AUDUBON AND WILSON. 113 



them in their own wild homes, singing to the sohtude from 

 some chosen spray, or plying, with careless grace, on busy 

 wings, their curious sports and labors. 



Here is the legitimate purpose of works of this character — 

 to fill the mind with such pleasant images as will win the 

 affections forth from the dull centre of mere human sympa- 

 thies, through all the wonders of the outer world, up, with a 

 wise and chastened adoration, to the Power that framed it. 

 Wilson, to a greater degree than any man who had yet 

 appeared, felt himself, and caused others to recognize, this 

 apostleship of the true Naturalist. 



It was an era, a happy era in philosophy, when art had 

 linked its remoter teachings to the hearts of men ; and to 

 Wilson undoubtedly belongs the glory of having fairly pio- 

 neered its ushering. It is impossible to regard the labors of 

 this man, even in a purely scientific light, without astonish- 

 ment ; but when we come to take into consideration all the 

 pitiable afilictions and degrading misery entailed upon him by 

 "caste," in his own country, we are lost in affectionate admi- 

 ration of his indomitable genius, as we see the shrunk veins 

 of the haggard emigrant swelling, when he has touched our 

 shore, with a new life hardy enough to cope with the rude 

 elements by which he found himself surrounded, and carry 

 through triumphantly his remarkable undertaking. 



Spirits with the vigor in them his possessed, ask only the 



vital air of freedom. Difficulties then are nothing. It is no 



wonder, when those trophies which he had wrestled for alone 



with Nature here in her bare and unhoused wilds, and had won 



through trials and poverty, unassisted, had been returned to 



Scotland, that country which drove him forth in rags, and it 



had been offered a share of his glory for its gold, that it should 



have poured out freely the dross upon him in very shame. Nor 



is it surprising, that in the eager reaction of its penitence, it 



should continue to exalt him too highly — claiming for him, to 



the detriment of others, more than his just dues. 



8 



