AUDUBON IN LONDON 403 



knew no other language but his own, and the applica- 

 tion of Latin and Greek for the purpose of systematic 

 nomenclature was a constant source of error." 



At this time Swainson was living in semi-retirement 

 at a farmstead of considerable size, called "Highfield 

 Hall," 14 near Tyttenhanger Green, a small settlement, 

 off the highroad, two miles southeast of the historic 

 town of St. Albans, in Hertfordshire ; though his letters 

 were always dated from "The Green" at Tyttenhanger, 

 his associations were with the more considerable village 

 of London Colney, but a mile to the south, on the road 

 to Barnet. Audubon had brought a letter of intro- 

 duction from Dr. Traill, a valiant champion of Swain- 

 son at Edinburgh, but was unable to go to the country 

 to deliver it. Swainson, however, attended promptly 

 to the review, and on April 11, 1828, sent it to Mr. 

 Loudon, who published it in the May number of his 

 Magazine. 15 



Swainson's review was extremely laudatory, and 

 Audubon reproduced extracts from it in later editions 

 of his "Prospectus." To quote a characteristic para- 

 graph, he said that the naturalist's ornithological papers 



14 Swainson's house has been kindly identified by my friend, Mr. George 

 E. Bullen, to whom I am indebted also for an interesting photograph, 

 taken from an old print. Mrs. Swainson, who died February 12, 1835, 

 was buried in the parish church, with which she was closely identified, 

 at London Colney, and a tablet to her memory is still to be seen there. 

 Swainson probably preferred the historic associations of Tyttenhanger, a 

 name originally applied to the manor and manor house of the Abbot of 

 St. Albans, a famous abbey property acquired before the Conquest, with 

 a history extending over six hundred years, but he did not live there. 

 The oldest resident now on the spot, a man over ninety, told Mr. Bullen 

 that as a boy he often collected butterflies, moths and other specimens 

 of natural history which he took to "Highfield Hall," and was always 

 paid by one of the Swainson children. Since Swainson's time the original 

 house, which was approached by a long walk, has become almost un- 

 recognizable, having received an addition to one side; the grass land which 

 then surrounded it has been converted into beautiful lawns. 



15 See Bibliography, No. 95. 



