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114 THE POBTRAIT.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
_.. I Need Not Linger Over The Early Daw...
comfortable a salon in which , to spend Ms evenings . " I had all the inclination to pull the red ears of this man of culturewhen he
, made such insolent remarks about the friend he had brought to serve his own selfish endsand who was not poor to the degree such
an assertion implied . This , was the morale of the man I was expected to marry .
I had set my heart on painting * a picture to surprise Mr . Cleveland , as I have already informed the reader ; and this picture was to
be a portrait of Mrs . Bethune , but intended likewise to represent Properzia Rossi , as brought before my imagination by those lines
of Mrs . Hemans : — " One dream of beauty and of passion more ,
And in its bright fulfilment let me pour my sotil away . " I conceived that I could not have had a better modelfor when in
, good spirits and health , Mrs . Bethune , now in the full prime of womanhood , looked at times beautiful . Her eyes were of the
kind which , when lit up by strong feeling , give forth glances fiery and brilliantI could imagine if kindled by passion how powerful
those flashes ; might be . Her complexion was pale , her hair jet , her features classical ; taken as a whole , I thought she would make
an exquisite study for my Properzia . The idea pleased and gratified Mrs . Bethune , to whom of course I was obliged to confide my
secret . The ' work was proceeding to our mutual satisfaction , and the agreement made between us "wasthat not a creature should see
or hear of it until finished . It was , locked up in my study , and when I had finished paintingI took the key of the room and hid
it , so that no one could get access , to it . I had resolved that this portrait should determine my future plans . If I read praise or
surprise in the countenance of Mr . Cleveland , then I would become an artist ; if the reverseI would consider myself unfitted for the
realization of my ambitious , hopes , and with my slighted Properzia would fling away every cherished dream , every artistic aspiration ; I would
become—I did not make up ray mind what , for ( to tell the truth ) I could not anticipate other than a successful termination to my secret
labor . The Properzia was almost finished ; Mrs . Bethune had expressed
herself more than satisfied , and that I accepted as a favorable omenas few handsome persons are ever content with their
appear-, ance on canvas—it is never thought sufficiently beautiful . Now as Mrs . Bethune was not yet so saintly as to be beyond vanity , and
had expressed her approbation , I was very hopeful . When finished it was to be hung up in the salon where Mr . Cleveland would be
sure to see it , and not a word was to be said until his opinion of its merits and demerits had been given . I was not to be present , and
Mrs . Bethune promised , to report truly all his . remarks . This was our arrangement , and the day was fixed for its removal from the
one room into the other . I had given' it the last little touch , had
114 The Pobtrait.
114 THE POBTRAIT .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1861, page 114, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041861/page/42/
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