 
 sired by all that I have heard speak of it ; but it cannot be more 
 agreeable to any body than it is to, 
 
 " Sir, your sincere friend and humble servant, 
 
 " JOHN LEVERETT."
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 503 
 
 No. XIX. See p. 156. 
 
 ADDRESS OF THE CORPORATION TO GOVERNOR DUDLEY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. XIX. 
 
 " To his Excellency, Joseph Dudley, Esq., Captain-General and Address of 
 Governor-in-chief in and over her Majesty's Province of r ation to~ 
 Massachusetts Bay, &c. The humble address of the Fellows 
 
 of Harvard College, in Cambridge, showeth, 
 
 " That we have, according to the rules of our House, unanimous- 
 ly declared our desires, that the future Heads of this College may be 
 resident here, and, as resident Presidents were anciently wont to do, 
 may govern the students, and serve them with Divinity expositions, 
 &c. And in pursuance thereof we have chosen the Honorable John 
 Leverett, Esq., our next President, of whom we have good confi- 
 dence, that he will (when accepted and subsisted) lay aside and 
 decline all interfering offices and employments, and devote himself 
 to said work ; and, by the divine help, be a very faithful and able 
 instrument to promote the holy religion here practised and estab- 
 lished, by instructing and fitting for our pulpits and churches, and 
 other public and useful services, such as shall in this school of the 
 prophets be committed to his care and charge. 
 
 " We recommend the said Honorable person as our President to 
 your Excellency's favorable acceptation, and pray, that you would 
 present him to the Honorable General Assembly, and move for his 
 honorable subsistence, if your Excellency thinks fit. 
 " So we rest, your Excellency's 
 
 " Most humble servants, 
 
 " JAMES ALLEN, Senior Fellow, 
 
 " Harvard College, Cambridge, 
 October 28M, 1707. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Corporation of Harvard College, the 28th 
 of October, 1707. Voted, that the Rev. Mr. Allen, the Senior 
 Fellow, sign the above address, and present the same to His Ex- 
 cellency in the name of the Fellows of Harvard College ; and Mr. 
 Treasurer, with the Fellows living in Boston, are desired to accom- 
 pany the Rev. Mr. Allen, when he waits on the Governor with the 
 said address." 
 
 Governor 
 Dudley.
 
 504 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. XX. 
 
 No. XX. See p. 157. 
 
 ADDRESS OF THIRTY-NINE MINISTERS TO GOVERNOR 
 DUDLEY. 
 
 Address of " May it please your Excellency, 
 
 inlsters to " ^ e nave l ate ty> w ' tn great joy, understood the great and early 
 Governor care that our brethren, who have the present care and oversight of 
 
 Dudley. 
 
 the College at Cambridge, have taken in supplying the place of the 
 late reverend and learned Mr. Samuel Willard, deceased, by their 
 unanimous choice of Mr. John Leverett, a worthy member of that 
 society, to be the President of that College. And we humbly take 
 the freedom to acquaint and assure your Excellency, that no person 
 whatsoever could be more acceptable to us in that station. Your 
 Excellency personally knows Mr. Leverett so well, that we shall 
 say the less of him. However, we cannot but give this testimony 
 of our great affection to and esteem for him ; that we are abundantly 
 satisfied and assured of his religion, learning, and other excellent 
 accomplishments for that eminent service, a long experience of 
 which we had while he was Senior Fellow of that House ; for that, 
 under the wise and faithful government of him, and the Rev. Mr. 
 Brattle, of Cambridge, the greatest part of the now rising ministry 
 in New England were happily educated ; and we hope and promise 
 ourselves, through the blessing of the God of our fathers, to see 
 religion and learning thrive and flourish in that society, under Mr. 
 Leverett's wise conduct and influence, as much as ever yet it hath 
 done. 
 
 " We accept with all thankfulness your Excellency's great, sin- 
 cere, and constant care and respect to the College, and doubt not 
 you will now readily give an instance of it, not only in approving 
 the choice made, but also in procuring and encouraging, as much as 
 in you lies, an honorable support and maintenance for the Presi- 
 dent, the granting of which we doubt not but that our great and 
 General Court will cheerfully and readily take effectual care of. 
 
 " Your Excellency will easily excuse the freedom we take, when 
 you consider how very near and dear, both to yourself and us, the 
 interest of that society is, and that the support and encouragement 
 of religion and learning in the College is of the last importance to 
 the church and state of New England. 
 
 " We shall add no more, but pray for the divine blessing on your
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 505 
 
 Excellency's person, family, and happy government, and subscribe APPENDIX, 
 
 i No. XX. 
 
 ourselves, _ 
 
 " Your Excellency's sincere and humble servants, 
 
 " John Rogers, Ipswich. 
 Edward Payson, Rowley. 
 Benjamin Rolfe, Haverliill. 
 Thomas Wells, Amesbury. 
 Moses Hale, Newbury Falls. 
 Samuel Belcher, Newbury. 
 Christopher Tappan, do. 
 Joseph Dwight, Woodstock, 
 Benjamin Col man, Boston. 
 Caleb Gushing, Salisbury. 
 Eliphalet Adams, Boston. 
 Jabez Fitch, Ipswich. 
 Joseph Belcher, Dedham. 
 Moses Fiske, Braintree. 
 John Norton, Hingham. 
 Nathaniel Eells, Scituate. 
 Nathaniel Pitcher, Scituate. 
 James Gardner, Marshfield. 
 John Robinson, Duxbury. 
 Ephraim Little, Plymouth. 
 
 Samuel Danforth, Taunton. 
 John Sparhawk, Bristol. 
 Thomas Greenwood, Rehoboth. 
 Samuel Man, Wrentham. 
 Joseph Baxter, Medfield. 
 Samuel Cheever, Marblehead. 
 Nicholas Noyes, Salem. 
 James Shephard, Lynn. 
 John Wise, Ipswich. 
 Joseph Capen, Topsjield. 
 Thomas Bernard, Andover. 
 Thomas Blowers, Beverley. 
 John Swift, Framingham. 
 Robert Buck, Marlborough. 
 Israel Loring, Sudbury. 
 Samuel Whiting, Billerica. 
 Joseph Estabrook, Concord. 
 John Hancock, Cambridge. 
 John Fox, Woburn." 
 
 Address of 
 thirty-nine 
 
 ministers to 
 
 No. XXI. See p. 166. 
 
 Hon. Leverett Saltonstall, graduated at Harvard College in 1802, 
 elected President of the Senate of Massachusetts in 1831, first 
 Mayor of the city of Salem in 1836, a Representative for Massa- 
 chusetts in the Congress of the United States in 1838. 
 
 No. XXII. See pp. 182, 269. 
 JOHN BULKLEY'S DEED TO HARVARD COLLEGE. 
 
 "1645. Decembris 20. Noverint universi per prresentes, quod John Bulk- 
 egomet Johannes Buckleius, nuper studens Collegii Harvardini, dono to^Harvard 
 Henricum Dunsterum, dicti Collegii Praesidem, utpote eidem ob 
 
 VOL. i. 64
 
 506 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 John Bulk- 
 ley's deed 
 to Harvard 
 College. 
 
 APPENDIX, plurima atque ampla accepta beneficia devinctissimus, niea parte 
 illius jugeris quod ipse cum Domino Downingo, Samuele Winthropo, 
 et Johanne Alcoke, cmimus a patre-familias Marritt, viz. Quarta 
 parte pomarii dudum a nobis plantati, et dimidium reliqui manentis 
 adhuc agrestis, ut, dum hie Prseses vixerit, pro sua vendicet ordinet- 
 que. Sin aliquando Presidium exuerit, aut in eodem vita, defunctus 
 fuerit, turn velim ut Collegium, tanquam /.tmov tenue ab alumno 
 inaxime benevolo, sibi in perpetuum appropriaret. 
 " Haec ego propria manu 
 
 " JOHANNES BUCKLEIUS." * 
 
 No. XXIII. See p. 186. 
 
 DONATIONS TO THE COLLEGE DURING THE SEVENTEENTH 
 CENTURY. 
 
 These were in money, lands, books, or specific articles. 
 
 1. Donations in money. Those received before the year 1654 
 
 Donations 
 to the Col- 
 lege during 
 
 teenth cen- have been already enumerated, and, with the names of the donors, 
 are contained in Appendix, No. I., except those of Thomas Adams 
 and Christopher Coulson, who paid their donations to Nathaniel 
 Eaton, of which the amount is unknown. 
 
 All the subsequent donations in money, during the seventeenth 
 century, including contributions towards the repair of the College 
 edifices, but not including legislative grants for the support of the 
 President, were as follows. 
 
 1654. Rev. Mr. Allen, of Dedham, gave two cows, valued at 
 1656. Richard Dana, (in cotton cloth,) . . . 
 
 John Stedman, of Cambridge, . . . 
 
 Edmund Angier, . . . . 
 
 Edward Jackson, ..... 
 
 Nicholas Davison, ..... 
 
 Edmund Frost, ruling elder of the church in Cambridge, 
 
 A widow in Roxbury, .... 
 
 Daniel Kempster, ..... 
 
 . 
 9 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 s. d. 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 12 
 1 10 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 050 
 
 * The above was transcribed into the Donation Book of the College, Vol. I. 
 p. 133, with this title ; " Extractum Doni Pomarii Sociorum per Johannem 
 Buckleium."
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 507 
 
 Samuel Richardson, of Woburn, 
 
 Richard Russell, of Charlestown, 
 
 Peter Oliver, ..... 
 
 Richard Bellingham, ..... 
 
 John Newgate, ..... 
 
 Increase Newell, ..... 
 
 Robert Keyne, . . . 
 
 Theodore Atkinson, ..... 
 
 Richard Saltonstall, .... 
 
 Elder Colburn, of Boston, . 
 
 Hezekiah Usher, of Boston, merchant, 
 
 Samuel Cole, . . . . . 
 
 James Oliver, ..... 
 
 Samuel Danforth, ..... 
 
 From Charlestown, .... 
 
 John Wilson, senior, forty shillings per annum for ten 
 years, ...... 
 
 1658. Edward Hopkins, of Hartford, a legacy, payable in 
 corn and meal, (College Book, No. III. p. 49, pay ac- 
 knowledged, and cost of transportation of it from 
 Hartford charged,) .... 
 
 Bridget Wynes, of Charlestown, legacy, 
 
 Thomas Peirce, do. do. 
 
 Mr. Rouse, sadler, do. do. 
 
 Edward Tyng, ..... 
 
 5 
 
 20 
 10 
 
 5 
 124 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. XXIII. 
 
 Donations 
 to the Col- 
 lege during 
 the seven- 
 teenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 20 
 
 Mr. Stranguish, of London, 
 William Paine, of Boston, . 
 John Paine, his son, .... 
 
 These gifts of John and William Paine were laid 
 out in the purchase of land, lying north of the old 
 meetinghouse, on which Dane Hall is now built. 
 William Colburne, of Boston, 
 
 The inhabitants of Eleutheria, " out of their poverty," 
 This was one of the Bahama Islands, for which collec- 
 tions had been made in New England.* 
 1659. Richard Saltonstall, a legacy, in cash, 
 
 and in goods, which cost in England, . . 
 
 Robert Keyne, of Boston, merchant, 
 John Dodderidge, of Bremeridge, in Dover county, gave 
 a yearly legacy of ten pounds for poor scholars. 
 
 * In Flynt's manuscript account of benefactions, there is this statement con- 
 cerning this gift ; " Incolse et Plantatores Insulro Segotese, sive Eleutherise, in 
 testimonium gratitudinis erga Massachusettenses pro necessariis in extrema 
 illorum indigentia transmissis subsidiis, Collegio designarunt." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o b 
 
 
 

 
 508 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, (Nothing was received subsequent to 1684. And, 
 
 after considerable expense at law, the Corporation 
 
 Donations abandoned the prosecution in 1737.) paid for 24 years, 240 
 
 to the Col- 1660. Henry Webb, of Boston, merchant, . . 50 
 
 the seven- 1669. Henry Henley, of Lime, in Dorsetshire, England, 27 
 
 teenth cen- 
 tury. .1273 5 
 
 Contributions for erecting a new College, 
 1669. Town of Portsmouth gave sixty pounds per 
 annum for seven years, of which Richard 
 Cutts subscribed 20 per annum, 420 
 Boston, of which Sir Thomas Temple sub- 
 scribed 100 and Benjamin Gibbs 50, 800 
 Salem, of which the Rev. Mr. Higginson 
 subscribed 50, Mr. William Brown 
 40, Mr. Edmund Batter 20, 130 2 3 
 Dorchester, . . . . 67 4 11 
 Lynn, . . . . 20 
 Watertown, . . . . 41 16 3 
 Cambridge and the village, . . 199 1 8 
 Ipswich, . . . . 60 3 2 
 t Newbury, . . . . 21 4 
 Charlestown, . . . . 196 11 1 
 Weymouth, . . . . 39 10 
 Braintree, . . . . 87 14 6 
 Rowley, . . . . 40 8 5 
 Dedham, of which Ensign Thomas Fuller 
 
 gave 5, . . . . 61 12 
 
 Roxbury, . . . . 37 16 8 
 
 Concord, . . . . 33 7 5 
 
 Sudbury, . . . . 24 8 
 
 Marblehead, . . . 8 19 6 
 
 Springfield, . . . . 17 18 9 
 
 Hadley, . . . . . 33 15 3 
 
 Northampton, . . . . 20 9 4 
 
 Westfield, . . . . 12 8 1 
 
 Dover, . . . . 32 15 
 
 Kittery, 22 
 
 Salisbury, . . . . 17 
 Topsfield, . . . . .600 
 
 Exeter, . . . . 10 
 
 Chelmsford, . . . . 18 7 
 
 Billerica, . . . . 12 4 
 
 Marlborough, . . . . 11 11 
 
 Gloucester, . . . . 500 
 
 Andover, . . . . . 12 10
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 509 
 
 Brought over, 
 
 1,273 
 
 5 APPENDIX, 
 
 
 Medfield, .... 
 
 7 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 No. XXIII. 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 Donations 
 
 
 Wenham, . . . . 
 
 4 
 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 to the Col- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 lege during 
 
 
 Hingham, . . ... 
 
 19 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 the seven- 
 
 
 Hull, 
 
 3 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 teenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 
 Reading, . . . * . 
 
 30 
 
 17 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Maiden, . . . . 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Haverhill ..... 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Scarborough, .... 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Bradford, . . . 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 Beverly, .... 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hatfield, ..... 
 
 14 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 Woburn, . . . . 
 
 27 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 Amount of the contributions, 
 
 
 
 2,697 
 
 5 
 
 1669. 
 
 Sir George Downing, 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 A Gentleman iu England, by Peter Serjeant, 
 
 27 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1670. 
 
 From England, do. 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1672. 
 
 Henry Ashurst, . . . 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1674. 
 
 From England, by Peter Serjeant, 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1676. 
 
 Judith Finch's legacy, 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 C 
 
 
 
 Captain Scarlet gave by legacy an annuity 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 of 5 for ever, of which appears to have 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 been received only . . 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Richard Russell gave 100, payable in 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 provisions, of which appears to have been 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 received only 
 
 31 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 
 1679. 
 
 John Smedley, of Concord, . 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1680. 
 
 David Wilton, by legacy, . . 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Henry Clarke, of Hadley, by legacy, - . 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1681. 
 
 Sir Matthew Hoi worthy, by legacy 1000 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 sterling, in Massachusetts currency . 1, 
 
 234 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Capt. John Hull, . . . 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1683. 
 
 Nathaniel Hulton, of Newington Green 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (England), by legacy, 100 sterling, 
 
 130 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Thomas Gunston, of Stock Newington, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 50 sterling, 
 
 65 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1686. 
 
 William Brown, by legacy, 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 William Pennoyer* bequeathed a rent charge 
 
 upon estates in England, from which was received 
 
 before 
 
 1685, ..... 
 
 241 
 
 16 
 
 6 
 
 
 1695. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Anderson, by legacy, . 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2,164 
 
 6 10 
 
 Amount of donations in money during the 17th century, 
 
 6,134 
 
 16 10 
 
 See above, p. 185.
 
 510 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, Besides the above, the following donations appear on 
 
 No XXIII 
 
 ' the books of the College, from which it is not known 
 
 toThe'coU ^ at an y tn i n g has been received, viz. 
 
 lege during 1683. Henry Ashworth, . . . 128 
 
 lecnTce^. Jose P h Brown > 100 
 
 tury. 1693. Rev. Edmund Brown, . . 100 
 
 Deacon William Trusdale, . . 40 
 
 Owen Stockton, . . . 20 
 
 388 
 
 And the following legacies were not obtained until the 
 next century. 
 1657. Edward Hopkins's legacy of . . 500 sterling. 
 
 Not received until 1718. 
 
 1681. Robert Thorner, of Baddesley, in Southampton (Eng- 
 land), ..... 500 sterling. 
 Not received, in the whole, until 1775. 
 1697. Robert Boyle, for the salary of two ministers to preach 
 
 to the natives, . . . 55 sterling, per annum. 
 
 2. Benefactions in lands, or incomes issuing therefrom. 
 
 Acres. 
 1638. The town of Cambridge, 2J 
 
 Being part of the land on which the Colleges now stand. 
 1640. The General Court, the Ferry between Boston and 
 Charlestown. 
 
 1645. John Bulkley and Matthew Day, Fellows' Orchard,* 1 Ird. 
 
 1646. Rev. Nathaniel Ward, .... 600 
 On Merrimack river, near Andover ; said in the books 
 
 to have been purchased because given in discharge of a 
 debt. President Wadswortu states, that the College 
 
 * This gift is thus mentioned in College Book, No. III. p. 32 ; and Donation 
 Book, Vol. V. p. 12. 
 
 " Mr. John Bulkley, first Master of Arts in Harvard College, and Matthew 
 Day, Steward of the College, gave a garden, containing about one acre and 
 one rod of land, situate near and adjoining to the College, and ordered the 
 same to be for the use of the Fellows that should from time to time belong to, 
 and be resident at, the said society, the said garden being now commonly called 
 and known by the name of the Fellows' Orchard." 
 
 This is the only record in which Day's name is mentioned. Neither of the 
 books that contain it is an original record. See above, pp. 408, 410, and both 
 refer to Bulkley 's deed, which says nothing about Day, and contains no 
 limitation to the use of the Fellows.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 511 
 
 derived no benefit from it, " through the negligence of 
 former times." College Boole, No. III. p. 104. 
 
 Israel Stoughton, by legacy, . . . 
 
 On the northeast side of Neponsit, about Mother 
 Brook, and on the Blue Hill. 
 
 Robert Sedgwick, '' a shop." 
 
 Sometimes called " two shops in Boston, standing by 
 the ordinary called the Ship Tavern." Let by President 
 Dunster for ten shillings annual rent. There is no ac- 
 count of any receipt from it after 1668. College Book, 
 No. III. p. 107. 
 
 1650. John Newgate, of Boston, gave 5 for ever, out of 
 the rents and revenues of his farm at Rumney Marsh. 
 1652. Town of Cambridge, .... 
 
 In Lexington. 
 
 John Coggan, of Boston, gave seventy acres of Salt 
 Marsh in Rumney Marsh, .... 
 This was leased in Wadsworth's time for .20 or 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. XXIII. 
 
 1653. 
 
 1654. 
 
 per annum. 
 
 Town of Cambridge, ..... 
 On the east side of Shawshin, now Billerica. 
 
 Henry Dunster, adjoining and making with the above 
 
 one parcel, ..... 
 
 John GJover, 5 a year, to be raised out of a moiety of 
 
 his land given to his son, for ever. 
 Robert Cooke, of Charlestown, 800 acres, confirmed by 
 
 the General Court. 
 The College obtained nothing. 
 
 1657. General Court, 2000 acres in the Pequod country. 
 The College obtained nothing by this gift. 
 
 1659. Robert Keyne, of Boston, merchant, half of a house in 
 
 Boston, valued at 147, 10s. In 1659 it was leased 
 for ten pounds. Situated near the old meetinghouse. 
 
 1660. Henry Webb, a house in Boston. 
 
 Situated in Washington Street, and extending in the 
 rear to Devonshire Street. 
 
 Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, reversion of house and lands in 
 Rowley, upwards of .... 
 
 Not received until fifty years afterwards. 
 
 1669. Elder Richard Champney, . . . . 
 In Cambridge. 
 
 1670. William Pennoyer, rents out of estates in England, 
 
 originally 34 per annum, sometimes no more than 
 13. 
 
 300 
 
 Donations 
 to the Col- 
 lege during 
 the seven- 
 teenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 20 
 
 70 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 150 
 
 40
 
 512 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. XXIII. 
 
 Donations 
 to the Col- 
 lege during 
 the seven- 
 teenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 1671. Theodore Atkinson, 40 rods of land by breadth and 
 
 length. 
 The College obtained nothing. 
 
 1672. John Hay ward, of Charlestown, by legacy, . . 24 
 Land in Watertown, bounding north on Fresh Pond. 
 
 1678. Daniel Russell gave by will 1000 acres at Winter Harbour. 
 The land was never obtained by the College. 
 
 1680. Samuel Ward (Bumpkin's, now) Ward's Island, . 30 
 Lies between the towns of Hingham and Hull. 
 
 1681. Edward Jackson, lands in Billerica. 
 Never obtained. 
 
 1682. General Court, Merriconeag Neck. 
 Never recovered. 
 
 1683. Town of Cambridge, ..... 3k 
 Land in Cambridge. 
 
 1696. Samuel Se wall, and Hannah Sewall, his wife, . 500 
 
 At Petaquamscott. 
 
 Acres, 1,961$ 
 3. Benefactions in books. 
 
 1638. John Harvard gave, by will, . . . 320 vols. 
 
 A catalogue of these books is preserved in College 
 
 Book, No. I. 
 
 1642. The magistrates gave from their libraries books to the 
 
 value of . . . . . . 200 
 
 1658.* Sir Kenelm Digby, 29 books, valued at . 60 
 
 A catalogue of these is preserved in College Book, No. I. 
 
 * Of the scarcity of books at that period, and the value attached to them, the 
 following document, preserved on the Collage records, is a curious evidence. 
 
 " A copy of Mr. Dunster's note, given to Mr. Scottow. 
 
 " These presents witness, that whereas Joshua Scottow, of Boston, merchant, 
 hath of his own free accord procured for the library of Harvard College, Henry 
 Stephens his Thesaurus, in four volumes, in folio, and bestowed the same 
 thereon, it is on this condition, and with this promise following; that if ever 
 the said Joshua, during his life, shall have occasion to use the said book, or any 
 parcel thereof, he shall have free liberty thereof, and access thereto. And if 
 God shall bless the said Joshua with any child, or children, that shall be stu- 
 dents of the Greek tongue, then the said books above specified shall be unto 
 them delivered, in case that they will not otherwise be satisfied without it. 
 
 " In witness whereof this present writing is signed by me, Henry Dunster, 
 President of the College, aforesaid, made at Boston, this twenty-eighth of the 
 eighth month, 1649. HENRY DcNSTER . 
 
 " Received of Mr. Urian Oakes, President, the above Thesaurus, in four 
 volumes, according to conditions above, upon the demand of my son, Thomas 
 Scottow. I say, received per me, this 30th of August. 
 
 " JOSHUA SCOTTOW."
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 613 
 
 Thomas Graves, some Mathematical books. 
 
 John Freck gave Biblia Polyglotta. 
 
 Ralph Freck, books valued at . . . . . 10 
 
 John Winthrop, Governor, 40 volumes of choice books, 
 
 valued at 20 
 
 A catalogue of these is preserved in College Book, No. I. 
 
 Sir Richard Daniel, Knight, gave many books. 
 1660. Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, by legacy, gave part of his library. 
 1675. John Lightfoot, D. D., his whole library, by legacy. 
 1678. Theophilus Gale, D. D., bequeathed his library to the 
 College, which made more than half the College 
 library. 
 See the entry, Donation Book, Vol. I. p. 19. 
 
 Joseph Brown, books by legacy, valued at . 50 
 
 1681. Edward Jackson gave Broughton's Chronology. 
 
 1682. Sir John Maynard, Serjeant at Law, gave eight chests 
 
 of books, valued at ..... 400 
 
 4. Benefactions in miscellaneous articles. 
 
 1656. Mr. Thomas Langham, piece of plate, valued at . 3 3 10 
 Mr. Venn, a fruit-dish, sugar-spoon, and silver-tipt jug. 
 
 Richard Harr, one great salt, and one small trencher 
 salt. 
 
 1657. Richard Sprague, by will, gave 30 ewe sheep, valued at 30 
 
 1658. Mr. Wilson, of Boston, merchant, one pewter flagon, 
 
 valued at . . . . . 10 
 
 Sir Thomas Temple, Knight, one pair of globes. 
 John Willet, a bell. 
 John Ward, of Ipswich, legacy, obtained in horses, 72 
 
 1683. Samuel Paris, a silver tankard, valued at . . 7 10 
 Edward Page, one silver goblet. 
 
 Francis Wainwright, one silver goblet. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 NO. XXIII. 
 
 Donations 
 to the Col- 
 lege during 
 the seven- 
 teenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 No. XXIV. See p. 188. 
 
 LAW AUTHORIZING FINES AND CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN 
 
 COLLEGE. 
 
 " It is hereby ordered that the President and Fellows of Harvard 
 College, for the time being, or the major part of them, are hereby 
 empowered, according to their best discretion, to punish all mis- 
 demeanors of the youth in their society, either by fine, or whipping 
 in the Hall openly, as the nature of the offence shall require, not 
 exceeding ten shillings or ten stripes for one offence ; and this law 
 
 VOL. i. 65 
 
 Law autho- 
 rizing fines 
 and corpo- 
 ral punish- 
 ment in the 
 College.
 
 514 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. XXIV. 
 
 Law autho- 
 rizing fines 
 and corpo- 
 ral punish- 
 ment in the 
 College. 
 
 to continue in force until this Court or the Overseers of the College 
 provide some other order to punish such offences. The magistrates 
 have past this with reference to the consent of their brethren, the 
 deputies, thereunto. 
 
 " Voted in the affirmative 21st of October, 1656. 
 
 " EDWARD RAWSON, Secretary. 
 " Consented to by the Deputies. 
 
 " WILLIAM TORRE Y." 
 
 Cambridge 
 town watch 
 authorized 
 to exercise 
 their pow- 
 ers within 
 the pre- 
 cincts of 
 the Col- 
 lege. 
 
 No. XXV. See p. 190. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE TOWN WATCH AUTHORIZED TO EXERCISE 
 THEIR POWERS WITHIN THE PRECINCTS OF THE COL- 
 LEGE. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Corporation, June 10th, 1659. 
 
 " Whereas there are great complaints of the exorbitant practices 
 of some students of this College, by their abusive words and actions 
 to the watch of this town, the Corporation, accounting it their 
 duty, by all lawful means, to seek the redress thereof for the future, 
 do hereby declare to all persons whom it may concern, that the 
 watch of this town, from time to time, and at all times, shall have 
 full power of inspection into the manners and orders of all persons 
 related to the College, whether within or without the precincts of the 
 said College houses and lands ; as by law they are empowered to act 
 in cases within the limit of their town, any law, usage, or custom, 
 to the contrary notwithstanding. Provided always we judge it not 
 convenient, neither do we allow, that any of the said watchmen 
 should lay violent hands on any of the students, being found within 
 the precincts of the College yards, otherwise than so that they may se- 
 cure them until they may inform the President or some of the Fellows. 
 Neither shall they in any case break into their chambers or studies 
 without special orders from the President or Fellows, or some other 
 authority ; but in all cases, as need may require, shall 
 seasonably inform either the President or some of the Fellows, who 
 will take care to examine the matter for the effectual healing of all 
 such disorders. Also, in case any student of this College shall be 
 found absent from his lodging after nine o'clock at night, he shall 
 be responsible for and to all complaints of disorder in this kind, 
 that, by testimony of the watch or others, shall appear to be done by 
 any student of the College, and shall be adjudged guilty of the said 
 crime, unless he can purge himself by sufficient witness."
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 515 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. XXVI. 
 
 No. XXVI. See p. 190. 
 COLLEGE DISCIPLINE ENFORCED BY THE CIVIL AUTHORITY. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Corporation in Cambridge, March 27th, 
 1682. 
 
 " Whereas great complaints have been made and proved against College 
 
 , for his abusive carriage, in requiring some of the Freshmen enforcedly 
 
 to go upon his private errands, and in striking the said Freshmen ; the , civ .^ 
 and for his scandalous negligence as to those duties that by the laws 
 of the College he is bound to attend ; and having persisted obsti- 
 nately in his will, notwithstanding means used to reclaim him, and 
 also refused to attend the Corporation, when this day required ; he 
 is therefore sentenced, in the first place, to be deprived of the pen- 
 sion heretofore allowed him, also to be expelled the College, and, 
 in case he shall presume, after twenty-four hours are past, to appear 
 within the College walls, that then the Fellows of the place cause 
 him to be carried before the civil authority." 
 
 No. XXVII. See pp. 15, 190. 
 
 "THE LAWS, LIBERTIES, AND ORDERS OF HARVARD COLLEGE, 
 CONFIRMED BY THE OVERSEERS AND PRESIDENT OF THE 
 COLLEGE IN THE YEARS 1642, 1643, 1644, 1645, AND 1646, AND 
 PUBLISHED TO THE SCHOLARS FOR THE PERPETUAL PRES- 
 ERVATION OF THEIR WELFARE AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 " 1. When any scholar is able to read Tully, or such like classical The Laws, 
 Latin author extempore, and make and speak true Latin in verse am j orders 
 and prose suo (ut aiunt} Marte, and decline perfectly the paradigms of Harvard 
 of nouns and verbs in the Greek tongue, then may he be admitted &c. 
 into the College, nor shall any claim admission before such qualifi- 
 cations. 
 
 " 2. Every one shall consider the main end of his life and studies, 
 to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life ; John xvii. 3. 
 
 " 3. Seeing the Lord giveth wisdom, every one shall seriously, by 
 prayer in secret, seek wisdom of Him ; Proverbs ii. 2, 3, &c. 
 
 " 4. Every one shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures 
 twice a day, that they be ready to give an account of their pro-
 
 516 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, ficiency therein, both in theoretical observations of language and 
 
 ' XVI1 ' logic, and in practical and spiritual truths, as their Tutor shall 
 
 The Laws, require, according to their several abilities respectively, seeing the 
 
 and Orders entrance of the word giveth light, &-c. ; Psalm cxix. 130. 
 
 College, " 5. In the public church assembly, they shall carefully shun all 
 
 gestures that show any contempt or neglect of God's ordinances, 
 
 and be ready to give an account to their Tutors of their profiting, 
 
 and to use the helps of storing themselves with knowledge, as their 
 
 Tutors shall direct them. And all Sophisters and Bachelors (until 
 
 themselves make common place) shall publicly repeat sermons in 
 
 the Hall, whenever they are called forth. 
 
 "6. They shall eschew all profanation of God's holy name, attri- 
 butes, word, ordinances, and times of worship ; and study, with rever- 
 ence and love, carefully to retain God and his truth in their minds. 
 
 " 7. They shall honor as their parents, magistrates, elders, tutors, 
 and aged persons, by being silent in their presence (except they be 
 called on to answer), not gainsaying ; showing all those laudable 
 expressions of honor and reverence in their presence that are in use, 
 as bowing before them, standing uncovered, or the like. 
 
 "8. They shall be slow to speak, and eschew not only oaths, lies, 
 and uncertain rumors, but likewise all idle, foolish, bitter scoffing, 
 frothy, wanton words, and offensive gestures. 
 
 " 9. None shall pragmatically intrude or intermeddle in other 
 men's affairs. 
 
 " 10. During their residence they shall studiously redeem their 
 time, observe the general hours appointed for all the scholars, and 
 the special hour for their own lecture, and then diligently attend the 
 lectures, without any disturbance by word or gesture ; and, if of any 
 thing they doubt, they shall inquire of their fellows, or in case of 
 non-resolution, modestly of their Tutors. - 
 
 "11. None shall, under any pretence whatsoever, frequent, the 
 company and society of such men as lead an ungirt and dissolute 
 life. Neither shall any, without license of the Overseers of the 
 College, be of the artillery or trainband. Nor shall any, without the 
 license of the Overseers of the College, his Tutor's leave, or, in his 
 absence, the call of parents or guardians, go out to another town. 
 
