conducive to the great end we all have in view, the extension of APPENDIX, knowledge in our country. "I am, dear Sir, with respect, "Your obedient servant, "ISRAEL THorndike. "Rev. J. T. Kirkland, D. D." No. LV. Letter of Israel Thorndike. LETTER OF THE REV. FRANCIS PARKMAN, D. D., OFFERING "Boston, April 26th, 1840. Letter of the Rev. Francis "To the Honorable and Reverend the Corporation of Harvard Parkman, University. "Gentlemen, "The present condition and prospects of the Theological School in Cambridge, having recently excited much solicitude among its friends, and learning that they are now the immediate subjects of consideration with your Honorable Board, I beg leave to submit the following proposal. "My father, the late Samuel Parkman, Esq., did, in the year 1816, establish a Professorship of Theology in the University, which foundation was gratefully accepted by the Corporation, and the necessary documents, conveyances, &c., were placed in their hands. But, by a series of circumstances, that donation, valued at the time and accepted as equivalent to twenty thousand dollars, became greatly diminished, and is now valued with the interest accumulated, in the books of the Treasurer, at somewhat less than five thousand dollars. "Regretting, as I deeply do, the circumstances by which the wishes of my honored father failed of their accomplishment, and cherishing a deep and filial interest in the prosperity of the Theological School, as of vital importance to our churches and to the community, I propose to add five thousand dollars to my father's donation, provided that, with that and other smaller sums at the disposal of the Corporation for the same purpose, it shall be accepted D. D. No. LVI. APPENDIX, as the foundation of a Professorship of Theology within the Theological School at the University; and provided that, agreeably to the original purpose of the Corporation in accepting my late father's gift, it shall be called the Parkman Professorship. Letter of the Rev. Francis "As my simple object is to meet, in some measure, the immediate, pressing wants of the Theological School, I have no wish to add any other condition except that, should the Corporation in their wisdom see fit to accept this proposal, the Professorship shall be immediately established, and that provision shall be made for the constant and uninterrupted discharge of its duties; so that the intentions of the gift may be fully carried into effect, or the gift itself revert to the donor. "I am, gentlemen, with sentiments of the highest respect and consideration, your obedient servant, Whereupon the Corporation "FRANCIS PARKMAN." "Voted, That the gift offered in this letter be accepted on the terms therein proposed. "Voted, That the Corporation, in accepting this token of the interest of the Rev. Dr. Parkman in the prosperity of Harvard College, and of the Theological School connected with it, express their sensibility at the evidence of a spirit of liberality so coincident with that which distinguished his father toward this institution, for which his memory has so long been the object of its recorded gratitude." Extract from the will of Henry Lie now. EXTRACT FROM THE WILL OF HENRY LIENOW. "The other moiety, or half part of the residue and remainder of my said estate, I give, devise, and bequeath to the President and Fellows of Harvard College and to their successors for ever; but in trust, nevertheless, for the sole use and behoof of the Divinity or Theological School attached to said College, to be appropriated in such way as will best promote the interest of said School and the promulgation of liberal Christianity. It being my will, that the income and interest only of said fund shall be used for the purpose aforesaid, the capital to remain entire. And I hereby submit the said devise, in other respects, entirely to the control of the said No. LVII. President and Fellows of Harvard College, either to add this fund APPENDIX, to others created, or to create a new fund; my only desire being, that it may be applied in furtherance of the Unitarian faith, and the inculcation of liberal Christianity." This edifice, intended for the Library, and named in honor of the Gore Hall. liberal benefactor of the College, the late Governor Gore, was commenced in 1837. The outside is finished up to the pinnacles, and the inside is completed. This building presents a very pure specimen of the Gothic style of the fourteenth century in its form and proportions, while the hard sienite or Quincy granite, of which it is constructed, made it necessary to omit the elaborate ornaments with which this style is usually wrought. The towers, buttresses, drip-stones, and all the parts which form projections, or the sides of openings, are, however, finished by smooth, hammered faces; while the walls are rough, but laid in regular courses. In its plan, the building forms a Latin cross; the length of the body being 140 feet, and that of the transepts 81 feet. The principal fronts are south and north; with octagonal towers rising from the ground, on each side of the principal entrances, to