t a picture
for one hundred dollars, the subject to be left to the discretion of the
artist. Mr. Hone valued the portrait highly, and it remained in his
gallery until his death. It was then sold and Morse lost track of it for
many years. In 1868, being particularly desirous of gaining possession of
it again, for a purpose which is explained in a letter quoted a little
farther on, he instituted a search for it, and finally learned that it
had been purchased by Mr. John Taylor Johnston for four hundred dollars.
Before he could enter into negotiations for its purchase, Mr. Johnston
heard of his desire to possess it, and of his reasons for this wish, and
he generously insisted on presenting it to Morse.

I shall now quote the following extracts from a letter written in
Dresden, on January 23, 1868, to Mr. Johnston:--

MY DEAR SIR,--Your letter of the 6th inst. is this moment received, in
which I have been startled by your most generous offer presenting me with
my portrait of the renowned Thorwaldsen, for which he sat to me in Rome
in 1831.

I know not in what terms, my dear sir, to express to you my thanks for
this most acceptable gift. I made an excursion to Copenhagen in the
summer of 1856, as a sort of devout pilgrimage to the tombs of two
renowned Danes, whose labors in their respective departments--the one,
Oersted, of science, the other, Thorwaldsen, of art--have so greatly
enriched the world.

The personal kindness of the late King Frederick VII, who courteously
received me at his castle of Fredericksborg, through the special
presentation of Colonel Raslof (more recently the Danish Minister at
Washington); the hospitalities of many of the principal citizens of
Copenhagen; the visits to the tomb and museum of the works of
Thorwaldsen, and to the room in which the immortal Oersted made his
brilliant electro-magnetic discovery; the casual and accidental
introduction and interview with a daughter of Oersted,--all created a
train of reflection which prompted me to devise some suitable mode of
showing to these hospitable people my appreciation of their friendly
attentions, and I proposed to myself the presentation to His Majesty the
King of Denmark of this portrait of Thorwaldsen, for which he sat to me
in Rome, and with which I knew he was specially pleased.

My desire to accomplish this purpose was further strengthened by the
additional attention of the King at a later period in sending me the
decoration of his ord