THOUGHTS IN SOLITUDE. 159 



bj the dread of illness, whicli should quell for 

 ever his aspirations, and destroy all hope of 

 further achievement. The fancied yell of the 

 Indians and their murderous threats would tor- 

 ture him, or visions of loathsome snakes entwin- 

 ing him with fatal embrace, while vultures im- 

 patiently eyed the scene, or dreams would re- 

 enact the sorrowful realities of the past. For 

 actual poverty had more than once compelled 

 him to entertain the idea of throwing away 

 his pencils, destroying his drawings, and be- 

 taking himself at once to some more immediately 

 lucrative engagement. 



Added to these physical trials, were those of 

 a moral influence — the objections, the incredu- 

 lity, the persuasions or the censures of others. 

 These, though unable to deter him from his de- 

 signs — ever warmly cherished — ^had yet the ill 

 result of increasing the actual difficulties of the 

 case. The effect of their perpetual representa- 

 tion, moreover, was naturally to depress and an- 

 noy. 



" At one period," says Audubon, " not a single 

 individual seemed to have the least hope of my 

 success." On delivering his first drawings to 

 the engraver, he had not a single subscriber. 

 Nevertheless, he persevered, and with what suc- 

 cess has been seen. Nor did prosperity persuade 

 him to relax in his endeavours. 



