560 Nations lately become Literary. 



general learning in the various branches of know- 

 ledge cultivated in his day, particularly in Oriental 

 Literature, and presided over the seminary which 

 he was called to superintend, with dignity, use- 

 fulness, and general approbation. He was suc- 

 ceeded by the Rev. Elisha Williams/ who was 

 inaugurated in the year 1726. Under his admi- 

 nistration also, the College flourished, especially 

 in the study of Classic Literature, Logic, Metaphy- 

 sics, and Moral Philosophy. The successor of 

 President Williams was still more illustrious. 

 This was the Rev. Thomas Clap/ who was cho- 

 sen President in 1739, and formally inducted into 

 office the next year. He appears to have been 

 one of the most profound and accurate scholars 

 ever bred in Connecticut; and during the course 

 of his Presidency, which continued till 1767, he 

 succeeded in producing a greater attention than 

 had been before paid to the abstruse sciences, par- 

 ticularly to Mathematics, Astronomy, and the va- 

 rious branches of Natural Philosophy. This period, 

 indeed, may be considered as forming an era in 

 the literary history of Connecticut. 



Passing on to Virginia, a few facts and names 

 appear there about this time which are worthy of 



f Mr. "Williams was a good classical scholar, and well versed in Lo- 

 gic, Metaphysics, and Ethics. The Rev. Dr. Doddridge, who was ac- 

 quainted with him in England, gave him this comprehensive character. 

 «« I look upon ?4r. Williams to be one of the most valuable men upon 

 earth. He has joined to an ardent sense of religion, solid learning, con- 

 summate prudence, great candour, and a certain nobleness of soul, capable 

 of contriving and acting the greatest things, without seeming to be consci- 

 ous of his having done them." 



g The Rev. Thomas Clap was born at Scituate, in Massachusetts, 

 in 1703; graduated at Harvard College in 1722; settled in the ministry, 

 at Windham, in Connecticut, in 1726; became President of Yale College 

 in 1739 ; and died in 1767. He was respectably learned in the Greek, 

 Latin, and Hebrew languages; but in the higher branches of Mathe- 

 matics, in Astronomy, and in the various departments of Natural Philo- 

 sophy, he had probably no equal at that time in America, excepting Pro- 

 fessor Winthrop, of Cambridge. He appears also to have been exten- 

 sively and profoundly read in History, Theology, Moral Philosophy, 

 Canon and Civil Law, and, indeed, in most of the objects of £'-.:. 

 tended to at that time. 



