THE OSPREY. 



169 



amiable and kind," and he sees "their children 

 blooming with health and full of spirit". The 

 Swainsons and Audubon are congenial. "Such 

 talks on birds we have had together"! enthusi- 

 astically writes Audubon. The American artist 

 -ornithologist "began a drawing for Mrs. 

 Swain. son and showed Mr. Swain son how to 

 put up birds in [his] style, which delighted 

 him." 



On the 19th of August, Swainson invites Audu- 

 bon to visit again "Tittenhanger Green, where 

 the pure air. the notes of the birds, the companj' 

 of [Swainson \s] wife and children revive," says 

 Audubon, "my drooping spirits."* (These 

 children, be it remembered, were babies, for 

 Swainson had been married less than three 

 years before.) In the home at Tittenhanger 

 Green, Swainson and Audubon conversed much 

 about the collections and men at Paris, and both 

 expressed a strong- desire to visit the great city 

 and see the museums and the officials that ad- 

 ministered them. At that time, there were no 

 collections in England that approached those in 

 Paris. Then the British Museum was as much 

 inferior to the French as it is superior now. 

 The French city was then the undisputed 

 metropolis of science and a pilgrimage to it was 

 the duty of every pious naturalist. Swainson 

 wished to go there to examine numerous types 

 of birds not to be found in England, and Audu- 

 bon hoped to obtain subscriptions to his magni- 

 ficent Birds of America. Up to that time, how- 

 ever, Swainson had not fully made up his mind 

 to go. 



VISIT TO PARIS. 



Swainson in his autobiographical sketch says: 

 "In 1828, I was induced to spend six weeks in 

 Paris, for the purpose of studying- the inses- 

 sorial birds contained in that superb collection. 

 By spending seven hours daily in the Garden of 

 Plants, I succeeded in making drawings and 

 descriptions of nearh' ever3' species I did not 

 possess; and thus fortified, I ventured to give 

 the outlines of my^ views in the Xort/ieni 

 Zoo/ogv" ■ He has repeatedly alluded to this 

 visit and its results. 



It was made finally at the suggestion of Au- 

 dubon, it seems. The latter, on Augu.st 13th, 

 says he "wrote to Mr. Swainson asking if he 

 could not accompany me to France, where he 

 said he wished to go when we were talking 

 together at Tittenhanger." The next day, 

 (Tuesday, August 14th,) Swainson went to Lon- 

 don; "he had come to take [Audubon] to Tit- 

 tenhanger Green," and there arrangements 

 were perfected to make the visit to Paris. A 

 partj' was determined upon. At the begin- 

 ning of the next month and on Monday, (Sep- 

 tember 1,) Audubon and the portrait painter 

 Parker,! after a "breakfast at six," were soon 

 "joined by Mr. and Mrs. Swainson and pro- 

 ceeded to the office in Piccadilly" for the coach 



in which they started in due time for Dover. 

 The next day they left Dover, and arrived in 

 Paris on Thursday, (September 4th.) "were 

 put down at the Messagerie Royale, rue des 

 Victoires," and then "went to lodgings to which 

 they had been recommended." "Mrs. Swain- 

 son's brother, Mr. Parkes, came to see [them] 

 at once, and all went to the Jardin des Plantes," 

 where they "saw everything." 



Next to "everything." individuals were to be 

 seen — especially those who controlled the 

 "things." Pre-eminent among those persons 

 was Cuvier. 



Cuvier had only a couple of weeks before 

 (August 25th) passed his 59th 3'ear and had 

 reached the acme of his fame, power, and in- 

 dustry. (He had less than four more years of 

 life before him.) With practical unanimity, he 

 was recognized as the greatest zoologist and 

 anatomist that then lived or. indeed, had ever 

 lived. He had received innumerable honors of 

 every kind, literary and scientific, administra- 

 tive and political. He had already corrected the 

 proofs of the first and second volumes of the 

 second edition of his "Ri'gne Animal" which 

 was to be published in five volumes in the fol- 

 lowing year; the first two volumes of the great 

 Histoire Naturelle des Poissons had recenth" 

 been published, and the next two were nearly 

 ready for the press. He had also completed 

 notes for a new translation of Pliny. Such was 

 his industry! He had in addition various public 

 functions to engage his attention, and was prac- 

 tically the chief of the Museum of Natural His- 

 tory (Musee d'Histoire Naturelle). 



"We saw everything," continues Audubon,:}; 

 and "then we walked to the entrance of the 

 famous Musee; it was closed, but we knocked 

 and asked for Baron Cuvier. He was in, but, 

 we were told, too busy to be seen. Being deter- 

 mined to look at the Great Man, we waited, 

 knocked again, and with a certain degree of 

 /in/i?it'ss sent our names. The messenger re- 

 turned, bowed, and led the way upstairs, where 

 in a minute Monsieur le Baron, like an excellent 

 good man. came to us. He had heard much of 

 my friend Swainson," says Audubon, "and 

 greeted him as he deserved to be greeted; he 

 was polite and kind to me, though my name had 

 never made its waj' 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 brown- 

 ish; eves 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. Thus, my Lucy." 

 writes Audubon to his wife, "have I described 

 Cuvier almost as if a nrzc species of man. He 

 has invited us to dine with him next Saturday 

 at six, and as I hope to have many opportu- 

 nities of seeing- him I will write more as I 



*Audubon and his Journals, i, 300. , , • 



tParker became acquainted with Ai;dubon in Natchez, (Mississippi). In August he met Audubon ni London and asked 

 him, s:iys Audubon, "to permit him to paint mv portrait as a woodsman, and though it is very tiresome to me. I agreed to his 

 request." By August 25, Parker had "nearly finished" the portrait "which he considers a good one. and so do I," adds Audu- 

 bon. Miss Audubon notes that "no trace of this portrait can be found". 

 ^Audubon and his Journals, vol. i, p. 306, 307. 