 " 12. No scholar shall buy, sell, or exchange any thing, to the 
 value of sixpence, without the allowance of his parents, guardians, or 
 Tutors ; and whosoever is found to have sold or bought any such 
 things without acquainting their tutors or parents, shall forfeit the 
 value of the commodity, or the restoring of it, according to the dis- 
 cretion of the President.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 517 
 
 " 13. The scholars shall never use their mother tongue, except APPENDIX, 
 
 that in public exercises of oratory, or such like, they be called to - ' 
 make them in English. 
 
 " 14. If any scholar, being in health, shall be absent from prayers and Orders 
 or lectures, except in case of urgent necessity, or by the leave of his College, 
 Tutor, he shall be liable to admonition (or such punishment as the 
 President shall think meet), if he offend above once a week. 
 
 " 15. Every scholar shall be called by his surname only, till he be 
 invested with his first degree, except he be a fellow commoner, or 
 knight's eldest son, or of superior nobility. 
 
 " 16. No scholar shall, under any pretence of recreation or other 
 cause whatever (unless foreshowed and allowed by the President or 
 his Tutor), be absent from his studies or appointed exercises, above 
 an hour at morning bever, half an hour at afternoon bever, an hour 
 and a half at dinner, and so long at supper. 
 
 " 17. If any scholar shall transgress any of the laws of God, or 
 the House, out of perverseness, or apparent negligence, after 
 twice admonition, he shall be liable, if not adultus, to correction ; if 
 adultus, his name shall be given up to the Overseers of the College, 
 that he may be publicly dealt with after the desert of his fault ; but 
 in greater offences such gradual proceeding shall not be exercised. 
 
 " 18. Every scholar, that on proof is found able to read the original 
 of the Old and New Testament into the Latin tongue, and to 
 resolve them logically, withal being of honest life and conversa- 
 tion, and at any public act hath the approbation of the Overseers 
 and Master of the College, may be invested with his first degree. 
 
 " 19. Every scholar, that giveth up in writing a synopsis or sum- 
 mary of Logic, Natural and Moral Philosophy, Arithmetic, Geome- 
 try, and Astronomy, and is ready to defend his theses or positions, 
 withal skilled in the originals as aforesaid, and still continues 
 honest and studious, at any public act after trial he shall be capable 
 of the second degree, of Master of Arts." 
 
 No. XXVIII. See pp. 190, 191. 
 
 " ORDERS AGREED UPON BY THE OVERSEERS, AT A MEETING 
 IN HARVARD COLLEGE, MAY GTH, 1650. 
 
 No scholar whatever, without the foreacquaintance and leave Orders of 
 
 theOv 
 seers. 
 
 of the President and his Tutor, or in the absence of either of them, the Over "
 
 518 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, two of the Fellows, shall be present at or in any of the public civil 
 
 No. XXVIII. . c r .- , .. 
 
 meetings, or concourse of people, as courts of justice, elections, 
 
 Orders of fairs, or at military exercise, in the time or hours of the College 
 the Over- . ' . = 
 
 seers. exercise, public or private. Neither shall any scholar exercise 
 
 himself in any military band, unless of known gravity, and of ap- 
 proved sober and virtuous conversation, and that with the leave of 
 the President and his Tutor. 
 
 " No scholar shall take tobacco, unless permitted by the President, 
 with the consent of their parents or guardians, and on good reason 
 first given by a physician, and then in a sober and private manner. 
 
 " To the intent that no scholar may misspend his time to the 
 dishonor of God and the society, or the grief and disappointment 
 of his friends, but that the yearly progress and sufficiency of scholars 
 may be manifest, it is therefore ordered, that henceforth there shall 
 be three weeks of visitation yearly, foresignified publicly by the 
 President of the College, between the 10th of June and the Com- 
 mencement, wherein from nine o'clock to eleven in the forenoon, and 
 from one to three in the afternoon, of the second and third day of the 
 week, all scholars of two years' standing and upwards, shall sit in the 
 Hall to be examined by all comers, in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew 
 tongues, and in Rhetoric, Logic, and Physics ; and they that expect 
 to proceed Bachelors that year, to be examined of their sufficiency 
 according to the laws of the College ; and such that expect to 
 proceed Masters of Arts, to exhibit their synopsis of acts required 
 by the laws of the College. And, in case any of the Sophisters, 
 Questionists, or Inceptors, fail in the premises required at their 
 hands, according to their standings respectively, or be found in- 
 sufficient for their time and standing in the judgment of any three 
 of the visitors, being Overseers of the College, they shall be de- 
 ferred to the following year. But they, that are approved sufficient 
 for their degrees, shall proceed, and the Sophisters publicly ap- 
 proved shall have their names publicly set up in the Hall. 
 
 " Whereas by experience . we have found it prejudicial to the 
 promoting of learning and good manners in the College, to admit 
 such young scholars who have been negligent in their studies, and 
 disobedient to their masters in the schools, and so by an evil custom 
 or habit become utterly unfit to improve, for their own benefit 
 according to their friends' expectation, the liberty of students in 
 the College ; it is therefore ordered by the President and Fellows 
 of Harvard College, that no scholar whatsoever, where these be 
 published, shall henceforth be admitted from any such school, unless
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 519 
 
 having the testimony of the master of such school, of his obedience APPENDIX, 
 and submission to all godly school discipline, and of his studious- __^ ; 
 
 ness and diligence, at leastwise for one quarter of a year last before Orders of 
 
 the Over- 
 his coming thence ; or, in case of discontinuance from school, then seers. 
 
 it is expected he shall bring the testimony of his sober and studious 
 conversation, under the hand of a magistrate or elder, or two or three 
 competent and pious witnesses." 
 
 No. XXIX. See p. 199. 
 
 LETTER FROM MESSRS. SEWALL AND ADDINGTON, ACCOM- 
 PANYING THEIR DRAFT OF A CHARTER FOR THE COLLEGE 
 AT NEW HAVEN. 
 
 " To the Rev. Mr. Thomas Buckingham, at Say Brook, to be 
 communicated to the Rev. Israel Chauncy, Mr. Abraham 
 Pierson, and Mr. James Pierpont. 
 " Gentlemen, 
 
 " We crave your pardon, that we have made you wait so long for Letter from 
 so little. We might frame an excuse from present circumstances, gewalfand 
 and say, ' Multa nos impedierunt.' But there is another cause which Addington. 
 makes us slow and feeble in our progress; not knowing what to 
 do for fear of overdoing. And that is the reason there is no mention 
 made of any visitation ; which is exceedingly proper and beneficial, 
 all human societies standing in need of a check upon them. But 
 we know not how to call and to qualify it, but that, in a little time, 
 it might prove subversive of your design. We on purpose gave the 
 academy as low a name as we could, that it might the better stand 
 in wind and weather ; not daring to incorporate, lest it should be 
 served with a writ of quo warranto. We pray you to accept of the 
 few inclosed hints for an act : we should have travelled further in it, 
 if your instructions or our invention had dictated to us ; not know- 
 ing well what scheme to project, because we could not tell how far 
 your government will encourage the design. We should be very 
 glad to hear of flourishing schools and colleges in Connecticut, as 
 it would be some relief to us against the sorrow we have conceived 
 for the decay of them in this Province. And, as the end of all 
 learning is to fit men to search the Scriptures, that thereby they 
 may come to the saving knowledge of God in Christ, we make no
 
 520 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, doubt you will oblige the Rector to expound the Scriptures diligently 
 
 1X ' morning and evening. Praying God to direct and bless you beyond 
 
 Letter from w hat yourselves do understand or hope for, we take leave, who are 
 
 Messrs. 
 
 Sewall and your most humble servants, 
 
 " SAMUEL SEWALL. 
 " ISAAC ADDINGTON." 
 
 The date of this letter is wanting in the copy, but it must have 
 been written about the end of 1700 or the beginning of 1701. 
 
 No. XXX. See p. 203. 
 GOVERNOR DUDLEY AND COTTON MATHER. 
 
 Governor 1712. May 16th. Upon the President's inquiring of His Ex- 
 Dudley and 
 Cotton cellency concerning the dutiful letters he had been informed had 
 
 been written to His Excellency by C. M., he was pleased to assure 
 him, that he had never received a letter from him since the undutiful 
 one the said C. M. had sent him anno Dom. 1707 ; which was no small 
 surprise to the President, and a further embarrassing his thoughts 
 with respect to what direction he should think himself obliged to 
 give, as to inserting the new title, he, the said C. M., had lately 
 received from Glasgow, in the new edition of the Catalogue of 
 Graduates to be put out this year; and for what His Excellency was 
 pleased to express upon that matter, the President finds a necessity 
 of concerting the measures to be taken upon that head with the wise 
 and grave. Det Deus exitum felicem" 
 
 " 1712. June. Upon a further discourse with Mr. Pemberton, 
 upon the subject-matter above written, the said Mr. Pemberton had 
 a free conference with His Excellency, from whom he reported to 
 the President, that he would not have the said President to omit 
 inserting the title on his account. Upon the whole of all consider- 
 ations, the President ordered the Catalogue to be printed with the 
 insertion of the title added to the name of C. M." 
 
 Lcverett's Manuscript, p. 43.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 521 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. XXX I. 
 
 No. XXXI. See p. 205. 
 
 LETTER OF THE TRUSTEES OF EDWARD HOPKINS'S LEGACY 
 TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR HARCOURT. 
 
 " May it please your Worship, 
 
 " The agent for Harvard College, who often attended your Lord- Letter of 
 ship in the cause of Mr. Edward Hopkins's charity-legaoy to the tees of*' 
 school and College in New England, has sent us your Lordship's Ho^^g 
 decree thereupon, in which your Lordship has honored us with the legacy to 
 name of Trustees, for the improving and applying that charity to the Chancellor. 
 pious intentions of the testator. 
 
 " It is our duty to acquaint your Lordship, that the said decree is 
 come to our hands ; but we hold it to be more so, to admire and 
 acknowledge your Lordship's great justice and wisdom, which shine 
 through every intermediate order thereupon, and most illustriously 
 so in the final decree. 
 
 " Your Lordship's own great acquirements are a bright evidence 
 of your good affection for learning ; and the injunctions and direc- 
 tions your Lordship has given for the application and disposing of 
 the charity, bespeak your great wisdom for the advancement of it. 
 It is by this, as much as by your justice, you have given a more 
 lively countenance than ever it had, to the first, and for a long time, 
 only seminary of good letters in these His Majesty's remote do- 
 minions. And it is for this we render to your Lordship our thanks, 
 with the same ardor and sincerity as we acknowledge the justice 
 and equity of your Lordship's decree. We pray your Lordship to 
 believe, that we will exert ourselves to the utmost, that the pious 
 intentions of the testator, and your Lordship's wise and just con- 
 stitutions and orders, may be pursued with all possible diligence, 
 faithfulness, and integrity, by, 
 
 *' May it please your Lordship, 
 
 " Your Lordship's most obedient, 
 
 " Faithful, humble servants. 
 
 January 25th, 1713." 
 
 Signed by Joseph Dudley and all the trustees. 
 
 VOL. i. 66
 
 522 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. XXXII. 
 
 Appoint- 
 ment of Mr. 
 White as 
 Treasurer. 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 No. XXXII. See p. 207. 
 APPOINTMENT OF MR. WHITE AS TREASURER. 
 
 " The President, Mr. Pemberton, and Mr. Flynt, waited on His 
 Excellency, the Governor, to present the election of Mr. White to 
 the Treasurership of the College, and for an Overseers' meeting for 
 the approbation and allowance of the vote of the Corporation. His 
 Excellency was pleased to manifest his dissatisfaction with what the 
 Corporation had done, directed us to consider whether we would 
 insist on a meeting of the Overseers, thought it would be Mr. 
 White's prudence not to accept of the election of the Corporation ; 
 but, if we insisted on the Overseers' meeting, to move him by Mr. 
 Secretary." 
 
 Leverett's Manuscript, p. 80. 
 
 Governor 
 Shute. 
 
 No. XXXIII. See p. 208. 
 GOVERNOR SHUTE. 
 
 " 1716. October 5th. His Excellency, Colonel Shute, arrived at 
 Boston, and was there received with great acclamations. His com- 
 mission being read in the Council Chamber, the oaths were admin- 
 istered to him, and after this a proclamation, according to usage, for 
 all officers, civil and military, to continue and act until further order 
 was published." 
 
 " October ]5th. The Governor set out from Boston to visit his 
 government of New Hampshire, passing through Cambridge. He 
 was pleased to visit the College, and was received by the President 
 and Fellows at the gate, and by them conducted into the Hall, 
 where he was saluted by Sir Foxcroft with a Latin oration, to his 
 Excellency's good acceptance, and with the just applause of the 
 learned auditory ; he went into the Library, and after a short view 
 and large commendation of the place, and founders, and patrons of 
 it, with assurance of his favors to the House, and blessings upon it, 
 he proceeded on his journey, the President accompanying His 
 Excellency to New Hampshire." 
 
 Leverett's Manuscript, p. 117.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 523 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. XXXIV. 
 
 No. XXXIV. See p. 226. 
 LETTER FROM COTTON MATHER TO GOVERNOR SHUTE. 
 
 " 31st d. 8th month, 1718. 
 " Sir, 
 
 " As in duty for ever bound, I repeat my humble offers of service Letter from 
 to your Excellency. That if, at the present session of the General Bather to 
 Assembly, there may be any thing within the small sphere of my Governor 
 activity to be done for the public (for I perceive your Excellency 
 knows no other) interests, your commands may be laid upon me. 
 
 " At the same time I will humbly tender to your Excellency my 
 poor sentiments concerning some affairs of the College, because I 
 am informed a meeting of (those unaccountably called) the Over- 
 seers of the College is this day expected. 
 
 " It appears unto your servant a very strange thing, that, when the 
 life and soul of that society (in its present feeble circumstances) are 
 in your Excellency's favorably looking upon it, and breathing into 
 it, there should be so little acknowledgment of the dependence, as 
 I am informed there was, when Pierpont carried a message from 
 your Excellency. 
 
 " It appears a very strange thing, that, when King William and 
 Queen Mary, and my Lord Bellamont, and our General Assembly 
 (many times over), and Governor Dudley, and all the world besides, 
 declared for near twenty years together, that the College had not 
 a sufficient charter to animate it, they should now, by unseasonable 
 challenges and presumptions to act as upon such an one, make 
 their precarious conditions to be inquired into. 
 
 " It appears a very strange thing, that, supposing they had all the 
 charter they pretend unto, they should expect that the members of 
 that society should be exempted from the reach of the laws of the 
 Province, and the common law of the nation. 
 
 " Which point, if it be this day given to those who know very 
 well, that when the utmost punishments of the College have been 
 inflicted, formerly the civil courts have taken after all a cognizance 
 of the crimes, it will certainly bring the state of the College into 
 the General Assembly, and then clamor enough, be sure on't. 
 
 " For the abused and oppressed Pierpont, when he has done what 
 your Excellency may order him, to have his degree ordered for him, 
 and so the /?wT^a^o//i/o//^' between him and the pretended Presi-
 
 524 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 Letter from 
 Cotton 
 Mather to 
 Governor 
 Shute. 
 
 APPENDIX, dent brought to a period, seems to be as compendious a way as any 
 
 No. XXXIV. . ., , . 
 
 . to quiet these academical commotions. 
 
 " Though the College be under a very unhappy government, yet 
 for my own part I earnestly desire, that it may go on as easily and 
 as quietly as possible. And your Excellency's incomparable good- 
 ness and wisdom will easily discern and approve the intentions of the 
 freedom used in this letter, and leave it and its writer covered under 
 the darkest concealment. And the rather, because (for some reasons) 
 I desire to keep at the greatest distance imaginable from all the 
 affairs of Harvard. 
 
 " With my supplications to the glorious Lord for his blessing on 
 your Excellency's person and government, and your continuance 
 with an upright heart and skilful hand still to govern us, 
 " I subscribe, your Excellency's 
 
 " Most faithful and obedient servant, 
 
 " COTTON MATHER. 
 
 " My aged parent, your Excellency's most sincere servant, allows 
 me to write in this manner, with 'his most humble service.' " 
 
 No. XXXV. See p. 226. 
 LETTER FROM COTTON MATHER TO ELIHU YALE. 
 
 Letter from 
 Cotton 
 Mather to 
 Elihu Yale. 
 
 " Boston, New England, 14/A d. llth month, 1717-18. 
 " Sir, 
 
 " There are those in these parts of the western India, who have 
 had the satisfaction to know something of what you have done and 
 gained in the eastern, and they take delight in the story. But that 
 which has made many of them the more sensibly acquainted with it, 
 is, their having felt the testimonies thereof in the overflowing liberali- 
 ties whereof you find the objects on this side of the wide Atlantic. 
 
 " New England values itself upon the honor of being your native 
 country. But you do singularly oblige as well as honor it, in that, 
 although you left it in such an early infancy as to be incapable of 
 remembering any thing in it, yet you have been pleased on all occa- 
 sions to testify a good will unto it. 
 
 " On one of the meetinghouses of another country, the walls have 
 these words engraven on them ; Not for a faction or a party, but
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 525 
 
 for promoting faith and repentance in communion with all that love APPENDIX, 
 
 T , T ~ , . . , NO. xxxv. 
 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 " New England is now so far improved as to have the best part Letter from 
 of two hundred meetinghouses. On the walls whereof these agree- Mather 
 able words might be very justly engraved. And a people so dis- y a i e l 
 posed cannot but be recommended above any in the world unto the 
 charity, the affection, the esteem of all Christians, who understand 
 the catholic and generous principles of Christianity, and have got 
 beyond the narrow span of a party. Your own inclinations to do 
 good, with a view superior to that of a party, have not only enlarged 
 your character with the best of men, but also received already (if 
 we are not misinformed) very conspicuous recompenses from above. 
 The glorious God, who gave power to get wealth, and from whom 
 we have received all that we have, has made us no more than the 
 trustees of his goodness. 
 
 " The chief good that we have in our estates lies in the good we 
 do with them. And a serious regard unto the account which we 
 are to give of our stewardship, is most certainly of such importance, 
 that, of them who are strangers to it, it must be said, What wisdom 
 is there in them 1 
 
 " The people for whom we bespeak your favors are such sound, 
 generous Christians and Protestants, that their not observing some 
 disputable right (which no act of Parliament has imposed on these 
 plantations), ought by no means to exclude them from the respects 
 of all that are indeed such, and from the good will which we all 
 owe to the rest of the reformed churches, all of which have their 
 little varieties. 
 
 " You have, Sir, been therefore most kindly inquisitive what you 
 may do for such a people. And I will presume upon so much of an 
 answer to your noble inquiries, as to suggest, riot what you may do, 
 but whom you have to do for. 
 
 " The Colony of Connecticut, having for some years had a Col- 
 lege at Saybrook without a collegious way of living for it, have 
 lately begun to erect a large edifice for it in the town of New 
 Haven. The charge of that expensive building is not yet all paid, 
 nor are there yet any funds of revenues for salaries to the Professors 
 and Instructors to the society. 
 
 " Sir, though you have your felicities in your family, which I 
 pray God continue and multiply, yet certainly, if what is forming at 
 New Haven might wear the name of YALE COLLEGE, it would be 
 better than a name of sons and daughters. And your munificence
 
 526 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 Mather 
 to Elihu 
 Yale. 
 
 APPENDIX, might easily obtain for you such a commemoration and perpetuation 
 ;o. xxxv. O f y 0ur va i ua bi e name, which would indeed be much better than an 
 letter from Egyptian pyramid. 
 
 " We have an excellent friend, our agent, Mr. Jeremiah Dummer, 
 who -has been a tender, prudent, active, and useful patron of the 
 infant College at Connecticut, as well as many other good interests, 
 and will leave his memory precious with a good people, and among 
 them that survive him, for his having so signally befriended it on all 
 occasions. He will doubtless wait upon you, and propose to you, and 
 concert with you the methods in which your benignity to New Haven 
 may be best expressed. 
 
 " Nor will it be any disadvantage unto your person or family, for 
 a good people to make mention of you in their prayers unto the 
 glorious Lord, as one who has loved their nation, and supported and 
 strengthened the seminary from whence they expect the supply of all 
 their synagogues. But having thus far presumed upon your good- 
 ness, I shall presume no further, but, with hearty supplications to 
 Heaven, that the blessings thereof may be showered plentifully 
 down upon you and yours, 
 
 " I subscribe, Sir, 
 "Your most sincere friend and servant, 
 
 " COTTON MATHER." 
 
 Letter from 
 Cotton 
 Mather to 
 Governor 
 
 Saltonstall. 
 
 No. XXXVI. See p. 227. 
 
 LETTER FROM COTTON MATHER TO GOVERNOR 
 SALTONSTALL. 
 
 " 25th d. 6th month, 1718. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 " 'T is an unspeakable pleasure unto me, that I have been in any 
 measure capable of serving so precious a thing as your College at 
 New Haven. 
 
 " Governor Yale now gives you, a sensible proof, that he has 
 begun to take it under his patronage and protection. But I am 
 informed, that what he now does is very little in proportion to what 
 he will do, when once he finds, by the name of it, that it may claim 
 an adoption with him. Yale College cannot fail of Mr. Yale's 
 generous and growing bounty. I confess, that it was a great and
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 527 
 
 inexcusable presumption in me, to make myself so far the godfather APPENDIX, 
 of the beloved infant as to propose a name for it. But I assured 
 myself, that if a succession of solid and lasting benefits might be Letter from 
 entailed upon it your Honor and the- Honorable Trustees, would Mather to 
 pardon me, and the proposal would be complied withal. Saltonstall. 
 
 " It is a thousand pities, that the dear infant should be in danger 
 of being strangled in the birth, by a dissension of your good people 
 about the place where it shall be nourished in the wilderness. But 
 probably the Yalean assistance to New Haven will prove a decisive 
 circumstance, which will dispose all to an acquiescence there. 
 
 " When the servants of God meet at your Commencement, I make 
 no doubt, that, under your Honor's influences and encouragements, 
 they will make it an opportunity, in the most serious and mature 
 manner, to deliberate upon projections to serve the great interests of 
 education, and so of religion, both in your College and throughout 
 your Colony, as well as whatever else may advance the kingdom of 
 God, and not suffer an interview of your best men to evaporate such, 
 a senseless, useless, noisy impertinency , as it uses to do with us at 
 Cambridge. 
 
 " But I may not presume on the part of a monitor, with such as 
 know much better than myself what that wisdom is, that finds out 
 witty inventions for the doing of good in the world. 
 
 " I repeat my humble supplications, that our glorious Lord would 
 multiply his blessings on your honorable person, consort, family, and 
 government ; and am, 
 
 " Your Honor's most sincere servant, 
 
 " COTTON MATHER." 
 
 No. XXXVII. See p. 228. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF THOMAS HOLL1S TO 
 BENJAMIN COLMAN. 
 
 " London, September IQth, 1720. Extracts 
 " Mr. Dummer, I think your agent, sent for me yesterday to a 
 
 coffee-house, said he had a letter to show me, mentioning thanks for JfH" *? 
 
 . . Benjamin 
 
 my bounty to your College, but had mislaid it, and acquainted me Colman. 
 
 about a College, building at New Haven, which he proposed to my 
 bounty. I could only answer, I had not heard of it before."
 
 528 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. 
 
 xxxvrr. 
 
 Extracts 
 from letters 
 of Thomas 
 Hollis to 
 Benjamin 
 Colman. 
 
 " London, February 9th, 1721. 
 
 " A few days past Mr. Dummer brought me a letter, dated July 
 4th, but no name to it, which is handsomely worded ; recommend- 
 ing to me the collegiate school at New Haven, inclosed in one to 
 him, dated the 3d September, from Mr. G. Saltonstall, Governor of 
 Connecticut, earnestly pressing the same affair. I have answered 
 Mr. Dummer, that, as I am projecting some things in Harvard Col- 
 lege, until I have finished, I think not to take his case into con- 
 sideration. He being a man in a public character, I care not for free 
 conversation with him. He tells me he has 300 sterling for being 
 your agent, .100 for the other, and .50 per annum, well paid, 
 for a third. But what does he do of service for all this money? 
 And what does he do with it ? perhaps is a harder question." 
 
 Extracts 
 from let- 
 ters of 
 Thomas 
 Hollis to 
 John 
 White. 
 
 See p. 228. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF THOMAS HOLLIS TO JOHN 
 WHITE, TREASURER OF HARVARD COLLEGE. 
 
 " London, July 12/A, 1721. 
 
 " I have now another letter, anonymous, about Yale College. 
 I know not the man, but suppose him to be urged on to it by your 
 agent, Dummer. I inclose it you. I have no inclination to be 
 diverted from my projected design. If you know the author, pray 
 let him know so. I have told Dummer the same." 
 
 " London, August 4<A, 1721. 
 
 " I have another letter by this ship from Yale College, by some 
 person, who says he chooses to remain incog., and so I must let him 
 remain. I suppose your agent, Dummer, stirs him up." 
 
 No. XXXVIII. Seep. 229. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF THOMAS HOLLIS TO 
 BENJAMIN COLMAN. 
 
 Extract 
 from a 
 letter of 
 
 Thomas 
 Hollis to 
 Benjamin 
 
 Colman. Church, in Boston (I think it is called), to help furnish a library 
 
 " January 27th, 1726 - 7. 
 
 " I am this day applied unto, at the N. E. coffee-house, by Mr. 
 Oliver, in a letter he showed me from Mr. Prince, of the South
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 529 
 
 for their private use; using this as a motive, we did not know what APPENDIX, 
 
 hands the great library at Harvard College might fall into, but this xxxvm. 
 
 private one would be secure to posterity. I was disgusted at the 
 
 suggestion, and refused to read on, and bid him write Mr. Prince 
 word, I disliked his motion, and would not be concerned " 
 
 No. XXXIX. See p. 231. 
 BENEFACTORS OF THE NAME OF HOLLIS. 
 
 Three of these six benefactors bore the name of Thomas ; the Benefac- 
 others, respectively, of John, Nathaniel, and Timothy. The first name O f 
 Thomas, Nathaniel, and John were brothers. The second Thomas HoUis - 
 was the son of Nathaniel, and heir of his uncle, the first Thomas. 
 The third Thomas was son of the second, and heir of his grand- 
 father, Nathaniel Hollis, and of his father. Timothy was the son 
 of John. Of these, the first-named Thomas Hollis was the earliest 
 and greatest benefactor to Harvard College. 
 
 No. XL. See p. 238. 
 LETTER FROM THOMAS HOLLIS TO BENJAMIN COLMAN. 
 
 " London, September IQth, 1720. Letter from 
 
 " This gives me occasion to inquire of you, dear Sir, whether this Hollis to 
 Assembly your letter comes from, will have a vote in the nomination 
 of students to share in my bounty, or if it will remain as I proposed, 
 by your advice, in the President and five Governors of the Corpora- 
 tion and their successors, to nominate the persons that shall have 
 my designed annual gift, after my decease." 
 
 No. XLI. See p. 239. 
 
 LETTER FROM THOMAS HOLLIS TO PRESIDENT LEVERETT 
 AND BENJAMIN COLMAN. 
 
 " London, September 23rf, 1720. 
 
 " Your new proposal, of a suitable stipend for a Divinity Professor 
 to read lectures in the Hall to the students, surprises roe. I could 
 
 VOL. i. 67
 
 530 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, not have thought, but, in the standing of your College, you had 
 
 1 ' L ' made such provision long since ; however, if not, or if I mistake 
 
 your meaning, I desire you, at convenient time, to explain more 
 
 largely that matter to me, and to tell me how much will be called an 
 
 honorable stipend." 
 
 No. XLII. See p. 239. 
 
 HOLLIS'S ORDERS. 
 
 "ORDERS MADE BY ME, THOMAS HOLLIS, OF LONDON, MERCHANT, 
 FEBRUARY 14TH, 1720-1, 
 
 Hollis's " Concerning the disposition of certain sums of money, by me 
 
 sent over to New England, and already paid or ordered to be paid 
 to Mr. John White, Treasurer to Harvard College, in Cambridge, 
 in New England, subject to such alterations as may be made by me 
 in my lifetime, or by my last will. 
 
 " I order such sums of money as are already paid to Mr. John 
 White, Treasurer of Harvard College, or that shall be paid to him 
 by my order in my lifetime, or by my executrix, according to my 
 last will, be placed out at interest, or laid out in good securities, 
 and the produce thereof to be applied in a manner I do here direct. 
 
 " / order and appoint a Professor of Divinity, to read lectures 
 in the Hall of the College unto the students; the said Professor to 
 be nominated and appointed from time to time by the President and 
 Fellows of Harvard College, and that the Treasurer pay to him 
 forty pounds per annum, for his service, and that when choice is 
 made of a jitting person, to be recommended to me for my approba- 
 tion, if I be yet living. 
 
 " I order and appoint five pounds a year to the Treasurer, for the 
 time being, for his pains in receiving and paying my bounty, and 
 making up an annual account at every annual audit day, for the 
 said College, and the balance to be carried forward to a new 
 account. 
 
 " I order and appoint the whole of the remaining annual increase 
 to be disposed of as follows. Ten pounds a year for one exhibition, 
 to assist one pious young man, in the judgment of charity, religiously 
 inclined, in his studies for the minislry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; 
 one who is poor in this world, and cannot comfortably go forwards 
 without such charitable helps, for three or four years, and he be- 
 having himself well, to be yearly paid to him by the Treasurer ; and
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 531 
 
 that so many students be nominated, and exhibitions be granted, APPENDIX. 
 and paid, as the annual income will bear, by even, equal sums often _ No> X ^ LII 1 
 pounds a year for every one, and this ordinance to be for ever. Hollis's 
 
 J J Orders. 
 
 " While I live, I reserve the nomination of the students to myself, 
 intreating the governors of the College to present names of persons 
 and their qualifications to me for approbation. Upon my decease, 
 I do appoint the President and Fellows of Harvard College, of 
 Cambridge, in New England, and their successors for ever, to have 
 the nomination of the students that shall receive the said exhibitions 
 of ten pounds a year apiece, for the time aforesaid, and that as any 
 one dies, or is turned out, or goes off in his course, another be 
 placed in his room, and that none be refused on account of his belief 
 and practice of adult baptism, if he be sober and religiously in- 
 clined. And I recommend, in a special manner, to avoid nomi- 
 nating any dunces or rakes, as not fit to partake of this bounty. 
 
 " I order a register to be kept of such as are taken in upon this 
 foundation, their names, ages, times of entrance, for how long time, 
 and when they go off. 
 
 " I order a fair account to be kept of receipts and payments of 
 this my devoted trust, and annually balanced ; the whole design 
 hereof being for the glory of God and the good of precious souls. 
 
 " May the blessed Lord accept and succeed it. Amen. So prays 
 
 " THOMAS HOLLIS." 
 
 No. XLIII. See p. 242. 
 
 MINUTES OF A LETTER FROM THE CORPORATION TO 
 THOMAS HOLLIS. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Corporation of Harvard College, in Boston, Minutes of 
 at Mr. Treasurer White's lodgings, April 25th, 1721. frim'the 
 
 " The President and Mr. Colman read a letter from Mr. Thomas Corpora- 
 tion to 
 Hollis, of London, to them ; and Mr. Colman a letter from Mr. Thomas 
 
 Neal, of London, written to him by the direction of the said Mr. 
 Hollis, relating to the setting up a Professor of Divinity at the Col- 
 lege, and desiring some further advice and information in that affair. 
 " Voted, That Mr. Wadsworth and Mr. Colman be a committee to 
 prepare and lay before the Corporation a draught of such informa- 
 tion at their next meeting, in order to its being forwarded." 
 
 Corporation Records, Vol. II. p. 70.
 
 532 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. XLIII. 
 
 Minutes of 
 a letter 
 from the 
 Corpora- 
 tion to 
 Thomas 
 Hollis. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Corporation at Mr. Treasurer White's 
 lodgings, Boston, May 2d, 1721. 
 
 " Mr. Wadsworth and Mr. Colman offered to the Corporation a 
 draught of further information respecting the affair of a Professor 
 of Divinity, as they were requested the last meeting, which was 
 read and accepted. 
 
