6 2 OLD "HENRY CLAY." 



sketched the horse from life. When Mr. Hickok and Saint Julian 

 reached Rochester, we met Mr. Goldsmith, Mr. Hickok, and others in 

 Saint Julian's box, with the two sketches, — one made through criticism 

 upon the lithograph, and the other from life. The conception sketch was 

 the most perfect. Both being the same size, none could tell which was 

 the one from life; but Mr. Hickok and Mr. Goldsmith pronounced my 

 sketch as most perfect of the horse, and later, many duplicates were 

 made by Kittredge from my sketch, by tracing through oiled paper, after 

 the manner adopted for piratiiig sketches, pictures, and paintings. 



I had borrowed from Mr. W. A. Wadsworth, in 1879, his father's 

 old painting of Henry Clay, in order that H. S. Kittredge might sketch 

 a copy to serve as frontispiece to my "Clay History;" and at once 

 secured it by copyright for that purpose, to which Mr. Wadsworth had 

 donated it. This painting I hung in my dining-room, so Kittredge 

 would see it every time he sat at my table. To forward my ends, I, 

 invited Mr. Worthington, Mr. Nelson Thompson, Mr. M. L. Commins, 

 Mr. Robert Whaley, and Mr. Frederick Fellows to meet at my house 

 and criticise this painting for Kittredge. Four of the different gentle- 

 men had owned Henry Clay after Mr. William W. Wadsworth's death, 

 and all had known the horse since his arrival from Long Island at 

 Geneseo. Mr. Ambrose Worthington kept a hotel at Geneseo, and 

 was also a stage-route owner, mail contractor, and for fifty years the 

 best coach-horse matcher in Western New York. Such a man is a 

 good critic. Mr. Nelson Thompson, of Penn Yan, was his partner at 

 one time in the stage business. Mr. Thompson, after Mr. Wadsworth's 

 death, wanted Henry Clay, and through Mr. Worthington, who lived 

 at Geneseo, he got him, only half an hour before John Purchase of 

 Long Island walked into the office with money in hand, intending to 

 take the stallion back to Long Island, where he had been taking his 

 colts by the dozen as yearlings, every year since Henry Clay came into 

 this country. Whatever became of all of Henry Clay's colts that John 

 Purchase took to Long Island between 1S46 and the time of Colonel 

 Wadsworth's death, nobody knows; for John Purchase is also dead. 



However, these different owners of Henry Clay came repeatedly 

 to see me and to tell Kittredge over and over again, where Van Zant's 

 painting failed of being correct. 



Kittredge grew enthusiastic to make the sketch, so I removed the 

 painting to his room. The sketch he made and brought to me was in 

 pencil, shaded up to a finish. I was astonished at its perfectness, but 

 had faith from the first to believe he would do it. The star was a 



