<63 



THE OOLOGIST. 



New York City some time during the 

 summer of 1850. As the Naturalist was 

 born, as near as we have been enabled 

 to ascertain the date, some time in May, 

 1780, and died on the 27th of January, 

 1851, this picture must have been ob- 

 tained when he was in the seventieth 

 year of his age, and at a period only a 

 few months prior to his death. With 

 the view of obtaining as full a history 

 of it as possible, we recently placed our- 

 selves in communication with the Rev. 

 Dr. A. Gordon Bakewell of New Orleans, 

 La., one of the most charming of the 

 old school devines of the Episcopal 

 church, who is a son of Thomas Bake- 

 well, and was a favorite cousin of the 

 late John Woodhouse Audubon, the 

 father of the co-author of the present 

 article. 



Dr. Bakewell writes us that Mrs. Gor- 

 don, one of Mrs. J. J. Audubon's sis- 

 ters, just before her death, presented 

 the daguerreotype to Mrs. Grimshaw, 

 and that the former received it direct 

 from the wife of the naturalist. "It 

 was the last picture taken fiom life 

 shortly before Mr. Audubon died, and it 

 certainly is very like him, when I last 

 saw him toward the latter end 'of his 

 earthly journey." 



These quoted words of Doctor Bake- 

 well's complete, in so far a.s facts go, 

 all we have been enabled to gather in 

 regard to the actual history of this por- 

 trait. In placing it here, we not only 

 give ourselves great pleasure, but we 

 do more, for we add still another to the 

 list of the published portraits of that 

 one of this country's celebrated natura- 

 lists whose fame augments _par^ 2^(^issti 

 with the march of time. 



Standing next in value to published 

 Audubonian portraits are published 

 Audubonian letters, and we feel that 

 it hardly requires any apologj' from us, 

 when we say that we know of no more 

 fitting way to conclude this article 

 than by adding to it a hitherto unpub- 

 lished letter of Audubon's, addressed 



to his son John W. Audubon, 4 Wim- 

 pole street, Cavendish Square, London. 

 It will be seen upon perusal that this 

 letter is brimful of interest, both of a 

 personal and an historical nature. It 

 I'eads as follows: — 



"Edinburgh, July 1st,1838, Sunday. 



"My Dearest Friends: — Your joint 

 letter of the 27th, Wednesday, did not 

 reach me until yesterday afternoon, 

 probably because the steamer which 

 brought it did not leave London on 

 that evening on account of the corona- 

 tion etc. Here the festivals were poor 

 beyond description, and although 

 scarcely anything was to be seen, the 

 whole population was on foot the en- 

 tire day, and nearly the whole night, 

 gazing at each other like lost sheep. — 

 No illuminations except at two shops, 

 Mr. Henderson's and another close by 

 him. — The fireworks at the castle con- 

 sisted merely of about jjne hundred 

 rockets, not a gun was fired from the 

 batteries. MacGillivray & I went to 

 see the fireworks at 10 p. m., and soon 

 returned disgusted. — His museum (Col- 

 lege of Surgeons) and the Edinburgh 

 Museum were thrown open gratis, and 

 were thronged to excess. Upwards of 

 20,000 in the first, and about 25,000 in 

 the other; all was however quite order- 

 ly. The day wg,s showery, cloudy and 

 dismal at times, but the evening was 

 clear and fine. Mr. Hill's father died 

 on the morning of the 27th and I have 

 not seen Alex. H. since. Many thanks 

 to Maria for her bunch of letters, and 

 the few lines of her own to me, I hope 

 that everything will go on well with you 

 all. 



"We begin printing tornorroiv 2d of 

 July, 1838 ! ! remember that Mesdames 

 et Messieurs! and I intend to proceed 

 with all possible despatch and care. 

 All the birds in rum will be inspected 

 as far as internal or digestive organs, 

 trachea &c are concerned, and as I am 

 constantly present in the dissecting 

 room, I think I shall know something 



