Wisconsin Historical Collections, Volume II (1856)

              42 wisconsin historical collections vol a man in his most degraded state is capable the dark depths of a fiendish soul with all its hellish thoughts of torture and revenge seem inscribed in every feature of that forbidding countenance the drapery of the figure is bad but the head is perfect the low forehead the matted hair the deep-set eyes the heavy jaws and the sensuous mouth all betray the most accomplished villain and such his character is well known to have been from this dark picture we turn1 to the light graceful and beau tiful portrait of pocahontas the well known indian princess of virginia whose history and early death are familiar to every one soon after her marriage with kolfe she sailed for england where her beauty and queenly behavior attracted universal attention a portrait of her was there painted which subsequently passed into the hands of the family of his brother in england in process of time this old portrait was brought to virginia ; and in a state al most crumbling tpf ruins it was copied by sully and from this was made thji copy in our possession although the artist in bad taste as we think embellished it with a wreath of flowers in her hair and substituted the simple drapery of an indian maiden in place of the antique dress of the time of jamas i the embellishment gives to the picture an air of ideality and we are apt to consider the portrait as a fancy sketch while it is as will be seen from the following testimonials a genuine and truthful portrait of this celebrated princess statement of richard randolph of virginia april 1st 1842 : pocahontas and mr rolfe her husband arrived at plymouth on the 12th june 1616 their portraits were taken whilst in the following notice of the prophet was written in 1832 by the late maj thomas forsyth who had previously for many years been an indiam trader and until 1830 the indian agent for the sauks and foxes and gives us a more favorable view of his character yet truth extorts the re mark that he has had the reputation of being chiefly instrumental in leading his deluded followers against the wishes of black hawk into the unfortunate outbreak of 1832 maj forsyth's testimony is taken from that excellent and charming work mrs kinzies wau-bun or the early day in the north-west many a good meal has the prophet given to people travelling past his village and very many stray horses has he re covered from the indians and restored to their rightful owners without asking any recompense whatever l c d