One of the finest hospitals in London is that founded by Thomas Guy, the
bookseller. He is said to have been a miser. At all events he must have
been a thrifty and saving man. No foundation such as that of Guy's can
be accomplished without thrift. Men who accomplish such things must deny
themselves for the benefit of others. Thomas Guy appears early to have
projected schemes of benevolence. He first built and endowed almshouses
at Tamworth for fourteen poor men and women, with pensions for each
occupant; and with a thoughtfulness becoming his vocation, he furnished
them with a library. He had himself been educated at Tamworth, where he
had doubtless seen hungry and homeless persons suffering from cleanness
of teeth and the winter's rage; and the almshouses were his contribution
for their relief. He was a bookseller in London at that time. Guy
prospered, not so much by bookselling, as by buying and selling South
Sea Stock. When the bubble burst, he did not hold a share: but he had
realized a profit of several hundred thousand pounds. This sum he
principally employed in building and endowing the hospital which bears
his name. The building was roofed in before his death, in 1724.
Scotch benefactors for the most part leave their savings for the purpose
of founding hospitals for educational purposes. There was first the
Heriot's Hospital, founded in Edinburgh by George Heriot, the goldsmith
of James I., for maintaining and educating a hundred and eighty boys.
But the property of the hospital having increased in value--the New Town
of Edinburgh being for the most part built on George Heriot's land--the
operations of the charity have been greatly extended; as many as four
thousand boys and girls being now educated free of expense, in different
parts of the city. There are also the George Watson's Hospital, the John
Watson's Hospital, the Orphan Hospital, two Maiden Hospitals, the
Cauven's Hospital, the Donaldson's Hospital, the Stewart's Hospital, and
the splendid Fettes College (recently opened),--all founded by Scottish
benefactors for the ordinary education of boys and girls, and also for
their higher education. Edinburgh may well be called the City of
Educational Endowments. There is also the Madras College, at St.
Andrews, founded by the late Andrew Bell, D.D.; the Dollar Institution,
founded by John Macrat; and the Dick Bequest, for elevating the
character and position of the parochial schools and schoolmasters, in
the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and Moray. The effects of this last
bequest have been most salutary. It has raised the character of the
education given in the public schools, and the results have been
frequently observed at Cambridge, where men from the northern counties
have taken high honours in all departments of learning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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