COLONEL TRUMBULL AND HIS PAINTINGS. 67 



old. when I was born, and was approaching his meridian 

 while I was still a youth. As I came into early manhood, 

 I heard his praise from eminent men, President Dwight, 

 Hon. James Hillhouse, and others; for his country was 

 proud of him ; and his fame, as a soldier of the Revolution, 

 and a friend and aid of Washington, his celebrity as an 

 artist, were cherished at home, and especially in his native 

 State of Connecticut. It was, therefore, no small gratifica 

 tion to me, and was felt to be an honor, to form his personal 

 acquaintance. Colonel Trumbull had been many years in 

 England cultivating his beautiful art, and having married a 

 lady of that country, when he was already in middle life, 

 he brought her to America, and early made, with her, a tour 

 to Quebec. 



My first interview with Colonel Trumbull was in one of 

 the public rooms of Yale College, in which institution I 

 was then a tutor. It was, I believe, in October 180.1, dur 

 ing the autumnal session of the Legislature, when his distin 

 guished brother, Jonathan Trumbull, Esq., was in attend 

 ance, as Governor of the State. Pie came to the College 

 with Colonel and Mrs. Trumbull, and I was introduced in 

 the old Philosophical Hall, over the former chapel, now the 

 Athenaeum. The brothers were elegant, graceful gentle 

 men, of winning manners, and their familiarity with each 

 other, manifested in little sallies of wit, was pleasing to me, 

 who had regarded them only as grave, dignified men. A 

 picture of their father and mother was hanging on the wall. 

 The original was painted by Colonel Trumbull, and this 

 picture was a copy by a young artist.* It soon caught the 

 attention of the brothers, when the artist said, referring to 

 the wig and curls on his father's head, " Ay, that looks 

 like a governor, not like this little queue of yours," at the 

 same moment playfully taking it up, and shaking it between 

 his fingers, much to the Governor's amusement, and to my 

 surprise. 



* Mr. Fitch, of Lebanon. 



