A REPUBLICAN GENTLEMAN

A TRIBUTE TO MARTIN BRIMMER

READ AT THE MAssachusetts Historical Society, FEBRUARY 13, 1896

A REPUBLICAN GENTLEMAN

ARTIN BRIMMER, the fourth and last of

MAR

the name in this country, was born on the 9th of December, 1829. As a boy he was carefully educated at the best schools and by the best tutors of the day; and, like his father and two uncles, he graduated at Harvard College. His health was somewhat delicate, and lameness cut him off from many of the active sports of boyhood and manhood. He never had a robust body; but it was serviceable for the main objects of living, and it must have had a certain toughness of fiber, for in middle life he recovered from two severe illnesses, and three years ago from a heavy fall which made him seriously ill for many weeks. In spite of this delicacy of body, no comrade of his youth and no witness of his maturer life ever accused Martin Brimmer of lack of courage, decision, or persistence. He was always gentle, but always firm.

His education was prolonged by foreign travel, which he greatly enjoyed and profited by throughout life. His reading was extensive, and the lan

guage he used, whether in conversation or in writing, was pure and accurate. He had a clear English style which gave effect to thoughts inspired by good sense and good feeling. He read aloud well; and this useful faculty gave weight to any opinions or proposals for which he desired to procure the consent of others.

His father died before he graduated at Harvard, and from each parent he inherited a considerable fortune. To the making of money he never had occasion to give any thought, and not much to the keeping of money. The pursuit of wealth had no attractions for him, and that winning of a livelihood which occupies almost exclusively the time and energy of most men did not enter at all into his experience. He was rich and "knew how to abound." His houses contained many precious things- particularly the books and pictures he loved. He was an intelligent and discriminating patron of art, and therefore was surrounded at home by many objects delightful to the eye; but in his personal habits he was always simple, refined, and manly. Enervating luxuries had no allurements for him. He was not tempted to accumulate money; on the contrary, he dispensed it with extraordinary generosity and judgment. His rich material surroundings were only an incidental environment of his pure, lofty, and self-forgetting life.

He was always ready to render any public service for which he considered himself fit. At thirty years of age he was a representative in the Massa

chusetts Legislature; at thirty-four he was first elected a Fellow of the Corporation of Harvard University, and at thirty-five he was a member of the State Senate. In 1878 he was a candidate for Congress, but was defeated at the election. Perfectly disinterested himself in all public functions, he was absolutely incapable of appealing to interested or corrupt motives in others.

Of the numerous public trusts with which he was connected, the most important were Harvard University and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. He was a Fellow of the University Corporation from 1864 to 1868, a Member of the Board of Overseers from 1870 to 1877, and again a Fellow of the Corporation from 1877 to his death. He was president of the Museum of Fine Arts from the organization of the corporation in 1870 to his death. He was a director in numerous charitable organizations, and a member of innumerable committees organized for temporary public service; and in all such labors his singular fairness, good temper, and good judgment made him a leader among his associates. In contentious meetings, his influence was invaluable. He soothed irritations, moderated fanaticisms, and made men and women of the most incompatible temperaments unite contentedly in good works.

Of all his public services, his labors on behalf of the Museum of Fine Arts were the most fortunate, congenial, and productive. Through much study and observation he had acquired a real knowledge of the fine arts, and an accurate and discriminat