Nations lately become Literary. 359 



ton, founded aProfessorship of Oriental Languages, 

 and contributed generously to the enlargement of 

 the Library. Nocholas Boylstone, and Edward 

 Hopkins, Esquires, also deserve to be respectively 

 mentioned as among the benefactors of this im- 

 portant seminary, and as enlightened friends to 

 literature and science. 



In the former half of the eighteenth century, by 

 far the greater portion of the book-printing done 

 in the American Colonies was executed in Bos- 

 ton. No where did so many original American 

 publications issue from the press; and no where 

 was so much enterprize manifested in republish- 

 ing European works. These works, it is true, were 

 chiefly on theological subjects, and comparatively 

 few of a literary or scientific nature were circu- 

 lated among the people, by means of American 

 presses ; but still the books which were edited, 

 had a tendency to enlarge the public mind, and to 

 render a taste for reading more general. 



In Connecticut, at this time, literature and sci- 

 ence were, on the whole, gaining ground. The 

 appointment of the Rev. Dr. Cutler/ as Presi- 

 dent of Yale College, was an auspicious event to 

 that institution. He was a man of profound and 



e The Rev. Dr. Timothy Cutler received his education at Har- 

 vard College, where he graduated in 1701. In 1710 he was ordained 

 and installed minister of a Church in Stratford, according to the Consti- 

 tution of the Churches in Connecticut. In 1719 he was chosen Presi- 

 dent of Yale College, and entered on the duties of the office the same 

 year. In 1722 he relinquished the communion of the Congregational 

 Church, and soon afterwards went to England, and received orders in 

 the Episcopal Church. He received the degree of Doctor in Divinity from 

 both the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. He became Rector of 

 Christ Church, in Boston, in the year 1723, where he died in 1765. He 

 is represented to have been a man of strong natural powers, and cf exten- 

 sive learning. He was well acquainted with classic literature, and was 

 one of the best Oriental scholars ever educated in America. The Rev. 

 Dr. Stiles says, " he had more knowledge of the Arabic than an} 

 man in New-England before him, except President Chauxcey, and his. 

 disciple, the first Mr. Thatcher." Dr. Cutler was also well skilled 

 in Logic, Metaphysics, Moral Philosophy, Theology, and Ecclesiastical 

 History. 



