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on opening it, he hastily read the first lines & impulsively handed it to the Colonel, saying "Burgoyne is taken!" but instantly took back the letter, doubtless deeming it improper to show an unread letter to an inferior officer.

The sitting was continued with unchanged composure till the portrait was finished - a tribute to his domestic affections,

Besides this miniature, my father, as I find in his journal, written at the time, finished another [[strikethrough]] miniature [[/strikethrough]] in December 1777, and made several copies of it - two of which he delivered in person to Mrs. Washington at Lancaster in March 1778 - and another he sent, with a letter through my father's hand, to be conveyed by Mrs. Sheaff, as a present to his sister at Fredericksburg Virginia in August 1779. In November 1780 Mrs. Washington sent to my father three miniatures, to have them sell as bracelets. I have her original letter which accompanied them.