A Great Sacrifice. 147 



" II. The engravings are, in every instance, of the 

 exact dimensions of the drawings, which, without any ex 

 ception, represent tlie birds and otiier objects of tlieit 

 natural size. 



" III. Tlie plates are colored in the most careful man- 

 ner from the original drawings. 



" IV. The work appears in numbers, of which five are 

 published annuall}-, each number consisting of five plates. 



" V. The price of each number is two guineas, paya- 

 ble on delivery." 



Probably no other undertaking of Audubon's life 

 illustrates the indomitable character of the man more 

 fully than this prospectus. He was in a strange country, 

 with no friends but those he had made within a few 

 months, and not ready money enough in hand to bring 

 out the first number proposed, and yet he entered confi- 

 dently on this undertaking, which was to cost over a hun- 

 dred thousand dollars, and with no pledge of help, but on 

 the other hand discouragements on all sides, and from his 

 best friends, of the hopelessness of such an undertaking. 



March \(). Under this date we have an amusing en- 

 try. Audubon had been frequently importuned by his 

 friends to cut his hair, which he had for years worn in ring- 

 lets falling to his shoulders. Hence the obituary : — 



EDINBURGH. 



March 19, 1827. 

 Tliis day my Hair was sacrificed, and the will of God usurp- 

 ed by the wishes of Man. 



As the Barber clipped my locks rapidly, it reminded me of 

 the horrible times of the French Revolution, when the same 

 operation was performed upon all the victims murdi^rcd by the 

 Guillotine. 



My heart sank low. 



JOHN J. AUDUBON. 