 " Voted, To be transmitted to Mr. Hollis and the Rev. Mr. Neal." 
 
 " At a meeting of the President and Fellows of Harvard College 
 at the President's House in Cambridge, June 21st, 1721. 
 
 " Minutes directory in answer to Mr. Hollis his letters. 
 
 " Voted, 1. To acknowledge with thankfulness his last bounty. 
 
 " 2. To acknowledge his candor and confidence in leaving his 
 institutions open and alterable, and referring them to our considera- 
 tion and approbation. 
 
 " 3. As to the Professor, we refer to what has been already 
 written to Mr. Hollis ; and further propose to offer it to his con- 
 sideration, whether the Professor should not be wholly his own, by 
 transferring four of the Exhibitions to the Professorship ; yet re- 
 ferring the matter to his determination. 
 
 " 4. As to what refers to the Treasurer, we thankfully acquiesce. 
 
 " 5. As to the investing his donation in land at five per cent. That 
 we have no present prospect of doing to the advantage proposed, 
 but shall be ready to embrace an opportunity whenever it shall offer, 
 and advise him accordingly. 
 
 " 6. As to what he proposes of the General Court's confirming such 
 land as his gift to the uses and designs directed, to refer to a clause 
 in the charter to be transcribed and sent to him. 
 
 "7. As to the extending the time of his Exhibitions, we agree 
 to it. 
 
 " 8. The Professor's lectures are free to the society. 
 
 " 9. That the students of his foundation will be readily favored, 
 as there is occasion, and one is already. 
 
 " 10. As to the Professor's being in communion with a particular 
 church, we judge it highly fitting ; and, as to the limitation, we leave 
 it to himself. 
 
 "11. As to the Professor's being chosen anew every third, fifth, or 
 seventh year, we choose the fifth." 
 
 Ibid., p. 71.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 533 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. XLTV. 
 
 No. XLIV. See p. 243. 
 ELECTION OF PROFESSOR WIGGLESWORTH. 
 
 " At a meeting of the President and Fellows of Harvard College Election of 
 at the President's house, in Cambridge, June 28th, 1721. WiS" 
 
 " Present, the President, Mr. Colman, Mr. Flynt, Mr. Stevens, worth - 
 Mr. Appleton, Mr. Treasurer. The Corporation being informed of 
 ships being ready to sail for London, by which it would be requisite 
 to send answers to Mr. Hollis's letters ; and particularly upon his 
 instituting a Professor of Divinity ; the question was put, Whether 
 a person should now be elected, in order to be presented to Mr. 
 Hollis for his approbation to be a Professor of Divinity upon his 
 institution 1 It was agreed and voted in the affirmative. Accord- 
 ingly the Fellows, met in Corporation, were desired to bring in 
 their votes in writing for the election of a Professor of Divinity, 
 in order to be presented to Mr. Hollis for his approbation. And 
 they did so. Upon numbering the votes, Mr. Edward Wigglesworth 
 was chosen Professor of Divinity, and accordingly so declared. 
 Mr. Wigglesworth's name was sent to Mr. Hollis in the letter signed 
 
 by the President and Mr. Colman." 
 
 Corporation Records, p. 72. 
 
 No. XL V. See pp. 244, 247. 
 
 LETTER FROM THOMAS HOLLIS TO BENJAMIN COLMAN. 
 
 "London, August 8th, 1721. 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " I have received your letter, dated April 5th, on the 5th of June, Letterfrom 
 and your letter and scheme signed by you and Mr. President, dated Hollis to 
 May 5th, on the 5th of July, the night after I had put mine for Mr. 
 Treasurer into the bag ; and now again three letters from you 
 together, by Captain Letherid, August 2d, dated June 6th, 19th, 
 and 26th, the last signed by you and Mr. John Leverett. 
 
 # # # # # 
 
 " I beseech you to encourage Baptist students equally with Pa?do- 
 baptists. I am persuaded it will promote true religion, and tend to 
 the peace of the churches of both denominations while I live, and
 
 534 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, them that follow. What I write herein, pray communicate to Mr. 
 '_ President Leverett; and give my humble service to him, and to all 
 
 Letter from tne Fellows of the College, who are concerned kindly in this affair. 
 
 Thomas * 
 
 Hollis to I am mightily pleased with the character you give of the gentleman 
 
 Colman. whom you have proposed to be my first Professor, and have him 
 under my consideration. But I am^hmking, whether I am yet ripe 
 for a nomination, my adventures not being yet entered into your 
 Treasurer's cash, and, after that they are, must be placed out to 
 improvement, to produce the designed maintenance for the one and 
 the other purpose ; so that, if I proceed presently to nominate, as 
 your letter urges me to do, he must be straitened, or he must break 
 in upon the principal, neither of which is agreeable to rne at this 
 writing. 
 
 " I also desire to know if this gentleman be in actual communion 
 with some Christian church, as I formerly hinted, and with whom 1 
 In reference to your scheme for the Professor's tcork, on due con- 
 sideration, I think it requires some amendments. I give thanks to 
 Mr. Wadsvvorth for his paper, and to Mr. President, and to you, for 
 yours ; it is a foundation to work upon ; and I have consulted 
 several worthy pastors of churches here, who have studied abroad, 
 as at Edinburgh, Utrecht, Leyden, and are acquainted with the 
 Professors of Divinity's work there. And these gentlemen express 
 a great respect and concern for your University, and would willingly 
 lend any advice they can for your advantage. / have desired them 
 to make some little alterations in your scheme, and some remarks as 
 their reasons for so doing, which, when finished, I shall send unto 
 you for your more mature consideration; believing you and they 
 have nothing in view herein, but furthering of the glory of God, 
 promoting good literature, and the true knowledge of theology, well 
 understanding of the sacred Scriptures. May the Lord, the Spirit 
 of truth, say, Amen." 
 
 No. XLVL See p. 248. 
 
 '' RULES AND ORDERS PROPOSED RELATING TO A DIVINITY 
 PROFESSOR IN HARVARD COLLEGE IN NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 " 1. That the Professor be a Master of Arts, and in communion 
 with some Christian church, of one of the three denominations, 
 Congregational, Presbyterian, or Baptist.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 535 
 
 " N. B. This agrees with the scheme which was sent from New APPENDIX, 
 
 England, approved by the Reverend the President, and the Corpo- No - XLVI - 
 
 ration. Rules and 
 
 orders re- 
 
 "2. That his province be to instruct the students in the several latingto the 
 
 parts of theology, by reading a system of positive, and a course of r 
 
 controversial divinity, beginning always with a short prayer. Divinity. 
 
 " We apprehend this article to be of the last importance. The 
 want of a Professor, whose only work shall be, to make the students 
 masters of Divinity, is justly complained of in our Universities, and 
 wisely rectified in the University of Edinburgh, and all the foreign 
 Universities we are acquainted with. It will consequently turn to 
 the great advantage of the students to be thus regularly instructed 
 in the several parts of theology without intermission, after they have 
 been three or four years in the College. And we are apprehensive 
 it will become very easy to the Professor after he has sat in his chair 
 a year or two. 
 
 " 3. That the said Professor read his private lectures of positive 
 and controversial divinity so many times in the week as shall finish 
 both courses within the term of one year. 
 
 " The Professors in the Universities of Holland read four times a 
 week on a system, and four times a week on the controversies, each 
 lecture not exceeding three quarters of an hour. The first quarter 
 is spent in examining the students on the heads of the last lecture, 
 then the Professor proceeds ; always taking care to finish both his 
 system, and course of controversial divinity, within the compass of 
 a year. 
 
 " An hour in the morning is generally employed in the system, on 
 Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and an hour on the 
 same days in the afternoon in the controversies, by which means the 
 Professors have two days in the week entire to themselves; and by 
 finishing all in one year an opportunity is given for new students to 
 enter every year, and the Seniors may go over the course with the 
 Professor two or three times, which will be of great advantage ; nor 
 will this be at all difficult to the Professor, when he has gone over 
 it once or twice. 
 
 " 4. That the Professor read publicly twice a week in the Hall, 
 on Church History, Jewish Antiquities, Cases of Conscience, or 
 critical exposition of Scripture, as he shall judge proper, times of 
 vacation always excepted. 
 
 " This agrees with the New England scheme. 
 
 " We conceive, that though it is impossible these public lectures
 
 536 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, should answer the ends of regular instruction, which is the most 
 JVo. XLVI. necessar y t m ake the students masters of theology, and fit them for 
 Rules and the pulpit, or the chair, any more than the preaching two sermons 
 
 orders re- 
 lating to the weekly in the pulpit can be thought sufficient to fit all the hearers for 
 
 lessor of the pulpit ; yet, since they are performed in all our Universities, they 
 Divinity. are no j. t o [j e omitted. Give us leave, however, to observe to you, that, 
 notwithstanding the several Universities we have had any knowledge 
 of have laid the strictest injunctions on the Professors to study these 
 lectures, yet in some time they have been generally neglected, and 
 have dwindled into little else than form. We take the liberty to 
 mention critical exposition of Scripture, Church History, Jewish 
 Antiquities, that the Professor may give to the students of Divinity 
 as large and extensive a view as can be of every part of learning, 
 which is proper to enter into the character of a finished divine. 
 
 "5. That the Professor set apart two or three hours, one after- 
 noon in the week, to answer such questions of the students who 
 shall apply to him, as refer to the system or controversies of religion, 
 or cases of conscience, or seeming contradictions in Scripture., 
 And this agrees to the New England scheme. And we are in- 
 formed the Professor of Divinity at Edinburgh allows two or three 
 hours every Thursday in the afternoon to this work ; times of vaca- 
 tion excepted. 
 
 " 6. That the Professor of Divinity, while in that office, shall not 
 be a Tutor in any other science, or obliged to any other attendance 
 in the College than the abovementioned public and private lectures. 
 
 " This will make the Professor's work as easy at least, if not more 
 easy than the rest of the Tutors'. 
 
 " 7. That the Professor read his private lectures to such only as 
 are at least of two years' standing in the College. 
 
 " This is intended to remedy an evil too common in most places. 
 When students, upon their first coming to the University, are en- 
 couraged to enter on the study of Divinity, they neglect all pre- 
 paratory studies, and very often enter on the sacred ministry before 
 they are qualified ; whereas, by keeping them from the constant 
 and regular study of theology for the first two or three years, you 
 employ them necessarily in other parts of literature, and effectually 
 prevent their going into the pulpit till they are at least of four years' 
 standing. 'T is not intended, by this article, to debar the students 
 of Divinity from attending on any of the lectures of other Tutors, 
 but only that they now begin to make theology their chief study. 
 
 " 8. That, an honorable salary being provided for the Professor,
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 537 
 
 it is expected that he require no fee from any of the students for APPENDIX, 
 
 their instruction. NO. XLVI. 
 
 " This agrees with the New England scheme. But, if any sen- Ru , les a 1 
 
 . . orders re- 
 
 tleman desires his son may run through a course of Divinity, it does latingtothe 
 
 not hinder the parent from making the Professor a present, though f essor O f 
 the Professor is debarred from requiring any thing of such person. Divinity. 
 
 " 9. That the said Professor be chosen every five years by the 
 Reverend President and Fellows of the College, for the time being, 
 and be presented by them, when chosen, to the Honorable and 
 Reverend Overseers, to be by them approved and confirmed in his 
 place. 
 
 " This agrees with the New England scheme. 
 
 " 10. That the said Professor be at all times under the inspection 
 of the Reverend the President and Fellows, with the Honorable 
 and Reverend the Overseers for the time being, to be by them dis- 
 placed for any just and valuable cause. 
 
 " This agrees with the New England scheme. 
 
 "11. That it be recommended to the electors, that at every choice 
 they prefer a man of solid learning in Divinity, of sound and ortho- 
 dox principles ; one who is well gifted to teach, of a sober and pious 
 life, and of a grave conversation. 
 
 " These rules and orders relating to a Divinity Professor in Har- 
 vard College, in New England, were drawn up at the request of 
 Mr. Thomas Hollis, and are unanimously recommended by us, as 
 
 necessary to answer his useful design. 
 
 " DANIEL NEAL. 
 
 W. HARRIS. 
 JER. HUNT. 
 
 JOSH. OLDFIELD, D. D. 
 MOSES LOWMAN. 
 EDW. WALLIN. 
 ARTHUR SHALLET. 
 " London, August 22rf, 1721." 
 
 No. XLVIL See p. 249. 
 
 FORM FOR THE INAUGURATION OF THE HOLLIS PROFESSOR 
 OF DIVINITY. 
 
 Previously to acceding to the eleven preceding articles, recom- 
 mended by the seven pastors, Mr. Hollis caused the following to 
 be subjoined to them. 
 
 VOL. i. 68
 
 538 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No.XLVIF. 
 
 Form for 
 the inaugu- 
 ration of the 
 Hollis Pro- 
 fessor of 
 Divinity. 
 
 " Plan or form for the Professor of Divinity to agree to at his 
 inauguration. 
 
 " That he repeat his oaths to the civil government ; that he de- 
 clare it as his belief, that the Bible is the only and most perfect rule 
 of faith and practice; and that he promise to explain and open the 
 Scriptures to his pupils with integrity and faithfulness, according to 
 the best light that God shall give him. That he promise to promote 
 true piety and godliness by his example and instruction ; that he 
 consult the good of the College, and the peace of the churches, on 
 all occasions; and that he religiously observe the statutes of his 
 founder." 
 
 As the Overseers afterwards inserted, instead of " the Bible," the 
 words " the Old and New Testament," these are given in the text; 
 but the above were the terms used by Hollis in his first draft of this 
 form. 
 
 No. XLVIII. See p. 250. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE OVERSEERS RESPECTING HOLLIS'S 
 RULES AND ORDERS. 
 
 Proceed- 
 ings of the 
 Overseers 
 respecting 
 Hollis's 
 rules and 
 orders. 
 
 "At an Overseers' meeting in Boston, January 10th, 1721-2. 
 The President and Fellows of the College having this day laid 
 before the Overseers the pious and generous proposal of Mr. Thomas 
 Hollis, of London, merchant, for the establishing and endowing a 
 resident Professor of Divinity of the said College, as also a draught 
 of rules and orders relating to the said Professor, signed by Mr. 
 Hollis himself; 
 
 " It was unanimously voted, that a letter of thanks be sent to the 
 said Mr. Hollis, as for his great bounty in general to the College, so 
 in special for his most kind offer with respect to a Professor of 
 Divinity, and that Mr. Wadsworth and Mr. Colman draw up said 
 letter and send it. Then the Overseers took into their most serious 
 consideration the matter of a Professor of Divinity in general, and, 
 after some debate, unanimously resolved, that the establishing a 
 Professor of Divinity at the said College, under proper regulations, 
 will, by the blessing of God, very much conduce to the advancement
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 539 
 
 of theology among the students there, to promote the interest of the APPENDIX, 
 true Christian religion throughout the whole land, and therein very ' _ ' 
 
 much answer the great and pious end of incorporating the said 
 
 College. The President continuing his theological expositions and Overseer, 
 i i n-i i i M respecting 
 
 exercises, and the 1 utors their instructions in Divinity to their pupils Hoilis's 
 
 as formerly. -^ 
 
 " The next thing, proposed for consideration, was the rules and 
 orders relating to the Professor, signed by Mr. Hollis. The qualifi- 
 cations and regulations of the said Professor being a matter of very 
 great importance to the religion of New England, the founder him- 
 self also having been pleased, in his own letter to the Corporation, 
 to desire them duly to consider of the said rules and orders, and 
 send over such needful amendments as should be thought fit; 
 
 " The eleven rules and orders being distinctly read over and 
 severally debated on, the Overseers did accept the first, the second, 
 the third, the fourth with this alteration, after the word publicly, 
 ' once a week upon Divinity, either positive, controversial, or casuis- 
 tical, and as often upon Church History, critical exposition of Scrip- 
 ture, or Jewish Antiquities, as the Corporation, with the approbation 
 of the Overseers, shall judge Jit.' The fifth, the sixth, the seventh, 
 the eighth, the ninth, the tenth, the eleventh, with this alteration, 
 that, instead of the words that it be recommended to the electors, that 
 at every choice they prefer, put in ' that the person chosen from time 
 to time to be a Professor, be,' &c. 
 
 " The plan of a form for the Professor of Divinity to agree to at 
 his inauguration was accepted with these alterations, viz. instead of 
 Bible is say ' the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are,' and 
 after the word only blot out and most. 
 
 " In the last article but one, to the word churches add ' of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ.' In the last article subjoin to the close of it, ' and all 
 such other statutes and orders as shall be made by the College not 
 repugnant thereunto.' 
 
 " The Overseers then adjourned to Wednesday, the 24th current, 
 at 10 o'clock in the forenoon." 
 
 Records of the Overseers, Vol. I. p. 21.
 
 540 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. XLIX. 
 
 No. XLIX. See p. 261. 
 
 Extract 
 from a 
 letter of 
 Thomas 
 Hollis to 
 Benjamin 
 Colman. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF THOMAS HOLLIS TO 
 BENJAMIN COLMAN. 
 
 " London, March 18th, 1722-3. 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " His Excellency, your Governor, with his two brothers, Lord Bar- 
 
 rington, and Bendish, Esqr., with Mr. Neal and Mr. Hunt, did 
 
 me the honor to come and dine at my house, March 16th, and after 
 dinner we read over your letter, and debated the President Leverett's 
 answer to the writing obligatory I had demanded under the seal of 
 the Corporation, " that, upon second thoughts, they could not find 
 how to bind themselves faster than they are already, in justice," &c. 
 
 " Their unanimous advice was, that I should insist on it, to have 
 such an obligation as strong as may be, according to your promise 
 in former letters I should have ; that in all times coming the Cor- 
 poration will perform my trust in manner appointed by my orders, 
 and not divert the moneys devoted, principal or increase, to any 
 other uses ; and, in case of default hereof to my mind, that then by 
 
 the power I have reserved to myself, I may devise it over to 
 
 for other uses discoursed of , which, if you ask your Gov- 
 ernor at his return, he will tell you more largely. 
 
 " I am of opinion, when you have received the letters sent you as 
 above mentioned, your Corporation will come into it, to send me an 
 obligation as desired, without waiting for a copy of a draft from me. 
 If I do not think it full enough, I may alter it and return it ; and it 
 will not be prudent for you to delay it; for, though I think I have 
 sent enough by Osbo/ne, if it arrive safe, to answer all I have as yet 
 appointed, yet more was designed, as I hinted, in my will. But 
 that is as yet in my own power to alter, if I may not be gratified in 
 this." 
 
 Resident 
 fellows. 
 
 No. L. See p. 274. 
 RESIDENT FELLOWS. 
 
 " Anno Dom. 1666. It is ordered by the Overseers, that such as 
 are fellows of the College, and have salaries paid them out of the
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 541 
 
 Treasury, shall have their constant residence in the College, and APPENDIX, 
 
 shall lodge therein, and be present with the scholars at meal times 
 
 in the Hall, have their studies in the College, that so they may be Resident 
 
 better enabled to inspect the manners of the scholars, and prevent 
 
 all unnecessary damage to the society." 
 
 College Book, No. III. p. 25. 
 
 No. LI. See p. 283. 
 
 LETTER FROM PRESIDENT LEVERETT TO THE HOUSE OF 
 REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 "To the Honorable Timothy Lyndall, Esquire, Speaker of the Letter from 
 Honorable the House of Representatives, Boston. Leveret" 
 
 to the 
 
 " Cambridge, December 6th, 1720. g ouse of 
 tt /r o i cv Represent- 
 
 " Mr. Speaker, bir, atives. 
 
 " This is the session you are wont to consider the subsistence and 
 supports of your servants ; and, though I have not the least appre- 
 hension you will forget that I have the honor to be numbered among 
 them, yet I should neglect my duty both to you and myself, if I 
 should not inform you, and pray you to intimate to the Honorable 
 House, 
 
 " 1. That the demolition in part, and the removal of the remains, 
 of the President's house, have deprived me of that part of subsistence, 
 which has been always provided by the country for all the Presidents 
 of the College, which even non-resident Presidents for ever have 
 had the benefit of. 
 
 " 2. That what accrued from the disposal of that house was im- 
 proved in yon noble additional building. 
 
 "3. That above twenty pounds of my own money, disbursed to 
 make the President's house of any significant advantage to me when 
 I could not dwell in it myself, is sunk and carried off in and with 
 it, to so much sensible loss to me, beside that of the yearly revenue 
 which has now ceased for a year and a half. 
 
 " I need not tell any body of the extraordinary charges I have 
 been obliged to be at this year, nor mention the melancholy occasion 
 of it ; but yet it may be very well thought, that, when such things 
 happen, and are coincident with such diminutions of what was and 
 is necessary for the support of my post and station, difficulties, in-
 
 542 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. LI. 
 
 conveniences, and discouragements in public services must un- 
 avoidably ensue. 
 
 " To be importunate would be impertinent, and may be deemed 
 I assure you, Mr. Speaker, as I may not, so 
 
 Letter from 
 
 President 
 
 Leverett to something worse. 
 
 neither can I, entertain the thought of so much as a possibility, that 
 
 of Repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 the Honorable House of Representatives, after the generous care 
 they have taken for the reception of the members of the College, 
 can or will finally neglect the head of it. 
 
 " I will do myself the honor, with my humble duty to the Hon- 
 orable House, and with profound regards to yourself, to subscribe, 
 " Honorable Sir, 
 
 " Your most faithful and humble servant, 
 
 " JOHN LEVEIIETT." 
 
 Letter from 
 President 
 Leverett to 
 John 
 White. 
 
 No. LIT. See p. 283. 
 LETTER FROM PRESIDENT LEVERETT TO JOHN WHITE. 
 
 " To Mr. John White, Boston. 
 
 " Cambridge, December 14th, 1720. 
 " Sir, 
 
 " This morning Mr. Boardman tells me, that it was said in the 
 Honorable House of Representatives, that the President had not 
 given the scholars above three expositions in the Hall for a twelve- 
 month, and that one of the Fellows had said, he would give his oath 
 of it. I pray, Sir, do me the justice, as to declare, in my name, that 
 the assertion is positively false, and demand of the gentleman, that 
 said one of the Fellows would give his oath to the truth thereof, that 
 he should tell which of the Fellows is disposed to be forsworn, and 
 to swear to a falsehood. Such an one is not fit to have any thing 
 to do in the College. 
 
 " If it be the mind of the College, that I should be starved out 
 of their service, it is but letting me know their mind ; I will not put 
 that House to exercise that cruelty. 
 "I am, Sir, 
 
 " Your humble servant, 
 
 " JOHN LEVERETT."
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 543 
 
 No. LIII. See p. 284. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. LIII. 
 
 LETTER FROM PRESIDENT LEVERETT TO THE HOUSE OF 
 REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 " Cambridge, December 15th, 1720. Letter from 
 " Mr. Speaker, Sir, President 
 
 Leverett to 
 " It may be justly thought strange, that I should trouble you with the House 
 
 a second letter this session, and you will conclude it is something sentatives. 
 extraordinary that obliges me to do so ; for in truth, Mr. Speaker, 
 so it is. 
 
 " It is not the denial of what I thought a most reasonable request, 
 and (I think I am sure I designed it) made in an humble and decent 
 manner, that would have induced me to expostulate upon it, or 
 revive it; but the irresistible occasion is what follows, viz. that 
 I was informed, that a gentleman, a member of the Honorable 
 House of Representatives, namely, Colonel Dudley, suggested and 
 averred to the Honorable House, that there had not been in the 
 College Hall above or more than three expositions performed by the 
 President for this twelvemonth ; and, repeating it, added, that one 
 of the Fellows would give his oath that it is true. Now I have 
 asked every one of the Fellows, viz. Mr. Flynt, Mr. Sever, Mr. 
 Robie, and Mr. Welsteed, who each and every one of them deny, 
 that ever any suggestion was made by them to any person, and that 
 they neither are ready nor can give their oath to any such repre- 
 sentation, for that they none of them suppose it, and some of them 
 know, that it is not true. And I positively declare that it is false. 
 
 " The gentleman, I am sure, could not pretend to serve his 
 country by such an averment, and our just country are not willing 
 to be served by such a falsehood. I will not pretend to say what he 
 designed to serve by his representation. 
 
 " I have served my country in sundry posts and under various 
 characters, but I never was charged with unfaithfulness in any of 
 them. I acknowledge my imperfections in all of them, but assert 
 my integrity, and can pretend to some good measure of industry 
 too. As for the service I am now in, if it happened the last year 
 through sundry occasions, all relating to the College; some of the 
 necessary duties and services were transposed, that would not by 
 any means expose me to be thought diverting from the service I am 
 devoted to, though some exercises, such as expositions, were not so 
 numerous as sometimes they have been.
 
 544 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. LIU. 
 
 Letter from 
 President 
 Leverett to 
 the House 
 of Repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 " Besides, everybody knows, one great and melancholy diversion 
 from such services as would be duty at other times, would be cruelty 
 to be expected and demanded rigorously at such a time. 
 
 " Mr. Speaker, I must protest against the injustice of the repre- 
 sentation above mentioned, and that if it has made any impressions 
 upon any of the Honorable members, I pray you to set me right in 
 their thoughts, for I am their and 
 
 " Your most faithful (though abused) and most humble servant, 
 
 " JOHN LEVERETT. 
 
 " To the Honorable Timothy Lyndall, Esquire, 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives." 
 
 The 
 
 antique 
 
 chair. 
 
 No. LIV. See p. 288. 
 THE PRESIDENT'S CHAIR. 
 
 The antique chair represented in this vignette has been used in 
 the College for the purpose of conferring degrees on Commencement 
 day, for time beyond the memory of man. Little can be added 
 to the account given by Mr. Peirce in the History of the College, 
 p. 312. 
 
 Vague report represents it to have been brought to the College 
 during the presidency of Holyoke, as the gift of the Rev. Ebe- 
 nezer Turell, of Medford (the author of the Life of Dr. Colman). 
 Turell was connected by marriage with the Mathers, by some of 
 whom it is said to have been brought from England. Mr. Peirce 
 considers it as resembling a class of chairs described by Horace 
 Walpole, and said to be common in the county of Cheshire, being 
 " of wood, the seat triangular, the back, arms, and legs loaded with 
 turnery, and carved and turned in the most uncouth and whimsical 
 forms." 
 
 See Private Correspondence of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, 
 Vol. II. p. 279, and Vol. III. pp. 23, 24. 
 
 No. LV. See p. 307. 
 MEMORIAL OF THE CORPORATION TO THE GENERAL COURT. 
 
 " At a meeting of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, 
 in the Library, December 10th, 1722.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 545 
 
 " A Memorial in the words following, viz. APPENDIX, 
 
 " To his Excellency, Samuel Shute, Esquire, Captain-General, 
 
 and Governor-in-chief, in and over his Majesty's Province of the Memorial 
 
 ' of the Cor- 
 
 Massachusetts Bay, in New England, the Honorable his Majesty's poration to 
 Council, and Representatives, in General Court assembled; the court, 
 memorial of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, in 
 Cambridge, within the Province aforesaid, most humbly showeth, 
 
 " That, the Honorable the House of Representatives having in 
 their Journal of November 22d, past, with a great deal of concern 
 intimated, that it is of the last consequence to that society, that the 
 members of that Corporation take all possible caution that they keep 
 strictly within the rules prescribed in their constitution, in all their 
 acts, that so their ancient and well-established privileges may not in 
 the leastwise be endangered ; the members of that Corporation 
 humbly say, that they are not sensible that they have passed any acts 
 at any of their meetings, or that there have been any proceedings 
 of the Corporation in the way and manner they now are, but what 
 are justifiable and maintainable, and warranted by their charter. 
 And the said members further say, that they are very sensible that 
 it is of the last consequence to that society, and they believe it to be 
 so to the whole country and all these churches, that the constitution 
 of the College be entirely preserved, as well as the rules prescribed 
 by the charter strictly pursued. And that their ancient and well- 
 established privileges may not be in the leastwise endangered, the 
 said members of the Corporation humbly think it to be their bounden 
 duty to move to this Honorable Court, that they may be admitted to 
 a hearing upon the premises, the Corporation not having as yet been 
 heard thereupon. 
 
 " Wherefore, the said members of the Corporation pray they may 
 be heard, and such a day given them to wait upon the General 
 Assembly, as in their wisdom and justice they shall see meet. 
 
 " And your memorialists, as in duty bound, shall ever pray, &c. 
 " Your Excellencies' and Honors' 
 
 " Most humble and obedient servants, 
 " JOHN LEVERETT, President. 
 
 BENJAMIN WADSWORTH,") ,, /. 
 
 Fellows of 
 BENJAMIN COLMAN, i 
 
 ) Harvard 
 
 J HOMAS ROBIE, j 
 
 NATHANIEL APPLETON, J 
 EDWARD HUTCHINSON, Treasurer. 
 " Dated, Cambridge, College Library, 
 December 10th, 1722." 
 
 VOL. i. 69
 
 546 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. LV. 
 
 Memorial 
 of the Cor- 
 poration to 
 the General 
 Court. 
 
 " Being agreed to, it was voted, that the same should be presented 
 to the General Court now sitting, and put into the House of Repre- 
 sentatives by Mr. Treasurer Hutchinson. Corporation Records, 
 Vol. IV. pp. 81, 82. 
 
 " December 12th, 1722. In the House of Representatives a 
 memorial of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, praying 
 that they may be heard on the vote of this House, passed the 22d 
 of November, and a day given them to wait on the General Assem- 
 bly, as in their wisdom they shall see meet, &-c. Read and dis- 
 missed, for that the prayer of the memorial is altogether groundless 
 and noways to be justified. Ordered, that a message be sent to the 
 honorable board, to inquire whether the vote of the House, passed 
 November 22d, relating to the College, be passed upon by the 
 board." Leveret? s Manuscript, p. 246. 
 
 Extract 
 from a let- 
 ter of 
 Thomas 
 Ilollis to 
 Benjamin 
 Colman. 
 
 No. LVL See p. 307. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF THOMAS HOLLIS TO 
 BENJAMIN COLMAN. 
 
 " Your Governor (Shute) expresses a great value for your person, 
 and tender regard for your honor. If they do vote you out in May, 
 he will watch it shall not be concurred here. He says he is willing 
 to explain, and enlarge your number of Fellows in the Corporation 
 if advisable it may be done, but seems resolved that your three non- 
 residents shall not be dismissed but on your own application. Lon- 
 don, Manch 18th, 1722-3." 
 
 No. LVH. See pp. 309, 312. 
 
 MEMORIAL OF THE CORPORATION TO THE LIEUTENANT- 
 GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL. 
 
 Memorial " At a Corporation meeting held at the house of the Rev. Mr. 
 
 poration to Colman, in Boston, August 23d, 1723. 
 
 " The representation of the President and Fellows of Harvard 
 
 Governor College, upon the affairs of said College, now depending in the 
 
 cil. General Court, occasioned by a late petition of Mr. Nicholas Sever 
 
 and Mr. William Welsteed, engrossed according to the agreement 
 at the last meeting, being again read over, it was agreed, and
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 547 
 
 voted, that the President be desired to sign it in the name of the APPENDIX, 
 Corporation. The President signed the said representation, accord- No - Lvn - 
 ingly, in the presence of the Corporation. Memorial 
 
 " The representation of the President and Fellows is as follows. poraiion to 
 " To the Honorable William Durnmer, Esquire, Lieutenant- [enant-"" 
 
 Governor and Commander-in-chief in and over his Majesty's Governor 
 
 and Coun- 
 Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England ; and to the cil. 
 
 Honorable his Majesty's Council, the humble representation of the 
 President and Fellows of Harvard College upon the affairs of said 
 College, now depending in the General Court, occasioned by a late 
 petition of Mr. Nicholas Sever and Mr. William Welsteed. 
 
 " It having pleased your Honors so far to regard the memorial 
 lately laid by us before the General Court, as to give us this hearing 
 before you proceed to act upon the late resolves of the honorable 
 House of Representatives, we do thankfully acknowledge your 
 Honors' justice and goodness unto us herein, and make our reply in 
 manner and form following. 
 
