received many affectionate letters of condolence from his friends in England on this melancholy event. Archbishop SECKER, in particular, expressed himself on the mournful occasion with much tenderness.

It was no small addition to the President's affliction, that he was soon after (in the month of November) obliged to leave the city on account of the small-pox. He retired with his family to Westchester, hoping to be useful there, in ministering to the people who were deprived of the most flattering expectations, by the death of his son. Here the Doctor was obliged to continue upwards of a year. He left about thirty pupils in the three classes; and as Mr. CUTTING was unable to take proper care of them all, the Gover nors provided another tutor, whom they made at the same time Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. This was Mr, TREADWELL, a young gentleman of a very excellent character, educated at Harvard College, and recommended by Professor WINTHROP as eminently qualified for that station. Soon after this, an apparatus of good mathematical and philosophical instruments was purchased; "and the Rev. Dr. BRISTOWE,

a worthy member of the society, lately de"ceased, having by his last will bequeathed his

"library, of near one thousand five hundred 66 volumes, to the society, to be sent to the college "of New-York, of which Dr. JOHNSON is Pre"sident, or to such other place or places as the 66 society shall direct, the society directed those "books to be sent and placed in this college of "New-York, in approbation of the generous "donor's design."*

The college, being thus provided for, went on successfully, notwithstanding the President's absence. He returned to New-York in March, 1758; and soon after met with another heavy affliction, in the death of Mrs. JOHNSON, with whom he had lived happily above thirty-two years. She died on the 1st of June, and was interred in the chancel of Trinity Church.

On the 21st of the same month he held his first commencement, when his first class, amount→ ing to ten in number, including two from the college of New-Jersey, commenced Bachelors of Arts; the degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon others, who had spent some time in the college, and were thought qualified for it; and several who had taken that degree in other colleges, were admitted ad eundem. The whole

See the Abstract annexed to the Bishop of Ely's sermon.

number of graduates amounted to upwards of twenty, and made a very respectable appearance.

The year following went on smoothly and agreeably. The different branches of instruction were properly divided between the President and tutors; the former confining himself to Greek, logic, metaphysics, and ethics. At the same time the building was carried on with vigour.

In 1759 was a small private commencement; and in October the Doctor was again forced to retire, by reason of the small-pox. He spent the winter with his son in Stratford; but under great anxiety of mind on account of the college: for he left Mr. TREADWELL, the mathematical professor, in a declining state of health, which soon turned into a consumption, and put a period to his life early in the spring.

About the same time, viz. in April, 1760, the college met with another heavy loss, in the death of BENJAMIN NICOLL, Esq. This gen tleman was the Doctor's son-in-law, as has been formerly mentioned: he practised the law in NewYork, and his abilities and integrity had justly caused him to be considered as at the head of his profession in that city. He was a Governor of the college, and one of the most able, active,

and spirited members of that body. He was to the President more than a son-in-law, having always treated him with all the respect and affection that are due to a real and most deserving parent. The whole city was in tears at his sudden and untimely death, at the age of 42; the friends of the college seemed to be under a consternation; but the blow was still more severe to Dr. JOHNSON himself. He was now almost ready to despond; and when he returned to New-York in May following, he found the scene so changed, that the city appeared to him like a kind of wilderness.

In the preceding winter the Doctor, considering his own advanced age, which must soon render him unable to undergo the fatigue that necessarily attended his station, and much affected at his being so often obliged to leave the college for fear of the small-pox, began to think in earnest of resigning his office, and of spending the remainder of his days with his dear and only son at Stratford. He therefore thought it expedient, having obtained the consent of the Governors, to write to his great patron, the Archbishop, who was by the charter placed at the head of the Governors, requesting him to provide, as soon as possible, two gentlemen

from the universities, to come over and assist in the management of the college. He desired that one of them might be a good mathematical scholar, and that the other might be a proper person to succeed him as President, in a few years at farthest.

On his return to New-York he endeavoured to keep up his spirits as well as he could, by an indefatigable application to business, hoping to retrieve, in some measure, the damages the college had sustained during his absence. The building was so far completed, that he removed into it, and commenced house-keeping, a little above forty years after he had first done the same in the college at New-Haven. And now he was to hold his third commencement, which was the first from the college. On this occasion he addressed the Governors in a short Latin speech, congratulating them on their first meeting together in the college-hall; and from thence the procession went to St. George's Chapel, in which the academical exercises were performed, and the degrees were given. After the vacation the classes came together in their proper places; and the President and Mr. CUTTING, for want of the assistance that had been applied for, were obliged to do double duty throughout the year.