Audubon. 



461 



not be imputed to all, we have here given a true history of a 

 conspiracy, got up to utterly break down and ruin the reputa- 

 tion of one of the most remarkable men America ever produced : 

 a man, whom the Royal Society of London, nearly all the dis- 

 tinguished societies of Great Britain, and many others in France, 

 have subsequently lavished their highest honours upon. We 

 have the satisfaction to add, that previous to his return to his 

 native country, in September last, atonement was made to him 

 for this persecution. The American Philosophical Society, at a 

 full meeting of its most respectable members, disregarding the 

 calumnies yet assiduously circulated by a few, elected him an 

 associate, and subscribed for a copy of his magnificent work ; 

 and the society from whence he had formerly been rejected, paid 

 him the same tribute of respect. 



This Journal has always been prompt to repel unfriendly im- 

 putations directed against Audubon ; his claims to public confi- 

 dence were vindicated in our September number.* There is a 

 communication from Col. Abert, of the U. S. Topographical en- 

 gineers, where the most conclusive evidence is given from officers 

 of high rank in the U. S. service, that the rattlesnake has those 

 habits of climbing, and has been seen by others, in the situation 

 . depicted by Audubon.f These gentlemen have been able to 

 offer their testimony of his fidelity to nature, because they too 

 have had rare opportunities of observing the habits of animals, 

 in the distant and unfrequented territories of our country. 



The remainder of the introductory address, from which we 

 have made our quotations, is devoted to an account of the cor- 

 dial manner with which he was received in Liverpool and Edin- 

 burgh, of the grateful attentions paid to him by some of their 

 most distinguished inhabitants, of which a list is given. A^o 

 sooner was his great merit perceived, than he was spontaneously 

 and gratuitously enrolled a member of their first societies. Au- 

 dubon was now about to enter upon the fruition of those antici- 

 pations which so long had borne him up ; and encouraged from 

 every quarter, he opened an exhibition of his drawings. We ex- 

 tract the following from B]ackwood,J a periodical which has 

 been eloquent in the commendation of Audubon. 



" Soon after his arrival in Edinburgh, where he soon found many friends, 



*See Month. Am. Jour, of Geology, Sept. 1831, p. 138. t Do. Nov. 1831, p. 221. 

 \ See Blackwood's Edinburgh Mag. July 1831, p. 14. 



s 



