136 LIFE OF AUDUBON. 



they are not cultivated so highly as Mrs. Edward Eoscoe's. This 

 evening Charles Bonaparte came with Lord Clifton and several 

 other gentlemen to examine my drawings. They were all 

 learned ornithologists, but they all said that there were birds 

 here which they had never dreamed of, and Bonaparte offered 

 to name them for me. I was pleased at the suggestion, and 

 with a pencil he wrote down upwards of fifty names, and invited 

 me to publish them at once in manuscript at the Zoological 

 Society. We had charming discussions about birds and their 

 habits. Oh that our knowledge could be arranged into a solid 

 mass ! I am sure that then the best ornithological publication 

 of the birds of my beloved country would be produced. I can- 

 not tell you how it strikes me, when I am at Bonaparte's lodgings, 

 to hear his servant call him ' Your Eoyal Highness.' I think it 

 ridiculous in the extreme, and cannot imagine how good Charles 

 can bear it ; but probably he does bear it because he is Good 

 Charles. 



" July 2. I am so completely out of spirits, that I have several 

 times opened my book, held the pen, and felt anxious to write ; 

 but all in vain. I am too dull, too mournful. 



" I have given the copy of my first number of the Birds to 

 Mr. Children, a proof : it is the only one in existence, for which 

 he paid me the price of all the subscribers, i.e., two guineas, and 

 I may say with safety that the two guineas are the only two I 

 have had on account of that work. I have finished another 

 pictui-e of the Babbits, and am glad of it ; it is all my consola- 

 tion. I wish I were out of London." 



But it does not appear that Audubon's despondency lasted 

 very long. He dispelled it by a sudden rush into the provinces, 

 where he was well received by former friends. From an 

 entry made at Leeds on September 30, it is clear that even in 

 London the sun had begun to shine out again. 



" Nearly three months since I touched one of the sheets of ' 

 my dear book. And I am quite ashamed of it, for I have had 

 several interesting incidents to record, well deserving of relation, 

 even in my poor humble style — a style much resembling my 

 pamtmg in oil. Now, nevertheless, I will recapitulate and note 

 down as quickly as possible the primary ones. 



•'LI removed the publication of my ornithological work 



