1832 A. Panizzi; J. J. Audubon 307 



advocate in his native country. Accused of conspiring 

 against the government he fled from Italy in 1822, and was 

 in absence sentenced to death. He came to England and 

 with the assistance of Roscoe and Brougham he eventually 

 this year was appointed assistant-librarian in the British 

 Museum, where he became successively chief Keeper of 

 printed books and Chief Librarian. He retired in 1866, 

 and his great services to the Museum were recognised 

 by his being created a Knight Commander of the Order 

 of the Bath. He lived till 1879, reaching the age of 

 eighty-two. 



John James Audubon, the great American lover and 

 painter of birds, dined on May 5th. The first volume of 

 his " Birds of America " had appeared a few months before, 

 and met with the most enthusiastic praise. The author 

 was received with warm welcome by the scientific societies 

 of this country and the continent. As the successive 

 volumes of this work and of the subsequent " Ornitho- 

 logical Biography " appeared, he was hailed as not only 

 an inimitable artist in the delineation of bird-forms, but 

 a writer of uncommon skill and charm, whose descriptions 

 were as vivid as his drawings. He had been admitted a 

 Fellow of the Royal Society in 1830. 



1832. In 1832 the Anniversary meeting took place on June 

 28th and was attended by twenty-four members, the Duke 

 of Sussex, President, in the chair. The Treasurer, in sub- 

 mitting the account for the twelve months since the last 

 annual General Meeting, stated that the tavern bills had 

 come to 156 us. Gd., 1 and there was a balance due by 

 the Club of 46 6s. It was resolved that the contribution 

 for the ensuing year should be four Pounds, a payment 

 which only once before (in 1818) had been levied. 



1 The sudden reduction of the tavern bills in 1803 to less than half of 

 their amount was soon after followed by a continued rise until in nine years 

 they were as high as they had been before that reduction. After 1811 

 they went up rapidly till in six years they were more than five times what 

 they were in 1803. In 1832 they reached their highest point, which was 

 six times what the cost had been in 1803. Thereafter the amount 

 oscillated, but was seldom below ^100 a year. 



