Account of the College and Academy in
The American Magazine, October, 1758, p. 630 ut. seq.
[Written by Provost Smith.]
To THE PROPRIETORS, &c.
GENTLEMEN:
AMONG your various publications for the Advancement of virtue and literature I observe that you have hitherto given no account of the College and Academy of this place, altho' you have no doubt been beholden to the members of that institution for many of those monthly performances, which have been so considerable an ornament to your work. To supply that defect you will, therefore, accept from me the following brief and genuine account of its Rise, Progress, and present state.
In the year 1749, a number of private gentlemen, who had long regretted it as misfortune to the youth of this province, that we had no public Seminary, in which they might receive the accomplishments of a regular education, published a paper of hints and proposals for erecting an academy in this city. They observed very justly that the good education of youth has been esteemed by wise men in all ages, the surest foundation, both of private and public happiness; and that it has been the principal concern of every well-regulated government to establish and endow proper seminaries for the advancement of learning, and for training up a succession of men, fit to serve their country in every useful station. Many of the first settlers of these provinces, (it was observed further) were men who had received a good education in Europe, and to their wisdom and good management we owe much of our present prosperity. Nevertheless, it was obvious that without making a provision for cultivating wisdom and goodness in the rising generation, we would soon degenerate into a state of ignorance and barbarity, little better than that of our Neighbour-Savages, and be neither able to preserve nor enjoy the inestimable blessings, delivered down to us from our fathers. To prevent these dreadful misfortunes, was the design of those who projected this institution; a design that will do honor to their names as long as any memorial of virtue and letters shall remain in their country; and a design in which they can boast all the Sages and Lawgivers and Patriots of every age, as their patterns and fellow labourers, for the propagation of wisdom and good of their species!
This design was not long formed before it was carried into execution. At first, only three persons were concerned in forming it, two of whom are since dead, and the other now in England. These communicated their thoughts to others, till at last the number of twenty-four joined themselves
