Back to the Lyceum Reading RoomCONTAINING A
CREDIBLY REPORTED TO BE WORTH
WITH
OF THE PRINCIPAL PERSONS
This is an excerpt from the introduction to a booklet published in Boston, in 1846. The entries in the "calendar," arranged alphabetically, offered brief biographical descriptions of wealthy citizens along with occasional editorial comments. Each sketch routinely included a description of the source of the individual's wealth. Although a few of these "principal persons" had inherited wealth, and a somewhat larger number were affluent professionals (generally lawyers), successful businessmen represented the largest category by far. (It is worth noting that a significant percentage of the biographies remarked on the fortune brought to the man by marriage to a wealthy woman.)
A great deal I said, first and last, about the "Boston aristocracy," sometimes more familiarly designated as "our first men." We hear this phrase constantly repeated in newspapers and political speeches, as well as in conversation. Yet how many of those who repeat it, have any thing but the most vague and incoherent ideas about the aristocracy of which they talk!
The present is the first attempt ever made to produce this much talked of aristocracy,--the "solid men of Boston"--our first men--visibly and palpably, by name and enumeration,--rank and file,--head and tail,--in their own proper persons, before the eyes of the people; and so give this hitherto invisible power and presence--
"A local habitation and a name."
Likely enough there will be a great outcry against it; at least in some quarters. We shall have plenty of solemn cant about the "invasions of the sanctities of private life;" as though it were one of the privileges of wealth not to be talked about, as it is of some barbarous monarchs, not to be seen; but we hold it to be the inalienable right of all Yankees, to inquire into, and to thoroughly sift and examine, their neighbor's affairs; and those who have wealth must recollect that it is one of the penalties of good fortune, or distinction of any sort, to be n especial object of curiosity and public notice. If any in this list find that curiosity and notice obtrusive and troublesome, let them, in imitation of some rich men recorded in holy writ, disincumber themselves of their property; let them distribute their goods among the poor;--and we will warrant they shall forthwith sink into obscurity, and appear no more in this list.
So far from any apology being needed for this work, there are abundance of reasons why it ought to be published, and should have been long ago; some few of which we shall mention.
In the first place, that to which allusion has been already made; the gratification of the curiosity of vast numbers; not a mere idle curiosity, by any means; but a liberal and reasonable curiosity. We are told and taught that all men are born equal; yet they do not long stay so. When we look around us, we see a very great inequality existing: this man in a hovel--that man in a palace; this man surrounded with every luxury that wealth can afford--that man subjected to all the sufferings and mortifications of poverty. Whence this difference? Who are these rich men, in whose hands such a large proportion of the wealth of the community is concentrated? and how did it get there? Are they gods,- favorites of Heaven? or are they mere puppets of fortune; moral men and women, like the rest of us? Has their own energy and efforts made them what they are, or do they only seem tall by standing on the money-bags of their fathers?
Those who have hitherto been obliged to admire these rich men from a distance--those who have been perpetually called upon to bow down and worship at their feet, will find comfort, consolation and assurance in perceiving that the great idol, Mammon, like the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, though it may have a head of gold, and arms of silver, has also a heart of brass and hands of iron; while the feet on which it stands, are but a compound of miry clay.
It will also be an excellent thing for our rich men themselves to be put in mind of some points of their history, which they are very apt to forget. It will be well to remind them, that they were once poor themselves, or their fathers were; and that this money which so puffs them up, and makes them feel so big, came to them through toil and labor, and close shaving, and tight economy; and now and then, perhaps, a little cheating; sometimes by business not very creditable; and that, in the same way, it may come, and is every day coming to others, who are willing to use similar means to obtain it.
But there will also be advantages in this book for those who, while they can hardly pretend to be rich,are yet very unwilling to confess themselves poor.
Next to being rich themselves, it is for such persons a very delightful thing to have the reputation of being a friend and associate, or at least an acquaintance of those who are rich. How mortifying to a multitude of young Bostonians in the country, or in distant places, to be inquired of about this or that rich man of Boston, and to be obliged to confess that they know nothing about them! Whereas, by the diligent study and judicious use of this little book, they may appear very knowing, and may even be able to pass themselves off s a part of the aristocracy!
Many other things might be mentioned, if time permitted; but the uses of this book to those not enumerated in it, are too obvious to need notice. It is in fact just as essential among us, as are the numerous publications in England on the pedigree of noble and gentle families; for the rich are our aristocracy. Some persons, indeed, copying from English models, turn up their noses at the mention of a monied aristocracy; as though money was not the natural, and sooner or later, the fundamental basis of all aristocracy, all the world over. Why, even in England, it is so. There are scarcely a dozen members of the English House of Peers, who can trace back their lineage two hundred years, without coming to some money-making merchant, or lawyer, or speculator of some kind, as the had and founder of their family. . . It is no derogation, then, to the Boston aristocracy, that it rests upon money. Money is something substantial. Every body knows that and feels it. Birth is a mere idea, which grows every day more and more intangible.
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