JANE STUART. 815
sually successful works of this class. She made steady progress in her art, and would have doubtless attained a prominent position had she lived to develop her powers by practice and study.
We should not be doing justice to this noble wom- an not to allude to the social virtues which endeared her to so many friends. With nothing to rely upon but her own exertions, with serious illness in her fam- ily, she was never so poor in time or money as not to interest herself in behalf of others more unfortunate than herself. Countless instances are known of her serviceable kind-heartedness. She exerted herself at the time of the dreadful shipwreck of the Helena Sloman, and obtained by personal efforts, in a few days, the sum of seven hundred dollars; and her min- istrations among the poor were constant during the severe winter of 1853. She has, it is true, many peers in similar acts of benevolence, but few who practiced deeds of this kind in a position so little calculated to develop them.
Mrs. Dassel died on the 7th December, 1857, and was buried in Greenwood.
Jane Stuart was the youngest child of Gilbert Stu- art, the eminent portrait-painter. Like many of her sisters in art, she inherited the genius she discovered in early life; but it was not till after her father’s death that the talent she had shown found development in the practice of art. She has resided for a long time at Newport, Rhode Island, in the enjoyment of the ce- lebrity her talents have acquired.
Mrs. Hildreth of Boston deserves mention, especial- ly for her portraits of children in crayon. Miss May painted landscapes in Allston’s style. Mrs. Orvis has been mentioned as a flower-painter of remarkable
