ABSTRACT
The famous attorney and mayor of Boston for the period just be fore midcentury, the second Josiah Quincy, Jr.— like a number of the mayors in other cities-was a man of diverse affiliations. A member of the Massachusetts Historical Society after 1813, he had also been a trus tee of the Massachusetts General Hospital, treasurer of the Boston Athe naeum, and a president of the Massachusetts Peace Society. Jonathan Phillips combined lavish financial contributions with the expenditure of great effort for a variety of wholesome causes. He divided close to $100,000 between a special fund for adorning streets and public grounds, the Boston Public Library, and the Society of Natural History. He also served as a trustee of the city library society, manager of its dispensary, vice-president of the Peace Society, and president of the Institute for the Education of the Blind. The rich merchant Robert Gould Shaw joined many of his peers in the Somerset Club, a haven for the elite, but he was also a leader in the humane society, the colonization society, and the Massachusetts Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary. Men such as these typ ified the combination of lofty standing, great wealth, and participation in
Philadelphia
because his father, a leading Boston m erchant, had served as maritime agent for Louis XV I. Like Thom as W harton, Breck sought to balance pri vate exclusiveness with social purposefulness in his uses of leisure. D i ning with men of like standing in what he admitted was only ostensibly a "walking club," managing a splendid ball for Lafayette, adorning Wistar parties-weekly social evenings devoted to good talk with the elite of in and out of Philadelphia-was complemented by service in the institution for the blind, the University of Pennsylvania, the historical societies both of Pennsylvania and New England, the Philosophical Soci ety, and the Athenaeum. Undoubtedly, Breck's m ost significant public contribution was made as a member of the state legislature where, as leader of a committee on education, he earned the reputation as "father of the public school law " of 1 8 3 4 .10
