32 Letters Srom the United States of North America. [Jury, 
odd enough to you, considering the time that he has been about his 
great work. The fact is, that he has covered up five times as much as 
“you see in that very picture. It has been as good as_finished)seyeral 
“ $¢imes, and several times he has painted out a large. part.of ity, as.I hap- 
pen to know, in spite of all that could be said or done by the. few, that 
were permitted to see it.”—So much for the opinion of a brother painter. 
“To say all ina word, I have seen but four pictures by Allston-—butthree, 
jndeed: the Dead Man restored to Life by the Bones of the,Prophet ; 
Diana, with a wood landscape; and Jacob's Vision—all, of which were 
good, but no one of the three was what I call a great picture;,and yet. 
‘I do believe that Allston is a great painter, one of the greatest that, ever 
lived, and that his Hand-writing on the Wall is worthy, of any, age or 
‘any man. But why do I believe this? partly because I see much. to 
prove it, and partly because I know the men well who say so :. they, are 
“judges ; and I believe them. vigay eal ok rakes’ 
§ Sutiy, Thomas—born with you, of English parents, but came,over 
to this country while a boy. He is a very beautiful painter of women, a- 
scholar in the art, and may be regarded with propriety as the Sir Thomas 
Lawrence of America; not that he is the very best portrait painter of. 
America, for Stewart, and Peale, and Jarvis are equal to him, to say 
no more, and each after a way of his own; but he is much more like 
Sir T. L. than any other painter of America.. He studied with you for 
‘about a year. By-the-by, as I cannot finish the list. now, without 
making a paper, which I have no disposition to make till I have more. 
time, I will give you a delicious anecdote of Sully, which I had from_his 
own mouth. A husband wishing to surprise a beloved wife on her birth- 
day, came to Sully and got him to paint his portrait “on the sly.” . It 
-was begun forthwith, and Sully was to have it carried home and. put up,, 
while the wife was out. But before it was half done, the wife een, 
a visit by stealth. ‘ Pray, Mr. Sully,” said she, ‘could you, not-con- 
trive, think you, to make a portrait of me by such a day (Sully stared), 
for ‘that ‘is my birth-day, and I should like of all things to surprise my 
husband.”—* Why—a—a,” said Sully, seeing that. she had no idea of 
the trick, “1 do believe that Icould; and if you will manage to.draw 
‘your husband away the night before,. I will have the picture hung up for 
rou, and ll ready to receive you in the morning.’ —* Delightful!” said 
she! "Fo work he went therefore, and so closely was he run, that once 
or twice he had to let the husband out of one door on tip-toe, while the 
wife was creeping in at another on tip-toe. Well; the portraits were 
finished: they were very like. The night before the birth-day arrived, 
and Sully finding both parties away, each being decoyed away by the 
other, hung them up (the pictures, not, the parties), in their superb. 
frames, just where they required to be hung. ‘The rest of the story we 
may as well skip, for who shall describe the surprise of both, when the. 
wife got up early, and the husband got up early, both keeping their 
countenances to a miracle, and each feigned an excuse to lead the other 
into the room where the two portraits appeared side by side !—Farewell,. 
ny dear P.—the story is true, perfectly. true, and yet, who, would. dare 
‘ : 
to-ilitroduce it into a play ora novel ? 
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