VOL. X.

Rand is a name of French origin. It was formally written Randé. So far as known, the first of the name in this country settled in Charlestown, Mass. Rev. John Rand, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in that town January 24, 1727; was graduated at Harvard college in 1747, and settled in Lyndeborough, N. H., in 1761, as the first Congregational minister in that place. Soon after, he married Sarah, daughter of Col. John Goffe, of Derryfield (now Manchester), N. H., and in 1765 removed to that town, and seems to have relinquished the work of the ministry. He received the commission of justice of the peace under George the Third, and removed to Bedford, N. H., in 1778, which continued to be his residence until his death in 1805, at the age of 77. He was the father of seven children. The eldest, John and Jonathan, twins, were born at Lyndeborough June 24, 1762. Jonathan married Sarah Abbott, daughter of Dea. Ephraim Abbott, of Amherst, now Mont Vernon, a family long distinguished for its

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evangelical faith and devoted piety. They had eight children-three sons and five daughters-among them, John, whose life we notice, the fourth child and second son. He was born Jan. 27, 1801, in Bedford, N. H., and spent his boyhood on his father's farm, receiving only such limited education as the country school then afforded, of from eight to twelve weeks during the year. He never enjoyed the advantages of a high school or academy. When about eighteen years of age he left the farm and entered as an apprentice the shop of Mr. Robert Parker, in his native town, to learn the trade of cabinetmaking. At that time, in the country, house and sign painting were often united in the same business. Mr. Rand became a workman in both branches, for he was a man who could very readily adapt himself to almost any handicraft. Soon after his majority he went into business. for himself. He also introduced some machinery, not common sixty years ago, in the manufacture of furniture. But although he was a good

he could not manage business. In less than three years he found himself hopelessly in debt. His shop passed into other hands, and he gradually turned to what proved to be the great work of his life-portrait painting. While he was an apprentice, there came into the neighborhood a man by the name of Morse, the same who afterwards became so distinguished as the inventor of the magnetic telegraph. He had studied under West, in Europe. While Morse never excelled as a portrait painter, yet he awakened in Mr. Rand the idea which had before lain dormant,-that of becoming an artist in the department of portrait painting. From this time, every leisure moment and much thought were given to this favorite and chosen pursuit of his life. The writer well recollects having heard Mr. Rand say, "I am willing to give my life to be a painter."

After remaining a few years in the country, and dividing his time between portrait and ornamental and sign painting, perhaps because the latter was more immediately remunerative, he went to Boston and opened a studio on Cornhill. Having remained there for some years, bending all his energies to the one purpose of his life, he travelled into the Southern states, everywhere prosecuting his work.

Having arrived at a good degree of proficiency in his chosen profession, he sailed for Europe, where, for twelve years, mostly in London, though for a time in Paris, he continued with enthusiasm both the study and the practice of his art, until he had arrived at such a degree of per

riors.

During his residence in Europe, perhaps on the principle that necessity is the mother of invention, his attention was called to the manner in which pigments were preserved. The first we learn of such preparation, the paints when ground in oil were tied up in small parcels of prepared bladder, or something that would exclude the air. Afterwards tinfoil was used in the form of a tube. This was an improvement: still the paints, as soon as opened, would begin to dry, and thus inconvenience and waste were the result. Mr. Rand, feeling the need of a better mode of preserving artists' colors, gave thought to the subject; and the tube fastened with a screw, now in common use on both sides of the Atlantic, was the result. Few artists of our day, as they mix their colors on the palette, are aware to whom they are indebted for this very great convenience. Mr. Rand secured a patent for his invention in England; I think also in France and America. For a time he received quite a royalty for the use of his invention, enough to have made him independent; but, alas! he could not escape the fatality which attends so many men whose inventions have blest the world. At the time when his patent was fast securing the patronage of artists, and he was receiving a fair remuneration for its use, a man from America, with letters of introduction, appeared at his studio in London. He came to introduce and sell a recent invention of his, known as the æolian attachment to the pianoforte. He had sold the patent in America for one hun

the rooms he was able to preserve a home, and while he could labor, procured a comfortable support. In his last years he was compelled to learn that bitter lesson which so many distinguished artists and inventors had learned before him, that the inheritance of poverty is too often the reward of genius.

Mr. Rand possessed marked peculiarities. As a man he was truly remarkable. He stood nearly or quite six feet and four inches in height, erect and well formed, presenting a physique which would demand attention in a passing crowd. There was a self-poise about him, which, while it was not haughty, was truly dignified and noble.

Although he entered upon life at a period when stimulants were common, and when all classes indulged to some extent, and too many very freely, yet he, alike in youth and manhood, in prosperity and adversity, stood firm as a temperate man. No moral taint ever attached to his character. He might have contracted debts which he was unable to pay, still his intention was truly honest, and his life was virtuous.

The parents of Mr. Rand were devoted Christians, members of the Baptist church. Like Zacharias and Elizabeth of old, they walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. At such an altar of daily prayer John Rand, in his childhood, received his first religious impressions. From these for a brief period his mind swung off into more liberal views; but with the soberness of increasing years, and a more careful study of the Word of God, he returned, not only by conviction but

by a deeper heart experience, to the faith of those who taught his infant lips the prayer, "God be merciful to me a sinner." In this faith he continued through all his wanderings by land and sea, and through all the vicissitudes of his long and eventful life; nor can we doubt that from the Saviour thus revealed his soul drew consolation when turning from the fading scenes of earth to the realities of eternity.

Mr. Rand married Miss Lavinia Brainerd, of Vermont. They first met in Charleston, South Carolina, where she was the principal of a young ladies' school. Although some eight years his senior, they were very congenial, having the same literary tastes, the same views on religious subjects, while neither of them seemed to possess the talent of accumulating property. She was a relative of Rev. David Brainerd, the distinguished missionary to the Indians. Very soon after their marriage they sailed for Europe, and she suffered so severely with sea-sickness and exhaustion that her life was despaired of. Once safely on the other side of the ocean, she felt that she could never return, and they determined to make London their home. For a time they lived in a very quiet way. Always interested to speak on religious subjects, she one day mentioned to a near acquaintance her interest in foreign missions, and spoke of her relative Brainerd. This led to an introduction to the morganatic wife of the Duke of Sussex. the charming woman whom Queen Victoria created Duchess of Inverness. She became very much attached to Mrs. Rand, and persuaded the duke to sit for his portrait to Mr.