LEASE HANDLE WITH CARE University of bnnecticut Libraries 3 ^153 DlfibEEm 7 aAvmon oa AN HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, ox THK TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF THE HOPKINS GEAMMAR SCHOOL, NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT. Delivered before the "Hopkins Grammar School Association/* JULY. 24tli, 1860, BY LEOKAED WOOLSEY BACON. •^IVITH IN^OXES ^ND J^IST ^FIPEISIIDIX. PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE ASSOCIATION. ♦♦^ NEW HAVEN : PRINTED BY T. J. STAFFORD. 1860. Nkw IIavks, August 7th, 1S60. Dkar Sin: At a meeting of the Hopkins Grammar School Association, on the afternoon of July •mu, the undersigned were requested to present to you the thanks of the Association, for your able Historical Discourse, delivered before them, at their request, on the occasion of the Two Hundredth Annlvemary of the foundation of tlie School. The Association also request of you a copy of the Discourse for jiublication b}- them. With sentiments of the liighcst esteem we are very cordially Vour friends, S. W. S. BUTTON, WM. L. KINGSLEY. n,v. L. W. IlAcov LUchfuld, Conn. Litchfield, August 23.1, 1S60. (iKNTi.i mi;n : The manuscript which you request on behalf of the Hopkins Grammar School Asso- ol.itlon, is very cheerfully placed at their disposal. I only ask permission (inasmuch as the Discourse was prepared under disadvantage, at this dislanff from Libraries and Records) to add to it some notes of illustration and verification, — also to till out the latter part of It, which was curtailed in the delivery. I am with great refpoct and esteem, Your friend, Li:ONAUD W. BACON. It. V. S. w: S. Dpttos, D. D., I V- ir W. L. K.N..si..:v, K,..,:, f ^^''^ "'^^'^"- HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, "- ^uob fd\)c iTaustumque sit f ' So spake John Davenport, two hundred years ago, to the General Court of the Colony of ^New Haven, and inaugurated The Hopkins Grammar School with words of happy omen. ''Happy be it and prosperous!" This day is witness that the old pastor's prayer is answered. The long, unbroken succession of learned teachers in this ancient school, and the multitude of hopeful youths of former generations here " bred up for the public service of the country" declare it ; and you whom I now salute, — students of the school, even now cherished by this ancient bounty, — fellow-alumni, gathered to acknowledge the debt of gratitude to our foster-mother, — respected teachers, both of earlier and of recent date, — you all confirm the testi- mony. I thank you, therefore, for the pleasing office with which you have honored me ; — not the thankless task of deprecation or apology, but the grateful one of tracing before you the history of two centuries during which this institution has been a fountain of liberal education, — a fountain which, once opened, has never at any time through all these generations intermitted its flow of useful and happy influences. I have no fear that the source of such long-continued and steadfast usefulness will be the less interesting because it is little recked of as a power in political history, and overshadowed by more imposing objects in the history of education, any more than that the water-spring in a thirsty land should be deemed less pleasing to the wayfarer, for gushing up in the shadow of ^reat trees which itself has nourislied, and being hidden, along all its course, under the very verdure which it quickens and sustains. A more serious difficulty is, not that the story if riirhtly written would fail of your attention, but that the choicer parts of it must always remain nnwritten. Of what has been, only such meager record has been kept as was need- ful for the conduct of this unostentatious trust. Who liave been tlic pupils here trained, and what have been the public services thus accruing from this foundation to " church and civil state" must be taken in a measure on presumption, or be gathered by tradition. And in reviewing the materials for the history of what has Ijeen^ of public achievement and re- nown, we come upon many monuments of great hopes disap- pointed — upon indications of what might have heen but was not. If it were not a history, but a poem, that was de- manded, there is enough in the recent history, yea ! in some men's memories^ of the ancient school, to be the food of sad and tender imaginations. " The good die young:" — few of us liave gathered at tliis celebration and recalled to one another the scenes of our school-boy days, but in tlie vision of