CHAPTER V. FINANCES OF THE COLLEGE. OUR view of the College would be incomplete without some account of its financial concerns. The original fund with which the trustees ventured on their undertaking was the sum of two thousand pounds, payable in five annual instalments, subscribed by the individual members of the board. To this sum a very considerable addition was soon made by subscriptions, on the same terms, obtained among the inhabitants of the city; and the resources of the institution were afterwards augmented by donations* and legacies, by * I observed in the minutes of the board, an acknowledgment of the receipt of one hundred pounds from "a company of comedians," being the profits of a play which they had represented for the benefit of the free school. The collection of so considerable a sum, on such an occasion, is a singular evidence either of the public collections in churches* and at the commencements, and by the proceeds of lotteries. From these various sources, in the course of twelve years from the first establishment of the Academy, the amount derived was not less than seven thousand pounds sterling; and, if to this be added the profits of tuition, and benefactions from the proprietors in money and land, to the value of at least three thousand pounds, received during the same period, there will charity, or of the play-going propensities of those times. It seems that this mode of increasing their revenue did not meet with the unanimous approbation of the trustees, for it is stated in the minutes that a majority were in favour of receiving the donation. * The sermons of Whitefield were most productive. One which he preached at the request of the trustees, for the benefit of the charity schools, and for which they returned him "their sincere and hearty thanks," yielded more than one hundred pounds. † Considerable opposition was made to this mode of raising money; and, at one time, a law was passed prohibiting lotteries altogether: but it was soon afterwards repealed. Six or seven lotteries were at various times set on foot for the benefit of the institution; from two of which, upwards of four thousand pounds, currency, were collected. appear to have been no deficiency of funds for carrying the designs of the founders of the seminary into full effect. Of the donations from the proprietors, five hundred pounds accompanied their grant of the first charter, and nearly three thousand acres of land, situated in Bucks County, being the fourth part of the manor of Perkasie, were conveyed to the trustees by Thomas Penn, on the condition that, if the institution should fail of success, the land should revert to himself or his heirs. The fee simple of this land was, at a subsequent period, vested in the trustees, and the farms into which it was divided were sold upon mortgage; but as the conditions of the sale were not complied with, the greater number of them have reverted to the institution, and now constitute a part of the real estate of the University of Pennsylvania. Though the resources of the College were amply sufficient to meet all the immediate demands upon them, and, at the end of twelve years, a considerable surplus remained in the hands of the trustees, besides the clear possession of the college London од ondon February 2... 1753. as our You are hereby required to pay to the Trucker of the Academy and Charitable School in the City of Philadelphia the Sum of Five hundred Prunds Current. Money of Pennsylvania Benefaction towards that Charitable Establishment, and play it to account of Changes, for which this shall be your Warrant Given under any and this Second Day of February Onethousand seven hundred Sfifty, thace To Richard Hockley &odmand Phyrich our Receivers Generah. or to our. 7 Aust 1753 Please to pay the above to fulichon входеску Coleman for the Trustees of the Academy Frichard Beby Received the same day the above Twa hundeed Sounds for the Truckers of the Academy oppos Comen. Th August 7. 1753. THOMAS PENN'S FIRST GIFT TO THE ACADEMY. |