 " The report of the honorable Committee of the General Court. 
 June 29th, 1722, upon the memorial of the Overseers of Harvard Col- 
 lege, on which it has pleased the honorable House of Representa- 
 tives to come into their resolve, consists of three articles and an in- 
 troduction. We crave leave to make some short reply to each of them. 
 
 " The first article in the report of the honorable Committee is, 
 'that it was the intent of the College charter, that the Tutors of the 
 said College, or such as have the instruction and government of the 
 students there, should be Fellows and members of the Corporation of 
 said College, provided they exceed not Jive in number.' 
 
 " To this we reply, that, having had occasion often to peruse and 
 consider the charter of the College, it still appears to us not to be 
 the intent of said charter, that the Tutors of the College, or such as 
 have the instruction and government of the students there, should 
 be Fellows and members of the Corporation of said College, pro- 
 vided that they exceed not five in number. And our reasons are 
 these that follow. First. If this had been the real intention of the 
 General Court, who made and gave the charter, it seems unaccount- 
 able to us, that it was not plainly expressed, which might easily have 
 been done, and we humbly think ought to have been. But, instead 
 of that, when the first seven persons are named in the charter, it 
 immediately adds, all of them being inhabitants in the Bay. It could 
 as easily have said, all of them being residents in the College, or 
 within the town of Cambridge, if that had really been the intention
 
 548 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. LVir. 
 
 Memorial 
 of the Cor- 
 poration to 
 the Lieu- 
 tenant- 
 Governor 
 and Coun- 
 cil. 
 
 of the charter, and there is no doubt with us but it would have said 
 so. But it being only given as a reason or qualification, that they 
 were inhabitants of the Bay, it seems plainly to follow, that the 
 charter never intended any such thing, as that the members of the 
 Corporation must be resident Fellows (or Tutors) in the House. 
 
 " For we pray your Honors to consider with us, that this descrip- 
 tion, all of them being inhabitants of the Bay, was added for some- 
 thing, or for nothing. To say for nothing, would be such a reflec- 
 tion on that honorable General Court, as we can by no means give 
 in to. If for something, we conceive it must be either for informa- 
 tion in matter of fact, or for direction in future conduct. It could 
 not be merely to inform in matter of fact, the thing being notorious 
 to all. Therefore we must necessarily conclude, that it could only 
 be a directory for future conduct ; importing this, that, in all times 
 to come, when there shall be occasion to choose a person into the 
 Corporation, he must be an inhabitant in the Bay, as the Massa- 
 chusetts Colony was then called. 
 
 "It seems plain, therefore, that all the record which can be pre- 
 tended to be found in the College charter, respecting the residence 
 of persons to be elected into the Corporation, is only this ; that, as 
 the first seven were inhabitants of the Colony of the Massachusetts 
 Bay, so their successors must be in all times to come. 
 
 " If, may it please your Honors, there be any thing else in the 
 charter that seems to require the residence of the Fellows of the 
 Corporation within the House, it seems to be that clause in it, 
 and, for direction in all emergent occasions, execution of all orders and 
 by-laws, the conclusion shall be made by the major part, &c. &LC. 
 Now from hence some may plead, that the Corporation's residing at 
 the College is necessary for the well-governing the students there, 
 and for the executing the good laws provided for that end. 
 
 " To this we answer, that by the charter it is the province of the 
 Corporation, from time to time, to make such orders and by-laws 
 for the ordering and carrying on the work of the College as they 
 shall think Jit, provided these orders be allowed by the Overseers. 
 
 " Now, may it please your Honors, when such laws are made, the 
 ordinary execution of them belongs to the President and Tutors 
 residing in the House, who are in the immediate daily government of 
 it, and for this service, among others, they receive their salary. But 
 upon emergent occasions, and in great and difficult cases, the direction 
 of the charter is, that the President call the Corporation together to 
 advise and resolve, and, if need be, to execute, for the greater honor
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 549 
 
 and service to the College, which accordingly has been the practice, APPENDIX, 
 on occasions that have called for severe censures or expulsions. 
 
 " May it please your Honors, we humbly conceive, that the College Memorial 
 charter, empowering the Corporation to make orders and by-laws, poration to 
 does also authorize and empower them to appoint and require all tenant-"" 
 officers, in their respective places within the College, to execute from Go /emor 
 day to day the laws made and confirmed for the good order and cil. 
 government of the House. And in a particular manner we judge 
 the Tutors to be such officers, chosen and authorized for this very 
 end, as well as to instruct; and unto the President and them does 
 the execution of the by-laws and orders belong, in the daily ordering 
 of matters within the House. It is not therefore at all necessary 
 (we humbly conceive), that the Tutors be of the Corporation in 
 order to the execution of the laws in the daily government of the 
 House. Nay, what pretence can there be, that persons must needs 
 be lawgivers in order to their having the executive trust and power 
 committed to them ? 
 
 " We pray your Honors, therefore, to observe, that the execution 
 of all orders and by-laws, wherein the charter directs and expects 
 the convening and acting of the Corporation is only upon emergent 
 occasions, and in great and difficult cases, in which cases a non- 
 resident Corporation are easily called together, and have usually 
 been so. 
 
 " But, if any should say that this clause, the execution of all orders 
 and by-latos, must be taken absolutely and unlimitedly, they must 
 then extend it to all and every particular in the daily administration 
 and ordering the affairs of the House ; and then 't would follow, that 
 a student must not have leave to go out of Commons, or out of town, 
 unless there be a major part of the Corporation actually consenting 
 in such a permission to him given. As also that at least four of the 
 Corporation must consent to the punishing a student for being absent 
 from, or tardy at prayers, recitation, or for the least misdemeanor 
 that is punishable by the laws and usage of the House. 
 
 " Now this, in our apprehension, is so impracticable, not to say 
 ridiculous, as that none can imagine it to be the meaning of the 
 charter ; and that the clause we are now considering refers only to 
 emergencies is further confirmed to us from the Appendix to the 
 charter, Anno 1657, which, reciting the paragraph referred to, only 
 says, all emergent occasions, silently passing by the other clause, 
 execution of all orders and by-laws. Moreover, also, it is evident in 
 fact, that the orders and by-laws have been executed by the Presi-
 
 550 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. LVH. 
 
 Memorial 
 of the Cor- 
 poration to 
 the Lieu- 
 tenant- 
 Governor 
 and Coun- 
 cil. 
 
 dent and Tutors upon the spot from time to time, in the daily 
 administration of the House ; and they have been always esteemed 
 by the Overseers, and by the Corporation, as well as by themselves 
 also, till of late, sufficiently authorized to execute the same. 
 * "Having thus far argued upon one part and another of the charter, 
 we go on (may it please your Honors) to consider more particularly 
 the powers granted by the charter to the Corporation, which we 
 humbly conceive are in their own nature too great to be reasonably 
 granted unto the Tutors or resident Fellows to the number of five. 
 
 " For will your Honors please again to look over those powers 1 
 There is the fleeting of the Presidents from time to time. Will 
 your Honors think the resident Tutors in the House the fittest 
 persons for that great work ? Then there is the choosing, and, upon 
 occasion, removing all officers, and of themselves, among the rest, 
 which, we think, must make but a very harsh and ungrateful sound 
 in everybody's ear. Then there is the making of all orders and 
 by-laws, for which kind of work your Honors (who are in the legis- 
 lature over us) shall please to say, who are to be ordinarily judged 
 the most capable persons. Then there is the disposing of all the 
 revenues of the College, and the appointing all salaries and allow- 
 ances, for services to be done therein. 
 
 "Now (may it please your Honors) when we consider these 
 powers granted by the charter to the Corporation, we cannot con- 
 ceive it to mean, that the resident Tutors, to the number of five, 
 should be so invested. All these we think such articles of trust and 
 importance, as call for more years, experience, and judgment, than 
 the Tutors in the House may from time to time be supposed to have ; 
 for, generally speaking, they may be younger gentlemen of small 
 experience, and they are often called from College to other work 
 before they can have a proper insight into the weighty affairs and 
 interests of the society. 
 
 " We would also add here, that, according to the charter, no by- 
 laws or orders can be made for the College but by the Corporation, 
 though the approbation of the Overseers be necessary. 
 
 " Therefore, if four or five Tutors be of the Corporation no law 
 can be made directing and requiring said Tutors to do the services 
 of their post, for which they receive salaries, unless those Tutors 
 make it themselves. Now for persons in office, who receive wages 
 or salary for their work, to be under no law referring to their work 
 but what is of their own making, seems contrary to the reason of 
 things, and to the practice of all well-regulated societies.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 551 
 
 " To be under no laws in their office work but those of their own APPENDIX. 
 making is, in effect, to be under no laws at all ; for, if they be evil- No - LVJr - 
 
 minded, they may choose whether they will make any such laws as Memorial 
 
 J . J J . oftheCor- 
 
 from time to time may be necessary, none can constrain them, nor poration to 
 
 make a new law without them. tenant" 
 
 " And again, if the Tutors should be the major part of the Cor- ^ n , v l or 
 poration, and through sloth or otherwise should shamefully neglect cil. 
 the duties of their post, or be abusive or injurious in it, how shall 
 the matter be mended? If new laws are needful, they cannot be 
 made without them ; or, if good laws already in being are to be 
 executed, the execution is with them in the case supposed ; and shall 
 we think, that they will inflict deserved censure on themselves? 
 
 " Or again, let us suppose four resident Tutors, who may be in- 
 experienced, and but lately chosen into the Corporation ; then the 
 whole legislature, and the whole executive trust, even upon all 
 emergencies, and in all difficult cases, would be in their hands ; 
 which we apprehend would be most dangerous to, if not eversive 
 of, the welfare of the College. 
 
 " We pass on, may it please your Honors, to another argument, 
 which is from custom and usage, which, with all incorporated bodies, 
 is a great interpreter of charters ; and we think we may strongly 
 argue thus, that the charter of the College was never interpreted or 
 understood, that we know of, by our worthy predecessors in the 
 state or in the church, to mean, that the Tutors and instructors in 
 the College must necessarily be Fellows of the Corporation. 
 
 " None of said General Courts, or Boards of Overseers, have so 
 judged, that we can hear of. The charter of 1672 requires no such 
 thing, nor seems at all to look that way, which act is for the per- 
 petuation of the charter of 1650. And when the government of 
 the Province have in their wisdom gone into the forming of new 
 charters for the College (as in the times of Sir William Phips, and 
 in the times of Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton, and the Earl of 
 Bellamont), yet no more than two of the Tutors were allowed to be 
 of the Corporation in any of the draughts or charters by them 
 made, or sent over for the royal approbation, although the Corpora- 
 tion was in those charters enlarged to the number of ten and of 
 seventeen, and although the Governor and Council for the time 
 being were named visitors of the College in two of these charters. 
 This, we think, is a matter worthy of your Honor's special con- 
 sideration. 
 
 " And moreover, when afterwards, under the government of Colonel
 
 552 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. LVII. 
 
 Memorial 
 of the Cor- 
 poration to 
 the Lieu- 
 tenant- 
 Governor 
 and Coun- 
 cil. 
 
 Dudley, the College was set upon its present foot, there were three 
 neighbouring ministers put into the Corporation, and one of the 
 three resident Tutors left out. 
 
 " And, since that day, we who are now of the Corporation were 
 approved by the Overseers without any seeking of our own, directly 
 or indirectly. 
 
 " So that the way, which we are and have been in, is not in the 
 least of our own devising or projecting, but it is the good old way, 
 which our fathers walked in, and which they have set us in ; and, 
 thanks be to God, we have experienced his blessing in it, and the 
 College has increased and prospered therein ; and (through mercy) 
 never more than of late years, under the diligent labors of the 
 present Corporation. But the change of late projected and pre- 
 scribed by some of the Tutors (in favor of themselves, and, as it 
 seems to us, for their own private interest,) is perfectly and entirely 
 novel. 
 
 " We ask, therefore, this favor of your Honors, to leave at least 
 this our testimony and witness; that we apprehend and fear pre- 
 judice and detriment to the College in times to come, both as to its 
 estate and also as to the government of it, if this new and untried 
 method be gone into. And, if any great inconveniences or damage 
 to the College do ensue thereupon, we are clear of them ; nor will 
 they be so easily retrieved, when they may be too late felt and be- 
 wailed. 
 
 " But there is another thing which we also crave leave to recom- 
 mend unto your Honors' wise and serious consideration, which is, 
 that the College Corporation is to have perpetual succession by elec- 
 tion as vacancies happen. So that if those three of the Corporation, 
 whose ejection is thought and endeavoured by some, should be once 
 quit of their station in it, or be made to cease together from it, the 
 Corporation itself would then cease, and the charter become null 
 and void, inasmuch as there will then remain but one Fellow, with 
 the President and Treasurer, who cannot, by the charter, make an 
 election to fill up the vacancy. For the charter plainly says, that 
 the Corporation is to be continued by elections, and that there must 
 be the major part of seven acting in those elections. 
 
 " And thus, may it please your Honors, we have made answer to 
 the first article, which is the main and great one, in the report of the 
 honorable Committee; and we submit our reasons, weighty as they 
 seem to us, to your Honors' most impartial and deliberate consider- 
 ation.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 553 
 
 " We come now to the second article in the report of the honor- APPENDIX, 
 able Committee, which is, ' that none of the said Fellows be Over- No - Lvn - 
 
 seers ' Memorial 
 
 of the Cor- 
 " To this we briefly answer, that, should the Corporation consist poration to 
 
 of resident Tutors, it is not probable, if possible, that any of them tenant^"" 
 should be of the Board of Overseers, the said Tutors, while such, Gov emor 
 
 ' and Coun- 
 
 not being like to be teaching elders in any of the neighbouring cil. 
 churches, nor of his Majesty's Council. 
 
 " But then we still add, that some of the Fellows of the Corpo- 
 ration* have been of the number of Overseers from time to time; and, 
 as we think, to the great benefit of the College, so that till now it 
 never was judged improper or unfit, or contrary to the intent of the 
 charter, that some of the Fellows of the Corporation should be also 
 of the Board of Overseers. 
 
 " The last thing in the report of the honorable Committee is, ' that 
 the President and Felloios of the said College, or the major part 
 of them, are not warranted to Jix or establish any salary or allow- 
 ance for their service, without the approbation and consent of the 
 Overseers.' 
 
 " To this we humbly reply; we think, that prior acts of legislature 
 are to be explained, restrained, or enlarged, according to the plain 
 sense of subsequent acts of the same legislature. We readily own, 
 that, from the first constitution of the Overseers, in 1642, the whole 
 management of the affairs of the College was entirely in the hands 
 of the Overseers. But when the same legislature, that had consti- 
 tuted and empowered them, did, in the year 1650, make a charter 
 for the College, and invested a Corporation with the powers therein 
 granted, we humbly conceive, that thenceforth there remained no 
 more power to the Overseers than what- that charter leaves them. 
 
 " We are humbly of opinion, that if the present powers of the 
 Overseers are sought for, they are not so much to be looked for in 
 the act for their original constitution as in the subsequent acts of 
 the General Court, and particularly the charter of 1650. 
 
 " That charter plainly supposes the continuance of the Board of 
 Overseers, and reserves sundry powers to them ; but we do not find 
 that it leaves them any power in the matter of fixing and establish- 
 ing any salaries or allowances, or the disposing of the incomes and 
 revenues of the College. 
 
 " If this, our opinion, proceeds from our ignorance or weakness, 
 we cannot help it, but should be glad to be enlightened by plain, 
 strong explications of any passage in the charter to the contrary, 
 if any such there be. 
 
 VOL. i. 70
 
 554 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. LVH. 
 
 Memorial 
 of the Cor- 
 poration to 
 the Lieu- 
 tenant- 
 Governor 
 and Coun- 
 cil. 
 
 "And upon all, inasmuch as we think that by the charter it belongs 
 wholly to the Corporation to appoint and fix salaries and make allow- 
 ances to those who do service in the College, therefore we think 
 it the more unreasonable, that even the major part of the Corpora- 
 tion should be of those who receive salaries or allowances from the 
 College. In such cases as these, we think that none ought to carve 
 for themselves. 
 
 " In fine, upon this head we judge that the sole power of making 
 allowances is by the charter vested in the Corporation. We know 
 not of such allowances being at any time brought to the Overseers 
 for their fixing them. But if the Tutors are, by charter, of the 
 Corporation, we own it were a most unreasonable thing, that they 
 should have power to fix and establish their own salaries. Neither 
 can we think it decent, that they should have the first naming and 
 appointing any salary for themselves. Wherefore we find here a 
 new argument, if not assurance, that it never was the intent of the 
 charter, that the College Corporation should consist of Tutors, to 
 the number of four or five, receiving salaries. 
 
 " And thus we have made some reply to the report of the honor- 
 able Committee, in the several articles thereof; only, whereas in the 
 preamble to their report, they are pleased to say, that these their 
 resolutions, if put in practice, would be more beneficial to the College 
 than the enlarging the number of the Corporation ; 
 
 " We must still crave leave humbly to insist on the contrary 
 opinion, and say, that we should be heartily glad, and think it much 
 for the safety of the College, if the honorable Court could in their 
 wisdom think it proper to enlarge the Corporation to twice its 
 present number or more, because of the large powers with which 
 we think it is intrusted ; -always provided, that the resident Tutors 
 should never be able to make a major part, because we think it con- 
 trary to the light of nature, that any should have an overruling voice 
 in making those laws by which themselves must be governed in their 
 office icork, and for which they receive salaries. 
 
 " Having thus answered to the report of the honorable Committee, 
 we come now to offer a few words upon a clause or two in the 
 petition of Mr. Sever and Mr. Welsteed, which they have lately 
 presented to the General Court. 
 
 " They recite a proviso, which his Excellency, the Governor, 
 was pleased to make some time the last year, that three of us, minis- 
 ters, should not be removed from the Corporation. 
 
 " On this head we can assure your Honors, that none of us ever
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 555 
 
 sought after such a proviso in our favor, directly nor indirectly, APPENDIX, 
 unless our open arguing and reasoning from time to time before No - Lvn - 
 
 the Board of Overseers may be so interpreted, which we humbly Memorial 
 
 J J oftheCor- 
 
 conceive it cannot justly be. poration to 
 
 " It has been openly declared before your Honors, again and tenant" 
 again, as we do now declare, that we have never meant to argue for Goy ernor 
 
 arid Coun- 
 
 our own personal continuance in the Corporation, but only against a cil. 
 majority of the resident Tutors being of it. 
 
 " We have no reason at all, for our own parts, to be unwilling to 
 part with our character as Fellows of the Corporation, how meanly 
 soever those gentlemen may think and are pleased to say reflectingly 
 of us ; and so far are we from desiring to continue in the Corpora- 
 tion, if it has not been, or may not be, for the service of the College, 
 that it would be an ease and a pleasure to us to quit our station in 
 it, and see it better served by others, and more secured by their 
 services. 
 
 " Again, their petition has a clause in it to this effect: the state 
 of the College is now more difficult and perplexed than ever ; and 
 certainly it is so, for which we think the petitioners are to blame 
 themselves, as the first and moving cause of it. They themselves 
 have first perplexed the College, and now they complain of its per- 
 plexed estate. 
 
 " Again, the petitioners pray the Honorable Court, that they may 
 be enabled, in their places, to carry on the business of the College to 
 good effect. 
 
 " We reply, that we think if they would, as becomes Christians, 
 study to be quiet and do their own business, they have authority 
 sufficient to do all that work and service in the College for which 
 they were chosen, and they have laws provided for them to go by 
 therein ; or, if they need more, the Corporation is ready to provide 
 more, and to lay the same before the Overseers. 
 
 " And now, to draw unto a close, we thank God, and we thank 
 your Honors, for this opportunity granted us faithfully to discharge 
 our consciences (how mean soever in themselves or meanly thought 
 of by others), and of humbly and plainly testifying what we really 
 think would be for the good of the College. We truly and seriously 
 declare, that we make not this representation for any by-ends or 
 self-interest. Those of us, whose ejectment is so earnestly sought 
 for, neither seek nor find any reward for all that time we spend, or 
 pains we take, as members of the Corporation. If we have served 
 the College in any kind or degree, we desire to thank God for the
 
 556 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 Memorial 
 of the Cor- 
 poration to 
 the Lieu- 
 tenant- 
 Governor 
 and Coun- 
 cil. 
 
 APPENDIX, time and assistance. We heartily wish and pray for its welfare, and 
 NO. LVII. f or tne flourishing of religion and good literature in it, to the glory 
 of God and the good of all his people, even to the latest posterity, 
 if it may be the divine pleasure so to order it. 
 
 " We wish its enemies may not find nor take any occasion against 
 it by its late unhappy discontents and differences, the fault whereof 
 lies at their door who have contrived and fomented them. A house 
 or city divided against itself, what is likely to become of it 1 God 
 avert the omen ! 
 
 " We again thank your Honors for the patient hearing which you 
 have given us. We desire to leave the event to the wise disposal 
 of the sovereign God, and to submit ourselves thereunto, whether it 
 be for correction or in mercy. We pray God to be with you in your 
 judgment, and are 
 
 " Your Honors' most obedient humble servants, 
 
 " JOHN LEVERETT, President of Harvard College, 
 " in the name and at the desire of the Corporation. 
 "/n Council, August 23d, 1723, 
 Read, &c." 
 
 No. LVIII. Seep. 316. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF THOMAS HOLLIS TO 
 BENJAMIN COLMAN. 
 
 Kxtract 
 from a 
 letter of 
 Thomas 
 Hollis to 
 Benjamin 
 Colman. 
 
 " London, February 24f/<, 1723-4. 
 
 " Mr. Cook, your agent, and his son, did me the honor to visit 
 me at my house last week, and we discoursed of your state and of 
 your College. He tells me your College is in a very bad state and 
 condition ; that the Corporation ought to be resident Fellows, and 
 that the gentlemen non-resident are as worthy persons as the coun- 
 try affords, or could be chosen, but by their living at a distance 
 cannot attend the good of the House as were to be desired ; and 
 that you cannot alter or increase the number of your Corporation 
 without hazard of the whole ; that the wisest men in Boston had 
 thoroughly examined it, and himself also, who seems to understand 
 your constitution very well."
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 557 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. L1X. 
 
 No. LIX. See p. 326. 
 
 MEMORIAL OF T-HE REV. MR. WADSWORTH AND THE REV. 
 MR. COLMAN TO THE GENERAL COURT. 
 
 " To His Excellency, Samuel Shute, Esquire, Captain-General Memorial 
 and Governor-in-chief in and over his Majesty's Province of Mr. Wads- 
 Massachusetts Bay, and to the Honorable the Council and 
 
 House of Representatives in General Court assembled, the Mr - Co1 * 
 
 man to the 
 
 31st day of May, 1721. General 
 
 " The memorial of the Fellows of Harvard College, humbly 
 showeth, 
 
 " That, your memorialists having the honor to stand related to 
 the said College for the more immediate inspection and government 
 thereof, and being therefore more peculiarly bound to concern them- 
 selves in all respects for the interest and welfare of that society, and 
 having taken into our consideration the necessary annual expense 
 of the President and head of that society in supporting the honor 
 of his station, we crave leave to suggest, that we are humbly of opin- 
 ion, from the observation that we have made, that what is at present 
 allowed is not sufficient to answer the same ; the charge being in- 
 creased as the Province and the number of those that visit the 
 College and President is increased, and the President wholly taken 
 off from every other way and means of providing for his support. 
 
 " Your memorialists therefore humbly supplicate this great and 
 honorable Court, in behalf of the reverend President, as well as on 
 behalf of the society and the interests of learning among us, that 
 some addition (such as in your great wisdom and goodness you 
 shall judge fitting) may be made to his present allowance. 
 
 " We should not have presumed to trouble this great and honor- 
 able Court with this our request (which has not its rise in any 
 measure from the worthy person it is made for, but from our own 
 mere motion), if our relation to, and many years' concern for, the 
 College had not given us a further knowledge of the reasonableness 
 and necessity of it, than the greatest part of the honorable members 
 of this Court (by reason of their remote dwelling) can be supposed 
 to have. 
 
 " We pray, as we are in duty bonnd, for the presence of God 
 with the General Court in the present session, and for His gracious
 
 558 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, acceptance of the government in all their cares for the interests of 
 * LI ' religion and learning, from time to time expressed, and are 
 " Your Excellency's and Honors' 
 
 " Most humble and obedient servants, 
 
 " BENJAMIN WADSWORTH. 
 " BENJAMIN COLMAN." 
 
 No. LX. See p. 342. 
 
 COTTON MATHER'S SUGGESTIONS ON POINTS TO BE IN- 
 QUIRED INTO CONCERNING HARVARD COLLEGE. 
 
 Cotton " Important points relating to the education at Harvard College, 
 
 sugges- needful to be inquired into. Prepared and humbly offered by some 
 :ions, &c. W J K> j laye new jy passed through the first four years of their being 
 there. 
 
 " The performances of a deceased person, and with what industry 
 and fidelity the churches of New England were served in them, 'tis 
 too late to inquire into. But the course of things as they have gone 
 on of late time is a just matter of inquiry among those, who would 
 not see the greatest interest of the country sacrificed, and the 
 churches betrayed. 
 
 " It may be inquired, 
 
 " I. Whether solid learning be so valued and kept in reputation 
 as it ought to be, and whether there be not rather a sensible and 
 notorious decay of it from what has been in some former years. 
 
 " II. Whether the speaking of Latin has not been so discounte- 
 nanced as to render our scholars very unfit for a conversation with 
 strangers ; and whether the undergraduates have not several times 
 petitioned the governors of the College, that the speaking of Latin 
 might be encouraged among them, and their petition been as often 
 denied. 
 
 " III. Whether the recitations are such as to instil more solid 
 learning into the pupils. Whether they are not very much of such 
 authors, as are both unprofitable and indeed of little regard in the 
 learned world at this day. Whether the Tutors do not often make 
 their pupils get by heart a deal of insipid stuff and trash, that they 
 bid them at the same time to believe nothing of it. Whether a 
 great part of the exercises be not at best but serious follies. 
 
 " IV. Whether the pupils/ having learned what is expected of 
 them (which to the more acute sparks requires very little prepara-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 559 
 
 tion), all the rest of the time is not in a manner their own, and little APPENDIX, 
 care taken to make them deserve the name of students. Whether ' 
 it be the custom of the Tutors, with a vigilant inspection, to see 
 that they spend their time well, and assign them such books to read 
 as may be most useful for them, and examine their proficiency, and 
 what improvements they make by reading. 
 
 " V. Whether the scholars have not their studies filled with books 
 which may be truly called Satan's library. Whether the books 
 mostly read among them are not plays, novels, empty arid vicious 
 pieces of poetry, and even Ovid's Epistles, which have a vile ten- 
 dency to corrupt good manners. Whether the Tutors ever look 
 into this matter as they ought to do. 
 
 " VI. Whether the theological recitations, which are made once 
 a week, are not usually carried on after such a cursory manner as to 
 make little impression on the pupils. 
 
 " VII. Whether such books of divinity, as have most of the spirit 
 of the Gospel in them, are such as are chiefly recommended into 
 the reading of the students ; or not rather such as have many 
 erroneous and dangerous things in them. Whether, when books 
 that have rank poison in them have been recommended to students 
 there has been due care taken to warn them against the poisonous 
 passages, and whether the more faithful writers, that have observed 
 and censured these passages, have not been decried on all occasions. 
 
 "VIII. Whether there has been a due concern that the doctrines 
 of grace, which are of so much influence on religion, should be 
 understood and espoused by the students. Or whether the highest 
 commendations sometimes given of some that have long been Tutors 
 there have not been, that ' they have not set themselves to instil 
 contrary principles.' 
 
 " IX. Whether any thing has ever been done, or one word ever 
 spoken by the Tutors, to acquaint the students with the church state, 
 which is the distinguishing interest and beauty of the churches in 
 this country, and establish them in it. 
 
 " X. Whether the Tutors ever confer with their pupils about 
 their interior state, and labor as men in earnest with them for their 
 conversion to God 1 Whether the souls of the young men are not 
 grievously neglected by those who should remember, that they have 
 the destined ministers of the Gospel under their education. 
 
 "XI. Whether many godly persons in the country have not with 
 sad hearts lamented it, that their children, who have left their fami- 
 lies with some Gospel symptoms of piety upon them, after they camfi
 
 560 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, to live at College, do quickly lose all, and neither do nor hear any 
 more such things as they had before they went from home. 
 
 " XII. Whether the most of these excellent young ministers, 
 who are the gifts of Christ in the service of our churches, will not, 
 upon inquiry, declare, that, before they came to be what they are, 
 they found it necessary to lay aside the sentiments which they 
 brought from the College with them." 
 
 Cotton 
 Mather's 
 sugges- 
 tions, &.C. 
 
 Memorial 
 of the Rev. 
 Dr. Cutler 
 and the 
 Rev. Mr. 
 Myles to 
 the General 
 Court. 
 
 No. LXI. See p. 370. 
 
 MEMORIAL OF THE REV. DR. CUTLER AND THE REV. MR. 
 MYLES TO THE GENERAL COURT. 
 
 " Province of Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 " To the Honorable William Dummer, Esquire, Lieutenant- 
 Governor and Commander-in-chief in and over his Majesty's 
 Province of the Massachusetts Bay, and to the Honorable the 
 Council and House of Representatives in General Court 
 assembled. 
 
 " The memorial of Timothy Cutler, Doctor of Divinity, and 
 Samuel Myles, Master of Arts, and as they are the present incum- 
 bents of Christ's Church and his Majesty's Chapel in Boston, 
 within the County of Suffolk and Province aforesaid, most humbly 
 showeth, 
 
 " That at a session of the great and General Court the 8th day 
 of the 7th month, 1642, it was ordered in these words : That the 
 Governor and Deputy for the time being, and all the magistrates 
 of this jurisdiction, together with the teaching elders of the six next 
 adjoining towns, that is, Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Bos- 
 ton, Roxbury, and Dorchester, and the President of the College for 
 the time being, shall have from time to time full power and authority 
 to make and establish all such orders, statutes, and constitutions, as 
 they shall see necessary for the instruction, guiding, and furthering 
 said College, and the several members thereof, from time to time, 
 in piety, morality, and learning, &-c., provided also, that if any 
 constitution, order, or orders, shall be made, that is found hurtful to 
 said College or the members thereof, or to the weal public, that 
 then, upon the appeal of the party or parties aggrieved to the said
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 561 
 
 Overseers, that they shall repeal the said order or orders at the next APPENDIX, 
 
 meeting, or stand accountable thereof to the next General Court, as 
 
 by the said act or order, reference thereunto had, more fully will Memorial 
 
 mi i- n i " i of the Rev. 
 
 appear. 1 hat in observance of your memorialists, Cutler and Dr. Cutler 
 
 Myles, likewise the Rev. Mr. Henry Harris, as teaching elders of 
 
 this town of Boston, have been notified to be present at sundry Myles to 
 
 the General 
 meetings of said Overseers, and the said Mr. Harris was actually Court. 
 
 present at several. But so it was, that at an Overseers' meeting at 
 the Council Chamber in Boston, the 18th of May, 1727, his Honor 
 the Lieutenant-Governor informing the board that application had 
 been made to him by your memorialist, Cutler, that he might be 
 notified to be present at the meetings of the Overseers, after a debate 
 had thereon the question was put, whether the said Dr. Cutler be 
 notified accordingly, and it passed in the negative, the board appre- 
 hending that he is not entitled thereto. Thereupon your memorialist, 
 Cutler, the 15th of June last, by writing directed to the Overseers, 
 desired to be informed, if he was not entitled to be present at the 
 meetings of the Overseers when notified by their clerk so to be, or 
 at any time since his being an Episcopal minister in the town of 
 Boston, or if he had forfeited that title since, and by what means ; 
 and the said Overseers taking the same into consideration, as also 
 their constitution, were of opinion, that the said memorialist has not 
 nor ever had, by the said constitution, a right to sit as an Overseer 
 of Harvard College. 
 
 " Also on the said 15th of June your memorialist, Myles, by 
 writing directed to the Overseers, complained that he was not noti- 
 fied by their clerk, as formerly, to sit among the Overseers, and 
 desired this affair might be redressed, and if not, that he might 
 know for what reasons. The board made answer, that he has not 
 nor ever had, by the said constitution, a right to sit as an Over- 
 seer of Harvard College. 
 
