144 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



possession it was already venerable with age, and it 

 was completely restored for him by an architect named 

 Lavigne. 4 In an inventory drawn up shortly after 

 Madame Audubon's death in October, 1821, the prop- 

 erty of "La Gerbetiere" is described by reproducing the 

 account given in an early deed bearing date of Novem- 

 ber 11, 1769, which reads as follows: 



A house called La Gerbetiere, situated near the port of 

 Launay, consisting of a sitting room, drawing room, kitchen, 

 upper chamber . . . garret, and other quarters serving as a 

 laundry, stable at the back, with pigeon loft above, court, par- 

 terre, vegetable garden to one side, an orangery with orange 

 trees, in the middle of the house, the whole in front of a close 

 surrounded by high walls except on the side of the setting sun, 

 with land belonging to the heirs of M. de la Haye Moricaud, 

 held mutually, 5 the whole bounded on all other sides by high- 

 ways. Notice: The aforesaid house and parterre [stand] in 

 an empty field, which serves as a fair-ground, and is partly 

 planted with young trees in serial rows ; held in common with 

 the Marquis de la Musse, with another empty field containing 

 about two journals of land. . . . 6 



"La Gerbetiere," never more than an unpretentious 

 country house with an attractive garden, was idealized 

 in the fervent imagination of Audubon when in after 

 life he drew upon the memories of his youth in France ; 

 for it had meant to him escape from the city, which he 

 detested, to the fields and river which he loved. Yet, 

 in spite of the abuse which a long line of poor tenantry 

 inevitably entails, with intervals of total neglect last- 



4 But not related to M. L. Lavigne, to whom I am indebted for ex- 

 tracts from the deed, a translation of which is given below, as well as 

 for many other references. 



5 That is, the landlord to receive one-half the produce. 



fl A "journal" of land being as much as a man could cultivate in a 

 day's labor. 



