574. ARTISTS, Member of Society of.—
I am very justly sensible of the honor the
Society of Artists of the United States has done
me in making me an honorary member of their
Society. * * * I fear that I can be but a
very useless associate. Time which withers the
fancy, as the other faculties of the mind
and body presses on me with a heavy hand, and
distance intercepts all personal intercourse.
I can offer, therefore, but my zealous good
wishes for the success of the institution, and
that, embellishing with taste a country already
overflowing with the useful productions, it May
be able to give an innocent and pleasing direction
to accumulations of wealth, which would
otherwise be employed in the nourishment of
coarse and vicious habits.—
To Thomas Sully. Washington ed. vi, 34.
(M.
Jan. 1812)
