bert Sheldon), and wrote in justification of episcopacy, and on other subjects, and died in 1644. Sir George, his son, was of note in Oliver's days, being sent by him as resident to the States General of Holland: but after the Restoration, becoming equally zealous in the royal cause, as he had been before in the Parliament's, he was elected burgess for Morpeth, in Northumberland, to serve in the parliament of 1660. In 1661 he was sent envoy extraordinary into Holland, and on his return made secretary to the treasury, and one of his majesty's commissioners of the customs. He bought an estate at Hatley, in the county of Cambridge, and (being then only a knight) was created a baronet, July 1, in 1663, Car. II. 15. Of him was born Sir George Downing, who married Lady Catharine, eldest daughter of James Earl of Salisbury, by whom he had issue, George, our present founder. Our Sir George Downing, then, was member of parliament for Dunwich, in Suffolk, which borough he represented in three parliaments, 1710a, 1713, and 1727: in other respects, he seems to have lived as a private gentleman. He married the daughter of Sir William Forrester, knight, of Shropshire, and died without issue, in 1747. What further relates to Sir George Downing will be connected with his foundation, and what to his college, must be summed up in few words; for of a college which they are only now building, and in which as yet there are no students, much could not well be said. The will of the founder is dated 1717, in which he leaves considerable estates in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, and a Collins's Baronetage. Suffolk, to his nearest relations, who were his first cousins, and their issue. If at their death they had no issue, he then left those estates in trust, for the purpose of Building a college, which, under approbation of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Masters of St. John's and Clare Hall, was to be built at Cambridge, and to bear his name. His estates so bequeathed, amount now to near 6000l. a year. This matter had been the subject of great litigation; but on Friday, June 17, 1768, the Lord Chancellor, assisted by the Master of the Rolls, and the Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, unanimously pronounced the validity of the will, and the assignment of the estates for the foundation of a college, at Cambridge. It is not necessary to give a detail of particulars; suffice it to say, the great seal was affixed to the charter for its incorporation by the Lord Chancellor Loughborough, on the 22d September, 1800. This House differs, in some respects, from the other colleges. It consists of a master, a professor of the laws of England, and one of medicine, together with sixteen fellows and six scholars, with 501. a year, to last only for four years. The master is to be chosen by the four gentlemen of the University mentioned above; but always from among those who, either are or were, professors or fellows of this college. These rules are to be observed after the completion of the college, and have been thus far attended to. The professors must be chosen according to certain rules and description of character given in the charter, from the colleges of Cambridge or Oxford; and a gen a And, also, two chaplains and a librarian. tleman of a Scotch university may also be chosen to be a professor of medicine: scholars and fellows are to be chosen, and lectures given, as in the other colleges, when the house is completed. Professors are to give their lectures, not as the old college professors, merely to the members of the col lege, but to the University at large, on receiving the proper terms for admission. With respect to the fellows, it is provided, that two shall be in holy orders; of the others it is required, that at a certain period fixed by the charter, they either become barristers of law, or doctors of physic. The mastership and professorships are for life, and possessed of the same privileges as other establishments of the kind in the University: the fellowships are resigned by marriage, or, at all events, at the end of twelve years, unless they have a licence to hold them longer. The master's lodge, and the residence of the professor of medicine are almost finished; and it will be evident to every one, by the present beginning, that the intention is to make a most magnificent building. It will consist of one large stone-faced quadrangle, more spacious than that of Trinity College; the south side will be 500 feet long. It will be composed of the Keton stone. The master's lodge is an elegant specimen of the Ionic order: the entrance of the college will be of the Doric; and these two orders will run through the whole quadrangle. On the foundation day, 18th May, 1807, a sermon was preached on the occasion, and a procession made to the Senate House, where a Latin oration was delivered by one of the fellows: then followed the ceremony of laying the first stone, and of pronouncing the benediction. The following inscription on the brass plate, upon the foundation-stone, it may, perhaps, not be improper to introduce. COLLEGIVM. DOWNINGENSE IN. ACADEMIA. CANTABRIGIÆ TESTAMENTO. DESIGNAVIT OPIBVSQVE. MVNIFICE. INSTRVXIT REGIA. TANDEM. CHARTA. STABILIVIT HÆC. VERO ÆDIFICII. PRIMORDIA QVOD. AD. RELIGIONIS. CVLTVM FELICITER. EVENIAT. That is Sir George Downing, of Gamlingay, in the county of Cambridge, Baronet, designated by will, Downing College, and munificently endowed it with revenues in the year of our redemption 1717. George III. the best of princes, confirmed it, by royal charter, in the year 1800. The professors and fellows erected this beginning of the edifice; and may it have a happy effect on the cultivation of religion, of the English law, and the science of medicine, and in promoting the true discipline of ingenuous youth. The Lord Chancellor, in giving his opinion, said, that the estate could not be applied to any other purpose, than the founding of a college; and that it must be called Downing College; but that, in other respects, it was in the power of the trustees, who should be appointed under the direction of that court, to model and frame the college, and the statutes of it, in what method they should think fit; provided that method was but agreeable to the nature of a college, and to the regulations of a university; and provided too great emolument was not given to the master and fellows, nor improper persons permitted to partake of it. Such, then, is the sketch of Downing College.-A writer, aiming to meet the objection urged against the Literary Funda, That it tends to increase the number of supernumerary, necessitous authors, throws the weight of the objection back on our Universities, which, he says, sends literary men into the world, who find no proper place in society; and, that the aim of the Literary Fund is but to remedy the evils which other foundations have created. Mandeville seems to oppose the whole theory of literary charities; and, at the time the subject of Downing College was under discussion, it was observed, we had colleges enough for the purposes of Charity; and a wish was expressed, that if any more colleges were founded, they would be improvements on the old foundations b Let the opinions of objectors have as much or as little weight with the reader as he chooses; but let objectors themselves consider the institution just described as an actual attempt at some improvements on our old colleges: a See the Claims of Literature. ➤ Gentleman's Magazine for June 1764. |