Page:The History of the University of Pennsylvania, Wood.djvu/81

Rh, by which he was enabled to steer through the embarrassments of a most agitated period, without either striking against the prejudices and passions which beset him on all sides, or suffering himself to be carried away by the violence of the currents which swept across his course. In the same tenour of usefulness and respectability his life ran evenly on, till at length the debility of old age overtook him, and rendered a retirement from active duties advisable on account of the university, and necessary for his own comfort Upon the occasion of his resignation, the board of trustees, expressing the "high regard and respect" which they entertained for him, resolved that "in consideration of his long and faithful services," he should be allowed an annuity of two hundred and fifty pounds per annum, and the use of the house which he then occupied, during the remainder of his life. Mr. Davidson resigned in February, 1806; and in the month of May following, James G. Thompson, the present excellent professor of the Latin and Greek languages, was appointed in his place.

The Rev. William Rogers, professor of English and the belles-lettres, was a clergyman of the Baptist church. He had served during the revolution as chaplain in the army, and afterwards had the charge of a congregation in this city. His office in the university, though nominally on a footing with the other professorships, was in fact regarded as less essentially connected with the interests of the seminary, and therefore commanded less both of influence and emolument. Of so little importance indeed was it considered, that, in a change of regulations which took place in the year 1810, the trustees resolved that it was expedient to suppress it: but, at the same time, unwilling to wound the feelings of Dr. Rogers, they determined that it should remain in its former condition till after the death or resignation of that gentleman.