their aid on any terms short of actually imposing their uniformity on the people of England.

The battle of Edgehill on the Lord's day, October 23d, when the king, marching from the north towards London with fifteen thousand men, met the earl of Essex with nearly an equal force-was the first encounter of armies in the war, towards which all events had so long been tending. That Sabbath evening, four thousand Englishmen lay dead upon the bloody field. And the blood of thousands more must needs be shed, sometimes in battle, sometimes upon the scaffold, some times with a more dreadful atrocity under the gallows, before the axiom, that England with all its people was made for the king, could be superseded by the axiom, that England with its king and all its institutions was made for the people.

Such was England two hundred years ago the foundations of all her institutions shaken as by an earthquake her ancient government resolved into warring elements -armies garrisoning her cities, or

quartered upon her villages-the blood of fratricidal battles staining her fields and mingling with her streams-perplexity, distrust, anxiety, fear and wrath, in the palaces of her nobles and the cottages of her peasantry. War, civil war, had begun with all its horrors for the present, and all its perils for the future. What was to be the result of the conflict-whether new and adequate barriers were to be erected against absolute power; or whether laws, liberties, charters, were all to be overthrown in some disastrous battle-whether the ecclesiastical polity of the state was to be so reformed, as that the church with its endowments, instead of existing only to surround the throne with the pomp of a compliant hierarchy, should exist only for the moral instruction and spiritual illumination of the whole people; or whether the pure gospel was to be trampled down, and lost to England, in the triumphant return of dark and cruel superstitions-none could foretell from all the omens of that stormy sky.

THE History of Yale College by President Clap, published in 1766, contains the fullest account that we have seen, of Elihu Yale, the eminent benefactor of that institutionwith whose likeness we have embellished this number of the New Englander.

President Clap says: Presently after this, (in 1718), the Collegiate School at New Haven received sundry very large and generous donations, which were very acceptable at this difficult time. The greatest of which was from the Honorable ELIHU YALE, of London, governor of the East India Company. He was heir to a manor in Wales, of the value

of five hundred pounds sterling, per annum, besides the vast treasures he got by his personal industry while he was in the East Indies. The paternal estate (as it was said) being entailed to the male heir of the family, and he having no son, but three daughters, sent to his first cousin and next male heir, Mr. John Yale of New Haven, with whom he had been formerly acquainted in England, to send him one of his sons, to inherit the paternal estate. Accordingly, in the year 1712, he sent his son, Mr. David Yale, to London, who upon his return, was graduated at this College, 1724.

These things brought Governor

Yale into correspondence with the Honorable Governor Saltonstall and the Rev. Mr. Pierpont of New Haven, which was the occasion of his generous donations. In the year 1714, he sent forty volumes of books in Mr. Dummer's collection. Last year he sent above three hundred volumes, both which parcels I suppose to be worth one hundred pounds sterling. This summer he sent goods to the value of two hundred pounds sterling at prime cost, besides the king's picture and arms, with some intimations that he would yet add; and accordingly three years after, he sent to the value of one hundred pounds more; both which parcels were sold here for an equivalent to four hundred pounds sterling.

On September 12, 1718, there was a splendid commencement held at New Haven, where were present, besides the trustees, the Honorable Gurdon Saltonstall, Esq., Governor of the colony of Connecticut, the Honorable William Taylor, Esq., as representing Governor Yale, the Honorable Nathan Gold, Esq., Deputy Governor, sundry of the worshipful Assistants, the Judges of the Circuit, a great number of reverend ministers, and a great concourse of spectators.

The trustees, in commemoration of Governor Yale's great generosity, called the collegiate school, after his name, Yale College; and entered a memorial thereof upon record, which is as follows:

Generosissimâ, honoratissimi Domini ELIHU YALE Armigeri, donatione, vigilantes Schola Academica, in splendido Novi Portûs Connecticutensis oppido constitutæ, Curatores, ædificium collegiale inceptum erectumque perficere capaces redditi, honorem tali tantoque Mæcenati patronoque debitum, animo gratissimo meditantes, memoriamque tanti beneficii in hanc præcipuè coloniam collati, in omne ævum modo optimo perducere studiosi: Nos Vol. I.

35

Curatores negotii tanti, in commune præsertim hujus provinciæ populi bonum, momenti curâ honorati, omothumadon consentimus, statuimus et ordinamus, nostras ædes academicas patroni munificentissimi nomine appellari, atque YALENSE COLLEGIUM nominari: ut hæc provincia diuturnum viri adeò generosi, qui, tantâ benevolentiâ tantaque nobilitate, in commodum illorum maximum propriamque incolarum, et in præsenti et futuris seculis, utilitatem consuluit, monumentum retineat et conservet.

JACOBUS NOYES,
MOSES NOYES,
SAMUEL ANDREW,
SAMUEL RUSsel,
JOSEPHUS W1

VEBB,

JOHANNES Davenport,

THOMAS RUGgles,

STEPHANUS BUCKINGHAM. Which I shall translate, for the sake of the English reader.

The Trustees of the Collegiate School, constituted in the splendid town of New Haven, in Connecticut, being enabled by the most generous donation of the Honorable ELIHU YALE, Esq., to finish the college house, already begun and erected, gratefully considering the honor due to such and so great a benefactor and patron, and being desirous, in the best manner, to perpetuate to all ages the memory of so great a benefit, conferred chiefly on this colony: We the trustees, having the honor of being intrusted with an affair of so great importance to the common good of the people, especially of this province, do with one consent agree, determine and ordain, that our college house shall be called by the name of its munificent patron, and shall be named YALE COLLEGE; that this province may keep and preserve a lasting monument of such a generous gentleman, who, by so great a benevolence and generosity, has provided for their greatest good, and the peculiar advantage of the inhab

itants, both in the present and future ages.