the height of 83 feet. These four towers are connected only with the walls of the vestibules; and in the form and position of these, as well as in the proportions of the body of the building, exclusive of the transepts, the design of the exterior was taken from King's College Chapel, at Cambridge, England. In its size and ornamental finish, however, it makes no approach to that splendid specimen of florid Gothic. On entering the interior of Gore Hall, we are presented with two ranges of columns, ten in each range, which rise from the floor to the ceiling. This open space resembles the nave of a small cathedral, being 112 feet long and 35 feet high. The ceiling is formed of groined vaults, ornamented by ribs rising from the columns and intersecting each other in various points. The appearance of the whole is imposing; hardly surpassed, in effect, by any room in this country. The books are to be placed in the alcoves, which are No. LVIII. Gore Hall. APPENDIX, formed by partitions running from the columns to the walls of the building, somewhat in the form of the chapels in the aisles of many of the Catholic churches. The partitions, which form the alcoves, rise from the floor to the ceiling, 35 feet, and this space is divided by a gallery, which is formed over the whole space outside of the columns, at the height of 12 feet from the floor. The gallery floor is supported entirely by bars of wrought iron, passing from one partition to another, across the alcoves. The side of this gallery be tween the columns, is guarded by a light iron balustrade; the whole, therefore, intercepting in no essential degree the view of the ceiling, or any part of the interior, from the floor. The ascent to the gallery is made by light staircases placed outside of the columns, and there are narrow openings through the partitions, above the gallery, behind each column, to give a passage from one alcove to another. The lower part of the west transept is formed into a convenient room for the librarian, while above the gallery it forms a large alcove open to the body of the building. The windows are well proportioned, their heads being equilateral arches, and the mullions and tracery are copied from buildings of the age to which the design of this belongs. Ground glass has been used in all the windows, though it is to be hoped that, hereafter, its place may be supplied, at least in the windows of the principal fronts, by paintings. In the construction of this edifice, it was determined at the outset, to use every precaution, which the funds of the College would allow, to guard the library from destruction by fire. In every part of the structure, therefore, wood has been rejected, where its place could be supplied without a very great increase of cost in the construction, or inconvenience of some kind in the use, by stone, brick, or iron. No timber is used in the main floor, which is formed by brick vaults, filled to a level upon the spandrels, and covered by boards. This covering being thought necessary to guard against the cold and dampness of the great mass of masonry which constitutes the supporting vaults. The roof contains no wood whatever, except the boards or laths to which the slate are fastened. The place of rafters is supplied, throughout, by trusses made of light bars of wrought iron, which are supported by the walls and by iron purlins ranged through the building upon the tops of the Gothic columns which rise through the ceiling for this purpose. The thrust of these trusses is prevented by iron rods, which take the place of the tie-beams of wooden roofs. The weight of the iron of this roof is not more than half as great as would be required if it were formed of timber; while, No. LVIII. from calculation and experiments made with some of the trusses, it APPENDIX, is believed that it would sustain a load, uniformly distributed over it, equal to that of a body of men standing close to each other and Gore Hall. covering a space as great as that enclosed by the building. As none of the other halls of the University present any claims to excellence in architecture, the attention of strangers will probably be directed to Gore Hall, when completed, as the principal ornament of the College square. On the 25th of April, 1838, the day on which the corner-stone of Gore Hall was laid, the Building Committee caused to be deposited in a cavity, formed upwards, in the bottom of the stone which constitutes the plinth of the buttress upon the northeast corner of the building, a silver plate, contained in a leaden box, the whole imbedded in resin. The plate bears the following inscription. HUJUS EDIFICII, PECUNIA, QUAM CHRISTOPHORUS GORE, LL. D., UNIVERSITATI HARVARDIANE MUNIFICE LEGAVERAT, EXTRUCTI, FUNDAMENTUM JACTUM EST A. D. VII. KAL. MAI. ANNI MDCCCXXXVIII.; EDVARDO EVERETT, LL. D., REIPUBLICÆ MASSACHUSETTENSIS GUBERNATORE, CURATORUM PRÆSIDE; JOSIA QUINCY, LL. D., UNIVERSITATIS PRESIDE; JOSEPHO STORY, LL. D., LEMUELE SHAW, LL. D., CAROLO GREELY LORING, A. M., JACOBO WALKER, S. T. D., JOANNE AMORY LOWELL, A. M., THOMA WREN WARD, ERARII PREFECTO, |