In winter it was not unusual for the boys to bring their sleds to school with them and, as soon as school was over, to coast down Beacon Street, across Tremont, and down School Street. They taught from desks at opposite ends of the schoolroom, and voicing opposite political convictions, they typified many a Boston family in those trying times. He was an ardent patriot, whereas his father was a strong loyalist. In 1760, Lovell's son James was appointed usher. On Thursdays the school was dismissed at ten o'clock, in order that the pupils might have the opportunity of attending the "Thursday Lecture" - another heritage from Boston, England. After either the eleven o'clock hour, the five o'clock hour, or both, the pupils attended a writing school nearby. School resumed at one o'clock in the afternoon and ran until five. The students studied Latin and Greek and the "elementary subjects." The morning session started at seven o'clock in the summer and eight o'clock in winter, and ended at eleven.
Members of the six or seven classes of the school sat at different benches. When he re-signed in 1734, his assistant, John Lovell, was appointed to the vacancy, becoming "the pride of Boston's parents and the terror of its youth."Īdmission to the school during Lovell's regime was determined by reading a few verses from the Bible. Nathaniel Williams, the first pupil to become Head Master, succeeded Cheever. Upon his death on August 21, 1708, Cotton Mather, the renowned divine, remarked, "We generally concur in acknowledging that New England has never known a better teacher."
Cheever was well known throughout the colonies, for he had written the famous Accidence, which was the accepted Latin grammar. On December 29, 1670, the celebrated Ezekiel Cheever was invited to become Head Master. In 1650, Robert Woodmansey became the schoolmaster with a salary of "fifty pounds a year." He was followed in 1667 by the famous colonial poet and physician Benjamin Thompson. Little is known of Maude's successor, John Woodbridge, except that he is supposed to have been the first minister at Andover and that he remained in office for approximately one year. In 1638, Pormort's assistant, Daniel Maude, succeeded him as Master, and conducted classes in his own home until 1643. It was eventually voted "to allow forever fifty pounds to the Master, and a house, and thirty pounds to an usher" (assistant teacher). From the earliest years the town assigned public funds to the support of the school. The first classes were held in the home of the Master, Philemon Pormort (see Footnotes).
Edmund Burke referred to America as exemplifying the "dissidence of dissent." From its beginning, Boston Latin School has taught its scholars dissent with responsibility and has persistently encouraged such dissent.Įstablishment of the school was due in great measure to the influence of the Reverend John Cotton, who sought to create in the New World a school like the Free Grammar School of Boston, England, in which Latin and Greek were taught. The curriculum of the school is centered in the humanities, its founders sharing with the ancient Greeks the belief that the only good things are the goods of the soul. It was founded Apby the Town of Boston (see Footnotes), antedating Harvard College by more than a year.