 " Forasmuch, therefore, as the said act of the General Court, that 
 constituted the said Overseers, directs any members grieved with 
 any orders made by said Overseers, to appeal to them, directing at 
 the same time said Overseers to repeal said order or orders, in failure 
 whereof obliging them to be accountable thereof to the next General 
 Court; and that your memorialists think themselves grieved by said 
 order or vote of the said Overseers of the 18th of May last, which 
 induced your memorialist, Cutler, to appeal to said board for the 
 repeal of the same as aforesaid, at their next meeting in June afore- 
 said, and the said Overseers, at their last meeting, instead of remov- 
 ing the said order, enforced it, and passed another of a like import, 
 VOL. I. 71
 
 562 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, to exclude your said memorialist, Myles, from the board of Over- 
 
 Xo - Lxr - seers. 
 Memorial Your memorialists, therefore, pursuant to the said act, Anno 
 
 of the Rev. ' r 
 
 Dr. Cutler 1642, apply to your Honors for redress in the premises ; not doubt- 
 R"ev. Mr. in g but that your Honors will be of opinion, that the great and 
 toe General General Court, by their aforesaid act, did, in their great wisdom and 
 Court. justice, design no exclusion of the ministers of the Church of Eng- 
 land from the inspection and ordering of Harvard College, since 
 the orthodoxy of the Church of England is questioned by no sound 
 Protestant, and the members of that Church in this government bear 
 an equal proportion in all public charges to the support of said 
 College, and the members of that Church are equally with any 
 others qualified and disposed to promote the interests of religion, 
 good literature, and good manners, the worthy ends propounded in 
 the founding of it ; and that your memorialists, by their ordination 
 and canonical induction into their respective churches of the town 
 of Boston are fairly included in the denomination of teaching elders 
 according to its natural and genuine sense and import, and such 
 teaching elders, who, according to said act, have a right to sit as 
 Overseers of Harvard College ; and thereupon your memorialists 
 humbly beg an order of this General Court, that, according to the 
 constitution of the body of Overseers, they may be restored the 
 right of Overseers, and may, agreeably to custom, equity, and 
 justice, be again notified and have seats at the meetings of the 
 Overseers of Harvard College, and your memorialists shall ever 
 pray. 
 
 " TIMOTHY CUTLER. 
 " SAMUEL MYLES. 
 
 " In the House of Representatives, December 27th, 1727, read 
 again, together with the answer of the Overseers of the College to 
 the said petition, and the House debated thereon ; also a reply of 
 the petitioners to the answer aforesaid was read, and the same being 
 duly considered, the question was put, whether it is within the intent 
 and meaning of the charter granted to the said College, that the 
 Reverend memorialists, the said Dr. Timothy Cutler and Mr. Samuel 
 Myles, ought to be deemed as members of the board of Overseers 
 hereof, it passed in the negative. WM DuDLEy> Speaker . 
 
 " Sent up for concurrence. 
 
 " In Council, December 28th, 1727, read and concurred. 
 
 " S. WILLARD, Secretary. 
 
 " Consented to. WM. DUMMER.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 563 
 
 "In the House of Representatives, January llth, 17278, upon APPENDIX, 
 a motion made and seconded, the House entered further into the No ' LXI ' 
 
 consideration of the subject-matter of these petitions, and the fol- Memorial 
 
 -,,7, , ofthe Rev - 
 
 lowing question was thereupon put, viz. Whether it is within the Dr. Cutler 
 
 intent and meaning of the act of the General Court, Anno, 1642, Rev! Mr. 
 
 and referred to in said memorials, constituting the board of Over- Myles to 
 
 the General 
 
 seers of Harvard College, that the Reverend memorialists, the said Court. 
 Dr. Timothy Cutler and Mr. Samuel Myles, ought to be deemed 
 members of the board of Overseers, it passed in the negative. 
 
 " WM. DUDLEY, Speaker. 
 "In Council, January llth, 1727-8, read and concurred. 
 
 " S. WILLARD, Secretary. 
 " Consented to. WM. DUMMER." 
 
 No. LXII. See p. 371. 
 
 MEMORIAL OF THE REV. DR. CUTLER AND THE REV. MR. 
 MYLES TO THE GENERAL COURT. 
 
 " Province of Massachusetts Bay. Memorial 
 
 " To the Honorable William Dummer, Esquire, Lieutenant- p r . cutieV' 
 Governor and Commander-in-chief, and the Honorable the R n e d v tl M r 
 
 Council and Representatives in General Court assembled. Myles to 
 
 the General 
 
 " The memorial of sundry ministers and others, of the Church Court, 
 of England in New England, humbly showeth, That whereas by 
 the ancient establishment of the General Court, held in Boston, 
 the 8th of September, 1642, the Governor and Deputy for the 
 time being, and all the magistrates of this jurisdiction, together 
 with the teaching elders of six next adjoining towns, that is, Cam- 
 bridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dorches- 
 ter, and the President of the College for the time being, are 
 made and appointed Overseers of the College at Cambridge, for 
 the ends and purposes in the same act expressed ; and by force and 
 virtue of that act, all those persons, and among the rest the ministers 
 of the Church of England in Boston, lately have been deemed and 
 taken to be Overseers of the said College, and from time to time ever 
 since have assembled and met together, and ordered and disposed 
 the affairs of said College as the Overseers. But so it is, may it please 
 this great and Honorable Court, these three last years the ministers 
 of the Church of England in Boston have been neglected and not
 
 564 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, called to the meetings of the Overseers aforesaid ; and, upon appli- 
 
 No - LX1L cation made to them by the Rev. Dr. Timothy Cutler and Mr. 
 
 Memorial Samuel Myles, two of the ministers of the Church of England, on 
 
 Dr. Cutler the 15th of June last, the Honorable the Overseers, upon consider- 
 
 Hev. Mr. ation of the constitution aforesaid, voted, declared, and recorded 
 
 Myles to t ne j r opinion, that the said Dr. Cutler and Mr. Myles have not, nor 
 Court. ever had, by the said constitution, a right to sit as Overseers of 
 Harvard College. We consider that College as the common nursery 
 of piety and learning to New England in general, as well to them 
 that are of the order of the Church of England as to them that are 
 of the order of the churches of New England ; the common in- 
 terest of both to support it, and a blessing to both when it flourisheth ; 
 and therefore apprehend that it is a pity those different orders should 
 be made differing parties, not only in the churches where they are 
 different, but in the College where they are entirely one ; and will 
 tend to discourage those of the order of the Church of England 
 from doing those services to the College, or receiving those benefits 
 from it, as otherwise they might. 
 
 " We are not so imprudent as to imagine, that the admission of 
 those two gentlemen can make us a party in the ordering of that 
 College, and serve any secret designs or separate interests (which 
 in the nature of the case, is impossible) ; but only seek that all 
 especial notes of groundless distinction and disesteem towards us 
 may be abated, and an universal good understanding among us all 
 promoted and established. It seems by the vote of the Honorable 
 Overseers above mentioned, as though they did not look upon the 
 ministers of the Church of England to be teaching elders. But we 
 would humbly hope there is no ground sufficient, upon calm thought, 
 to maintain such an opinion ; for they have both been ordained 
 teaching elders by the Bishop of London, and have their several 
 credentials for that purpose, and have been both orderly sent to 
 execute that their function in Boston, which they are able to prove ; 
 and, as for a minister of the Church of New England, and his being 
 a teaching elder, it has never been questioned and disputed by those 
 of the order of the churches of New England, that we have heard 
 of; indeed, there have been disputes raised and maintained con- 
 cerning ruling elders, and each several order have claimed to them- 
 selves the right of ruling elders, but neither order has ever questioned 
 but the elders of our church were teaching elders before now, if 
 it now be questioned. Wherefore, forasmuch as this great and 
 Honorable Court has the superintending and government of all
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 565 
 
 affairs within this Province, for the common good and general quiet APPENDIX, 
 and happiness of all his Majesty's good subjects here ; and the No ' LXH ' 
 Rev. Dr. Cutler and Mr. Myles have made this Honorable Court Memorial 
 
 of the Rev. 
 their last resort here, both as the common and impartial patrons Dr. Cutler 
 
 of all good men, and the best expositors of your own acts ; we R ev . Mr. 
 therefore, in concurrence with them, humbly pray this Honorable 
 Court, that, according to the original fundamental constitution of Court, 
 the said Overseers, these worthy gentlemen may be deemed, reputed, 
 and declared by this Honorable Court, to be two of the said Over- 
 seers of the said College at Cambridge ; and your Honors' most 
 humble orators shall ever pray for the prosperity and happiness of 
 this government and that of the College at Cambridge, and every 
 interest of New England, both civil and sacred." 
 
 Signed by seventy persons. 
 
 " In the House of Representatives, August 25th, 1727, read, and 
 ordered, that these petitions be referred to the next'fall session of this 
 Court for further consideration, and that in the mean time Mr. 
 Secretary be directed to serve the clerk of the Overseers of Har- 
 vard College with a copy of the said petitions, that the Overseers 
 may make answer thereto at the said session. Sent up for concur- 
 rence. 
 
 " WM. DUDLEY, Speaker. 
 
 " In Council, August 26th, 1727, read and concurred with the 
 amendments. 
 
 " Sent down for concurrence. 
 
 " J. WILLARD, Secretary. 
 
 " In the House of Representatives, August 26th, 1727, read and 
 
 concurred. 
 
 " WM. DUDLEY. 
 
 " In Council, August 26th, 1727, consented to. 
 
 "WM. DUMMER."
 
 566 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. LXIir. 
 
 No. LXIII. See p. 374. 
 
 ANSWER OF THE OVERSEERS TO THE MEMORIAL OF THE 
 REV. DR. CUTLER AND THE REV. MR. MYLES. 
 
 Answer of " Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England. 
 
 the Over- To the Honorable William Dummer, Esquire, Lieutenant- 
 seers, &c. . _ * ' 
 
 Governor and Commander-in-chief in and over his Majesty's 
 
 Province of the Massachusetts Bay aforesaid, and to the 
 Honorable the Council and Representatives in General Court 
 assembled, at Boston, Nov. 22d, Anno Domini, 1727. 
 
 " The answer of the Overseers of Harvard College in Cambridge, 
 to the memorials of the Rev. Dr. Timothy Cutler and Mr. Samuel 
 Myles, with sundry others, in their behalf, presented to the General 
 Court in August last, against the Overseers, and referred to the 
 consideration of this present session, humbly showeth, 
 
 " That the said Overseers freely allow, that at a session of the 
 great and General Court, the 8th of September, 1642, the Governor, 
 Deputy, and all the magistrates of this jurisdiction, with the teach- 
 ing elders of Cambridge, Watertovvn, Charlestown, Boston, Rox- 
 bury, and Dorchester, and the President of the College for the time 
 being, were made and appointed the Overseers of the said Col- 
 lege. That, agreeable to this, upon his Honor the Lieuten ant- 
 Governor informing the board of Overseers, on the 18th of May 
 last, that application had been made to him by the said Rev. Dr. 
 Cutler, that he might be notified to be present at the Overseers' 
 meetings, the said Overseers did vote, that he be not notified, the 
 board apprehending that he is not entitled thereto; as also about 
 the 15th of .Tune, upon the said Rev. Dr. Cutler and Mr. Myles 
 complaining of not being notified, at a very full board of the Over- 
 seers, the said board, taking the same into serious consideration, and 
 examining the said memorialists' pretended right by the act or con- 
 stitution aforesaid, did by a very great majority vote, that they had 
 not, nor ever had, by the said constitution, a right to sit as Overseers 
 of Harvard College ; and they found their judgment on the following 
 reasons. 
 
 " 1. It is a most clear, undeniable, and universal rule, that the 
 signification of terms must be decided in every country according 
 to the known and general acceptation of them, in the several coun-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 567 
 
 tries where they are used, and laws must needs be explained ac- APPENDIX, 
 cording to the general use of the terms in the places where they ' ' 
 are made, in times when they are enacted, and agreeable to the 
 
 known principles of the legislators. seers, &c. 
 
 " Thus, a deacon, in England, both in general use and in all their 
 public acts, signifies a person ordained to preach the gospel; but a 
 deacon, in this country, always signified a person chosen to take 
 care only of the churches' temporal matters. And thus, the signi- 
 fication of magistrate in England, and even now in New England, 
 extends to every one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace ; but in 
 the time when the act abovesaid was made, wherein the said term 
 is used, the known signification extended only to those who were 
 Assistants to the Governor in Council, and therefore must be still 
 so explained. 
 
 " 2. Agreeable to this undeniable rule, the phrase expressed in 
 the abovesaid act of a ' teaching elder,' must for the same reason be 
 construed. 
 
 " Now the known construction of these terms in this country, 
 from the very beginning, is this, namely, the pastors and teachers 
 of a complete and Congregational church, the very same which the 
 Scriptures call by the name of bishops, who have the full power 
 both of teaching and administering the sacraments, and of ruling in 
 the said church, and are called teaching elders, to distinguish them 
 from another sort of elders, which have the power of ruling only, 
 which latter are therefore called, for distinction's sake, ruling elders. 
 This is the known signification of the term ' teaching elders ' among 
 us; in this sense it has been used from the beginning. It indeed 
 lay in the foundation of this ancient colony ; is agreeable to all the 
 public writings in defence of these churches, to their judgment 
 declared in the synods, approved by their General Courts, and the 
 laws of the said jurisdiction ; and this is the known and general 
 meaning of these terms to this very day. For the proof of this, we 
 would observe, 
 
 " 1st. There was not one assembly, nor so much as one minister, 
 magistrate, or representative in the General Court, professedly of 
 the Church of England, for above fifty years after the settlement 
 of the said colony, arid for above forty years after the act abovesaid, 
 there being no others but teaching elders of Congregational churches 
 then in being in this country, and it is such elders only that it can 
 refer to. 
 
 "2d. To make this evident we shall cite some of the laws of the
 
 568 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 Answer of 
 the Over- 
 seers, &c. 
 
 APPENDIX, said jurisdiction in those times wherein the united body both of 
 magistrates and people declared, that by the ' churches ' they meant 
 Congregational churches, and by ' elders' the elders of those churches. 
 Among the laws of the said jurisdiction of the Massachusetts, title 
 ecclesiastical, are the following passages. 
 
 " ' Sec. 1. All the people of God within this jurisdiction, who are 
 not in a church way and be orthodox in judgment, and not scan- 
 dalous in life, shall have full liberty to gather themselves into a 
 church state, provided they do it in a Christian way, with the ob- 
 servation of the rules of Christ revealed in his word.' 
 
 " ' Sec. 4. Every church hath free liberty of election and ordination 
 of all her officers from time to time, provided they be able, pious, 
 and orthodox.' 
 
 " ' Sec. 5. Every church hath free liberty of admission, recom- 
 mendation, dismission, and expulsion, or disposal of their officers 
 and members, upon due cause, with free exercise of the discipline 
 and censures of Christ according to the rules of the word.' 
 
 " 'Sec. 13. Considering the rich blessing of God flowing from the 
 good agreement of the civil and church state, it is therefore ordered, 
 that hencefortli no person shall be ordained to the office of a teach- 
 ing elder, where any two organic churches, Council of State, or 
 General Court, shall declare their dissatisfaction thereat ; and, in 
 case of ordination of any teaching elders, timely notice thereof shall 
 be given to three or four of the neighbouring organic churches for 
 their approbation.' 
 
 " See also Sec. 3, 6, 12, 14, and last. 
 
 " But, to put the matter beyond all possibility of evasion, we shall 
 here produce the most approved and public declaration of the judg- 
 ment both of magistrates and ministers, churches, courts, and 
 people, in those days, and this is in their well-known Platform of 
 church discipline. As previous to which we shall (1st) observe, 
 that the General Court, on the 15th of May, 1646, made an order 
 for the calling of a synod from all the churches of this country, in 
 the following words ; ' To agree on a form of government and dis- 
 cipline for the main and substantial parts thereof as that which they 
 judge agreeable to the holy Scriptures, that it may receive from the 
 said General Court such approbation as is meet ; and our posterity 
 may not so easily decline from the good way when they shall receive 
 the same thus publicly and solemnly commended to them.' 
 
 "2d. The said synod accordingly met, agreed on the said Plat- 
 form, and presented it to the General Court, who sent it to all the
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 569 
 
 churches in the government, desiring them to signify how far it was APPENDIX, 
 suitable to their judgment and approbation. Upon return of the ' 
 
 same by the Representatives of the several towns, the General Court Answer of 
 " . the Over- 
 
 took further care to remove all objections, as appears from their seers, &c. 
 
 records, and then in their session of October 14th, 1651, declare 
 their approbation, concluding with the following words; 'Accounting 
 themselves called of God, especially at this time, when the truth of 
 Christ is so much opposed in the world, to give their testimony to 
 the said Book of Discipline, that, for substance thereof, it is what we 
 have practised and do believe.' Agreeable to this most public decla- 
 ration of their preceding practice and continued belief, we shall now 
 show to your Honors what their said practice and belief were in said 
 book. 
 
 " In Chap. II. Sec. 5, they declare their judgment, that the state 
 of the members of the visible church walking in order since the 
 coining of Christ is only Congregational (the term Independent we 
 approve not), therefore neither national, provincial, nor classical. 
 
 " Chap. IV. Sec. 3. That the form of a church is a visible cove- 
 nant. 
 
 In Chap. VI. Sec. 3. That the officers of a church were either 
 extraordinary, such as apostles, prophets, evangelists ; ordinary, as 
 elders and deacons. 
 
 " Sec. 4. That the elders are also in Scripture called bishops, 
 and of these some attend chiefly to the ministry of the word, as the 
 pastors and teachers; others attend especially to rule, who are there- 
 fore called ruling elders. 
 
 " Chap. VII. Sec. 1. That ruling elders are not so called to 
 exclude the pastors and teachers from ruling, because rule and 
 government is common to these with the others. 
 
 " Chap. X. Sec. 5. They assert the power of the church and 
 brotherhood (1st) to choose their own officers, whether elders or 
 deacons; (2d) to admit their own members, and both to excommu- 
 nicate and otherwise censure them for offences, arid to restore the 
 penitent. 
 
 " Sec. 8. That the power that Christ has committed to the elders 
 is to feed and rule the church; and Sec. 11. That the ordaining 
 power of government belongs only to the elders, the power of 
 judge remains with the brotherhood ; and that, in an organic church 
 and right administration, no church act can be perfected without the 
 consent of both. This is the substance of said Platform, whereby it 
 essentially differs from most other schemes of church order and 
 
 VOL. i. 72
 
 570 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, discipline, and which the said General Court has borne their testi- 
 HL mony to, have been their practice, and what they believed. And by 
 
 Answer of these things it appears as clear as the light, that by churches were 
 seers, &c. meant, by the framers of those ancient laws, no other than the 
 Congregational churches ; by elders, no other than elders of these 
 particular churches, which elders they also accounted to be such as 
 are chosen by the said churches, and have full power both to teach, 
 to feed, and to rule them, and therefore no others but such elders as 
 these were by them intended and appointed to be the Overseers of 
 the College by the act abovesaid. 
 
 " And hence the said Overseers draw the undeniable conclusion, 
 that the said Reverend memorialists neither have, nor ever had, by the 
 said act, a right to sit among us as Overseers of Harvard College ; 
 that all insinuations of the said memorialists about their being 
 teaching elders, and of groundless notes of distinction, &c., are en- 
 tirely vain, not only because the said denomination can never be 
 found attributed to them in any public acts whatever, either abroad 
 or here, but is only now assumed to serve their present turn and 
 break in upon our ancient constitution ; and even they themselves in 
 the title of their memorial carefully avoid the style where one would 
 especially on such an occasion expect it, and, instead of calling 
 themselves teaching elders of Christ Church and his Majesty's 
 Chapel in Boston, they chose to entitle themselves the incumbents 
 of the said church and chapel, a style that is unknown among us, 
 and can't be found in any of our public instruments. But especially 
 all the memorialists say on this head is wholly beside the question, 
 inasmuch as the said Reverend memorialists never pretended, nor 
 may they pretend, to be such sort of elders as the framers of the act 
 aforesaid have so fully declared to be their intention, which would 
 be for the Reverend memorialists to assert themselves to be. the same 
 with bishops in Scripture, and have the full and unsubordinate power 
 both to teach, feed, and govern their particular churches. Nor 
 is their discourse about their notification any more to their purpose ; 
 for it is well known, that, for many years after there were ministers 
 of the order of the Church of England in the town of Boston, they 
 were never deemed to be Overseers, never notified, never complained 
 of their not being notified, and, when they were notified some few 
 years since, it was done without the direction of the Overseers; and, 
 though the error was not so well considered in the time of it, it has 
 since been noticed and corrected, and for some years past has ceased 
 accordingly. And it cannot be supposed, that a notification gives
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 571 
 
 right to any to be Overseers, who have no previous right by the APPENDIX 
 plain intention of the act aforesaid. For then the Overseers or No - 
 
 their clerk may convey a right to whom they please, in defiance Answer of 
 of the said act, and so alter the constitution at their pleasure. seers &c 
 
 " And, as for the Reverend memorialists, they neither of them ever 
 met, or acted, or ordered, or disposed of the affairs of the College, 
 as is wrongly insinuated in some of the memorials. And, as for their 
 arguments from the College being a nursery of piety and learning 
 to Jew England in general, not only to those of the order of the 
 churches of New England, as the memorialists term it, but also to 
 them of the Church of England, the common interest and charge 
 of both to support it ; it is easily answered, that we account it 
 distinguishing honor to our College, that the education there is free, 
 without oaths or subscriptions to any particular sort of church order 
 or discipline ; and that, though the governors of the College be of the 
 Congregational order, yet, agreeably to their known principles of 
 liberty, the sons of the Church of England are as welcome to the 
 learning and academical honors there as any of our own children ; 
 and this is as much as the memorialists can, in honor or justice, 
 desire of those who are intrusted with a constitutfon settled for 
 above fourscore years before the said Reverend memorialists, or any 
 of their order, pretended to a right to come among us, and even 
 above forty years before there were any of the said reverend order 
 settled in this country ; but the Overseers account the said act and 
 constitution as a sacred deposit put into their hands to keep invio- 
 late, by the excellent and ancient fathers of this country in General 
 Court assembled, which they cannot, either in law or conscience, 
 in the least vary from ; and for the same reason that the memorialists 
 have made this Honorable Court their last resort, as the best ex- 
 positors of their own acts, the said Overseers cannot doubt but your 
 Honors will adhere to the said ancient constitution, and not adjudge 
 the Reverend memorialists to be such teaching elders as the above- 
 said act intends, nor ever declare them to be of the number of the 
 Overseers of Harvard College. All which is humbly submitted to 
 the great wisdom and justice of this Honorable Court by the Over- 
 seers of the said College. In the name and by the order of the 
 Overseers of Harvard College. 
 
 " HENRY FLYNT, Clerk Curator. 
 
 " In Council, December 18th, 1727, read and ordered to be sent 
 
 down- " SAMUEL TYLEY, Clerk:'
 
 572 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 Na uuv -_ No LXIV. See p. 375. 
 
 REPLY OF THE REV. DR. CUTLER AND THE REV. MR. MYLES 
 TO THE ANSWER OF THE OVERSEERS. 
 
 " Province of the Massachusetts Bay. 
 Reply of in the great and General Court, November 22d, 1727. The 
 
 the Rev. 
 
 Dr. Cutler, reply of Dr. Cutler and others to the Overseers of Harvard College, 
 
 &c. ., . 
 
 their answer. 
 
 " May it please your Honors, the said Dr. Cutler and Mr. Samuel 
 Myles, present incumbents of Christ Church and the King's Chapel 
 in Boston, are (as we humbly conceive) by the act of the General 
 Court of the 8th of September, 1642, made two of the Overseers 
 of Harvard College, for, 
 
 "(1st.) They have been duly ordained, instituted, and inducted 
 into their respective churches, and are in fact proper teaching 
 elders of these churches, as we have alleged, and are ready to 
 prove, and this has not been denied by the answer aforesaid ; and 
 therefore they^ are by the act made Overseers, and have a right to 
 sit as such. 
 
 " (2d.) The Presbyters or ministers of the Church of England 
 were meant and intended by the terms of teaching elders in the act 
 aforesaid, for the plain force of the terms includes them to every 
 man's understanding ; and therefore we can't imagine the legisla- 
 ture intended by those terms to exclude them. The gentlemen, 
 that made that law, honored these ministers as the Lord's ministers, 
 and that church as their dear mother, as by their letter but twelve 
 years before this act, dated April 7th, 1630, subscribed John Win- 
 throp, Governor, George Phillips, Richard Saltonstall, Charles Fines, 
 Isaac Johnson, Thomas Dudley, William Coddington. When this 
 act was made, the gentlemen that made it had no more power to 
 hinder any of the Church of England from coming into this place, 
 nor any assurance they would not be here the next year; and, if 
 they had, it is not possible these gentlemen should say to them, 
 Your ministers are not teaching elders, nor have any right to sit 
 as Overseers. These things laid in the foundation. 
 
 "(3d.) We are humbly of opinion, that the memorialists have as 
 good a right to sit now, as they would have had if they had come 
 forty years ago, for in that they are but in the common case of all 
 the rest in reality, and therefore 'tis no argument against them, 
 that they came here but lately.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 573 
 
 " (4th.) Though the ecclesiastical laws gave good men -a liberty APPENDIX, 
 to gather into a church, and that church liberty to elect and ordain No - LXIV - 
 
 their officers, to admit, expel, and dispose of their officers and ^ e PJy of 
 others, but, when they did ordain any, they should have the appro- Dr. Cutler 
 bation of the neighbouring churches, yet they never say, that, if any 
 number of those good men be of the Church of England, they may 
 not give up these liberties we here give them; if they do, and send 
 to the Bishops for a teaching elder, he shall not exercise his func- 
 tion here. But 't is plain those laws, according to the opinion of 
 those worthy men in these disputed points, gave liberty for the 
 people to erect such a church among them, and at the same time 
 never thought the Church of England no church, the ministers no 
 teaching elders, nor had a thought of depriving them of liberty of 
 conscience here. 
 
 " (5th.) The Platform indeed doth seem to give us a pretty clear 
 description of teaching elders, that they are such as are also called 
 Bishops, and have power both to teach and rule the churches ; and 
 yet we are humbly of opinion, that don't prove the memorialists 
 have no right to sit as Overseers of Harvard College ; for those 
 reverend and worthy gentlemen that compiled the Platform, though 
 they herein gave their opinion in a disputed point, yet they never 
 meant this opinion was such a fundamental article of the Chris- 
 tian faith, that he that being ordained a teaching elder could not 
 think himself therefore a bishop, and to have all the power of 
 ruling the church committed to him, was therefore in fact degraded, 
 was no minister at all, and that the inferior clergy of the Church 
 of England were not to be acknowledged as ministers and teaching 
 elders : such austere sentences are no consequence from private 
 opinions differing in point of mode and form. Besides, if there be 
 any thing in these declarations of the Platform compared with the 
 ecclesiastic laws aforesaid, it seems to be entirely in the memorial- 
 ists' favor ; for the said laws seem to give all the power and rule to 
 the fraternity, to ordain, expel, and dispose of the pastors and others, 
 and leave nothing but the faculty of teaching and feeding to the 
 teaching elders. These laws are made in 1641, and then in 1642 
 the act is made to make teaching elders Overseers of the College. 
 Wherefore it seems plain, that the memorialists, who claim but to 
 be teaching elders, not to be bishops, nor to have the full and unsub- 
 ordinate power both to teach and govern their particular churches, 
 thereby keep themselves duly within the primary sense of the 
 legislature in those terms of 'teaching elders' ; while the gentlemen 
 that follow the Platform plainly depart from the law, deny the entire
 
 574 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, power of the fraternity, and claim a full unsuhordinate power to 
 NO. LXIV. ru ] e tne j r p ar ti cu i ar churches, and to be the same with bishops, and 
 Reply of that by the Platform made some years after the said laws and the 
 
 the Kevv 
 
 Dr. Cutler, act appointing the Overseers, by this departure from the laws to the 
 Platform, seem to put themselves out of the intention of these 
 terms of 'teaching elders' in the act aforesaid. So that, upon the 
 whole, we account the College a common interest, and beg leave, 
 with the answerers, to call it our College, and the said act our 
 depositum. They will have nevertheless benefit of it, and we shall all 
 have the more charity, and the better title to a blessing on it, which 
 is and shall be the constant prayer of your Honors' most humble 
 orators, &c. 
 
 " We flatter ourselves that your Honors will candidly attribute 
 all the imperfections of this replication to the contractedness of the 
 time we had to put in the same. We were only from eight last 
 night till this morning. 
 
 " JOHN READ, Pro Quer." 
 
 No. LXV. See p. 388. 
 OVERSEERS' COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY. 
 Overseers' Qn this committee there were, of the Council, the Honorable 
 
 committee 
 
 of inquiry. Thomas Hutchinson, Spencer Phips, and Jonathan Remington: and 
 of the clergy, the Rev. John Webb, William Cooper, Thomas Fox- 
 croft, and Joshua Gee. 
 
 Case of 
 Mr. Long- 
 loissorie, 
 French 
 instructor. 
 
 No. LXV I. See p. 394. 
 CASE OF MR. LONGLOISSORIE, FRENCH INSTRUCTOR 
 
 An account of the errors of this individual is given by Dr. 
 Wigglesworth, Hollis Professor of Divinity, in his " Letter to the 
 Rev. Mr. George Whitefield, by Way of Reply to his Answer to 
 the College Testimony against him and his Conduct,"* written for 
 the purpose of illustrating the tendency of that enthusiasm, for 
 which he condemned Whitefield, to mistake " dreams and sugges- 
 tions, and any thing which bears strongly upon the mind, as from 
 
 * Printed at Boston, 1745, 4to.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 575 
 
 the Spirit of God," and which proved destructive to faith, as in APPENDIX, 
 other instances to good conscience. 
 
 " We very sensibly felt its ill elfects in the society under our care Case of 
 not more than ten years ago, when a gentleman, who had been 
 permitted to teach the French tongue in the College, where he had 
 behaved himself to all appearance unblamably, at length began to 
 give too much heed to certain dreams, which he supposed to be of 
 divine original. And, when once he had gotten his imagination 
 thoroughly heated with these, he soon began to fancy himself fa- 
 vored frequently with visions too, and these sometimes attended with 
 articulate voices to instruct him in the divine meaning and design 
 of them. Upon this he very industriously, though with as little 
 observation as he could, endeavoured to propagate among his intimate 
 friends several strange and pernicious doctrines; such as the un- 
 lawfulness of magistracy among Christians, and consequently of any 
 temporal punishments for evil doers from men ; that punishment 
 from God in the future state would be sure not be eternal, nor any 
 other, nor perhaps more, even for a time, than what wicked men 
 now suffer in this world, by being abandoned to the outrage of their 
 own and others' passions, &.c. That a standing ministry, ordi- 
 nances, the Christian Sabbath, and social worship, were all without 
 warrant from the New Testament; that, beside our blessed Lord 
 of the tribe of Judah, who was in his account but a mere creature 
 (if not a mere man), there was quickly to be expected a second 
 Messiah of the tribe of Ephraim, who is the Shepherd, the Stone of 
 Israel, spoken of Gen. xlix. 24. And the person ' like the Son of 
 Man, whom Daniel saw in the night visions, to whom there was 
 given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, &c.' Dan. ix. 13, 14., 
 that this person was then in being; that he had been often presented 
 to him in vision, and was one whom he knew very well. And 
 though he declined telling who he was, under pretence of wanting a 
 permission for it, yet, by many circumstances it appeared highly 
 probable that he himself was the man, in his own conceit. Nor 
 was his being by birth a Frenchman an objection of force enough 
 to be set in opposition to his heavenly visions ; for multitudes in the 
 world (as he said) are undoubtedly of Israelitish extract, who are 
 not known to be so, either by themselves or others. And since the 
 posterity of Jacob have utterly lost their genealogies, it was impos- 
 sible that Ben Ephraim should know his own descent, otherwise 
 than by revelation, or be able to make it out to others but by the 
 gifts of prophecy and miracles. 
 
