numbering and measuring; of Surveying and Navigation, of Geography and History, of Husbandry, Commerce and Government, and in the Knowledge of all Nature in the Heavens above us, and in the Air, Water and Earth, around us, and the various kinds of Meteors, Stones, Mines and Minerals, Plants and Animals, and of every Thing useful for the Comfort, Convenience and elegance of Life, in the chief Manufactures relating to any of these Things: And finally, to lead them from the Study of Nature to the Knowledge of themselves, and of the God of Nature, and their Duty to him, themselves, and one another, and every Thing that can contribute to their true Happiness, both here and hereafter.
On 21 July we find Dr. Peters in New York preaching in Trinity Church and St. George’s Chapel that day,[1] where "his audiences were great, and the sermons universally approved of"; and we can picture him visiting Dr. Johnson amid his new classes, and telling him of the success of the Philadelphia Academy, not yet a College, and of their recent engagement with young William Smith, who gave promise of supplying that place in its administration which the Trustees had hoped Dr. Johnson would fill.
From age and ill health Dr. Johnson resigned his Presidency in 1763, and retired to his beloved Stratford, where he passed his remaining years among his books and in continuance of his correspondence, leaving his parochial duties in its details largely to his assistant; and died 6 January, 1772. His son wrote of him He died as he had lived, with great composure and serenity of mind * * * He often wished, and repeated it the morning of his departure, that he might resemble in his death his friend, the late excellent Bishop Berkeley, whose virtues he labored to imitate in his life and Heaven heard his prayer.
Kings College suffered during the Revolution as did the University of Pennsylvania, but in 1787 it arose into freshened life under the new name of Columbia, and Dr. Johnson’s eldest son, Hon. William Samuel Johnson, was its first President, resigning in 1800.
- ↑ The New York Gazette of 22 July, 1754.
