Visits M, Gerard. 



179 



come, brother in arts ! " I liked this much, and felt grati* 

 fied to have broken the ice so easily, and my perspira- 

 tion subsided. 



"Gerard was all curiosity to see my drawings, and 

 old Redoute, who was also present, came to me and 

 spoke so highly of them before they were opened, that I 

 feared Gerard would be disappointed. However, the 

 book was opened accidentally at the plate of the parrots, 

 and Gerard, taking it up without speaking, looked at it 

 with an eye as critical as my own for several minutes, put 

 it down, and took up the mocking-birds, and then offer- 

 ing me his hand, said, * Mr. Audubon, you are the king 

 of ornithological painters. We are all children in France 

 or Europe. Who would have expected such things from 

 the woods of America ! ' I received compliments on all 

 sides, and Gerard talked of nothing but my work, and 

 asked me to give him some prospectuses to send to Italy. 

 He also repeated what Baron Cuvier had said in the 

 morning, and hoped that the Minister would order a num- 

 ber of copies for the government. I closed the book, and 

 sauntered around the room, admiring the superb prints, 

 mostly taken from his own paintings. The ladies were 

 all engaged at cards, and money did not appear to be 

 scarce in this part of Paris. Mrs. Gerard is a small, fat- 

 tish woman, to whom I made a bow, and saw but for a mo- 

 ment. The ladies were dressed very finely, quite in a new 

 fashion to me, pointed corsets before,, with some hanging 

 trimmings, and very full robes of rich and differently-col- 

 ored satins and other materials. 



^^ October 20. Nothing to do, and fatigued with look- 

 ing at Paris. Four subscriptions in seven weeks is very 



slow work The stock-pigeon, or cushat, roosts 



in the trees of the garden of the Tuileries in considerable 

 numbers. They arrive about sunset, settle at first on the 

 highest trees and driest naked branches, then gradually 



