iety and responsibility gave him a serious aspect and his smiles were rare, yet he was by no means wanting in a sense of humor, could enjoy a good story, and see its point and laugh as heartily (if not as frequently) as other men. Then again, the carpers who dwell upon Washington's occasional exhibitions of temper do him good instead of evil service, for had he not possessed hot passions, as well as good sense, strong impulses tempered by sound judgment, and quick and vigorous determination, how could he have wielded the loose and undefined power delegated to him with such blessed and far-reaching results? In his perfect self-control our first President was inimitable. This trait had reached its meridian when he came to New York in 1789. His genius for keeping tranquil when most perplexed was only paralleled by his precision in details, and his executive skill in accomplishing an enormous amount of work. The elegant Stuart portrait which forms the frontispiece to this number of the Magazine* represents him as he appeared on state occasions, in a full suit of black velvet, his hair somewhat blanched by time and powdered to snowy whiteness. His magnificent figure was neither unreal nor marble. He stood six feet three inches high in his slippers, as straight as an arrow, was broad-shouldered and well-formed, with no superfluous flesh, and is said to have weighed some two hundred and thirty pounds. His arm was long and muscular, and his hand immeasur ably large. He was fifty-eight years of age, with a character at that date so rounded by discipline, firm and true, kindly and sweet, kingly and grand, as to have withstood all subsequent storms of criticism as unshaken and uninjured as the air when a boy wings an arrow into it. The personal influence he exercised tied as with a knot of steel the conflicting forces together. His irresistible magnetism disproves the notion that he was the cold, unsympathetic and forbidding personage some historians have tried to make him appear. He was dignified even to a lofty reserve, which was essential in such an anomalous condition of social affairs, and * The Magazine of American History has, prior to this date, published eighteen different portraits of Washington, in preceding volumes, as the following references indicate : Vol. III. 87; From miniature by Birch. Vol. IV. 119; St. Mémin crayon head. Vol. VII. 80; Pen and ink head by Latrobe. Vol. IX. 81; Portrait by Sharpless. Vol. X. 177; Portrait by Trumbull. Vol. XI. 90; Portrait in possession of Vaughan. Vol. XII. 550; Cameo head by Madame Brehan. he was sublimely prudent. He was apparently never free from the painful consciousness that he was establishing an untried, unheralded, unforeseen precedent in the world. And the intensity of his thinking-which some of the great artists have almost succeeded in portraying-stamped itself upon his features. Art cannot be expected to do full justice, however, to the idea, the moral power, the real greatness of Washington. One of the penalties of distinction is the multiplication of portraits, and Washington suffered with the serenity of a martyr until sittings for his picture became intolerable. He was gracious to Peale, Trumbull, Stuart, Savage, and some others, but the incessant demands upon his time --for every American portrait-painter wanted to try his hand on the distinguished subject, and foreign artists were constantly appearing in this country for that purpose alone-and the wretched productions of his visage on banners, fans, seals, buttons, transparencies, wall-paper, cotton prints, melancholy samplers, and nearly every object in the economy of trade and domestic life, harassed and disconcerted him. He was completely tired out when Pine applied for a sitting. He wrote to Hopkinson, "at first I was impatient at Pine's request and as restive under the operation as a colt is under the saddle. The next time I submitted very reluctantly, but with less flouncing. Now no dray horse moves more readily to the thill than I go to the painter's chair." Trumbull was so much with Washington that he became familiar with his moods and variations of feeling and of temper for nearly a quarter of a century; he saw him in military costume, in citizen's clothing, in full dress at the banquet, on horseback in the field, and in deep thought in the councils of war and of state. His portraits of Washington are spirited, and as they represent him in the prime of life are by some preferred to those by Stuart. Rembrandt Peale, when only seventeen, secured a sitting from Washington, and is reported as saying that the honor agitated more than it inspired him. He completed a portrait, however, in 1795. Charles Wilson Peale, the father of Rembrandt, painted the early portrait of Washington as a Virginia colonel. His brother, James Peale, becoming much interested in the subject, painted in 1778 a very striking portrait of Washington from life, clad in the military uniform of the period, and this portrait, which became the property of Mr. David C. Claypoole of Philadelphia, was subsequently purchased by James Lenox, and is now one of the choice treasures in the Lenox Library. The Earl of Buchan commissioned a Scotch artist, Archibald Robertson, to cross the Atlantic and paint for him a portrait of Washington. This artist, toward the end of December, 1791, obtained sittings in Philadelphia from both the President and Mrs. Washington, and painted their miniatures, which he retained in his own possession, that of Washington being converted into a brooch and worn by the ladies of his family. The portrait in oil afterwards finished for the Earl of Buchan gave excessive satisfaction. Robertson seems to have found great difficulty in quieting and securing a familiar expression from his Presidential sitter, and relates that finally Mrs. Washington came to the rescue, "whose easy, polished and familiar gaity and ceaseless cheerfulness almost accomplished a cure." The artist himself was timid and much worried, and the President "with his accustomed kindness" invited him to a family dinner where, contrary to his usual habits, the stately Washington engrossed most of the conversation," and so delighted the company with humorous anecdotes that he completely set the table in a roar." Stuart's first portrait of Washington was painted simultaneously with that of Rembrandt Peale in 1795. From the moment this early picture was finished Stuart was overrun with orders. The Marquis of Lansdowne wrote from England for a full-length portrait, and Stuart painted it in a barn in the rear of the house where he lived in Germantown, near Philadelphia. It was Stuart's masterpiece, and created a great sensation in Europe. While this celebrated painting was in the artist's hands it was seen by Mr. William Constable of New York, who was so much charmed with it that he ordered a similar one painted for himself. Twice while Stuart was at work upon the latter Mr. Constable drove in his chariot and four from New York to Philadelphia to watch its progress. On one of these journeys he was accompanied by Daniel McCormick, a rich bachelor residing in Wall street, famous for his mixture of generous hospitality, convivial habits, economical notions, and strict religious principles, who meeting Stuart hurrying along the street one day with a Turkey rug on his arm, asked him what he was going to do with it. "It is for my studio," replied Stuart. "You extravagant dog," exclaimed McCormick, "why did you not buy a Kidderminster for your studio? It would have answered as well." Stuart answered quietly, "some day you will say I have done right." When the painting was finished (in which the rug was skillfully introduced), and Mr. Constable and Mr. McCormick came in to see, approve, and admire it, Stuart nudged McCormick with his elbow and remarked, "Well, what do you say now to my rug?" "You have done right," was the emphatic reply. This painting was sent when finished to Mr. Constable's house, in New York, where it was shown to throngs of visitors. It is in perfect preservation at the present time, and in the posses |