OF AUDUBON. 



27 



1828, he scruples not to say, that he is proud 

 of his " Birds of America, and that it will be 

 prized when his head is laid in the dust;" and 

 adds, The eleventh number is now engraved, 

 and all the Scotch together could not stop the 

 work from going on ; nay, I would clean the 

 streets of London town rather than it should 

 suffer a day." 



" Four years have passed. One volume of my 

 Illustrations, containing one hundred plates, is 

 before the public. You may easily see, good- 

 natured reader, that to Britain I owe nearly 

 all my success. She has furnished the artists 

 through whom my labours were to be presented 

 to the world ; she has granted me the highest 

 patronage and honours ; in a word, she has thus 

 far supported the prosecution of my Illustra- 

 tions. To Britain, therefore, I shall ever be 

 grateful." 



Since the above sketch was written, additional 

 plates have been published, in which there are 

 various new species represented. 

 I This great work, when it shall have been 

 completed, will be immeasurably the grandest 

 which has ever appeared in the world on any 

 branch of natural history. 



As a delineator of birds, Audubon never had 

 an equal ; his subjects breathe all the freshness, 

 character, and vigour of living Nature. His 



