GENERAL IDEA OF THE COLLEGE O F MIRANI A; WITH A Sketch of the Method of teaching Science and Religion, in the feveral Claffes: AND Some Account of its Rife, Establishment and Buildings. Addrefs'd more immediately to the Confideratior. of the Trustees nominated, by the Legislature, to receive Proposals, &c. relating to the Establishment of a COLLEGE in the Province of NEW-YORK. Hor. Quid Leges fine Moribus vanæ proficiunt ? Nullum Animal morofius eft; nullum majore Arte tractandum quam Home. Natura fequitur melius quam ducitur. Seneca. NEW-YORK: Printed and Sold by J. PARKER and W. WEYMAN, at the New Printing-Office in Beaver-Street, 1753. [Price One Shilling and Six Pence.] [FAC-SIMILE OF THE TITLE-PAGE OF THE COPY OF A GENERAL IDEA OF THE COLLEGE OF MIRANIA," PRESENTED BY DR. SMITH TO DR. PETERS, THROUGH FRANKLIN, APRIL 30, 1753, AND SENT BY THE LATTER TO THOMAS PENN.] "THE CHAPTER XVI. COLLEGE OF MIRANIA."-STEPS THAT LED TO DR. SMITH'S CONNECTION WITH DR. CHARLES J. STILLÉ, whilst Provost of the University, was the first to call attention to the fact that the choice of Dr. Smith as Professor of Philosophy in the Academy was not simply a fortuitous. circumstance that led to important results, but was made for the express purpose of enabling him to carry out, in the Academy of Philadelphia, a scheme of education which he had set forth in a pamphlet entitled "A General Idea of the College of Mirania," a purely fictitious institution, the picturing of which Dr. Smith employed as the means of showing the kind of college he thought suitable for a new country. The chief feature in this proposed college was the Latin school, in which the student would have the opportunity of acquiring a more liberal education than it was then possible to acquire in any educational institution in America. In connection with this was a school of mechanics, similar in character to what Franklin would have had the Academy of Philadelphia, in which an English education was provided for those who did not propose to follow the learned professions. College and School were under the same Board of Trustees and Masters. Most of the branches of science taught in the College were taught in the School, but in a more compendious manner; the intention being to give those who had neither the time nor the use for a college education some idea of the arts and sciences, a proposition calculated to appeal strongly to a large class in a prosperous trading community. It was the desire to put this combined scheme into active operation that led to Dr. Smith's connection with the Academy of Philadelphia; but to understand clearly how this came about, and to appreciate his zeal in the cause of education, a few words must be said concerning his early life. He was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, September 7th, 1727. He at first attended the parish school, but at the age of seven was taken charge of by the Society for the Education of Parochial School-masters. In 1741 he entered the University of Aberdeen, and resided there for the full term of years required for his first degree, which his biographer says he received in 1747; but we have been informed that his name does not appear on the list of graduates of that institution. In the latter part of the year 1749, or early in that following, he removed to London. It may be presumed that he was then a member of the Church of England, as he bore letters to the Archbishop of Canterbury and was patronized by that prelate. If his parents, therefore, were not members of that Church, it is evident that his connection with it was formed before he left Scotland. He was then interested in the cause of education. In October, |