Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/136

 104 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS English, John Adams in many respects surpassed all his American contemporaries ; his style was crisp, pungent, and vivacious. In person he was of middle height, vigorous, florid, and somewhat cor pulent, quite like the typical John Bull. He was always truthful and outspoken, often vehement and brusque. Vanity and loquacity, as he freely ad mitted, were his chief foibles. Without being quar relsome, he had little or none of the tact that avoids quarrels ; but he harbored no malice, and his anger, though violent, was short-lived. Among American public men there has been none more upright and honorable. He lived to see his son president of the United States, and died on the fiftieth anniversary of the declaration of independence and in the ninety-first year of his age. His last words were, &quot;Thomas Jefferson still survives.&quot; But, by a re markable coincidence, Jefferson had died a few hours earlier the same day. See &quot;Life and Works of John Adams,&quot; by Charles Francis Adams (10 vols., Boston, 1850- 56) ; &quot;Life of John Adams,&quot; by J. Q. and C. F. Adams (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1871) ; and &quot;John Adams,&quot; by J. T. Morse, Jr. (Boston, 1885). The full-page portrait that accompanies this biography is copied from a painting by Gilbert Stuart, which was executed while Mr. Adams was president, and is now in the possession of a great- grandson.