352. AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
Louis P. Caire to General Lafayette 
New Orteans, 15 May, 1826. 
My pear GENERAL, 
Monsieur Audubon, after having spent twenty-two years in 
the United States, is returning to Europe in order to publish a 
work to which he has devoted his entire life. This distinguished 
ornithologist, who bears letters from the most eminent citizens 
of the Union, will find, I trust, the encouragement to which 
his talents and his perseverance so fully entitle him, and how- 
ever flattering may be the recommendations which his friends 
are eager to give him, these are yet, my dear General, beneath 
his merits. I have presumed to assure him of your patron- 
age, and in introducing him to you I am convinced that it will 
be agreeable to you both. 
Adieu my General: give my kind regards to all your fam- 
ily, and permit me to embrace you as I love you. 
Louis P. Carre. 
Before Audubon left New Orleans, an old acquain- 
tance, Mr. Vincent Nolte * of that city, had also fur- 
nished him with credentials, in which it was stated that 
the naturalist was carrying with him four hundred orig- 
inal drawings, and that his object was “to find a pur- 
chaser or a publisher.” “He has a crowd of letters,” 
continued Nolte, “from Mr. Clay, De Witt Clinton, and 
others for England, which will do much for him; but 
your introduction to Mr. Roscoe and others will do 
more.” ‘This judgment was sound, but the most valu- 
able letter which Audubon carried proved to be that of 
Nolte himself addressed to Richard Rathbone, Esq., of 
Liverpool, for it brought him into immediate friendly 
relations with an influential family of merchants which 
also included William Rathbone, a brother, as well as 
their father, William Rathbone, Senior, whose interest 
*For an account of Audubon’s meeting with Nolte see Chapter XVIII. 
