JOHN TRUMBULL.

Of the ease and ability with which our countrymen adapt their talents to a variety of pursuits, we have already given some examples; the present subject affords another illustration of that peculiar trait of American character.

JOHN TRUMBULL was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, on the 6th of June, 1756. He was the youngest son of the first Governor Trumbull; his mother's maiden name was Faith Robinson, the fifth in descent from the Reverend John Robinson, often called the father of the pilgrims, whose son came into the country in the year 1621. The carelessness or ignorance of the family physician had nearly consigned our infant genius to a life of idiocy, or an early grave; after being afflicted with convulsions nine months, it was discovered that the bones of his skull had been allowed to remain lapped over each other from his birth, but by skilful applications, and maternal care, they were adjusted, and, as we have heard him express it with filial veneration, "he owed his life a second time to his mother." At Lebanon, he went to school to Nathan Tisdale. He received, under the tuition of this gentleman, an excellent education, and entered the junior class at Harvard college, in January, 1772, and graduated in 1773. Finding himself to be a better scholar than those with whom he was associated, he was not a very diligent student, and to amuse himself, he frequently visited a respectable French family in the neighborhood, and learned to read and write their language. He searched the college library for books on the arts, and amongst them found Brook Taylor's "Jesuites' Perspective Made Easy"; this work he studied thoroughly, and copied all the diagrams. He in the same period copied several pictures which the college possessed: among others, an irruption of Mount Vesuvius, and a copy by Smybert, of Van Dyck's Head of Cardinal Bentivoglio. He had, before he went to college, somewhere picked up the title page of a book called "The Handmaid to the Arts," and had obtained a copy of the work from London, so that we may suppose his early

paintings were not the rude daubs of an ignorant boy. At this time Copley was in Boston, and TRUMBULL'S first visit to that distinguished artist happened to be made at a time, when he was entertaining his friends shortly after his marriage: he was dressed on the occasion, in a suit of crimson velvet with gold buttons, and the elegance of his style and his high repute, impressed the future artist with grand ideas of a painter's life. After leaving college, he painted his first original picture, the Battle of Cannæ, and soon after, the Judgment of Brutus. But at this time, the stirring incidents of the controversy with Great Britain, attracted the attention of all ages and all ranks, and TRUMBULL abandoned the palette and became an active politician. His father wished him to become a clergyman, but the son not liking the profession, gave the reins to his patriotic zeal, and was made adjutant in the first Connecticut regiment, which was stationed at Roxbury. Here his drawing became of service. Washington. was desirous to obtain a draft of the enemy's works, and hearing of the young adjutant's ability, he requested him to attempt it. By cautious approaches, he had succeeded in obtaining a knowledge of the position of every gun, and had proceeded in his drawing, when a deserter came into the camp and communicated all that was necessary to be known and a slight sketch of the works, which confirmed TRUMBULL'S, so far as he had gone. In August, 1775, he was appointed aid-de-camp to the commander-in-chief, and after some two or three months, major of brigade. In that situation, he became more particularly known to the adjutant-general, Gates, by the careful accuracy of his returns; and in the following year that officer having been appointed to the command of the northern department, he was induced to offer TRUMBULL the office of adjutant-general. He accompanied the army to New York, and on the 28th of June, 1776, departed with General Gates; at which date his rank as colonel and adjutant-general commenced. Shortly after their arrival at Ticonderoga, he reconnoitered Mount Independence, which had not at that time been explored; and he again more fully examined it as a military position, in company with General Wayne, which led to its occupation. While here, he was impressed with the belief that the whole position was commanded by Mount Defiance, (Sugar-loaf Hill,) a height situated nearly at an equal distance from Mount Independence and Ticonderoga, and he took an occasion to mention his opinion; but his suggestion was not acted upon, and the next campaign, General St. Clair was left to defend the original lines with three thousand men. The British took possession of Mount De

