3IO LIFE AXD CORRESPOXDENCE OF THE [l/^Q 



On the 1st of July, 1789, Dr. Smith, with his wife and children, 

 returned to Philadelphia, and went to reside upon his family-seat 

 at the Falls of Schuylkill. And now — singular incident — as the 

 village clock chimes the hour of twelve to usher in the morn of 

 July 1st, 1879, I, his great-grandson, am preparing upon the same 

 estate this record for the printer; ninety years from the time he 

 returned to it. As I write, my mind reverts to the closing para- 

 graph of Ids preface to the works of Nathaniel Evans, which he 

 had collected and published as a labor of love. He there says : 



The task he left to be performed was a mournful one ; but it has 

 been executed with that fidelity, which the writer of this would wish 

 might be extended to any performance of his own, that may be thought 

 worthy of the public eye, by that true friend into whose hands it may 

 fall, when he himself shall be no more ! * 



In anticipation of the formal surrender of the College of Phila- 

 delphia — ''My College" as he rightly called it — to him, he pro- 

 posed that the following inscription, which is the same which 

 was set in Queen's College, Oxford, on the Restoration, should be 

 engraved upon the front of the edifice : 



" DIVINA 



OPE MISERICORDIA ET PROVIDENTIA 



COLLEGIUM HOC 



A CAPTIVITATE QUADAM BABYLONICA 



EREPTUM 



INTEGRIS ET LEGITIMIS SUIS MEMBRIS 



CONSTITUITUR." 



The first meeting of the Trustees of the College was held at the 

 house of Dr. Franklin, now an aged man, upon notice given by 

 Dr. Smith. There were fourteen Trustees surviving, all of whom 

 were present: 



Benjamin Franklin, LL. D., Dr. John Redman, 



Benjamin Chew, \ John Laurence, "j 



Edward Shippen, >Esqs, Thom.\s Mifflin, > Esqs. 



Thomas Willing, j Samuel Powel, j 



* See Vol. I., page 481. 



