Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

1

One of the days I spent at West Point, happened to be Sunday; of course I went to church, and the moment I made my appearance, the officers of the staff rose from their seats, and remained standing until I was seated. Different from the reception I met with at Charleston navy-yard, and Fort Independence, but nothing more than was to be expected from men of their accomplished manners; in doing this they honoured me greatly, but they honoured themselves much more. I had not sat long when the cadets entered the chapel, with all the dignity of sages. It was truly an interesting sight, to see such a number of the finest young men, such vestal sweetness displayed in every countenance, their glossy locks and military dress, each armed with a short sword, while modesty sat "foremost on each brow."

Some have gone so far as to say that we are doing wrong to encourage this institution, inferring that these cadets may in time turn their arms against their country. But I am far from entertaining this opinion. No, if ever the liberties of our country are endangered, it will be done by the ignorant. We find that when the liberty o Rome was overturned it was done by the ignorant and vulgar, while all the men of polite literature rallied on the side of liberty.

New-Haven, Conn.-Paying an occasional visit to New-Haven before this work went to press, I was led to expunge other matter in order to make room for a few remarks on that beautiful city. It stands at the head of a fine bay which sets up from Long-Island Sound; distant from New-York city 76 miles, from Boston 134, from Hartford 36, and is the semi-capital of the state of Connecticut. Its relative situation from New-York is north-east. In whatever point of view New-Haven is considered, whether for topographical beauty, the utility of its institutions, or the scenery of its environs, as a town, it is decidedly the Eden of the Union! It sits on an even plain of about three miles in circumference, which is surrounded by mountains, hills, and rugged rocks, excepting only where it faces the bay. These eminences assume an endless variety of whimsical fig

ures, where nature seems to revel in sportive wantonness. In some places a solitary rock of stupendous dimensions presents a bold perpendicular front; others present naked bluffs of amazing height, while others meet at right angles, and run off in a thousand arbitrary directions. Some are covered with cedar and pine, others are perfectly bare; some are round craggy points. They all, however, unite in the form of an amphitheatre, by which nature evidently intended to guard her favorite spot.

These bold features of nature, contrasted with the smooth plain, covered with delicate white houses, solemn churches, lofty steeples, extensive greens, wide streets, of undeviating straitness, lined with spreading elms, and the stately buildings of Yale College, gives New-Haven an over-powering charm! Its public buildings are the Colleges, and 7 churches, viz:-2 Congregationalists, 1 Episcopalian, 1 Baptist, 1 Methodist, 2 African, 2 Banks, a court-house, (in which the Legislature sits,) a jail, an alms-house, 3 academies, 2 insurance offices, a custom-house, and 9000 inhabitants. The citizens are buil ding a great public hotel, which is nearly completed, that for size equals, if it does not surpass, the Exchange Coffee-House in Boston. The public burying ground also deserves particular notice. The houses are mostly built of wood and painted white, with a few handsome brick buildings; the churches are also with one or two exceptions handsomely built of brick, ornamented with steeples and bells. The streets are wide, straight, and cross at right angles, each adorned with two rows of loity elms of uncommon beauty, whose exuberant branches form a most delightful shade; almost all the houses have gardens attached to them, which are laid off in a style of inimitable taste and beauty, adorned with trees, flowers and summer houses; but its chief ornament is a great square called the green, in the centre of the city, Occupying the front of the colleges. New-Haven is an incorporated town, and governed by a mayor, aldermen, and common council.

Yale College. But New-Haven is principally distinguished for being the seat of Yale College, one of the oldest and most respectable literary institutions in the United