fiance, from which, according to their own account, they could observe every movement of the Americans within their lines. The abandonment of the entire position became immediately necessary, and St. Clair deserved great praise for his well-conducted retreat, by which the army was saved from capture, and became the nucleus of that force, which afterwards prostrated the British power in the northern department. In the mean time, the adjutant-general had remained without a commission: this rendered his situation peculiarly painful, and what rendered it more so was, that other and inferior officers did receive commissions, giving them rank equal to his own. After the termination of the campaign of 1776, General Gates received orders from the commander-in-chief to join him with all his disposable force behind the Delaware, which he did, a few days before the battle of Trenton. News was at that time received, that the British had landed at Newport, Rhode Island, with considerable force. General Arnold was ordered to proceed to Rhode Island to assume the command of the militia and oppose the enemy, and TRUMBULL was ordered to accompany him as adjutant-general. The head quarters were established at Providence for the winter, and there, in the month of March, he received his commission as adjutant-general, with the rank of colonel, but dated in September, instead of the previous June. Whatever was the cause of this is unknown; but it added to the chagrin and vexation of the officer commissioned, and within an hour he returned it, under cover, to the president of congress, accompanied with a letter, perhaps too concise and laconic, stating the impossibility of serving, unless the date was altered to correspond with the date of his actual service. A correspondence of some length ensued, when his resignation was accepted, and thus terminated his military career.

After a short visit to Lebanon, he went to Boston, to profit by the study of the works of Copley and others. Here he became acquainted with Mr. John Temple, afterwards, the first consul-general of Great Britain to the United States; through him he ascertained the possibility of his going in safety to London, to study under Mr. West. In May, 1780, he embarked for France, and after a short stay at Paris, reached London in August. He was kindly received by Mr. West, under whose liberal instruction, he pursued his studies without interruption until about the middle of November; at that time, the news of the death of Major André was received, and occasioned a violent irritation in the public mind. It was his misfortune to lodge in the same house with another American, who had been an officer, against

whom a warrant had been issued to apprehend him for high treason; instructions had been given to arrest, (ad interim,) the painter, and secure his papers. The following day, he was examined before the principal magistrates of the police, and was committed to prison. On hearing this, the apprehensions of Mr. West were aroused, for he well knew that he had enemies about the person of the king; he, therefore, hastened to the palace and asked an audience, which was granted, and he proceeded to state to the king his personal knowledge of the conduct of TRUMBULL while in London. After listening to him patiently, the king replied; "West, I have known you long, and I dont know that I have ever received any incorrect information from you on any subject, I, therefore, fully believe all that you have said on the present occasion. I sincerely regret the situation of the young man, but I cannot do any thing to assist him,—he is in the power of the law, and I cannot interfere. Are his parents living?" To which Mr. West answered that his father was. "Then I most sincerely pity him," said the king. After a moment's pause he continued, "Go immediately to Mr. TRUMBULL, and give him my royal assurance, that in the worst possible event of the law, his life will be safe." This assurance of course, softened in a great degree, the rigors of a winter's confinement, and enabled him to proceed with his studies. He copied, during the period, the St. Jerome of Correggio, which is now in the collection at Yale college. At length a turn took place in the affairs of the two countries, and the British government began to relax their severity. TRUMBULL, after about eight months detention, was admitted to bail by a special order of the king in council, on condition of quitting the kingdom within thirty days. His securities were West and Copley. He crossed over to Ostend, thence proceeded to Amsterdam, and embarked for Philadelphia in the South Carolina frigate; but the ship falling short of water and provisions, they put into Corunna, in Spain. There he left that ship, and took passage to Bilboa, whence he returned home in January, 1782. Fatigue, vexation, and disappointment, brought on a fit of illness, which confined him at his father's the principal part of the ensuing summer; after which, he again visited the army, then at Verplank's Point, and entered into an arrangement with his brother and others, for the supply of the army.

In the spring of 1783 the news arrived of the preliminaries of peace having been arranged. He was then at Lebanon, and his father took the occasion to urge him to pursue the profession of the law. He represented it as the leading profession in a republic, and