As the English School in the Academy has been, and still continues to be a Subject of Discussion among the Trustees since the Restitution of the Charter, and it has been proposed that we should have some Regard to the original Intention of the Founders in establishing that School, I beg leave for your Information, to lay before you what I know of that Matter originally, and what I find on the Minutes relating to it, by which it will appear how far the Design of this School has been adhered to or neglected.

Having acquired some little Reputation among my Fellow Citizens by projecting the Public Library in 1732 and obtaining the Subscriptions by which it was established, and by proposing and promoting with Success sundry other Schemes of general Utility, in 1749 I was encouraged in 1749 to hazard another Project, that of a Public Education for our Youth. As in the Scheme of the Library I had provided only for English Books, so in this new Scheme my Ideas went no farther than to procure the Means of a good English Education. A Number of my Friends to whom I communicated the Proposal concurred with me in these Ideas, but Mr. Allen, Mr. Francis, Mr. Peters, and some other Persons of Wealth and Learning, whose Subscriptions and Countenance we should need, being of Opinion that it ought to include the learned Languages, I submitted my Judgment to theirs, retaining however a strong Prepossession in favour of my first Plan and resolving to preserve as much of it as I could, and to nourish the English School by every Means in my Power.

Before I went about to procure Subscriptions, I thought it proper to prepare the Minds of the People by a Pamphlet, which I wrote and printed, and distributed with my Newspapers, gratis: the Title was Proposals relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania; I happen to have preserved one of them, and by reading a few Passages it will appear how much the English Learning was insisted upon in it, and I had good Reason to know that this was a prevailing Part of the Motives for Subscribing with most of the original Benefactors. Here insert Sheets A, B, C.

I met with but few Refusals in soliciting the Subscriptions, and the Sum was the more considerable as I had put the Contribution on this footing that it was not to be immediate, and the whole paid at once, but in Parts, a Fifth annually during Five Years.

To put the Machine in Motion Twenty-four of the principal Subscribers agreed to take upon themselves the Trust, and a Set of Constitutions for their Government, and for the Regulation of the Schools, were drawn up by Mr. Francis and myself, which were signed by us all, and printed, that the Public might know what was to be expected. I wrote also a Paper entitled Idea of an English School, which was printed and afterwards annexed to Mr. Peters’s Sermon preached at the opening of the Academy. This Paper was said to be for the Consideration of the Trustees, and the Expectiation of Publick that the Idea might in good Part be carried into Execution contributed to render the Subscriptions more liberal as well as more general.

I mention my Concern in these Transactions to shew the Opportunity I had of being well informed in the Points I am relating.

These Constitutions are upon Record in your Minutes, and altho’ the Latin and Greek is by them to be taught, the original Idea of a compleat English Education was not forgotten, as will appear by the following Extracts.

Page 1 “The English Tongue is to be taught grammatically and as a Language.”

Page 4. In reciting the Qualifications of the Person to be appointed Rector it is said “That great Regard is to be had to his polite Speaking, Writing and Understanding the English Tongue.”

The Rector was to have Two Hundred Pounds a Year, for which he was to be obliged to “teach 20 Boys without any Assistance (and 25 more for every Usher provided for him) the Latin and Greek Languages, and at the same time instruct them in History Geography and the English Tongue.”

The Rector was also “on all Occasions consistent with his Duty in the Latin School, to assist the English Master in improving the Youth under his Care.”

Page 5 “The Trustees shall with all convenient Speed contract with any Person that offers who they shall judge most capable of teaching the English Tongue grammatically and as a Language; History Geography Chronology Logic and Oratory; which Person shall be stiled the English Master.”

The English Master was to have One Hundred Pounds a Year, for which “he was to teach, without any Assistance, 40 Scholars the English Tongue grammatically, and as a Language, and at the same time instruct them in History, Geography, Chronology Logic and Oratory; and Sixty Scholars more for every Usher provided for him.”

