CHAPTER VII. HISTORY OF PARTICULAR COLLEGES COLUMBIA COLLEGE. The origin of this college and its incorporation under a colonial charter, on the 31st of October, 1754, under the name of "King's College," have been noticed in connection with our account of the origin of a Board of Regents. A class of students had previously been assembled in a room of the school-house belonging to Trinity Church. Provision had been made by a lottery and otherwise, for the erection of college buildings upon a parcel of ground west of Broadway, between Barclay, Church and Murray streets and the Hudson River, which had been designated by Trinity Church for this purpose.' In May, 1760, the college buildings erected upon this ground and portions of the land not needed for its use were leased for business purposes, becoming in after years a valuable endowment to the college. In 1763 a Grammar School was established, but at first without financial success.* Among the literature relating to the origin of this College, may be mentioned an anonymous tract preserved in the State Library, with the following title : "Some Thoughts on Education: With Reasons for erecting a College in this Province, and fixing the same in the City of New York; To which is added a scheme for employing Masters or Teachers in the Mean Time; and also for raising and endowing an Edifice in an easy Manner, the whole Concluding with a Poem; Being a Serious Address to the House of Representatives." * New York, J. Parker, 1752, p. 32. * * It would appear from this that certain persons had proposed to locate the college in some retired corner, either within or close by the city of New York," where the morals of the students would be better protected than in the city. 2 An agent was subsequently sent to England and France, to procure funds. In 1767 a grant of 29,000 acres of land was made under the government of Sir Henry Moore, but this afterward came within the territory of the State of Vermont, and the grant was lost. About £6,000 sterling were procured in England by Dr. James Jay, the agent, and others. The King, besides this, gave £400. The sum of £3,282 was received from the lottery, £500 sterling from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, about £1,000 sterling from Mr. Edward Antillo, £500 from Paul Kichard, £100 from James Alexander, and property worth £8,000 from Joseph Murray, including his library. The Rev. Dr. David Bristowe, of London, also gave his library of 1,500 volumes, and several of the Governors of the College gave from £50 to £200 apiece. Sir Charles Hardy gave £500, Gen. Shirley £100, and Gen. Monkton £200. The following description of the College, supposed to have been written by Dr. Myles Cooper, its second President (1763–1775), shows its condition before the Revolution: "Since the passing of the charter, the institution hath received great emoluments by grants from his most gracious majesty, King George the Third, and by liberal contributions from many of the nobility and gentry in the parent country; from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and from several publicspirited gentlemen in America and elsewhere. By means of these and other benefactions, the Governors of the College have been able to extend their plan of education almost as diffusely as any College in Europe; herein being taught by proper Masters and Professors, who are chosen by the Governors and President, Divinity, Natural Law, Physic, Logic, Ethics, Metaphysics, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, Geography, History, Chronology, Rhetoric, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Modern Languages, the Belles-Lettres, and whatever else of literature may tend to accomplish the pupils as scholars and gentlemen. "To the College is also annexed a Grammar School for the due preparation of those who propose to complete their education with the arts and sciences. "All students but those in medicine are obliged to lodge and diet in the College, unless they are particularly excused by the Governors or President, and the edifice is surrounded by a high fence, which also incloses a large court and garden, and a porter constantly attends at the front gate, which is closed at ten o'clock each evening in summer and nine in winter, after which hours the names of all that come in are delivered weekly to the President. "The College is situated on a dry, gravelly soil, about one hundred and fifty yards from the banks of the Hudson River, which it overlooks; commanding, from the eminence on which it stands, a most extensive and beautiful prospect of the opposite shore and country of New Jersey, the city and island of New York, Long Island, Staten Island, New York Bay and its islands, the Narrows, forming the mouth of the harbors, etc., etc., and being totally unincumbered by any adjacent buildings, and admitting the purest circulation of air from the river and every other quarter, has the benefit of as agreeable and healthy a situation as can possibly be conceived. "Visitations by the Governors are quarterly; at which times premiums of books, silver medals, etc., are adjudged to the most deserving. "This seminary hath already produced a number of gentlemen |