THIRD AMERICAN TOUR 153 



to young Brewer at this time show how eager he was 

 to secure the promised specimens. On October 23 he 

 wrote from Philadelphia: "I hope you will not forget to 

 call on our enlightened statesman D. Webster, and re- 

 mind him of his kind promise to assist you in the pro- 

 i curing of specimens for me. This winter and next 

 [ spring are my only chances, and I beg you to do all you 

 : can for me." He wrote again from Charleston, Janu- 

 ary 1, 1837: "I am sorry that the Hon. D. Webster 

 jhas not attended to his promises, and will write to him; 

 yet I would beg you, being on the spot, to trouble him a 

 good deal." 9 



After returning to New York, Audubon had a vis- 

 ! itor for whom he expressed the greatest admiration, 

 Washington Irving, who had aided him in 1833; he now 

 i received from his hands letters to Martin Van Buren, 

 I the President-elect, and Benjamin F. Butler, who then 

 occupied the post of Attorney-General. Irving called 

 attention in his letter to the national character of Au- 

 dubon 's w r ork, and warmly commended it* to the patron- 

 age of the country at large. On October 8 Audubon 

 wrote MacGillivray from New York that he had ob- 

 i tained twelve new subscribers, two at Salem, four at 

 ! Boston, and six in New York, but a little later, through 

 I the aid of Nicholas Berthoud, in one week's time 

 i eighteen new names were added to his subscription list 

 } in New York City alone. 



I Meanwhile Nuttall's and Townsend's birds had not 



' been forgotten, and on October 15 he started with his 



son for Philadelphia, where he was again welcomed by 



Dr. Richard Harlan. No sooner, however, were efforts 



i renewed to gain permission to study the desired objects 



8 See Thomas M. Brewer (Bibl. No. 79), Harper's New Monthly 

 Magazine, vol. Ixi, p. 666 (1880). 