States, and has produced some of our first men. The College edifices consist of 11 buildings, viz:—North College 108 feet by 40, Middle College 100 by 40, South College 104 by 40, Lyceum 56 by 46, Chapel 50 by 40, and a Laboratory; the commons, which contain two large dining rooms for the students, with a kitchen in the basement, a Medical College, and 3 dwelling houses. It has a president and 10 professors, viz:-Rev. Jeremiah Day, S. T. D. LL. D. President, and professor of mathematics and natural philosophy; Eneas Monson, M. D. professor of the institutes of medicine; Nathan Smith, M. D. C. S. M. S. Lond., professor of the theory and practice of physic, surgery and obstetricks; Benjamin Silliman, professor of chemistry, pharmacy, mineralogy, and geology; James Kingsley, A. M. professor of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages; Eli Ives, M. D. professor of materia medica and botany; Jonathan Knight, M. D. professor of anatomy and physiology; Rev. Nathaniel W. Taylor, Dwight professor of didactic Theology; Rev. Eleazer T. Fitch, A. M. professor of divinity; Rev. Chauncey Goodrich, A. M. professor of rhetoric and oratory; Denison Olmsted, A. M. professor of mathematics and natural philosophy; Josiah W. Gibbs, A. M. librarian, and lecturer on sacred literature. Besides these, it has 8 tutors, and 21 resident graduates, and averages about 360 academical students, besides medical and theological. These are divided into 4 classes, viz :-Senior, Junior, Sophomore, and Freshmen. At this time there are students from every part of the United States, and many from the WestIndies ; most of them are sons of our most distinguished citizens; amongst whom I find two sons of General Van Rensselaer, of very promising appearance. The College has a cabinet, a philosophical and chemical apparatus, which are said to be complete, particularly the chemical laboratory, supposed to be the best in the Union. The mineralogical cabinet, I am told, consists of 2,500 specimens; independent of this, a cabinet has recently been purchased of G. Gibbs, Esq. of Boston, consisting of 24,000 specimens,* said to be the best collection in the * The original cost of this cabinet is said to have been £4000 sterling.

country. Not having had the pleasure of seeing either the cabinet, or the apparatus, I speak of them from report. It also has a library, consisting of 10,000 volumes, and the students have two libraries amounting to 3,500 more, * making 13,500 in the whole.

The Medical College is connected with Yale College, though the building stands in a different part of the town. This institution has three professors, viz :-one of materia medica, one of anatomy and surgery, and one of the theory and practice of physic. The medical students attend chemical lectures in the laboratory of Yale College, but neither diet nor lodge in the college. At the head of the Medical College, stands the celebrated Dr. N. Smith, already mentioned. The average number of medical students is about 70; they usually attend in winter The Theological School has but recently commenced, and the number of students is inconsiderable. The local advantages peculiar to this institution, and the ability with which it is conducted, will render it one of the most desirable places for the education of youth in our country.

Yale College was founded in 1700, by a number of clergymen, and was incorporated in 1701, under ten trustees. It was first located at Saybrook in 1702; five young men received the degree of master of arts. From this period till 1718, the prosperity of the institution was greatly hindered by disputes between the trustees and the community, respecting the final establishment of the seminary. Both parties were equally disunited; but a majority of the trustees finally removed it to New-Haven in 1718. It was called Yale College out of gratitude to Elihu Yale, Esq., one of its principal benefactors. E. Yale was born in New-Haven, but left it very young for England; he afterwards went to Hindostan, where he acquired great wealth, part of which he sent to this infant college. From this period Yale College began to flourish, and in 1745 the trustees were, by a new charter, erected into a faculty of "the president and fellows of Yale College." In the mean time they received numerous donations from the colony, and private individuals also, both of this country and Europe; amongst whom I

find the respectable name of Dr. Berkley, Dean of Derry, in Ireland, and afterwards bishop of Cloyne. Likewise Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Richard Steel, Doctors Barnet, Woodward, Halley, Bentley, Kennet, Calamy, Edwards; the Rev. Mr. Henry and Mr. Whiston, presented their own works to the library: many other respectable gentlemen made similar presents. But to come nearer our own time: His Excellency, the present governor of Connecticut, and formerly secretary of the treasury of the U. S., presented the college $2000 for the purpose of increasing the library! In 1792 the Legislature of the state, appointed the governour, lieut. governor, and six senior counsellors, additional members of the board of trustees, which has been attended with the happiest consequences. But such is the reputation of the college, and the number of students is such, that the funds are still insufficient for an adequate number of professors; consequently some of them have fallen a sacrifice to their arduous duties; others have resorted to travelling to recruit their broken constitutions. Thus, while thousands of dollars are daily devoted to other puoposes, this nursery of science, which has contributed so largely to the benefit of mankind, is wholly unnoticed, and left to struggle between nature and duty. Out of the many hundreds who have been benefitted at this celebrated place, no friendly hand is stretched out to lighten the burden of the faculty. Connecticut has acted a generous part towards it, so far as she was able, but this state is too small, singly, to support an institution of such magnitude,

No situation could be more happily chosen for an institution of this nature, than the one occupied by Yale College. The five first named buildings stand upon a gentle elevation, and range at the head of a beautiful green. The three colleges are four stories high, handsomely built of brick, and ornamented with venetian blinds, which give them a very pleasing appearance; while the morality of the place, its classic green and sacred shades, fanned by the zephyrs from the bay, and its romantic scenery, all tend to elevate the mind and chas ten the taste,

« PředchozíPokračovat »