ls, and amusing himself in directing the construction of a
seventy-four at Portsmouth. Where the fair excellence, Miss Jannette
herself, is at present, I am unable to say. The sunshine of her eyes has
not beamed upon me since I beheld you delightedly and gallantly figuring
at her side at Daddy Value's ball, where I exhibited sundry feats of the
same sort myself.

"By the way, Mons. V. is still in fiddling condition, and the immaculate
Ann Jane Caroline Gibbs, Madame, has bestowed a subject on the state!!

"A fortnight since your friend Nancy Goodrich was married to William
Ellsworth. Emily Webster is soon to plight her faith to his brother
Henry. Miss Mary Ann Woolsey thinks of consummating the blessedness of a
Mr. Scarborough before the expiration of the summer. He is a widower of
thirty or thirty-five with one child, a little girl four or five years
old.

"Thus, you see, my dear friend, all here seem to be setting their faces
heavenward; all seem ambitious of repairing the ravages of war....

"P.S. Oh! horrid mistake I made on the preceding page! Nancy and Emily,
on my knees I deprecate your wrath!! I have substituted William for Henry
and Henry for William. No, Henry is Nancy's and William Emily's. They are
twins, and I, forsooth, must make them changelings!"

In a letter of July 30, 1813, his mother thus exhorts him:--

"I hope, my dear son, your success in your profession will not have a
tendency to make you vain, or embolden you to look down on any in your
profession whom Providence may have been less favorable to in point of
talents for this particular business; and that you will observe a modesty
in the reception of premiums and praises on account of your talents, that
shall show to those who bestow them that you are worthy of them in more
senses than merely as an artist. It will likewise convince those who are
less favored that you are far from exulting in their disappointments,--as
I hope is truly the case,--and prevent that jealousy and envy that too
often discovers itself in those of the same profession....

"We exceedingly rejoice in all your success, and hope you will persevere.
Remember, my son, it is easier to get a reputation than to keep it
unspotted in the midst of so much pollution as we are surrounded by....

"C. Dexter thanks you for your attention to her request as it respects
Southey's likeness. She does not wish you to take too much pains and
trouble to get it, but she, I know, would be g