Was incorporated by an Act of the legislature, April 23d, 1836, with twenty-four trustees. The first building erected is of stone, eighty-six feet in length, forty in breadth, and four stories in height. It was opened under the care of Rev. Wm. Fraser, and two assistants, with 103 pupils. For some reason, though an able scholar, and an excellent man, he resigned his post in 1838, and was succeeded by Rev. Silas Fitch, Jr., who continued at the head of the school till May, 1846. The highest number of students, in any one year of his term of office, was 211.

His successor was Rev. George Kerr, L.L.D., with 186 students, during the first year. Under his administration, which continues to the present time, the school has realized more than the most sanguine hopes of its founders. Selecting, for his associates in the department of instruction, college graduates of high standing as scholars, and of peculiar aptness to teach, he soon placed the institution on higher ground than it ever occupied before. Two new and well arranged buildings have been erected, one for the especial accommodation of young ladies, with a boarding department, and the other for young men, with a spacious chapel on the lower floor, and with a large lecture room, and laboratory in the basement, to illustrate chemistry in its application to the arts, and to agriculture. Connected with the institution are several choice libraries, amounting already to nearly 2500 volumes, to which considerable additions are made every year. The classical studies are conducted to any extent desired, receiving, as they deserve, a very earnest attention. The mathematical course is nearly equal in extent, and fully so in thoroughness, to that pursued in our best colleges.

The greatest number of students, during any one year, and since Dr. Kerr has had the seminary in charge, is 414; and this is about the present number, with gratifying prospects of increase in the time to come.

The aim of this institution, is to take higher ground than that occupied by the common academy; not merely to prepare young men for the ordinary round of duty, but for any advanced standing in college that they may desire; to prepare them for public life, not only by the drill, which imparts the requisite intellectual strength, but by rousing the consciousness of what life and its weighty responsibilities are. And the great peculiarity of this school, which strikes the writer of this notice, is the unflagging enthusiasm of its head, which, in its outflow upon the students, can hardly fail to develop whatever sensibility or strength may lie dormant in their souls.

So far as experience enables us to judge, we do not hesitate to say, that the education of the sexes in the same classes, and course of study, is for their mutual benefit; the gentler sex gathering more strength, and the rougher, more polish.

The grounds around the institute are laid out in good taste, and adorned by the thrifty growth of several varieties of trees, which from year to year will put on fresh and additional beauty and attractiveness.

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