Page:The History of the University of Pennsylvania, Wood.djvu/80

74 essential to his tranquillity. Testimonies of the public esteem followed him into retirement The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by the institution which he had so long and diligently served; and in the presidency of the philosophical society, to which he was appointed on the death of Dr. Wistar, he received the highest literary honour in the gift of any association on this side of the Atlantic.

At the time of his resignation, a favourite son had been chosen to supply his place till a regular appointment should be made. He lived not only to witness the confirmation of this son in the professorship, but to experience, from his honourable exertions and well merited reputation, the purest gratification of which the parental heart is susceptible. To crown the felicity of his lot, he had united the Christian with the philosopher; and, at a good old age, went down to his grave, with the full assurance that he should rise again to a happier and more exalted existence. Dr. Robert M. Patterson, the present vice-provost and professor of natural philosophy, succeeded his father A. D. 1813.

Of the professors who belonged to the college before its overthrow in 1779, Mr. Davidson alone had retained his station through all the subsequent changes. In the superintendence of the academy of Newark in Delaware, he had exhibited such evidence of his familiarity with the learned languages, and of his abilities as a teacher, that on the death of Mr. Beveridge, he was thought qualified to supply the place of that accomplished scholar, and was invited towards the close of the year 1767, with offers too favourable to be resisted, to take charge of the Latin school. That his talents continued to be held in high estimation is evinced by the fact, that in each successive change of the institution, care Was taken to secure his services. The same fact speaks favourably of the prudence and general moderation of his