220 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
at the age of forty-seven he was called to lay down his 
pen and brush forever; that he produced in this brief 
space a work of great originality and charm, which did 
inestimable service in promoting the cause of natural 
history in both America and England, and which is likely 
to be read and prized for centuries to come, the achieve- 
ment of this man is little short of marvelous. Knowing 
also the disabilities under which he labored, we are more 
than ready to temper our judgment with sympathy, and 
to overlook any faults which his character may have 
displayed. ‘These indeed, we believe, were for the most 
part of a very trifling nature; those who knew Wilson 
best have all testified to his kindness of heart, his liber- 
ality, and his high sense of honor. 
We must now return to the meeting of our two pio- 
neers, which has been the bone of so much acrimonious 
contention. On his long journey to the Middle West 
and South, Wilson reached Louisville on a Saturday 
evening, the seventh of March, 1810, and put up at the 
tavern of the “Indian Queen,” where, as it happened, 
Audubon was then living with his family; after spending 
five days in and about the town, he again set out on foot 
for Frankfort, on the morning of Friday, the twenty- 
third. Audubon has given the following account in the 
“Episode” of “Louisville in Kentucky”: ** 
One fair morning, I was surprised by the sudden entrance 
into our counting-room [at Louisville] of Mr. Alexander Wil- 
son, the celebrated author of the “American Ornithology,” of 
whose existence I had never until that moment been apprised. 
This happened in March, 1810. How well do I remember him, 
as he then walked up to me! His long, rather hooked nose, 
the keenness of his eyes, and his prominent cheek-bones, stamped 
his countenance with a peculiar character. His dress, too, was 
* Ornithological Biography (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p. 437. 
