382 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
remark that he was too dull and mournful to write a 
line, and it was not opened again for nearly three months. 
This gap in Audubon’s record can now be filled in 
reference to some important particulars, for in the in- 
terval he made his greatest discovery in England, in 
Robert Havell, Junior, then a young and unknown 
artist of thirty-four, who through eleven years of the 
closest association with his new patron was to become 
one of the greatest engravers in aquatint the world has 
ever seen. Until recently the intimate story of Audu- 
bon’s relation to the Havells has been much obscured.* 
The reference in the journal record of June 19, just 
given, was undoubtedly to Robert Havell, Senior, who 
for many years was associated with his father, Daniel 
Havell, the first of five generations of artists of that 
name, in the engraving and publishing business, but 
who at this time was established independently at 79 
Newman Street, London; he also conducted a shop 
called the “Zodlogical Gallery,” at which were sold en- 
gravings, books, artists’ materials, naturalists’ supplies, 
and specimens of natural history of every sort. His 
three sons, Robert, George, and Henry Augustus, all 
became artists, but the eldest, who bore his father’s 
name, was educated for a learned profession. Contrary 
to his father’s injunctions and advice, Robert, who was 
bent on becoming an artist, abruptly left his home in 
1825, determined to shift for himself. He began with 
an extensive sketching tour on the River Wye, in Mon- 
mouthshire, and produced numerous paintings which, 
*In the account which follows, as well as in numerous instances in 
Chapter XXXII, I am most indebted to George Alfred Williams, who 
in “Robert Havell, Junior, Engraver of Audubon’s The Birds of America,” 
(Bibl. No. 232) (Print-Collectors Quarterly, vol. vi, no. 3, pp. 225-259, 
Boston, 1916), has given the only satisfactory account of the Havell family 
and the best analysis of the work of the great engraver. 
