Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals Volume I Part 3

Others do the same and we hear well of you also. It is a great comfort to us that our sons are all likely to do so well and are in good reputation among their acquaintances. Could we have reason to believe you were all pious and had chosen the "good part," our joy concerning you all would be full. I hope the Lord in due time will grant us this pleasure.

"Seek the Lord," my dear son, "while he may be found."

Your affectionate father, J. MORSE.

[ILl.u.s.tRATION: ELIZABETH ANN MORSE AND SIDNEY E. MORSE ILl.u.s.tRATION: REV. JEDEDIAH MORSE AND S.F.B. MORSE From portraits by a Mr. Sargent, who also painted portraits of the Was.h.i.+ngton family]

September 8, 1810.

DEAR MAMA,--Papa arrived here safely this evening and I need not tell you we were glad to see him. He has mentioned to me the plan which he proposed for my future business in life, and I am pleased with it, for I was determined beforehand to conform to his and your will in everything, and, when I come home, I shall endeavor to make amends for the trouble and anxiety which you have been at on my account, by a.s.sisting papa in his labors and pursuing with ardor my own business....

I have been extremely low-spirited for some days past, and it still continues. I hope it will wear off by Commencement Day....

I am so low in spirits that I could almost cry.

It was no wonder that he was down-hearted, for he was ambitious and longed to carve out a great career for himself, while his good parents were conservative and wished him to become independent as soon as possible. Their plan was to apprentice him to a bookseller, and he dutifully conformed to their wishes for a time, but his ambition could not be curbed, and it was not long before he broke away.

CHAPTER II

OCTOBER 31, 1810--AUGUST 17. 1811

Enters bookshop as clerk.--Devotes leisure to painting.--Leaves shop.-- Letter to his brothers on appointments at Yale.--Letters from Joseph P.

Rossiter.--Morse's first love affair.--Paints "Landing of the Pilgrims."

--Prepares to sail with Allstons for England.--Letters of introduction from his father.--Disagreeable stage-ride to New York.--Sails on the Lydia.--Prosperous voyage.--Liverpool.--Trip to London.--Observations on people and customs.--Frequently cheated.--Critical time in England.--Dr.

Lettsom.--Sheridan's verse.--Longing for a telegraph.--A ghost

After his graduation from Yale College in the fall of 1810, Finley Morse returned to his home in Charlestown, Ma.s.s., and cheerfully submitted himself to his parents' wishes by entering the bookshop of a certain Mr.

Mallory.

He writes under date of October 31, 1810, to his brothers who are still at college: "I am in an excellent situation and on excellent terms. I have four hundred dollars per year, but this you must not mention out. I have the choice of my hours; they are from nine till one-half past twelve, and from three till sunset."

But he still clings to the idea of becoming a painter, for he adds: "My evenings I employ in painting. I have every convenience; the room over the kitchen is fitted up for me; I have a fire there every evening, and can spend it alone or otherwise as I please. I have bought me one of the new patent lamps, those with gla.s.s chimneys, which gives an excellent light. It cost me about six dollars. Send on as soon as possible anything and everything which pertains to my painting apparatus."

The following letter was written at some time in 1810 or 1811. It was addressed to Mr. Sereno E. Dwight:--

"Mr. Mallory a few days since handed me a letter from you requesting me, if possible, to sketch a likeness of young Mr. Daggett. Accordingly I have made the attempt and take the present opportunity of forwarding you the results. The task was hard but pleasurable. It is one of the most difficult undertakings to endeavor to take a portrait from recollection of one whose countenance has not been examined particularly for the purpose. When I made the first attempt, not a single feature could I recall distinctly to my memory and I almost despaired of a likeness, but the thought of lessening the affliction of such a distressed family determined me to attempt it a second time. The result is on the ivory. I then showed it to my brothers, to Mr. Evarts, to Mr. Hillhouse, to Mr.

Mallory, and to Mr. Read, all of whom had not the least suspicion of anything of the kind, and they have severally and separately p.r.o.nounced it a likeness of young Mr. Daggett. This encouraged me, and I made the two other sketches which are thought likewise to be resemblances of him.

