155 The Inauguration of President Leverett

    Mr. John Leverett was Installed in his President’s Office at Cambridge January 14, 1707/8. The Governour and Council and Ministers of the six neighbouring Towns were in the Library; there were the Colledge Charter, Records, Laws, with a seal standing upon them; also the Colledge Keys. Many people were in the Hall below, in the middle of the Hall a Table was set for the Governour and Council to sit at; things being thus prepared, the Governour ordered the Library Keeper to carry down (under his right arm) the Colledge Charter, Books of Record and Laws and the Seal upon them; he ordered the Butler to carry down the Keys in his left hand: then the Governour took Mr. Leveret by the hand, led him out of the Library, after the Books and Keys down into the Hall, where the Books, seal, Keys were laid on the table in the middle of the Hall. The Governour sat down on one side of the Table, and Mr. Leverett over against him; the Council and Mr. Hubbard of New Cambridge also sat at the Table. Then Mr. Hubbard began with a very serious suitable prayer, he being ended, Sir Sewal made an oration in Latin; nextly the Governour made a Speech in Latin, to Mr. Leveret more especially, declaring how the Corporation had chosen him, the Governour and Council approved him, the General Court voted him a salary; so he invested him in his office, pointing to the Books, Seal, Keys on the Table, which he delivered to him as ensigns of his office power. After this, Mr. Leveret made a short speech in Latin to the Governour, then Sir Holyoke made an oration in Latin. In the next place, Mr. Danforth Minister of Dorchester went to prayer; in the last place, part of the 132 psalme was sung, and then the affair was ended. After the business was thus over, they went to dinner in the Hall, and then every one went his way.

    [Inscribed in margin:] Acts of General Court, 1700 and 1701—(Mr Leverett’s Instalment) about the College. Order of the General Court respecting the government of the College ‘til the King’s pleasure should be known, after the charter of 1700 was granted.

    College Papers, i. 43 (No. 96). In the hand of Benjamin Wadsworth. In the first part of the document, Wadsworth copied orders of the General Court relating to the College. All of these have appeared in earlier documents appearing in this volume; thus they are omitted here. The orders and document numbers are: Order of July 13, 1700; see No. 121. Conclusion to that order; see No. 125. Order of September 6, 1701; see No. 127. Order of December 4, 1707; see No. 153. This inaugural procedure was adapted for President Conant in 1933, and is still followed today. The Library Keeper in 1708 was Nathaniel Gookin (A.B. 1703); the Butler at the time has not been identified. Mr. Hubbard was Rev. Nehemiah Hobart (A.B. 1667); Mr. Danforth was John Danforth (A.B. 1677); Sir Sewall was Joseph (A.B. 1707); and Sir Holyoke was Edward (A.B. 1705), later President of Harvard. A somewhat similar account, taken from Judge Sewall’s Diary, is printed in Quincy, History, i. 493.