CHAPTER XXV

AUDUBON'S LETTERPRESS AND ITS RIVALS

Settlement in London—Starts on canvassing tour with his wife—Change of plans—In Edinburgh—Discovery of MacGillivray—His hand in the _Ornithological Biography_—Rival editions of Wilson and Bonaparte—Brown's extraordinary atlas—Reception of the _Biography_—Joseph Bartholomew Kidd and the Ornithological Gallery—In London again.

On the 1st of April, 1830, Audubon and his wife sailed from New York in the packet ship _Pacific_, bound for Liverpool, where they landed after a voyage of twenty-five days. Upon returning to London the naturalist found that upon the 18th of the preceding March he had been elected to membership in the Royal Society, an honor for which he felt indebted to Lord Stanley and his friend Children, of the British Museum; after paying the entrance fee of £50, he took his seat in that body on the 6th of May. The painting of pictures was at once resumed to meet his heavy expenses, but towards the end of July he started with Mrs. Audubon on a canvassing tour, in the course of which his plans suddenly were changed so that London did not see him again for nearly a year.[381] On this journey they touched at Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, York, Hull, Scarborough, Whitby, New Castle, and Belford, to visit the Selbys, and on the 13th of October reached Edinburgh, where they were soon comfortably settled in the naturalist's old lodging place, the house of Mrs. Dickey, Number 26, George Street.

Audubon was now ready to begin the text of his _Birds of America_, to be called _Ornithological Biography_, which is often referred to as his "Biography of Birds." This work, which was eventually extended to five large volumes of over three thousand pages, was published at Edinburgh from 1831 to 1839. He had made crude beginnings with this in view as early as 1821, and on October 16, 1830, he wrote: "I know that I am not a scholar ..." but, "with the assistance of my old journals and memorandum-books, which were written on the spot, I can at least put down plain truths, which may be useful, and perhaps interesting, so I shall set to at once. I cannot, however, give scientific descriptions, and here must have assistance." To supply this need, as we have seen already, he had earlier applied to William Swainson, but the negotiations with that naturalist were soon broken off, and led to a sharp and acrid discussion upon the authorship of the work itself.[382]

By a rare stroke of genius or good fortune, Audubon chose for his assistant a young Scotch naturalist, William MacGillivray, who had been introduced to him by another naturalist, James Wilson, soon after he reached the Scottish capital. MacGillivray agreed "to revise and correct" his manuscript at the rate of two guineas per sheet of sixteen pages, and in the latter part of October, 1830, they set to work. We shall soon have occasion to speak more fully of his debt to this estimable Scotchman,[383] and will only add here that a better trained or more competent helper than MacGillivray could hardly have been found in Great Britain or elsewhere.

No sooner had Audubon begun to write than it was learned that "no less than three editions of 'Wilson's Ornithology' were about to be published, one by Jameson, one by Sir W. Jardine, and another by a Mr. Brown." The outlook could not be considered encouraging, but this intelligence only nerved him to greater effort, and he was determined to push his own publication with such unremitting vigor as to anticipate them all. "Since I have been in England," he wrote in his journal, "I have studied the character of Englishmen as carefully as I have studied the birds in America, and I know full well that in England novelty is always in demand, and that if a thing is well known it will not receive much support." Audubon worked continuously at his _Biography_, rising before the dawn and writing all day, while the able worker at his side carried his efforts far into the night, and in three months the first volume was ready for the printer; Mrs. Audubon meanwhile copied their entire manuscript to be sent to the United States in order to secure the American copyright. When this work was offered to the publishers at Edinburgh, however, not one of them, said the naturalist, would offer a shilling for it, but this did not deter him from publishing it at once and at his own expense.[384] On March 13, 1831, he wrote: "The printing will be completed in a few days, and I have sent copies of the sheets to Dr. Harlan, and Mr. McMurtie, at Philadelphia, and also one hundred pounds sterling to Messrs. T. Walker & Sons, to be paid to Dr. Harlan to secure the copyright, and have the book published there."

