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THE BOSTON

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PUBLIC LATIN SCHOOL.

1635-1880.

BY

HENRY

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F. JENKS.
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ILLUSTRATED.

CAMBRIDGE, MASS.:

PUBLISHED

BY
1881.

MOSES

KING.

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COPYRIGHT, 188o,

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REPRINTED FROM

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THE HARVARD REGISTER,

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PREFACE.

A HANDSOME ILLUSTRATED EDUC:'-TI<;>NAL MONTHLY.

THE following sketch was written for ·THE HARVARD REGISTER.
It contains nothing that is not already on record, but combines in
a connected story matter from very different sources. There are,
ambng the treasures of the sch.ool, many ~anuscripts, written by
early pupils, from which a vivid picture of it in the last and at the
beginning of the present century is to be gained. In my editorial
work upon the Catalogue of Masters andJ>upils of the School, now
in press, I have had access to these papers, and have made use
of them, and of Mr. Gould's article on the Latin School, originally published in "The Prize Book; " · Dr. Dimmock's Memorial
Address on Dr. Gardner; manuscript reports to the Boston LatinSchool Association from its Historical Committee, most of which
are from the pen of the Rev. Dr. Hale; John T. Hassam's Memoir
of Ezekiel Cheever, originally published in "The New-England
Historic-Genealogical Register; " editorial articles in the Boston
papers on the successive dinners of the Latin-School Association,
and the reports of reminiscences of their school-days given by old
graduates and pupils at those dinners, - taking freely whatever
served my purpose.
Nov. 10, 1880.

F ranklin Press:

Rand, Avery, & Co., Boston.

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THE BOSTON PUBLIC LATIN SCHOOL.

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THE Boston Public Latin School is the oldest educational institution
in the country. Its first masters might have seen Shakspeare act in
his .own plays; its second master preceded John Milton and · John
Harvard at Cambridge by -nearly a quarter of a century. "If the tradition is true that Cheever was a pupil at St. Paul's School in London,
·it is not impossible that John Milton in the deputy Grecian form might
have heard Ezekiel Cheever, then in the fourth form, translate his
Erasmus, or repeat his •.as t'n prcesenti.'"
A preparatory school should naturally be established before a college: so it is not strange that- this School antedates Harvard College
by two or three years, justifying the remark of a distinguished graduate of both, that "the Latin School dandled Harvard College on her
knees." From the earliest times the pupils of the one have passed on
to the other in a stream whose flow, occasionally narrowed or widened,
has never been intermitted; and the names of. not a ·few of the most
e;mnent graduates of the College are borne on the rolls of the School.
LJ:.Pe Latin School has always been a democratic institution. Its
privileges .hjtve been confined to no class. . The minister's;_and the
tallow-chandler's sons have sat side by side on its forms, and engaged
in friendly rivalry · in .schoolroom and on play-ground, and equally
enjoyed its privileges. Its honors have been given for merit, and all
have had the same chance to gain them. In establishing this School,
our fathers provided at the very beginning a school for teachi~ the
higher branches, instead of one for mere elementary instructio~
An interesting ·article in a .volume of the "Proceedings of _the
Massachusetts Historical Society."·shows that the establishment of this
school is largely due ·to John Cotton, who brought to this country a
knowledge of the High School which was founded by Philip and Mary
in 1554 in Boston,. in Lincolnshire, England, in which Latin and Greek
were taught. Cotton came to this country in 1633, and was 'one of the
ministers of the First Church. Two years later, the Free School was
established; and his will provides that under certain contingencies half
his estate should go. to Harvard College, .and . half to the . Free School
of Boston, which confirms the impression that he .was prominent in
founding it. . A house for the master to live in 'free of rent, a feature
of the English school rel1).u~ed here, strengthens .this impression.

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THE BOSTON PUBLIC LA TIN SCHOOL.

"The wish and determination of John Winthrop and the other
founders . . . was 'to beat Satan in each and all of his lairs,' . . . and
th~y determined that 'for the common defence and for the general
welfare should the classical languages be taught at the common
charge.' The earliest statute, therefore, for the establishment of free
schools, passed ten years after Winthrop's work in founding the Latin
School, provided also for classical schools. The General Court nobly
explained why they took this order: 'It being one chief project of
Satan to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures . . . by
.persuading from the use of tongues, ... -that learning may not be
buried in the graves of our fathers.'"
Undoubtedly American free education has taken a broader range,
because this, the first free school in the country, made the higher
education and preparatio~ for the university its chief object.
The school was established when, on .the " 13th of the 2d moneth
1635 . . . Att a General meeting upon public notice . . . it was ..•
generally agreed upon, that our brother Philemon Pormort shall be
intreated to become schole-master for the teaching and nourtering of
children with us." Little is known of Mr. Pormort or of his teaching; that he taught Latin rests on the fact th at the celebrated John
Hull, for a time one of his pupils, knew something of it. He seems
.to have followed Wheelwright (banished for his adhesion to Mrs.
.Hutchinson) to Exeter, N.H., and subsequently to have gone to
-Wells, Me., and to ha ve return ed to Boston about 1642. ,Of his death
there appears no record.
In August, 1636, a subscription was made" by the richer inhabitants,
toward the maintenance of a free schoolmaster for the youth with us,"
and Daniel M·aude, a graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge,
who came to America in 1635, and was then about fifty years old,
was chosen to the office. Mr. Maude is called "a goorl man, of a
serious spirit, and of a peaceable and quiet -disposition." In 1643
he went to Dover, N.H., as minister !O the congregation there, and remained until his death in 1645. In 1637 a garden-plot was assigned
to "Mr. Danyell Maude schole-master on condition of his -building
thereon if need. be." There is some doubt as to whether Mr. Maude
was an associate or successor of Mr. Pormort, but since Mr. Pormort
is spoken of, some years after his return to Boston, as the only schoolmaster of the town, it is possible that Mr. Maude may have held the
office while . he was abse nt, and that he may have resumed it, for a
while, after his return.
Beside the subscription already referred to, bequests were from
time to time made to the School, sometimes of money, sometimes of

