Mrs. Washington was as remarkable for punctuality as her illustrious husband. At one time, during the general’s absence, he wrote to her to get Mr. James Peale to paint her portrait in miniature, and to send it to him. Mrs. Washington wrote a note to the artist, saying that her presence at home was indispensable when the general was away, and it would not be convenient for her to attend at his painting-room. She requested him, therefore, to come to her house for the sittings, and offered to accommodate herself to any hour when it would suit him to be away from his studio. In his reply Mr. Peale appointed seven o’clock in the morning. When he left his home to keep the engagement for the first sitting, it occurred to him that the lady might not be quite ready to see him at so early an hour. He walked on, accordingly, more slowly than usual. Mrs. Washington met him with the observation, “Mr. Peale, I have been in the kitchen to give my orders for the day; have read the newspaper, and heard my niece her lesson on the harp; yet have waited for you twenty minutes.” The gentleman, of course, felt exceedingly mortified, and remarked that if his engagement had been with General Washington he should have felt the importance of being punctual to the minute; but he thought it necessary to allow a lady a little more time. “Sir,” replied Mrs. Washington, “I am as punctual as the general.” It may be imagined that Mr. Peale took care to be at the house the next day at the time appointed. Dunlap, in his sketch of the artist, mentions his son and two daughters as having adopted their father’s profession. There were _three_ daughters who did thus, out of five who showed talent for art, viz., Anna, Sarah, and Margaretta. The son, James Peale, showed, from early youth, a remarkable talent for landscape-painting. His sketches from nature were admirable. For many years, though not a professional artist, he contributed an exquisite picture to every opening of the annual exhibition of the Academy of the Fine Arts, in Philadelphia.