Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/124

114 in reſpect to their funds, has till been continued full for the ſpace of forty years; ſo that allowing three years education for each boy and girl admitted into it, which is the general rule, at leaſt twelve hundred children have received in it the chief part of their education, who might otherwiſe, in a great meaſure, have been left without the means of inſtruction. And many of thoſe who have been thus educated, are now to be found among the moſt uſeful and reputable citizens of this ſtate. The inſtitution, thus ſucceſsfully begun, continued daily to flouriſh, to the great ſatisfaction of Dr. Franklin; who, notwithſtanding the multiplicity of his other engagements and purſuits, at that buſy ſtage of his life, was a conſtant attendant at the monthly viſitations and examinations of the ſchools, and made it his particular ſtudy, by means of his extenſive correſpondence abroad, to advance the reputation of the ſeminary, and to draw ſtudents and ſcholars to it from different parts of America and the Weſt Indies. Through the interpoſition of his benevolent and learned friend^ Peter Collinſon, of London, upon the application of the truſtees, a charter of incorporation, dated July 13th, 1753, was obtained from the honourable proprietors of Pennſylvania, Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, Eſqrs. accompanied with a liberal benefaction of five hundred pounds ſterling; and Dr. Franklin now began in good earneſt to pleaſe himſelf with the hopes of a ſpeedy accompliſhment of his original deſign, viz. the eſtabliſhment of a perfect inſtitution, upon the plan of the European colleges, and univerſities; for which his academy was intended as a nurſery or foundation. To elucidate this fact, is a matter of conſiderable importance in reſpect to the memory and character of Dr.