XXXVI 
MEMOIR OF 
more true greatness in the affectionate exertions which 
you have made for their subsistence and support, than the 
bloody catalogue of heroes can boast of. Your own heart 
will speak peace and satisfaction to you, to the last moment 
of your life, for every anxiety you have felt on their account.” 
The temporary depression in which these difficulties 
involved him was but the precursor to a period of 
energetic and triumphant activity, — as the hour imme- 
diately before the dawn is the chillest and the darkest 
of all that own the sway of night. As he proceeded in 
his studies and his attempts at drawing, his knowledge 
and his love of Ornithology increased ; and at length he 
resolved to devote himself to it entirely, and to form a 
collection, at whatever hazard, as he himself stated, “ of 
all the birds in that part of North America.” In a letter to 
Mr Bartram, he says, “ I sometimes smile to think, that 
while others are immersed in deep schemes of speculation 
and aggrandizement, in building towns and purchasing 
plantations, I am entranced in contemplation over the 
plumage of a lark, or gazing, like a despairing lover, on 
the lineaments of an owl. While others are hoarding 
up their bags of money, without the power of enjoying 
it, I am collecting, without injuring my conscience, or 
wounding my peace of mind, those beautiful specimens of 
Nature’s works that are for ever pleasing. I have had 
live crows, hawks, and owls ; opossums, squirrels, snakes, 
lizards, &c. so that my room has sometimes reminded me 
of Noah’s ark ; but Noah had a wife in one corner of it, 
and, in this particular, our parallel does not altogether 
tally. I receive every subject of natural history that is 
brought to me ; and, though they do not march into my 
ark from all quarters, as they did into that of our great 
ancestor, yet I find means, by the distribution of a few 
fivepenny bits, to make them find the way fast enough. 
A boy, not long ago, brought me a large basketful of 
crows. I expect his next load will be bull frogs, if I 
