foreign plantations for the breeding up of hopefu! youths both at the grammar school and college, for the public service of the country in future times."

"My farther mind and will is, that within six months after the decease of my wife, five hundred pounds be made over into New England, according to the advice of my loving friends, Major Robert Thomson and Mr. Francis Willoughby, and conveyed into the hands of the trustees beforementioned in further prosecution of the aforesaid public ends, which, in the simplicity of my heart, are for the upholding and promoting the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ in those distant parts of the earth.'

Bequests of Gibbins, Richards, and Talcott.

The following letter from Charles Hoadly, Esq., State Librarian, mentions several additional bequests and confirms the statement made above:

HARTFORD, January 9th, 1871.

DEAR SIR: You ask me whether I can give any items, relative to the legacy for educational purposes by William Gibbons (or Gibbins, as he himself spelled his name), in addition to what is stated in the note at the foot of page 31 of Vol. IV. Colonial Records of Connecticut.

The will of Mr. Gibbins is dated February 26, 1654 [i. e., 1655]. The fol lowing is a copy of one clause of it: "I give my land at Peniwise now in the tenor of John Sadler towards the mayntenance of a Lattin schoole at Hartford; provided that the fence bee continued in the same line and way of common fencing as that now is. And for the present, until the lease I have made to John Sadler be expired, I give out of the rent due from John Sadler fifty shilling yearly."

Mr. Gibbins' inventory, taken Dec. 2, 1655, amounted to about £1500. The house built a few years since for his dwelling by Edmund G. Howe, near the Cove in Wethersfield, stands upon a part of the land devised to the Hartford school by Mr. Gibbins. I mentioned in the note above referred to, that pursuant to a vote of the town in 1756, this land, which was about thirty acres of meadow and upland, was let on a long lease. The original lease, signed by the committee for the school, is among the papers of the Coun. Historical Society. James Richards, Esq., who married Sarah, daughter of William Gibbins, by his last will, made in 1680, left fifty pounds to the Latin School in Hartford.

As for the bequest of Mr. John Talcott, the grandfather of Governor Joseph Talcott: his will was made August 12th, 1659, and he says in it, "I give towards the maintaining a Lattin schoole at Hartford, if any be kept here, five pounds," which was to be paid one year after his death.

You ask me also when the town of Hartford came into possession of the six hundred acres of land which was granted by the General Court May 9th, 1672, to Hartford, "for the benefit of a grammar schoole."

It was not until May 30th, 1718, that this land was laid out, "about half a mile southward of the colony line at the north end, and extending southward and eastward as far as may be needful, butting west on Enfield bounds." The land lay in the town of Stafford. In 1776 it was described as "rough and wild," and, in June of that year, the General Assembly, upon the petition of the then committee for the school, authorized them to make sale of this land. You are undoubtedly correct in your statement that there was a school in Hartford prior to the vote of 1642, by which "thirty pounds a year shall be settled on the school for ever "—and in fixing on 1637 as the year in which John Higginson, in unconscious imitation, as Cotton Mather makes out, of Origen, who taught a grammar school at Alexandria, was a schoolmaster here, and our records show, a land-owner. You might have cited Winthrop, who speaks of one Mr. Collins, a young scholar who came from Barbadoes and had been a preacher, who was entertained at Hartford to teach a school in 1640." The qualifications of such teachers as these, and their successor William Andrews, in whose beautiful handwriting the proceedings of the Commissioners of the United Colonies are recorded from 1643 to 1649, would come within the requirements of the school law of 1650, for such grammar schools as the Town of Hartford was ordered to set up. You will recollect (see your own History), that Hartford in the first eight years of the existence of the College, contributed more than one-third as much as the citizens of Boston towards the maintenance of scholars at Cambridge.

Hon. HENRY BARNARD, LL. D.

Truly yours,

CHARLES J. HOADLY.

