Samuel Johnson, Advertisement for King’s College (1754)

ADVERTISEMENTS OF THE BEGINNING OF TUITION
IN  THE COLLEGE,

May 31, 1754.

To such parents as have now (or expect to have) children  pre­pared to be educated  in the College of Ncw  York:

I. As the gentlemen   who  are appointed  by the assembly,  to be trustees  of the intended Seminary or College of New York, have thought fit to appoint  me to take  charge  of it, and have concluded to set up a course of tuition  in the learned languages, and in the liberal arts and sciences;  they have judged  it advisable,  that I should publish this advertisement, to inform such as have children ready for a college education,  that it is proposed to begin tuition upon the first day of  July next, at the vestry  room in the new school house, adjoining  to Trinity Church in New York,  which the gentlemen  of the vestry arc so good as to favor them with the use of in the interim, till a convenient place may be built.

II.  The simplest qualifications    they have judged requisite in order to admission into the said college,  are as  follows, Viz:   that they be able to read well, and write a good legible hand; and that they be well versed in the five first rules in arithmetic; i. e., as far as division  and reduction; and as to Latin and Greek, that they have a good knowledge  in the grammars,  and be  able to make grammatical Latin, and both in construing and parsing,  to give a good account  of two or three of the first select Orations of Tully, and of  the first books  of  Virgil’s Aeneid,  and some  of  the first chapters of the Gospel  of St. John in Greek. In these books there­fore they may expect to be examined, but higher qualifications must hereafter be expected;  and if  there be  any of  the higher  classes or any college,  or under private instruction, that incline to come luther, they may expect admission to proportionably  higher classes here.

III.  And that peop1e may  be  the better satisfied  in sending their children for education to this college, it is to be understood, that as to religion, there is no intention to impose on the scholars, the peculiar  tenets of   any particular sect of  Christians;   but to inculcate  upon their tender  minds, the great principles  of  Chris­ tianity and morality in which true Christians  of each denomination are generally agreed. And as to the daily worship in the college morning and evening, it is proposed  that it should ordinarily  con­ sist of   such a collection  of  lessons,   prayers,   and praises   of  the liturgy of  the Church,  as are, for the most part, taken out of  the Holy Scriptures,  and such as are agreed on by the trustees, to be in the best manner   expressive  of  our common  Christianity; and, as to any peculiar  tenets, every one is left to judge fully for him­ self, and to be required  only to attend constantly at such places  of worship,  on the Lord’s Day,  as their parents or guardians  shall think fit to order or permit.

IV. The chief thing  that is aimed  at in this college is to teach and engage the children to know God in Jesus Christ, and to love and serve Him in all sobriety, godliness, and righteousness   of life, with a perfect heart, and a willing .mind; and to train them up in all virtuous habits and all such useful knowledge as may render them creditable to their families  and friends, ornaments to their country, and useful to the public weal  in their generations.  To which  good  purposes  it is  earnestly   desired,  that their parents, guardians, and masters, ”would train them  up from their cradles, under strict government, and in all seriousness, virtue and industry, that they may be qualified to make orderly and tractable  members  of this society;-and, above  all that in order hereunto, they be very careful themselves, to set them good examples of true piety and virtue in their own conduct.  For as examples  have a very powerful influence over young minds, and especially  those  of their parents, in vain are they solicitous for a good education  for their children  if  they themselves set before  them  examples  of  impiety, and profaneness, or of any sort of  vice  whatsoever.

V.  And, lastly, a serious, virtuous,  and industrious   course  of  life being first provided for, it is further the design  of this college to instruct and perfect youth in the learned languages, and in the arts of  reasoning  exactly,  of writing  correctly,  and speaking  elo­quently; and in the arts of numbering  and measuring,   of survey­ing and navigation,  of geography  and history,  of husbandry,   com-III.  And that peop1c  may  be  the better satisfied  in sending their children for education to this college, it is to be understood, that as to religion, there is no intention to impose on the scholars, the peculiar  tenets of   any particular sect of  Christians;   but to inculcate  upon their tender  minds, the great principles  of  Chris tianity and morality in which true Christim1s  of each denomination are generally agreed. And as to the daily worship in the college morning and evening, it is proposed  that it should ordinarily  con­ sist of   such a collection  of  lessons,   prnyers,   and praises   of  the liturgy of  the Church,  as are, for the most part, taken out of  the Holy Scriptures,  and such as are agreed on by the trustees, to be in the best manner   expressive  of  our common  Christianity; and, as to any peculiar  tenets, every one is left to judge fully for him­ self, and to be required  only to attend constantly at such places  of worship,  on the Lord’s Day,  as their parents or guardians  shall think fit to order or permit.

V.  And, lastly, a serious, virtuous,  and industrious   course  of  life being first provided for, it is further the design  of this college to instruct and perfect youth in the learned languages, and in the arts of  reasoning  exactly,  of writing  correctly,  and speaking  elo­quently; and in the arts of numbering  and measuring,   of survey­ing and navigation,  of geography  and history,  of husbandry,   commerce and government, and in the  knowledge
of all nature in heavens above us, and in the air, water and earth around us, and the various  kinds  of meteors, stones, mines, and  minerals,  plants and animals, and of everything useful for the comfort, the convenience  and elegance  of  life,  in  the chief manufactures  relating  to any  of these  things;   and  finally,  to lead them from  the study  of nature to the  knowledge  of themselves,  and  of the  God of nature, and their duty to Him,  themselves, and  one another,  and every­ thing that can contribute  to their  true happiness, both  here  and hereafter.