The following friendly letter from one of Wilson's editors belongs to this period:

_Sir William Jardine to Audubon_

JARDINE HALL _3 d Decr. 1830_—

MY DEAR SIR,

I only learnt a few days since that you were to winter in Edinburgh, and perhaps since you are not Hurried for time in Trovelly [?] will come out to spend a day or two with me—If you can come out before the 10 th. when I shall have the pleasure of shewing you some Blackgame Shooting—The season expires on the Tenth of the Month partridges have bred so ill that there is scarsely any in the whole country, and pheasants have been so lately introduced that they are yet rather scarce—In a wet day you may have your easel & brushes I should wish much to hear your account of Wilson during the times you hunted with him—and also some account of the New Species you figure in the american Ornithology—

I am happy to learn you intend _figuring_ the learned Men of America as accompanyment to your work particularly the ornithologists, do you know the painter of the portrait of Wilson—I have three portraits of him in the House, and also a profile taken by the machine I should like to have your opinion of them one of the portraits was painted from an original that went to America—

I shall expect to hear you are coming soon—Mr Lizars will tell you about coaches—&c

With best regards believe me

Sincerely yours

WM JARDINE

[Addressed] J. AUDUBON Esqr Care of W. H. LIZARS Esqr 3 James Square Edinburgh.

Audubon was not outstripped by his Edinburgh rivals, who to all appearances had planned to cover the field of American ornithology so thoroughly as to render his work a drug on the market, if not to make it superfluous. Whether this were really true or not, there is no doubt that Audubon's activity furnished the stimulus to the sudden appreciation of the work of his predecessor that was manifested in Edinburgh at this very moment of time. It will be interesting to see just what these rival enterprises were. Professor Jameson, who had been of great service to Audubon at the beginning of his undertaking, prepared a pocket edition of Wilson's and Bonaparte's _Ornithology_, with miniature plates which were issued separately, and the two works, which were intended to go together, were published in 1831.[385] Sir William Jardine brought out an edition of Wilson's and Bonaparte's work, in three large volumes, with plates engraved by W. H. Lizars after the originals and carefully colored by hand.[386] This was thoroughly legitimate enterprise, but the climax was reached when Captain Thomas Brown began to publish an "Audubonized edition" of Wilson's and Bonaparte's plates, or an attempt to present their plates of American birds in the Audubonian manner, to the extent at least of showing the characteristic flowers, trees, and insects of the American continent, a plan to which some of Audubon's earlier critics in Philadelphia had offered strenuous objection. Brown's large atlas of plates[387] was issued in parts, from 1831 to 1835, and was intended as a further companion to Jameson's text for all who could afford that expensive form of illustration. By a curious coincidence Audubon's _Ornithological Biography_ (vol. i), Jameson's edition of Wilson and Bonaparte (vol. i), and Brown's _Illustrations_ (pt. i), were all noticed on the same page of the _London Literary Gazette_ for April 9, 1831. "This day is published," so reads the advertisement of Audubon's work, "price 25s. in royal octavo, cloth, Ornithological Biography...." If the desire of these various editors were to cripple the work of the American naturalist, their efforts were certainly vain, for he was able to make his way against all competitors. Brown's work was a failure, so few copies having been distributed that it is doubtful if more than one ever came to this country, and only one is known to be in possession of any large library in England.

Audubon's initial volume of the _Biography_ was well received and drew forth immediate and unstinted praise from many sources. He was anxious that MacGillivray should contribute some account of it to the London _Quarterly Review_, then under the editorial management of John Gibson Lockhart, but his suggestion was coldly received and drew forth the following declaration of independence from his able, if as yet undistinguished, coadjutor:[388]

With respect to the review, I can only say that if Mr. Lockhart is so doubtful as to my powers, he may doubt as long as he lists. I shall not submit any essay of mine to his judgment. If you had informed me that he or the conductor of my other review would print a notice of your works, I should have agreed to write one with pleasure, but under existing circumstances I shall not, it being repugnant to my feelings and contrary to my practice and principles to sue for favor with any man. I have already written three reviews of your books which have been printed, and when I am applied to for a fourth I shall write it too, with "an elegance of style, a power of expression, and knowledge of the subject" equal to those usually displayed by the editor of the Quarterly.