"If these or any one of them can be recognized by the afflicted family as a resemblance of him they have lost, it will be an ample compensation to me to think that I have in any degree been the means of alleviating their suffering...."

On December 8, 1810, he writes to his brother: "I have almost completed my landscape. It is 'proper handsome,' so they say, and they want to make me believe it is so, but I shan't yet awhile."

This shows the right frame of mind for an artist, and yet, like most youthful painters, he attempted more than his proficiency warranted, for in this same letter he adds: "I am going to begin, as soon as I have finished it [the landscape], a piece, the subject of which will be 'Marius on the Ruins of Carthage.'"

On December 28, 1810, he writes: "I shall leave Mr. Mallory's next week and study painting exclusively till summer."

He had at last burst his bonds, and his wise parents, seeing that his heart was only in his painting, decided to throw no further obstacles in his way, but, at the cost of much self-sacrifice on their part, to further in every way his ambition.

January 15, 1811.

MY DEAR BROTHERS,--We have just received Richard's letter of the 8th inst., and I can have a pretty correct idea of your feelings at the beginning of a vacation. You must not be melancholy and hang yourself. If you do you will have a terrible scolding when you get home again. As for Richard's getting an appointment so low, if I was in his situation, I should not trouble myself one fig concerning _appointments_. They cost more than they are worth. I shall not esteem him the less for not getting a higher, and not more than one millionth part of the world knows what an appointment is. You will both of you have a different opinion of appointments after you have been out of college a short time. I had rather be Richard with a dialogue than Sanford with a dispute. If appointments at college decided your fate forever, you might possibly groan and wail. But then consider where poor I should come. [He got no appointment whatever.] Think of this, Richard, and _don't_ hang _yourself_. [It may, perhaps, be well to explain that "appointments" were given at Yale to those who excelled in scholars.h.i.+p. "Philosophical Oration" was the highest, then came "High Oration," "Oration," etc., etc.] I have left Mr. Mallory's store and am helping papa in the Geography. Shall remain at home till the latter part of next summer and then shall go to London with Mr. Allston.

The following extracts from two letters of a college friend I have introduced as throwing some light on Morse's character at that time and also as curious examples of the epistolary style of those days:--

NEW HAVEN, February 5, 1811.

Dear Finley,--Yours of the 6th ult. I received, together with the books enclosed, which I delivered personally according to your request.

Did I not know the nature of your disorder and the state of your _gizzard_, I should really be surprised at the commencement, and, indeed, the whole tenor of your letter, but as it is I can excuse and feel for you.

Had I commenced a letter with the French _Helas! helas!_ it would have been no more than might reasonably have been expected considering the desolate situation of New Haven and the gloomy prospects before me. But for you, who are in the very vortex of fas.h.i.+onable life and surrounded by the amus.e.m.e.nts and bustle of the metropolis of New England, for you to exclaim, "How lonely I am!" is unpardonable, or at most admits of but one excuse, to wit, that you can plead the feelings of the youth who exclaimed, "G.o.ds annihilate both time and s.p.a.ce and make two lovers happy!"

You suppose I am so much taken up with the ladies and other good things in New Haven that I have not time to think of one of my old friends.

Alas! Morse, there are no ladies or anything else to occupy my attention.

They are all gone and we have no amus.e.m.e.nts. Even old Value has deserted us, whose music, though an a.s.semblage of "unharmonious sounds," is infinitely preferable to the harsh grating thunder of his brother. New Haven is, indeed, this winter a dreary place. I wrote you about a month since and did then what you wish me now to do,--I mentioned all that is worth mentioning, which, by the way, is very little, about New Haven and its inhabitants.

Since then I have been to New York and saw the Miss Radcliffs, and, in pa.s.sing through Stamford, the Miss Davenports. The mention of the name of Davenport would at one time have excited in your breast emotions unutterable, but now, though Ann is as lovely as ever, your heart requires the influence of another Hart to quicken its pulsations.... Last but not least comes the all-conquering, the angelic queen of Harts. I have not seen her since she left New Haven, but have heard from her sister Eliza that she is in good health and is going in April to New York with Mrs. Jarvis (her sister) to spend the summer and perhaps a longer time, where she will probably break many a proud heart and bend many a stubborn knee. I fear, Morse, unless you have her firmly in your toils, I fear she may not be able to withstand every attack, for New York abounds with elegant and accomplished young men.

