132 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



Loyen du Puigaudeau, who was not, however, as the 

 naturalist has stated, either "the son of a fallen noble- 

 man" or his father's "secretary." Du Puigaudeau came 

 from a family of merchants in easy circumstances, and 

 for a long time lived the life of a country gentleman 

 of leisure- for a period at Port Launay, below Coueron, 

 and later, after Lieutenant Audubon's death, at his own 

 villa, "Les Tourterelles," in that commune, not far from 

 "La Gerbetiere." His father, though of a rich family, 

 was not a "gentleman," that is, a member of the aris- 

 tocracy, as the term was then used in France. Du 

 Puigaudeau was without any settled business, but his 

 revenues, upon which he depended, failed not long after 

 the death of his father-in-law. He and young Audubon 

 appear to have been good friends for many years, and 

 after the latter's return to America they corresponded 

 to as late as 1820, when for some reason their relations 

 were broken. 



In the spring of 1806 Lieutenant Audubon arranged 

 a business partnership between his son and Ferdinand 

 Rozier, to endure for nine years, and also secured pass- 

 ports for both to enable them to emigrate immediately 

 to the United States. To the same hand can also be 

 traced their "Articles of Association," which were 

 drawn with the utmost care and designed to govern 

 them in all their future business relations in the New 

 World: these were signed by "Jean Audubon," and 

 "Ferdinand Rozier," at Nantes, on March 23, 1806. 

 Moreover, eight days before they embarked, a second 

 and more elaborate letter of attorney was issued to 



the marriage, aforesaid, on the side of the groom, M. Andre Loyen du 

 Puigaudeau, his brother, and M. Honore Francois Guiraud, his brother- 

 in-law; by the side of the bride, her father, and M. Jean Audubon, her 

 brother, [and these have] undersigned, together with the bridegroom." 

 Audubon's signature reads "J. L. J. Audubon." 



