218 SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE MORSE. 



have promised to come, but as yet few have called. 

 As far as human foresight can perceive, my pros- 

 pects seem gloomy indeed. The only gleam of 

 hope and I cannot underrate it is from confi- 

 dence in God. When I look upward, it calms my 

 apprehensions for the future, and I seem to hear 

 a voice saying : ' If I clothe the lilies of the field, 

 shall I not also clothe you ? ' Here is my strong 

 confidence, and I will wait patiently for the direc- 

 tion of Providence." 



Again he writes to his wife : " My cash is almost 

 gone, and I begin to feel some anxiety and per- 

 plexity to know what to do. I have advertised, 

 and visited, and hinted, and pleaded, and even 

 asked one man to sit, but all to no purpose. . . . 

 My expenses, with the most rigid economy too, are 

 necessarily great ; my rent to-morrow will amount 

 to thirty-three dollars, and I have nothing to pay 

 it with. What can I do ? I have been here five 

 weeks, and there is not the smallest prospect now 

 of any difference as to business." 



He now attempted to obtain a situation in the 

 legation about to be sent to Mexico. The place 

 was promised, and Morse went to Washington, 

 only to find that the expedition had been aban- 

 doned. 



There was an occasional rift in the clouds, as 

 when the corporation of the city of New York com- 

 missioned Morse to paint for them" a portrait of 

 General Lafayette, then in Washington, the price 

 to be about one thousand dollars. As Sully, Peale, 



