pride the frame now encircling the portrait of Washington, but once occupied by a portrait of George II., which was hit by a cannon ball in the hall where it hung-Princeton, with its lecture-rooms, and libraries, and, above all, with its row of monuments, over the tombs of departed presidents, amongst whom lie Witherspoon and Edwards. Princeton seems to surpass most spots in that young country in its claims to classic veneration. It is a gratification not to be forgotten, to have seen and heard the dwellers there, and to have trodden their familiar pathways; but they have been described many times already.

Colleges multiply rapidly, and seem pretty fairly dispersed over the face of the country. In 1800 there were only twenty-five. Drs Reed and Matheson, in 1835, found ninety-six colleges, and nine thousand and thirty-two students. Dr Baird, in 1851, stated before the Evangelical Alliance, in London, that the number of colleges in the United States amounted to one hundred and twenty. That these suffice for the wants of so wide a dominion, or that they are all equally sound in principle, or successful in teaching, cannot be said; yet the zeal and energy which has raised so many seminaries of learning, some even in districts which are scarcely cleared of the forest, and where the raising of bread requires the first effort, proves that some members of the community feel keenly the intellectual and spiritual wants of the country. It is also very

striking to observe, that however little it was impressed on the minds of some founders of the seminaries, that they ought to be vehicles for conveying Christian views to their alumni, yet nearly the whole of them have so far yielded to the principles which touch conscience and control thought, as to accept of religious teaching.

It has been remarked, that of the three colleges whose founders openly repudiated revealed truth and Christian principle from their scheme, two of them have already been glad to adopt the opinions they have contemned, as the only method by which they could rule their students, and guide their professors. Shut their eyes as they may against the sight of the Divine economy which is established for the restoration of an apostate world, yet they are made to feel the powers of the world to come, and the workings of a spiritual kingdom within and around them, which they cannot shake off. Cooper's College, in South Carolina, and Jefferson's in Virginia, are of those marked with the stigma of “ no religion," yet they have been gradually led to admit religious professors as their teachers, and have thereby found good order and peace much promoted.

It was very pleasing, in looking over the long rows of orphan boys in the Girard College, at Philadelphia, to know that the purpose of the man who left his gold (for he could carry nothing away with him) for their benefit, had been so far frustrated.

His very magnificent marble halls, which, accord

ing to his last will and testament, are not, on any pretence whatever, to be polluted by the footstep of a minister of the gospel, were in the first instance placed under the control of an excellent lawyer who resigned his seat on the bench, that he might bring Christian verities before those orphans. It is pleasant to think of that holy man's exertions, of his reading the Word of God, and of his prayers in those noble halls where it was designed they should be prohibited-of his regular family worship there, and his oral instruction of those lively and promising young people—and now, though circumstances have led to his resignation of that onerous position, his commencement has left an influence behind him stronger than that of him who held and who bequeathed the gold.

There is something in the soul of man, be it superstition if you will, that readily adopts an impression of interference from the invisible world in the case of any daring transgressor. People, to this day, shake the head and tell gravely or fearfully how Grierson of Lagg, the bloody persecutor of the Dumfries-shire and Galloway covenanters, could not get carried to his grave-how the hearse three times broke down, and how the people trembled at the token, and could not be prevailed on to touch it. It may have been a similar connexion with the recollection of poor Girard's ostentatious working of his garden in sight of church-goers-the Sabbath being the only day of the week on which he assumed the

hoe and rake—that produced this curious paragraph from the Philadelphia correspondent of the New York Tribune: "On the night that the remains of Stephen Girard were disinterred and conveyed to the undertaker's residence, previous to being deposited in Girard College, the coffin was to be opened in the presence of several persons. As they were about removing the lid, a slight explosion was heard, and combustible gas escaped from the inner case. No damage resulted, however, except a slight scorching of the coffin-lid. It is not known whether the fear of ghosts had anything to do with it, but it is certain that the occurrence caused the room to be vacated in the shortest possible time!"

It is earnestly to be desired, whatever may have been the designs of the founders, that all such ininstitutions may be overruled to train up citizens to fear God and hate evil.

It has been well for America, and its effects are visible on her educational institutions up to this hour, that her "world's gray fathers" were not adventurers in search of wealth, but men of wisdom in search of liberty of conscience. In the earliest settlement of the New England colonies, laws were enacted by which all townships were obliged to secure education to their young members. In cases where no government aid, or contribution from the mother country could be obtained, individual zeal and learning have wrestled with difficulty in a manner alike surprising and honourable.

Dr. A. Alexander's history of the "Log College," which the senior William Tennant commenced during his ministry at Neshaming, N. J., gives a lively view of what may be accomplished single-handed; and the galaxy of holy pastors who issued from that humble edifice to bless the land, and to co-operate with Whitefield in his life-bringing labours, was an enlightening to the State, and a rich reward to the founder. The "Log College," like its founder, has passed away, and given place to grander buildings and more dignified staffs of professors; but the mark of its vital piety, which shook the dead ministers and the formal worshippers from their sloth, remains and continues to descend to the present generation.

Some colleges are founded and sustained entirely by particular denominations-such as Princeton, which is Presbyterian; and New Brunswick, which is Dutch Reformed. Others derive some aid from the State; for example, Cambridge at Boston, and Yale at New Haven, which are both Congregational in government; but I fear Cambridge is Unitarian in faith.

States often found universities; as in Virginia, North and South Carolina, Vermont, Michigan, &c. &c. But the State institutions are not always found to be the best, and often meet with difficulties in the management. The General Government grants lands to the new States for Colleges and Common Schools, so that they are provided with the means of instruction from their commencement,