s.

"I must be frank, however, in my judgment of my own works of that day.
This portrait was begun under the sad auspices to which I have alluded,
and, up to the close of the work, I had a series of constant
interruptions of the same sad character. A picture painted under such
circumstances can scarcely be expected to do the artist justice, and as a
work of art I cannot praise it. Still, it is a good likeness, was very
satisfactory to the General, and he several times alluded to it in my
presence in after years (when I was a frequent visitor to him in Paris)
in terms of praise.

"It is a full-length, standing figure, the size of life. He is
represented as standing at the top of a flight of steps, which he has
just ascended upon a terrace, the figure coming against a glowing sunset
sky, indicative of the glory of his own evening of life. Upon his right,
if I remember, are three pedestals, one of which is vacant as if waiting
for his bust, while the two others are surmounted by the busts of
Washington and Franklin--the two associated eminent historical characters
of his own time. In a vase on the other side is a flower-the
helianthus--with its face toward the sun, in allusion to the
characteristic stern, uncompromising consistency of Lafayette-a trait of
character which I then considered, and still consider, the great
prominent trait of that distinguished man."

Morse, like many men who have excelled in one branch of the fine arts,
often made excursions into one of the others. I find among his papers
many scraps of poetry and some more ambitious efforts, and while they do
not, perhaps, entitle him to claim a poet's crown, some of them are
worthy of being rescued from oblivion. The following sonnet was sent to
Lafayette under the circumstances which Morse himself thus describes:--

"Written on the loss of a faithful dog of Lafayette's on board the
steamboat which sank in the Mississippi. The dog, supposing his master
still on board, could not be persuaded to leave the cabin, but perished
with the vessel.

"Lost, from thy care to know thy master free
Can we thy self-devotion e'er forget?
'Twas kindred feeling in a less degree
To that which thrilled the soul of Lafayette.
He freely braved our storms, our dangers met,
Nor left the ship till we had 'scaped the sea.
Thine was a spark of noble feeling bright
Caught from the fire that warms thy master's heart.
His was of Heaven's kindling, and no small part
Of