DEBUT AS A NATURALIST 339 
Audubon to Thomas Sully 
My reception in New York has surpassed my hopes. I 
have been most kindly [received ], and had I seen Col. Trumball, 
I would have found him the gentleman you represented, but his 
absence at Saratoga Springs has deprived me of that pleas- 
ure. 
New York is now an immense city. Strangers are received 
here with less reserve generally than at Philadelphia. I found 
the Academy well supplied with paintings, and sculptures of the 
Greek masters. The steam boats of the Sweet Ohio, with all 
their swiftness of motion and beautiful forms, do not interest 
the eye like those that are here tossing over the foaming bil- 
lows with the grace of the wild swan. Were I a painter—ah 
could I, like » carry in my mind’s eye all my mind feels 
when looking at the Battery at the moon’s tender reflections on 
the farthest sails, forcing the vessel they move with the very 
wind’s heart,—express as he does the quick moving tar hauling 
in a reef at the yard’s end,—and make on the canvas a noble 
commander speak, as you have done; then, my dear friend, I 
could show you New York’s harbor and all its beauties. . . . 
I cannot part with that Fair City [Philadelphia] this soon; 
I cannot help thanking Fairman, Peale, Neagle, Le Sueur, and 
many others besides Mc Murty for their attentions to me. 
Should you see honest Quaker Haines, beg him to believe me 
his friend; should you see Mr. Ord, tell him I never was his 
enemy. Think of me some time, and accept the truest best 
wishes of 
Joun J. AUDUBON. 
I leave for Boston tomorrow. Should you please to write 
to me, direct to Care of Messrs. Anshutz & Co, Pittsburgh, 
where I shall be in about 40 days. 
The very next day Audubon changed his plans and 
sailed up the Hudson to Albany, where he hoped to meet 
De Witt Clinton, then at the height of his fame, who in 
the course of his great undertakings had found time to 
