Upon this, Franklin says in his Observations:[1]
That the English School had not for some years preceding been visited by the Trustees. If it had, they would have kncwn the state of it without making this inquiry of the Master. They might have judged, whether the children more immediately under his care were in truth well taught, without taking his word for it, as it appears they did. But it seems he had a merit, which when he pleaded it, effectually excused him. He spent his time when out of the English School in instructing the philosophy classes, who were of the Latin part of the institution. Therefore they did not think proper to lay any further burthen upon him. * * * Certainly the method that had been used might be again used, if the Trustees had thought fit to order Mr. Kinnersley to attend his own school, and not spend his time in the philosophy classes, where his duty did not require his attendance. What the apprehended partiality was, which the Minute mentions, does not appear, and cannot easily be imagined; and the great inconvenience of obliging him to attend his own school could only be depriving the Latinists of his assistance, to which they had no right. * * * The parents, indeed, despairing of any reformation, withdrew their children, and placed them in private schools, of which several now appeared in the city, professing to teach what had been promised to be taught in the Academy; and they have since flourished and increased by the scholars the Academy might have had, if it had performed its engagements. Yet the public was not satisfied; and, we find five years after, the English school appearing again, after five years' silence, haunting the Trustees like an evil conscience, and reminding them of their failure in duty. The minutes of 19 and 26 January, 1768, revive the subject, " it having been remarked, that the schools suffer in the public esteem by the discontinuance of public speaking," but only temporizing measures were sought, by agreeing to give Mr. Jon. Easton and Mr. Thomas Hall, at the rate of twenty-five pounds per annum each, for assisting Mr. Kinnersley in the English school, and taking care of the same when he shall be employed in teaching the students, in the philosophy classes and grammar school, the art of public speaking. [But] Mr. Easton and Mr. Hall are to be paid out of a fund to be raised by some public performance for the benefit of the College. Or as Franklin says: Care was however taken by the Trustees not to be at any expense for this
- ↑ Sparks, ii. 148. These Observations Relative to the Intentions of the Original Founders of the Academy in Philadelphia, June, 1789 are not included by Mr. Bigelow in his Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin.
