Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/122

112 public library, which contributed greatly towards improving the minds of the citizens. But this was not ſufficient. The ſchools then ſubſiſting were in general of little utility. The teachers were men ill qualified for the important duty which they had undertaken; and, after all, nothing more could be obtained than the rudiments of a common Engliſh education. Franklin drew up a plan of an academy, to be erected in the city of Philadelphia, ſuited to "the ſtate of an infant country;" but in this, as in all his plans, he confined not his views to the preſent time only. He looked forward to the period when an inſtitution on an enlarged plan would become neceſſary. With this view he conſidered his academy as "a foundation for poſterity to erect a ſeminary of learning, more extenſive, and ſuitable to future circumſtances." In purſuance of this plan, the conſtitutions were drawn up and ſigned on the 13th of November 1749. In theſe, twenty-four of the moſt reſpectable citizens of Philadelphia were named as truſtees. In the choice of theſe and in the formation of his plan, Franklin is ſaid to have conſulted chiefly with Thomas Hopkinſon, Eſq; Rev. Richard Peters, then ſecretary of the province, Tench Francis, Eſq; attorney-general, and Dr. Phineas Bond.

The following article ſhews a ſpirit of benevolence worthy of imitation; and, for the honour of our city, we hope that it continues to be in force.

"In caſe of the diſability of the rector, or any mailer (eſtabliſhed on the foundation by receiving a certain ſalary), through ſickneſs, or any other natural infirmity, whereby he may be reduced to poverty, the truſtees ſhall have power to contribute to his ſupport, in proportion to his