THE OSPREY. 



97 



or delineating them in the best way that I could. " 

 One hour of sad despondency he described as "the 

 only time in my life when the wild turkeys that so 

 often crossed my path, and the thousands of lesser 

 birds that enlivened the woods and the prairies, all 

 looked like enemies, and I turned my eyes from them, 

 as if I could have wished that they had never ex- 

 isted. " 



In 1826 he visited Philadelphia with his portfolio 

 of pictures, desirous of taking a few lessons of Peale 

 or Sully, that he might improve in his beloved art, 

 and also to devise ways of bringing his work before 



these good friends were possessed of both taste and 

 judgment, and I did not know that I should please I 

 was panting like the winged pheasant, but ah ! these 

 kind people praised my birds, and I felt the praise to 



be honest ; once more I breathed freely Oh ! 



what can I hope, my Lucy, for thee and for us all?" 



So great was his encouragement that in two weeks' 

 time he cheerily announced : 



■ ' I am well received everywhere, my works praised 

 and admired, and my poor heart is at last relieved 

 from the great anxiety that has for so many years 

 agitated it, for I know now that I have not worked 

 in vain." 



Still there was ever-recurring suspense for the shy, 



the public. Here, his scanty means being soon ex- humble artist to endure, as he presented his work to 



hausted. he resorted anew to his pencil for help, and 



writes, July 19 : 



' Young Harris, God bless him, looked at the draw- 

 ings I had for sale, and said he would take them all, 

 at my prices. I would have kissed him, but that is 

 not the custom in this icy city." 



Finding that his ' Birds of America' could not be 

 properly lithographed in this 

 country, he devoted the next 

 two years to the enlargement 

 of his collection, and the 

 gathering of a little fund that 

 might enable him to visit Eng- 

 land. With a "God speed" 

 from his wife, and a stout 

 heart in his breast, he set out 

 on his doubtful enterprise 

 from New Orleans, April 26, 

 1826, and landed in Liverpool 

 July 21. He had an extraordi- 

 nary gift for making friends, 

 and everyone was attracted by 

 the simple manners and pre- 

 possessing mien of this talent- 

 ed, unsophisticated "man of 

 the woods. ' 



In his various absences from 

 home, Audubon was in the 

 habit of committing to a jour- 

 nal the incidents of each day 

 for the perusal of the lo\ed 

 ones left behind. His heart 

 was laid bare in these pages, 

 and very interesting it is to 

 view the intense emotions that 

 excited him as he strove to en- 

 list sympathy and aid in the 

 costly endeavor on which he 

 was now intent. Alternate 

 hopes and fears rioted in his 

 breast. Of the first exhibition 

 of his pictures before a pros- 

 pective patron, he writes : 



"What sensations I h a d 

 whilst I helped to untie the 

 fastenings of my portfolio I I 

 knew by all around me that 



the eye of each possible subscriber. On his way to 

 Lizars, the skilled engraver who was to pass judg- 

 ment on his art, he says : 



" I lost hope at every step, and I doubt if I opened 

 my lips I slowly unbuckled my portfolio, placed a 

 chair for him. and with my heart like a stone held up 

 a drawing. Mr. Lizars rose from his seat, exclaim- 



FROM THE PENCIL 



DR.\WN BY HIMSELF 



SKETCH OK .\UDUBON. 

 FOR MRS. R.\THBONE. 

 Now in the possession of Mr. Richard Rathbone, Glan^y-Menai, Anglesey. 