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lands rented on long teases; ~nd the ·records f~equently speak of the
lease of lands, or the· loan . of 'legades, originally given for its benefit.
The town of Boston early appropriated_ to its support the rents of
Deer, Spectacle, and Long Islands, in the harbor, which had been
o-ranted
to the town by the General Court.· In '!641, the record says,
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"It is ordered that Deare Island shall be improved for the mamtenance of a Free schoole for the Towne;" and in ·1644 it was let for
three years for £7 per annum for the use of the School·; in 1647, for
£ 14 per annum for ;even years ·; . and in 1648, for twenty years at the
same rate ; while Long and Spectacle Islands were leased for 6d per
acre annually.for the same purpose. In August, 1645, it was voted" to
allow forever £50 to the Master, and an house, and £30 to an Usher
. ·.. and Indians' children were to be taught gratis."
The successor of Mr. Maude was Mr. Woodbridge, supposed to
have been the same as the first minister of Andover, mentioned in
Mather's Maxnalia. Nothing more is known of him. _T he question
has been lately raised whether Benjamin Woodbridge, his brother, the
first o-raduate of Harvard College, is no·t more likely to have been
the t~acher; but Mr, Sibley is of the opinion that the title "Mr." on
the· records points to some one other than a mere Bachelor of Arts,
who would probably have been called Sir.
Robert Woodmansey became the "Scholemaster" in 1650, upon a
salary of £50, besides a house to live in. In 1669 his widow is notified that the use of the " Schoole house is needed by the towne," and
she is desired to provide otherwise for "her selfe," and, three months
after, she is allowed an annuity of £8 during her widowhood.
Mr. Woodmansey had for an assistant Daniel Hinchman (or
Henchman), subsequently one of the most renowned captains of the
colony. In 1667 Benf~min Tompson, a well-known physician an_d
· poet, became master of the School, remaining about four years. Fr~in
this time the history of the School emerges from the , clouds of tr~Clition into the clearer light of trus_tworthy history.
,·
. Ezekiel Cheever, then a teacher at Charlestown, was invited,: Dec.
29, 1670, to become the head master, and Mr. Tompson to r5main as
his assistant; but Mr. Tompson, having been invited to yharlestown,
probably to the place vacated by Mr. Cheever, after three days' deliberation, decided not to remain here, and to accept .the invitation there;
which acceptance, so Major-Gen. (afterward Gov.) John Leverett, to
whom it was signified, declares under his own hand" cannot be any
just offence that I knowe of." Mr. Cheever was born in London,
Jan~z5, 1614, and came to Boston in June, 1637. ·The next spring he
went to New Haven, where he remained some time as a teacher, and

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THE BOSTON PUBLIC LA .TIN SCHOOL..

probably wrote "The Accidence,'' an element;i.ry .work in Latin which
passed through eighteen editions before the Revolution, and is
thought to have done "more to inspire young minds with the love of
the study of the Latin language than any other work of the kind since
the first settlement of the country." From New Haven he removed
in 1652 to Ipswich, thence in 1661 to Charlestown, and remained
there till he came to Boston. He was about fifty-six years old when
he took this School ; but he lived to an advanced age, and during
thirty-seven years he trained not a few of New England's most distinguished men. He was remarkable for piety as well as learning.
Judge Sewall speaks of him in his diary as " having lab()red in his calling as teacher, skillfully, dili gently, constantly, Religiously, seventy
years. A rare instance of Piety, Health, Strength, Serviceableness." ·
He was master of the School until 1708, and was the first master to
die in office, an event not to happen again in the history of the School
for one hundred and sixty-eight years, and then to occur twi<;:e in a
single twelvemonth. He
died, "Venerable," says
Gov. Hutchinson, "not
merely for his great age,
ninety-four, but for having been the schoolmaster
of most of the principal
gentlemen in Boston who
were then upon the stage.
He is not t~e only master
who kept his lamp longer
lighted than otherwise it
would have been by a
supply of oil from his
scholars." He was buried
from the schoolhouse, and
a funeral oration was delivered over his remains
by .Mr. Williams, his successor.
The renowned Cotton
JOHN LOVELL.
Mather, one of his most
eminent pupil s, in a funeral discourse upon him says, ... We generally
concur in acknowledging that New. England has neyer known a better
teacher. . . . It was noted, that, when scholars came to be admitted
into the College, they who came from the Cheeverian education were
generally the most unexceptionable."

