Haydon, who it seems was a student of human nature as well as of the human form, made the discovery of a fact which at first surprised and angered him.
In making his groupings of heads he decided to place together the Rev.
John Scoble, George Thompson and Charles Lenox Remond.

When Scoble sat to him, Haydon told him of his design in this regard.

But, remarked Haydon, Scoble "sophisticated immediately on the propriety of placing the negro in the distance, as it would have much greater effect." The painter now applied his test to Thompson who "saw no objection." Thompson did not bear the test to Haydon's satisfaction, who observed that "A man who wishes to place the negro on a level must no longer regard him as having been a slave, and feel annoyed at sitting by his side." But when the artist approached Garrison on the subject it was wholly different.

"I asked him," Haydon records with obvious pleasure, "and he met me at once directly." Thompson was not altogether satisfactory to Garrison either during this visit as the following extract from one of his letters to his wife evinces: "Dear Thompson has not been strengthened to do battle for us, as I had confidently hoped he would be.

He is placed in a difficult position, and seems disposed to take the ground of non-committal, publicly, respecting the controversy which is going on in the United States." Garrison, Rogers, and Remond in the company of Thompson made a delightful trip into Scotland at this time.