388 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
miserable until I hear from him. . . . I am extremely 
anxious to close my business for 1827, and cannot do so 
without receiving your a/c, and the money due by my 
subscribers.” 
The summer of 1827 was probably Audubon’s most 
critical period in England. His work was then in the 
air and ruin of all his hopes seemed inevitable, but with 
palette and brush he again extricated himself from 
financial difficulties. At this time, he said, “I painted 
all day, and sold my work during the dusky hours of 
the evening as I walked through the Strand and other 
streets where the Jews reigned; popping in and out of 
Jew-shops or any others, and never refusing the offer 
made me for the pictures I carried fresh from the 
easel.” He sold seven copies of the “Entrapped Otter” 
in London, Manchester, and Liverpool, and from seven 
to ten copies of some of his other favorite subjects; once 
when he inadvertently called at a shop where he had 
just disposed of a picture, the dealer promptly bought 
the duplicate and at the same price that he had paid 
for the first. 
In the autumn of this year, when it was found that 
his agents were neglecting their business, Audubon 
determined to make a sortie to collect his dues and 
further augment his subscription list. He left London 
on September 16, and visited in succession Manchester, 
Leeds, York, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Alnwick Castle and 
Belford, to see the Selbys, finally reaching Edinburgh 
on the 22nd of October. 
Audubon had set his mark at obtaining 200 sub- 
scribers by May, 1828, but he fell far short of realizing 
it. On August 9 he wrote: “This day seventy sets 
have been distributed; yet the number of my subscribers 
has not increased; on the contrary, I have lost some.” 