It is to be observed in this Place, that here are two distinct Courses in the same Study, that is of the same Branches of Science, viz. History, Geography, Chronology Logic and Oratory, to be carried on at the same time, but not by the same Tutor or Master. The English Master is to teach his Scholars all those Branches of Science, and also the English Tongue grammatically as a Language. The Latin Master is to teach the same Sciences to his Boys besides the Greek and Latin. He was also to assist the English Master occasionally, without which, and his general Care in the Government of the Schools, the giving him a double Salary seems not well accounted for. But here is plainly two distinct Schools or Courses of Education provided for. The Latin Master was not to teach the English Scholars Logic, Rhetoric &c that was the Duty of the English Master; but he was to teach those Sciences to the Latin Scholars. We shall see hereafter how easily this original Plan was defeated and departed from.

When the Constitutions were first drawn, Blanks were left for the Salaries, and for the Number of Boys the Latin Master was to teach. The first Instance of Partiality in favour of the Latin Part of the Institution was in giving the Title of Rector to the Latin Master, and no Title to the English One. But the most striking Instance was when we met to sign, and the Blanks were first to be filled up; the votes of a Majority carried it, to give twice as much Salary to the Latin Master as to the English, and yet to require twice as much Duty from the English Master as from the Latin, viz.

£200 to the Latin Master to teach 20 Boys.

£100 to the English Master to teach 40. However, the Trustees who voted these Salaries, being themselves by far the greatest Subscribers, tho’ not the most numerous, it was thought they had a kind of Right to predominate in Money Matters; and those who had wished an equal Regard might have been shewn to both Schools, submitted, tho not without Regret, and at times some little Complaining; which with their not being able in nine Months to find a proper Person for English Master who would undertake the Office for so low a Salary, induced the Trustees at length, viz in July 1750 to offer £50 more.

Another Instance of the Partiality abovementioned was in the March preceding, when £100 sterling was voted to buy Latin and Greek Books Maps Drafts and Instruments for the Use of the Academy, and nothing for English Books.

The great Part of the Subscribers, who had the English Education chiefly in view, were however soothed into Submission to these Partialities, chiefly by the Expectation given them by the Constitutions that “the Trustees would make it their Pleasure, and in some degree their Business, to visit the Academy often, to encourage and counenance the Youth, look on the Students as in some Measure their own Children, treat them with Familiarity and Affection, and when they have behaved well, gone through their Studies, and are to enter the World, the Trustees shall zealously unite all the Interest that can be made to promote and establish them, whether in Business, Offices, Marriage, or any other thing for their Advantage preferable to all other Persons whatever even of equal Merit.

These splendid Promises dazzled the Eyes of the Publick. The Trustees were most of them the principal Gentlemen of the Province. Children taught in other Schools had no Reason to expect such powerful Patronage; the Subscribers had placed such intire Confidence in them as to leave themselves no Power of changing them if their Conduct of the Plan should be disapproved; and so, in hopes of the best, all those Partialities were submitted to.

Near a Year passed before a proper Person was found to take Charge of the English School. At length Mr. Dove, who had been many Years Master of a School in England, and had come hither with an Apparatus for giving Lectures in Experimental Philosophy, was prevailed with by me, after the Lectures were finished, to accept that Employment for the Salary offered, tho’ he thought it too scanty. He had a good Voice, read perfectly well with proper Accent and just Pronunciation; and his Method of communicating Habits of the same kind to his Pupils was this. When he gave a Lesson to one of them, he always first read it to him aloud, with all the different Modulations of Voice that the Subject and Sense required. These the Scholars in studying and repeating the Lesson naturally endeavoured to imitate; and it was really surprising to see how soon they caught his Manner; which convinced me, and others who frequently attended his School, that tho’ bad Tones and Manners in Reading, are, when once acquired, rarely and with Difficulty if ever cured, yet when none have been already formed, good ones are as easily learnt as bad. In a few Weeks after opening his School, the Trustees were invited to hear the Scholars read and recite. The Parents and Relations of the Boys also attended. The Performance was surprisingly good, and of course was admired and applauded, and the English School thereby acquired such Reputation, that the Number of Mr. Dove’s Scholars soon amounted to upwards of Ninety; which Number did not diminish as long as he continued Master, viz. upwards of two Years. But he finding the Salary insufficient, and having set up a School for Girls in his own House to supply its Deficiency, and quitting the Boy’s School somewhat before the Hour, to attend the Girls, The Trustees disapproved of his so doing, and he quitted their Employment, continued his Girls School, and opened one for Boys on his own Account. The Trustees provided another English Master; but he, tho’ a good Man, yet not possessing the Talents of an English Schoolmaster in the same Perfection with Mr. Dove, the School diminished daily, and soon was found to have but about forty Scholars left.

