Page:History of the University of Pennsylvania - Montgomery (1900).djvu/263

Rh But this may doubtless have been largely owing to the religious tests of the English Universities.] During Pierson's pupilage at Harvard, President Quincy tells us: 13 To the general student, and such as were not destined to the work of the ministry, the exercises of the College must have been irksome, and, in their estimation, unprofitable. The reading every morning a portion of the Old Testament out of Hebrew into Greek, and every afternoon a portion of the New Testament out of English into Greek, however it might improve their knowledge of those languages respectively, could not greatly accelerate or enlarge their acquaintance with Scripture, or tend vividly to excite their piety. The exposition, required by the laws of the College to be made by the President, of the chapters read at the morning and evening services, although greatly lauded for its utility, and made the repeated subject of inquiry by active members of the Board of Overseers, seems not to have been of any material efficiency in point of instruction. "To speak true Latin, both in prose and verse," was made an essential requisite for admission. Among the laws and liberties of the College was the following: ' ' The scholars shall never use their mother tongue, except that, in public exercises of oratory or such like, they be called to make them in English. Scholares vernacula lingua, intra Collegii limites nullo pretextu intentur."

The flavor of this training Rector Pierson must have maintained during the few years of his life spared to the Connecticut College. The administration of President Holyoke, at Harvard, beginning in I/37, 14 was distinguished by a series of persevering and well directed endeavors to elevate the standard of harmony in Harvard College. But the customs and rules of the College tardily yielded to the influences of the period; and it was not until after the middle of the eighteenth century, that effectual improvements were introduced. The dissatisfaction of the Board of Overseers with the state of elocution among the undergraduates, and with the standard of classical attainments in the College, was the origin of the present literary exhibitions, which were at first only semi-annual. In October, 1754, a committee was raised in that board "to project some new method to promote oratory." * * * The same Committee 15 had reported in April, 1755, ^ a * the fourth part of the yearly income of the Hollis donation, and the whole of the yearly income 13 History of Harvard University. Quincy, i. 193. 14 Quincy, ii. 123. 15 Ibid., ii. 125.