faces and forms long departed, have proved the truth of the saying. If beside the titled roll of those who have gone from the dis- cij>line of this scliool to places of distinguished usefulness and honor, we could range the starred names of the early dead, would it be fancy only that would reckon the latter to be the brighter constellation ? The sober history of hopes fulfilled in the two hundred years' existence of this school would be eclipsed in the beauty and splendor (if imagination might be suffered to dei)ict them) of the iiopes here nurtured only to be crushed and disappointed. " TItey, the youuf,^ and bravo tliat clioriyhed Noblo lon;;iii^'s for tlic strife, Hy the wayside fell and perished, Weary with the march of life." Tardon me: I do not mean to exceed the limits of your in- vitation. I am not about to wander wide in these imaginations. Ihit I know that I have been utterinor no private or singular teeiings of my own :— that there are manv others in whom the name of this, the scene of their boyish education, wakens np thoughts quite as much of sorrow as of joy, — thoughts that yearn for expression, even on this festival day ; and that none of you whose remembrance of school life is hallowed by asso- ciations such as these, would choose that they should be passed ^^y " Without the raeed of some melodious tear." Let US turn back to the history. The occasion which we are gathered to commemorate as the l)irth-day of this collegiate school is entitled by the venerable historian of Connecticut, " The Reverend Mr. John Davenport's resignation of Gov- ernor Hopkins's donation to the General Court of ITew Haven, [June*] 4th 1660." The transaction, and the record of it. are marked by a care- ful attention to the dignity of what was felt at the time to be an historic occasion. Doubtless it was in itself a notable oc- currence, that the reverend man who was venerated even dur- ing his life-time as the Moses who had delivered the law of God to the commonwealth of His people, should leave the hab- itual seclusion of his study f and present himself before the sen- ate of the little republic. Guided by the portrait of him which has been preserved to us, it is not difficult for us to imagine him as he stood on this occasion before the elders of the people, habited, doubtless, in scholar's gown and cap, showing in form and feature the marks that had been made by his twenty-two years' sojourn in the wilderness, but wearing still the look of scholarly and saintly beauty that beams upon us from the can- vas. Perhaps " The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power," would not have added to the dignity of that scene. The record, as it stands in the ancient record-book of the Colony, from which it has been repeatedly transcribed by * In Trumbull it is given 3lai/ 4th, and the mistake is copied by Mr. Barnard, " Education in Connecticut," p. 24. f He was " so close and bent a student that the rude Pagans themselves took much notice of it, and the Indian savages in the neighborhood would call him ' so big study man.'" Mather, Magnalia, I, 329, (Ed. 1858.) See also Bacon's Historical Discourses, p. 117. 6 historians, is a copy of Mr. Davenport's own writing. It opens with tlie Latin f(^rniula of benediction which has al- ready been repeated, " Quod fdix fcmstiimquc sit,'' and ])ro- ceeds : '^On the 4tli day of the 4th montli, IGGO, John Davenport, pastor of the Church of Christ in Is^ew Haven, presented to the honorable General Court at Kew Haven, as followeth :" The i^aper goes on to remind the Court what they them- selves had resolved, sundry years before, (as appeared in tlie ])ul)lic records,) towards the founding of a College in New Haven,'^— " a small college, such as the day of small things will permit," and informs them that at once on the de- cision of the Court to undertake that enterprise, he, —"the said Juhn Davenport, wrote unto our beloved friend, Kdward Hopkins, Esq. then living in London, the result of those consultations. In answer whereunto, the said Edward Hopkins wrote unto the said John Davenport, a letter dated the oOth of the second month, called April, 1656, beginning with these words: " * Most Dear Sih, — The long continued respects I have re- ceived from you, but especially the speakings of the Lord to my heart by you, have put me under deep obligations to love, and a return of thanks beyond v/hat I have or can express,' [&c. Then after other passages (which being secrets hinder me from shewing his letters) he added a declaration of his purpose in