Page:The librarians of Harvard College 1667-1877.djvu/21

 LIBRARIANS OF HARVARD COLLEGE. cessor. The Corporation appear to have been equally divided between Holyoke and Rev. Joshua Gee (Librarian, 1721-22) ; while the Overseers were at first strongly opposed to the former, both because his orthodoxy was held not to be strictly Calvinistic and because he was a country clergy- man. The Corporation compromised by electing the Rev. William Cooper, but he declined the office. Finally, after over two months of discussion, the Corporation unanimously elected Holyoke, and two days later, 2 June, 1737, the Overseers unani- mously confirmed the choice. The causes that led to this change can hardly be determined ; Barnard in his Autobiography seems to attribute it to his own influence on Governor Belcher, and relates the conversation he had with him shortly before Holyoke's election, in which he vouched for the latter's scholarship and Calvinism. The society at Marblehead, however, was unwilling to let their pastor leave. Finally, at one of the meetings to discuss the question, Mr. Barnard prayed that they might have light in the matter, and forthwith they accepted Holyoke's resigna- tion. Afterwards, when it was asked why they allowed him to go, it was said, as Barnard quaintly relates, that "old Barnard prayed him away." Holyoke's inauguration took place 28 Septem- ber, 1737. His administration, the longest in the history of the College, covered years of prosperity and progress. A number of bequests were re- ceived and new professorships established, and several buildings were erected. New methods of teaching and text-books were adopted, and the laws governing the students were revised. The early part of his term was disturbed by a con- troversy with Whitefield. The revivalist had attacked the College as a place of darkness and irreligion. His charges were answered in a pamphlet entitled " The testimony of the Presi- dent, professors, tutors, and Hebrew instructor of Harvard College, in Cambridge, against the Rev- erend George Whitefield and his conduct" (1744). To this Whitefield replied, and was answered in a printed letter by Professor Wigglesworth, with an appendix containing Holyoke's refutation of the charge of inconsistency. Whitefield among other things had declared that " Bad books are become fashionable amongst them. Tillotson and Clarke are read instead of Shepherd and Stoddard and such like Evangelical writers." Wigglesworth's answer to this charge indicates the kind of use the students made of the Library in the middle of the eighteenth century: "for almost nine years," as was shown by an examination of the Library records and "attested by the Library Keeper," "Tillotson had not been so much as once taken out of the Library by any Undergraduate ; nor any of Dr. Clark's Works for above two years : Whereas Owen, Baxter, Flavel, Bates, Howe, Doolittle, Willard, Watts, and Guyse (who be sure most of them can be reckoned Evangelical Writers, as well as Shepherd and Stoddard) have some or other of them been borrowed by Under- graduates during this whole time ; and that they they are scarcely ever in the Library." Professor Wigglesworth's letter ended the controversy so far as the College was concerned, although the pamphlet war outside continued long after. The peace of the later years of President Holyoke's long term was somewhat marred by trouble with the students over the commons. Holyoke continued the active duties of his office until not long before his death, 1 June, 1769, in his eightieth year. At his funeral, Professor Stephen Sewall (Librarian, 1762-1763) delivered a Latin oration. Edward Holyoke was three times married : 1st in 1717 to Elizabeth, daughter of John Browne, of Marblehead; 2d in 1725 to Margaret, daughter of John Appleton and grand-daughter of Presi- dent Rogers ; and 3d in 1742 to Mary, widow of Samuel Epes of Ipswich. He had eleven children. President Holyoke published very little ; Quincy suggests that it was owing to his being unwilling as the head of the College to enter into contro- versy. During his presidency his only publica- tions, besides his part mentioned already in the Whitefield incident, were a convention sermon, in 1741, on the " Duty of ministers of the Gospel to guard against the pharisaism and sadducism of the present day," and a Latin poem contributed to the " Pietas et Gratulatio," sent by the College to George III. on his accession. When a young man he had edited several numbers of an almanac (1715, etc.), and shortly before he became Presi- dent he printed his sermon preached at the ordi- nation of James Diman (Librarian, 1735-37) over the church at Salem. The previous year he had published his election sermon delivered before Governor Belcher, which it is said influ- enced the Governor in his favor. His Dudleian Lecture, delivered in 1755, the first of the series, was never printed. The manuscript of it, how- ever, is preserved in the College Library, where also may be found several manuscript sermons by him, some of them in short-hand. Nathaniel Appleton, in his discourse after the funeral of President Holyoke, thus descril es his appearance and character: "The former of our Bodies gave him not only a comely Countenance, and a graceful Presence, but an healthy, robust and active Constitution of Body. And the Father of our Spirits endowed him with superior Powers of the Mind ; and by his kind Providence gave him special Advantages for improving and enlarging