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 1801, 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. He came to the College 

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

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

 Athenseum. 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. 