rfference to the college about which I wrote unto him.] ' That which the Lord hath given me in those parts, I ever designed, the greatest part of it, for the furtherance of the work of Christ in those ends of the earth, and if I understand that a college is begun and like to be carried on at New Haven, for the good of ])osterity, I shall give some encouragement there- unto.' These are the very words of his letter. But before Mr. Hopkins could return an answer to my next letter, it pleased God to finish his days in this world." • Concerning thcso early elTorts toward the founding of a 'College, see below, p. 22. AUo Stilcs'H History of Three of the Judges of King Cluirles I, 39, 40. The communication then announces to the General Court, that Governor Hopkins by his last will had bequeathed his estate in 'New England to trustees of whom Mr. Davenport was one, to be disposed of " unto the public uses mentioned ;" and that it had been agreed by the trustees that one half of the estate whicli should be gathered in, should be paid unto Mr. Davenport for IS; ew Haven. Mr. Davenport adds that the other trustees had assented to his declared purpose of interesting tlie honored magistrates and elders of this Colony in the disposal of that part of the estate which was to be here expended, " for the promoving the college work in a gradual way so far as he might with preserving in himself the power committed to him for the discharge of his trust." Reserving to himself, " while it may please God to continue his life and abode in this place, a negative vote to hinder anything from being acted which he shall prove by good reason to be prejudicial to the true intendment of the testator, and to the true end of this work," he delivers over his trust to the legislature of the Colony, " adding also his desire of some particulars for the well performing of the trust," and concluding : '' Ele hopeth he shall not need to add what he expressed by word of mouth, that the honored General Court will not suffer this gift to be lost from the Colony, but as it becometh fathers of the commonwealth, will use all good endeavors to get it into their hands, and to assert their right in it for the common good ; that posterity may reap the good fruit of their labors and wisdom and faithfulness ; and that Jesus Christ may have the service and honor of such provision for his people; in whom I rest. John Davenport." Thus closed this transaction"^' with the same serious dignity with which it was begun. The very next business to which the court proceeded was the fulfillment of the '' desired particu- lars " wdiich Davenport had laid before them "for the well per- formino: the trust." * For the entire record, see Appendix, I. By one of these " desired particulars," wliicli were not con- ditions nor stipulations, but which seem to have been un- dertaken by the public with not less of fidelity, for being a simjjle request from their cliief pastor, there was granted for the use of the proposed college a "home-lot" fronting on the public square, and the annual rent of an estate early conse- crated to this use by the town was pledged to the new enter- prise, '* under the name and title of college-land.'''^ The main fnnd of the infant seminary, from the estate of Gov. Hopkins, did n(U become at once available. Hindrances, legal and po- litical, were laid in the way of the enterprise. The form of its management was modified from the original design ; its grade was reduced below the plans and hopes o its projectorsf ; and its active operation was some years delayed. Nevertheless by the wise forethought of Davenport, seconded by the unhesitating generosity of the towns-people of New Haven, it w^as at once provided with a home among their " fair and stately houses," 80 tliat in that year, IGGO, " the fourth day of tbe fourth month," this "collegiate school" became an institution.f And now having got our hero born into the world, speech- less as he is thus far, not yet so much as distinguished with a name, and having (as it should seem) but a very precarious and doubtful hold on life, we will nevertheless do, as biog- • The "Oyster-shell Field" was a tract of forty acres bounded on the east by th'. East River, and on the south in part by the harbor. It was very early set uKidc for public uses, and in ItUl, a part was leased for seven years " for the ease for publi<|ue charges." This was the " college-land." f The proper time to be celebrated as the anniversary of the foundation of the school,. was the subject of some discussion in the