Page:History of the University of Pennsylvania - Montgomery (1900).djvu/345

LIII.

It was during the controversies of the past year and before Mr. Ewing was called to take the Provost's classes in his absence, that another Professor was added to the Faculty. At the meet- ing of the Trustees on 13 June, " the State of the Latin School was taken into consideration ; Mr. Alison declared that the Philosophy Schools were so full, that in his present state of health he could not continue to attend and recommended it to the Trustees to supply that place as soon as possible." Where- upon, Mr Peters informed the Trustees that Mr Beveridge was come to town in consequence of the Letters wrote to him by Mr Smith, Mr Alison and Mr Jackson; that he had examined him in a close manner, by which he was satisfied as to his Knowledge of the Latin, and as his Testimonials certified the same, as well as that he was a man of Virtue and good morals, he was of opinion that he would make an excellent Master. [Testimonials were submitted from] the Ruddimans and others of eminent character in Edin- burgh and from the gentlemen Trustees of Hereford School. [He] was called in, and after sometime spent in Conversation, withdrew. The Ques- tion hereupon was put whether he should be appointed to the Professorship of the Languages, and the care of the Latin School, [and the vote was unanimous in his favor.] He was called in again and accepted on the same terms with Mr Jackson, but acquainted the Trustees that some time in August, his affairs required his being at Hereford, and prayed the Trustees he might be allowed to go there in order to settle his concerns and bring his Family to Town. In his younger years he taught a grammar school in the city of Edinburgh, under the particular patronage of the great Mr Ruddiman. William Smith, in the last number of the American Maga- zine, October, 1758, speaks warmly of his attainments as a classi- cal scholar, and quotes some of his Latin verses : By the specimens he has given, he will undoubtedly be acknowledged one of the ablest masters in the Latin Tongue on this continent ; and it is a singular happiness to the institution that on the vacancy of a professor of languages, the Trustees were directed to such an excellent choice, as it must be the certain means of increasing the number of students from all parts, with such as are desirous of attaining the Latin tongue in its native purity and beauty. 1 1 American Magazine, p. 640.