 " And these gifts, he once and again, before very credible witness,
 
 576 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 Case of 
 Mr. Long- 
 loissorie, 
 French 
 instructor. 
 
 APPENDIX, declared that he knew by revelation he should shortly be endued 
 ^ with from on high, in as great a degree as ever the Apostles were, to 
 say nothing more. 
 
 " These extraordinary things Monsieur did not broach all at once, 
 but by little and little; the most plausible of them, or rather some 
 plausible deductions from them, first, and only to such as (to use 
 his own expression) he found of a teachable spirit; till at length the 
 secrets were imparted to too many to remain such any longer. 
 
 " The propagator of them, now waxed bold,* professed the strong- 
 est assurance imaginable of the divine original of his dreams and 
 visions, and of the sacred truths of those doctrines and interpreta- 
 tions of Scripture which he had by these means been led into ; and 
 sometimes went so far as to declare, that, if the event should prove 
 these things to be delusions, he should doubt for his part whether 
 God had ever made any revelations at all to men. 
 
 " We soon perceived, that too great a respect was paid by several 
 in our society, and elsewhere, to his pretences to visions and revela- 
 tions ; that one of his greatest confidents began to be favored with 
 visions too, in his own conceit ; and that others were in suspense, 
 whether he might not be a teacher sent from God, and waited with 
 some impatience to see him begin to prove his mission, and were 
 likely to take up with evidences slight enough. 
 
 " As the gentleman's notions were now no longer privacies, it 
 soon appeared that they had been industriously spread by some 
 among their friends, in places far and near; that many people's 
 minds were greatly moved with them ; and strange apprehensions 
 and expectations raised, of what these things would come to. 
 
 " It would be beside our present business to relate by what means, 
 through the good providence of God, it was at length made mani- 
 fest that these high pretences to extraordinary divine communica- 
 tions were all mere delusions ; and so the minds of people again 
 quieted. 
 
 " It would be of more importance to remark, what was the end 
 of these tilings with respect to the enthusiastic gentleman himself; 
 namely, that, when he began to be exalted above measure with the 
 abundance of his imaginary revelations, he withdrew himself en- 
 tirely from the public worship of God, which he before diligently 
 and (so far as appeared) devoutly used to attend ; and he has since 
 returned to the idolatries of the church of Rome, from which he 
 had professed himself a sincere convert." 
 
 * Longed to suffer persecution."
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 577 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. LXVII. 
 
 No. LXVII. See p. 15. 
 
 LAWS, RULES AND SCHOLASTIC FORMS, ESTABLISHED BY 
 PRESIDENT DUNSTER. 
 
 " Statuta, Leges, Privilegia, et Ordinationes, per Inspectores et Laws, 
 Praesidem Collegii Harvardini constitute An. Chr. 1642, 
 1643, 1644, 1645, 1646, et promulgate ad scholarium salu- 
 
 tern et disciplinam perpetuo conservandam. by Presi- 
 
 " 1. Cuicunque fuerit peritia legend! Ciceronem aut quemvis alium ster. 
 ejusmodi classicum authorem ex tempore, et congrue loquendi ac 
 scribendi Latine facultas oratione tarn soluta quatn ligata, suo, ut 
 aiunt, Marte, et ad unguem inflectendi Graecorum nominum ver- 
 borumque paradigmata; hie admissionem in Collegium jure potest 
 expectare. Quicunque vero destitutus fuerit hac peritia, admissio- 
 nem sibi neutiquam vendicet. 
 
 " 2. Considerate unusquisque ultimum finem vitas ac studiorum, 
 cognitionem nimirum Dei et Jesu Christi, quae est vita seterna. Job. 
 xvii. 3. 
 
 " 3. Cum Deus sapientiae sit largitor, privatis precibus sapien- 
 tiam ab eo singuli ardenter petunto. Prov. ii. 2, 3, &c. 
 
 " 4. In Sacris Scripturis legendis bis quotidie unusquisque se ex- 
 erceto ; quo paratus ac peritus sit rationern reddendi suorum pro- 
 fectuum, tarn in theoreticis philologicis observationibus, quam in 
 spiritualibus practicis documents, quemadmodum tutores requirent 
 pro suo cujusque captu, quum ' aditus verbi illuminat.' Psal. cxix. 130. 
 
 " 5. In publico sanctorum coetu omnes gestus, qui contemptum 
 aut neglectum prae se ferunt sacrarum institutionum, studiose cavento, 
 atque ad rationem tutoribus reddendam quid profecerint parati 
 sunto ; omnibusque legitimis sibi scientiam reponendi mediis utuntor, 
 prout a suo quisque tutore institutus fuerit. 
 
 " 6. Omnem profanationem Sacrosancti Dei nominis, attributorum, 
 verbi, institutionum ac temporum cultus, evitanto ; Deum autem et 
 ejus veritatem in notitia retinere, summa cum reverentia et timore, 
 studento. 
 
 " 7. Honore prosequuntor, ut parentes, ita magistratus, presbyteros, 
 tutores, suosque omnes seniores, prout ratio postulat; coram illis ta- 
 centes nisi interrogati, nee quicquam contradicentes, eis exhibentes 
 honoris et reverentiae indicia quaecunque laudabili usu recepta sunt, 
 incurvato nimirum corpore salutantes, aperlo capite adstantes, &c. 
 
 VOL. i. 73
 
 578 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. L.XVII. 
 
 Laws, 
 rules, and 
 scholastic 
 forms, 
 established 
 by Presi- 
 dent Dun- 
 ster. 
 
 " 8. Ad loquendum tardi sunto ; evitent non solum juramenta, 
 mendacia, et incertos ruinores, sed et stultiloquium, scurriJitatem, 
 futilitatem, hisciviam, omnesque gestus molestos. 
 
 " 9. Nequis se intrudat vel rebus alienis immisceat. 
 
 " 10. Dum hie egerint, tempus studiose redimunto, tarn communes 
 omnium scholarium horas, quam suis prselectionibus destinatas, ob- 
 servando; przelectionibus autem diligenter attendunto, nee voce nee 
 gestu molesti. Siquid dubitent, sodales suos, aut (nondum exempto 
 scrupulo) tutores modeste consulunto. 
 
 " 11. Nequis sub quovis prsetextu hominum, quorum perditi sunt 
 ac discincti mores, consuetudine seu familiaritate utitor. Neque 
 licebit ulli, nisi potestate ab Inspectoribus Collegii facta, bellicis 
 lustrationibus interesse. Nemo in pupillari statu degens, nisi con- 
 cessa prius a tutore venia, ex oppido exeat ; nee quisquam, cujus- 
 cunque gradus aut ordinis fuerit, forum frequentet, vel diutius in 
 aliqua oppidi platea moretur, aut tabernas, cauponas, vel diversoria 
 ad comessandum aut bibendurn accedat, nisi ad parentes, curatores, 
 nutricios, vel hujusmodi, accersitus fuerit. 
 
 " 12. Nullus scholaris quicquam, quod sex denarios valeat, nullo 
 parentum, curatorum, aut tutorum approbante, emito, vendito, aut 
 comrnutato. Quum autem secus fecerit, a Praeside pro delicti 
 ratione multabitur. 
 
 " 13. Scholares vernacula lingua intra Collegii limites nullo prse- 
 textu utuntor, nisi ad orationem aut aliud aliquod exercitium pub- 
 licum Anglice habendum evocati fuerint. 
 
 " 14. Siquis scholarium a precibus aut praelectionibus abfuerit, nisi 
 necessitate coactus aut tutoris nactus veniam, admonitioni aut alius- 
 modi pro Praesidis prudentia prenae, si plus quam semel in hebdo- 
 made peccaverit, erit obnoxius. 
 
 " 15. Scholarium quisque donee primo gradu ornetur, ni sit com- 
 mensalis, aut nobilis alicujus filius, aut militis primogenitus, suo tan- 
 turn cognomine vocator. 
 
 " 16. Nullus scholaris quavis de causa (nisi prtemonstrata et 
 approbata Praesidi vel tutori suo) a suis studiis statisve exercitiis 
 abesto, excepta hora jentaculo, semihora merendae, prandio vero 
 sesquihora, pariter et ccenae concessa. 
 
 " 17. Siquis scholarium ullam Dei et hujus Collegii legem, sive 
 animo perverso, seu ex supina negligentia, violarit, postqu am fuerit 
 bis admonitus, si non adultus, virgis coerceatur, sin adultus, ad In- 
 spectores Collegii deferendus erit, ut publice in eum pro meritis ani- 
 madversio fiat ; in atrocioribus autem delictis, ut adeo gradatim
 
 President 
 nster. 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 579 
 
 procedatur, nemo expectet, nee ut admonitio iterata super eadem APPENDIX, 
 lege necessario fiat. NQ.LXVII. 
 
 " 18. Quicunque scholaris, probatione habita, poterit sacras utri- Laws > 
 
 . ~ . ..,._... rules, and 
 
 usque instrument! Scripturas de textu onginali Latme mterpretan et scholastic 
 logice resolvere, fueritque naturalis et moralis philosophic principiis tabTishedby 
 imbutus, vitaque ac moribus inculpatus, et publicis quibusvis comi- rc 
 tiis ab Inspectoribus et Preside Collegii approbatus, primo suo 
 gradu possit ornari. 
 
 " 19. Quicunque scholaris scriptam synopsin vel compendium lo- 
 gicse, naturalis ac moralis philosophise, arithmetics, geometric, et 
 astronomies exhibuerit, fueritque ad theses suas defendendas paratus, 
 nee non originalium ut supra dictum est linguarum peritus, quern 
 etiamnum morum integritas ac studiorum diligentia cohonestaverint, 
 publicis quibusvis comitiis probatione facta, secundi gradus, magis- 
 terii nimirum, capax erit." 
 
 "IN SCHOLARIBUS ADMITTENDIS. 
 
 " 1. Prsebebis omnimodam debitam reverentiam honor and is magis- 
 tratibus ac reverendis Presbyteris et Praesidi Collegii una cum Sociis 
 singulis. 
 
 " 2. Debitam diligentiam studiis incumbendo adhibebis, studiis 
 inquam linguarum et artium liberalium, obsequendo tutori tuo et 
 salutaribus ejus praeceptis, quamdiu in statu pupillari versatus fueris 
 in hoc Collegio. 
 
 " 3. Religiose in te suscipies curam, dum hie commoraberis, ob- 
 servandi singulas salutares leges, statuta, et privilegia hujus societatis 
 quantum in te situm est ; atque etiam, ut observentur ab omnibus hujus 
 Collegii membris in singulo uniuscujusque munere, fideliter curabis. 
 
 " 4. Sedulo prospicies nequid detriment! Collegium capiat, quan- 
 tum in te situm est, sive in ejus sumptibus, sive in sedificio et struc- 
 tura, fundis, proventibus, caeterisque omnibus, qua? nunc ad Collegium 
 pertinent, aut, dum hie egeris, pertinere possunt. 
 
 " duod ad nos, Prassidem et Socios scilicet, spectat, pollicemur nos 
 tibi non defuturos quibuscunque nostra intererit ; imo vero in studiis 
 tuis et pietate progressum, quantum in nobis fuerit, promovebimus." 
 
 " SOCIIS ADMITTENDIS. 
 
 " 1. Prrebebis omnimodam debitam reverentiam honorandis magis- 
 tratibus ac reverendis Presbyteris et Prassidi, Collegii Inspectoribus.
 
 580 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, " 2. Religiose in te suscipies curam, dum hie commoraberis, obser- 
 
 NO. LXVII. van( ji sjngulas salutares leges, statuta, et privilegia hujus societatis, 
 
 Jules'*' and c l uantum in te situm est, atque etiam, ut observentur ab omnibus 
 
 scholastic hujus Collegii membris in singulo uniuscuiusque munere. 
 
 forms, 68- i n f\ i 
 
 tablishedby o- Uranes et singulos studentes, qui tutelae tuae committuntur 
 aut ' n posterum committendi sunt, ut promoveas in omni tam divina 
 quam humana literatura, pro suo cujusque captu, atque, ut moribus 
 honeste et inculpate se gerant, summopere curabis. 
 
 " 4. Sedulo prospicies, nequid detriment! Collegium capiat, quan- 
 tum in te situm est, sive in ejus sumptibus, sive in sedificio et struc- 
 tura, fundis, proventibus, creterisque omnibus, quae nunc ad Colle- 
 gium pertinent, aut, dum hie egeris, pertinere possint. 
 
 " Quod etiam ad nos (Collegii Inspectores) spectat, pollicemur 
 nos non tibi defuturos esse, quibuscunque tua intererit ; imo ver6 
 te confirmabimus authoritate ac potestate nostra in omnibus tuis 
 legitimis administrationibus, contra quoscunque contumaces. Et 
 pro Collegii facultatibus erogabimus tibi idonea stipendia (i. e. pro 
 modulo nostro), quae sufficiant ad victum et amictum et literaturam 
 tuam promovendam." 
 
 " PR-ESENTATIO BACCALAUREORUM. 
 
 " Honorandi viri, vosque, reverendi Presbyteri, prassento vobis 
 hosce juvenes, quos scio tam doctrina quam moribus idoneos esse 
 ad primum in artibus gradum suscipiendum pro more Academia- 
 rum in Anglia." 
 
 " ADMISSIO. 
 
 " Admitto te ad primum gradum in artibus, scil. ad responden- 
 dum quagstioni pro more Academiarum in Anglia, tibique trado 
 hunc librum una cum potestate publice praelegendi (in aliqua ar- 
 tiutn, quam profiteris) quotiescunque ad hoc munus evocatus fueris." 
 
 " PR^ESENTATIO MAGISTRORUM. 
 
 " Honorandi viri, vosque, reverendi Presbyteri, praesento vobis 
 hosce viros, quos scio tam doctrina quam moribus esse idoneos ad 
 incipiendum in artibus pro more Academiarum in Anglia." 
 
 ADMISSIO INCEPTORUM. 
 " Admitto te ad secundum gradum in artibus pro more Acade-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 581 
 
 miarum in Anglia ; tibique trado hunc librum una cum potestate APPENDIX, 
 publice profitendi, ubicunque ad hoc inunus publice evocatus fueris." ' LXVIL 
 
 Laws, 
 
 " FORMULA PUBLICS CONFESSIONIS. sc&astic 
 
 forms, es- 
 
 " Ego, S. W., qui a cultu divino in aula Collegii tarn matutino President 
 quatn vespertino toties per aliquot menses abfui (in qua absentia Dunster - 
 monitis et aliis in me animadversionum gradibus non obstantibus 
 hactenus perstiti), nunc culpam meam agnosco, et publicae agni- 
 tionis hoc testimonio me reum profiteer, et majorem in his exercitiis 
 pietatis diligentiam in posterum (Deo volente), dum hie egero, 
 polliceor." 
 
 CERTIFICATE FOR AN UNDERGRADUATE. 
 
 " Per integrum biennium quo apud nos pupillari statu commoratus 
 est A. B., Collegii Harvardini Cantabrigiae in Nov-Anglia alumnus, 
 publicas lectiones tarn philologicas quam philosophicas audivit, nec- 
 non declamationibus, disputationibus, cseterisque exercitiis, pro sui 
 temporis ratione adeo incubuit, ut nobis certam spem fecerit ilium 
 suis coaetaneis etiam in aliis collegiis (si admissus fuerit) non dis- 
 parem fore, Quapropter hoc de illo testimonium omnibus, quorum 
 interesse possit.perhibemus nos, quorum nomina subscripta surit. 
 
 " Datum." 
 
 CERTIFICATE FOR A BACHELOR OF ARTS. 
 
 " Per integrum illud tempus quo apud nos commoratus est C. D., 
 Collegii Harvardini Cantabrigiie in Nov-Anglia alumnus, et in arti- 
 bus liberalibus Baccalaureus, bonarum literarum studiis vitas pro- 
 bitatem adjunxit ; adeo ut nobis spem amplam fecerit se in Ecclesiae 
 et Reipublicae commodum victurum. Quapropter hoc de illo testi- 
 monium omnibus, quorum interesse possit, perhibemus nos, quorum 
 nomina subscripta sunt. 
 
 " Datum." 
 
 CERTIFICATE FOR A MASTER OF ARTS. 
 
 " Per integrum illud tempus quo apud nos commoratus est E. F., 
 Collegii Harvardini Cantabrigioe in Nov-Anglia alumnus, et in 
 artibus liberalibus Magister, bonarum literarum studiis seduld in- 
 cubuit, sinceram verge fidei professionem inculpatis suse vita? mori-
 
 582 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, bus exornavit, adeo ut nobis certam et araplam spem fecerit se in 
 
 ni '_ Ecclesiae et Reipublicaj commodum victurum. Quapropter hoc 
 
 L: ) ws ' d ^ e *^ test i momum omnibus, quorum interesse possit, perhibemus 
 
 scholastic nos.quorum nomina subscripta sunt. 
 
 forms, es- ,, r\ * 
 
 tablishedby Datum." 
 
 President 
 Dunster. 
 
 " BACCALAUREORUM PR^SENTATIO. - 
 
 " Supplicat Reverentiis vestris A. B., ut quadriennium ab ad- 
 missione completum, quo ordinarias lectiones audiverit una cum 
 disputationibus, declamationibus, caeterisque exercitiis per statuta 
 Col. requisitis (licet non omnino secundum formam statuti),sufficiat 
 ei ad primum gradum in artibus suscipiendum." 
 
 " MAG. PR^ESENTATIO IN ANGL. 
 
 " Supplicat Reverentiis vestris N. N., ut novem termini completi 
 post finalem ejus determinationem, in quibus ordinarias lectiones audi- 
 verit (licet non omnino secundum formam statuti) una cum omnibus 
 oppositionibus, responsionibus, declamationibus, caeterisque exercitiis 
 per statuta regia requisitis, sufficiant ei ad incipiendum in artibus." 
 
 CERTAIN ORDERS BY THE SCHOLARS AND OFFICERS OF 
 THE COLLEGE TO BE OBSERVED, WRITTEN 28 MARCH, 
 1650. 
 
 " The Steward, receiving a just and clear account of the visible 
 store or treasury of the College, as it is a society, either in visible 
 provisions, or in debts acknowledged or proved, due by the members 
 of the society, shall be bound with sufficient security, quarterly to 
 give an account thereof within ten days to the President, when he 
 shall require it, together with the just and necessary disbursements, 
 which by the President's allowance have been issued out (for neces- 
 sary provisions) to the steward himself, butler, cook, or any other 
 officer of the House, as also to and for the necessary provisions of 
 fuel, reparations of outworn utensils, &c., towards all which charges 
 the steward is to see (besides the stock maintained) that one third 
 part be reserved of all payments to him by the members of the House 
 quarterly made, and the other two parts in suitable provisions to the 
 scholars to be returned as the season and state of the year doth 
 require, and answerably thereto shall deliver in such provisions to
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 583 
 
 the cook and butler, or brewer and baker, and of them require APPENDIX, 
 
 , , , NO.LXVII. 
 
 weekly or quarterly accounts. 
 
 " Forasmuch as the students, whose friends are most careful to L ^ ws ; 
 
 rules, and 
 
 discharge their due expenses, have sundry times sorely and unjustly scholastic 
 suffered by such as neglect to pay their debts ; therefore the steward tablishedby 
 shall not permit, but upon his own peril, any students to be above Diunster" 1 
 two pounds indebted, but, acquainting the President, with his leave 
 send them to their friends, if not above a day's journey distant; if 
 otherwise, then shall the steward, at the admission of such scholars, 
 inform himself from whom he shall be supplied, or to whom they 
 shall have recourse in the aforesaid case of debt; neither is the 
 steward at any time to take any pay that is useless, hazardful, or 
 importing detriment to the College, as lean cattle to feed, turning 
 over of bills to shops, &,c., but at his own discretion and peril. 
 
 " Whereas young scholars, to the dishonor of God, hinderance 
 of their studies, and damage of their friends' estate, inconsiderately 
 and intemperately are ready to abuse their liberty of sizing besides 
 their commons ; therefore the steward shall in no case permit any 
 students whatever, under the degree of Masters of Art, or Fellows, 
 to expend or be provided for themselves or any townsmen any ex- 
 traordinary commons, unless by the allowance of the President or 
 two of the Fellows, whereof their Tutor always to be one, or in case 
 of manifest sickness, presignified also unto the President, or in case 
 of a license, of course granted by the President to some persons 
 whose condition he seeth justly requiring it. 
 
 " The butler and cook are to look unto, and, in case detriment 
 befall, fully to be accountable for, all the College's vessels and utensils, 
 great and small, delivered by inventory unto them, and once every 
 quarter to deliver in unto the President in writing an inventory 
 thereof, particularly showing what detriment is befallen the College, 
 in what particular, and by what means, whether by wearth in their 
 just usage (which the steward is to repair by the College charges), 
 or by any abuse of any person or persons whatever, from whom the 
 President shall see that the butler and cook shall have just and full 
 recompense, if they be members of the society ; but, if detriment 
 come by any out of the society, then those officers themselves shall 
 be responsible to the House ; because they may not but at their peril 
 communicate any thing that is the College's to any without. 
 
 " Item. They are to see, that the said utensils, to their several 
 offices belonging, from day to day be kept clean and sweet and fit 
 for use, and they shall at meal-times deliver them out as the public
 
 584 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, service of the Hall requireth to the servitor or servitors, who shall 
 
 NO. LXVII. kg responsible for them until that they return them after meals to 
 
 Laws, t ne butteries or kitchen ; but they are not bound to keep or cleanse 
 
 rules, and 
 
 scholastic any particular scholar's spoons, cups, or such like, but at their own 
 
 forms, es- ,. 
 
 tablishedby discretion. 
 
 an y scn l ar or scholars at any time take away or detain 
 any vessel of the College's, great or small, from the Hall out of the 
 doors from the sight of the buttery hatch without the butler's or 
 servitor's knowledge, or against their will, he or they shall be pun- 
 ished three pence, but more at the President's discretion, if perverse- 
 ness appear. But, if he or they shall presume to detain any vessel, 
 great or small, that it be wanting the next meal, he shall be pun- 
 ished the full value thereof; and, in case any shall lose, mar, or spoil 
 any such vessels, then shall they pay double thereof; and, if they con- 
 ceal it until by examination it be found out fourfold the value thereof. 
 
 " The butler and cook shall see that all the rooms peculiar to their 
 offices, together with their appurtenances be daily set and kept in 
 order, clean and sweet from all manner of noisomeness and nasti- 
 ness or sensible offensiveness. To the butler belongs the cellar and 
 butteries, and all from thenceforth to the farthest end of the Hall, 
 with the south porch ; to the cook the kitchen, larder, and the way 
 leading to his hatch, the turret, and the north alley unto the walk ; 
 neither shall the butler or cook suffer any scholar or scholars what- 
 ever, except the Fellows, Masters of Art, fellow commoners, or 
 officers of the House, to come into the butteries or kitchen, save with 
 their parents or guardians, or with some grave and sober strangers ; 
 and, if any shall presume to thrust in, they shall have three pence on 
 their heads ; but, if presumptuous and continually they shall so 
 dare to offend, they shall be liable to an admonition and to other 
 proceedings of the College discipline, at the discretion of the Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 " The butler upon every sixth day of the week at noon is to give 
 an account to every scholar demanding his week's sizings in the 
 buttery, and is not bound to stay above half an hour at bevers in 
 the buttery after the tolling of the bell, nor above a quarter of an 
 hour after thanksgiving in the Hall at meals. The cook on the 
 sixth day at noon shall give in the week's expenses of the whole 
 society, which the butler shall enter into his book, according to 
 custom, and shall keep the bills from quarter to quarter, and show 
 them to the steward at his demand for his satisfaction. 
 
 " The butler and cook may not deliver at meal-times, save in case
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 585 
 
 of sickness, or just cause, to the President (if it may be) presigni- APPENDIX, 
 fied, and by him allowed, any commons to any scholars, save unto No - LXVIT. 
 
 the servitor, nor see to any save their dues to the scholars sitting Laws, 
 
 rules, and 
 orderly in their places, in the Hall ; neither may any scholar rise scholastic 
 
 from his place or go out of the Hall at meal-times before thanks- tabljshedby 
 giving be ended, unless liberty be given by the President, if P resi dent 
 present, or the senior Fellow, or such as for that time possess 
 their place. 
 
 " If any officer of the College whatsoever shall make any secret 
 contract with any scholar or scholars, either to conceal their dis- 
 orderly walking or to draw from them any valuable things, as books, 
 wearing apparel, bedding, or such like, by any direct or indirect 
 course, not before allowed by the President or their Tutor, the said 
 officer or officers shall be liable to be punished at the discretion of 
 the President. 
 
 " Whereas much inconvenience falleth out by the scholars bring- 
 ing candles in course into the Hall, therefore the butler hence- 
 forth shall receive at the President's or steward's hands twenty 
 shillings in money, ten at the thirteenth of September, and ten at 
 the thirteenth of December, toward candles for the Hall for prayer 
 time and supper, which, that it may not be burdensome, it shall 
 be put proportionably upon every scholar who retaineth his seat in 
 the buttery." 
 
 THE FORM OF EXEMPTION FOR COLLEGE SERVANTS. 
 
 " Whereas our much honored magistrates and deputies in General 
 Court assembled, in the third month of the year one thousand six 
 hundred and fifty, have, for the furtherance of good literature, by 
 charter privileged the officers and servants of Harvard College to 
 the number of ten from all personal offices, civil and military exer- 
 cises and services, watching and wardings, and their estates, not 
 exceeding a hundred pounds a man, from all country rates and 
 taxes whatever ; 
 
 " We therefore, A. B. C., having chosen our well-approved neigh- 
 bour D. E. to serve us for the space of one whole year from the date 
 hereof, in his calling of F., to attend the College work upon a week 
 or ten days' warning, so often as thereunto he shall be called, do 
 by virtue of the privileges given unto us, exempt the aforesaid D. E. 
 from all the aforementioned incumbrances and charges, in witness 
 whereof we have given, and he hath accepted, these presents signed 
 with our hands. " 
 
 VOL. i. 74
 
 586 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. LXVIII. 
 
 No. LX VI1L* See pp. 15, 33, 38, 68, 84, 90, 100, 108, 159. 
 
 ACTS RELATING TO THE CONSTITUTION AND GOV- 
 ERNMENT OF THE COLLEGE FROM 1636 TO 1780. 
 
 GRANTS OF THE GENERAL COURT. 
 
 ["At a Court holden September 8th, 1636, and continued by adjournment 
 to the 28th of the 8th month (October, 1636). 
 
 " The Court agreed to give 400 towards a School or College, whereof 
 200 to be paid next year, and 200 when the work is finished, and the 
 next Court to appoint where and what building." Records of the General 
 Court, Vol. I. p. 183. 
 
 " At a General Court, holden at Newtown on the 2d of the 9th month 
 (November 2d) 1637. 
 " The College ordered to be at Newtown." Ibid. p. 204. 
 
 " For the College, the Governor, Mr. Winthrop, the Deputy, Mr. Dud- 
 ley, the Treasurer, Mr. Bellingham, Mr. Humphrey, Mr. Herlakenden, 
 Mr. Stoughton, Mr. Cotton, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Davenport, Mr. Welde, Mr. 
 Shepard, and Mr. Peters, these, or the greater part of them, whereof Mr. 
 Winthrop, Mr. Dudley, or Mr. Bellingham, to be always one, to take order 
 for a College at Newtown." Ibid. p. 213. 
 
 "At a Court, holden the 13th of the first month (March) 1638-9. 
 " It is ordered, that the College agreed upon formerly to be built at Cam- 
 bridge, shall be called Harvard College." Ibid. p. 241. 
 
 " At a Court, holden the 7th day of the 8th month (October), 1640. 
 " The ferry between Boston and Charlestown is granted to the College." 
 Ibid. p. 288.] 
 
 * This Number presents, in chronological order, all acts passed, and bills pro- 
 posed, in relation to the constitution and government of Harvard College, 
 from its foundation in 1636 to the adoption of the Constitution of Massachusetts 
 in 1780. Those acts or parts of acts, which were never in force, or, if so, 
 only temporarily, or which were not general in their character, are printed in 
 smaller type, and included in brackets. Those in larger type, include all acts 
 or parts of acts, which were regarded during the Colonial period of Massachu- 
 setts as the Constitution of the College, and comprehend the " general Char- 
 ters," referred to in the Constitution of Massachusetts, Chap. V. Sect. I. Art. 
 II. All these acts and bills have been carefully compared with the originals, in 
 the records or on file in the office of the Secretary of State.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 587 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 THE ACT ESTABLISHING THE OVERSEERS OF HARVARD No.LXVIll. 
 
 COLLEGE* 
 
 " At a General Court held at Boston in the year 1642. The act 
 " Whereas, through the good hand of God upon us, there is a fh^jj 1 ,. 
 College founded in Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex, called se ers of 
 HARVARD COLLEGE, for the encouragement whereof this Court has College, 
 given the sum of four hundred pounds, and also the revenue of the ' 42 ' 
 ferry betwixt Charlestown and Boston, and that the well ordering 
 and managing of the said College is of great concernment ; 
 
 " It is therefore ordered by this Court, and the authority thereof, 
 that the Governor and Deputy Governor for the time being, and all 
 the magistrates of this jurisdiction, together with the teaching 
 elders of the six next adjoining towns, viz. Cambridge, Watertowu, 
 Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester, and the President 
 of the said College for the time being, shall, from time to time, have 
 full power and authority to make and establish all such orders, 
 statutes, and constitutions, as they shall see necessary for the in- 
 stituting, guiding, and furthering of the said College, and the 
 
 * The above act has been carefully copied from the act printed in " The Gen- 
 eral Laws of the Massachusetts Colony, revised and published by order of the 
 General Court, in October, 1658." 
 
 This was " the second impression" of the laws of the Colony, and a copy of 
 it is now preserved in the Law Library of Harvard College. Having been 
 revised and published by the authority of the General Court, at that early 
 period, the above may well be regarded as the exact and authentic College 
 charter of 1642. 
 
 It is, however, deemed proper to subjoin the act as it was originally passed 
 by the General Court, not only as a matter of curiosity and of history, but be- 
 cause, in the controversy between Dr. Cutler (see above, p. 560) and the Over- 
 seers (see above, p. 566) both parties obviously made use of that original draft 
 as it stands in the Records of the General Court (Vol. II. p. 24), in the 
 words following. 
 
 " At a General Court at Boston, the 8th of the 7th month, 1642. 
 
 " Whereas, by order of the Court in the 7th month, 1636, there was ap- 
 pointed and named six magistrates and six elders, to order the College at 
 Cambridge, of which twelve some are removed out of this jurisdiction. 
 
 " It is therefore ordered, that the Governor and Deputy for the time being, 
 and all the magistrates of this jurisdiction, together with the teaching elders 
 of the six next adjoining towns, that is, Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, 
 Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester, and the President of the College for the time 
 being, shall have, from time to time, full power and authority to make and
 
 588 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, several members thereof, from time to time, in piety, morality, and 
 
 1^ | learning ; as also to dispose, order, and manage, to the use and 
 
 Tl ? e u?- ct u- behoof of the said College, and the members thereof, all gifts, 
 
 establishing 
 
 the Over- legacies, bequeaths, revenues, lands, and donations, as either have 
 Harvard been, are, or shall be, conferred, bestowed, or any ways shall fall, 
 
 or come ' to the said Colle e - 
 
 " And whereas it may come to pass, that many of the said magis- 
 trates and said elders may be absent, or otherwise employed about 
 other weighty affairs, when the said College may need their present 
 help and counsel, It is therefore ordered, that the greater number 
 of said magistrates and elders, which shall be present, with the 
 President, shall have the power of the whole. Provided, that if any 
 constitution, order, or orders, by them made, shall be found hurtful 
 to the said College, or the members thereof, or to the weal-public, 
 then, upon appeal of the party or parties grieved, unto the company 
 of Overseers, first mentioned, they shall repeal the said order, or 
 orders, if they shall see cause, at their next meeting, or stand ac- 
 countable thereof to the next General Court." 
 
