88 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
standing had been carefully improved both by observa- 
tion and by self education.” Jean Audubon’s means in 
France had been reduced partly by bad debts, for he 
seems to have been generous in lending money to his 
friends; Madame Audubon found herself greatly ham- 
pered by lack of ready money, although, as her son- 
in-law remarked, her hands were full of notes. 
When Jean Audubon applied for nomination to the 
naval service of the Republic in 1798, we find a descrip- 
tion of his previous life and habits recorded as a part 
of the information required by the Committee of Pub- 
lic Safety. The commune of Nantes at that time gave 
a flattering testimonial to his patriotism, in which he 
was described as an officer of merit, who had acquired 
through long experience at sea an extensive knowledge 
of navigation, who was a man of honor, and devoid of 
any inclination to vice or gambling; his nautical experi- 
ence had been chiefly gained in American waters, the 
voyages of his choice being those to Santo Domingo and 
the United States. 
At the age of forty-eight the elder Audubon thus 
briefly described himself: short in stature, measuring five 
feet, five inches; figure, oval; eyes, blue; nose and mouth, 
large; eyebrows, auburn; hair and beard turned gray. 
Contrary to the naturalist’s expressed belief, there seems 
to have been little or no physical resemblance between 
father and son. At a corresponding age, John James 
Audubon, according partly to his own account, stood 
five feet, ten inches in stockings; his hair was dark 
brown; he had sunken, hazel eyes, flecked with brown, 
and of remarkable brightness; while his clean-cut profile 
showed an aquiline nose. “In temper,” said the son, to 
continue the comparison, “we much resembled each other, 
being warm, irascible, and at times violent, but it was 
