CHAPTER XXIV.

Two new modes of aiding the College funds were introduced by the General Court during this presidency. One of them was such, as we may believe, would not have been adopted by the worthies of that day, had experience of its evils taught them to regard it in the same light that it has since been. This was, by an appeal, not to the charity of men, but to their passions for gain. In June, 1765, the General Court passed "an Act, for raising by Lottery, the sum of three thousand two hundred pounds, for building another Hall for the Students of Harvard College to dwell in"; and it was the first act of the kind passed for the benefit of this institution. In the Preamble to this Act it is stated "that the buildings belonging to Harvard College are greatly insufficient for lodging the Students of the said College, and will become much more so when Stoughton-Hall shall be pulled down, as by its present ruinous state it appears it soon must be. And whereas there is no Fund for erecting such Buildings, and considering the great Expence which the General Court has lately been at in building Hollis-Hall, and also in rebuilding Harvard-College, it cannot be expected that any further provision for the College should be made out of the Public Treasury; so that no other resort is left but to private Benefactions, which it is conceived, will be best excited by means of a Lottery."

The other mode of aiding the funds of the College was of a different character. It was by giving it an interest in grants, which were made, of townships of land in the Province (now State) of Maine. Care had been taken in former grants of this kind to provide for the future support of religion and education in the respective townships. To the shares which were reserved for these important objects, the General Court thought proper at length to add a share for the benefit of Harvard College. The first instance of this was in the year 1762; from that time till about the time of President Holyoke's decease, there appear to have been as many as twenty-six townships, in different parts of Maine, from six to seven and a half miles square, granted, with a reservation in each of a share for Harvard College. The share was one sixty-fourth part in these several townships, except one, and in that it was but an eighty-third part.

By the establishment of the two Professorships, of Divinity and of Mathematics, the College had made considerable advances towards the rank of a University, or school which furnishes instruction in the whole circle of the liberal arts and sciences. It was enabled to make a further advance of the same kind, by the munificence of the Honorable Thomas Hancock, of Boston. This gentleman was the second son of the Rev. John Hancock, of Lexington, a clergyman of great respectability, and of such weight and influence among his brethren, that he was styled Bishop. Thomas was born July 3d, 1703. He "served his time with Col. Henchman, a stationer, in Boston; but, having a turn for more extensive business, became one of the principal merchants in New England; "? and was distin

1 Eliot's Biogr. Dict. p. 238, note.

2 Ibid.

guished for his activity, probity, benevolence, hospitality, and public spirit. He was many years a member of his Majesty's Council; and was a most useful member of society. Though not an alumnus, he was a warm friend of Harvard College; his bounty to it during his lifetime has been already noticed. His sudden death, which took place August 1st, 1764, by preventing him from executing his liberal intention towards the Library, furnished his nephew and heir with an opportunity of exhibiting the noble instance of generosity toward the Library already mentioned. Honorable as this act was in itself, its merit was enhanced by the fact that legacies to the amount of more than £2300 sterling were to be paid from the estate, by his uncle's will. Of these legacies one of a thousand pounds sterling was given to the "President and Fellows of Harvard College, the whole income to be applied to the support and maintenance of some person, who shall be elected by the President and Fellows, with the approbation and consent of the Overseers, to profess and teach the Oriental languages, especially the Hebrew, in said College." At a meeting of the Corporation, Sept. 19th, 1764, it was voted, on thankfully accepting this generous bequest, "that there be constituted a Professorship of the said languages in Harvard College," and "that the Professor upon Mr. Hancock's foundation be known by the stile and title of the Hancock Professor of the Hebrew and other Oriental Languages." These votes were consented to by the Overseers; and thus arose "the first Professorship founded in New England, or in America, by one of its sons." A full length portrait of this generous benefactor, painted by Copley, now decorates one of the rooms of the public Library.

1

1 College Records.

In a seminary, which, from the beginning, had for its primary object the cultivation of sacred literature, it might be taken for granted, that the original languages of the Bible would have always formed a part of the regular course of instruction. Such was indeed the fact; and not only the Greek and Hebrew, but the Chaldaic and Syriac were taught, from the first, by able Oriental scholars. 1 But there appears to have been no person, whose sole or appropriate business was to teach either of those languages, or any one branch of learning, before the year 1720; about which time a favorable opportunity presented itself for commencing a division of labor, in this respect, with the Hebrew.

2

Mr. Judah Monis, a Jewish Rabbi, who was born in Italy, or in one of the Barbary States, came to America at an early period of life, and about the year 1720 began to instruct in Hebrew. In the year 1722 he became a convert to Christianity, and was baptized at Cambridge. It was voted by the Corporation, April 30th, 1722, “ that Mr. Judah Monis be improved as an instructer of the Hebrew language in the College," and that his salary for one year should be £70. All the undergraduates, excepting the Freshmen and such others as should be exempted by the President and Tutors, were required to attend his instructions on four days in the week. He was rechosen the next year with a salary of £80; and at the same time, "the Corporation, having had

1 New England's First Fruits.

See Appendix, No. I.

2 [On that occasion, March 27th, 1722, a Discourse was delivered in the College Hall, by the Rev. Dr Colman ; which was published in a volume with three Discourses by Mr. Monis himself, entitled respectively, The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth. 12 mo. Boston, 1722. EDIT.]

experience of great benefit to the College from the service of the Hebrew instructer, Mr. Judah Monis, the last year, voted, that such an office be continued in the Colledge, so long as a suitable person for that service can be found, and a suitable support for him." His election was renewed the year following; and it was then voted, "that the Tutors of the several classes be obliged to instruct their respective pupils (except such as are entered with the said Mr. Monis) in the Hebrew language, as heretofore"; and "that Mr. Monis be obliged to instruct such of the graduates at the College in the Hebrew language, as shall attend him, at such times as the Corporation shall appoint."

He seems afterwards to have become a permanent instructer. In the year 1735, he published a Hebrew Grammar, for the use of the College, and was paid by the Corporation £35 for this service. 2 "He made use of the vowel points in this grammar, and insisted that they were essential to the right pronunciation of the language." "He was considered as well educated in Rabbinical learning, and in that knowledge which was requisite for an instructer in Hebrew." There must, however, from some cause or other, have been a great decline in the cultivation of Hebrew; for when Judge Wingate was at College (1755-59) Mr. Monis "attended to the instruction of the scholars one afternoon in the week; but none were compelled to attend who did not choose to learn Hebrew, and but a small portion of the scholars paid any attention to his instruction."

On the death of his wife, in 1761, he resigned his office, which he had held about 40 years, and retired to

1 Overseers' Records.

2 Ibid.

3 MS. Letter of the Hon. Judge Wingate, Dec. 2d, 1830.