 . establish all such orders, statutes, and constitutions, as they shall see necessary 
 for the instituting, guiding, and furthering of the said College, and the sev- 
 eral members thereof, from time to time, in piety, morality, and learning; 
 as also that they shall have full power to dispose, order, and manage, to the 
 use and behoof of the said College and members thereof, all gifts, legacies, 
 bequeathalls, revenues, lands, and donations, as either have been, are, or 
 shall be, conferred, bestowed, or any ways shall fall to the said College. 
 
 " And whereas it may come to pass, that many of the said magistrates 
 and elders may be absent, or otherwise employed in weighty affairs, when 
 the said College needs their present help, counsel, and authority; Therefore 
 it is ordered, that the greater number of the said magistrates, elders, and 
 President, shall have the power of the whole. Provided also, that if any 
 constitution, order, or orders, shall be made, that is found hurtful to the said 
 College, or the members thereof, or to the weal-public, that then, upon the 
 appeal of the party or parties aggrieved to the said Overseers, they shall 
 repeal the said order, or orders, at their next meeting, or stand accountable 
 thereof to the next General Court."
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 589 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 THE CHARTER OF THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HAR- No.LXVHl. 
 VARD COLLEGE, UNDER THE SEAL OF THE COLONY OF 
 MASSACHUSETTS BAY, AND BEARING DATE, MAY 30, A. D. 
 1650.* 
 
 " Whereas, through the good hand of God, many well-devoted The char- 
 persons have been, and daily are, moved, and stirred up, to give and 
 bestow, sundry gifts, legacies, lands, and revenues, for the advance- 
 ment of all good literature, arts, and sciences, in Harvard College, 
 in Cambridge in the County of Middlesex, and to the maintenance 
 of the President and Fellows, and for all accommodations of build- 
 ings, and all other necessary provisions, that may conduce to the 
 education of the English and Indian youth of this country, in 
 knowledge and godliness. 
 
 " It is therefore ordered and enacted by this Court, and the au- 
 thority thereof, that for the furthering of so good a work, and for 
 the purposes aforesaid, from henceforth that the said College, in 
 Cambridge in Middlesex, in New England, shall be a Corporation, 
 consisting of seven persons, to wit, a President, five Fellows, and a 
 Treasurer or Bursar ; and that Henry Dunster shall be the first 
 President ; Samuel Mather, Samuel Danforth, Masters of Art, " 
 Jonathan Mitchell, Comfort Starr, and Samuel Eaton, Bachelors 
 of Art, shall be the five Fellows ; and Thomas Danforth to be 
 present Treasurer, all of them being inhabitants in the Bay, and 
 shall be the first seven persons of which the said Corporation shall 
 consist ; and that the said seven persons, or the greater number 
 of them, procuring the presence of the Overseers of the College, 
 and by their counsel and consent, shall have power, and are hereby 
 authorized, at any time, or times, to elect a new President, Fellows, 
 or Treasurer, so oft, and from time to time, as any of the said 
 persons shall die, or be removed ; which s.id President and Fel- 
 lows, for the time being, shall for ever hereafter, in name and 
 fact, be one body politic and corporate in law, to all intents and 
 purposes ; and shall have perpetual succession ; and shall be called 
 by the name of President and Fellows of Harvard College, and 
 
 * This charter is thus introduced on the Records of the General Court, 
 Vol. IV. p. 10. " At a General Court of elections, held at Boston, 22d May, 
 1650. In answer to the petition of Henry Dunster, President of Harvard 
 
 College, and to his desires for a Corporation, the Court doth grant 
 
 his request in these terms. Whereas," &c.
 
 590 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, shall, from time to time, be eligible as aforesaid, and by that name 
 
 No. LXVIIL , , , . 
 
 , they, and their successors, shall and may purchase and acquire to 
 
 The char- themselves, or take and receive upon free gift and donation, any 
 1650. lands, tenements, or hereditaments, within this jurisdiction of the 
 Massachusetts, not exceeding five hundred pounds per annum, and 
 any goods and sums of money whatsoever, to the use and behoof 
 of the said President, Fellows, and scholars of the said College ; 
 and also may sue and plead, or be sued and impleaded by the name 
 aforesaid, in all Courts and places of judicature, within the juris- 
 diction aforesaid. 
 
 " And that the said President, with any three of the Fellows, 
 shall have power, and are hereby authorized, when they shall think 
 fit, to make and appoint a common seal for the use of the said Cor- 
 poration. And the President and Fellows, or major part of them, 
 from time to time, may meet and choose such officers and servants 
 for the College, and make such allowance to them, and them also 
 to remove, and after death, or removal, to choose such others, and 
 to make, from time to time, such orders and by-laws, for the better 
 ordering, and carrying on the work of the College, as they shall 
 think fit ; provided, the said orders be allowed by the Overseers. 
 ' And also, that the President and Fellows, or major part of them 
 with the Treasurer, shall have power to make conclusive bargains 
 for lands and tenements, to be purchased by the said Corporation, 
 for valuable consideration. 
 
 " And for the better ordering of the government of the said 
 College and Corporation, Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, 
 that the President, and three more of the Fellows, shall and may, 
 from time to time, upon due warning or notice given by the Presi- 
 dent to the rest, hold a meeting, for the debating and concluding 
 of affairs concerning the profits and revenues of any lands, and 
 disposing of their goods (provided that all the said disposings be 
 according to the will of the donors) ; and for direction in all emer- 
 gent occasions ; execution of all orders and by-laws ; and for the 
 procuring of a general meeting of all the Overseers and Society, in 
 great and difficult cases ; and in case of non-agreement ; in all 
 which cases aforesaid, the conclusion shall be made by the major 
 part, the said President having a casting voice, the Overseers 
 consenting thereunto ; and that all the aforesaid transactions shall 
 tend to and for the use and behoof of the President, Fellows, 
 scholars, and officers of the said College, and for all accommoda- 
 tions of buildings, books, and all other necessary provisions and
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 591 
 
 furnitures, as may be for the advancement and education of youth, APPENDIX, 
 in all manner of good literature, arts, and sciences. And further, No - LXVII] - 
 be it ordered by this Court, and the authority thereof, that all the The char - 
 lands, tenements, and hereditaments, houses, or revenues, within this 1650. 
 jurisdiction, to the aforesaid President or College appertaining, not 
 exceeding the value of five hundred pounds per annum, shall, from 
 henceforth, be freed from all civil impositions, taxes, and rates ; all 
 goods to the said Corporation, or to any scholars thereof appertain- 
 ing, shall be exempted from all manner of toll, customs, and excise 
 whatsoever. And that the said President, Fellows, and scholars, 
 together with the servants, and other necessary officers to the said 
 President, or College appertaining, not exceeding ten, viz. three to 
 the President, and seven to the College belonging, shall be ex- 
 empted from all personal civil offices, military exercises, or services, 
 watchings, and wardings; and such of their estates, not exceeding 
 one hundred pounds a man, shall be free from all country taxes or 
 rates whatsoever, and no other. 
 
 " In witness whereof, the Court hath caused the seal of the colony 
 to be hereunto affixed. Dated the one and thirtieth day of the 
 third month, called May, anno 1650. 
 
 THOMAS DUDLEY, Governor." 
 
 [A copy of the original, engrossed on parchment, under the sig- 
 nature of Governor Dudley, with the colony seal appendant, is in 
 the custody of the President and Fellows of Harvard College.] 
 
 AN APPENDIX TO THE COLLEGE CHARTER, GRANTED BY AN 
 ACT OF THE GENERAL COURT OF THE COLONY, PASSED 
 ANNO 1657. 
 
 " At a General Court held at Boston the 14th of Oct. 1657. An Appen- 
 " In answer to certain proposals, presented to this Court by the College 
 Overseers of Harvard College, as an Appendix to the College 
 Charter it is ordered, The Corporation shall have power, from time 
 V) time, to make such orders and by-laws, for the better ordering 
 and carrying on of the work of the College, as they shall see cause, 
 without dependence upon the consent of the Overseers foregoing. 
 Provided always, that the Corporation shall be responsible unto, and 
 those orders and by-laws shall be alterable by, the Overseers, ac- 
 cording to their discretion.
 
 592 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 No. LXVm. 
 
 An Apoen- 
 dix to the 
 College 
 Charter. 
 1657. 
 
 " And when the Corporation shall hold a meeting for agreeing 
 College servants ; for making of orders and by-laws ; for de- 
 bating and concluding of affairs, concerning the profits and revenues 
 of any lands, or gifts, and the disposing thereof (provided that all 
 the said disposals be according to the will of the donors) ; for man- 
 aging of all emergent occasions, for the procuring of a general 
 meeting of the Overseers and Society in great and difficult cases, 
 and in cases of non-agreement; and for all other College affairs to 
 them pertaining, in all these cases the conclusion shall be valid, 
 being made by the major part of the Corporation, the President 
 having a casting vote. Provided always, that in these things also, 
 they be responsible to the Overseers, as aforesaid. 
 
 "And in case the Corporation shall see cause to call a meeting 
 of the Overseers, or the Overseers shall think good to meet of them- 
 selves, it shall be sufficient unto the validity of College acts, that 
 notice be given to the Overseers, in the six towns mentioned in the 
 printed law, anno 1642, when the rest of the Overseers, by reason 
 of the remoteness of their habitations, cannot conveniently be ac- 
 quainted therewith." Records of the General Court, Vol. IV. p. 265. 
 
 Intended 
 charter of 
 1672. 
 
 INTENDED CHARTER OF 1672. 
 
 [" At the second session of the General Court for elections, held at Bos- 
 ton, 8th of October, 1672, on their adjournment.* 
 
 " Whereas, by the good hand of God there hath been erected and con- 
 tinued a College in Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex, called by the 
 name of 'Harvard College,' and that by an instrument or charter, dated the 
 
 * The connexion between this act and the appointment of Dr. Hoar, as 
 suggested in the text (p. 33), is established by the fact, that the following vote 
 immediately precedes that act on the records of the General Court. 
 
 " The Court having duly considered of the motion in reference to allowance 
 to be given to the maintenance of a President at the College, and the settle- 
 ment of what may give due encouragement to that work, do judge meet, and 
 order that there be allowed one hundred and fifty pounds per annum, to be 
 paid in money by the country Treasurer, out of such revenues as are paid in 
 money into the Treasury, provided that Dr. Hoar be the man for a stipply of 
 that place nmo vacant, and that he accept thereof. And that when this order 
 of one hundred and fifty pounds per annum takes place, the former order of 
 one hundred a year, settled upon the President in the printed law, be made 
 void, and that this allowance be continued until the General Court or Over- 
 seers shall find some other way for the making it good, and that the annual 
 allowance be paid quarterly."
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 593 
 
 3lst of May, in the year 1650, the President and Fellows thereof were APPENDIX, 
 established to be one body corporate by the authority of this Court. And No - LXVIf l- 
 whereas several gifts and donations have been made, and are still making, intended 
 by many well-devoted persons, inhabitants of this country, as also strangers, charter of 
 for the maintenance of the governors and the government thereof, and for 
 all the accommodations of the scholars thereof, in books, buildings, lectures, 
 scholarships, and all other necessary and fitting provisions, that may con- 
 duce to the education of English and Indian youth, there residing in all 
 good literature and godliness. Now, for the perpetuation and further 
 advancement of so good a work, and for the better encouragement of all 
 persons therein concerned, or to be concerned, it is ordered and enacted 
 by this Court and the authority thereof, that Leonard Hoar, Doctor in 
 Physic, be the present President of said Harvard College, Mr. Samuel 
 Danforth, Fellow of the said College, Mr. Urian Oakes, Pastor of the 
 church of Cambridge, Mr. Thomas Shephard, teacher of the church of 
 Charlestown, Mr. Joseph Browne and Mr. John Richardson, Masters of 
 Art, be the Fellows, and Mr. John Richards the Treasurer, of the said 
 College and Corporation, for the time being; and that the President, Fel- 
 lows, and Treasurer of the said College, or the Fellows alone, when there 
 is no President established, and their successors from time to time, be the 
 immediate governors thereof, and shall in name and fact for ever hereafter 
 be one body politic and corporate in law, to all intents and purposes, and 
 shall have perpetual succession, having power and authority by these 
 presents (procuring a meeting of the Overseers, and by their counsel and 
 consent), to elect successors into the place of any one or more of them 
 which shall be by death or removal made vacant. Be it also hereby au- 
 thorized and enacted, that the said Corporation and their successors shall 
 have the power of constituting, and again at their pleasure removing, all 
 inferior officers to the said society appertaining, and all the next and 
 immediate government of every member of the said society according to 
 such orders and laws as are or shall be established by the said Corpora- 
 tion ; the Overseers of the said College allowing or not contradicting the 
 said laws, upon notice of them given to them at their next meeting. And, 
 also the said Corporation and their successors may purchase and acquire to 
 themselves, or take and receive upon free gift any lands, tenements, heredi- 
 taments, annuities, services, goods, moneys, or other emoluments whatso- 
 ever, or from whomsoever, and (observing straitly the will of the donors) 
 dispose of the same to the use and behoof of the said College or any mem- 
 bers thereof; and that the President may warn a general meeting of the said 
 Corporation for debating any of the affairs aforesaid. In all which cases 
 the conclusion shall be made by the major part present, the President 
 having a casting voice. And that the said Corporation, with their distinct 
 Treasurer (if any such be chosen) by the name of the President, Fellows, 
 and Treasurer of Harvard College, may sue and plead, or be sued or im- 
 pleaded in all Courts and places of judicature within this jurisdiction of the 
 Massachusetts Colony, to all intents and purposes in law and with effect, 
 
 VOL. i. 75
 
 594 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 Intended 
 charter of 
 1672. 
 
 APPENDIX, as may any private person or body incorporate ; only the estate to the 
 No.LXVlir. Corporation belonging, and not that which belongs proper to any member 
 of the said Corporation, being liable to such impleadments ; also that the 
 said Corporation, or any three of them, the President being one, in all 
 crimes by the laws of this country punishable by one magistrate, shall 
 have the full power of sconsing, fining, or otherwise correcting, all inferior 
 officers or members to the said society belonging, as the laws of the country 
 provide in such cases, or the laws of the College not repugnant unto them ; 
 and for that end any of the said Corporation shall, and hereby have power 
 personally with such aid of the society as they shall think meet, taking the 
 constable along with them, to enter into any houses licensed for public 
 entertainment, where they shall be informed, or may be suspicious, of any 
 enormities to be plotting or acting by any members of their society ; and 
 all constables and all other inferior civil officers in that place are hereby au- 
 thorized and commanded to be readily aiding and assisting to them, or any 
 of them in the premises. Neither shall any person or persons legally 
 expelled the College, abide above ten days in the township of Cambridge, 
 unless their parents live in the said township. And be it also ordered and 
 enacted by this Court and the authority thereof, that all the lands, tene- 
 ments, hereditaments, or annuities within this jurisdiction, to the said Cor- 
 poration appertaining, not exceeding the value of five hundred pounds per 
 annum, shall be henceforth freed from all ordinary civil impositions, taxes, 
 and rates, and all goods to the said Corporation or to any scholars thereof 
 appertaining, shall be exempted from all manner of toll, customs, and excise 
 whatsoever, except in cases of war, or extraordinary exigencies of the 
 country. And moreover, that the said President, Fellows, and scholars, 
 together with their menial servants, and other necessary officers (not ex- 
 ceeding the number of ten), shall be utterly exempted from all personal 
 and civil offices, military exercises, watchings, and wordings, or the like 
 public services. And the personal estates of the said Corporation and their 
 officers (not exceeding one hundred pounds a man) shall be also freed from 
 the like country taxes for ever. All and every of which premises we do 
 ordain and enact to be fully established for law, any law, grant, or usage to 
 the contrary in any wise notwithstanding."] Records of the General Court, 
 Vol. IV. p. 707. 
 
 Charter 
 proposed in 
 1692. 
 
 CHARTER PROPOSED IN 1692. 
 
 [" Province of the Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 An act for incorporating of Harvard College, at Cambridge, Neio England. 
 
 " Whereas there hath been for many years, in the town of Cambridge, 
 in the county of Middlesex, in New England, a society commonly known 
 by the name of Harvard College, where many persons of known worth 
 have, by the blessing of Almighty God, been the better fitted for public em- 
 ployments, both in the church and in the civil state. And whereas the due 
 encouragement of all good literature, arts, and sciences, will tend to the
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 595 
 
 honor of God, the advantage of the Christian Protestant religion, and the APPENDIX, 
 great benefit of their Majesties' subjects inhabiting this Province, both in No.LXVIII. 
 the present and succeeding generations. And considering that many per- charter 
 sons have bestowed legacies, gifts, hereditaments, and revenues on the said proposed in 
 College. Be it therefore enacted and ordained by his Excellency the 
 Governor, Council, and Representatives, of their Majesties' Province of 
 the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, convened in General Assembly ; 
 and by the authority thereof it is enacted and ordained, that the said Col- 
 lege, in Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex, in their Majesties' Prov- 
 ince of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, shall be a Corporation 
 consisting of ten persons, that is to say, a President, eight Fellows, and a 
 Treasurer, and that the Rev. Mr. Increase Mather shall be the first Presi- 
 dent, James Allen, Samuel Willard, Nehemiah Hobart, Nathaniel Gookin, 
 Cotton Mather, John Leveret), William Brattle, Nehemiah Walter, Mas- 
 ters of Art, shall be the eight Fellows, and John Richards, Esq., the 
 Treasurer, all of them inhabitants in said Province, and the first ten persons 
 whereof the said Corporation shall consist, which said Increase Mather, 
 James Allen, Samuel Willard, Nehemiah Hobart, Nathaniel Gookin, Cot- 
 ton Mather, John Leverett, William Brattle, Nehemiah Walter, and John 
 Richards, and their successors, shall for ever hereafter, in name and fact, 
 be one body politic and corporate in law, to all intents and purposes ; and 
 shall have perpetual succession, and shall be called by the name of the 
 President and Fellows of Harvard College ; which persons, or the greater 
 number of them, shall have power and are hereby authorized at any time or 
 times to elect a new President, Fellows, and Treasurer, so often, and from time 
 to time, as any of the said persons shall die or be removed, provided no such 
 election be made without notice given in writing under the hand of the 
 President or senior Fellow unto the persons concerned, seven days at least 
 before such election be made. And the said President, Fellows, and Treas- 
 urer, and their successors elective, as aforesaid, shall and may purchase and 
 acquire to themselves, or take and receive upon free gift or donation any 
 lands, tenements, or hereditaments within the Province aforesaid, not ex- 
 ceeding the value of four thousand pounds per annum, and any goods or 
 sum of money whatever to the use and behoof of the said President and 
 Fellows of Harvard College, and also for the encouragement of learning, and 
 may sue and plead or be sued and impleaded by the name aforesaid, in all 
 courts and places of judicature ; and that the said President and Fellows, 
 and their successors may have for ever one common seal to be used in all 
 causes and occasions of the said Corporation, and the same seal may alter, 
 change, break, and new make, from time to time, at their pleasure. And 
 the said President and Fellows, or the major part of them, from time to 
 time may meet and choose officers, and menial servants for the College, and 
 them also to remove, and, after death or removal, to choose such others, 
 and to make from time to time such statutes, orders, and by-laws, for the 
 belter ordering the affairs of the College, as ihey shall think fit. And also, 
 that the President and Fellows, or major part of them, with the Treasurer,
 
 596 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, shall have power to make conclusive bargains for lands and tenements to be 
 No. LX vill. pvirchased by the said Corporation for valuable consideration. And for the 
 Charter better ordering the government of the said College or academy, Be it 
 proposed in enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the President and Fellows, or any 
 six of them, shall and may from time to time, upon due notice or warning 
 given by the President to the rest, hold a meeting for the debating and 
 concluding of affairs concerning the profits and revenues of any lands, and 
 disposing of their goods, provided, that all the said disposals be according 
 to the will of the donors, and for direction in all emergent occasions, and 
 the execution of all statutes, orders, and by-laws ; in all which cases afore- 
 said, the conclusion shall be made by the President and major part of the 
 Fellows. And all the transactions aforesaid shall tend to, and for the use 
 and behoof of the President, Fellows, scholars, and officers of the said 
 College ; and for all accommodations of buildings, books, and all other neces- 
 sary provisions and furniture, as may be for the advancement and education 
 of youth in all manner of good literature, arts, and sciences. And further 
 be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all the lands, tenements, and 
 hereditaments, houses, or revenues, within said Province, to the aforesaid 
 President, Fellows, or College appertaining, shall from henceforth be freed 
 from all public ordinary rates and taxes appertaining to the Province in 
 general. And that the said President, Fellows, and scholars, with the said 
 servants, and other necessary officers to the said President or College ap- 
 pertaining, which servants and officers are not to exceed fifteen, viz. three 
 to the President and twelve to the College belonging, shall be exempted 
 from all personal, civil offices, military exercises, watchings, and wardings. 
 And the estate of the said President and Fellows, under their own manage- 
 ment, to be free from all rates and taxes, provided they reside and dwell in 
 the College. And whereas it is a laudable custom in Universities, whereby 
 learning has been encouraged and advanced, to confer academical degrees or 
 titles on those who by their proficiency as to knowledge in theology, law, 
 physic, mathematics, or philosophy, have been judged worthy thereof, it is 
 hereby enacted and ordained, that the President and Fellows of the said 
 College shall have power from time to time to grant and admit to academi- 
 cal degrees, as in the Universities in England, such as, in respect of learning 
 and good manners, they shall find worthy to be promoted thereunto. And 
 whereas there have been at sundry times and by divers persons, gifts, 
 grants, devises of houses, lands, tenements, goods, chattels, legacies, con- 
 veyances, heretofore made to the said Harvard College in Cambridge, in 
 New England, or to the President and Fellows thereof successively, the 
 said gifts, grants, devises, and legacies, are hereby for ever confirmed ac- 
 cording to the true intent and meaning of the donor or donors, grantor 
 
 or grantors, devisor or devisors. 
 
 " WILLIAM PHIPS. 
 
 " WILLIAM BOND, Speaker. 
 
 " Boston, passed June 27th, 1692, Anno Regis et Reginse Gulielmi et 
 Mariae quarto. 
 
 " ISA. ADDINGTON, Secretary"]
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 597 
 
 CHARTER PROPOSED IN 1696. APPENDIX, 
 
 No. LXVIII. 
 
 [" Province of Massachusetts Bay. 
 An act for incorporating of Harvard College, at Cambridge, in New England, charter 
 
 " Whereas there hath been for many years, in the town of Cambridge, proposed in 
 in the county of Middlesex, within this his Majesty's Province, a society 
 commonly known by the name of Harvard College, where many persons of 
 known worth have, by the blessing of Almighty God, been educated and 
 the better fitted for public employments, both in the church and in the civil 
 state. And, whereas the due encouragement of good literature, arts, and 
 sciences, will tend to the honor of God, the advantage of the Christian 
 Protestant religion, and the great benefit of his Majesty's subjects inhabit- 
 ing this Province, both in the present and succeeding generations. And 
 considering that many persons have bestowed legacies, gifts, hereditaments, 
 and revenues on this said College ; 
 
 " Be it enacted and ordained by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council, and 
 Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the 
 same, That the said College, in Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex, in 
 his Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England afore- 
 said, shall henceforth be a Corporation consisting of sixteen persons, that 
 
 is to say, a President, fourteen Fellows, and a Treasurer, and that 
 
 shall be the first President, Charles Morton, I 
 
 shall be the fourteen Fellows, and the Trea- 
 surer, all of them inhabitants in said Province, and the first sixteen persons 
 whereof the said Corporation shall consist ; which said 
 and their successors, shall for ever hereafter in name and fact be one body 
 politic and corporate in law, to all intents and purposes, and shall have 
 perpetual succession, and shall be called by the name of the President and 
 Fellows of Harvard College, in New England ; which persons shall have 
 power, and are hereby authorized, to elect a new President, Fellows, and 
 Treasurer, when and so often, from time to time, as any of the said persons 
 shall die or be removed, the President, Fellows, and Treasurer, or any of 
 them, being removable for disability or misdemeanor, and may be displaced 
 by the Corporation, saving to the party grieved his appeal to the Visitors ; 
 provided no such displacing or new election be made without notice first 
 given in writing to each member of the Corporation, or left at the place of 
 his usual abode, eight days at least before the meeting for such purpose ; 
 and nine at least of the Corporation shall be consenting in every removal 
 and new election of any member ; all elections to be made by votes in writing. 
 
 " And the President and all Fellows receiving salary shall dwell and 
 reside at the College ; and no one shall enjoy a Fellowship with salary for 
 more than ten years, except continued by a new election. And upon any 
 vacancy happening by the death, removal, or deprivation of any of the 
 Corporation, the same shall be filled up by a new election, within the space 
 of twelve months next after. 
 
 " And the President, Fellows, and Treasurer, and their successors elec-
 
 598 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, tive as aforesaid, shall and may purchase and acquire unto themselves, or 
 NO. LXVIII. ta k e an( j rece i ve U p n free gift or donation any lands, tenements, or heredi- 
 Charter laments, within the Province aforesaid, not exceeding the value of two 
 thousand pounds per annum, or any goods or sum of money whatsoever, 
 to the use and behoof of the President and Fellows of said Harvard College, 
 and also for the encouragement of learning ; and may sue and plead, or be 
 sued and impleaded by the name aforesaid in all courts and places of judi- 
 cature. And that the said President and Fellows, and their successors 
 may for ever have one common seal of the said Corporation, and the 
 same seal may alter, change, break, and new make, from time to time, at 
 their pleasure. And the said President and Fellows, and their successors, 
 or the major part of them, from time to time may meet and choose officers 
 and menial servants for the said College, and them also remove, and upon 
 death or removal choose such others, and from time to time make such 
 statutes, orders, and by-laws, for the better ordering of the affairs and 
 government of the said College, as they shall think fit ; so as such statutes, 
 orders, or by-laws, be not repugnant to the laws of the Province, and notice 
 first given as aforesaid, for a general meeting for that purpose. And also, 
 that the President and Fellows, or major part of them, shall have power to 
 make conclusive bargains for lands and tenements to be purchased by the 
 Corporation, for valuable consideration. And for the better ordering of the 
 government of the said College or academy, Be it enacted by the authority 
 aforesaid, that the President and Fellows, or any ten of them, upon due 
 notice or warning as aforesaid given to the rest, shall and may, from time 
 to time, hold a meeting for the debating and concluding of affairs concern- 
 ing the profits and revenues of any lands, letting and selling of the same ; 
 and disposal of their goods ; provided that all the said disposals be accord- 
 ing to the will of the donors ; and for direction in all emergent occasions, 
 and the execution of all statutes, orders, and by-laws. In all which cases 
 aforesaid, the conclusion shall be made by the major part of the Corpora- 
 tion. And all the transactions aforesaid shall tend to and for the use and 
 behoof of the President, Fellows, scholars, and officers of the said College, 
 and for all accommodations of buildings, books, and all other necessary 
 provisions and furniture, as may be for the advancement and education of 
 youth in all manner of good literature, arts, and sciences. And further, be 
 it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the President, Fellows, and 
 scholars, as also the steward and cook for the time being, and one servant 
 for the President, shall be exempted from all personal civil offices, military 
 exercises, watchings, and wardings. 
 
 " And, whereas it is a laudable custom in Universities, whereby learning 
 has been* encouraged and advanced, to confer academical degrees or titles 
 on those who, by their good manners and proficiency as to knowledge in 
 theology, law, physic, mathematics, or philosophy, have been judged wor- 
 thy thereof; Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the 
 President and Fellows of the said College shall have power, from time to 
 time, to grant and admit to academical degrees, as in the Universities in
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 599 
 
 Charter 
 proposed in 
 1696. 
 
 England, such as in respect of learning and good manners they shall find APPENDIX, 
 worthy to be promoted thereunto. And, whereas there have been at No.LXVUI. 
 sundry times, and by divers persons, gifts, grants, devises of houses, lands, 
 tenements, goods, chattels, legacies, and conveyances, heretofore made unto 
 the said College, or to the President and Fellows thereof successively, the 
 said gifts, grants, devises, legacies, and conveyances, are hereby for ever 
 ratified and confirmed according to the true intent and meaning of the 
 donor or donors, grantor or grantors, devisor or devisors. 
 
 " And for the more assurance of the well governing of the said College, 
 it is enacted and declared, by the authority aforesaid, that his Majesty's 
 Governor and Council of this Province for the time being, shall be the 
 Visitors, and have, use, and exercise the power of visitation. 
 
 " December 15th, 1696, read. 
 
 " December 16th, read a second time and debated. 
 
 " Read a third time. 
 
 " Mr. Increase Mather, President. Mr. John Danforth. 
 
 Chas. Morton, Vice-P resident. 
 Michael Wigglesworth. 
 James Allen. 
 Samuel Torrey. 
 Samuel Willard. 
 Nehemiah Hobart. 
 Peter Thacher, 
 " Voted and approved of, December 17th."] 
 
 Cotton Mather. 
 John Leverett. 
 William Brattle. 
 Nehemiah Walter. 
 Paul Dudley. 
 Benjamin Wadsworth. 
 Thomas Brattle, Treasurer. 
 
 CHARTER PROPOSED IN 1697. 
 
 [" Province of Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 An act for incorporating Harvard College, at Cambridge, in New England. 
 
 " Whereas there hath been for many years, in the town of Cambridge, Charter 
 in the county of Middlesex, within his Majesty's Province of the Massa- P ro PQ e f? '" 
 chusetts Bay, in New England, a society commonly known by the name 
 of Harvard College, where many persons of known worth have, by the 
 blessing of Almighty God, been educated and the better fitted for public 
 employment, both in the church and in the civil state ; and, whereas due 
 encouragement of good literature, arts, and sciences, will tend to the honor 
 of God, the advantage of the Christian Protestant religion, and the great 
 benefit of his Majesty's subjects inhabiting this Province, both in the present 
 and succeeding generations ; and considering that many persons have be- 
 stowed legacies, gifts, hereditaments, and revenues, on the said College ; 
 
 " Be it enacted and ordained by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council, and 
 Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the 
 same, that the said College at Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex, 
 aforesaid, shall henceforth be a corporation, consisting of seventeen persons ; 
 that is to say, a President, Vice -President, fourteen Fellows, and a Treas-
 
 600 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, urer. And that Increase Mather shall be the first President, Charles Mor- 
 Xo. LX viir. ton> Vice-President, and James Allen, Michael Wigglesworth, Samuel 
 Charter Torrey, Samuel Willaid, Nehemiah Hobart, Peter Thacher, John Danforth, 
 Cotton Mather John Leverett, William Brattle, Nehemiah Walter, John 
 White, Paul Dudley, and Benjamin Wadsworth, Masters of Art, shall be 
 the fourteen Fellows, and Thomas Brattle, Master of Art, the Treasurer ; 
 all of them inhabitants within the said Province, and the first seventeen 
 persons whereof the said Corporation shall consist ; which said Increase 
 Mather, Charles Morton, James Allen, Michael Wigglesworth, Samuel 
 Torrey, Samuel Willard, Nehemiah Hobart, Peter Thacher, John Dau- 
 forth, Cotton Mather, John Leverett, William Brattle, Nehemiah Walter, 
 John White, Paul Dudley, Benjamin Wadsworth, and Thomas Brattle, 
 and their successors, shall for ever hereafter be one body politic and 
 corporate in fact and name, to all intents and purposes in law, by the 
 name of the President and Fellows of Harvard College in New Eng- 
 land, and that by that name they shall have perpetual succession, and by 
 the same name they and their successors shall and may be capable and 
 enabled as well to irnplead as to be im pleaded, and to prosecute, demand, 
 and answer, and be answered unto, in all and singular suits, causes, quarrels, 
 and actions, of what nature and kind soever ; and also to have, take, 
 acquire, and purchase, or receive upon free gift or donation, any lands, 
 tenements, or hereditaments, within the Province aforesaid, not exceeding 
 the value of three thousand pounds per annum, and any goods, chattels, 
 sum or sums of money, whatsoever, to the use and behoof of the said 
 Corporation ; and the same to lease, grant, demise, employ and dispose, 
 and the revenues, issues, and profits thereof, for the encouragement of 
 learning, and of the President, Fellows, scholars, and officers, of the said 
 College, as also for accommodation of buildings, books, and all other 
 necessary provisions and furniture, as may be for the advancement and 
 education of youth in all manner of good literature, arts, and sciences ; 
 provided, that all the said disposals be according to the will of the donors. 
 
