APPENDIX. 389 



to acknowledge itself more indebted to you than to any other art- 

 ist who ever existed ; and I therefore heartily wish you success. 



But I must beg pardon of my country when I say, that I see no 

 disposition to celebrate or remember, or even curiosity to inquire 

 into the characters, actions, or events, of the Revolution. 



I am, therefore, more inclined to despair than to hope for your 

 success in Congress, though I wish it with all my heart. 



I should be glad to be informed of your progress, being, with 

 sincere esteem and real affection, 



Your friend, 



COL. TRUMBULL. JOHN ADAMS. 



JOHN ADAMS TO COLONEL TRUMBULL. 



QUINCY, March 18, 1817. 



DEAR SIR, I thank you for your favor of the 3d, and con- 

 gratulate you on your success, which I hope and believe will be an 

 honorable and noble establishment, though it may not be so lucra- 

 tive as I wish it, for life. 



There is a coincidence of circumstances which affects me very 

 sensibly. A son of Governor Trumbull so meritorious and so 

 conspicuous a character in the Revolution, an officer of rank and 

 merit in the Revolutionary army, a painter of Warren and Mont- 

 gomery, is now destined to transmit to posterity some of its most 

 celebrated military events ; one only merely political. 



The dimensions, eighteen by twelve, appear vast: though I 

 never passed through Antwerp without gazing at all the paintings 

 of Rubens, I cannot depend upon my memory to say that even 

 his " Descent from the Cross," or his " Apotheosis of the Virgin," 

 exceed these measures. 



I have been informed that one of the greatest talents of a paint- 

 er, is a capacity to comprehend a large space, and to proportion 

 all his figures to it. 



Truth, nature, fact, should be your sole guide. Let not our 

 posterity be deluded by fictions under pretence of poetical or 

 graphical licenses. 



Now sir, as I have taken the liberty of friendship to preach to 

 you, I ask your indulgence for a question or two. 



Who of your profession will undertake to paint a debate or an 

 argument? Discussions in the legislature we call debates; the 

 disputes in the tribunals of justice we call arguments. 



