ollege),
all antedate 1876. The funds for Simmons College were left by John
Simmons in 1870, who wished to found a school to teach the professions
and "branches of art, science and industry best calculated to enable the
scholars to acquire an independent livelihood." The Lowell Institute
(q.v.), established in 1839 (by John Lowell, Jr., who bequeathed
$237,000 for the purpose), provides yearly courses of free public
lectures, and its lecturers have included many of the leading scholars
of America and Europe. During each winter, also, a series of public
lectures on American history is delivered in the Old South meeting
house. The public schools, particularly the secondary schools, enjoy a
very high reputation. The new English High and Latin school, founded in
1635, is the oldest school of the country. A girls' Latin school, with
the same standards as the boys' school, was established in 1878 (an
outcome of the same movement that founded Radcliffe College). There are
large numbers of private schools, in art, music and academic studies.

In theatrical matters Boston is now one of the chief American centres.
The Federal Street theatre--the first regular theatre--was established
in 1794, the old Puritan feeling having had its natural influence in
keeping Boston behind New York and Philadelphia in this respect. The
dramatic history of the city is largely associated with the Boston
Museum, built in 1841 by Moses Kimball on Tremont Street, and rebuilt in
1846 and 1880; here for half a century the principal theatrical
performances were given (see an interesting article in the _New England
Magazine_, June 1903), in later years under the management of R.
Montgomery Field, until in 1903 the famous Boston Museum was swept away,
as other interesting old places of entertainment (the old Federal Street
theatre, the Tremont theatre, &c.) had been, in the course of further
building changes. The Boston theatre dates from 1854, and there were
seventeen theatres altogether in 1900.

As a musical centre Boston rivals New York. Among musical organizations
may be mentioned the Handel and Haydn Society (1815), the Harvard
Musical Association (1837), the Philharmonic (1880) and the Symphony
Orchestra, organized in 1881 by the generosity of Henry Lee Higginson.
This orchestra has done much for music not only in Boston but in the
United States generally. In 1908 the Boston Opera Company was
incorporated, and an opera house has been erected on the