170 



THE OSPREY. 



become acquainted with him." He also made 

 an appointment with them for Friday, and on 

 that day, says Audubon, "f,^ave us tickets for 

 the Musee, and promised all we could wish. At 

 the Musee M. Valenciennes was equally kind. 

 Havinof a letter for M. Geoffroy de St. Hilaire 

 [Etienne Geoffroy Saint Hilaire], we went to 

 his house in the Jardins, and with him we were 

 particularly pleased. He proved to me that he 

 understood the difference in the ideas of the 

 French and Eng'lish perfectly. He repeated the 

 words of Cuvier and assured us my work had 

 not been heard of in France. He promised to 

 take us to the Academic des Sciences on Mon- 

 day next. I left Swainson at work in the Musee, 

 and went to the Louvre." 



On Saturday, (September 6th,) Audubon re- 

 cords, "after our breakfast of figs and bread and 

 butter, Swainson and I went down the Boule- 

 vard to the Jardins Royaux. * * "" Evening 

 coming on, we proceeded, after dressing, to 

 Baron Cuvier's house to dine. We were an- 

 nounced by a servant in livery, and received 

 by the Baron, wlio presented us to his onl}- 

 remaining daugiiter, — a small, well-made, good- 

 looking lad^', with sparkling black eyes, and 

 extremely amiable." (The daughter mentioned 

 by Audubon was not Cuvier's own, but his step- 

 daughter, Mademoiselle Duvaucel. His own 

 daughter. Miss Clementine Cuvier, had died 

 nearly a year ago, (September 28, 1827). In due 

 time the Baroness "came in — a good-looking, 

 motherly lady, and the company, amounting to 

 sixteen, went to dinner." 



"The Baroness led the way with a gentleman, 

 and the Baron took in his daughter, but made 

 friend Swainson and [Audubon] precede them; 

 Swainson sat next Mademoiselle, who, fortu- 

 nately for him, speaks excellent Eng^lish." 

 Audubon "was opposite to her, by the side of 

 the Baron." 



Audubon records "that there was not the show 

 of opulence at this dinner that is seen in the 

 same rank of life in Eng^land, no, not by far, 

 but it was a good dinner served a la franraise. 

 All seemed happy, and went on with more sim- 

 plicity- than in London. The dinner finished, 

 the Baroness rose, and we all followed her into 

 thelibrar}'. I liked this much; I cannot bear the 

 drinking })iatchcs of wine at the English tables." 

 (Cuvier perfectly agreed with Audubon in dis- 

 like of the elaborate English dinners. In Mrs. 

 Lee's language,* "the only thing to which M. 

 Cuvier could not reconcile himself in England 

 was the formality and length of our great din- 

 ners, the long sittings after which were always 

 mentioned by him with an expression of ennui, 

 even in his-countenance.") 



After dinner, continues Audubon, "we had 

 coffee, and the company increased rapidly; 

 amongst them all I knew only Captain Parry, 

 M. de Condolleot (?), and M. Lesson, just re- 

 turned from a voyage round the world." 



In fact, after the dinner there was the usual 

 Saturday evening reception at Cuvier's, but 



"Cuvier stuck to" Audubon and Swainson and 

 all "talked ornithology". (Lesson, also a well 

 known ornithologist, ought to have been 

 one of the party.) 



Cuvier, says Audubon, "asked me the price of 

 my work, and I gave him a prospectus." As 

 the evening advanced, "the company filled the 

 room, it grew late," and Audubon and Swainson 

 "left, well satisfied with the introductory step 

 among" les savans franrais." 



Cuvier now knew about Audubon's work and 

 noted, in the preface to the second edition of 

 the Regne Animal, that "the work of M. Audu- 

 bon tipon the Birds of North America, which 

 surpasses all others in magnificence, was un- 

 known to me till after the whole of that part 

 which treats of birds was printed." 



The following Monday (September 8th) the 

 travellers paid their "respects to Baron Cuvier" 

 and an hour afterwards met him at the Acade- 

 mie Royale des Sciences. "The seance was 

 opened by a tedious lecture on the vision of the 

 mole; then Cuvier rose," says Audubon, f "an- 

 nouncing my friend Swainson and me and 

 spoke of my work." 



Swainson put in almost all of his available 

 time in the examination of the birds, and was 

 the recipient of "excessive liberality" from 

 "Cuvier, Geoffroy St. Hilaire, and all those 

 eminent men attached to the museum." "Dr. 

 Isidore Geoffroy, in particular, gave up to [him] 

 his own little study in the museum, in which 

 [he] was permitted to remove every specimen 

 from the gallery" he desired to examine.! Au- 

 dubon says "3'oung Geoffroy * * * gave me 

 a room for Swainson and mj^self to write in and 

 for the inspection of specimens. "| 



Audubon was more catholic in his tastes and 

 attentions than Swainson and his neglect of the 

 stuffed birds aroused the surprise if not the con- 

 tempt of Swainson. "It is singular," says 

 Swainson.^ "how two minds possessing the 

 same taste, can be so diversified as to differ in 

 tofo respecting the very same object. During 

 the w'hole time of Mr. Audubon's residence in 

 Paris, he only visited the ornithological gallery 

 twice, (when I was studying for hours almost 

 daily,) for the purpose of calling upon me; and 

 even then he merely bestowed that sort of pas- 

 sing" glance at the magnificent cases of birds, 

 which a careless observer would do while saun- 

 tering in the room." But, although Swainson 

 was so assiduous in his attendance at the 

 museum, he did not g'ive all the time to it. 



One Wedne-sday afternoon, (September 10th,) 

 an appointment was made by Audubon with 

 "Monsieur L. C. Kiener, bird stuffer to the 

 Prince of Massena (or Essling), who wished 

 me," says Audubon, "to call on the Prince with 

 him at two, the Prince being too ill to leave the 

 house. Mr. and Mrs. Swainson were to go with 

 me to see the collection he had made, of many 

 cui-ious and beautiful things, and when we 

 reached the house we were shown at once to the 

 museum, which surpas.sed in magnificence and 



*Meiiioirs of Baron Cuvier, Harper ed., p. 24. 

 +Svvainson, Taxiderniy,'&c., p. 349, 350. 

 tAuduboii, i, p. 313. i^""<«« 

 gSwainson's raxidermy, &c., p. 117. 