The Performances of the Boys in Reading and Speaking were no longer so brilliant, the Trustees of course had not the same Pleasure in hearing them, and the Monthly Visitations, which had so long afforded a delightful Entertainment to large Audiences, were gradually badly attended and at length discontinued; and the English School has never since recovered its original Reputation.

Thus by our injudiciously starving the English Part of our Scheme of Education, we saved Fifty Pounds a Year which was required as an additional Salary to an acknowledged excellent English Master, which would have equalled his Encouragement to that of the Latin Master, I say by saving the Fifty Pounds we lost Fifty Scholars, which would have been £200 a Year; and defeated besides one great End of the Institution.

In the mean time our Favours were showered upon the Latin Part; the Number of Teachers was increased and their Salaries from time to time augmented, till, if I mistake not, they amounted in the whole to more than £600 a Year; the Scholars hardly ever exceeded sixty; so that each Scholar cost the Institution Funds £10 per annum, while he paid but £4, which was a Loss of £6 by every one of them.

The Monthly Visitations too of the Schools, by the Trustees, having been long neglected, the Omission was complained of by the Parents, as a Breach of original Promise; whereupon the Trustees, July 11. 1755 made it a Law, that “they should meet on the second Tuesday in every Month, at the Academy to visit the Schools, examine the Scholars, hear their public Exercises, &c”. This good Law however, like many others, was not long observed; for I find by a Minute of Dec. 14. 1756. that “the Examination of the Schools by the Trustees had been long neglected,” and it was agreed that it should thereafter be done on the first Monday in every Month. And, yet notwithstanding this new Rule, the Neglect returned, so that we are informed by another Minute of Jan. 13. 1761. “that for 5 Months past there had not been one Meeting of the Trustees.”

In the Course of 14 Years several of the original Trustees, who had been disposed to favour the English School, were deceased, and others not so favourable were chosen to supply their places; however it appears by the Minutes that the Remainder had sometimes Weight enough to recall the Attention of their Colleagues to that School, and obtain Acknowledgements of the unjust Neglect it had been treated with. Of this the following Extracts from the Minutes are authentic Proofs. viz. Minute Book Vol. 1.

Feb. 8. 1763. “The State of the English School was taken into Consideration, and it was observed that Mr. Kinnersly’s Time was entirely taken up in Teaching little Boys the Elements of the English Language, [that is, it was dwindled into a School similar to those kept by old Women who teach Children their Letters] and that Speaking and Rehearsing in Publick were Totally Disused, to the great Prejudice of the other Scholars and Students, and contrary to the Original Design of the Trustees in the forming of the School; and as this was a Matter of great Importance it was particularly recommended to be fully considered by the Trustees at their next Meeting.

At their next Meeting it was not considered!

But this Minute contains full Proof of the Fact that the English Education had been neglected; and it contains an Acknowledgment that the Conduct of the English School was contrary to the original design of the Trustees in forming it.

In the same Book of Minutes we find the following of April 12. 1763. “The State of the English School was again taken into Consideration, and it was the Opinion of the Trustees that the Original Design should be prosecuted of teaching the Scholars of that [and of the other Schools] the Elegance of the English Language, and giving them a proper Pronunciation, and that the old Method of hearing them read and repeat in Publick should be again used: And a Committee was appointed to confer with Mr. Kinnersley how this might best be done, as well as what Assistance would be necessary to give Mr. Kinnersley, to enable him to attend this necessary Service, which was indeed the Proper Business of his Professorship.”

