LIEUT. AUDUBON, REVOLUTIONIST 85 



of service, when, suffering from a pulmonary affection, 

 he applied to his Government for a pension, he received 

 the paltry annuity of 600 francs or $120. 



With this modest pension and a property yielding 

 an income not above $2,000 a year, 15 Lieutenant Audu- 

 bon retired to his quiet villa of "La Gerbetiere," at Coue- 

 ron, where he could indulge his taste for country life and 

 for raising his favorite fruits and flowers ; he is said to 

 have kept some live stock, but could have been a farmer 

 only on a modest scale. Meanwhile he continued to 

 maintain a house, or at least rooms, at Nantes, whither 

 he went periodically to conduct his correspondence and 

 business affairs. The following letter of attorney, issued 

 by Lieutenant Audubon a year after he had retired from 

 the navy, shows that he still had interests in Santo Do- 

 mingo, and was endeavoring to collect rents, long over- 

 due, from houses and stores that belonged either to 

 himself or to his clients. Whether through the dishon- 

 esty of agents or from what other cause, this property 

 which the elder Audubon held in his own right seems 

 gradually to have melted away: 



The 19th pluviose, in the eleventh year of the Republic, 

 one and indivisible [January 7, 1802], before the public no- 

 taries of the department of Loire inferieure, who reside in 

 Nantes and Doulon, the undersigned have seen present the 



which he rose to the rank of captain of the first grade in 1774. He 

 served in the French navy (service a Vetat) 8 years, 2 months and 17 

 days, ranking successively as sailor, ensign-commander, and lieutenant- 

 commander (lieutenant de vaisseau); 8 months and 22 days of this period 

 (1768-1769) were in intervals of peace, and 7 years, 5 months and 25 days 

 (1793-1801), in times of war. Any conflict which may seem to occur in 

 titles must be attributed to this double service. 



"This property was evidently encumbered to a considerable extent, 

 for he repeatedly filed with the Department letters for the removal of 

 restrictions placed upon it (lettres pour obtenir la main levee). I can- 

 not give the dates of these letters, but believe that they were drawn in 

 1801 or shortly after. 