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Again he says of him personally, " He so constantly prayed with
us every day, and catechized us every week, and let fall such holy
' counsels upon us j he took so many occasions to make speeches to us,
that should make us afraid of sin and of incurring the fearful judgments of God by sin ; that I do propose him for imitation ..•. He
was well studied in the body of divinity, an able defender of the faith
and order of the ·gospel, notably conversant and acquainted with the
scriptural prophecies."
.
Elsewhere Dr. Mather couples his name with that of the distinguished master of Cambridge, "'Tis Corlet's pains and Cheever's we must own,
That thou, New England, art not Scythia grown."
Nathaniel Williams was appointed to succeed Mr. Cheever. He is
supposed to ·have been educated at the School, and, if so, was .the firs t
pupil to become its master. He was an agreeable man, a graduate of
Harvard College, and ordained as an evangelist for one of the WestIndian islands ; but, finding the climate .unhealthy, he returned to
Boston. He also practised as a physician while master of the School.
"Amidst the multiplicity of his duties as instructor, and physician in
extensive practice, he never left .the ministerial work."
During his predecesso.r's time, the number of pupils had so increased, that often there were a hundred in the School. As a single
master could not easily instruct so large a number, it had been customary for the masters to employ assistants at their own expense ;
but in 1709 it was proposed to advance the master's salary to a hundred pounds per annum, and to provide an assistant at the town's
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At the same time it was recommended, "for the promoting of Diligence and good Literature, that the Town . . . do nominate and
appoint a certain number of Gentlemen of Liberal Education, Together with some of the Revd Ministers of the Town, ... to Visit
ye School from time to time, when apd as oft, as they Shall think fit,
To Enform themselves of the Methods Used in Teaching of the
Schollars and to inquire of their Proficiency, and to be present at the
performance of some of their Exercis~s,' the Master being before
notified of their coming. . . . And at their said Visitation, One of the
Ministers by turns to pray with the Schollars, and Entertain 'em with
Some Instruction·s of Piety Specially Adapted to their Age and Edu~
cation."
John Lovell was the next master. During. four years he had been
assistant master, and- forty-two years .he was head master. The list

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THE BOSTON PUBLIC LA TIN SCHOOL.

of hi s pupils embraces many of the most illustrious men of the time.
He had, and probably deserved, a high reputation for learning; but
was severe a nd rough, a rigid disciplinarian, and thoroughly feared by
his pupils. In the Harvard Memorial Hall is his portrait, by his pupil
Nathaniel Smibert, "drawn," says Judge Cranch, "while the terrific
impressions of the pedagogue were yet vibrating on his nerves. I
found it so perfect a likeness of my old neig hbor that I did not wonder
when my young friend told me that a sudden undesigned glance at it
had often made him shudder." Lovell was a rigid loyalist, and, when
Boston was evacuated, retired to Halifax, and there closed his life.
His son James,.for a long time his assistant, was an equally strong
patriot.' Th e two masters occupied desks at the opposite ends of the.
room; and a pupil of a later day pictures them as" pouring into infant,
minds, as they could from the classics of the empire or the historians
of the Republic, the lessons of absolutism or of liberalism." Maste_r
John Lovell delivered the first address in Faneuil H .II; Master James
the first in commemoration of the Boston Massacre, some of the boys
going to hear it in defiance of the old master, who refused them a
holid ay. Master James was imprisoned in Boston Jail for his political faith, and carried by the British troops to H alifax, where he remained six months before he was exchanged.
Harrison Gray Otis, afterwards mayor of Boston, was a pupil of
Lovell's. Coming to school April 19, 1775, he found bis way stopped.
by P ercy's brigade drawn up across the head of School Street iil
preparation for their march to Lexington. He had to pass down
Court Street, and come up School; and just entered the room in time
to hear Master Lovell dismiss the boys: "War's begun and school's
d one: DejJonite libros."
History says the schoolmaster's <laughter played her part in the
battle of llunker Hill. The British officer of ordnance was quite
attentive to her, and in consequence neglected his duty, and provided
twelve-pound shot for the six-pounders that were to open on the rebel
intrenchments, repeating the error, when orders bad been sent to correct it, to the intense disgust of the commander.
It was Lovell's boys, too, who had the memorable interview about
the destru ction of their coast with Gen. Haldimand, -not Gen. Gage,
as the story is usually told, -who occupied the house in School Street
just below th e School. The coast was not on the Common, but down
Beacon and School Streets, past the School.
,
Master Lovell's house was in School Street, next below that of
Gen. Haldimand. It had a large garden, extending back towards
Court Street, in which the best. boys· of the School were allowed, as _

THE BOSTON ' PUBLIC LATIN SCHOOL.

