AUDUBON AND WILSON. 117 



tlie world to ease its conscience of present injustice and 

 neglect of genius, by an internal reservation, that it will pile 

 up posthumous honors mountain high. 



Now it is surely to be apprehended that this genius, though 

 "of so airy and light a quality," has yet something to seek 

 "of the earth, earthy," in common with the rest of men — 

 and that, therefore, the recognizing, with its own proper eyes, 

 the just claims of an original mind, by the country to which 

 it has added lustre, cannot be to it a matter of indifference. 

 Audubon has nothing of glory to ask of us. But this hia 

 memory demands, that we, his countrymen, should guard his 

 honors from even the shadow of infringement. We drove him 

 to the embrace of a foreign land for patronage — but there, 

 amidst all the pomp of courts and the intoxication of sudden 

 success, he was still proudly the American Woodsman ; no- 

 thing could damp that noble pride, and through every page 

 he has written, we can still see it looking out with the same 

 calm, abiding affection. We should not, then, be the last to 

 vindicate such valorous faith. The man of his age, the illus- 

 trious Frenchman, has led the way in defining his supremacy, 

 and yet the American mind, since Professor Wilson pro- 

 nounced his autocratic fiat, that they " were equals," has 

 been timid to say in plain words — No ! our Audubon is regally 

 the head and front of Illustrative Science; the dictum of 

 Christopher to the contrary notwithstanding, he is in this 

 the Ornithologist of the world, and the favorite Wilson must 

 be content to stand below him. 



But hear this same cannie Scot, Christopher North, dis- 

 course of Audubon en dishabille, with the straight-jacket of 

 nationality thrown aside, and verily in his dressing gown and 

 slippers, when it is man to man that speaks as the heart 

 moveth, not Scot to Scot ! Thus, in the Noetes he discourseth, 

 sotto voce. 



We were sitting one night, lately, all alone by ourselves, 

 almost unconsciously eyeing the members, fire without flame, 



