Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

12
Concerning the Colledge of William and Mary in Virginia

In y^e year 1691 Colonel Nicholson being Lieuten^t
Governour, the General Assembly considering the bad
circumstances of y^e Countrey for want of Education
for their youth, went upon a proposition for a Colledge
to w^ch they gave y^e name of William & Mary Colledge.
They proposed that in this Colledge there should be three
Schools viz. a Grammar school for teaching the Latin
& Greek tongues, a Philosophy school for philosophy
& mathematicks, and a divinity school for the Ori-
ental tongues & Divinity, for it was one part of their
designe that this Colledge should be a seminary for y^e
breeding of good Ministers, with w^ch they were but ve-
ry indifferently supplyed from abroad. They appoint
-ed what Masters should be in each of these schools, and
what Salaries they should have. For y^e Government and
^{How governd}Visitation of this Colledge they appointed a Colledge
Senate w^ch should be ^{consist of} eighteen, or any other number not
exceeding twenty, who were then the Lieuten^t Governour,
four Gentlemen of the Council, four of the Clergy, and
the rest nam'd out of y^e house of Burgesses, with power
to them to continue themselves, by Election of a successor
in the room of any one that should dye or remove out
of y^e Countrey. They petition'd the King that he would
make these men trustees for founding & building this
Colledge & governing it by such Rules & Statutes as they or
the Major part of them should from tyme to time appoint.
Accordingly y^e King passed his Charter under y^e Great
Seal of England for such a Colledge, & contributed
57 very bountifully both to the buildings & endowment of
it. Toward the Building he gave near two thousand
pounds in read Cash out of y^e Bank of Quitrents,
in w^ch Governour Nicholson left at that time about
four thousand five hundred pounds and towards y^e En-
dowment y^e King gave y^e neat produce of y^e penny
p[er] pound in Virginia & MaryLand, worth 200 lbs
p[er] annum (mentioned page 50) and the Surveyors
Generals place worth about 50 lbs p[er] annum, and the
choice of ten thousand Acres of Land in Panmuckey
neck & ten thousand more on the Southside of the black
water swamp w^ch were Tracts of Land till that time
prohibited to be taken up. The General Assembly also
gave the Colledge a Duty on Skins & Furrs worth better
than a 100 lbs a year, and they got subscriptions in
Virginia in Governour Nicholsons time for about
2500 lbs towards y^e Building. With these beginnings
^{Difficulties in carrying it on} the Trustees of the Colledge went to work, but their Good
Governour who had been y^e greatest incourager in that
Countrey of this designe (on w^ch he has layd out 350
lbs of his own Money) being at that time remov'd from
them & another put in his place that was of a quite
different spirit & temper, they found their business go
on very heavily, & such difficulties in every thing that
presently upon change of y^e Governor they had as many
Enemies as ever they had had friends; such an univer-
-sal Influence and sway has a person of that charac-
-ter in all Affairs of that Countrey. The Gentlemen
of the Council, who had been the forwardest to sub-
-scribe, were the backwardest to pay, then every one
was for finding shifts to evade & elude their subscrip-
-tions, & the meaner people were so Influenced by their
Countenance & Example (men being easily persuaded
58 The King's Bounty to it &c. to keep their money) that there was not one penny got of
new subscriptions, nor payd of y^e old 2500 lbs but about
500 lbs, nor durst they put the Matter to the hazard
of a Lawsuit, where this new Governo^r & his Favourites
were to be their Judges: Thus it was with the Funds
for Building. And they far'd little better with the
Funds for Endowments; for notwithstanding the
first choice they are to have of y^e Land by y^e Charter,
Patents were granted to others for Vast Tracts of Land,
and every one was ready to oppose y^e Colledge in take-
-ing up y^e Land, their Survey was Violently stop'd
their Chain broke & to this day they can never get to
the possession of y^e Land. But y^e Trustees of the Colledge
being encourag'd with a Gracious Letter y^e
King writ for y^e Governour to encourage the Colledge
& to remove all y^e obstructions of it, went to work &
carried up one half of the designed Quadrangle of the
Building advanceing money out of their own pock-
-ets where the Donations fell short. They founded
their Grammar school, w^ch is in a very thriving way
and having y^e clear Right & Title to the Land would
not be bafled in that point but have strugled with
the greatest man in the Government next y^e Governor
[the] Mr Secretary Wormley who pretends to have a
grant in future for no less than thirteen ^thousand Acres of y^e
best Land in Pamuⁿckyneck. The cause is not yet
decided, only M^r Secretary has again stop'd the
chain, w^ch it is not likely he would do, if he did not
know that he should be supported in it. The Collec-
tors of y^e penny p[er] pound Likewise are very remiss
in laying their Accounts before y^e Governours of
y^e Colledge according to the Instructions of the
59 Commissioners of the Customs, so that Illegall Trade
is carried on & some of these Gentlemen refuse to give
any account upon Oath. This is the present State of
y^e Colledge. It is honestly & zealously carried on by y^e
Trustees, but is in danger of being ruin'd by the back-
wardness of the Government.

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