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a reward of merit, to work. They ·were also allowed to saw th1
master's wood and bottle his cider, and, while thus engaged, migh
laugh as loudly as they pleased.
After Lovell's departure, the School was closed for a short time
until, in June, 1776, Samuel Hunt, an old pupil of the School ·and :
graduate of Harvard College, was transferred from the North to th
South Grammar School, · and remained ~ its head for about thirt
years. He did not have, by any means, an easy time. Conscientiou
and rigid ill discipline, he was occasionally involved in difficulties wit
the parents of his pupils, and did not always coincide with the Schoc
Committee. He had reason, too, to complain of the treatment by th
town, .which did riot carry out its contract. After some controvers
between him. and the committee, he resigned in 1805, on a pensio
secured for him by the exertions of the committee, and moved first t
Watertown, and later to Kentucky, where he died.
·
Dr. James Jackson says of him, "Master Hunt certainly was nc
well spoken of among his boys when I was in his school; and, if the
judgments were to be relied on, he was not among the excellen
....--:;:;.:::=:!!::!:!:;::!:!:!'h-s§..<lame - was true in respect to most of th<! schoolmasters
knew when a boy. It seemed to be a matter of course to find fau
with the master. And at College the excellent President Willard w;
spoken of in terms the IT\Ost opprobrious by the pupils under hi m
so that it was not till my senior year that I discovered that he w:
not a cold, austere, heartless despot, but, on the other hand, a m<
of great sensibility, truly tender-heart~d, a lover of justice, but_ n·
prone to severity. Master Hunt was ·a passionate man, and certain
committed errors from this cause. But these wer.e occasional. I
general he was kind; and he was, I think, greatly interested in ti
welfare and improvement of his scholars." After mentioning certa
ways in which he used· to endeavor to excite his pupils' interest
their studies, he concludes, "I · am desirous to do credit to Mast
Hunt, of whom, since I arrived at years of discretion, I have alwa:
:\thought we!i. I think his pupils did not. do him justice, and th
some occasional follies of passion were remembered by them, wh '
many excellent daily services, performed with a good spirit and· hone
purpose, were overlooked."
In Lovell's time, all that was required for admission was to read
few verses in the 13ible. The School was divided into several class<
each of which had a separate bench, or form. The boys sat on th e
at firs.t in the order in which they. came to Lovell's house for exami1
ti on.' "The books used the first ·year were, :'"Cheever's Accidenc
1 Nomenclatura Brevis,' and 'Corderius' Colloquies ; ' the seco

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THE BOSTON PUBLIC LA TIN SCHOOL_, '

THE BOSTON PUBLIC LA TIN SCHOOL.

year, '.IEsop's Fables,' and, towards the close, 'Eutropius ' and
'Ward's Lilly's Grammar; ' the third year, in addition, a book called
'Clark's Introduction.' In the fourth year, the fourth form, as well
as the fifth and sixth, being furnished with desks, commenced 'making
Latin,' and took' Cresar's Commentaries.' After this the three upper
classes read 'Tully's Orations,' the first books of the '.tEneid,' and
dipped into Xenophon and Homer."
The course of study continued nearly the same under Master Hunt,
according to Dr. Jackson, who says, in addition," We were well drilled
in the grammar, so called; made
familiar with the inflections of
words and with the rules of
syntax ; required to be exact in
the pronunciation of words and
in the accent of quantities.''
School began in the morning
at seven in summer, and eight
in winter, and in the afternoon
at one throughout the year. It
ended at eleven in the morning,
and five in the afternoon, and
theri the greater part went to
writing-school for an hour. On
Thursday school broke up at
ten A.M:, to give opportunity to
·attend the Thursday lecture.
School opened with Attendam11s to a short prayer; it ended
with Deponite libros. In the ·
first and most of the lower
forms they changed places according to the daily recitations;
EPES SARGENT DI XW ELL.
in the higher forms, not so
often. In Greek they reac;i the
Greek Testament, and nothing else.
William Biglow, who had for some time previous been a teacher in
Salem, succeeded Mr. Hunt. Whatever his qualifications as an instructor, he was no more successful as a disciplinarian than his predecessor. He is said by. those who remember his government to have
been harsh and severe. The boys rebelled at his rule, and resisted
his authority. Of this, R alph Waldo Emerson gave an amusing
account at the first dinner of the Boston Latin-School Association.

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The state of the School became at last so unsatisfactory, that Mr.
Biglow resigned in 1813.
The committee then determined to choose as master a young man,
whose inexperience ·in teaching would be compensated for by his
not being wedded to any particular mode of discipline or instruction ,
and .thus prevented from· adapting himself to the requirements of th e
School.
Acting on the advice of President Kirkland, the choice which they
made of Benjamin Apthorp
Gould, then a member of
the senior class at Harvard
College, proved most fortunateforthe School, which
under him, regained public confidence. Mr. Emerson, in his speech above
referred to, tells the manner in which Mr. Gould
was introduced to the
School. The ol:·er pupils
of the School still living
freely testify to their obligation to Mr.. Gould, and
to their respect for his
character. He was a kindhearted man, and had an
excellent faculty for mainCHARLES K. DILL AW AY.
taining discipline without
severity : he instilled correct principles into the minds of his pupilE
and under him the School acquired the elevated character it has sine·
held.
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Mr. Gould resigned in 1828 to go into business, and was succeede·
by his assistant, Frederick P. Leverett, author of the Latin lexicor
In 1831 he resigned to take charge of a private schoo!, but was n
appointed in 1836, and died before resuming· the office.
During the ·five years between Mr. Leverett's resignation and re-ar
pointment, Charles K. Dillaway, a pupil of the School in 1818, a grac
uate of Harvard College in 1825, and from 1827 usher or sub-maste
in the School, was the master. Under him the number of pupils ir
creased, and the same thorough preparation for College was give1
Since his retirement from the School he has not been idle ; but a un
form edition of the Latin Classics, and many articles in periodical

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THE BOSTON PUBLIC LA TIN SCHOOL.