MR. CAPRON: Since sending you my "Contribution to the History of the Public High School" so far as I was personally mixed up with the same, and "with subjects adjacent thereto" from 1838 to 1848, it has occurred to me, in passing the site of the structure erected for its accommodation in 1847, and which it cost so many years of agitation to evoke from the hearts of the taxpayers of the First School Society, and of which not one stone or brick now remains in the solid and orderly proportions in which, with ascriptions of thanksgiving and songs of praise, and invocations of the Divine blessing, they were "dedicated to the cause of good learning and the breeding up of hopeful youth for the public service of the country, and a life of active employment," that you and your associates in the work of instruction, and all the living graduates, might be glad to have some memorial of the building in its external appearance and internal arrangements, as they were engraved for my School Architecture in 1848. Those plates are at your service; and with them I send a wood-cut of a plan drawn in 1828 by I. Spencer Jr. (now in the possession of William Hamersley), of a portion of "South Side," in which may be seen its predecessor erected in 1828 still standing on Linden Place (then Wells Alley), and the spacious lot, on which lawyers, doctors, clergymen, governors, and senators, then boys in their teens, kicked foot-ball with commendable vigor. H. B.

PLANS AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL-HOUSE,

HARTFORD, CONN.

The Public High School-House of Hartford was built after more than ordinary search for the best plan, (a committee having visited Boston, Lowell, Salem, Newburyport, Worcester, Providence, and Middletown, for this purpose,) under the constant oversight of a prudent, practical and intelligent building committee, and with due regard to a wise economy. The committee were limited in their expenditure for lot, building, and fixtures, to $12,000; and when it was ascertained that a suitable building could not be constructed for that sum, individuals on the committee immediately contributed $2,400 out of their own pockets to complete the house with the latest improvements. The committee have now the satisfaction of knowing that their contributions and personal oversight have been mainly instrumental in erecting and furnishing the most complete structure of the kind in New England, when the aggregate cost is taken into consideration.

The High School is designed for both males and females, and the arrangements of the buildings, and the grounds, are made with reference to the separation of the sexes, so far as this is desirable in the same school.

The lot on which the building stands is at the corner of Asylum and Anr. streets, and is at once central, and large enough for the appropriate yards. The yards are separated by a close and substantial board fence, and the grounds are well laid out and properly inclosed; they will also soon be planted with trees and shrubbery. The building is of brick, three stories high, upon a firm stone basement. Its dimensions are 50 by 75 feet. The basement is 13 feet in the clear, six feet of which are above the level of the yard. This part of the building is occupied by furnaces, coal bins, sinks, pumps, entrance rooms, &c. At one end, and on two opposite sides of the building, a stair case eleven feet in width extends from each of the two entrance rooms, to the upper story, with spacious landings on the first and second floors. Two rooms, each 11 by 14 feet, are between the stair cases, the one on the first floor being used for a front entry to the building, and the one on the second floor being appropriated to the Library and Apparatus. Two closets, eleven by four feet on the first floor, and immediately beneath the stair cases, receive the outer garments, umbrellas, &c., of the teachers.

An aisle of four feet four inches in width extends between the desks and outer walls of the rooms, and between every two ranges of desks is an aisle of two feet four inches in width. An aisle of eight feet in width passes through the middle of the rooms, parallel to the narrower passages. A space of five feet in width is likewise reserved between the remote seats in the ranges and the partition wall of the rooms. Around the sides of the rooms, tastefully constructed settees are placed for occasional recitations, and for the accommodation of visiters, and in the upper room for the use of the pupils of the room below, during the opening and closing exercises of the school.

The pupils, when seated, face the teachers' desks and platforms, which occupy the space between the entrance doors of each room.

A blackboard, or black plaster surface, forty feet long, and five broad, extends between the doors leading to the recitation rooms, which are also lined with a continuous blackboard. There is also a blackboard extending the entire length of the teachers' platform in the lower room, and two of smaller dimensions in the room above, a part of the space being occupied by the folding doors leading to the library and apparatus room. Twenty chairs, of small dimensions and sixteen inches in height, are placed around each recitation room, thirteen inches apart and seven inches from the walls, and securely fastened to the door. A clock, with a circular gilt frame and eighteen-inch dial plate, is

placed over the teachers' platform in each school room, in full view of the pupils. A small bell is also placed above the teachers' platform in the lower room, with a wire attached, passing to the desk of the Principal, in the room above, by which the time of recesses, change of recitation classes, &c., are signified to the members of the lower rooms.

