SKETCH OF J. J. AUDUBON. 697 



made known to art he has represented our feathered tribes, building 

 their nests and fostering their young ; poised on the tip of the spray 

 and hovering over the sedgy margin of the lake ; flying in the clouds 

 in quest of prey, or from pursuit ; in love, enraged, indeed, in all the 

 varieties of their motion and repose, and modes of life so perfectly, 

 that all other works of the kind are to his as stuffed skins to the living 

 birds. But he has also indisputable claims to a respectable rank as a 

 man of letters. Some of his written pictures of birds, so graceful, 

 clearly defined, and brilliantly colored, are scarcely inferior to the pro- 

 ductions of his pencil. . . . From the beginning he surrendered him- 

 self entirely to his favorite pursuit, and has been intent to learn every- 

 thing from the prime teacher Nature. His style as well as his 

 knowledge is a fruit of his experience." His personal appearance, as 

 a reference to his portrait will show must have been the case, was cal- 

 culated to impress a visitor. He is described as having been tall and 

 commanding in person, with a countenance which, from the sharp 

 glance of his eye and the outline of his features, " suggested a re- 

 semblance to the eagle." He is believed, from his own account, to 

 have been somewhat of a dandy while he was living at Perkiomen. 

 "It was one of my fancies," he says, "to be ridiculously fond of 

 dress ; to hunt in black satin breeches, wear pumps when shooting, 

 and dress in the finest ruffled shirts I could obtain from France." 

 When on his hunting-tours, as he records in the relation of a visit 

 to Niagara, be would allow himself to get into the plight of the 

 poorer class of Indians, and worse, from not having, like them, 

 plucked his beard or trimmed his hair in any way. " Had Hogarth 

 been living, and there, when I arrived, he could not have found a fitter 

 subject for a Robinson Crusoe. My beard covered my neck in front, 

 my hair fell much lower at my back ; the leather dress which I wore 

 had for months stood in need of repair ; a large knife hung at my 

 side ; a rusty tin box, containing my drawings and colors, and wrapped 

 up in a worn-out blanket that had served me for a bed, was buckled 

 to my shoulders. To every one I must have seemed immersed in the 

 depths of poverty, perhaps of despair." Some exj)lanation was 

 needed to convince the landlord of the hotel that he was a suitable 

 subject for entertainment, but it seems to have been satisfactory. 

 Christopher North says of him in the " Noctes Ambrosianae," as he 

 appeared at Edinburgh : " The man himself is just what you would 

 expect from his productions ; full of fine enthusiasm and intelligence, 

 most interesting in his looks and manners, a perfect gentleman, and 

 esteemed by all who know him for the simplicity and frankness of his 

 nature." 



