AUDUBON'S LETTERPRESS 445 



advertisement of Audubon's work, : 'price 25s. in royal 

 octavo, cloth, Ornithological Biography. . . ." If the 

 desire of these various editors were to cripple the work 

 of the American naturalist, their efforts were certainly 

 vain, for he was able to make his way against all com- 

 petitors. Brown's work was a failure, so few copies 

 having been distributed that it is doubtful if more than 

 one ever came to this country, and only one is known 

 to be in possession of any large library in England. 



Audubon's initial volume of the Biography was well 

 received and drew forth immediate and unstinted praise 

 from many sources. He was anxious that MacGillivray 

 should contribute some account of it to the London 

 Quarterly Review,, then under the editorial manage- 

 ment of John Gibson Lockhart, but his suggestion was 

 coldly received and drew forth the following declara- 

 tion of independence from his able, if as yet undistin- 

 guished, coadjutor: 8 



With respect to the review, I can only say that if Mr. 

 Lockhart is so doubtful as to my powers, he may doubt as 

 long as he lists. I shall not submit any essay of mine to his 

 judgment. If you had informed me that he or the conductor 

 of my other review would print a notice of your works, I should 

 have agreed to write one with pleasure, but under existing cir- 

 cumstances I shall not, it being repugnant to my feelings and 

 contrary to my practice and principles to sue for favor with 

 any man. I have already written three reviews of your books 

 which have been printed, and when I am applied to for a 

 fourth I shall write it too, with "an elegance of style, a power 

 of expression, and knowledge of the subject" equal to those 

 usually displayed by the editor of the Quarterly. 



8 See Ruthven Deane (Bibl. No. 209), The Auk, vol. xviii (1901). 

 The extract is from a letter dated "Edinburgh, 22 Warriston Crescent 7th 

 May, 1831." 



