The "Centennial of Methodism" occurred in 1839, and was celebrated by the church. Considerable collections were taken up during the year to increase the endowment of the College. This year a name, _clarum et nobile_, appeared for the first time on the records of the Board, D'Arcy Paul, of Petersburg. In the good providence of God, he was permitted to act as trustee for many years, and to exert a great influence in saving the College from financial wreck. At the time of his election he was a leading Methodist in his city, and probably the most prominent layman in the State. As a merchant, he had been very successful, and enjoyed the unbounded confidence of the business world. His liberality towards all church and benevolent enterprises was such as probably had never before been witnessed in Virginia. He was by birth a native of Ireland, but his whole life, except his early boyhood, had been spent in Virginia, and no son "to the manner born" was more enthusiastic in pushing forward all interests that enured to its welfare. When he accepted the place of trustee his heart and hand and credit were put at the service of the College. Taking the helm of the ship as Financial and Investing Agent, he held it for nearly thirty years, and it is not going too far to say that to him, more than to any other man, the College owes its continuation to the day when age and feebleness forced him to turn over to other hands the trust he had so long and faithfully borne on his shoulders. If it had the means, it should erect a monument to perpetuate his memory. Happy am I here to pay this feeble tribute to his worth, and to give the portrait, faint representation, though it be, of one who is worthy of all the honors that could be bestowed on him. His form was so erect that age could not bend it. His character, which beamed forth in a face of more than usual manly beauty, was still more true to the line of truth and righteousness. [Illustration: EDWARD WADSWORTH, D. D., _President of the Southern University, Ala._] The report of the Faculty for the year ending June, 1840-'41, makes favorable mention of the work of the session and of the conduct and scholarship of the students. The financial condition of the College was found to be such as to call for an address asking of the patronizing Conferences needed relief. The degrees conferred at the close of the year were: A. B. GEORGE B. JONES, Virginia. THOMAS B. GORDON, Georgia. ROBERT C. GILLIAM, S. C. WILLIAM H. DENTON, S. C. WILLIAM H. BASS, Virginia. MARCELLUS STANLEY, Georgia. THOS. S. ARTHUR, S. Carolina. THOS. H. CAMPBELL, Virginia. THOMAS H. JONES, Virginia. WM. W. HEREFORD, Mississippi SAMUEL B. SCOTT, Virginia. EDWARD WADSWORTH, N. C. OLIVER P. WILLIAMS, S. C. A. M.