1850.] AZIIERICAN NOTE-BOOKS. 379

as I said before ; a man of gentle disposition too, and simplicity of life and character. I seated myself in the pictorial chair, with the only light in the room descending upon me from a high opening, almost at the ceiling, the rest of the sole window bemg shut- tered. He began to work, and we talked in an idle and desultory way, —— neither of us feeling very con- versable, —which he attributed to the atmosphere, it being a bright, westwindy, bracing day. ‘Ve talked about the pictures of Christ, and how inadequate and untrue they are. He said he thought artists should attempt only to paint child-Christs, human powers be- ing inadequate to the task of painting such purity and holiness in a manly development. Then he said that an idea of a picture had occurred to him that morning while reading a chapter in the New Testament, — how “ they parted his garments among them, and for his vesture did cast lots.” His picture was to represent the soldier to whom the garment without a seam had fallen, after taking it home and examining it, and be- coming impressed with a sense of the former wearer’s holiness. I do not quite see how he would make such a picture tell its own story ;— but I find the idea sug- gestive to my own mind, and I think I could make something of it. We talked of physiognomy and im- pressions of character, — first impressions, — and how apt they are to come aright in the face of the closest subsequent observation.

There were several visitors in the course of the sit- ting, one a gentleman, a connection from the corm- try, with whom the artist talked about family matters and personal aifairs,—-observing on the poorness of his own business, and that he had thoughts of return- ing to New York. I wish he would meet with better