College of William and Mary - Colonial Echo Yearbook (Williamsburg, VA)

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of the chancellorship down to the Kexolution. After this time the college was presided over by IJishops Ahulison, Johns, anil other eminent divines. Although after the Revolution all connection between college and church and state were severed by Jefferson, some of the most distinguished divines of modern days have been sons of William and Mary. William and .Mary, like Harvard, had no private ends to subserve : it has lived for the State. The privileges granted in the charter of 1693 had great influence in Ijringing the college into close connection with the State. Uv being situated in Williamsljurg. which, for a long time, was the social ami ])olitical center of the colonies, it had every opportunity for sending out the men wdio should shape the destinies of our countr . holding the office EDMUND RANDOLPH Governor of Virginia and Secretary of State. Stii ' lf ' ti ' 17 ' :i: : Mt ' m ' irr nl the Board of Visitors 1779. of Surveyor-! ieneral. it practically coiUrolled the land system, and thus the wisest statesman that .America can boast of — George Washington — received from William and Mary his first commission as a ])ublic laud surveyor, it exercised the duties of this office miti! i.Sk;, and among the other sm-veyor.s appointed by the college, were Zachary Taxlor. grandfather of the late ( ieneral Taylor, and Thomas Jefferson. iVior to the Revolution, the college consisted of six schools including tlie Indian school, sujjported ]) - the donation of Hon. Robert Boyle. Tlie average niunbcr of students was ai)out sixty. Tliese were uni exce])tions to the general rule of young men of their time, and the I ' aculty 23

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the college bid fair to gratify the most sanguine hopes of its advocates ; but in 1705 a tire broke out, and completely destroyed the building, with the laboratory and other apparatus. Steps were immetliately taken for rebuild- ing, but owing to the lack of funds, the work was not entirel)- completed until 1723. soon after which a full corps of six professors was selected, and the college entered upon a career of usefulness unparalleletl by anv other institution in the countr . Opposite the Urafferton on the college campus stands the I ' resi- dent ' s house, the foundation of which was laid in 1732. During the Revo- lution this building was accidently burned w-hile occupied h - French troops before the siege of Yorktown. Louis X ' l kindly rebuilt it. and ])rc- scnted the college library with six hundred volumes of great value. -About this time the famous old chapel which forms the southwestern wing of the college building, was opened. It was concerning this that I ' .ishop Meade, in his Old Churchk.s . nd F. mii,ies of Virgixia. sairl : ■■ Williamsburg was once the miniature copy of the Court of St. James, r ' COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY. Ax it nppiared unf ' d ihe Jire of 1S59. somewhat aping the manners of that royal palace while the Old Church and its graveyard and the college chapel were — si licet citin magna componcrc l arva — the ' estminster Abbey and tlie St. I ' aul ' s of London, where the great ones were interred. The remains of Sir John Randolph, his sons. I ' cyton Randolph. Presi- dent of the first American Congress, and John Randolph. Attorney of the Crown for the Colony of irginia. Lord Botetourt. I ' .ishop iladison. and Chancellor Xelson sleep in vaults beneath the tloor. riiere are two notable things embodied in the charter of William an(. Marv. and demonstrated by its subsequent history: the pious spirit with which it began and continued its career, and the close connection it has alwavs had with the State. The motives for founding the colle.ge were the amein 1693 as in i6iy. to educate ministers and to propagate the Christian faith. The first words in the oldest record-book of the faculty are. In nomine Dei Patris.Filii ef Spiritits Sancti. Amen. The religious character was shown bv the selection of oilficers. Rev. James Blair was the first president, and the P.ishop of London and .Archbishop of Canterbury were the holders 22

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RUINS OF JAMESTOWN TOWER SEVEN MILES FROM THE COLLEGE,