his point of vantage in
the enemy's country saw things from a different point of view and stoutly
upheld the wisdom, nay, the necessity, of the war. His parents and
friends urged him to keep out of politics and to be discreet, and he
seems, at any rate, to have followed their advice in the latter respect,
for he was not in any way molested by the authorities.

At the same time he was making steady progress in his studies and making
friends, both among the Americans who were his fellow students or artists
of established reputation, and among distinguished Englishmen who were
friends of his father.

Among the former was Charles R. Leslie, his room-mate and devoted friend,
who afterwards became one of the best of the American painters of those
days. In his autobiography Leslie says:--

"My new acquaintances Allston, King, and Morse were very kind, but still
they were _new_ acquaintances. I thought of the happy circle round my
mother's fireside, and there were moments in which, but for my
obligations to Mr. Bradford and my other kind patrons, I could have been
content to forfeit all the advantages I expected from my visit to England
and return immediately to America. The two years I was to remain in
London seemed, in prospect, an age.

"Mr. Morse, who was but a year or two older than myself, and who had been
in London but six months when I arrived, felt very much as I did and we
agreed to take apartments together. For some time we painted in one room,
he at one window and I at the other. We drew at the Royal Academy in the
evening and worked at home in the day. Our mentors were Allston and King,
nor could we have been better provided; Allston, a most amiable and
polished gentleman, and a painter of the purest taste; and King,
warm-hearted, sincere, sensible, prudent, and the strictest of
economists.

"When Allston was suffering extreme depression of spirits after the loss
of his wife, he was haunted during sleepless nights by horrid thoughts,
and he told me that diabolical imprecations forced themselves into his
mind. The distress of this to a man so sincerely religious as Allston may
be imagined. He wished to consult Coleridge, but could not summon
resolution. He desired, therefore, that I should do it, and I went to
Highgate where Coleridge was at that time living with Mr. Gillman. I
found him walking in the garden, his hat in his hand (as it generally was
in the open air), for he told me that, having been one of the