Threethingsaretobeborneinmind：Herndonwasaliterarymanbynature；buthewasnotbytrainingadevelopedartist；
hewasaromanticofthefullfloodofAmericanromanticismandtherearetraceableinhimthemethodsofromanticportraiture。
HadhebeenanElizabethanonecanimaginehimlaboringhardwithgreatprideoveraninferior“TamburlanetheGreat“——andperhapsnotknowingthatitwasinferior。Furthermore，hehadnot，beforethestormbrokeonhim，anyrealizationoftheexistenceinAmericaofanotherschoolofportraiture，theheroic——conventual，thatcouldnotunderstandtheromantic。IfHerndonstrengthenedasmuchaspossiblethecontrastsofhissubject——suchasthecontrastbetweenthesordidnessofLincoln’soriginandtheloftinessofhisthought——hefeltthatbysodoinghewasmerelyrenderinghissubjectinitsmostbrilliantaspect，givingtoitthelargestdegreeofsignificance。AthirdconsiderationisHerndon’senthusiasmfortheagnosticdeismthatwasrampantinAmericainhisday。
Perhapsthiscauseshisromanticismtoslipacog，torunattimesonaside-track，tobecometheservantofhisreligiouspartisanship。InthreewordsthefaultsofHerndonareexaggeration，literalnessandexploitiveness。
Butallthesearefaultsofdegreewhichthecarefulstudentcanallowfor。By“checkingup“allthepartsofHerndonthatitispossibletocheckuponecanarriveataprettyconfidentbeliefthatoneknowshowtodivesttheimagehecreatesofitsoccasionalunrealities。Whenonedoesso，thestrongestargumentforrelyingcautiously，watchfully，uponHerndonappears。TheLincolnthusrevealed，thoughonlyacharactersketch，iscoherent。AnditstandsthetestofcomparisonindetailwiththeLincolnsofother，lessromantic，observers。