You mention that you have again changed your mind as to the business which you intend to pursue. I really thought that the plan of becoming a bookseller would be permanent because sanctioned by parental authority, but I am now convinced that your mind is so much bent upon painting that you will do nothing else effectually. It is indeed a n.o.ble art and if pursued effectually leads to the highest eminence, for painters rank with poets, and to be placed in the scale with Milton and Homer is an honor that few of mortal mould attain unto.... I wish, Finley, that you would paint me a handsome piece for a keepsake as you are going to Europe and may not be back in a hurry. Present my respects to Mr. Hillhouse. His father's family are well. Adieu.

Your affectionate friend, JOS. P. ROSSITER.

From this letter and from others we learn that young Morse's youthful affections were fixed on a certain charming Miss Jannette Hart, but, alas! he proved a faithless lover, for his friend Rossiter thus reproves him in a letter of May 8, 1811:--

"Oh! most amazing change! Can it be possible? Oh! Love, and all ye cordial powers of pa.s.sion, forbid it! Still, still the dreadful words glare on my sight. Alas! alas! and is it, then, a fact? If so 't is pitiful, 't is wondrous pitiful. Cupid, tear off your bandage, new string your bow and tip your arrows with harder adamant. Oh! shame upon you, only hear the words of your exultant votarist--'Even Love, which according to the proverb conquers all things, when put in compet.i.tion with painting, must yield the palm and be a willing captive.' Oh! fie, fie, good master Cupid, you shoot but poorly if a victim so often wounded can talk in terms like these.

"Poor luckless Jannette! the epithets 'divine' and 'heavenly' which have so often been applied to thee are now transferred to miserable daubings with oil and clay. Dame Nature, your triumph has been short. Poor foolish beldam, you thought, indeed, when you had formed your masterpiece and named her Jannette, that unqualified admiration would be extorted from the lips of prejudice itself, and that, at least, till age had worn off the first dazzling l.u.s.tre from your favorite, your sway would have been unlimited and your exultation immeasurable. My good old Dame, hear for your comfort what a foolish, fickle youth has dared to say of your darling Jannette, and that while she is yet in the first blush and bloom of virgin loveliness--'_next_ to painting I love Jannette the best.'

Insufferable blasphemy! Hear, O Heavens, and be amazed! Tremble, O Earth, and be horribly afraid!"

In spite of this impa.s.sioned arraignment, Morse devoted himself exclusively to his art for the next few years, and we have only occasional references in the letters that follow to his first serious love affair.

We also hear nothing further of "Marius on the Ruins of Carthage"; but in February, 1811, he writes to his brothers: "I am painting my large piece, the landing of our forefathers at Plymouth. Perhaps I shall have it finished by the time you come home in the spring. My landscape I finished sometime since, and it is framed and hung up in the front parlor."

At last in July, 1811, the great ambition of the young man was about to be realized and he prepared to set sail for England with his friend and master, Was.h.i.+ngton Allston. His father, having once made up his mind to allow his son to follow his bent, did everything possible to further his ambition and a.s.sist him in his student years. He gave him many letters of introduction to well-known persons in England and France, one of which, to His Excellency C.M. Talleyrand, I shall quote in full.

SIR,--I had the honor to introduce to you, some years since, a young friend of mine, Mr. Wilder, who has since resided in your country. Your civility to him induces me to take the liberty to introduce to you my eldest son, who visits Europe for the purpose of perfecting himself in the art of painting under the auspices of some of your eminent artists.

Should he visit France, as he intends, I shall direct him to pay his respects to you, sir, a.s.sured that he will receive your protection and patronage so far as you can with convenience afford them.

In thus doing you will much oblige,

Sir, with high consideration Your most ob'd't. Serv't, JED. MORSE.

In another letter of introduction, to whom I cannot say, as the address on the copy is lacking, the father says:--

"His parents had designed him for a different profession, but his inclination for the one he has chosen was so strong, and his talents for it, in the opinion of some good judges, so promising, that we thought it not proper to attempt to control his choice.