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