30 AUDUBON TH# NATURALIST. 
only, that their origin should be mentioned, 
The proposal was, however, declined. Wilson 
departed, leaving Audubon disagreeably per- 
plexed as to what reminiscence of this singular 
occurrence would be retained by him. To’his 
regret he was enlightened, afterwards, on read- 
ing the following paragraph in “‘ Wilson’s Or- 
nithology.” 
“March 23d, 1810.—I bade adieu to Louis 
viile, to which place I had four letters of recom 
mendation, and was taught to expect much of 
everything there; but veither received one act 
of civility from those to whom I was recom- 
mended, one subscriber, nor one new bird; 
though I delivered my letters, ransacked the 
woods repeatedly, and visited all the characters 
likely to subscribe. Science or literature has 
not one friend in this place.” 
This bitter record of disappointment,—cer- 
tainly, in some measure justified by Audubon, 
—then, apparently, under the happiest auspices, 
for his own success, was felt by him as a lasting 
alloy in his pleasurable associations with Louis- 
ville. After a residence there of two years, Au- 
dubon’s next dwelling was at Henderson, on the 
Ohio, whither he repaired in 1811. Remark: 
able fertility of soil characterizes the Kentuck: 
ian State. The beauty of its borders, extend: 
ing along the margin of the most magnificent of 