In this Minute we have another Acknowledgment of what was the original Design of the English School; but here are some Words thrown in to countenance an Innovation, which had been for some time practised. The Words are [and the other Schools.] Originally by the Constitutions the Rector was to teach the Latin Scholars their English. The Words of the Constitution are “the Rector shall be obliged without the Assistance of any Usher, to teach 20 Scholars the Latin and Greek Languages, and the English Tongue. To enable him to do this, we have seen that some of his Qualifications required, were, his polite Speaking, Writing and Understanding the English Tongue. Having these he was enjoined, on all Occasions, consistent with his other Duties, to assist the English Master in improving the Boys under his Care; but there is not a Word obliging the English Master to teach the Latin Boys English. However the Latin Masters, either unable to do it, or unwilling to take the Trouble, had got him up among them, and employed so much of his Time that this Minute owns, he could not without further “Assistance attend the necessary Service of his own School, which, as the Minute expressly says, was indeed the proper Business of the Professorship.”

Notwithstanding this good Resolution of the Trustees, it seems the Execution of it was neglected, and, the Publick not being satisfied, they were again haunted by the Friends of the Children with the old Complaint that the original Constitutions were not complied with in Regard to the English School. Their Situation was unpleasant. On the one hand there were still remaining some of the first Trustees who were Friends to the Scheme of the English Education, and those would now and then be remarking that it was neglected, and would be moving for a Reformation. The Constitutions at the same time staring the Trustees in the Face, gave weight to these Remarks. On the other hand the Latinists were combined to decry the English School as useless. It was without Example they said, as indeed they still say, that a School for teaching the Vulgar Tongue was ever joined with a College, and that the Latin Masters were fully competent to teach the English. I will not say that the Latinists looked on every Expence upon the English School as so far disabling the Trustees from augmenting their Salaries, and therefore regarded it with an evil Eye; but when I find the Minutes constantly filled with their Applications for higher Wages, I cannot but see their great Regard for Money Matters, and suspect a little their using their Interest and Influence to prevail with the Trustees not to encourage that School. And indeed the following Minute is so different in Spirit and Sentiment from that last recited, that one cannot avoid concluding that some extraordinary Pains must have been taken with the Trustees between the two Meetings of April 12 and June 13 to produce a Resolution so very different, which here follows in this Minute. Viz

June 13. 1763 “Some of the Parents of the Children in the Academy having complained that their Children were not taught to speak and read in publick, and having requested that this useful Part of Education might be more attended to, Mr. Kinnersley was called in, and desired to give an Account of what was done in this Branch of his Duty; and he declared that they were well taught, not only in the English School which was more immediately under his Care, but in the Philosophy Classes regularly every Monday Afternoon, and as often at other times as his other Business woudl permit. And it not appearing to the Trustees that any more could at present be done without partiality and great Inconvenience, and that this was all that was ever proposed to be done; they did not incline to make any Alteration or to lay any further Burthen on Mr. Kinnersley.” Note here, that the English School had not for some Years preceding been visited by the Trustees. If it had they would have known the State of it without this Enquiry of the Master. They might have judged whether the Children more immediately under his Care were in truth well taught, without taking his Word for it, as it appears they did. But it seems he had a Merit which when he pleaded it, effectually excused him; he spent his Time when out of the English School in instructing the Philosophy Classes, who were of the Latin Part of the Institution. Therefore they did not think proper to lay any further Burthen upon him.

It is a little difficult to conceive how these Trustees could bring themselves to declare that “no more could be done in the English School than was then done, and that it was all that was ever proposed to be done;” when their preceding Minute declares that “the original Design was teaching Scholars the Elegance of the English Language, and giving them a proper Pronunciation; and that hearing them read and repeat in Publick was the Old Method, and should be again used.” And certainly the Method that had been used might be again used if the Trustees had thought fit to order Mr. Kinnersley to attend his own School, and not spend his Time in the Philosophy Classes, where his Duty did not require his Attendance. What the apprehended Partiality was which the Minute mentions, does not appear, and cannot easily be imagined; and the great Inconvenience of obliging him to attend his own School, could only be depriving the Latinists of his Assistance, to which they had no right.

