FIRST VENTURES IN BUSINESS 155 



know that Audubon remained in Bakewell's office for 

 nearly a year, from the autumn of 1806 to the summer 

 of 1807. Bakewell's house imported linens, lace, gloves, 

 wines, firearms and any kind of merchandise that prom- 

 ised a ready and remunerative sale in New York; in 

 return they forwarded coffees, sugars and other com- 

 modities to Rozier, receiving from him also prices cur- 

 rent and introductions to other merchants in France. 

 Another correspondent was the Huron firm in Phila- 

 delphia, so it is probable that Ferdinand owed his em- 

 ployment there to Benjamin Bakewell. 



While Audubon expressed himself at this time as 

 freely in English as in French, in the former language 

 the tendencies of his French tongue and the influence of 

 his Quaker friends were strangely blended. He never 

 bothered with accents, and took as many liberties with 

 the spelling of French as of English. Some of these 

 lapses are purely phonetic, while others are more orig- 

 inal, as "schacket" for "packet," "fither" for "Fisher"; 

 two variations of Rozier's name and of Nantes occur 

 in the same letter. It should be remembered, however, 

 that at the beginning of the nineteenth century bad or 

 random spelling was a very venial offense, which gen- 

 tlemen of quality, or even scholars, could commit with 

 impunity. In this respect Audubon's early essays in 

 English would probably compare favorably with Gib- 

 bon's youthful French. 



and each also bears an outside seal in wax, stamped with Bakewell's 

 initial (B). It is not possible to say whether Lieutenant Audubon ever 

 received these letters of his son; if received, it is not very obvious why 

 they should have been left in the old merchant's hands, unless his ill health 

 at the time, and subsequent death were the cause (see Note, Vol. I, p. 152). 

 I am further indebted to Mr. William Beer, for the perusal of his copies, 

 which have been followed to a large extent. 



Since all of these early letters throw an interesting light upon the 

 times as well as upon Audubon's personal history, we shall give them in 

 full, rendering the French into English as literally as practicable. 



