s to do it as soon as may be....

"This country appears to me to be in a very bad state. I judge from the
increasing disturbances at Nottingham, and more especially from the
startling murders lately committed in this city.

"A few mornings since was published an account of the murder of a family
consisting of four persons, and this moment there is another account of
the murder of one consisting of three persons, making the twelfth murder
committed in that part of the city within three months, and not one of
the murderers as yet has been discovered, although a reward of more than
seven hundred pounds has been offered for the discovery.

"The inhabitants are very much alarmed, and hereafter I shall sleep with
pistols at the head of my bed, although there is little to apprehend in
this part of the city. Still, as I find many of my acquaintance adopting
that plan, I choose rather to be on the safe side and join with them."

CHAPTER IV

JANUARY 18, 1812--AUGUST 6. 1812

Political opinions.--Charles E. Leslie's reminiscences of Morse, Allston,
King, and Coleridge.--C. B. King's letter.--Sidney E. Morse's letter.--
Benjamin West's kindness.--Sir William Beechy.--Murders, robberies, etc.
--Morse and Leslie paint each other's portraits.--The elder Morse's
financial difficulties.--He deprecates the war talk.--The son differs
with his father.--The Prince Regent.--Orders in Council.--Estimate of
West.--Alarming state of affairs in England.--Assassination of Perceval,
Prime Minister.--Execution of assassin.--Morse's love for his art.--
Stephen Van Rensselaer.--Leslie the friend and Allston the master.--
Afternoon tea.--The elder Morse well known in Europe.--Lord Castlereagh.
--The Queen's drawing-room.--Kemble and Mrs. Siddons.--Zachary Macaulay.
--Warning letter from his parents.--War declared.--Morse approves.--
Gratitude to his parents, and to Allston.

The years from 1811 to 1815 which were passed by Morse in the study of
his art in London are full of historical interest, for England and
America were at war from 1812 to 1814, and the campaign of the allied
European Powers against Napoleon Bonaparte culminated in Waterloo and the
Treaty of Paris in 1815.

The young man took a deep interest in these affairs and expressed his
opinions freely and forcibly in his letters to his parents. His father
was a strong Federalist and bitterly deprecated the declaration of war by
the United States. The son, on the contrary, from