The Trustees may possibly have supposed that by this Resolution, they had precluded all future Attempts to trouble them with Respect to their Conduct of the English School. The Parents indeed despairing of any Reformation, withdrew their Children, and placed them in private Schools, of which several now appeared in the City professing to teach what had been promised to be taught in the Academy, and they have since flourished and encreased by the Scholar the Academy might have had if it had performed its Engagements. But the Publick was not satisfied, and we find the English School appearing again after 5 Years Silence, haunting the Trustees like an evil Conscience, and reminding them of their Failure in Duty. For of their Meeting Jan. 19. 1768 we find these Minutes.

Jan. 19. 1768. “It having been remarked that the Schools suffer in the Public Esteem by the Discontinuance of public Speaking, a special Meeting is to be called on Tuesday next, to consider the State of the English School, and to regulate such Matters as may be necessary.”

Jan. 26. a Special Meeting. “It is agreed to give Mr. Josh. Euston and Mr. Thomas Hall at the Rate of Twenty five pounds per Annum each for assisting Mr. Kinnersley in the English School, and taking Care of the same when he shall be employed in teaching the Students in the Philosophy Classes and Grammar School, the Art of public Speaking. A Committee, Mr. Peters Mr. Coxe, and Mr. Duche, with the Masters, was appointed to fix Rules and Times for employing the Youth in public Speaking. Mr. Euston and Mr. Hall are to be paid out of a Fund to be raised by some public Performance for the Benefit of the College.”

It appears from these Minutes, 1. That the Reputation of the Academy had suffered in the Publick Esteem by the Trustees Neglect of that School. 2. That Mr. Kinnersley whose sole Business it was to attend it, had been called from his Duty and employed in the Philosophy Classes, and Latin Grammar School, teaching the Scholars there the Art of public Speaking, which the Latinists used to boast they could teach themselves. 3. That the Neglect for so many Years of the English Scholars by this Substraction of their Master was now acknowledged, and proposed to be remedied for the future by engaging two Persons, Mr. Hall and Mr. Euston at £25 each per Annum, to take care of those Scholars while Mr. Kinnersley was employed among the Latinists.

Care was however taken by the Trustees not to be at any Expence for this Assistance to Mr. Kinnersley, for Hall and Euston were only to be paid out of the uncertain Fund of Money to be raised by some public Performance for the Benefit of the College.

A Committee, however, was appointed to fix Rules and Times for employing the Youth in public Speaking.

Whether anything was done in consequence of these Minutes does not appear; no Report of the Committee respecting their Doings being to be found on the Records, and the Probability is that they did, as heretofore, nothing to the purpose. For the English School continued to decline, and the first subsequent Mention we find made of it is in the Minute of March 21. 1769 when the Design began to be entertained of abolishing it altogether, whereby the Latinists would get rid of an Eyesore, and the Trustees of what occasioned them such frequent Trouble. The Minute is this, “The State of the English School is to be taken into Consideration at next Meeting, and whether it be proper to continue it on its present Footing or not.” This Consideration was however not taken at the next Meeting, at least nothing was concluded so as to be minuted; nor do we find any further Mention of the English School till the 18th of July when the following Minute was entered, viz. “A special Meeting is appointed to be held on Monday next, and Notice to be given that the Design of this Meeting is to consider whether the English School is to be longer continued.”

This special Meeting was accordingly held on the 23d of July 1769. of which Date is the following Minute and Resolution.

