352 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



Louis P. Caire to General Lafayette 



NEW ORLEANS, 15 May, 1826. 

 MY DEAR GENERAL, 



Monsieur Audubon, after having spent twenty-two years in 

 the United States, is returning to Europe in order to publish a 

 work to which he has devoted his entire life. This distinguished 

 ornithologist, who bears letters from the most eminent citizens 

 of the Union, will find, I trust, the encouragement to which 

 his talents and his perseverance so fully entitle him, and how- 

 ever flattering may be the recommendations which his friends 

 are eager to give him, these are yet, my dear General, beneath 

 his merits. I have presumed to assure him of your patron- 

 age, and in introducing him to you I am convinced that it will 

 be agreeable to you both. 



Adieu my General: give my kind regards to all your fam- 

 ily, and permit me to embrace you as I love you. 



Louis P. CAIRE. 



Before Audubon left New Orleans, an old acquain- 

 tance, Mr. Vincent Nolte 3 of that city, had also fur- 

 nished him with credentials, in which it was stated that 

 the naturalist was carrying with him four hundred orig- 

 inal drawings, and that his object was "to find a pur- 

 chaser or a publisher." "He has a crowd of letters," 

 continued Nolte, "from Mr. Clay, De Witt Clinton, and 

 others for England, which will do much for him; but 

 your introduction to Mr. Roscoe and others will do 

 more." This judgment was sound, but the most valu- 

 able letter which Audubon carried proved to be that of 

 Nolte himself addressed to Richard Rathbone, Esq., of 

 Liverpool, for it brought him into immediate friendly 

 relations with an influential family of merchants which 

 also included William Rathbone, a brother, as well as 

 their father, William Rathbone, Senior, whose interest 



8 For an account of Audubon's meeting with Nolte see Chapter XVIII. 



