The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1783-04-01 00:00:00, page 1

PARNASSUS, No. VIL
Reddere perfaceft convenientia cuique. HOR.
To PARNASSU S,
S I R, ,
I SEND you two Addresses from the late Profeflor of Phi
lofbphy and Mathematics at Yale College to the Reve
rend Corporation thereof, with his ebnfent that they be
made public.
lam, &c. T. W.
To the Reverend Corporation of Yale College, at their
Session at New-Haven, September 12, 1781.
Reverend Gentlemen,
THE peculiar situation of my affairs in connexion with
the College whereofyou are proper and lawful guar
dians, must be my apology for troubling you with his Ad
drefs —You know that about eleven years ago I had the ho
nour of being invited by the Rev. Corporation to the office
•fProfoffer of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. —That in
Consequence of the invitation I left the business I was then
in, and turned from all other profpe&s,'which were then be
fore me of being ufeful to the world or to myfelfjn any other
way, and accepted the offer, with the assurance of the pay
ment of a salary of 701. after the firft years service, and with
encouragements of an augmentation or that sum for my an
nual support in years to come.
I presumed it was never the intent of the Rev. Corpora
tion, that the central should be any other than for term of
life; unless some personal defed, either in character or abi
lity, should be foundran objedion to my continuing in office
—was careful, however, previous to my accepting the offer,
to inquire into that matter, as a thing of material considera
tion to determine me in my condud therein—and was ac
cordingly allured by the then President of the Board, that the
election proceeded fully in that view—l must therefore be
pardoned, gentlemen, in affirming, that it was in that view,
and that only, that I at firft accepted, enteredupon, and ever
afterwards assiduously and faithfully persevered in, the exe
cution of the offi:e; and that not only in refpe& of the then
present performances and exhibitions, but principally with
a view to furnish myfelf with such degrees of knowledge in
the business of my'profefiion as would qualify me for im
proving and extending my capacity and ability (should Ged
in his providence preserve me) to the later ft g. of life.
What advantages the society has gained fro: 1 these m, en
deavours you will think not so proper for me to determine;
but this I may fay without vanity or ostentation, that my
own heart is a withefs to my fidelity and integrity ; nor can
I admit a doubt that the society in general, both officers and
Undents, would readily and fully teffify the fame.
Sometime in the year' 1777 I was informed by the Rev.
Corporation, thatby reason of some unfortunate embarrass
ments then attending the Collegiate interest, occasioned by
the then present Situation of public affairs, it was impossible
to raise, in the usual way, a fufheient sum to pay my Aipula=
ted salary to the real value—viewing this deficiency to be
eccafioned by the general calamities of my country at that
particular time, and being willing to submit to a temporary
loss, and to bear a full proportion of the common adversity;
and unwilling at that time to be a proposer of any new or
Mnaccuftomed method for procuring a supply to the treasury,
I willingly accepted the sum offered me (small as it was in
value) for*my services the preceding year—everfirice which
time (the fame causes still operating and producing the fame
effects) you are fcnfible, g ntlemen, with what a small sum,
and how incompetent to a support, I have been annually
contented, with hopes and encouragements that the finances
of the College might soon be brought into a more favorable
filiation, andthe prefentembarraffments removed; until the
meeting of the Rev. Corporation in September last, when it
feemedto be the sense of that Rev. body, that for the reasons
before affixed (without any objection to my person, cha-
T2&er, abilities, or performances) / might be excufedfrom any
further services a r the ColP go,as I could have no further expectation
of a recompencefor them
This, gentlemen, being the state as to fads^-with all the
refpea and deffi-rencedue to your refpedable character, and
with that freedom and plainness suitable to one in my fitua
tiob, whose feelings can't but be deeply interested in the fub
jed, I would, by the favor of your candor and indulgence,
take the liberty to offer something to your consideration.
And this shall be, firft, in regard of myfelf and my own
particular situation; and then in refpe& to the society, in
which by your election I hold an office.
Fifft, in regard to myfelf, and my own particular situa
tion. You cannot, I think, suppose, gentlemen, that any
•ne in the situation in which the Corporation found me,
when they gave me the honor of their election, would, un
less destitute of common sense and prudence, have accepted
Wie office on any other confideration,than to hold it for term
eflife as a permanent fubfiftance—to have waved all other
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pr®fpe&s ofufefulnefs and employment to confine himfeff
to such studies and exercises as could never avail him in any
other situation—to have exhausted, the prime oflife for a
very moderate compenfatiun in a profeffion altogether limit
ed and local, without thinking himfelf well secured by the
enfurance of a permanent support, could never have been
thought worthy the chara&er of a prudent man—far am I
from accusing myfelf of such an indiferetion—happy did I
think myfelf in being well guarded and secured in a stipula
tion with a body offo reputable and diftinguisheda chara&er
—hereupon dilmiffed all other profpeds—-obeyed the invi
tation—devoted my time and abilities most aftiduoufly to
the execution of my trust—spent the most valuable part of my
life in acquiring that knowledge I esteemed requisite for
performing the fame with honor to myfelf and utility to the
society, and which, however, separately considered could be
of small avail to myfelf.