“The Trustees at this Meeting as well as at several former ones, having taken into their serious Consideration the State of the English School, are unanimously of Opinion, that as the said School is far from defraying the Expence at which they now support it, and not thinking that they ought to lay out any great Part of the Funds entrusted to them in this Branch of Education, which can so easily be procured at other Schools in this City, have Resolved “That from and after the 17th of October next, Mr. Kinnersley’s present Salary do cease, and that from that time the said School, if he shall be inclined to keep it, shall be on the following Footing, viz. “That he shall have the free Use of the Room where he now teaches, and also the whole Tuition Money arising from the Boys that may be taught by him; and that he continue Professor of English and Oratory, and as such have the House he lives in Rent free; in Consideration of his giving two Afternoons in the Week as heretofore for the Instruction of the Students belonging to the College in public Speaking; agreeable to such Rules as are or shall be made for that purpose by the Trustees and Faculty. “It is further ordered by this Regulation, that the Boys belonging to his School shall be still considered as Part of the Youth belonging to the College, and under the same general Government of the Trustees and Faculty; and such of his Scholars as may attend the Mathematical or any other Master having a Salary from the College, for any part of their Time, shall pay proportionably into the Fund of the Trustees, to be accounted for by Mr. Kinnersley, and deducted out of the £20 per Quarter now paid by the English Scholars. “The Trustees hope this Regulation may be agreeable to Mr. Kinnersley, as it proceeds entirely from the Reasons set forth above, and not from any Abatement of that Esteem which they have always retained for him during the whole Course of his Service in College.”

Upon this and some of the preceding Minutes we may observe, 1. That the English School having been long neglected, the Scholars were so diminished in Number as to be far from defraying the Expence in supporting it. 2 That the Instruction they received there, instead of a compleat English Education which had been promised to the Subscribers by the original Constitutions, was only such as might easily be procured at other Schools in this City. 3. That this unprofitableness of the English School owing to Neglect of Duty in the Trustees, was now offered as a Reason for demolishing it altogether. For it was easy to see that after depriving the Master of his Salary he could not long afford to continue it. 4 That if the Insufficiency of the Tuition Money in the English School to pay the Expence, and the Ease with which the Scholars might obtain equal Instruction in other Schools, were good Reasons for depriving the Master of his Salary, and destroying that School, they were equally good for dismissing the Latin Masters, and sending their Scholars to other Schools, since it is notorious that the Tuition Money of the Latin School did not pay much above a fourth part of the Salaries of the Masters. For such Reasons the Trustees might equally well have got rid of all the Scholars and all the Masters, and remained in full Possession of all the College Property without any future Expence. 5. That by their refusing any longer to support, instead of Reforming as they ought to have done, the English School, they shamefully broke through, and set at naught the original Constitutions, for the due Execution of which, the Faith of the original Trustees had been solemnly pledged to the Publick, and diverted the Revenues, proceeding from much of the first Subscriptions, to other purposes than those which had been promised. Had the Assembly when disposed to disfranchise the Trustees, set their Foot upon this Ground, their Proceeding to declare the Forfeiture would have been more justifiable, and it may be hoped Care will now be taken not to give any future Assembly the same Handle.

It seems, however, that this unrighteous Resolve did not pass the Trustees without a Qualm in some of them. For at the next Meeting a Reconsideration was moved, and we find the following Minute under the Date of Augt. 1. 1769.

“The Minute of last Meeting relative to the English School was read, and after mature Deliberation and reconsidering the same, it was voted to stand as it is, provided it should not be found repugnant to the first Charter granted to the Academy, a Copy of which was ordered to be procured out of the Rolls Office.”

One might have thought it natural for the Trustees to have consulted the Charter before they took the Resolution, and not only the first Charter, but the original Constitutions; but as it seems they had lost the Instrument containing the Charter, and tho’ it had been printed not one of them was furnished with a Copy to which he might refer, it is no Wonder that they had forgot the Constitutions made 20 Years before, to which they do not seem to have in the least adverted.

Probably however the Trustees found, when they came to examine original Papers, that they could not easily get entirely rid of the English School, and so concluded to continue it. For I find in a Law for Premiums minuted under the Date of Jan. 20. 1770. that the English and Mathematical School is directed to be examined the 3d. Tuesday in July, and a Premium Book of the Value of One Dollar was to be given to him that reads best and understands best the English Grammar, &c. This is very well; but to keep up the old Partiality in favour of the Latin School, the Premiums to its Boys were to be of the Value of Two Dollars. In the Premiums for best Speaking they were indeed put upon an Equality.

