And again: “It is stated by reliable authorities that the ancestors of John Hancock emigrated from near Downpatrick, Co. Down, Ire., and settled in Boston toward the close of the seventeenth century. The Hancocks have been for centuries actively and largely engaged in the foreign and domestic trade of Newry, and it was, doubtless, in a commercial capacity that the first of the name came to Boston. The family to which President Hancock belonged is, it is said, now (1889) represented in Ireland by John Hancock of Lurgan, and by Neilson Hancock, the founder of the Irish Statistical Society. Anthony Hancock, who came from Ireland, resided in Boston in 1681, and he was evidently the founder of the family in America.” Equal to Hancock in patriotism and brilliant qualities was James Sullivan, who spent the last part of his life in Boston. He was a governor of Massachusetts, patriot, jurist, orator and author and shone conspicuously in his various roles. He was a brother of General John Sullivan, New Hampshire’s most distinguished Kelt, patriot, the soldier who struck the first blow for the freedom of his country, delegate to the Continental Congress, jurist and chief magistrate of the Granite State. These two great men were the sons of Owen Sullivan or O’Sullivan, who came from Ardea, Co. Kerry, while their mother was from Cork. The year 1737 was notable in the annals of Boston as marking the birth of a lad who was destined, up to the present time, to become her greatest artist, “the American Vandyke,” as he was fittingly called. He was a painter of portraits and historical subjects, and doubtless many of you have seen some of the splendid works from his brush which enrich the Museum of Fine Arts. I refer to John Singleton Copley. He was the son of Irish parents (they were from County Clare), who settled in Boston in 1736. Copley began his career under great disadvantages—without teacher or instruction, without model, without materials to practise. He even had to make his own palette and arrange what colors he used. Furthermore, he never saw a good picture until he left his native land. But notwithstanding all this, his genius triumphed. When twenty-three years old, Copley sent, without name or address, an exquisite portrait of his half-brother, entitled “The Boy and the Flying Squirrel,” to Benjamin West, the famous English painter, requesting that it be placed in the exhibition rooms of the Royal Academy in London. Though it was contrary to the rules of that institution to give such an honor to the work of unknown artists, this product of the young American Kelt was placed there because of its merits and through West’s influence. West himself made this comment on the painting: “What delicious coloring! It is worthy of Titian himself!” Copley spent the latter part of his life in London, and after achieving the most brilliant success and receiving high honors, died in 1815.