cide to spend another year abroad, for they fear that they
will be unable to send him any more money. However, the father, when he
became convinced that it was really to his son's interest to spend
another year abroad, contrived to send him another thousand dollars. This
was done at the cost of great self-sacrifice on the part of himself and
his family, and was all the more praiseworthy on that account.

In a letter from his brother Edwards, written also on the 17th of
November, is this passage: "I must defer giving my reasons for thinking
Poetry superior to Painting; I will mention only a few of the principles
upon which I found my judgment. Genius in both these arts is the power of
making impressions. The question then is: which is capable of making the
strongest impression; which can impress upon the mind most strongly a
sublime or a beautiful idea? Does the sublimest passage in Milton excite
a stronger sensation in the mind of a man of taste than the sublimest
painting of Michael Angelo? Or, to make the parallel more complete, does
Michael Angelo convey to you a stronger impression of the Last Judgment,
by his painting, than Milton could by his poetry? Could Michael Angelo
convey a more sublime idea of Death by his painting than Milton has in
his 'Paradise Lost'? These are the principles upon which your 'divine
art' is to be degraded below Poetry."

This was rather acute reasoning for a boy of twenty who had spent his
life in the Boston and New Haven of those early days. The fact that he
had never seen a great painting, whereas he had greedily read the poets,
will probably account for his strong partisanship.

The pious mother writes on November 25, 1813:--

"With regard to the Americans being despised and hated in England, you
were apprised by your Uncle Salisbury and others before you left this
country that that was the case, and you ought not to be surprised when
you realized it. The reason given was that a large portion of those who
visit Europe are _dissipated infidels_, which has justly given the
English a bad opinion of us as a nation. But we are happy to find that
there are many exceptions to these, who do honor to the country which
gave them birth, such as a West, an Allston, and many others, among whom,
I am happy to say, we hope that you, my son, will be enrolled at no very
distant day....

"You mention being acquainted with young Payne, the play actor. I would
guard you against any acquaintance with