[263]. This highly important and well conducted institution owes its rise to the liberal contributions of several humane, charitable and public-spirited persons, aided by a legislative grant of two thousand pounds, Pennsylvania currency, (equivalent to $5333⅓ in the beginning of the year 1751: the first design, it is believed, was suggested by the late Dr. Thomas Bond, long an eminent physician in Philadelphia; and heretofore an active and useful member of the Philosophical Society, as well as sometime one of the vice-presidents of that body. By a law passed the 11th of April, 1793, the general assembly liberally granted ten thousand pounds ($26,666,) out of the funds accruing to the loan office of February 26, 1773; to enable the managers of the Hospital to make additions to their buildings, conformably to the original plan; and so to extend it as to comprehend a Lying-in and a Foundling Hospital,[[263a]] so soon as specific funds for those purposes should be obtained.
The first twelve managers (whose names deserve to be held in remembrance, as prominent benefactors to their country,) were Joshua Crosby, Benjamin Franklin, Dr. Thomas Bond, Samuel Hazard, Richard Peters, Israel Pemberton, (then styled junior,) Samuel Rhoads, Hugh Roberts, Joseph Morris, John Smith, Evan Morgan and Charles Norris; and John Reynell officiated as treasurer: all of these were gentlemen of most respectable characters.
In order to obviate some objections, that were at first made, to the contemplated expense of the medical department of the institution, and which it was apprehended might obstruct the passage of the bill then depending in the legislature, by which the grant of the two thousand pounds, before mentioned, was obtained from the public, Dr. Thomas Bond, together with his brother Dr. Phineas Bond, and Dr. Lloyd Zachary, generously offered to attend the Hospital, gratuitously, for the term of three years.
The Hospital establishment is now very complete, according to the original plan of this valuable institution; and, indeed, much beyond what was at first contemplated, in some respects: yet its utility might be much increased, by a further extension of the design. In its present condition, however, it reflects great honour on Pennsylvania, justly celebrated, as she is, for her charitable, literary, scientific, and other useful institutions; and the conduct of the managers has been uniformly such, as to entitle them to the gratitude of the community.
The Students in the Medical School of the University pay ten dollars per annum, for the privilege of attending the Hospital-practice, which is of very important advantage to them: and the physicians, with the managers, have generously appropriated a fund out of the monies, thus obtained, for the purpose of founding a Medical Library, and of purchasing the late Dr. Abraham Chovet’s most curious anatomical preparations.[[263b]] By these means, in addition to Dr. John Fothergill’s valuable present, and other donations, this Hospital, with little expense of its more immediate funds, already possesses the most useful as well as ornamental collection, of the kind, that is to be found any where in America: and when the superbly magnificent painting, representing Christ healing the sick, (now in a train of execution by Mr. West, in London, and intended to be a donation from him to this Hospital,) shall have been received, this chef-d’œuvre of the sublime artist will constitute there, not only a noble monument of his liberality, benevolence, and attachment to his native country, but a splendid and admirably well-suited ornament to the institution possessing it. It is scarcely sixteen years since the hospital-tickets of the medical pupils amounted to only about three hundred dollars per annum. This fund has been since increasing; the annual income to it being at present estimated at fifteen hundred dollars: it is now amply sufficient to supply the library belonging to the Hospital with new books, and to keep in good preservation the anatomical casts, &c.
As Dr. Franklin was eminently instrumental in promoting the establishment of the Pennsylvania Hospital, so he likewise bore a conspicuous part in the formation of the Library-Company of Philadelphia; an institution which holds a distinguished rank, for its usefulness, among the many that do honour to the capital of Pennsylvania. A public Library was first set on foot in Philadelphia by Franklin, about the year 1731; at which time he was scarcely twenty-six years of age. Fifty persons then subscribed forty shillings each, and agreed to contribute ten shillings annually, for that purpose. Some other companies for similar purposes had been formed in that city, after the one here mentioned; but these were soon after united with “The Library Company of Philadelphia.” This Company now possess many thousand valuable books; and their stock is continually deriving accessions from donations, as well as from purchases. Besides the marble statue of Dr. Franklin, presented to the company by the late William Bingham, Esq. of Philadelphia, (which decorates the front of the Library-edifice,) and many other considerable benefactions to the institution, from time to time, “the Penn family” (as the late ingenious Dr. Henry Stuber, the continuator of the Life of Franklin, has remarked,) “distinguished themselves by their donations” to it. The Loganian Library was, a few years since, placed under the same roof with that of the Philadelphia Company; though in a distinct apartment. It consists of an extensive collection of curious, rare and valuable books, in various branches of ancient and modern learning: and for this noble benefaction to his native country, the public are indebted to James Logan, Esq. many years an eminent citizen of Philadelphia, and well known, not only throughout America, but in the old world, for his erudition and talents.
Dr. Rittenhouse’s intimate connexion with the College, and afterwards with the University of Pennsylvania, rendered it improper, in the opinion of the Memorialist, not to notice those institutions in the manner he has done: and in doing this, he could not without injustice omit a similar mention of the Hospital, so nearly allied to them through the Medical School of the former; nor of the Philadelphia Library Company, which bears a close affinity to them all.
The name of Mr. West having been introduced on this occasion, the writer conceives it will not be thought foreign to the design of these Memoirs (though only incidentally connected with the present article), to make some further mention of a native American, whose name must ever hold a most conspicuous place in the history of the fine arts, in relation to this country.
This celebrated Artist is the youngest of ten children of John West, a person descended from very respectable ancestors, and a native of England. John early embraced the tenets of the people called Quakers. Migrating, in the year 1714, to Pennsylvania, where some members of the same family had arrived with William Penn about fifteen years before, he married and settled in the vicinity of Philadelphia; and there his son Benjamin was born.
This gentleman’s residence has been in England, during the last forty-five years: but he left his native country some considerable time prior to that period; having first visited Italy, and some other schools of painting on the continent. When a Society of Artists was instituted in London, a few years after the accession of the present king to the throne, Mr. West (who had then recently arrived in England, on his return from Italy,) became a member of that body. Their exhibitions of painting, sculpture and architectural designs, became objects of attention to men of taste in the fine arts;—“the young Sovereign,” says Mr. West (in a letter to Mr. C. W. Peale, written in 1809,[[263c]]) “was interested in their prosperity.” After the dissolution of that society, the king desired Mr. West and three other artists to form a plan for a Royal Academy; which having been approved by his majesty, he directed that it should be carried into execution. “Thus,” continues Mr. West, “commenced the institution of the Royal Academy of London[[263d]]:” And again, speaking of this patronage, he says;—“his majesty, by his regard for the arts, gave a dignity to them, unknown before in the country.” Referring to this meritorious patronage of the fine arts by the present king of England, Mr. Latrobe (in his Anniversary Oration before the Society of Artists in Philadelphia, in May, 1811,) makes this just remark: “Nor ought we to omit mention of the name of George III. by whose patronage, our illustrious countryman, West, has become the first historical painter of the age.”