OF AUDUBON. 



17 



and ever will be, the highest enjoyment for 

 which I have been fitted. 



" Yet think not, reader, that the enthusiasm 

 which I felt for my favourite pursuits was a 

 barrier opposed to the admission of gentler 

 sentiments. Nature, which had turned my 

 young mind toward the bird and the flower. 

 Boon proved her influence upon my heart. Be 

 it enough to say, that the object of my passion 

 has long since blessed me with the name of 

 husband. And now let us return, for who cares 

 to listen to the love-tale of a naturalist, whose 

 feelings may be supposed to be as light as the 

 feathers which he delineates ! 



" For a period of nearly twenty years, my life 

 was a succession of vicissitudes. I tried various 

 branches of commerce, but they all proved un- 

 profitable, doubtless because my whole mind 

 was ever filled with my passion for rambling, 

 and admiring those objects of Nature from 

 which alone I received the purest gratification. 

 I had to struggle against the will of all who at 

 that period called themselves my friends. I 

 must here, however, except my wife and chil- 

 dren. The remarks of my other friends irritated 

 me beyond endurance, and, breaking through 

 all bonds, I gave myself entirely up to my 

 pursuits. Any one unacquainted with the 

 extraordinary desire which I then felt of seeing 

 B 2 



