388 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



miserable until I hear from him. ... I am extremely 

 anxious to close my business for 1827, and cannot do so 

 without receiving your a/c, and the money due by my 

 subscribers." 



The summer of 1827 was probably Audubon's most 

 critical period in England. His work was then in the 

 air and ruin of all his hopes seemed inevitable, but with 

 palette and brush he again extricated himself from 

 financial difficulties. At this time, he said, "I painted 

 all day, and sold my work during the dusky hours of 

 the evening as I walked through the Strand and other 

 streets where the Jews reigned; popping in and out of 

 Jew-shops or any others, and never refusing the offer 

 made me for the pictures I carried fresh from the 

 easel." He sold seven copies of the "Entrapped Otter" 

 in London, Manchester, and Liverpool, and from seven 

 to ten copies of some of his other favorite subjects; once 

 when he inadvertently called at a shop where he had 

 just disposed of a picture, the dealer promptly bought 

 the duplicate and at the same price that he had paid 

 for the first. 



In the autumn of this year, when it was found that 

 his agents were neglecting their business, Audubon 

 determined to make a sortie to collect his dues and 

 further augment his subscription list. He left London 

 on September 16, and visited in succession Manchester, 

 Leeds, York, ]\ T ewcastle-on-Tyne, Alnwick Castle and 

 Belford, to see the Selbys, finally reaching Edinburgh 

 on the 22nd of October. 



Audubon had set his mark at obtaining 200 sub- 

 scribers by May, 1828, but he fell far short of realizing 

 it. On August 9 he wrote: "This day seventy sets 

 have been distributed ; yet the number of my subscribers 

 has not increased; on the contrary, I have lost some." 



