Bluecoat
Boys, among whom it is the fashion to go bareheaded, he had acquired a
dislike to any covering of the head.

"I explained the cause of my visit and he said: 'Allston should say to
himself, "_Nothing is me but my will._ These thoughts, therefore, that
force themselves on my mind are no part of _me_ and there can be no guilt
in them." If he will make a strong effort to become indifferent to their
recurrence, they will either cease or cease to trouble him.'

"He said much more, but this was the substance, and, after it was
repeated to Allston, I did not hear him again complain of the same kind
of disturbance."

Mr. C.B. King, the other friend mentioned by Leslie, returned to America
in 1812, and writes from Philadelphia, January 3, 1813:--

MY DEAR FRIENDS, This will be handed you by Mr. Payne, of Boston, who
intends passing some time in England.... I have not been here
sufficiently long to forget the delightful time when we could meet in the
evening with novels, coffee, and _music by Morse_, with the conversation
of that dear fellow Allston. The reflection that it will not again take
place, comes across my mind accompanied with the same painful sensation
as the thought that I must die.

That Morse was not forgotten by the good people at home is evidenced by a
letter from his brother, Sidney Edwards, of January 18, 1812, part of
which I transcribe:--

DEAR BROTHER,--I am sitting in the parlor in the armchair on the right of
the fireplace, and, as I hold my paper in my hand, with my feet sprawled
out before the fire, and with my body reclining in an oblique position
against the back of the chair, I am penning you a letter such as it is,
and for the inverted position of the letters of which I beg to apologize.

As I turn my eyes upward and opposite I behold the family picture painted
by an ingenious artist who, I understand, is at present residing in
London. If you are acquainted with him, give my love to him and my best
wishes for his prosperity and success in the art to which, if report says
true, he has devoted himself with much diligence.

Richard sits before me writing to you, and mama says (for I have just
asked her the question) that she is engaged in the same business. Papa is
upstairs very much engaged in the selfsame employment. Four right hands
are at this instant writing to give you, at some future moment, the
pleasure of perusing the products of their present labor. Four
imaginations are now e