The school-rooms in the first and second stories are 50 feet square, and 13 feet in height-to each of which, two recitation rooms 12 by 23 feet are attached. The large rooms are furnished with "Kimball's improved School Chairs and Desks," placed in six ranges, extending back from the teachers' platforms, ten esks forming a range, and two chairs attached to each desk, furnishing accomodations in each room for 120 pupils-60 of either sex. Ample room yet emains in front of these ranges to increase the number of desks when the wants of the school demand them. The desks are four feet in length and one foot four inches in breadth, constructed of cherry, oiled and varnished. The moderately inclined tops are fixed to the end supporters, and the openings for books are in front of the pupils. Glass inkstands are inserted in the tops of the desks, and the ink protected from dust and the action of the atmosphere by mahogany covers turning on pivots. The chairs are constructed with seats of basswood, hollowed, and backs of cherry, moulded both to add beauty to the form of the chair, and to afford support and comfort to the occupants. Ali are neatly stained and varnished, and they, as well as the desks, rest on iron supporters, firmly screwed to the floor.

The entire upper story is converted into a hall, being twelve feet in height at the walls, rising thence in an arch to the height of seventeen feet. This is appropriated to reading, and declamation, and for the female department of the school, to daily recess, and calisthenic exercises. A moderately raised platform is located at one end, above which an extended blackboard is placed, and settees are ranged around the walls; these, properly arranged, together with the settees from the lower rooms, which are easily transported above, speedily convert the open Hall into a commodious Lecture room,-and also adapt it to the purposes of public examinations and exhibitions.

In each of the two entrance rooms are placed the means of cleanliness and comfort, a pump of the most approved construction, an ample sink, two wash basins with towels, glass drinking tumblers, and a looking-glass. Ranges of hooks for hats, coats, bonnets, cloaks, &c., extend around the rooms, and are numbered to correspond with the number of pupils, of each sex, which the capacity of the house will accommodate. In the girls' room, pairs of small iron hooks are placed directly beneath the bonnet hooks, and twelve inches from the floor, for holding the over-shoes. In the boys' room, boot-jacks are provided to facilitate the exchange of boots for slippers when they enter the building-an important article, and of which no one in this department of the school is destitute. A thin plank, moderately inclined by hollowing the upper side, is placed upon the floor, and extends around the walls of the room, to receive the boots and convey the melted ice and snow from them, by a pipe, beneath the floor. A large umbrella stand is furnished in each of the two entrance rooms, also with pipes for conveying away the water. Stools are secured to the floors for convenience in exchanging boots, shoes, &c. Directly under the stairs is an OMNIUM GATHERUM-an appropriate vessel, in which are carefully deposited shreds of paper, and whatever comes under the denomination of liter, subject, of course, to frequent removal. These rooms, in common with the others, are carefully warmed. The wainscoting of the entrance rooms, and the stair case, is formed of narrow boards, grooved and tongued, placed perpendicularly, and crowned with a simple moulding. The railing of the stair case is of black walnut. A paneled wainscoting reaching from the floor to the base of the windows, extends around the walls of the remaining rooms. All the wood work, including the library and apparatus cases, is neatly painted, oak-grained, and varnished. The teachers' tables are made of cherry, eight feet in length, and two feet four inches in breadth, with three drawers in each, and are supported on eight legs. A movable writing desk of the same material is placed on each. Immediately in front of the teachers' desk in the upper room, a piano is to be placed, for use during the opening and closing exercises of the school, and for the use of the young ladies during the recesses. Venetian window blinds with rolling slats, are placed inside the windows, and being of a slight buff color, they modify the light without imparting a sombre hue to the room.