Page:History of the University of Pennsylvania - Montgomery (1900).djvu/266

Scotland as was William Smith, had come as a Missionary of the Church of England to Virginia in 1685. He was nominated the first President of the College and so continued the half century until his death in 1743. We are told that, before the Revolution, the College consisted of a school of Divinity, one of Philosophy, in which Natural Philosophy and Mathematics were taught, a Grammar School for instruction in the Ancient Languages, and an Indian school supported by the donation of the Hon Robert Boyle, in which, from about the year 1700 to 1776, eight to ten Indians were annually maintained and educated.^ In this Christian and generous thought and action for the aborigines, the College of William and Mary was far in advance of its cotemporaries. Franklin visited the College in April 1756: This day, Benjamin Franklin, Esquire, favored the Society with his company and had the degree of A. M. conferred upon him. 21 Thomas Jefferson was then in one of the younger classes, graduating in 1759. Twenty years later, the Master and the undergraduate were united on a Committee to draft a Declaration of Independence from the Mother country which came forth from their deliberations in the immortal words of the younger of the two. In 1771, there graduated James Madison, afterwards the first Bishop of Virginia, who received the degree of D.D. in 1785 from the University in Philadelphia; who within three years of his graduation was made Professor of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, and within six years became the President of the College, both of which stations through the remainder of his life to 1812 he filled with zeal and ability, and to which after his consecration in 1790 were added the duties of his Episcopate. 20 Historical Sketch, p. 40. Archdeacon Burnaby visited William and Mary College in September, 1759, and referring to the Indian School says, "this pious institution was set on foot and promoted by the excellent Mr. Boyle. * * * At present the only Indian children in Mr. Boyle's school are five or six of the Pamunky tribe, who, being surrounded by and living in the midst of our settlements, are more accustomed to the manners and habits of the English Colonists. ' The business of the Professor of the Indian School is to instruct the Indians in reading, writing, and the principles of the Christian religion." Travels, London, 1798, p. 24. 21 Ibid., 42.