xiv INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 



not exceeding three years had elapsed, I had my portfolio filled 

 again. 



America being my country, and the principal pleasures of 

 my life having been obtained there, I prepared to leave it with 

 deep sorrow, after in vain trying to publish my Illustrations in 

 the United States. In Philadelphia, Wilson's principal en- 

 graver, amongst others, gave it as his opinion to my friends, that 

 my drawings could never be engraved. In New York, other 

 difficidties presented themselves, which determined me to carry 

 my collections to Em^ope. 



As I approached the coast of England, and for the first 

 time beheld her fertile shores, the despondency of my spirits 

 became very great. I knew not an individual in the country ; 

 and, although 1 was the bearer of letters from American friends, 

 and statesmen of great eminence, my situation appeared preca- 

 rious in the extreme. I imagined that every individual whom 

 I was about to meet, might be possessed of talents superior to 

 those of any on our side of the Atlantic ! Indeed, as I for the 

 first time walked on the streets of Liverpool, my heart nearly 

 failed me, for not a glance of sympathy did I meet in my wan- 

 derings, for two days. To the woods I could not betake myself, 

 for there were none near. 



But how soon did all around me assume a different aspect ! 

 How fresh is the recollection of the change ! The very first 

 letter which I tendered procured me a world of friends. The 

 Rathbones, the Roscoes, the Tkaills, the Chorleys, 

 the Mellies, and others, took me by the hand ; and so kind 

 and beneficent, nay, so generously kind, have they all been to- 

 wards me, that I can never cancel the obligation. My draw- 

 ings were publicly exhibited, and publicly praised. Joy swelled 



