AUDUBON IN LONDON 411 



but, we were told, too busy to be seen. Being determined to 

 look at the great man, we waited, knocked again, and with a 

 certain degree of firmness sent in our names. The messenger 

 returned, bowed, and led the way up stairs, where in a minute 

 Monsieur the Baron, like an excellent good man, came to us; 

 he had heard of my friend Swainson and greeted him as he 

 deserves to be greeted ; he was polite and kind to me, though 

 my name had never made its way to his ears. I looked at him, 

 and here follows the result: age about sixty-five; size corpulent, 

 five feet five, English measure; head large; face wrinkled and 

 brownish; eyes gray, brilliant and sparkling; nose aquiline, 

 large and red ; mouth large, with good lips ; teeth few, blunted 

 by age, excepting one on the lower jaw, measuring nearly 

 three-quarters of an inch square. 20 



They were immediately invited to dine on the follow- 

 ing Saturday at six o'clock, and later saw Cuvier at his 

 home, at his Museum, and at the Academy of Sciences, 

 over which he presided. 



Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire pleased Audubon greatly 

 and proved to him by his conversation that he under- 

 stood perfectly the difference between the French and 

 the English. The Duke of Orleans, who then occupied 

 the Palais Royal, seemed to him the finest physical type 

 of man he had ever met. "He had my book brought 

 up," said the naturalist, "and helped me untie the strings 

 and arrange the table, and began by saying that he felt 

 great pleasure in subscribing to the work of an Ameri- 

 can, for he had been most kindly received in the United 

 States and should never forget it." When the plate of 

 the Baltimore Orioles was held up to view, the Duke 

 exclaimed: "This surpasses all I have seen, and I am 

 not astonished now at the eulogiums of M. Redoute." 

 He conversed in both English and French, had much 



20 Maria R. Audubon, op. cit., vol. i, p. 306. 



