362 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



daily in his journal or diary, 13 and its pages, from which 

 we have been quoting, became a mirror of all that he 

 saw, heard, or did. Audubon was generous with his 

 time, as with everything else, and would never hesitate 

 to lay aside his own work for the sake of a friend who 

 was eager to acquire his method of drawing. But when 

 his entertainment commenced with an invitation to 

 breakfast, he began to be alarmed at the large share of 

 his working hours which had to be surrendered to his 

 friends. "I seem, in a measure," he said, "to have gone 

 back to my early days of society and fine dressing, silk 

 stockings and pumps, and all the finery with which I 

 made a popinjay of myself in my youth ... It is Mr. 

 Audubon here, and Mr. Audubon there, and I can only 

 hope they will not make a conceited fool of Mr. Audu- 

 bon at last." 



In response to urgent appeals he began at this time 

 to contribute to the scientific journals of the Scottish 

 capital, a step which only served to remind him that 

 the rose was more prolific in thorns than flowers. Dr. 

 Brewster, however, in his Journal of Science, and John 

 Wilson in Blackwoods, sang pagans in his praise, and 

 there is no doubt that "Christopher North," so like and 

 yet so unlike the American woodsman, did much to 

 smooth his path in his own country as well as in Europe. 

 Though keenly feeling the need of literary advice in 

 those early contributions, Audubon was quite shocked 

 at the alterations which Dr. Brewster had made in one 

 of these articles, for though the editor had "greatly im- 

 proved the style," he had quite "destroyed the matter." 

 On December 21, 1826, Audubon wrote to Thomas 

 Sully that he would send him a copy of the first number 

 of his Birds, with the request that he forward it in his 



13 See Maria R. Audubon, Audubon and his Journals (Bibl. No. 86). 



