AUDUBON. l6l 



To secure a publisher for this immense book he 

 must go to Europe. He landed in England with only 

 one sovereign in his pocket, and without friends or ac- 

 quaintance. Within two years, in 1828, he had won 

 for his work the hearty interest of the kings of England 

 and France, and had made friends of such great men 

 as Sir Walter Scott and Baron Cuvier (CiiVea) the 

 great naturalist of France. 



By making pictures of animals and selling them, as 

 he said, "at a price scarcely more than the wages of 

 a common laborer," he paid his ordinary expenses. 

 All this time he was inducing men of wealth to sub- 

 scribe for the book he was trying to publish, at one 

 thousand dollars a copy. Of these subscribers he ob- 

 tained a hundred and seventy, and completed his great 

 undertaking within five years. 



It may be interesting to know what sort of a boy 

 grew into such a man. John James Audubon (which 

 was his full name) was born in 1780 in Louisiana, and 

 died in New York in 1851. He was not poor as were 

 some of the boys who became great men. His father 

 was a Frenchman, who had gained wealth in St. Do- 

 mingo and in Louisiana ; and his life began under or- 

 ange-trees, among flowers, and in hearing of the wild 

 mocking-bird's song. 



His youth was spent at his father's country home 

 in France, where, by a kind step-mother, he was in- 

 dulged in all that a boy could wish. He pursued the 

 ordinary school branches, and by the famous artist 

 David was taught to draw and to paint. He learned 

 to play the flute and the violin, and became an ac- 

 complished dancer. What a singular preparation for 



L. C. xx. 



