AUDUBON IN LONDON 411 
but, we were told, too busy to be seen. Being determined to 
look at the great man, we waited, knocked again, and with a 
certain degree of firmness sent in our names. The messenger 
returned, bowed, and led the way up stairs, where in a minute 
Monsieur the Baron, like an excellent good man, came to us; 
he had heard of my friend Swainson and greeted him as he 
deserves to be greeted; he was polite and kind to me, though 
my name had never made its way to his ears. I looked at him, 
and here follows the result: age about sixty-five ; size corpulent, 
five feet five, English measure; head large; face wrinkled and 
brownish; eyes gray, brilliant and sparkling; nose aquiline, 
large and red; mouth large, with good lips; teeth few, blunted 
by age, excepting one on the lower jaw, measuring nearly 
three-quarters of an inch square.?° 
They were immediately invited to dine on the follow- 
ing Saturday at six o’clock, and later saw Cuvier at his 
home, at his Museum, and at the Academy of Sciences, 
over which he presided. 
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire pleased Audubon greatly 
and proved to him by his conversation that he under- 
stood perfectly the difference between the French and 
the English. The Duke of Orleans, who then occupied 
the Palais Royal, seemed to him the finest physical type 
of man he had ever met. “He had my book brought 
up,” said the naturalist, ‘and helped me untie the strings 
and arrange the table, and began by saying that he felt 
great pleasure in subscribing to the work of an Ameri- 
can, for he had been most kindly received in the United 
States and should never forget it.” When the plate of 
the Baltimore Orioles was held up to view, the Duke 
exclaimed: ‘This surpasses all I have seen, and I am 
not astonished now at the eulogiums of M. Redouté.” 
He conversed in both English and French, had much 
20 Maria R. Audubon, op. cit., vol. i, p. 306. 