 " And the said President and Fellows, and their successors, may have 
 for ever one common seal, to be used in all causes and occasions of the Cor- 
 poration ; and the same seal may alter, change, break, and new-make from 
 time to time, at their pleasure. 
 
 " And be it further enacted and declared by the authority aforesaid, that 
 the said Corporation shall be and hereby are authorized and impowered to 
 elect a new President, Vice-President, Fellows, and Treasurer, when and 
 so often, from time to time, as any of the said persons shall die or be 
 removed. The President, Vice-President, Fellows, and Treasurer, or any 
 of them being removable for disability or misdemeanor, and may be dis- 
 placed by the Corporation ; saving to the party grieved his appeal to the 
 Visitors. A Vice-President to be annually elected, although not occasioned 
 by death or removal, as aforesaid. And when any of the members of the 
 said Corporation shall settle himself without the bounds of this Province, 
 he shall be ipso facto dismissed, and no longer continue to be of the Cor- 
 poration, and his place be supplied by the election of a new member.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 601 
 
 " And the President for .the time being, or in case of his death or absence APPENDIX, 
 the Vice-President, shall and may, from time to time, appoint and order the N O.LXVIII. 
 assembling and meeting together of the said Corporation to consult, advise charter 
 of, debate, and direct the affairs and businesses of the said Corporation, to proposed in 
 choose officers and menial servants for said College, and them also to 
 remove, and upon death or removal to choose such others, and to make 
 statutes, orders, and by-laws for the better ordering the affairs and govern- 
 ment of the said College or academy, so as such orders, statutes, and by- 
 laws, be not repugnant to the laws of this Province. And any nine or 
 more of the members of the said Corporation, together with the President 
 or Vice-President being so assembled, shall be taken, held, and reputed to 
 be a full, sufficient, and lawful assembly, for the handling, ordering, and 
 directing of the affairs, businesses, and occurrences of the said Corporation. 
 And, in case of the death, removal, or absence, of the President and Vice- 
 President, the senior Fellow for the time being may call and hold a Corpora- 
 tion meeting, until the return or new election of a President or Vice-Presi- 
 dent. Provided, nevertheless, that no meeting shall be held for the dis- 
 placing or new election of any member or members of the Corporation, 
 Fellows of the House, or the making of statutes, orders, or by-laws, for 
 ordering of the affairs and government of the said College, without sum- 
 moning a general meeting as aforesaid, for such purpose, each member of 
 the Corporation to be notified, either verbally or in writing, eight days at 
 least beforehand, of the time and occasion of calling such meeting. And 
 in the passing of all votes and acts of the said Corporation in any of their 
 meetings, the determination shall be made by the major part, the President 
 to have a casting voice in case of an equivote. 
 
 " And it is further declared by the authority aforesaid, that, after this act 
 shall be confirmed, the President, as well as all the Fellows receiving salary, 
 shall reside at the College, and that no one shall enjoy a fellowship with 
 salary for more than seven years, except continued by a new election. And 
 that the housing and lands in Cambridge aforesaid, belonging to the said 
 Corporation, and being in the personal occupation of the President and 
 Fellows residing at the College, shall be free from all province or country 
 rates and taxes. And that the President, Fellows, and scholars, with the 
 servants and necessary officers to the President and scholars appertaining, 
 who shall reside at or be constantly employed in services for the College 
 (which servants and officers are not to exceed ten ; viz. three to the Presi- 
 dent, and seven to the College belonging), shall be exempted from all 
 personal civil offices, military exercises, watchings, and wardings. 
 
 " And, whereas it is a laudable custom in Universities, whereby learning 
 has been encouraged and advanced, to confer academical degrees or titles 
 on those who, by their good manners, and proficiency as to knowledge in 
 theology, law, physic, mathematics, or philosophy, have been judged 
 worthy thereof; 
 
 " Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the President and 
 Fellows of the College shall have power, from time to time, to grant and 
 admit to academical degrees, as in the Universities in England, such as in 
 
 VOL. i. 76
 
 602 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, respect of learning and good manners they shall.find worthy to be promoted 
 
 NO.LXVIII. thereunto. 
 
 Charter " And, whereas there have been at sundry times and by divers persons 
 
 proposed in gifts, grants, devises, of houses, lands, tenements, goods, chattels, legacies, 
 and conveyances, heretofore made unto the said College, or to the Presi- 
 dent or Fellows thereof successively, the said gifts, grants, devises, lega- 
 cies, and conveyances are hereby for ever ratified and confirmed according 
 to the true intent of the donor or donors, grantor or grantors, devisor or 
 devisors. 
 
 " And, in order to the preventing of irregularities, and for the more 
 assurance of the well government of said College, we pray his Majesty, 
 that it may be enacted, and it is hereby enacted and declared, that his 
 Majesty's Governor and Commander-in-chief of this Province, and the 
 Council for the time being, shall be the Visitors of the said College or 
 academy, and shall have, use, and exercise a power of visitation as there 
 shall be occasion for it. 
 
 " Read in Council, 26th March, 1697. Voted and passed in the affirma- 
 tive, and sent down for concurrence. 
 
 " ISA. ADDINGTON, Secretary. 
 
 " In the House of Representatives, March 27th, 1697, read a first time. 
 " March 30th, read a second time. 
 "Read in Council, 29th March, 1697. 
 
 " Read again, March, and voted in the affirmative, and sent down 
 
 for concurrence. 
 
 " ISA. ADDINGTON, Secretary. 
 
 " Read in Council, May, 1697. 
 
 " Read again, May, 1697. Voted in the affirmative. 
 
 " ISA. ADDINGTON, Secretary. 
 " May 31st, read in the House of Representatives. 
 " 1697, June 1st, read a second time and debated. 
 
 " 1697, June 2d, read a third time. Voted with the emendations. Sent 
 up for concurrence. 
 
 " PENN TOWNSEND, Speaker. 
 
 " June 2d, 1697, voted a concurrence in Council. 
 
 "IsA. ADDINGTON, Secretary."] * 
 
 Charter 
 
 
 CHARTER PROPOSED IN 1699. 
 
 ["An Act for incorporating Harvard College, at Cambridge, in New England. 
 " Whereas there hath been for many years in the town of Cambridge, in 
 the County of Middlesex, within his Majesty's Province of the Massachu- 
 setts Bay in New England, a society commonly known by the name of 
 Harvard College, where many persons of known worth have, by the bless- 
 
 * It appears by the engrossed act, that on the 4th of June, 1697, it received the 
 consent of William Stoughton, Lieutenant-Governor.
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 603 
 
 ing of Almighty God, been educated and the better fitted for public employ- APPENDIX, 
 ments both in the church and in the civil state; and whereas due en- No.LXVili. 
 couragement of good literature, arts, and sciences, will tend to the honor of Charter 
 God, the advantage of the Christian Protestant religion, and the great proposed in 
 benefit of his Majesty's subjects inhabiting this Province, both in the present 
 and succeeding generations; and, considering that many persons have be- 
 stowed legacies, gifts, hereditaments, and revenues, on said College ; 
 
 " Be it enacted and ordained by his Excellency the Governor, Council, 
 and Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of 
 the same, that the said College, in Cambridge, in the County of Middlesex, 
 aforesaid, shall henceforth be a Corporation consisting of seventeen persons, 
 that is to say, a President, Vice-President, and fourteen Fellows, and a 
 Treasurer. And that Increase Mather shall be the first President, Samuel 
 Willard, Vice-President, James Allen, Michael Wigglesivorth, Samuel 
 Young, Nehemiah Hobart, Nicholas Noyes, Peter Thacher, John Jlngier, John 
 Danforth, Cotton Mather, John Leverett, William Brattle, Nehemiah Walter, 
 John White, and Benjamin Wadsworth, Masters of Arts, shall be the four- 
 teen Fellows, and Thomas Brattle, Master of Arts, the Treasurer, all 
 of them inhabitants within the said Province, and the first seventeen per- 
 sons, whereof the said Corporation shall consist; which said Increase 
 
 Mather, Samuel Willard, and their successors, shall 
 
 for ever hereafter be one body politic and corporate, in fact and name, to all 
 intents and purposes in law, by the name of the President and Fellows of 
 Harvard College, in New England, and that by that name they shall have 
 perpetual succession, and by the same name they and their successors shall 
 and may be capable and enabled as well to implead as to be impleaded, and 
 to prosecute, demand, and answer, and be answered unto, in all and singular 
 suits, causes, quarrels, and actions, of what nature and kind soever, and also 
 to have, take, acquire, and purchase, or receive upon free gift or donation, 
 any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, within the Province aforesaid, not 
 exceeding the value of three thousand pounds per annum, and any goods, 
 chattels, sum or sums of money whatsoever, to the use and behoof of the 
 said Corporation, and the same to lease, grant, demise, employ, and dispose, 
 and the revenues, issues, and profits thereof, for the encouragement of 
 learning, and of the President, Fellows, scholars, and officers of the said 
 College, as also for accommodation of buildings, books, and all other 
 necessary provisions and furniture, as may be for the advancement and 
 education of youth in all manner of good literature, arts, and sciences ; 
 provided, that all the said disposals be according to the will of the donors. 
 And the said President and Fellows, and their successors, may have for 
 ever one common seal to be used in all causes and occasions of the Corpo- 
 ration, and the same seal may alter, change, break, and new-make, from 
 time to time, at their pleasure. 
 
 " And be it further enacted and declared, by the authority aforesaid, that 
 the said Corporation be and hereby are impowered and authorized to elect a 
 new President, Vice-President, Fellows, and Treasurer, when and so often,
 
 604 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, from time to time, as any of the said persons shall die or be removed ; the 
 No.LXvm. President, Vice-President, Fellows, and Treasurer, or any of them, being 
 Charter removable for disability or misdemeanor, and may be displaced by the Cor- 
 poration, saving to the party grieved his appeal to the Visitors. A Vice- 
 President to be annually elected, although not occasioned by death or 
 removal, as aforesaid. 
 
 (Provided, that no person shall be chosen, and continued President, 
 Vice-President, or Fellow, of said Corporation, but such as shall declare 
 Dele, and continue their adherence unto the principles of Reformation, which 
 were espoused and intended by those who first settled this country, and 
 founded the College, and have hitherto been the profession and practice 
 of the generality of the churches of Christ in ]\tw England.) 
 " And when any of the members of the said Corporation shall settle 
 himself without the bounds of this Province, he shall be ipso facto dismissed, 
 and no longer continue to be of the Corporation, and his place be supplied 
 with the election of a new member. And the President for the time being, 
 or, in case of his death or absence, the Vice-President, shall and may, from 
 time to time, appoint and order the assembling and meeting together of the 
 said Corporation, to consult, advise, debate, and direct the affairs and 
 businesses of the said Corporation, to choose officers and menial servants for 
 the said College, and them also to remove, and upon death or removal to 
 choose such others, and to make statutes, orders, and by-laws, for the 
 better ordering the affairs and government of the said College or academy, 
 so as such orders, statutes, and by-laws be not repugnant to the laws of 
 this Province; and any seven or more members of the said Corporation, 
 together with the President or Vice-President, being so assembled, shall be 
 taken, held, and reputed to be a full, sufficient, and lawful assembly, for the 
 handling, ordering, and directing of the affairs, businesses, and occurrences 
 of said Corporation ; and, in case of the death, removal, or absence of the 
 President and Vice-President, the senior Fellow for the time being may call 
 and hold a Corporation meeting until the return or new election of a Presi- 
 dent or Vice-President. Provided, nevertheless, that no meeting shall be 
 held for the displacing or new election of any member or members of the 
 Corporation, Fellows of the House, or the making of statutes, orders, or 
 by-laws, for ordering of the affairs and government of the College, without 
 summoning a general meeting as aforesaid for such purpose, each member 
 of the Corporation, to be notified, either verbally or in writing, eight days at 
 least beforehand, of the time and occasion of calling such meeting; and in 
 the passing of all votes and acts of the said Corporation in any of their 
 meetings, the determination shall be made by the major part, the President 
 to have a casting vote in case of an equivote. 
 
 " And it is further declared, by the authority aforesaid, that, after this act 
 shall be confirmed, the President, as well as all the Fellows receiving salary, 
 shall reside at the College, and that no one shall enjoy a fellowship with 
 salary for more than seven years, except continued by a new election, and 
 that the housing and lands in Cambridge aforesaid, belonging to the said
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 605 
 
 Corporation, and being in the personal occupation of the President and APPENDIX, 
 Fellows residing at the College, shall be free from all Province or country No. LXVIII. 
 rates and taxes, and the President, Fellows, and scholars, with the ser- charter 
 vants and necessary officers to the President and scholars appertaining, who proposed in 
 shall reside, or be constantly employed in services for the College, (which 
 servants and officers are not to exceed ten, viz. three to the President and 
 seven to the College belonging,) shall be exempted from all personal civil 
 offices, military exercises, watchings, and wardings. 
 
 " And, whereas it is a laudable custom in Universities, whereby learning 
 hath been encouraged and advanced, to confer academical degrees or titles 
 on those, who, by their good manners and proficiency as to knowledge in 
 Theology, Law, Physic, Mathematics, or Philosophy, have been judged 
 worthy thereof; Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the 
 President and Fellows of the said College shall have power from time to 
 time to grant and admit to academical degrees, as in the Universities in 
 England, such as in respect of learning and good manners they shall find 
 worthy to be promoted thereunto. 
 
 " And, whereas there have been at sundry times and by divers persons, 
 gifts, grants, devises of houses, land, tenements, goods, chattels, legacies, 
 and conveyances heretofore made unto the said College, or to the President 
 and Fellows thereof successively , the said gifts, grants, devises, legacies, 
 and conveyances are hereby ratified and confirmed according to the true 
 intent of the donor or donors, grantor or grantors, devisor or devisors. 
 
 " And, in order to the preventing of irregularities, and for the more as- 
 surance of the well government of said College, a power of visitation is 
 hereby reserved to his Majesty, and his Governor or Commander-in-chief for 
 the time being of this Province. 
 
 "July 8th, 1699. Read a first time and a second time. Read a third 
 time and passed, &c. 
 
 " Sent up for concurrence. 
 
 " JAMES CONVERSE, Speaker.* 
 
 " July llth, 1699. In Council read a first time. 
 
 " July 12th. Read a second time, and committed to a Committee of the 
 whole board. 
 
 " July 13th. This bill was passed as amended below. 
 
 "July 18th, 1699. The Governor (Bellamont) objected to the bill on 
 account of the clause marked Dele, and, the Council adhering, the bill was 
 lost." See General Court Records. 
 
 "July 13th, 1699. 
 
 " Amendments to the College Bill proposed and agreed to by a Com- 
 mittee of the whole Board. 
 
 " The words, and a Treasurer, to be left out in the Constitution. 
 "The members of the Corporation to continue seventeen. 
 
 * The words printed in Italics were contained in the original draft, and were 
 either erasod, or proposed to be expunged prior to the final passage of the bill.
 
 606 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, " The two senior Tutors resident at the College from time to time to be 
 .Vo.LXVlii. Fellows of the Corporation. 
 
 Charter " A. Vice-President to be annually elected on the day of Commencement, 
 
 proposed in from time to time. 
 1699 
 
 " Instead of the word settle the word remove to be inserted, so as to be 
 
 absent out of the Province by the space of one whole year. 
 
 " Upon the death or dismission of the President, Vice-President, or any 
 of the Fellows, such vacancy to be filled up within three months next after. 
 " The word verbally, in the notification of Corporation meetings, to be left 
 out. 
 
 " The word domestic to be added to servants, and the words and necessary 
 officers to the President and scholars appertaining, who shall reside at or be 
 constantly employed in services for the College, to be expunged, and the num- 
 ber of servants to be left out. 
 
 " In the paragraph about gifts, grants, &c., the words at sundry times 
 and by divers persons to be expunged, and the words heretofore and divers to 
 be inserted next foregoing the word gifts. 
 
 " The words after this act shall be confirmed to be expunged. 
 " Members of the Corporation. 
 
 " Mr. Increase Mather, President. 
 
 Samuel Willard, Vice-President. 
 William Stoughton, 
 Wait Winthrop, 
 Elisha Cooke, Esq. 
 Samuel Sewall, 
 Isaac Addington, 
 Mr. James Allen, 
 
 Michael Wigglesworth, 
 
 Fellows, 
 
 Samuel Torrey, 
 Nehemiah Hobart, 
 John Danforth, 
 Cotton Mather, 
 William Brattle, 
 Nehemiah Walter, 
 with the two senior Tutors resident at the College for the time being. 
 
 " That there be a quarterly meeting of the Corporation at the College on 
 the first Wednesday in September, the first Monday in December, March, 
 and June, from time to time in every year successively. 
 
 " And, whereas five of the members of the Council are nominated and 
 appointed by the present Constitution to be Fellows of the Corporation, 
 when it happens that any of them die or be otherwise removed or dismissed, 
 such vacancy to be filled up out of the Council from time to time. 
 
 " That there be eight or more members of the Corporation, together with 
 the President or Vice-President, to constitute a Corporation meeting. 
 " Agreed, and voted that a bill be drawn accordingly. 
 
 "JAMES CONVERSE, Speaker. 
 
 " And, whereas the first planters of this country, and founders of this 
 College, were, as to their persuasion in matters of religion, such as are 
 known by the name of Congregational or Presbyterian, and the general 
 profession and practice of the churches throughout this land hath been and
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 607 
 
 is according thereunto, and the College being intended as a nursery to these APPENDIX, 
 churches, It is enacted, that no one shall be the President, Vice-President, N - L XVIH. 
 or a Fellow of said Corporation, but such as shall declare themselves, and 
 continue to be, of the said persuasion in matter of religion. 
 
 " Agreed to be inserted. 
 
 " Agreed. 
 
 "JAMES CONVERSE, Speaker-. "] 
 
 CHARTER PROPOSED IN 1700. 
 
 ["July 12th, 1700. Charter 
 
 " Draught of a Charter of Incorporation for Harvard College, at Cambridge, 
 
 in New England, agreed to Inj the Council and House of Representatives of 
 
 his Majesty" 1 s Province of tJie Massachusetts Bay, to be humbly solicited for 
 
 to his Majesty. 
 
 " William the Third, by the grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, 
 and Ireland King, Defender of the Failh, &c., to all unto whom these pres- 
 ents shall come, greeting. Whereas there hath been for many years in 
 the town of Cambridge, in the County of Middlesex, within our Province 
 of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, in America, a Society com- 
 monly known by the name of Harvard College, where many persons of 
 known worth have, by the blessing of Almighty God, been educated, and 
 the better fitted for public employments both in the church and in the civil 
 state, and whereas due encouragement of good literature, arts, and sciences, 
 will tend to the honor of God, the advantage of the Christian Protestant 
 religion, and the great benefit of our subjects inhabiting within our Province 
 aforesaid, both in the present and succeeding generations; and whereas 
 the Governor, Council, and Assembly, of our said Province of the Massa- 
 chusetts Bay, in New England, by their humble address have supplicated 
 our royal grace and favor in the settlement of the aforesaid College, that it 
 may be done in such manner as may effectually secure the same to be a 
 nursery for the supplying the churches in our said Province with able, 
 learned ministers, agreeable to the chief end and intent of the first founders 
 of said College ; 
 
 " We therefore, being graciously pleased to gratify our said subjects, of 
 our special grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, have willed and 
 ordained, and we do by these presents, for us, our heirs, and successors, 
 will and ordain, that the said College in Cambridge, in the County of Mid- 
 dlesex, within our Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England 
 aforesaid, shall henceforth be a Corporation consisting of seventeen persons, 
 that is to say, a President, Vice-President, and fifteen Fellows, and that 
 Increase Mather shall be the first President, Samuel Willard, Vice-President, 
 James Allen, Michael Wigglesworth, Samuel Torrey. Nehemiah Hobart, 
 Peter Thacher, Samuel Angier, John Danforth, Cotton Mather, Nehemiah 
 Walter, Henry Gibbs, John White, Jonathan Pierpont, and Benjamin Wads- 
 worth, Masters of Art, and all of them inhabitants of our Province of the
 
 608 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, Massachusetts Bay aforesaid, together with the two senior Tutors resident 
 No. LXVIII. at tne sa j(j College for the time being, shall be the fifteen Fellows, and the 
 Charter fi rst seventeen persons whereof the said Corporation shall consist. Which 
 '" Said Increase Matner > Samuel Willard, James Allen, Michael Wigglesworth, 
 Samuel Torrey, Nehemiah Hobart, Peter Thacher, Samuel Angier x John 
 Danforth, Cotton Mather, Nehemiah Walter, Henry Gibbs, John White, 
 Jonathan Pierpont, Benjamin Wadsworth, and the two senior Tutors re- 
 siding at the College for the time being, and their successors, shall for ever 
 hereafter be one body politic and corporate, in fact and name, to all intents 
 and purposes in law, by the name of the President and Fellows of Harvard 
 College, at Cambridge, in New England, and that by that name they shall 
 have perpetual succession, and by the same name they and their successors 
 shall and may be capable and enabled as well to implead as to be impleaded, 
 and to prosecute, demand, and answer, and be answered unto in all and 
 singular suits, causes, quarrels, and actions, of what nature and kind soever; 
 and also to have, take, acquire, and purchase, or receive upon free gift or 
 donation, any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, not exceeding the value 
 of three thousand pounds per annum, and any goods, chattels, sum or sums 
 of money, whatsoever, to the use and behoof of the said Corporation ; and 
 the same to lease, grant, devise, employ, and dispose, with the revenues, 
 issues, and profits, thereof, for the encouragement of learning, and of the 
 President, Fellows, scholars, and officers of the said College ; as also for 
 accommodation of buildings, books, and all other necessary provisions and 
 furniture, as may be for the advancement and education of youth in all 
 manner of good literature, arts, and sciences. Provided, always, that all 
 the said disposals be according to the will of the donors. And we do further 
 grant and ordain, that the said President and Fellows, and their successors, 
 may have for ever one common seal, to be used in all causes and occasions 
 of the said Corporation ; and the same seal may alter, change, break, and 
 new-make from time to time at their pleasure. 
 
 " And further, we do for us, our heirs, and successors, grant, establish, 
 and ordain, that the President, Vice-President, and the Fellows of the said 
 Corporation, or any of them, shall be removable, and may be displaced, by 
 the said Corporation for disability, or misdemeanor, saving to the party 
 grieved his appeal to the Visitors. And that when and so often from time to 
 time as any of the said Corporation shall die or be removed, the said Corpo- 
 ration shall be and is hereby impowered and authorized to elect a new Pres- 
 ident, Vice-President, or Fellows, in the room and stead of such member or 
 members of the Corporation so dying or removed. And that a Vice-Pres- 
 ident of the said Corporation be annually elected upon the Commencement 
 day from time to time, although not occasioned by death or removal as 
 aforesaid. And we do further, for us, our heirs, and successors, will and 
 establish, that, when and so often as any Fellow of the said Corporation shall 
 remove himself so as to be absent out of our Province of the Massachusetts 
 Bay aforesaid by the space of one whole year without leave of the Corpo- 
 ration, he shall ipso facto be dismissed, and no longer continue to be of the 
 Corporation, and his place shall be supplied with the election of a new mem-
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 609 
 
 ber. And that upon the death, or removal and dismission, of the President, APPENDIX, 
 Vice-President, or any of the Fellows, such vacancy shall be filled up within No - J--XVIIL 
 the space of three months next after. And further, we do, by these pres- charter 
 ents, for us, our heirs, and successors, grant, establish, and ordain, that the proposed in 
 President for the time being, of the said Corporation, and in case of his death 
 or absence, the Vice-President for the time being, of the same, shall and may 
 from time to time appoint and order the assembling and meeting together 
 of the said Corporation to consult, advise of, debate, and direct the affairs 
 and businesses of the said Corporation, to choose officers and menial ser- 
 vants for the said College, and them also to remove, and upon death or 
 removal to choose such others, and to make statutes, orders, and by-laws, 
 for the better ordering the affairs and government of the College or Acad- 
 emy, so as such orders, statutes, and by-laws be not repugnant to the laws 
 of our said Province of the Massachusetts Bay. And that any ten or more 
 of the members of the said Corporation, whereof the President or Vice- 
 President to be one, being so assembled, shall be taken, held, and reputed 
 to be a full, sufficient, and lawful assembly, for the handling, ordering, and 
 directing of the affairs, businesses, and occurrences of the said Corporation. 
 And that, in case of the death, removal, or absence of the President and 
 Vice-President, the senior Fellow, for the time being, of the said Corpora- 
 tion, may call and hold a Corporation meeting until the return or new elec- 
 tion of a President or Vice-President. Provided, nevertheless, and our will 
 and pleasure is, that no meeting shall be held for the displacing or new 
 election of any member or members of the said Corporation, for the appoint- 
 ing of Tutors, for the making of statutes, orders, and by-laws for ordering 
 of the affairs and government of the said College, or for the purchasing, 
 selling, or letting of lands and tenements, or disposal of the stock or 
 revenues belonging to the said College, without summoning and notifying 
 each member of the said Corporation, in writing, of the time and occasion of 
 calling such meeting eight days at least beforehand. And our further will 
 and pleasure is, that in the passing of all votes and acts of the said Corpo- 
 ration in any of the meetings thereof, the determination shall be made by 
 the major part of those assembled, and that the said President have a cast- 
 ing vote in case of an equivote. And also, that there shall be held and 
 kept a quarterly meeting of the said Corporation at the College aforesaid 
 on the first Wednesday in March, June, September, and December, from 
 time to time in every year successively. And we do by these presents, for 
 us, cur heirs, and successors, further grant, establish, and ordain, that the 
 President of the said Corporation, as also the Fellows and Tutors thereof 
 receiving salary, shall reside at the College aforesaid, and that no one shall 
 enjoy a fellowship, or a tutorship, with a salary, for more than seven years, 
 unless continued by a new election. And that the housing and lands in 
 Cambridge aforesaid, belonging to the said Corporation, and being in the 
 personal occupation of the President and Fellows residing at the said Col- 
 lege, shall be exempt and free from all rates and taxes. And likewise that 
 the President, and resident Fellows, with their domestic servants, shall be 
 
 VOL. i. 77
 
 610 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, exempted from all personal civil offices, military exercises, watchings, and 
 No.LXVlll. wardings. 
 
 Charter 
 
 " And, whereas it is a laudable custom in Universities, whereby learning 
 hath been encouraged and advanced, to confer academical degrees or titles on 
 those, who, by their good manners or proficiency as to knowledge in Theol- 
 ogy, Law, Physic, Mathematics, or Philosophy, have been judged worthy 
 thereof; We do therefore further, by these presents, grant and ordain, 
 that the President and Fellows of the aforesaid Corporation shall have 
 power, from time to time, to grant and admit to academical degrees, as in 
 the Universities in our kingdom of England, such as in respect of learning 
 and good manners they shall find worthy to be promoted thereunto. 
 
 " And, whereas there have been heretofore divers gifts, grants, devises 
 of houses, lands, tenements, goods, chattels, legacies, and conveyances 
 made unto the aforesaid College, or to the President and Fellows thereof, 
 successively, we do hereby, for us, our heirs and successors, ratify and con- 
 firm the said gifts, grants, devises, legacies, conveyances, each and every 
 of them, according to the true intent of the donor or donors, grantor or 
 grantors, devisor or devisors. 
 
 " And, for preventing of irregularity in the government of the said Col- 
 lege, we do hereby reserve a power of visitation thereof in ourself, our heirs 
 and successors, by our Governor and Commander-in-chief, together with our 
 Council, for the time being, of our Province of the Massachusetts Bay afore- 
 said, to be exercised by our Governor or Commander-in-chief, and Council, 
 when and so often as they shall see cause. 
 
 "July 10th, 1700. 
 
 " In Council, read a first and second time, and, the question being put, 
 was agreed to. 
 
 " Sent down for concurrence. ISAAC ADDINGTON, Secretary. 
 
 " July 10th, 1700. Read a first time in the House of Representatives. 
 " July llth, Read a second time. And a third time July 12th. 
 
 " Voted a concurrence. 
 
 " JOHN LEVERETT, Speaker.'']* 
 
 * The following documents, in addition to those before published in this 
 Appendix, pp. 503, 504, contain all the proceedings antecedent to the passing 
 of the final Resolve. 
 
 [" In Council, llth November, 1707. 
 
 " Upon reading an humble address of the Fellows of Harvard College, in 
 Cambridge, respecting their choice of Mr. John Leverett to be the present 
 President of said College, and recommending him to his Excellency's favor- 
 able acceptation, withal praying that he would please to present him to the 
 General Assembly and move for his honorable subsistence: the aforesaid ad- 
 dress being also accompanied with addresses from thirty-nine ministers ; 
 
 " Voted, That the said election be accepted, and that Mr. Leverett be desired
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 611 
 
 FINAL RESOLVE OF THE PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE, DECLAR- APPENDIX, 
 ING THE COLLEGE CHARTER OF 1650 NOT REPEALED, AND No. LXVIIL 
 DIRECTING THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF THE COL- 
 LEGE TO EXERCISE THE POWERS GRANTED BY IT. 
 
 Anno Regni Annae Reginae Sexto. Resolve of 
 
 "At a Great and General Court or Assembly for her Majesty's ' 70 '- 
 Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, begun and 
 held at Boston, upon Wednesday the twenty-eighth of May, 1707; 
 and continued by several prorogations unto Wednesday the twenty- 
 ninth of October following, being the third session. 
 
 " In Council, Thursday, December 4th, 1707. 
 
 " The Governor and Council, having accepted and approved the 
 choice made by the Fellows of Harvard College in Cambridge, of 
 Mr. John Leverett, to be present President of the said College, to 
 fill up that vacancy, 
 
 "Propose, that the House of Representatives consider of and 
 grant a suitable salary to be paid to the said President annually, out 
 of the public Treasury, for his encouragement and support, during 
 his continuance in said office, residing at Cambridge, and discharg- 
 ing the proper duties to a President belonging, and entirely devoting 
 himself to that service. 
 
 " And inasmuch as the first foundation and establishment of that 
 
 and empowered to take the care and government of the College, as President 
 accordingly. 
 " Sent down for concurrence. ISA. ADDINGTON, Secretary, 
 
 " November 28th. 1707. Read and concurred. 
 
 " In the House of Representatives, November 29th, 1707. 
 
 " Voted, That a message be sent up to the Board, moving them to join with 
 this House in choosing a suitable person to take care of the College until the 
 session of this Court in May next. JOHN BURRILL, Speaker. 
 
 " Die predict Read in Council. December 3. Again read and not concurred. 
 
 " ISA. ADDINGTON, Secretary. 
 
 li In the House of Representatives, December 2d, 1707. 
 
 " Resolved. That the vote of this Court passed in July, 1700, in the words fol- 
 lowing, viz. Resolved, that the sum of two hundred and twenty pounds per 
 annum be allowed and paid out of the public Treasury to the President already 
 chosen, or that shall be chosen by this Court, he residing at the College, had 
 respect only to the choice then made or making, and has had its full effect, and 
 is now of no further power or efficacy, but for ever void. 
 
 " Sent up for concurrence. JOHN BURRILL, Speaker. 
 
 " In Council, December 4th, 1707. ISA. ADDINGTON, Secretary."]
 
 612 
 
 HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 APPENDIX, House and the government thereof hath its original from an act of 
 .' the General Court, made and passed in the year one thousand six 
 
 Resolve of 
 1707. 
 
 hundred and fifty, which has not been repealed or nulled ; 
 
 " The President and Fellows of the said College are directed from 
 time to time to regulate themselves according to the rules of the 
 Constitution by the said act prescribed ; and to exercise the powers 
 and authority thereby granted for the government of that House 
 and support thereof. 
 
 "Voted. 
 
 " Sent down for concurrence. ISA. ADDINGTON, Secretary. 
 
 "In the House of Representatives, December 5th, 1707. Read 
 and concurred, and voted, that the sum for salary be one hundred 
 and fifty pounds. JOHN BURRILL, Speaker. 
 
 " Agreed to in Council, 6th December, 1707. 
 
 " ISA. ADDINGTON, Secretary. 
 
 " Consented to, J. DUDLEY." 
 
 END OF VOLUME I.
 
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