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1834.]

VIRGINIA.

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ties, there has been a steady and continued improvement through the state in the execution of the law. It has already imparted the knowledge of reading and writing, with all their moral tendencies, probably to 50,000 human beings; and, before many years, it will have conferred the same inestimable blessings on twice that number.

In 1820, a law was passed authorizing the extension of the system of primary schools to all classes, but leaving it discretionary. This law gave authority to the school commissioners of each county, whenever they thought the purposes of education would be thereby promoted, to lay off their county into districts, of from three to seven miles square; and as soon as the inhabitants of such district shall have raised threefifths of the sum required to build a school-house in the district, the commissioners are authorized to contribute the other two-fifths, so, however, as not to exceed ten per cent. of the county's annual quota of the $45,000. They are further authorized to pay a sum not exceeding $100 towards the salary of a teacher, provided the inhabitants of the district contribute an equal or greater amount; and, at the school thus provided, every white child in the district may be taught gratis. Each school is to be placed under the control of three trustees, of whom the school commissioners are to appoint one, and the private contributors

two.

Academies and High Schools.

Academies in Virginia are private schools, commonly established by a few public-spirited individuals in a county or neighborhood, who erect suitable buildings and provide requisite teachers. The ordinary number of scholars is from 30 to 50. There are about 55 of these academies in the state. The grammar schools are conducted solely by their respective teachers. In some of them Latin, Greek, and mathematics are taught. But the largest part of the youth of both sexes are taught in domestic schools. A teacher can be procured for 200 or 300 dollars exclusive of his board, while the children of the neighbors will come in as scholars, and some of them as boarders. The chief difficulty in carrying on any of these schools is that of obtaining suitable instructors. There has been recently great improvement in female education in Virginia. There are more than twenty female academies, of which there was not one before the Revolution; and three-fourths of them have been established within the last 30 years.

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA.

The legislature of Virginia at the session of 1817-18, adopted measures for establishing an institution then proposed to be named Central College, and 24 commissioners were appointed to select a site for it. They accordingly selected a pleasant and elevated spot nearly two miles

from Charlottesville, in the county of Albemarle, not far from the centre of the population of the state. Their choice was confirmed by the legislature in 1819, and an act was passed incorporating the institution by the title of the University of Virginia, which went into operation in 1825. It was erected and endowed by the state; and it owes its origin and peculiar organization chiefly to Mr. Jefferson. It has a fine collection of buildings, consisting of four parallel ranges about 600 feet in length, and 200 feet apart, suited to the accommodation of 9 professors and upwards of 200 students; which together with the real estate, cost $333,996. It possesses a very valuable library of 8,000 volumes, and a philosophical apparatus, which together cost $36,948. The state gives annually $15,000 for the support of the institution. The whole annual income of the university is about $18,500. The professors are paid partly by a fixed salary and partly by fees received from the students; but the sums which they severally receive are widely different, varying in ordinary years from $1,600 to $3,500.

The plan of this university differs materially from that of other institutions of the kind in the United States. The students are not divided into four classes, with a course of studies embracing four years; but the different branches of science and literature here taught are styled schools. The following particulars are extracted from the "Regulations," &c. Students are not admitted under 16 years of age; every one is free to attend the schools of his choice, and no other than he chooses; provided, that if under the age of 21, he shall attend at least three professors, unless he has the written authority of his parents or guardian, or the Faculty shall, for good cause shown, allow him to attend less than three. In each school there are three regular lectures a week; besides which, there are in most of them extra lectures suited to the several classes into which the school is divided. The mode of instruction is by text-books and lectures, accompanied by rigid examinations.

Three honorary distinctions are conferred by this institution; a Certificate of Proficiency, that of Graduate of any class, and that of Master of Arts of the University of Virginia. No particular period of study is prescribed for the acquisition of these honors. The student obtains them whenever he can undergo the rigid examination to which the candidates for them are subjected.

The title of Doctor of Medicine is conferred on the graduates of the Medical Department.

There is but one session annually, commencing on the 10th of September, and ending on the 20th of July. Commencement is on the last day of the session, when there are public exercises, and at the same time the certificates and diplomas are awarded. - Number of students, in 1833, 157.

The first degree was conferred in 1828;-number of graduates in 1828, 10; in 1829, 12; in 1830, 30; in 1831, 20; in 1832, 46. - total 118; of these 16 were graduates in the ancient languages; 14 in mathematics; 23 in natural philosophy; 9 in chemistry; 17 in moral philosophy; 22 in medicine; and 17 in law. - The title of "Master of Arts of the Uni. versity of Virginia" was conferred on one student at the commencement of 1832.

Annual expenses; - board, including bed, washing, and attendance, during the session, from September 10 to July 20, $100; fuel and candles $15; room-rent $8; use of library and public rooms $15; fees to three professors (to one only $50; to two $30 each; if more than two, $25 each) — $ 75: - total $ 213.

Faculty in 1833.

Gesner Harrison, Prof. Anc. Lang.
George Blætermann, Prof. Mod. Lang.
Charles Bonnycastle, Prof. Math.
Robert Patterson, Prof. Nat. Phil.

Thomas Johnson, Prof. Anat. & Surg.
Prof. Medicine.

George Tucker, Prof. Mor. Phil.
John A. G. David, Prof. Law.

John P. Emmett, Prof. Chem. & Mat. Med. J. Herve, Tutor Mod. Lang.

Chairman of the Faculty, in 1833, Professor Tucker. The chairman is annually chosen from the professors by the rector and visitors.

