Nations lately become Liter an] . 37£ 



About this time we may date the establish men t 

 of a College at Providence, in Rhode-Island, 

 This institution was erected by certain persons of 

 influence of the Baptist denomination, and, among 

 these, perhaps no individual so well deserves to be 

 considered as its founder, as the Rev. Dr. Man- 

 ning,'" the first President. The charter for this 

 College was given in 1764. It was open for the 

 reception of students the next year, at Warren. 

 The first commencement was held in 1769 ; and 

 in 1770, it was removed to the town of Providence, 

 where a spacious building was erected for the re- 

 ception of the students, and which is considered 

 as the permanent seat of the institution. The 

 charter of this College makes it necessary, that 

 the President should be a Baptist, and indeed the 

 institution has always been under the immediate 

 government of this denomination of christians. 



Between the years 1765 and 1772, a revolution 

 took place in the taste of the students in Yale Col- 

 lege. About this time, the study of the Mathe- 

 matics, and of the Ancient Languages, began to 

 decline, and that of Belles Lettres to be an object 

 of more attention than before. This revolution was 

 chiefly produced by the Rev. Dr. Dwight, who 

 has since held so conspicuous a place among the 

 poets and divines of America ; by Mr. John Trum- 

 bull, who also stands in the first rank of our na- 

 tive poets; by the Rev. Mr. Howe, afterwards a 



sons of eminence in Europe, we find the names of Dr. Franklin - , Johjt 

 Adams, Esquire, late President of the United States, John Jay, Esquire, 

 late Chief Justice of the United States, and Governor of the State cf New- 

 York, and the Honourable John Phillips, of Exeter, in New-Hampshire. 

 m The Rev. Dr. Manning was born in New-Jersey, in the year 

 1738 He was educated at Nassau-Hall, where he was admitted to th« 

 first honours of the College in 1762. In 1765 he removed to Warren, in 

 Rhode-Island, and there took charge of the College, to the Presidency of 

 which he had been elected. In 1/70 he removed, with that institution, to 

 Providence, and was soon afterwards chosen pastor of the Baptist Church 

 in that town. In this situation he remained till hi* death, which took 

 place in 1791. 