Some of the criticism, whether friendly or hostile, which this work eventually evoked will be considered in a later chapter.

Shortly after his arrival in London, Audubon received a call from Joseph Bartholomew Kidd, a young artist whom he had met at Edinburgh the previous March, and was attracted so much by his "youth, simplicity and cleverness" that he again invited him to paint in his rooms. On the 31st of March, 1831, an agreement was made with Kidd[389] to copy some of his drawings in oils and put in appropriate backgrounds. "It was our intention," said Audubon, "to send them to the exhibition for sale, and to divide the amount between us. He painted eight, and then I proposed, if he would paint the one hundred engravings which comprise my first volume of the Birds of America, I would pay him one hundred pounds." In 1832 Captain Thomas Brown gave this notice of the undertaking in the _Caledonian Mercury_:

About a year ago Audubon conceived the grand idea of a Natural History Gallery of Paintings, and entered into an agreement with Mr. Kidd to copy all his drawings of the same size, and in oil, leaving to the taste of that excellent artist to add such backgrounds as might give them a more pictorial effect. In the execution of such of these as Mr. Kidd has finished, he has not only preserved all the vivacious character of the originals, but he has greatly heightened their beauty, by the general tone and appropriate feeling which he has preserved and carried throughout his pictures.

Kidd worked intermittently on some such scheme for about three years, and produced numerous pictures on canvas or mill-board. He was thus engaged in 1833 when he wrote to ask for an advance of from twelve to fourteen pounds on account of an accident that had befallen him on the 16th of May of that year. Kidd said in his letter that while he was attending a sale of Lord Eldin's pictures, the floor of the building suddenly gave way with a crash and precipitated the whole company, together with the furniture, into a room below; that he had sustained many bruises himself, not to speak of a dislocated arm, but what with blisters, cupping, nurses and remedies of all sorts, he was then slowly mending. Another of their projects was to publish Kidd's copies of Audubon's drawings as individual pieces, and a notice of this appeared in _Blackwood's Magazine_ for 1831. John Wilson, in reviewing Audubon's work in the magazine for that year said: "it is expected that there will be completed by Audubon, Kidd, and others,—Four Hundred Subjects. Audubon purposes opening, on his return [from America], an Ornithological Gallery, of which may the proceeds prove a moderate fortune!" All such plans, however, seem to have been delayed or frustrated, and a misunderstanding with Kidd brought them suddenly to a close in 1833. Audubon's explicit directions under this head were given in a letter to his son Victor, written at Charleston on Christmas Day of that year.[390]

When his letterpress was finished, Audubon left Edinburgh with Mrs. Audubon on April 15, 1831. Newcastle, York, Leeds, and Manchester were again visited, and a pause of several days was made at Liverpool before proceeding to London, when, as the naturalist recorded, they "traveled on that extraordinary road, called the railway, at the rate of 24 miles an hour." In May[391] they visited Paris, Audubon no doubt wishing to collect the money due from his agent there, as well as to introduce his wife to the unrivaled attractions of the great city. Upon returning to London in July he had the pleasure of again meeting his _fidus Achates_, Edward Harris,[392] of Moorestown, New Jersey, and immediately began to put his affairs in order for a long period of absence.

While Audubon was in Paris, the following letter[393] was written by his staunch friend and supporter in Congress, Edward Everett, who, as has been seen, fully appreciated the national character of his great undertakings. The effort of this able advocate to give _The Birds of America_ free passage to their native land, however, do not appear to have been successful until two years later, as a letter to be quoted in due course clearly indicates.

_Edward Everett to Audubon_

CHARLESTOWN, MASS., _May 19th, 1831_.

