Warrington Academy. 1 1 



'During the interval between 1761 and 1767, the 

 subscriptions originally promised being found to drop oft 

 gradually, partly, as Dr. Priestley states,* in consequence of 

 the unhappy differences between Dr. Taylor and the 

 trustees, partly through the natural apathy of a great 

 majority of the subscribers, who, having never had a regular 

 account-current of the annual expenditure presented to 

 them (such as is every year furnished to each subscriber by 

 the accurate and indefatigable treasurer for the York 

 Institution), had no distinct idea of the object for which 

 they were subscribing, and therefore, becoming weary of 

 their subscription, were willing to lay hold of any pretence 

 for dropping it. Various expedients were resorted to by 

 the trustees. In 1762 Mr. Seddon was commissioned to 

 visit London, Bristol, Birmingham, and other places, in 

 order to ascertain by a personal application how far the 

 annual subscriptions were to be depended upon, and to 

 endeavour to obtain new ones. This produced a temporary 

 revival ; but the regular annual mode of distinct information 

 of particulars continuing to be still neglected, the revival 

 was only temporary. Another expedient was, to devise a 

 means of increasing the number of students, particularly of 

 lay-students, by accommodating those parents who injudi- 

 ciously wished their children to resort to a place of educa- 

 tion extremely unfit for them at so very early an age. For 

 this purpose, they tried the experiment for a few years of 

 taking boys under the age of fourteen, to be placed under 

 the care of Mr. Benjamin Stapp, a divinity student of 

 extraordinary promise, who, under the title of sub-tutor, 

 was to train them in the Latin and Greek languages, and 

 prepare them for the higher classes.' 



1 Life, p. 50. 