Hopkins Grammar School .Vf»sociation ; and their decision with regard to it has been called in question. It is to be acknowledpjed that Mr. Davenport held the " resignation " above transcribed to have become void by the failure of the General Court to fulfill the conditions of it ; [Town Rec. Apr. 2S, 16G4 ;] that a new distribution of the es- tate was nmde and the trust placed in diflerent hands ; [" Mr. Davenport's Grant," lf>68, in Appendix,] and that the gift of the Oyster-shell Field was renewed by .tppcial vole to the new Trustees, [1077] Nevertheless the view of Mr. Daven- port him.sclf is very clearly expressed in his second grant in 1608, the purpose of which was defined to be " y« y^ Grammar School or Collcdge att New Haven nlrcaihj fnundi'd and hrgnn may bo provided for, maintained & continued for y» oncouragomont «l- bringing tip of hopofull youths in y« Languages and good Lit- rrntiiro for the Tuhlique use : Gouc^no^ Thcoph: Eaton, Esq;, his father in law, & to the aforesaid John Davenport, & ioyned with them in the same trust Captaine John Cullick & M^ William Goodwin. 4 It haveing jdeased the Most High to afflict this colony greatly by takeing from it to himself o' former euer hono'"'! gou'no^ M''. Eaton, the surviving trustees 65 school, and appoint forever their own successors. Since then, the fund has in- creased until it is now full $16,000, beside the School-house and the lot on which it stands, and the apparatus and other facilities for teaching ; while the reputation of the school, at least a large part of the time, for thorough classical instruction, has not been exceeded by that of any school in the country/'* The endowment of the IIadley school was increased in the first years of its existence, by grants of land from leading citizens; and the school thus provided for was, at the request of Mr. Goodwin, to be called The Hopkins School. The Board of five Trustees, appointed, in conformity with an agreement between Mr. Goodwin and the town, in 1669, "continued to have the management of the property, and to appropriate its annual income "to the purposes intended by the testator" until 1816, when the committee, in concurrence with the town of Had- ley, petitioned the legislature for an act of incorporation," which was accord- ingly passed. The people of IIadley, after a while, complained of the Trustees, that they had "for a long time refused to administer the trust according to the directions of the donors and to appropriate the annual avails of the property to and for the exclusive use and benefit of the plaintiffs, and had appropriated the same as well to the use and benefit of others as of the plaintiffs, and sometimes to the exclu- sion of the plaintiffs." The case thus made of "Hadley vs. Hopkins Academy," came before the Supreme Court of Massachusetts in 1833, and was the subject of an elaborate opinion by Chief Justice Shaw, in which it was held, that the devise of Governor Hopkins "was not made for the purpose of founding a common town school for the exclusive benefit of the inhabitants of that town, but w^as designed for the encouragement of all persons in that (then) newly settled part of the country, who should desire to avail themselves of a Grammar School adapted to instruct and qualify pupils for the university." The above quotations are made from the report of the case in the fourteenth volume of Pickering's Reports, p. 240. It is supposed that a sketch of the history of the Hopkins Grammar School of Hadley exists in manuscript among the papers of the late Sylvester Judd, Esq., of Northampton, Mass. * From a manuscript by Rev. Horace Hooker of Hartford, for the use of which I have already acknowledged my obligation. 5 06 IX. ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION ADOPTED BY THE ALUMNI OF THE HOPKINS GRAMMAR-SCHOOL. ARTICLE L This Association shall be known by the name of the Hopkins Gramraar-School Association. ARTICLE IL The objects of this Association shall be, to perpetuate the memory of the benevolent Founder of the School, to revive and preserve its histories and traditions, to maintain the friendships and acquaintances of early days, and to bear onward the prosperity of the Institution by any proper means. ARTICLE IIL All past or present Officers and Teachers of the School, and all persons aver sixteen years of age, who have been scholars in the School for one year or more, but whose pupilage in the School has ceased, are entitled to membership in this Association. ARTICLE IV. Any other person than those mentioned in the