er also writes to his brother
on January 11: "I intend soon writing another letter in which I shall
prove to your satisfaction that poetry is much superior to painting. You
asserted the contrary in one of your letters, and brought an argument to
prove it. I shall show the fallacy of that argument, and bring those to
support my doctrine which are incontrovertible."

A letter from his friend, Mrs. Jarvis, the sister of his erstwhile flame,
Miss Jannette Hart, informs him of the marriage of another sister to
Captain Hull of the navy, commander of the Constitution. In this letter,
written on March 4, 1813, at Bloomingdale, New York City, Mrs. Jarvis
says:--

"I am in general proud of the spirit of my countrymen, but there is too
little attention paid to the fine arts, to men of taste and science. Man
here is weighed by his purse, not by his mind, and, according to the
preponderance of that, he rises or sinks in the scale of individual
opinion. A fine painting or marble statue is very rare in the houses of
the rich of this city, and those individuals who would not pay fifty
pounds for either, expend double that sum to vie with a neighbor in a
piece of furniture.

"But do not tell tales. I would not say this to an Englishman, and I
trust you have not yet become one. This, however, is poor encouragement
for you to return to your native country. I hope better things of that
country before you may return."

A friend in Philadelphia writes to him on May 3, 1813:--

"Your favor I received from the hands of Mr. King, and have been very
much gratified with the introduction it afforded me to this worthy
gentleman. You have doubtless heard of his safe arrival in our city, and
of his having commenced his career in America, where, I am sorry to say,
the arts are not, as yet, so much patronized as I hope to see them. Those
of us who love them are too poor, and those who are wealthy regard them
but little. I think, however, I have already witnessed an improvement in
this respect, and the rich merchants and professional men are becoming
more and more liberal in their patronage of genius, when they find it
among native Americans.

"From the favorable circumstances under which your studies are
progressing; from the unrivalled talents of the gentleman who conducts
them; and, without flattery, suffer me to add, from the early proofs of
your own genius, I anticipate, in common with many of our fellow
citizens, the addition of one artist