“As to the portrait which I painted of Mr. Russell, I am sorry you mentioned it to Miss Russell, as I particularly requested that you would not, because, in case of failure, it would be a disappointment to her; but as you have told her, I must now explain.  In the first place it is not a picture that will do me any credit.  I was unfortunate in the light which I chose to paint him in; I wished to make it my best picture and so made it my worst, for I worked too timidly on it.  It is a likeness, indeed, a very strong likeness, but the family are not pleased with it, and they say that I have not flattered him, that I have made him too old.  So I determined I would not send it, indeed, I promised them I would not send it; but, notwithstanding, as I know Miss Russell will be good enough to comply with my conditions, I will send it directly; for, as it is a good likeness, every one except the family knowing it instantly, and Mr. Allston saying that it is a very strong likeness, it will on that account be a gratification to her.  But I particularly and expressly request that it be kept in a private room to be shown only to friends and relations, and that I may never be mentioned as the painter; and, moreover, that no artist or miniature painter be allowed to see it.  On these conditions I send it, taking for granted they will be complied with, and without waiting for an answer.”

The parents of that generation were not frugal of counsel and advice, even when their children had reached years of discretion and had flown far away from the family nest.

The father, in a letter of May 20, 1815, thus gently reproves his son:—­

“To-day we have received your letters to March 23....  You evidently misconceived our views in the letters to which you allude, and felt much too strongly our advice and remarks in respect to your writing us so much on politics.  What we said was the affectionate advice of your parents, who loved you very tenderly, and who were not unwilling you should judge for yourself though you might differ from them.  We have ever made a very candid allowance for you, and so have all your friends, and we have never for a moment believed we should differ a fortnight after you should come home and converse with us.  You have, in the ardor of feeling, construed many observations in our letters as censuring you and designed to wound your feelings, which were not intended in the remotest degree by us for any such purpose....

“I am sorry to hear of the death of Mr. Thornton.  He was a good man.”

His mother was much less gentle in her reproof.  I cull the following sentences from a long letter of June 1, 1815:—­