THE BOSTON PUBLIC LA TIN SCHQOL.

testify to his literary activity, and he has been an efficient and valuable member of several literary and sCientific societies. He is now the
highly esteemed President of Boston Latin School Association.
After ill health had caused Mr. Dillaway to resign in 1836, and seek
less laborious employment, and Mr. Leverett's death, as ·before mentioned, Epes Sargent Dixwell, a pupil of the School in . 1816, and a
graduate of Harvard College in 1827, and for a year and nine months
sub-master of the School, was appointed his successor, and held the
office till 1851, when he resigned, and established the private school
in Boston with which he was long identified. He is still living, anc.l
enjoys the respect and love of his pupils.
His successor was Francis Gardner, a pupil of the Latin School in
1822, a graduate of Harvard College in 1831, and from that time to
the day of his death, with the
exception of one year spent
in Europe, a ·teacher in the
School. · To describe Dr.
Gardner, or what he did, to
a Latin-School boy of the
. present or last generation,
is a work of supererogation.
No man was better known
in Boston. His . classmate,
Wendell Phillips, says, "He
was, from mere boyhood and
life long, eminently a just
man, only claiming fair play,
and more than willing to al"
low it to others. I never
knew the time, even in his
boyhood, when he !iid. not
detest or despise a sham."
FRANCIS GARDNER.
Professor William R. Dim.
mock, one of his pupils, and
after wards a teacher under him, said, in a memorial address to the
Boston Latin-School Association, "This was the uneventful life of
Dr. Gardner: his daily course in and out of the same house for more
than thirty yea rs, at the same school for forty-three ; the regular
hours, till age began, at the gymnasium, and early in his life the
daily walk to Roxbury N eek; the only relaxation looking in at the
book-stores in search of . something that he might use in his work;
and, at one period of his life, groping among the piles of books at

the Public Library; a simple, quiet life, that many men might pass,
and yet leave nothing .distiµctive in their . record. . . . The great
object that he aimed a~ fn his instn,1ctions was that the boys in
'their classical work should learn Latin and Greek, and not merely
to translate certain selections from the languages . . . , He had a
certain grim humor, and an odd quaintness of expression, that were
very effective in his dealings with the boys, and often very amusing
as they were repeated and passed through the school."
At the time of his last illness Dr. Gardner was granted by the
School Committee a leave of absence, which expired on the very day
of his death. He was thus the first head master to die in office since
the death of ·Ezekiel Cheever.
Augustine Milton Gay, a graduate of Amherst College in 1850,
one of the masters of the
School, was made head master
in June, i876; but he · was
taken ill soon after the close
of the summer vacation, and
could only attend to his work
for a short ti.me each day until
November, when he died suddenly.
For the next six months the
School was ui:ider the charge
of Moses Merrill, a graduate
of Harvard Colkge in 1856,
who was appointed head master in Ji.:ne, 1877. He became
an usher in the School in 1858,
and has been connected with
it ever siqce, . so that he is
thoroughly ~cquainted with its
traditions and imbued with its
;MOSES MERRILL
spirit; under his control the
aims of the· School have been. as high as ever, and it is to-clay faithfully discharging its task of thoroughly fitting boys for College.
Such have been the men who, as masters, have for almost two and a
h.alf centuries maintained the reputation of the Latin School. They
have had worthy assistants to carry out their plans, and second thei1
endeavors. On the roll of assistant teachers we find the n~mes of men
who have acquired honor in their day in many a field of human effort,
1
of whom we may mention Professor Edward Wigglesworth, Rev. Wil-

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THE BOSTON PUBLIC LA TIN SCHOOL.

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THE BOSTON PUBLIC LATIN SCHOOL .

Renaissance style, of brick, with the lines of strength treated archi~
tecturally in stone, and· intended to be fir~-proof. KIN~'s HAN_D"
BOOK OF BOSTON describes it as "the largest structure m America
devoted lo educational purposes, and the largest in the world used
as a free public school." It was begun in 1877, and finished in
November, 1880. ·The Dartmouth-street front, which is to be <?ccupied by the school-board, is not to be completed at present. Without it the building is 339 feet long and 220 feet wide.. The structure
is three stories high with a basement, and is designed after the
German plan of the hollow square. with corridors following its outlines. The walls of the corridors are of brick, making fire-proof sections. Each schoolroom will accommodate about thirty-five pupils.

liam Bentley, Rev. Samuel Cooper Thacher Dr. Jacob Bigel
R
N. L. Frothingham, Rev. Samuel Gilman Rio-ht Rev J
othw, Mev.
'
"'
• ona an
W ·
· ht R ·
•
. amwng , evs. A 1exander Young, William Newell, Chandler Robbms, Professor Henry W. Torrey, Rev · Edward E . H aI e, D r. Joh n p .
ReTyhnoldfi.s, Rev~.~ oseph Henry Thayer and Phillips Brooks.
e rst bmldmg
of the South Grammar School m
· B os t on stood
.
.
~n School Street, iu.st behind King's Chapel, and on part of the burymg_-ground. Of this sch~ol_ there exists only a conjectural representat10nI made from
descriptions, which is shown in the engr;:1vmg
·
·
on t le opp~s1te page. It was two stories hi gh, a nd probably
pa'.tl~ ocd1p1ed by the schoolmaster and his family. In 1748- ,this
bmldm~ was moved at the expe nse of the proprietors of the ch~rch,
for their own acco~ m ?dat i o n. Mr. Lovell opposed the removal ; but
the town agreed to 1t, m a tumultuous meeting (April i8, 1748), by 205
yeas to 197 nays. _In the afternoon of the s;i.me day this epigram was
sent to Mr. Lovell : -

\

I

"A fig for your learning I I tell you the Town,
To make the church larger, must pull the school down.
U nluck1ly spoken,· replied Master Birch, Then learning, I fear, stops the growth of the churcli."

