6 AUDUBON THE NATUKALIST. 



the artist strives to embody the ideahsm of his 

 loving thought, — ^thus reproducing the beautiful 

 objects of the material world mirrored by his 

 imagination. 



To appease this desire the father of Audubon 

 presented him with a book of ornithological il- 

 lustrations. Received with avidity, it only in- 

 creased the desire to produce a work of the same 

 character ; but the sorest mortification attended 

 this effort. His production, Audubon, tells us, 

 had no more resemblance to nature than mangled 

 remains on the battle-field to the forms of living 

 men. But with the unwearied assiduity of true 

 genius, he persevered in these attempts. " To 

 have been torn from the study," he says, " would 

 have been as death to him." Hundreds of such 

 sketches were by his request the materials for 

 bonfires on the anniversaries of his birth — seem- 

 ingly the sacrificial offerings of his young fancy 

 at the altar of that artistic truth he would so 

 zealously and devoutly serve. Patiently he 

 continued in his endeavours ; various plans of 

 study were successively adopted and as surely 

 abandoned. Early in life he was taken to 

 France for the purpose of education. There he 

 had David for his master, who gave him as mo- 

 dels gigantic human features and colossal animal 

 representations, the curious mythological devices 

 of some ancient sculpture. But no classical bias 