preceding Article, may be made a member by a two-thirds vote of the members present at any regular meeting. ARTICLE V. The Officers of this Association shall be a President, Vice-President, Secre- tary, Treasurer, and a Standing Committee of six others, all of whom shall be chosen at the annual meeting, by ballot. ARTICLE VL The meetings of this Association shall be held regularly o-nce a year, during the month of July, (Commencement Week,) and at any other time when the President, with the advice of the Standing Committee, may deem it necessary. ARTICLE VII. The President, Secretary and Treasurer, shall be resident in Now Haven, and Hhall be cx-officio members of the Standing Committee. ARTICLE VI I L The duties of the Standing Committee shall be, to advise with the President upon the interests of the Association, and to carry into effect the resolutions af the Aaaociation, except when specially committed to other officers. > 67 PRELIMINARY MEETINGS OF THE ALUMNI OF THE HOPKINS GRAMMAR-SCHOOL. FIRST MEETING OF THE ALUMNI OF THE HOPKINS GRAMMAR-SCHOOL. A meeting of the graduates of the New Haven Hopkins Graramar-School having been called by public notice, convened at the School-house, on "Wednes- day, the 28th of July, 1858, at 2 o'clock P. M., twenty-six being present. The meeting was called to order by the Rev. Chauncey Goodrich, who moved that the Rev. S. ^Y. S. Button, D. D., take the chair. The motion was adopted, and the organization completed by the appointment of Mr. Timothy K. Wilcox, secretary. The object of the meeting being called for, the Rector of the School, Mr. Whiton, made a statement, that the Uth of June, 1660, had been ascertained to be the correct date of the foundation of the School, so that the Two Hundredth Anniversary was near at hand. He also alluded to the fact that this School is the second in age of all similar institutions in the country— the Public Latin School of Boston, Mass., being its senior. This School, which organized an Association of its Alumni in 1844, has a Catalogue dating back to 1635. The speaker concluded by moving the following resolutions : Eesolved, That it is expedient that an Association of the Alumni of the Hopkins Grammac- School should be formed. Eesolved, That a Committee of three be appointed to draft Articles of Association, to be sub- mitted to the Alumni at their next meeting, and, in connection with the Trustees of the School, to devise the most appropriate way of celebrating our Second Centennial Anniversary. Rev. Edward 0. Flagg, of New York City, remarked that many would look back on this School as their alma mater as well as alma nutrix, and would there- fore be deeply interested in such an organization, which he hoped would become a permanent thing. Rev. Chauncey Goodrich remarked that the great deficiency of the past has been the want of such an organization. It is difficult for those who were in the School thirty years ago to remember those who were then scholars with them, or even their teachers. It would be well to have the organization for the sake of having some permanent records of the School. Mr. H. C. Kingsley thought that the approach of the Second Centennial An- niversary was of itself enough to warrant the formation of an Association of the Alumni. Rev. Dr. Dutton echoed the same sentiments, and, in speaking of the unwritten 68 history of the School, gave some humorous illustrations of the store of old reminiscences that lives in the memory of many a former scholar. The resolutions which had been moved were then adopted unanimously, and the Chair appointed Mr. 11. C. Kingsley, Rev. Chauncey Goodrich, and Mr. James M. Whiton, as the Committee. The meeting then adjourned to call of the Committee. TIMOTHY K. WILCOX, Secretary. SECOND MEETING OF THE ALUMNI OF THE HOPKINS GRAMMAR-SCHOOL. The Alumni of the Hopkins Grammar-School, to the number of thirty-five, met at the call of the Committee, on Tuesday, the 26th of July, 1859, at two o'clock P. M., in the President's Lecture Room, Yale College. Rev. Chauncey Goodrich called the meeting to order, and nominated Prof. B. Silliman, Jr., as Chairman, which nomination w^as accepted, and the meeting com- pleted its organization by the appointment of Mr. Eli W. Blake, Secretary. The report of the last meeting was then read by Mr. T. K. "Wilcox, its Secre- tary, and accepted. The "Articles of Association of the Alumni of the Hopkins Grammar- School " were then read by Mr. James M. Whiton, and unanimously adopted by the meeting. These Articles are as follows : Article