·I

1)
II

·Another building was then erected on the opposite side of th
street, on the site of the Parker House. It is described a
I e
b 'Id'
.h
s a ow
~1 . mg, ':it. an attic, and with a cupola above, but no trustworthy
p1ctu_re _of 1t 1s known to be in existence. In 181 2 it gave place to
a .bu1ldmg, "':ell remembered by our older citizens, of three stories,
with a. granite front .. At first this was only partly occupied b
the Latm School; but m 1816, under the interest excited b M t y
G Id'
.
·
,
Y
as er
~u . s management, 1t required the second story, and later the whole
bmldmg. Its appearance is shown by the engraving on page 19.
In 1844 the School was removed to the buildino- on Bedford Street
shared with the English High School. This building has Jong bee~
~oo small for t~e needs of .the School, so that many pupils h~ve been
mstructed outside. It is to be abandoned, probably during the present
ye~r, for th~ new edifice on Dartmouth Street and Warren Avenue,
wh1~h the city has erected for the joint occupancy of the High and
Lahn Schools, where.for the rest of this century at least, and perhaps
much longer, the Lahn School may fairly expect to remain.
· The exterior of the building is handsome and imposing, but some
of the arrangements of the interior might be criticised and could b
.
d
'
e
improve . The city h.as meant to provide well for its'. two chief
schools, and in the main has done so. The building is a · modern

.\
,

J

THE FIRST LATIN SCHOOL, ON NORTH SIDE OF SCHOOL STREE.T, 1635 • .

1

There will be fifty-six rooms, all.fronting on the streets. The width
of the whole building is simply the. width of. a room and its corridor,
thus insuring the best light and ventilation. At the centre the two
parts of the buildil}g are connected by a corridor; on one ~ide of
which are rooms forilthe head master, library, teachers, and cabmets of
the Latin School, and on the opposite side corresponding rooms of the
High School. The staircases are of iron, and to each building there
is a tower with a winding staircase, proving an ·extra means of egress.
Each school is furnished with a large exhibition-hall, arranged in
amphitheatre form, 62 by 82 feet and 25 feet high, ~nd ~ith. an a.mple
drawing-room suitably lighted from above.. The mtenor 1s fimsbed

18

THE BOSTON PUBLIC LA TIN SCHOOL.

in pine, grained in imitation of hard wood. The two schools are furth er connected by a drill-hall and gy mnasium, designed for common
u~e. "The driII-h~IJ is a gr~nd feature. It is 130 feet long by 6o feet
wide, and 30 feet high, and 1s on the street-level, with entrances from
Warr~n Aven~e and Montgomery Street and the court-yards. The
fio~r 1s of thick plank, calked like a ship's deck, and is laid upon
sohd concrete. The hall is to acco mmodate the whole school battalion, and can also be used for mounted drill. With its galleries it
could seat 3,000 persons. With the gymnasium above of the same
size, it is finished in ~atural materials, and treated so as 'to get a structural effect of open timber-work, the wood bein<Y. hard pine shellacked
and varnished; the walls ot Philadelphia brick laid in bri;ht red mor·
"'
tar, and trimmed with sandstone."
In 1785, while the old schoolhouse was undergoing repairs, Master
Hunt taught for a time in Faneuil H all. Later the school was kept in
an old barn. in Cole Lane, now Portland Street (otherwise spoken
of as the Mill Pond), because the new building was in procrress on
the School-street site; th en it was moved to Scollay's Buildin" on
Pemberton Hill, and th en to the new stone schoolhouse.
"''
The Latin ~chool has ~one its part to strengthen the argument of
those who claim that the influence of classical studies is to inspire a
ge n~rcius pa.triotism. Many of its scholars were distinguished in the
earlier conflicts of the nation, both military and civil.
Some, no doubt led by the principles and example of Master
Lovell, adhered to the moth er-country, and left names to be inscribed
in the annals of American loyalists. Others, influenced probably
by the teachings of his son, read more correctly the si"ns of the
times, and took their places among the Sons of Liberty: "'
·
The first name upon the Declaration of Independence, in the !awe
free hand, so familiar to us, which was probably learned at the La~i~
School, is that of a Latin-S chool boy, and below it are those .of four
others who received their early instruction from the same source.
In the later days of the RebeIIion the Latin-School boys proved
how
" Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori;"

for two hundred and seventy-six filled posts in the military and naval
service, of whom fifty gave up th eir lives, and all on every field did
honor to themselves and the school.
In the Twelfth Massachusetts Regiment, commanded by a Latin,
School boy, was one company, whose·captain was also a L<?tin-School
boy, which was adopted by the School, bore its name, and was, while

THE BOSTON PUBLIC LA TIN. SCHOOL.

