fire, and every feature lit up with the desired expression. "There, that will do," said the painter; "please sit just as you are." The result was the admirable picture which now adorns our City Hall, representing the hero standing in his boat, with his flag in one arm, triumphantly waving his sword, as he left the dismantled St. Lawrence for the Niagara, to renew the contest, resolved to conquer or die.

JARVIS AND THE PHILOSOPHER.

Jarvis was a great wag as well as an inimitable story-teller. Whenever he met with an eccentric genius, he delighted to make him indulge in strong potations, and then engage him on his favorite hobby. On one such occasion, a gentleman who had esmattering of Zoology, declared it as his opinion, that it was possible to change the nature of animals. for instance, that by cutting off the end of dogs' or monkeys' tails for a few generations, they would become tailless. "That is capital logic," said Jarvis, "I wonder that the Jews have now any tails!" The philosopher shot out of the room amidst shouts of laughter.

JARVIS AND DR. MITCHELL.

Jarvis could not forbear to crack a joke on the learned Dr. Mitchell, whose profundity sometimes led him to analyze cause and effect in a hyper-philosophical manner. "Can you tell," said he one day to the learned Doctor, who was sitting for his portrait,

"why white sheep eat more than black ones?" "But is it a fact?" enquired the Doctor. "Most assuredly," said the painter, "as every farmer will tell you." The Doctor then went on to give sundry philosophical reasons why white sheep might require more food than black ones. "Your reasons are excellent-but I think I can give you a better one. In my opinion the reason why white sheep eat more than black ones is, because there are more of them!"

JARVIS' HABITS.

Jarvis, in his more prosperous days, was always improvident and recklessly extravagant. Dunlap says, "when he went to New Orleans for the first time, (in 1833) he took Henry Inman with him. To use his own words, my purse and my pockets were empty; (when he went to N. O.) I spent $3000 there in six months, and brought $3000 to New York. The next winter I did the same.' He used to receive six sitters a day. A sitting occupied an hour. The picture was then handed to Inman, who painted upon the background and drapery under the master's directions. Thus six portraits were finished each week." His prices at this time were $100 for a head, and $150 for head and hands.

"Mr. Sully once told me," says Dunlap, "that calling on Jarvis, he was shown into a room, and left to wait some minutes before he entered. He saw a book on the table amidst palette, brushes, tumblers, candlesticks, and other heterogeneous af

fairs, and on opening it, he found a life of More. land. When Jarvis came into the room, Sully sat with the book in his hand.

'Do you know why I like that book?' said Jarvis. 'I suppose because it is the life of a painter,' was the reply. 'Not merely that,' rejoined the other, 'but because I think he was like myself.' What a commentary! Moreland was a man of genius, and might have shone as a bright star in the history of art, had he not degraded himself by dissipation, almost to a level with the pigs he delighted to paint. The glory of both Stuart and Jarvis is obscured by the same fatal passion. "O that men should put an enemy in their mouths, to steal away their brains! that we should, with joy, revel, pleasure, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts."

'Jarvis," says Dunlap," was fond of notoriety from almost any source, and probably thought it aided him in his profession. His dress was generally unique. His long coat, trimmed with furs like a Russian prince, or a potentate from the north pole, and his two enormous dogs which accompanied him through the streets, and often carried home his market basket, must be remembered by many."

ROBERT FULTON.

It is not generally known that this celebrated engineer was in his early life a practical painter.From the age of 17 to 21, he painted portraits and landscapes in Philadelphia. In his 22d year, he

went to England to prosecute his studies under West, who received him with great kindness, and was so much pleased with his genius and amiable qualities, that he took him into his own house, as a member of his family. After leaving West, he seems to have made painting his chief employment for a livelihood for several years, though at this time, his mind was occupied with various great projects connected with engineering. In 1797, he went to Paris in prosecution of these projects, and to fill his empty coffers, he projected the first panorama ever exhibited in that city. He was a true lover of art, too, and endeavored to induce the citizens of Philadelphia to get up a subscription to purchase some of West's choicest pictures, which then could have been bought very cheap, as the commencement of a gallery in that city.

AN EXALTED MIND AND A TRUE PATRIOT.

Robert Fulton, after years of toil, anxiety, and ridicule, thus writes to his friend, Joel Barlow, immediately after his first steam-boat voyage from New York to Albany and back:

'New York, August 2, 1807. "MY DEAR FRIEND-My steam-boat voyage to Albany and back, has turned out rather more favorably than I had calculated. The distance from New York to Albany is 150 miles; I ran it up in 'thirty-two hours, and down in thirty hours; the lat

ter is five miles an hour. I had a light breeze against me the whole way, going and coming, so that no use was made of my sails, and the voyage has been performed wholly by the power of the steam engine. I overtook many sloops and schooners, beating to windward, and passed them as if they had been at anchor.

"The power of propelling boats by steam, is now fully proved. The morning I left New York, there were not, perhaps, thirty persons, who believed that the boat would move one mile an hour, or be of the least utility; and while we were putting off from the wharf, which was crowded with spectators, I heard a number of sarcastic remarks. This is the way, you know, in which ignorant men compliment what they call philosophers and projectors.

"Having employed much time, money, and zeal, in accomplishing this work, it gives me, as it will you, great pleasure, to see it so fully answer my expectations. It will give a quick and cheap conveyance to merchandize on the Mississippi, Missouri, and other great rivers, which are now laying open their treasures to the enterprise of our countrymen. Although the prospect of personal emolument has been some inducement to me, yet I feel infinitely more pleasure in reflecting on the immense advantages my country will derive from the invention."

GILBERT CHARLES STUART.

This preeminent portrait painter was born at Narragansett, Rhode Island, in 1756. He received his