Early Naturalists 31 



Living a lonely life, embittered by disappointment, with the 

 memory of a faithless wife behind him, and the ever elusive 

 will-o'-the-wisp of ungratified ambition before him, it is no 

 wonder that his disposition became soured and that he some- 

 times indulged in caustic criticism of his fellows, winning him 

 their enmity and embittering his own life all the more. 



Despite his financial failures Audubon seems never to have 

 lost heart in his ambition to publish his studies and drawings 

 of the birds of America. And in this ambition he was en- 

 couraged and materially aided by his ever loyal wife. In the 

 furtherance of this project he visited Philadelphia in 1824, 

 where he met many men prominent in scientific and artistic 

 circles. Among them were Lucien Bonaparte, Le Sueur, the 

 ichthyologist, Murtrie, the conchologist, Sully, the artist and 

 many others. Of his meeting with Titian Peale, the artist- 

 naturalist, he speaks in the following bitter words : 



"Showed all my drawings to Titian Peel, who in return 

 refused to let me see a new bird in his possession. This little 

 incident fills me with grief at the narrow spirit of humanity, 

 and makes me wish for the solitude of the woods. ' ' 5 



Fighting his way through repeated failure and discourage- 

 ment, and with the aid of his ever faithful wife, Audubon 

 was finally enabled to reach England and to obtain the funds 

 necessary to the publication of his monumental work, the 

 " Birds of America." 



Publication of a book in those days was a different matter 

 from what it is at present. There were no publishers willing 

 to incur the financial risk of printing and illustrating so costly 

 a work as the ' ' Birds of America. ' ' For the author then, with- 

 out independent means, it was necessary to secure enough 

 subscriptions in advance to defray the costs of publication. 

 He, of necessity, became his own book agent. To this end, as 

 well as to supervise the preparation of the elaborate colored 

 engravings illustrating his work, Audubon made several trips 

 abroad, visiting both England and France, where his merit 

 as naturalist and artist gained him ready entrance into the 

 highest circles of art and learning. 



Audubon was accompanied on his visit to France by his 

 friend Swainson, one of the prominent ornithologists of the 

 time, and later one of the authors of the "Fauna boreali- 

 Americana," descriptive of the natural history of northern 

 North America, studied by Richardson, naturalist to Sir John 

 Franklin's exploring parties. Swainson 's reputation indeed 

 was greater than Audubon 's at this time, as he was known in 

 France, where the latter, prior to his visit, had not been 

 heard of. 



5 Locus Citatus. 