Board of Visitors. - James Madison, Rector; James Breckenridge, Chapman Johnson, Joseph C. Cabell, John H. Cocke, Thomas J. Randolph, and William H. Brodnax. — Frank Carr, Secretary. -The Visitors are appointed by the governor and council every four years.

COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY.

This institution, which is at Williamsburg, formerly the capital of Virginia, and is, next to Harvard College, the oldest in the United States, derives its name from William and Mary, sovereigns of England, by whom its charter was granted in 1691. It received with its charter a grant of £1,985, 20,000 acres of land, and a penny a pound on tobacco exported from Virginia and Maryland; and it was further aided by private donations, particularly by the munificence of the Hon. Robert Boyle. In 1693, the Assembly of Virginia ordered that it should be built at Williamsburg, and made some additional grants, so that its annual

income became upwards of £3,000; but it was subsequently greatly diminished. "The funds," as recently stated by the President of the college," consist of bonds, stocks, lands, and houses, amounting in all to about $150,000, not yielding, however, a revenue in proportion to the amount."—"No regular list of students or graduates, has been kept till within the last few years; the number, therefore, of alumni we cannot determine; but it is certainly greater than from any other college south of the Potomac. Owing to peculiar circumstances, our graduates have always been few. Nine-tenths of our students have gone through one course without applying for a degree." Many of the most eminent men of Virginia were educated here. The condition of the college, at different periods, has been very variable; but, after a period of declension, it has had, for some years past, a considerable degree of prosperity. It is under the legislative government of a board of 24 trustees who supply vacancies in their own body.

The college edifice is a large misshapen pile of building. The college library contains 3,500, and the students' library, 600 volumes.

The Rev. James Blair, D. D., was named President in the charter, but is said not to have entered upon the duties of the office till 1729; he died in 1742, and was succeeded by the Rev. William Stith, who died in 1750. The Rev. James Madison, D. D., (Bishop of Virginia) was president from 1777 to 1812. His successors have been the Rev. W. H. Wilmer, Dr. J. Augustine Smith,and the Rev. Dr. Adam Empie.

Faculty in 1833.

Rev. Adam Empie, D. D., Pres. & Prof. Th. R. Dew, Prof. Hist., Metaph., &c. Robert Saunders, jr., Prof. Mathematics.

Mor. Phil.

William B. Rogers, Pr. Chem. & Nat. Phil.
Dabney Brown, Prof. Humanity.

Prof. Law.

Number of students in the Senior and Junior classes in 1833, 26; irregular students 15; law students 12; academical 37; -total 90. Graduates in 1829, 5; in 1830, 7; in 1831, 15; in 1832, 11.

Commencement is on the 4th of July. One Vacation, from commencement to the last Monday in October.

Annual expenses ; for a Junior student; - board and lodging $100 ; washing, fuel, candles, &c. $20; three fees for the moral, mathematical, and chemical courses, and half a fee for the metaphysical course, $70; matriculation $5:- total $195:- for a Senior student $185.

The Law Course commences at the opening of the college, and terminates on the Saturday before the last Monday in April. Expenses; board, washing, and fuel $90; - tuition $20;- matriculation $5: total $115.

The Grammar School opens on the 1st of October, and closes on the 1st of August. Expenses ; — board, including every thing, $ 100; tuition $20 total $120.

WASHINGTON COLLEGE.

An academy was incorporated, at Lexington, in Rockbridge county, in 1782, under the name of Liberty Hall Academy; and in 1812 it was chartered as a college, called Washington College from General Washington, who endowed it with 100 shares in the James River Canal, which produced, in 1821, an annual income of $2,400. "This donation constitutes the only part of its funds that are now productive, and may be estimated at $25,000. Its other funds consist also of donations, one devised by a private citizen of Lexington, estimated at $50,000, when relieved from certain debts of the testator, and another from the Cincinnati Society of Virginia, on their voluntary dissolution, amounting to $15,000, but not yet drawn out of the hands in which it was deposited; making in all $ 90,000." See Education in Virginia. There are two buildings of brick, which afford accommodations for 50 or 60 students; and a library of 1,500 volumes. It is pleasantly situated; its expenses for education are not high; but its students have never been very numerous. Number in 1833, 46.

Louis Marshall, M. D., President.
Rev. Henry Ruffner, Prof. Math.

, Prof. Ethics.

Faculty in 1833.

J. W. Farnum, M. D., Prof. Chem. & Nat.
Phil.

N. Brown Seabrook, Tutor.

HAMPDEN-SIDNEY COLLEGE.

This institution, which has an elevated and pleasant situation, a mile from the court-house in Prince Edward county, 80 miles SW. of Richmond, was founded in 1774; and it owes its establishment altogether to individual enterprise. The annual income of its funds has not, till recently, been more than about $600, but within 5 or 6 years, a contribution has been made to the funds of the institution of $30,000, of which $25,000 have been set apart as a permanent fund for the support of professors; so that the annual income of the funds is now stated to be upwards of $2,000. It has two buildings, both of brick, one 190 feet by 50, of 4 stories, containing 48 rooms for students, a chapel, a library room, and other public rooms; the other 45 feet by 40 of 3 stories, occupied by the academy or preparatory school attached to the college. It has a valuable philosophical apparatus, and a considerable library. The legislative government is vested in 27 trustees who fill up vacancies in their own body. Number of students for several years past variable from 40 to 140;-in 1832, 60. Annual expenses ; for tuition, board, room-rent, washing $150. Commencement is on the 4th Wednesday in September. Vacations; - 1st, the month of October ;2d, the month of May.