1893. ] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 45 
Here he led an ideal existence from his view of life. He 
had ample means, was gay and fond of dress and all his time 
was occupied in hunting, fishing and drawing, and he was with- 
out any care. His own description of himself, given at this 
time, illustrates the frank, open, simple character of the man, 
one which he was never to lose throughout all his career so full 
of vicissitudes, discouragements and trials. He says: “[ had 
no vices, but was thoughtless, pensive, loving; fond of shoot- 
ing, fishing and riding, and had a passion for raising all sorts of 
fowls, which sources of interest and amusement occupied all my 
time. It was one of my fancies to be ridiculously fond of dress, 
to hunt in black satin breeches, wear pumps when shooting, and 
dress in the finest ruffled shirts I could obtain in France.” 
What a contrast to the backwoodsman of the years to come, 
wandering over little known portions of the land, clad in plain- 
est garments, often all the worse for wear, totally unmindful of 
his personal appearance, intent only upon the discovery of some 
new species, or the capture of one already known, but not yet 
added to his collection. His mode of life at this time was as 
abstemious as his dress was extravagant. He ate no meat, 
lived chiefly on fruits, vegetables and fish, and never drank a 
glass of spirits or wine until his wedding day. To this he at- 
tributed his continual good health, endurance and iron constitu- 
tion. When, in after years, he looked back upon this happy 
period of his youth, he exclaims: ‘“ And why, have I often 
thought, should I not have kept to this delicious mode of liv- 
ing.” But it was not to be; he had his special part in life to 
play. He was to be no idle dreamer, no beruffled dandy, frit- 
ting away his days in fruitless pastimes, but even as he was 
penning the description of himself at Mill Grove, the day was 
dawning that should usher to him a new existence, one of happi- 
ness, indeed, yet full of trials, suffering, discouragments, of 
long-continued struggles against adversity, often of penury, 
and of manifold disappointments, to be finished at last with a 
complete success, an immortal name and an everlasting peace. 
And the chief cause for all this change in his life was nigh at 
hand. It is the old, old story. Within sight of his house, at 
Flatland Ford, lived William Blakewell and his family. He 
was an English gentleman, a descendant of the Peverills, ren- 
dered famous by Sir Walter Scott in his novel of “ Peveril of 
the Peak.” Descending from the Norman Count Basquelle, the 
name had been corrupted into Baskiel, and then Blakewell. 
Audubon raised in the Napoleonic atmosphere which made 
everything English abhorrent to a Frenchman was so uncivil as 
to delay for a long time to return the visit his neighbor had 