MY DEAR SIR

I duly received your favor of the 1st. of Nov. accompanied with some copies of the Prospectus, and a few days since your letter of the 5th. March reached me. I owe you an apology for being so tardy in my reply to the former letter. It reached me at Washington, while I was confined with a severe illness, with which, since Oct. last, I have till lately been much afflicted. I was, most of the session, in such a state of health, as to be kept at my lodgings, and when in my place, in the House of Representatives, little able to attend to business. As soon as I went abroad, after the receipt of your letter, I consulted some of the most influential members of Congress, as to the probability of being able to pass a bill for the free introduction of your work. Last winters session was the short session, terminating by the Constitution on the 3d. of March. At this session, it is always very difficult to pass any bills, originating during the session. The time is regularly taken up by bills, prepared the previous winter. In addition to this circumstance, more than half of the last session was taken up, by an impeachment before the Senate. A procedure, which suspended during its continuance, the legislative business of the two Houses, and left no time for scarce anything, beyond the annual appropriation bills for the support of the government. Under these circumstances, the gentlemen, whom I consulted, were of opinion with me that it was impossible, for want of time, to pass a bill in your favor, and that it was therefor better not to attempt it, at the late session, but to reserve it for next winter, when it can be brought up seasonably, and with good hope of success. I shall take great pleasure to seize the first moment, at the opening of the next session, to bring the subject before Congress.

The portions of your work, which arrived at Washington before I left it, were publicly exhibited in the library, and attracted great attention and unqualified admiration. The same is true of the copy received by the Boston Athenaeum. The plates were specially exhibited in the great hall of the Athenaeum, to the entire satisfaction and delight of those who saw them.

The copy-right law authorizes any citizen of the U. States to take out a copy-right of his work, on depositing a _printed copy_ of the _title page_ in the office of the District Court. I infer from your letter of the 5th. of March, that you had sent copies of the printed sheets of your work to Drs. Harlan and M. Mertrie [McMurtie] of Philadelphia with a view of having the copy-right.

I have distributed a part of your prospectuses, and shall do the same with the rest, in the manner that may seem most likely to promote your interest. I regret to say, that I have not yet been able to add another, to the list of your subscribers.

You mention, in each of your letters, the little picture you were so kind, as to propose sending me. This alone leads me to say, that whenever it comes to hand, it will be most welcome: but that, engaged as you are in laboring in the cause of science and of America, you must not feel obliged to consume one hour of your precious time at the sacrifice of those higher objects.

I am happy to be able to say to you, that my health, though not wholly restored, is greatly improved, and that if you will continue to favor me with your commands, I will prove myself, hereafter, a more punctual correspondent.

I look forward with sincere pleasure, to the prospect of meeting you again, on this side of the Atlantic, and with my respectful compliments to Mrs. Audubon, I beg leave, dear sir, to tender you the assurance of my high respects, and with it my most friendly salutations.

EDWARD EVERETT.

P.S. Since the foregoing was written, I have received your favor of the 23d. of April. I beg leave particularly to thank you for your kindness in reference to the picture. I shall prize it, not merely on account of its scientific value and beauty as a work of art, (both of which I feel assured it will be found to possess) but as a token of your friendly regard. It will give me great pleasure to furnish you any letters in my power, for your adventurous south western tour. These I shall have the pleasure of handing you, when we meet this side the water.

You were elected in November last a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, on the nomination which I had the honor to submit to that body. Owing to a change in the secretaryship a delay arose in preparing your diploma, which will however be forwarded in a few days.

Upon balancing his accounts with _The Birds of America_ at about this time, Audubon thought it was truly remarkable that $40,000 should have passed through his hands for the completion of the first volume.

Who would believe that once in London I had only a sovereign left in my pocket, and did not know to whom to apply for another, when at the verge of failure; above all, that I extricated myself from all my difficulties, not by borrowing money, but by rising at four o'clock in the morning, working hard all day, and disposing of my works at a price which a common labourer would have thought little more than sufficient remuneration for his work? To give you an idea of my actual difficulties during the publication of my first volume, it will be sufficient to say, that in the four years required to bring that volume before the world, no less than fifty of my subscribers, representing the sum of fifty-six thousand dollars, abandoned me! And whenever a few withdrew I was forced to leave London, and go to the provinces, to obtain others to supply their places, in order to enable me to raise the money to meet the expenses of engraving, coloring, paper, printing ...; and that with all my constant exertions, fatigues, and vexations, I find myself now having but one hundred and thirty standing names on my list.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Samuel Johnson, _The Rambler_, No. 60.