19 .

in service, the object o~ its interest and · tender care . . To this company the boys of tlje Sc~qol gave a standard, made in imitation of that
of the Roman legi9ns, wpjch, after the war, was ·returned to the School,
and now hangs on the wall .of the hall.
In the same hall stands a statue by Richard S. Greenough, a LatinSchool boy, which was erected by the graduates of the School to honor
those who had honored her, and to commemorate those who had fallen
in defending their country. This statue -represents the alma mater of
the School, resting on a shield which bears the names of the dead, and
extending a laurel crown to reward those· who returned. . On marble
tablets on either side are the names of all the scholars who served in
the national forces without losing their lives. This statue, elegant as
a work of art, and . invaluable as an inspiration, .was
dedicated in December,
1870, with an oration by
Hon. William M. Evarts,
and a poem by William
Everett. In the new building it is to stand before the
entrance door, a daily reminder to the pupils of
the patriotism and devotion
which it is the duty of
education to foster, and of
educated men to cherish.
The schoolroom also contains portraits in oil and
in crayon of distinguished
alumni.
Since the war, instruction
in military drill has been
given in this as· in ·other
high schools in the city.
Opinions will differ about
the wisdom of thus introducing the study of arms THE THIRD LATIN SCHOOL, SOUTH SIDE OF
SCHOOL STREET, 181.2,
among the elements of a
liberal education; but great attention has been · paid to it, with, it is
claimed, very satisfactory results, and there is. no disposition at
present to discontinue it; In the new building the rooms best
adapted to their purpose, and finished with the most care and atten"

21

THE BOSTON PUBLIC LATIN SCHOOL.

THE BOSTON PUBLIC LATIN SCHOOL . .

tion to detail, are the large drill-hall and gymnas.ium for the use of
both schools.
The object of the Latin School has always been the preparation of
boys for college: accordingly, as the requirements for admission to
college have increased, its curriculum has broadened, and the branches
studied to-day are much more numerous than those of half a century
ago.
As a rule, the citizens of Boston have cherished the Latin School;
but occasionally, when the purpose for which it was established has
been forgotten, or when doubts have arisen in the community of the
utility of classical studies, complaints have been brought against it,
and attempts made to change its character, or even to merge it in
other schools or abolish it entirely. But it has pursued the tenor of
its way with unabated energy, resisting all such attacks, and finally
triumphing over them.
Very early in its history the number of scholars was frequently
more than a hundred. Under Mr. Hunt and Mr. Biglow there was a
falling-off, but after Mr. Gould became master the School took a fresh
start. During his fourteen yea~s 158 boys were fitted for college, in
Mr. Leverett's three years 32, in Mr. Dillaway's five years 39, in Mr.
Dixwell's fifteen years 181, and in the first ten years of Mr. Gardner's rule 168; the average per year being thus raised · from a little
less than 12 to nearly 17. During the four years that the present
master has been at the head of the School, 91 pupils have been
graduated, of whom 6 entered professional schools or business,
and the other 85 applied, with success, for admission to various
colleges. In addition, 19 have, without graduating, gone from the
School to higher institutions of learning. In 1851 the number of
pupils was 131, in 1861 263, at the present time 340. The number
of teachers has varied with the number of scholars. At present there
are a head master, three masters, and eight junior masters, beside
instructors in · French, German, drawing, and military drill.
The high qualities attributed by Mather to the Cheeverian education have characterized that obtained under his successors. So far
as examination for college is a test of acquirement, the class of this
year has done itself and its instructors particular credit. Out of
twenty-seven who graduated, one went into business, the other twenty"
six applied for admission to college, and twenty-three were uncon~
ditionally admitted. Twenty-four applied to Harvard, of whom sixteen
passed the examination "with credit" in one or more subjects or
groups of subjects. One received six "honors," anoth.er five, and
the remainder from four to one each. At the same time the second

ciass,.
exammat1ons.
. h · h dred and eleven were
hundred and twenty-six p~p~rs, of wh1~ t70 h~~ the School need not
successfuL Certainly this '.s a recorh o. ; IC f continuing it to' be
be ashamed; and all quest10ns of t e w1s om o
.
.
the pride of Boston, and the culmination of her educational system m
the future as in the past, ought to .be set at rest.

20

nu'.11berin~::irz~tl~~;· a;;:a:e;c~:;~~:e:dt:~:;:~::::::n;;~

THE FOURTH LATIN SCHOOL, ON BEDFORD

bbott Lawrence <rave a sum of . money, of which
In l 8 54 H on. A
"'
l
ent of
the interest ls distributed in prizes for the ~enerda bencou~~ge:nd the
There is another fund contribute y pup1 s,
h
·
d the Frankthe sc h oIars.
£ u ils for a similar purpose. T ese pnzes, an
.
f~thersdol pt~ :, gift of Franklin," are given for general. scholarship
Im me a s, e
The pnzes are an.
.
d O'QOd conduct, or for specified:perft.rmances.
an "' d t the annu~l exhibition or prize declamat10n m May, and
n?unce ~h
who won them, at the annu"!l visitation by the comg1;en to th:~~ose of the school-year, whe.n the medals ~~e a~arded.
mA1ftttee ~~ Gardner's death, some of his former pupils res1d1?g mfNew
er
·
f
·
one to be given or an
y k subscribed a· sum of money or two pnzes,
.
es~ray in English literature, and the other for one in natu~~~ s~~;~~~
11 d th "Gardner prizes." These were awar
.
and t~ bbe tcasoeme o~i·ection having arisen from the School Committee,
years, u,
~

.. :
...
~

', "

.

