390 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
ing to his young son, John W. Audubon, on the 10th 
of the same month, he charged him to devote two hours 
daily to the preparation of bird skins, and to send him 
not only the skins but live birds and mussel shells, for 
which he would be duly paid. Said the father: 
I would give you 500 dollars per annum, were you able 
to make for me such drawings as I will want. I wish you would 
draw one bird only, on a twig, and send it [to me] to look at, 
as soon as you can after receiving this letter. . . . I should 
like to have a large box filled with branches of the trees, cov- 
ered with mosses &c., such as Mama knows I want; now recol- 
lect, all sorts of Birds, males and females, ugly or handsome. 
Audubon had come to London with the idea of hav- 
ing his work published under the patronage of King 
George IV;; in order to gain a personal interview with 
the Sovereign he had brought a letter to Robert Peel, 
who was then the Home Secretary, but a change in 
the Cabinet had upset his plans and the letter was re- 
turned. He then applied to the American Ambassador, 
Mr. Albert Gallatin, who upon their first meeting ad- 
dressed him in French and showed “the ease and charm 
of manner of a perfect gentleman”; but when the ques- 
tion of an audience with the King was broached, Gal- 
latin laughed at the idea as preposterous. “The king,” 
he declared, “sees nobody; he has the gout, is peevish, 
and spends his time playing whist at a shilling a rubber. 
I had to wait six weeks before I was presented to him 
in my position of ambassador, and then I merely saw 
him six or seven minutes.”” When Audubon then sug- 
gested that the Duke of Northumberland might interest 
himself in his behalf, Gallatin, who disliked the English 
heartily, replied: “I have called hundreds of times on 
like men in England, and have been assured that his 