[2] _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. iv, p. 222.

[3] Elliott Coues, _Key to North American Birds_, 4th ed., p. xxi (Boston, 1890).

[4] Audubon, in Audubon County, Iowa, in Beeker County, Minnesota, and in Wise County, Texas, as well as Audubon, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in which his old farm, "Mill Grove," is situated. Audubon Avenue is the first of the subterranean passages which lead from the entrance of Mammoth Cave, and is noted for its swarms of bats. Audubon Park, New York City, between the Hudson River and Broadway and extending from 156th, to 160th Streets, embraces a part of "Minnie's Land," the naturalist's old Hudson River estate, but is a realty designation and is now almost entirely covered with buildings (see Chapter XXXVI).

[5] The Audubon Monument Committee of the New York Academy of Sciences was appointed October 3, 1887, and made its final report in 1893, when this beautiful memorial was formally dedicated. Subscriptions from all parts of the United States amounted to $10,525.21. The monument is a Runic cross in white marble, ornamented with American birds and mammals which Audubon has depicted, and surmounts a die bearing a portrait of the naturalist, modeled from Cruikshank's miniature, with suitable inscriptions, the whole being supported on a base of granite; the total height is nearly 26 feet, and the weight 2 tons. It was presented to the Corporation of Trinity Parish by Professor Thomas Eggleston, and received by Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix. The cemetery has since been cut in two by the extension of Broadway; the monument is in the northerly section, close to the parish house of the Chapel of the Intercession.

The monument at New Orleans, mentioned below, was erected under the auspices of the Audubon Association, at a cost of $10,000, most of which was secured through the efforts of Mrs. J. L. Bradford, $1,500 having been contributed by residents of the Crescent City. The figure is in bronze, and stands on a high pedestal of Georgia granite.

The beautiful bust of Audubon at the American Museum of Natural History is by William Couper, of Newark, N. J.

[6] As will later appear, this was in reality the 120th anniversary.

[7] The first Audubon Society, devoted to the interests of bird protection, was organized by Dr. George Bird Grinnell, editor of _Forest and Stream_, in 1886, and 16,000 members were enrolled during the first year; Dr. Grinnell was also the father of the _Audubonian Magazine_ (see Bibliography, No. 190), which made its first appearance in January, 1887; by the middle of that year the membership in the new society had increased to 38,000, but with the disappearance of the _Magazine_ in 1889 the movement languished and came to a speedy end. In 1896 a fresh start was taken by the inauguration of State societies in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and the movement gathered greater force through the inauguration in 1899 of the admirably conducted magazine, _Bird-Lore_, as its official organ. The State societies were federated in 1902, and the National Committee then created gave place in 1905 to the National Association. See Gilbert Trafton, _Bird Friends_, for an excellent summary of the work of the Audubon Societies, and the "Twelfth Annual Report of the National Association of Audubon Societies," _Bird-Lore_, vol. xviii (1916).

[8] In this year Charles Lanman, writer, and at a later time librarian of the Library of Congress, wrote to Victor Audubon as follows: "Are not you and your family willing _now_ to let me write a book about your illustrious father? I feel confident that I could get up something very interesting and which would not only help the big work, but make money. I could have it brought out in handsome style, and should like to have well engraved a portrait and some half dozen views in Kentucky, Louisiana, and on the Hudson. Write me what you think about it." Lanman's letter is dated "Georgetown, D. C., Oct. 8, 1856"; on November 1 Victor Audubon replied, declining the proposal.

[9] Messrs. C. S. Francis & Company, of 554 Broadway, New York.

[10] The publishers in this instance do not appear to have been better informed, for the text of the _Quadrupeds_, from which they quote, was written by John Bachman, and the first volume of it was issued in London in 1847; see Bibliography, No. 6.

[11] Rev. Dr. Adams was rector of this parish for twenty-five years, from 1863 to his death in February, 1888; he was the author of three volumes on religious subjects and various smaller tracts; from 1855 to 1863 he had charge of a church in Baltimore, Maryland, and while there published an anonymous pamphlet entitled "Slavery by a Marylander; Its Institution and Origin; Its Status Under the Law and Under the Gospel" (8 pp. 8vo. Baltimore, 1860).

