 | CHAPTER XXVI Jefferson, Cabell and the University of Virginia |  |
Ancient Languages:
The School of Ancient Languages, established in
1825, with Professor George Long as the first incumbent
of the chair, consisted of Latin and Greek,
and, until 1856, the work of teaching these languages,
and Roman and Greek history and literature,
was assigned to but one person. Professor
Long's service extended from 1825 to 1828, with a
short period of absence in the summer of the first of
these years, when he returned to England to receive
his fellowship at Trinity. During this furlough Professor
Thomas H. Key, of the School of Mathematics,
without neglecting the duties of his own
chair, taught acceptably all of Mr. Long's classes.
In 1828 Mr. Long was invited to the University
of London, just established, and was regretfully released
by Mr. Madison, the rector, to whom Lord
Brougham had addressed an urgent letter on the
subject. The retiring professor was asked to suggest
a successor, and it was expected that he would
indicate some fellow-countryman. On the contrary,
he nominated Gessner Harrison, one of the first students
who had graduated in his own school and had
recently attained his majority. The Board accepted
the young Virginian, and the University profited by
his thirty-one years of faithful service.
The School of Ancient Languages was divided in
1856 and became the School of Latin and the School
of Greek.
Professor Harrison filled the chair of Latin for
three years, 1856-59, when he resigned, and was succeeded
by Lewis Coleman (1859-61), who was fatally
wounded at Fredericksburg in 1862. Basil L.
Gildersleeve taught through the sessions and fought
through the summers of 1861-65, and was succeeded
in 1865 by William E. Peters, who continued at the
head of the school until 1902, when he became Professor
Emeritus. Thomas Fitzhugh followed him
and is the incumbent.
The School of Greek, as a separate chair, dates
from 1856. Professors: Basil L. Gildersleeve,
1856-76;[1]
Thomas R. Price, 1876-82; W. H.
Wheeler, 1882-87; Milton W. Humphreys since
1887.
Dr. Gildersleeve was twenty-five years of age when he
was made professor of Greek and Hebrew—for Hebrew was
then attached to the chair of Greek—but he was already a
Ph. D. of Göttingen. In 1876 he was called to the Johns
Hopkins University. Professor Price came to the University
from Randolph-Macon, and in 1882 went to Columbia.
| CHAPTER XXVI Jefferson, Cabell and the University of Virginia | |