I. This Association shall be known by the name of the Hopkins Grammar-School Association. ARTrcLE II. The objects of this Association shall be, to perpetuate the memory of the benevo- lent Founder of the School, to revive and preserve its histories and traditions , to maintain the frieiidslilps and acquaintances of early days, and to bear onward the prosperity of the Institution by any proper means. AuTicLK III. All past or present Officers and Teachers of the School, and all persons over tbcteen years of age, who have been scholars in the School for one year or more, but whose pupil- age in the School has ceased, are entitled to membershii) in this Association. Article IV. Any other person than those mentioned in the preceding Article, may be made a member by a two-thirds vote of the members present at any regular meeting. Article V. The Officers of this Association shall be a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and a Standing Committee of sL\ others, all of whom shall be chosen at the annual meeting, by ballot Article VI. The mcetinp;s of this Association shall be held regularly once a year, during the month of , .and at any other time when the President, with the advice of the Stand- ing Committee, may deem it necessary. Article VII. The President, Secretary and Treasurer, shall be resident in New Haven, and Bhall be ex-offl.cio members of the Standing Committee. Article VIII. The duties of the Standing Committee shall be, to advise with the President upon the Interests of the Association, and to carry into effect the resolutions of the Association, except when •peclally comuiilted to other officers. > 69 These Articles having been accepted, On motion, Rev. Chauncey Goodrich, Prof. Timothy Dwight, and Rev. E. O. Flagg, were appointed a Committee to report nominations for the officers men- tioned therein. During their consultation, Mr. J. M. Whiton read an interesting essay on the origin and early history of the School. The Committee reported the following names : For President : Prof. A. C. TWINING. For Vice-President: HAWLEY OLMSTEAD, Esq. For Secretary : WILLIAM L. KINGSLEY. For Treasurer: LUCIUS AV. FITCH. For Executive Committee : Rev. DAVID L. OGDEN, HENRY C. KINGSLEY, Prof. BENJAMIN SILLIMAN, Jr., JAMES M. W^HITON, Dr. CHARLES L. IVES, Prof. T. F. DAVIES. On motion, the rule requiring election by ballot was laid aside, and the names offered by the Committee accepted by an unanimous vote. It was then moved and accepted, that the blank in Article VI of the Articles be filled, so that the Article may read, " The meetings of the Association shall be held regularly once a year, during the month of July, (Commencement Week,) and at any other time when the President, with the advice of the Standing Com- mittee, may deem it necessary." . Rev. Chauncey Goodrich then made some remarks on the propriety of cele- brating the coming Two Hundredth Anniversary of the School, and invited sug- gestions as to the proper method. Prof. Timothy Dwight moved that there be a historical discourse, a good dinner, and that the celebration take place on Tuesday of Commencement Week, 1860, — which motion was carried, A motion was then made by Rev. Chauncey Goodrich, that the appointment of the orator, and other details of the celebration, be left with the Executive Com- mittee. Carried. Prof. Timothy Dwight then moved that the Executive Committee be instructed to invite and urge the presence and co-operation of the Hartford Hopkins Gram- mar-School, — which was unanimously passed. Rev. David L. Ogden offered his resignation from the Executive Committee, — which was not accepted. The meeting then adjourned, subject to the call of the Executive Committee. E. W. BLAKE, Jr., Secretary. 7a THIRD MEETING OF THE HOPKINS GRAMMAR SCHOOL ASSOCIA- TION, NEW HAVEN, July 24, 1860. On Tuesday, July 24th, 1860, the Association of the Alumni of the Hopkins Grammar-School assembled, by invitation of the Executive Committee, at the College street Church, and listened to a historical address, -which was delivered by Rev. Leonard W. Bacon, of Litchfield. After the address, the Association was called to order by the President, Prof. A. C. Twining, and a resolution was offered, to the effect, that the thanks of the Alumni of the Hopkins Grammar-School be presented to the orator, Rev. Leon- ard W. Baoon. The resolution was passed unanimously ; whereupon, Rev. S. W. S. Button, B. D., and William L. Kingsley, were appointed a Commit- tee to express the thanks of the Association to Mr. Bacon, and request a