322 



AUDUBON 



a venerable old soldier, and entered into conversation with 

 him. Soldier during more than thirty years, he had much 

 to relate. The Moscow campaign was spoken of, and I 

 heard from the lips of this veteran the sufferings to which 

 Napoleon's armies had been exposed. He had been taken 

 prisoner, sent to the interior for two years, fed on musty 

 bread by the Cossacks, who forced them to march all day. 

 He had lost his toes and one ear by the frost, and sighed, 

 as he said, " And to lose the campaign after all this ! " I 

 offered him a franc, and to my surprise he refused it, sayini^ 

 he had his pension, and was well fed. The garden was 

 now crowded, children were scrambling for horse-chestnuts, 

 which were beginning to fall, ladies playing battledore 

 and shuttlecock, venders of fruit and lemonade were call- 

 ing their wares, and I was interested and amused by all. 

 Now to Baron Cuvier again. I found him sitting in his 

 arm-chair; a gentleman was translating the dedication of 

 Linn6 (Linn.-Eus) to him, as he was anxious that the Latin 

 should not be misconstrued ; he often looked in some 

 book or other, and I dare say often entirely forgot Parker, 

 who notwithstanding has laid in a good likeness. The 

 Baron wishes me to be at the Institute to-morrow at half- 

 past one. 



September 22. I was at the Institute at half-past one — 

 no Baron there. I sat opposite the clock and counted 

 minutes one after another; the clock ticked on as if I did 

 not exist; I began the counting of the numerous volumes 

 around me, and as my eyes reached the centre of the hall 

 they rested on the statue of Voltaire ; he too had his share 

 of troubles. Savants entered one after another; many 

 bowed to me, and passed to their seats. My thoughts 

 journeyed to America ; I passed from the Missouri to the 

 Roanoke, to the Hudson, to the Great Lakes — then 

 floated down the gentle Ohio, and met the swift Mississippi 

 which would carry me to thee. The clock vibrated in my 

 ears, it struck two, and I saw again that I was in an immense 



