88 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



rect and elegant style of composition which appears 

 through the whole of the Biography of Birds cannot 

 possibly be that of him whose name it bears." Water- 

 ton maintained that, while Audubon's earlier papers 

 were the work of an illiterate person, his Biography 

 betrayed the hand of a finished scholar from beginning 

 to end. In a reply to Victor Audubon, written July 6, 

 1833, 29 Waterton declared, upon the authority of 

 George Ord, whom he quoted, that William Swainson 

 had been importuned to write Audubon's work for him, 

 but declined when Audubon insisted upon his own name 

 being given to the world as author. This direct accusa- 

 tion called forth an immediate explanation from Swain- 

 son, who said : 30 



In reply to that gentleman (G. Ord, Esq.), regarding the 

 assistance it was expected I should have given my friend, 

 Mr. Audubon, in the scientific details of his work, my reply 

 was, that the negotiation had been broken off from an un- 

 willingness that my name should be printed on the title-page. 

 I was not asked to write the work, nor did Mr. Audubon "in- 

 sist upon his own name being given to the world as the author" 

 of such parts as he wished me to undertake. ... I have read 

 Mr. Audubon's original manuscripts, and I have read Mr. 

 Waterton's original manuscripts. I think the English of one 

 is as good as the English of the other— but here the compari- 

 son ends." 



The controversy thus started did not reflect much credit 

 on Audubon's detractors, but reverberations of the 

 charge were heard at a much later day. 



Robert Bakewell, the geologist, who was a relative 

 of Mrs. Audubon, then livin g at Hampstead, entered 



29 See Bibliography, No. 115. 



30 See Bibliography, No. 117. 