After Reading this Law for Premiums I looked forward to the third Tuesday in July with some pleasing Expectation of their Effect on the Examination required for that Day. But I met with only this further Record of the Inattention of the Trustees to their new Resolutions, and even Laws when they contained anything favourable to the English School. The Minute is only this, July, August, September, October No Business done. On the 20th of Novr. however I find there was an Examination of the Latin School, and Premiums with pompous Inscriptions afterwards adjudged to Latin Scholars, but I find no Mention of any to the English, or that they were even examined. Perhaps there might have been none fit to examine, or the School might have been discontinued. For it appears by a Minute of July 21 following that the Provost was desired to advertise for a Master able to teach English Grammatically, which it seems was all the English Master was now required to teach, the other Branches originally promised being dropt intirely.

In October 1772 Mr. Kinnersley resigned his Professorship, when Dr. Peters and others were appointed to consider on what Footing the English School shall be put for the future, that a new Master may be thought of, and Mr. Wilson to take Care of the School for the present at £50 per Annum. It is observible here that there is no Mention of putting it in its original Footing; and the Salary is shrunk amazingly; but this Resignation of Mr. Kinnersley gave occasion to one Testimony more of the Utility of the English Professor to the Institution, notwithstanding all the Partiality, Neglect, Slights, Discouragements and Injustice that School had suffered. We find it in the Minutes of a special Meeting on the 2d. of Feb. 1773. present Dr. Peters, Mr. Chew, Mr. Laurence, Mr. Willing, Mr. Strettel and Mr. Inglis, and expressed in these strong Terms.

“The College suffers greatly since Mr. Kinnersley left it, for want of a Person to teach public Speaking, so that the present Classes have not those Opportunities of learning to declame and speak, which have been of so much Use to their Predecessors, and have contributed greatly to raise the Credit of the Institution.”

Here is another Confession that the Latinists were unequal to the Task of Teaching English Eloquence, tho’ on Occasion the contrary is still asserted.

I flatter myself Gentlemen that it appears by this time pretty clearly from our own Minutes that the original Plan of the English School has been departed from; that the Subscribers to it have been disappointed and deceived, and the Faith of the Trustees not kept with them; that the Publick have been frequently dissatisfied with the Conduct of the Trustees and complained of it; that by the niggardly Treatment of Good Masters, they have been dreven out of the School, and the Scholars have followed, while a great Loss of Revenue has been suffered by the Academy; so that the numerous Schools now in the City owe their Rise to our Mismanagement, and that we might as well have had the best Part of the Tuition Money paid into our Treasury that now goes into private Pockets. That there has been a constant Disposition to depress the English School in favour of the Latin; and that every Means to procure a more equitable Treatment has been rendered ineffectual; so that no more Hope remains while they continue to have any Connection. It is therefore that wishing as much good to the Latinists as their System can honestly procure for them, we now demand a Separation, and without desiring to injure them, but claiming an equitable Partition of our joint Stock, we wish to execute the Plan they have so long defeated, and afford the Publick the Means of a compleat English Education.

I am the only one of the original Trustees now living, and I am just stepping into the Grave myself. I am afraid that some Part of the Blame incurred by the Trustees may be laid on me for having too easily submitted to the Deviations from the Constitutions, and not opposing them with sufficient Zeal and Earnestness; tho’ indeed my Absence in foreign Countries at different Times for near 30 Years tended much to weaken my Influence. To make what Amends are yet in my power, I seize this Opportunity, the last I may possibly have, of bearing Testimony against those Deviations. I seem here to be surrounded by the Ghosts of my dear departed Friends, beckoning and urging me to use the only Tongue now left us, in demanding that Justice to our Grand children that our Children have been denied.

And I hope they will not be sent away discontented.

This manuscript was put into my hands by Dr. Franklin for my inspection, in the last summer; at which time some alterations in the system of Education pursued in the English school at the College were under consideration. It was at that time the intention of the Doctor that the contents should be submitted to the Trustees. He afterwards told me, his ill health would not permit him to engage personally in these pursuits, but that these papers would afford a future testimony of his sentiments; In the mean time he wish’d them to remain in my hands to furnish information in support of the changes in view. As these changes are no longer in contemplation I have not thought myself at liberty to detain the papers. I have not permitted them to be inspected by other persons nor have taken any copy.