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WILLIAM AND MARY (COLLEGE OF) granted by the crown. In 1781 the college was closed, and the buildings were alternately occupied before and during the siege of York- town by the French and the American troops. While so held the president's house and a wing of the main building were burned. After the revolution the general assembly gave certain lands to the college, and its organization was changed. The grammar school and the two professorships of divinity and oriental lan- guages were abolished, the Indian school hav- ing been previously abandoned. A professor- ship of law and police, one of anatomy, medi- cine, and chemistry, and one of modern lan- guages were created. Until 1776 the chancel- lors of the college were the bishops of London, excepting in 1764, when the office was held by the earl of Hardwicke. George Washington was chancellor from 1788 to 1799, and ex- President John Tyler from 1859 to 1862. Du- ring the intervening period the office was not filled. The present chancellor (1876), Hugh Blair Grigsby, was elected in 1871. In 1859 the college building with the old and valuable library was destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt and restored before the end of 1860. In May, 1861, the college exercises were suspended in consequence of the war, and the building was soon after occupied as a barrack and subse- quently as a hospital. In September, 1862, it was again burned during the occupation of Williamsburg by the Union forces. Its losses from 1861 to 1865 in buildings and endow- ment were about $125,000. The college build- ings not destroyed and grounds were used by federal troops from May, 1862, till September, 1865, for depots and quarters. In 1869 the main building was substantially restored, the faculty was reorganized, and the college opened to students. Besides a preparatory depart- ment, known as the grammar and "Matty" school, founded by Mrs. Mary Whaley in 1742, the college has the following departments : 1, Latin ; 2, Greek ; 3, mathematics ; 4, French ; 6, German ; 6, natural philosophy and mixed mathematics; 7, chemistry, geology, mineral- ogy, and physiology; 8, moral and intellec- tual science and belles-lettres. The course of instruction occupies three to five years. The usual academic degrees are conferred. There have been founded in the college 15 scholar- ships, which entitle the holders to free tuition. In 1875-'6 the college had 7 instructors and 86 students, of whom 71 were in the collegiate department, and a library of 5,000 volumes. The institution was formerly under Episcopal control, but is now connected with no denomi- nation. Benjamin S. Ewell, LL. D., has been president of the college since 1854; he was also president in 1848. Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Tyler, Chief Justice Marshall, Peyton Randolph, president of the first American congress, John Randolph of Roanoke, and Winfield Scott were graduates of this college. Until 1819 the college by vir- tue of its charter exercised the duties of the WILLIAM OF NASSAU 635 office of surveyor general of Virginia; among the surveyors appointed by it were George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The pa- rent Phi Beta Kappa society was organic <1 &, C ege of William a d Mary, Dec. 5, 1776. The society was suspended here in 1781, but was revived about 1850. WILLIAM OF CHAMPEACX, a French scholar, born at Champeaux, near Melun, in the latter part of the llth century, died in 1121. He studied in Paris under Anselme of Laon, and be- came archdeacon of Notre Dame, and a teach- er at the school of that cathedral, lie was a prominent champion of scholastic realism. Among his pupils was Abelard, who soon eclipsed him to such an extent that William re- tired and entered a monastery. In 1118 he founded the abbey of St. Victor in a suburb of Paris. He afterward resumed his lectures, but was finally driven from the field by the su- perior popularity of Abelard, and was ap- pointed archbishop of Chalons. He was in- volved in the controversy concerning the right of investiture; in 1119 he represented Pope Calixtus II. in the conference at Mousson. Only a few of his treatises are extant. See Guillaume de Champeaux et les ecoles de Parit au XII" siecle, by E. Michaud (Paris, 18C7). WILLIAM THE LICIT. See SCOTLAND, vol. xiv., p. 704. WILLIAM OF MAL5IESIHRY. See MAUMEB- BUKY, WILLIAM OF. WILLIAM OF NASSAU, surnamed the Silent, prince of Orange, founder of the independence of the Netherlands, born at the palace of Dil- lenburg, Nassau, April 16, 1533, assassinated in Delft, July 10, 1584. He was the elder son of Count William the Elder of Nassau and of hia second wife Juliane von Stolberg. In 1544 he inherited from his childless cousin Ren 6 the principality of Orange, in Provence. Although the son of a Protestant, he was brought up at the Catholic court of Queen Mary of Hungary in Brussels, and as a page at that of Charles V., who in 1554 put him in command of troops and employed him in diplomacy. Under Philip II. he paved the way for the treaty of Cateau- Cambresis (1559), and Henry II. of France detained him and Alva as hostages for its exe- cution. William was of a gay and lively dispo- sition, and was called "the Silent" from the skill with which he concealed his emotions when the French king incautiously revealed to him his plot to exterminate " that accursed vermin " the Protestants. On Philip's depar- ture for Spain he appointed William a mem- ber of the council of state which was to assist his half sister Margaret of Parma in the re- gency of the Netherlands. He opposed the persecution of the Protestants, and finally, in conjunction with Egmont, Horn, and others, brought about the removal of their principal enemy, Cardinal Granvelle (1564). But he was unable to prevent the introduction of the in- quisition and the increasing rigor against here- ics, though he refused to enforce the king's