1 8 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF THE \}779 



refreshing to discover an entry or two in tlie College minutes 

 which show that the groves of the Academy still existed, and that 

 masters and scholars sometimes could refresh themselves in its 

 pleasing walks. 



At a meeting of the 28th of June, 1779, "The Provost repre- 

 sented," say the minutes, " that the following gentlemen who have 

 been educated in this Seminary and took their Bachelor of Arts 

 degree with great approbation, had applied in due time and man- 

 ner to be admitted to the degree of Master of Arts, for which they 

 are of standing, and qualified according to the rules of the Institu- 

 tion, viz. : Messrs. Benjamin Chew, Jr., John Mifflin, William 

 Moore Smith, James Abercrombie, Thomas Duncan Smith, and 

 Jacob Hall." The names of these gentlemen were accordingly 

 ordered to be inserted in the mandate for admission to the degree 

 aforesaid. 



The minutes of September 14th, 1779, show equally the zeal 

 of the Trustees and the Provost in getting the College under its 

 ancient and full course of usefulness. He is directed to " advertise 

 for an English and Latin usher, and also to write to Newcastle to 

 engage a gentleman who teaches a Latin school in that place and 

 formerly offered his services as an usher." 



CHAPTER XXXVni. 



The Abrogation of the College Charter by President Reed and the Legis- 

 LATiRE OF Pennsylvania — A Truthful and Eloquent History of the 

 'Jransaction by the Provost Stille — The Transaction Characterized 

 and Condemned — The Episcopal Academy Founded in Consequence of 

 the Injustice done to the College — Dr. Smith left without means of 

 LIVING — Final Repeal in 1789 of the Act of Abrogation as Repugnant 

 to Justice, Unconstitutional, and Dangerous to Chartered Rights. 



We come now to the histor)^ of a great event in the life of Dr. 

 Smith, in the annals of the College, and, as we may add, of the 

 State ; the abrogation of the College charter by the President and 

 Legislature of Pennsylvania in the year 1779, on the alleged 

 ground of disloyalty to the new State of Pennsylvania, and of an 

 undue devotion to the interests of the Church of England. 



