1893.] NEW YORK ACADEMY DF SCIENCES. 45 



Here he led an ideal existence from his view of life. He 

 had ample means, was gay and fond of dress and all his time 

 was occupied in hunting, fishing and drawing, and he was with- 

 out any care. His own description of himself, given at this 

 time, illustrates the frank, open, simple character of the man, 

 one which he was never to lose throughout all his career so full 

 of vicissitudes, discouragements and trials. He says: "I had 

 no vices, but was thoughtless, pensive, loving ; fond of shoot- 

 ing, fishing and riding, and had a passion for raising all sorts of 

 fowls, which sources of interest and amusement occupied all my 

 time. It was one of my fancies to be ridiculousl}^ fond of dress, 

 to hunt in black satin breeches, wear pumps when shooting, and 

 dress in the finest ruffled shirts I could obtain in France." 

 What a contrast to the backwoodsman of the years to come, 

 wandering over little known portions of the land, clad in plain- 

 est garments, often all the worse for wear, totally unmindful of 

 his personal appearance, intent only upon the discovery of some 

 new species, or the capture of one already known, but not yet 

 added to his collection. His mode of life at this time was as 

 abstemious as his dress was extravagant. He ate no meat, 

 lived chiefly on fruits, vegetables and fish, and never drank a 

 glass of si)irits or wine until his wedding day. To this he at- 

 tributed his continual good health, endurance and iron constitu- 

 tion. When, in after years, he looked back upon this ha|)py 

 period of his youth, he exclaims : " And why, have I often 

 thought, should I not have kept to this delicious mode of liv- 

 ing." But it was not to be; he had his special part in life to 

 play. He was to be no idle dreamer, no bernffled dandy, frit- 

 ting away his days in fruitless pastimes, but even as he was 

 penning the description of himself at Mill Grove, the day was 

 dawning that should usher to him a new existence, one of happi- 

 ness, indeed, 3'et full of trials, suftering, discouragments, of 

 long-continued struggles against adversity, often of penury, 

 and of manifold disappointments, to be finished at last with a 

 complete success, an immortal name and an everlasting peace. 



And the chief cause for all this change in his life was nigh at 

 hand. It is the old, old story. Within sight of his house, at 

 Flatland Ford, lived William Blake well and his family. He 

 was an English gentleman, a descendant of the Peverills, ren- 

 dered famous by Sir Walter Scott in his novel of "Peveril of 

 the Peak." Descending from the Norman Count Basquelle, the 

 name had been corrupted into Baskiel, and then Blakewell. 

 Audubon raised in the Napoleonic atmosphere which made 

 everything English abhorrent to a Frenchman was so uncivil as 

 to delay for a long time to return the visit his neighl)or had 



