AUDUBON — THE HUNTER-NATURALIST. 101 



my favorite pursuits was a barrier opposed to the admission 

 of gentler sentiments. Nature, which had turned mj young 

 mind toward the bird and the flower, soon proved her influ- 

 ence upon my heart. Be it enough to say, that the object 

 of my passion has long since blessed me with the name of 

 husband. And now let us return, for who cares to listen to 

 the love-tale of a naturalist, whose feelings may be supposed 

 to be as light as the feathers which he delineates ! 



For a period of nearly twenty years, my life was a succes- 

 sion of vicissitudes. I tried various branches of commerce, 

 but they all proved unprofitable, doubtless because my whole 

 mind was ever filled with my passion for rambling and ad- 

 miring those objects of nature from which alone I received 

 the purest gratification. I had to struggle against the will 

 of all who at that period called themselves my friends. I 

 must here, however, except my wife and children. The re- 

 marks of my other friends irritated me beyond endurance, 

 and, breaking through all bonds, I gave myself entirely up 

 to my pursuits. Any one acquainted with the extraordinary 

 desire which I then felt of seeing and judging for myself, 

 would doubtless have pronounced me callous to every sense 

 of duty, and regardless of every interest. I undertook long 

 and tedious journeys, ransacked the woods, the lakes, the 

 prairies, and the shores of the Atlantic. Years were spent 

 away from my family. Yet, reader, will you believe it, I 

 had no other object in view, than simply to enjoy the sight 

 of nature. Never for a moment did I conceive the hope of 

 becoming in any degree useful to my kind, until I accidentally 

 formed acquaintance with the Prince of Musignano, at Phi- 

 ladelphia, to which place I went, with the view of proceeding 

 eastward along the coast. 



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In April, 1824, he sought for patronage in Philadelphia, 

 and failing there, went to New York, with some better suc- 

 cess ; but weary and depressed, on the whole, he returned to 



