7 8 Life of Auduhon. 



duced me to submit. In half an hour he returned with 

 an officer, and with an air more becoming asked me into 

 his private room. Yet I could see in his expression that 

 feeling of selfish confidence which always impairs in some 

 degree the worth of the greatest man who has it The 

 perspiration ran down my face as I showed him my 

 drawings and laid them on the floor. An officer who was 

 with the artist, looking at the drawings, said with an oath 

 that they were handsome. Vanderlyn made a like re- 

 mark, and I felt comforted. Although he failed in paint 

 ing women himself, he spoke disparagingly of my own 

 portraits ; said they were too hard and too strongly 

 drawn. He sat down and wrote his note while I was 

 thinking of my journey to the Pacific, and I cared not a 

 picayune for his objections to my portraits so that my 

 prospects of going with the expedition were furthered. 

 Vanderlyn gave me a very complimentary note, in which 

 he said that he never had seen anything superior to my 

 drawings in any country, and for which kindness I was 

 very thankful. His friend, the officer, followed me to the 

 door, asked the price of my portraits, and very courte- 

 ously asked me to paint his likeness." 



Audubon's fortunes in New Orleans varied exceed- 

 ingly. From the sorest penury and deepest distress he 

 was suddenly raised by the happy spirit he possessed and 

 the untiring energy of his character. One day he was 

 going about seeking for a patron to obtain a few dollars 

 by drawing a portrait ; the next he was dining with Gov- 

 ernor Robertson of Louisiana, who gave him a letter of 

 recommendation to President Monroe in connection with 

 the expedition to Mexico. He had determined to go to 

 Shipping Port, Kentucky, but his departure was hindered 

 by an engagement from a few pupils. He writes in his 

 diary : 



" June 1 6. Left New Orleans in the steamer Coluna- 



