John Hall to a friend in England:
"London, Nov. 6, 1792. I dined yesterday with the Revolution Society at the London Tavern. A very large company assembled and after dinner many truly noble and patriotic toasts were drank. The most prominent were—The Rights of Man—with 3 times &c.—The Revolution of France—The Revolution of the World—May all the armies of tyrants learn the Brunswick March—May the tree of Liberty be planted in every tyrant city, and may it be an evergreen. The utmost unanimity prevailed through the company, and several very excellent songs in favor of Liberty were sung. Every bosom felt the divine glow of patriotism and love of universal freedom. I wish you had been there. For my part I was transported at the scene. It happened that a company of Aristocratic french and Spanish merchants were met in the very room under, and Horne Tooke got up and sarcastically requested the company not to wound the tender feelings of the gentlemen by too much festivity. This sarcasm was followed by such a burst of applause as I never before heard."
From J. Redman, London, Tuesday Dec. 18, 5 p. m. to John Hall, Leicester, England: "Mr. Paine's trial is this instant over. Erskine shone like the morning-Star. Johnson was there. The instant Erskine closed his speech the venal jury interrupted the Attorney General, who was about to make a reply, and without waiting for any answer, or any summing up by the Judge, pronounced him guilty. Such an instance of infernal corruption is scarcely upon record. I have not time to express my indignant feelings on this occasion. At this moment, while I write, the mob is drawing Erskine's carriage home, he riding in triumph—his horses led by another party. Riots at Cambridge, Manchester, Bridport Dorset &c. &c. O England, how art thou fallen! I am just now told that press warrants are issued today. February, make haste. Mrs R's respects and mine. Yours truly."
[John Hall's London Journal (1792) records frequent meetings there with Paine. "March 5. Met Mr. Paine going to dress on an invitation to dine with the Athenians. He leaves town for a few days to see his aunt." "April 20. Mr. Paine goes out of town tomorrow to compose what I call Burke's Funeral Sermon." "Aug. 5. Mr. Paine looking well and in high spirits." "Sept. 6. Mr. Paine called in a short time. Does not seem to talk much, rather on a reserve, of the prospect of political affairs. He had a letter from G. Washington and Jefferson by the ambassador [Pinckney]." The majority of entries merely mention meeting Paine, whose name, by the way, after the prosecution was instituted, Hall prudently writes "P———n." He also tells the story of Burke's pension.]
"April 19, 1803. Had a ride to Bordentown to see Mr. Paine at Mr. Kirkbride's. He was well and appeared jollyer than I had ever known him. He is full of whims and schemes and mechanical inventions, and is to build a place or shop to carry them into execution, and wants my help."
APPENDIX C. PORTRAITS OF PAINE
At the age of thirty Paine was somewhat stout, and very athletic; but after his arrival in America (1774) he was rather slender. His height was five feet, nine inches. He had a prominent nose, somewhat like that of Ralph Waldo Emerson. It may have impressed Bonaparte, who insisted, it is said, that a marshal must have a large nose. Paine's mouth was delicate, his chin also; he wore no whiskers or beard until too feeble with age to shave. His forehead was lofty and unfurrowed; his head long, the occiput feeble. His complexion was ruddy,—thoroughly English. Charles Lee, during the American revolution, described him as "the man who has genius in his eyes;" Carlyle quotes from Foster an observation on the brilliancy of Paine's eyes, as he sat in the French Convention. His figure, as given in an early French portrait, is shapely; its elegance was often remarked. A year or so after his return to America he is shown in a contemporary picture as somewhat stout again, if one may judge by the face. This was probably a result of insufficient exercise, on which he much depended. He was an expert horseman, and, in health, an unwearied walker. He loved music, and could join well in a chorus.
There are eleven original portraits of Thomas Paine, besides a death-mask, a bust, and the profile copied in this work from a seal used on the release at Lewes, elsewhere cited (i., p. 33). That gives some idea of the head and face at the age of thirty-five. I have a picture said to be that of Paine in his youth, but the dress is an anachronism. The earliest portrait of Paine was painted by Charles Willson Peale, in Philadelphia, probably in some early year of the American Revolution, for Thomas Brand Hollis, of London,—the benefactor of Harvard University, one of whose halls bears his name. The same artist painted another portrait of Paine, now badly placed in Independence Hall. There must have been an early engraving from one of Peale's pictures, for John Hall writes October 31, 1786: "A print of Common Sense, if any of my friends want one, may be had by sending to the printshops in London, but they have put a wrong name to it, his being Thomas."* The Hollis portrait was engraved in London, 1791, underlined "by Peel [sic] of Philadelphia," and published, July 25th, by J. Ridgway, York Street, St. James's Square. Paine holds an open book bearing the words, "Rights of Man," where Peale probably had "Common Sense." On a table with inkstand and pens rests Paine's right elbow, the hand supporting his chin. The full face appears—young, handsome, gay; the wig is frizzed, a bit of the queue visible. In all of the original portraits of Paine his dress is neat and in accordance with fashion, but in this Hollis picture it is rather fine: the loose sleeves are ornamentally corded, and large wristbands of white lace fall on the cuffs.
* This is puzzling. The only engraving I have found with
"Toia" was published in London in 1800. Can there be a
portrait lost under some other name?