.
22

THE BOSTON PUBLIC LA TIN SCHOO/-.

the award has been temporarily di scontinued, and the money remains in
the hands of those by whom it was collected. The late Hon. Elias
Hasket Derby of Boston left by will a sum not yet available, for
medals for certain literary performances.
. .
We have spoken of the teachers; but among the pupils of the school
during its nearly two hundred and fifty years have been men as eminent as th eir instructors, who have in their lives reflected honor upon
the city of their birth or adoption, and the school in which they were
nurtured. Of such may be named John Hull, Benjamin Franklin and
his four fellow-signers of the Declaration of Independence, John
Hancock, Sam Adams, Robert Treat Paine, William Hooper; Presidents Leverett, Langdon, Everett, and Eliot, of Harvard, and Pynchon of Trinity College; Governors James Bowdoin and William
Eustis; Lieut.-Governors Cushing and Winthrop; James Lovell;
Aclino Paddock, who planted th e "Paddock Elms;" Benjamin Church,
first a patriot and then a traitor; Judges Francis D ana, Thomas
Dawes, and Charles Jackson; Drs. John C. Warren, James Jackson,
and Henry I. Bowditch ; Professors William D. Peck, H enry W.
Torrey, Francis J. Child, Josiah P. Cooke, and William R. Dimmock;
Mayors H arris on G. Otis, Samuel A. Eliot, and 'Frederick O. Prince;
Hons. Robert C. Winthrop, Charles Francis Adams, George S. Hillard,
Charles Sumn er, William M. Evarts, and Charles Devens· such writers
as Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Lothrop Motley, a~d divines as
Right Rev. John B. Fitzpatrick, Roman-Catholic Bishop of Boston
Right Rev.. Theodore D ehon, Bishop of South Carolina, and Revs'.
Cotton Mather, Benjamin Colman, Andrew Eliot, Joseph Tuckerman,
William Jenks, Samuel Cooper Thacher, Francis Parkman, N. L.
Frothingham , William H. Furness, Alexander Young, Frederic A. Farley, James Freeman Clarke, William H enry Channing, Henry -Ward
Beecher, John F: W. Ware, Edward E. Hale, and Phillips Brooks.
In 1844 the Boston Latin-School Association, to which all who
have ever been masters or pupils in the School are eligible, was
formed to promote interest in it, and provide for its library. It~' constantly," says the School Committee in one of its reports, "keeps in
view the good of the School, from year to year adds to the attractions
displayed in the rooms and to the number of choice volumes in the
classical library." Its library in the school-building, for the use of
.masters and pupils, contains "one of the choicest collections of classical works in the country, - the editions being the most desirable, and
the books of reference the rarest and most valuable."
Master Gardner was indefatigable in adding to its treasures ; arid
largely by his personal exertions "the Latin School acquired proba-

.......

....

THE BOSTON PUBLIC LA TIN SCHOOL.

bly the largest collection of pictorial and other illustra.tions of Roman
and Grecian topography and antiquities possessed . by any institution
in the country ; comprising paintings, rare and old engravings, models
in cork, casts from the antique, the best foreign· mural maps and plans,
casts of medals, antique . coins, · specimens of marbles from ancient ·
ruins, and hundreds of photographs of Italian ·. and Athenian views,
and of statuary."
To .further stimulate an esprit du corps among the pupils, as well
as to foster public interest in the School, the Association a few years
ago established the practice of having annually a public dinner in the
city of Boston. The first occurred on what was supposed to be the
one-hundredth anniversary of .t he re-opening of the School, after Master Lovell closed it with his memorable speech on the morning of
Concord fight. It wa,s a brilliant occasion. Its successors have
proved equally so, and the annual dinner of the Latin-School Association may now be fairly considered an established Bosto.n notion.
Thus constantly manifesting its interest in the School, and seeking
to promote its welfare, the Association has ·giveri ample assurance
that if the time ever comes, of which President Eliot of Harvard
University hopefully spoke in his speech as chairman at the dinner
of the Association in 1878, when those who have been its pupils shall
have some voice and share in the government of the School, they
may be depended upon zealously to maintain 'its prestige unimpaired,
to keep its glories untarnished, to augment its efficiency, and add to
its renown.
In 1847 the Association published a Catalogue of Masters and
Pupils, as complete as it could then be made. A .few years ago
Master Hunt's manuscript catalogue was found, in which occurred
new names of scholars between 1775 and 1805, and other interesting
information. The revis.ion and republication of these catalogues have
been intrusted to a committee, who before many months will issue
a new one, larger than the former, and containing historical notes,
and many additional names.
Few schools have a history so extended or so honorable· as this
which has here been merely sketched ; few can show such a memorable list of graduates; few have more completely fulfilled the purpose
of their existence, or justified the hopes of their founders.
The citizens of Boston are entitled to take an honorable pride in it :
they ought to appreciate the credit it confers upon the city, and to
cherish it with jealous and loving care. It will in a few years be
able to follow the City itself in celebrating its quarter-millennial anniversary. May it live and grow with unabated ~sefulness until it can

'

24

.
,·
· THE BOSTON PUBLir; LA TIN' SCHOOL,
.
'_. .

~ount its thousandth year.! · may the day be far distant when Jfrose '. whq
should protect it shall raise their hands .t.o destroy it, qr .:m~rge its

glories in any institution of mor~ recent crea~ion ! . Our good wishes
for it cannot be better expressed than in the .words with which Mr,
Winthrop, presiding over the diriner of the Assoclation, closed his
eloquent .speech: "The continued prosperity , of the old BOSTON
PUBLIC LATIN SCHOOL, - in secula seculornm."

•

/

.,

