The Earle family : Ralph Earle and his descendants

2l6 THE EARLE FAMILY [Seventh
Earle. Endowed with a mind of remarkable vigor, clearness and com-
prehension, from early youth his society was sought by the intelligent
and cultivated, and his influence among his associates was great.
Worcester has never had a more brilliant circle of young men of cul-
ture and promise than that to which young Chase was admitted ;
among whom he enjoyed the particular friendship of William Lin-
coln, the scholarly man of wit ; Christopher C. Baldwin, the genial
librarian of the American Antiquarian Society, and half a score of
lawyers and statesmen whose names have gained a national renown.
In every enterprise for the intellectual and moral improvement of
the town, Mr. Chase took a prominent part. In connection with the
late Hon. Alfred Dwight Foster, he invited George Combe, of Edin-
burgh, to deliver a course of lectures in Worcester upon education
and culture, they assuming the pecuniary responsibility for its suc-
cess. Entertaining at his house Mrs. Combe, the daughter of the
great actress, Mrs. Siddons, she expressed her surprise that " having
come forty miles into the interior of America she had not met any
wild Indians !
"
He was one of the proprietors of the Massachusetts Spyixom 1823
to 1835. The Blackstone canal was opened in 1828, and in 1829 the
Worcester and Providence Boating Company was formed, with Mr.
Chase as its agent, and he was soon appointed collector of revenue
for the canal corporation. In March, 183 1, he was elected Treas-
urer of the county of Worcester, an office which he held for thirty-
four years, or until January, 1865, when he was succeeded by his
youngest son, who held it for eleven years longer. In 1832 he was
chosen Secretary of the Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance Company,
and in 1852 was made its President, an office which he held until his
decease. He was one of the founders, and the first secretary of the
Worcester Lyceum, in 1829 ; he shaped the Worcester County Mechanics
Association in its infancy, drawing up its constitution and
by-laws with his own hand, in 1841 ; he was one of the corporators
of the Central Bank in 1828; was for many years Treasurer of the
Worcester Agricultural Society ; for a long period a director in the
Citizens (now National) Bank, and a Trustee and Vice-President of
the Worcester County Institution for Savings. He took great interest
in the public schools, often served as a member of the school com-
mittee, and was never wanting where a call was made for intelligent
and disinterested public spirit. He at one time served as alderman ;