Self commendation is in most cases thought an indecency,
but let me only be pardoned in telling you, that I have been
diligent and faithful; and this notwithstanding a variety of
dispiriting incidents, which have unluckily thwarted me in
the course of dis. harging my office—l think it cannot have
efeaped your notice, gentlemen, that from, and even before
the time I aflumed my office, (besides the troubles arising
from my strait and contracted circumstance in refped offup
port) the prevailing state of the College ire refped of litera
ture, at it has been very diverse from what it formerly was,
so has it been very unfavorable to the reputation of those
branches which fall underthe province of my inftru&ion, and
even to the profeffion itfclf; on which account it has not
been so high in the estimation ofthe students as otherwise it
might have been-—more fond are youth of attending to the
more showy and fuperfiri^l parts of learning (especially if
such are most in vogue) and to furnish themselves for the
rapturous, transporting displays of the stage, and for those
more exhilarating, gay and splendid feenes, exercises and ex
hibitions, which are calculated only to warm the imagina
tion, captivate the mind, arreff the paffipns, and charm the
foul; than for those dry and painful, tho' important (pecula
tions, exercises and exhibitions, which are merely didactical, #
and which in their nature admit of nokind of embellishment'
but perspicuity, to recommend them to the attention and
good liking ofthe auditory. On those accounts, gentlemen 1
my office has injuriously fuffcred and become unpopular in'
time past among the students.
And tho true it is, that the society may now be efteemed'
eon ratively happy, in the late Capital change it has pafs'd I
under in refpedt ofits internal regimeryund fuperintendency;l
yet so deeply had these excesses antecedently taken root and
become so predominant, that to retrench them, and restore
a due ballance to the minds of the students, and dislodge so
fixt a habit, mutt now be not only the diredibn of wisdom,
but the business of time.
“ Tantum /Evi longinqua valet mutare Vetustas."
, Now, gentlemen, be pleased to ,advert for a moment to
the situation I am brought into by accepting the invitation
to office, in case! should either leave it, or not be supported
in it. At this stage oflife thrown aside from bufinefs—en
cumbred with the expences and cares of life, without any
steady employment to supply tig one or alleviate the other.
Afay I be iuffered, gentlemen, to remind you, that you are
all salary men? And to put the case, that after (pending the
prime oflife in their service, your people should tell you,
that " you are henceforth excused from any services among them, i
since that particular fund, from whence they expected a supply, is i
exhaufted-tnat therefore you have their consent to look, out for 1
some other employment?" would you not, gentlemen, on such an I
occasion, be at once furnished with an answer, prompted by
reason and the feelings of common sense? " I never agreed
to found my expectations of a support on the precarious basis
of an uncertain fund; it is your business to fulfil your con
tract—if the means you had in view have failed, it is for you
to devise others—never would I have fettled with am people,/
or accepted„ar invitation in particular, for you to difeard;
me so soon as I shall have served you long enough,to pre-I
clade from myfelf allfuture prafpe^s of employment, only I
in the later stages oflife, to be turned off, to be flighted and
difpifed by a relcntlefs world, and to be hifs'd, and pointed
at by every one, as an out cast or exile in it."
" Hie Pietatis Hbnos! Sic nosin Sceptra reponis?"
Suffer me, gentlemen, in the next place to be heard briefly,
in behalf of the society of which by you I am an appointed
irftutfor—can it ever be for its interest that the profeffor
ship should be negle&ed? To fay it is an office of no im
portance, would be to oppose, the fehtiments of the whole -
literary world, and to rohtradia the wisdom of ages—-nay,
should I admit the truth of fuchan assertion, I should at once 1
cast an ungenerous, as well as injurious reflection on those !
worthy patrons of literature, those rqfpe&^le charade,rs, un
der whose aufyices and patronage, this important society hasl
been upheld and supported, until it has arrived to its prefent'
state of perfection and glory; and by whom I myfelf was
elc&ed and appointed to office —-was it-ever therefore true.
that the office was ufeful, necessary and important, well me
riting the attention and providence of the guardians of the
foriety, and well compensating the expences of its support ?
and ean it now be imagined, that at any time since it hag
ceased to be important, and in future to dwindle into a state
of abje&ion and contempt?
