A taste for good music and a desire to inculcate it were also developing in Philadelphia and Baltimore, as shown by records of the time. In 1764 the vestry of St. Peter's and Christ Church in the prosperous city founded by William Penn extended a vote of thanks to two of its most cultured and public-spirited citizens, William Young and Francis Hopkinson (who was soon to achieve distinction as a poet and patriot of the Revolution), for instructing the children of the church in psalmody. In 1765, at St. Anne's Church, Baltimore, Hugh Maguire, probably the organist, established a singing school, for use in which he published 'a new version of the psalms, with all the tunes, both of particular and common measure.' He announced that he would teach singing at their homes to young ladies who played the spinet, his remuneration to be fifteen shillings a quarter and an entrance fee of one dollar. Returning to New England, we find in William Billings, the 'great Yankee singing-master,' the most important musical influence of the time. The date of publication of his original compositions, 1770, marks an era in American music. By this time the old psalm-tunes in use, only four in number, were worn to death, and the new tunes, having been composed in the novel fuguing style of the English compositions, became instantly popular with the singing schools, which Billings was energetic in organizing and conducting. The most notable of these, that at Stoughton, Mass., is elsewhere described, as well as the general activities of Billings and other teachers of the same general school. In the circle of musical development of which Philadelphia was the centre, Andrew Adgate of that city was the leading spirit. In 1784 he established an 'Institution for the Encouragement of Church Music' supported by subscription and governed by trustees. So fervent was Adgate in the cause of 'music for the people' that, as conductor of the institution, he organized 'public singings,' which became so popular that within a year the trustees, objecting to 'the indiscriminate assemblage' of the general public, restricted admission to subscribers. Adgate thereupon resigned his position and established a free school, 'Adgate's Institution for diffusing more generally the knowledge of vocal music.' It is significant of the public spirit of the 'cradle of independence' that he found a number of influential men willing to act as trustees of the new organization. The splendid institution which is now the University of Pennsylvania opened its doors to the new enterprise. Inviting requests to join these free classes, Adgate announced: 'The more there are who make this application and the sooner they make it, the more acceptable will it be to the trustees and the teacher.'