On the commencement day morning, this monument both of generosity and gratitude was with solemn pomp read off in the college hall, both in Latin and English; then the procession moved to the meeting house, to attend the public exercises of the day; wherein, besides the oration made by one of the bachelors, the Rev. Mr. John Davenport, one of the trustees, at the desire of the body, made a florid oration, wherein he largely insisted upon and highly extolled the generosity of Governor Yale. Eight candidates received the honor of a degree of Bachelor of Arts; and several more were created Masters. And the Honorable Governor Saltonstall was pleased to grace and crown the whole solemnity with an elegant Latin oration; wherein he congratulated the present happy state of the College, in being fixed at New Haven, and enriched with so many noble benefactions; and particularly celebrated the great generosity of Governor Yale, with much respect and honor.

After this the trustees sent a very complaisant letter of thanks to Governor Yale, and gave him a particular account of all the transactions at the commencement.

Governor Yale, the great benefactor to this College, died July 8th, 1721.

He descended from an ancient and wealthy family in Wales, who for many generations possessed the manor of Plas Grannow, and several other messuages, near the city of Wrexham, of the yearly value of five hundred pounds. Thomas Yale, Esq., the Governor's father, for the sake of religion, came over to America with the first settlers of New Haven, in the year 1638. Here the Governor was born, April 5, 1648. He went to England at the age of about ten years; to the East Indies at about thirty, where he lived near twenty years; acqui

red a very great estate; was made Governor of Fort St. George; married an Indian lady of fortune, the relict of Governor Hinmers, his predecessor; by whom he had three daughters, viz. Katharine, who was afterwards married to Dudley North, Esq., commonly called Lord North; Ann, who was married to the Lord James Cavendish, uncle to the Duke of Devonshire; and Ursula, who died unmarried. After his return to London, he was chosen Governor of the East India Company, and made the donations before mentioned. And it is said, that a little before his death, he wrote his will, wherein he gave five hundred pounds more; but afterwards, thinking it was best to execute that part of his will in his lifetime, he packed up goods to that value, ready to be sent; but before they were shipped, he took a journey into Wales, and died at Wrexham, in or near the seat of his ancestors. So that the goods were not sent, neither could the will obtain a probate, although Governor Saltonstall took much pains to effect it.

He was a gentleman who greatly abounded in good humor and generosity, as well as in wealth; and his name and memory will be gratefully perpetuated in Yale College.

A note on the 189th page of Bacon's Historical Discourses, affords reason to believe that President Clap has not given to Jeremiah Dummer, Jr., then agent in London for the colony of Connecticut, all the honor due him for his exertions in behalf of the infant College. It was probably owing to his influence, that the charities of Governor Yale took this direction.

A catalogue of the paintings in the south room of the Trumbull Gallery, Yale College, contains some further particulars from the pen of Professor Kingsley. He says: The portrait of Governor Yale, now in possession of the College, was presented by Dudley North, Esq., son of

Catharine; and was sent to the college in 1789, on the application of President Stiles. This grandson of Governor Yale was at that time owner of the family estate at Wrexham, and was a member of Parliament. From a date on the canvas, the portrait appears to have been executed by E. Seeman, 1717, about four years before the Governor's death. The following is a copy of Governor Yale's epitaph, in the church yard at Wrexham:

Under this tomb lyes interred Elihu Yale, of Place Gronow, Esq.; born 5th of April, 1648, and dyed the 8th of July, 1721, aged 73 years. Born in America, in Europe bred, In Afric travel'd, and in Asia wed,

Where long he liv'd and thriv'd; at London

dead.

Much good, some ill he did; so hope all's even, And that his soul through mercy's gone to heaven.

You that survive and read, take care
For this most certain exit to prepare,
For only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.

An engraved likeness of Governor Yale was sent to the College at an early period, under which was placed, in manuscript, the following inscription: Effigies clarissimi viri D. D. Elihu

Yale, Londinensis Armigeri. En vir! cui meritas laudes ob facta per orbis Extremos fines, inclyta fama dedit. Equor arans tumidum, gazas adduxit ab Indis,

Quas ille sparsit munificante manu: Inscitiæ tenebras, ut noctis luce coruscâ Phoebus, ab occiduis pellit et ille plagis. Dum mens grata manet, nomen laudesque YALENSES

Cantabunt SOBOLES, unanimique PATRES.

Imitated by Dr. Percival.

Behold the man, for generous deeds renown'd, Who in remotest regions won his fame; With wise munificence he scattered round

fly,

As flies the night before the dawning rays: So long as grateful bosoms beat, shall high YALE'S sons and pious fathers sing his praise.

The gratitude expressed by the founders of Yale College, and the other leading men of the colony, for the " generous donations" of Governor Yale, and the very great benefits to the country and the world that are traced back to these early endowments of the Institution, we wish might inspire some of our capitalists with a laudable desire to enroll their names, along with that of Yale, as the benefactors of mankind, by endowing such of our infant institutions as Lane Seminary, and Western Reserve, Marietta and Illinois Colleges. The cause of education, of religion, of good order, at the West, depends on the prosperity of these seminaries. They need funds. But such are the calls on the charities of the middle class of Christians, for the prosecution of the Gospel, that they reluctantly more direct measures for spreading close their ears, with few exceptions, against the appeals of these institutions. Permanent endowments, therefore, can come only from the Elihu Yales of the country—men of wealth and munificent hearts, who either have few heirs dependent upon them, or property enough both for heirs and noble charities. Let such men remember, at least in their wills, the colleges referred to a sure way of embalming their names in the hearts of a grateful posterity.