at this period are filled with
patriotic sentiments, and he writes many pages descriptive of the state
of affairs in England and of the effects of the war on that country. He
strongly upholds the justice of that war and pleads with his parents and
brothers to take his view of the matter. They, on the other hand,
strongly disapprove of the American Administration's position and of the
war, and are inclined to censure and to laugh at the enthusiastic young
man's heroics.

As we are more concerned with Morse's career as an artist than with his
political sentiments, and as these latter, I fear, had no influence on
the course of international events, I shall quote but sparingly from that
portion of the correspondence, just enough to show that, whatever cause
he espoused, then, and at all times during his long life, he threw
himself into it heart and soul, and thoroughly believed in its
righteousness. He was absolutely sincere, although he may sometimes have
been mistaken.

In a letter dated September 20, 1812, he says:--

"I have just finished a model in clay of a figure (the 'Dying Hercules'),
my first attempt at sculpture. Mr. Allston is extremely pleased with it;
he says it is better than all the things I have done since I have been in
England put together, and says I must send a cast of it home to you, and
that it will convince you that I shall make a painter. He says also that
he will write to his friends in Boston to call on you and see it when I
send it.

"Mr. West also was extremely delighted with it. He said it was not merely
an academical figure, but displayed mind and thought. He could not have
made me a higher compliment.

"Mr. West would write you, but he has been disabled from painting or
writing for a long time with the gout in his right hand. This is a great
trial to him.

"I am anxious to send you something to show you that I have not been idle
since I have been here. My passion for my art is so firmly rooted that I
am confident no human power could destroy it. [And yet, as we shall see
later on, human injustice so discouraged him that he dropped the brush
forever.]

"The more I study it, the greater I think is its claim to the appellation
of '_divine_' and I never shall be able sufficiently to show my gratitude
to my parents for their indulgence in so greatly enabling me to pursue
that profession, without which I am sure I would be miserable. If ever it
is my destiny to become great and worthy of a