True indeed, the annual avails ofthe College interest ma,
have been diminished: But does it then follow that an im
portant office muff cease ?-—Are there no methods remaining
by which to retrieve the disadvantages, or supply the defici
ency ? —The expences have always been defrayed in part b,
acapilation on the students: Is it impossible to take in the
idea of supporting the profefforship in the fame way, admits
ting there were no other?
'f But die burden on the students will be great and ledeft
their number! " —Tray what will be the great burden with
the present number of students? A less sum than two shillings
andfx-pence per quarter, will furnish out a salary much larger
than I have ever yet received—and can this ever be thought;
an insurmountable difficulty—will yourfeives fay, gentlemen,
that the advantages of the office, properly attended to, are
not equal to so inconsiderable an expence? What parent of
common discretion can be found, who would grudge four
times that expence, rather than his childshoula fail of the:
I advantage ?—Making it your own case, gentlemen, could
[ you think hard of the impoftion, orefteem itworth regarding,
I when laid in ballance withthe benefit? Why then should you
imagine, that parents should think hard of what yourfeives
know to be best for the institution? And even in case the,
should, ought notyour wisdom to corred their mistake, ra
, ther than be milled or obtruded thereby? You may there
fore rest assured, gentleman, that all sensible persons will
I join with you in this fentimenu; and as to the opinion of the;
I insensible class of mankind it is of no avail—if then, that
I part of the body of mankind, whose are the only sentiments"
I worthy of regard, would approve such a method, can we
I doubt but it wo. Id be so far from diminishing, that it would
;tend even to augment, the number of students.
I But fupnofe it were otherwise, and that mankind, or th#
I parents of the students in general, should, from a partial, or
I inadequate conception of things, form a different fentimen#
l in these matters, and be more startled at the expence, than
I pleased with the advantage—are they competent judges? Is
' the difpofcion and arrangement of College matters commits
I ted to them?—And are them sentiments to be called in and
[ adopted as the regulating and controlling principle, to which
I as a test or standard, those of the Corporation in their adroit
;nitrations, ought to avail? Pray, gentlemen, are not the
Corporation the foie trustees of the College? Have not they,
andtney only, an official right to appoint and ordain whac
methods shall fopportthe officers of their own creation and
inftit tion, without thinking themselves in the least amena
ble to the vague and ill grounded opinions of the people at:
large, who o..ght to rest fatisfied in their^meafires, as the
ofspring of wisdom and prudence, without any scrupulous
distrust orconcern about them? And is it not a Grange in
version of the order of nature, gentlemen, to suppose thau
students are to be supported at the expence of inftrudors and
not rather inftrudors at the expence of students?
And besides, can it ever comport with any good maxims
of policy in any university or College whatever, and muff
not a College be of a very peculiarly odd and Singular con
stitution, co be made to grow and flourish, by difmembriiig
l it of its officers and dropping its profeffions ?-—That the
:(mailer members of the natural body, for the preservation
l ofthe whole, should fuffer an amputation, has, indeed, in
, some cases, been found expedient and necessary : But where
ithe prescription is, to lop off the head, or pluck, out the heart, to
I preferve the whole, would it not be an indication, either of
I a very peculiar constitution, or a very ill advised and dan
'gerous pra&ice in him who should venture upon die opera
tion ? You will therefore now fuffer me, gentlemen, in fine
to offer you my own particular sentiments on this fubje&, with
all plainness and freedom, with all that deference, however
due to your refpe&able body ; in doing which (Jam confi
dent) I shall express the sentiments aifo of the more sensi
ble and judicious part of the community, and of mankind.
^tndthey are these.
The- keeping up the profeftrship (at this day efpecially)^
absolutely necessary to the holding up, or retrieving the ancient
credit of the collegiate invitation of the more solid parts of ffo
ence, the interest of literature, and of the society in general
And to drop it now data opera, would be at once, to lop off
: a very important branch from the institution ; maim the
. confutation in general; and in ^ measure change the anci^
vnt face and complexion of academical literature ; wound
the credit of those more solid branches, which have hereto
fore been holden up as most important, and thought worth,
of a vigorous cultivation, and acknowledged to be the
great ornament ang glory of the society ; and would expof^
them to dwindle, and fink deeper into contempt, than i^ghe
office had never been instituted, or once taken up,
(No. 949.1