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 494 HARVARD HARVARD UNIVERSITY becoming interested in literature, he translated a number of French and Italian comedies and prepared for the stage several of Calderon's plays. He also composed many short poems. In 1835 he became a stenographer on the staff of the Gaceta de Madrid. In 1836 an original drama by him, entitled Los amantes de Teruel, was played with success, and he afterward pro- duced many others. He has also published criti- cal editions of the works of Tirso de Molina (12 vols., Madrid, 1839-'42), of Calderon (4 vols., 1849-'51), of Alarcon (1852), and of Lope de Vega (4 vols., 1853). Among his own works are Cuentos y fdbulas (2 vols., 1861), Obras de encargo (1864), and Obras escogidas (2 vols., Leipsic, 1865). In 1852 he was named presi- dent of the theatrical council, and he has been since 1862 director of the national library. HARVARD, John, the founder of Harvard college, born in England, probably in Middle- sex, died in Charlestown, Mass., Sept. 24, 1638. He was educated at the university of Cam- bridge, and having emigrated to America was made a freeman of the colony of Massachusetts, Nov. 2, 1637. The following year, as appears from the town records, a portion of land was set off for him in Charlestown, where he exer- cised the ministry. In April, 1638, he was appointed one of a committee "to consider of some things tending toward a body of laws." These are the only particulars known of his life. His property at his death was worth about 1,500, one half of which he gave for the erection of the college which bears his name ; but part of this bequest, we are told, was diverted from its original purpose. He also left to the college a library of more than 300 volumes. A monument to his memory was erected in the burial ground of Charles- town by the alumni of the university, and in- augurated with an address by Edward Everett, Sept. 26, 1828. HARVARD UNIVERSITY, the oldest and the most amply endowed institution of learning in the United States, situated in Cambridge, 3 m. W. of Boston, Mass. Six years after the first settlement of this region by the English the following entry appears on their records, under date of Oct. 28, 1636: "The court agreed to give 400/. towards a schoale or colledge, whear- of 200?. to bee paid the next yeare, and 200Z. when the worke is finished, and the next court to appoint wheare, and what building." The next year the court ordered that the college should be at " Newetowne," and designated the governor and deputy governor, with ten oth- ers, including the principal laymen and minis- ters of the colony, among whom were John Cotton and John Winthrop, to have charge of the undertaking. Under date of March 13, 1639, it was " ordered, that the colledge agreed upon formerly to bee built at Cambridg shal bee called Harvard Colledge." By the change of the name Newtown to Cambridge it was designed to honor the famous English univer- sity, of which some of the early settlers were graduates, and the name Harvard was given to the institution in recognition of the liberal en- dowment of about 700 left by the will of the Rev. John Harvard in 1638. It is doubtful whether the original grant of 400 was ever ac- tually paid. It is certain that the project tor a college lay in abeyance until the bequest of Harvard at once initiated the necessary meas- ures. In 1638 a class began a course of study in the college under Nathaniel Eaton. The first class graduated, in 1642, consisted of nine mem- bers. Efforts were made to educate a few of the aborigines as teachers of their own race, but only one Indian was ever graduated. In 1642 the general government of the college and the management of its funds were vested in a board of overseers, consisting of " the governor and deputy governor for the time being, and all the magistrates of this jurisdiction, togeth- er with the teaching elders of the six next adjoining towns viz., Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dorches- ter and the president of the said college." In 1650 the general court granted a charter to the college, under which it became a corpora- tion with the title of the "President and Fel- lows of Harvard College," consisting of the president, five fellows, and a treasurer or bur- sar, to have perpetual succession by the elec- tion of members to fill vacancies. In October, 1680, by order of the general court, the ferry between Boston and Charlestown was granted to the college. The town of Cambridge gave several parcels of land, as did other public bod- ies and private individuals. The legislatures of the colony, province, and state of Massachu- setts made grants, in early times regular ones annually, to pay the salary of the president, and to aid in the support of some one or two other officers or teachers in the college, as also occasional gifts for special purposes; while lotteries were chartered to obtain money for building some of the older college halls. The last grant made to the college from the public treasury was in 1814. When a constitution was framed for the commonwealth in 1780 the perpetual enjoyment of all their vested rights and powers was secured to the president and fellows of Harvard college, and the council and senate were made the successors of the magis- trates in the board of overseers as constituted in 1642. The organization of the board of overseers, under the direction of the legislature, underwent various changes until 1865, when the connection of the college with the com- monwealth was dissolved, and the control of the university was vested in its alumni. Be- sides the president and treasurer of the uni- versity, who are ex officio members, the board consists of 30 members, divided into six class- es, of five each, who after a term of six years go out of office in rotation, five overseers being elected by the alumni each year. The first election of overseers by the alumni was held in Cambridge on commencement day in 1866. Only inhabitants of the state are eligible as