rs it would at
this moment be to me equivalent in value to the sum first set upon it."

The change of plans no doubt referred to his desire to pursue his
electrical experiments, and for this ready money was most necessary, and
so he gladly, and even gratefully, accepted Mr. Clarke's offer of twelve
hundred dollars for the painting and one hundred dollars for the frame.
Even this was not cash, but was in the form of a note payable in a year!
His enthusiasm for his art seems at this period to have been gradually
waning, although he still strove to command success; but it needed a
decisive stroke to wean him entirely from his first love, and Fate did
not long delay the blow.

His great ambition had always been to paint historical pictures which
should commemorate the glorious events in the history of his beloved
country. In the early part of the year 1834 his great opportunity had,
apparently, come, and he was ready and eager to grasp it. There were four
huge panels in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington, which were still
to be filled by historical paintings, and a committee in Congress was
appointed to select the artists to execute them.

Morse, president of the National Academy of Design, and enthusiastically
supported by the best artists in the country, had every reason to suppose
that he would be chosen to execute at least one of these paintings.
Confident that he had but to make his wishes known to secure the
commission, he addressed the following circular letter to various members
of Congress, among whom were such famous men as Daniel Webster, John C.
Calhoun, Henry Clay, and John Quincy Adams, all personally known to
him:--

March 7, 1834.

MY DEAR SIR,--I perceive that the Library Committee have before them the
consideration of a resolution on the expediency of employing four artists
to paint the remaining four pictures in the Rotunda of the Capitol. If
Congress should pass a resolution in favor of the measure, I should
esteem it a great honor to be selected as one of the artists.

I have devoted twenty years of my life, of which seven were passed in
England, France, and Italy, studying with special reference to the
execution of works of the kind proposed, and I must refer to my
professional life and character in proof of my ability to do honor to the
commission and to the country.

May I take the liberty to ask for myself your favorable recommendation to
those in Congress who have the disposal of the