ATPENDIX* (50^' 



quarters, retorting upon him most justly the charge of illiberality, in en-" 

 deavouring to appropriate to himself the advantages of a Society, which he 

 had not sufficient generosity to support ; and more particularly when he 

 sought these advantages for the purpose of benefiting a work on which he 

 was employed, according to common rumour, with liberal pay. His en- 

 deavour, in his present reply, is to persuade the reader that he received no 

 pay for this work ; nay, that he prosecuted it at a considerable sacrifice of 

 expense and labour. His defence is well got up — indeed, it is the only 

 instance of his attempting to advance any proof, or adduce any witness to 

 support his assertions; well got up, I mean, in reference to the ingenuity, 

 not to the honesty, of the attempt ; it is worth transcribing : — 



15. " I am moreover employed by Dr. Richardson. The nature of this employment will. be 

 best understood by the following extract of his letter : — 



" • Dear Sir, I have had the honour of your acquaintance now for upwards of three years, during 

 which we have been mutually engaged on the ornithological part of the Fauna Boreali-Ameri. 

 cana ; and, so far from your being guided solely by mercenary motives, you have voluntarily, and 

 at a great personal sacrifice of time, and a considerable one of expense, contributed a large and 

 most material part of the letterpress to that work ; although you have not received any pecu- 

 niary reward for these exertions, and were perfectly aware, from the first, that you never could 

 derive any. Your conduct to me has been gentlemanly, and strictly honourable throughout, and 

 I have derived both pleasure and profit from your society. 



• 1 remain, ever your sincere friend, 



' John Richardson.' " . 



There is but one fault in the getting up of the above defence, or rather, 

 I should say, in the testimony that is adduced to support it — it is over-, 

 done. The doctor's extreme anxiety to absolve Mr. Swain son from the 

 imputation of receiving emolument from the letterpress of the work; his 

 over-solicitude to express the honour, the pleasure, the profit he derived 

 from his acquaintance for upwards of three years ; the extraordinary sin- 

 cerity of his friendship towards Mr. Swainson; all this exuberance of 

 good-will is so utterly out of place on the present occasion, where the 

 simple question of f;«j/, or no pay, for a particular work is to be decided, 

 that a reader is tempted to imagine something is intended to be glossed 

 over. Who has not seen a lapwing fluttering round the dog that hunts, 

 after her nest, and betraying by her overstrained solicitude that there is 

 an object, not far distant, from which she would lead him astray ? The 

 pursuer may be deceived ; but the cautious by-stander immediately detects 

 the artifice. The point at which we wish to arrive in the present investi- 

 gation is not, as Dr. Richardson has been led to imagine, — for I entirely 

 acquit him of all share in the attempt at deception, — is not the liberality 

 of Mr. Swainson in providing a particular portion, namely, the letterpress, 

 of the work ; every person knows that this portion of such undertakings 

 is ever supplied gratuitously ; nor is it Dr. Richardson's highly wrought 

 feelings on the subject ; but, whether Mr. Swainson was, or was not, em- 

 ployed by him. Dr. Richardson, for recompense, on the work in question. 

 This, Sir, is the fact, — the fact, in despite of all Mr.Swainson's ingenuity to 

 conceal it,— the fact, in despite of all the doctor's flutter and solicitude 

 to gloss it over ; it is the fact, that Mr. Swainson was employed by Dr. 

 Richardson, on the part of government, in engraving the plates of the 

 work, the only portion of such works on which there is ever a question 

 regarding recompense. It is equally the fkct that he was amply paid for 

 the employment. 



But it would appear that Mr. Swainson feels sore at the imputation of 

 being " employed " by any man. Even here was I cautious : aware of 

 the sensitiveness of these gentlemen of the quill, who strut occasionally 

 in military masquerade, and talk largely of precedence in " courts and 

 camps," I was select in my phraseology; I was guarded in confining 

 myself to the use of words applied to our military acquaintance by his 

 sincere friend and honoured coadjutor. I transcribe the following note, 

 as well to demonstrate that I had a precedent for the use of the term 