[12] Buchanan said that the manuscript submitted to him was inordinately long and needed careful revision; he added that "while he could not fail to express his admiration for the affectionate spirit and intelligent sympathy with which the friendly editor discharged his task, he was bound to say that his literary experience was limited." After copying a passage from one of Audubon's journals, this editor had the unfortunate habit of drawing his pen through the original; in this way hundreds of pages of Audubon's admirable "copper-plate" were irretrievably defaced.

[13] Robert Buchanan, _The Life of Audubon_ (Bibl. No. 72), p. vi.

[14] See Harriet Jay, _Robert Buchanan: Some Account of His Life, His Life's Work, and His Literary Friendships_ (London, 1903). Robert Williams Buchanan was born at Caverswell, Lancashire, August 18, 1841, and died in London, June 10, 1901.

[15] For similar spelling of the name by John James Audubon, see Appendix I, Document No. 12.

[16] For notice of these records of Jean Audubon and his family, see the Preface, and for the most important documents, Appendix I.

[17] Pierre Audubon's service in the merchant marine of France is undoubtedly recorded in the archives of the Department of Marine in Paris, but all researches in that direction were suddenly halted by the war.

[18] Jean Audubon had a brother Claude, and on February 27, 1791, he wrote to him, asking for 4,000 francs, which he needed for the purchase of a boat. It was probably this brother who lived at Bayonne, and left three daughters, Anne, Dominica, and Catherine Françoise, who married Jean Louis Lissabé, a pilot (see Vol. I, p. 263). If this inference be correct, and the sum referred to was demanded in payment of a debt, it may explain a statement of the naturalist that his father and his uncle were not on speaking terms.

Another brother is said to have been an active politician at Nantes, La Rochelle and Paris from 1771 to 1796, when he dropped out of sight for a number of years. When heard of again he was living at La Rochelle in affluence and piety. This was apparently the Audubon to whom the naturalist referred in certain of his journals and private letters as one who, possessing the secret of his birth and early life, had done both him and his father an irreparable injury (see Vol. I, p. 270).

A sister, Marie Rosa Audubon, was married in 1794 to Pierre de Vaugeon, a lawyer at Nantes; their only son, Louis Lejeune de Vaugeon, was living at Nantes as late as 1822, when he deeded his former home to Henri Boutard. (The substance of this and the preceding paragraph is based partly upon data furnished by Miss Maria R. Audubon.)

Jean Audubon gave his daughter, Rosa, the name of her aunt, but in later life seems to have broken off all relations with his brothers. Upon his death his will was immediately attacked by Mme. Lejeune de Vaugeon, of Nantes, and by the three nieces from Bayonne (see Chapter XVII). The naturalist does not give the name of the aunt who, as he said, was killed during the Revolution at Nantes, but I have found no reference to any other.

[19] This was recalled by the naturalist on March 5, 1827, when he wrote: "As a lad I had a great aversion to anything English or Scotch, and I remember when travelling with my father to Rochefort in January, 1800, I mentioned this to him.... How well I remember his reply.... 'Thy blood will cool in time, and thou wilt be surprised to see how gradually prejudices are obliterated, and friendships acquired, towards those that we at one time held in contempt. Thou hast not been in England; I have, and it is a fine country.'" (See Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and His Journals_ (Bibl. No. 86), vol. i, p. 216).

[20] In 1789 over 7,000,000 pounds of cotton and 758,628 pounds of indigo were exported from the French side of the island, while further products of that year, including smaller amounts of cocoa, molasses, rum, hides, dye-woods, and tortoise shell, swelled the grand total of exports to 205,000,000 livres or francs. Bryan Edwards, however, whose deductions were based on official returns, placed the average value of all exports from French Santo Domingo for the years 1787, 1788, and 1789, at 171,544,000 livres in Hispaniola currency, or £4,765,129 sterling; this would be equivalent to about $23,158,426, and imply a purchase value of the French livre or franc of about 13½ cents in American money.

The number of plantations of every kind in the French colony was estimated by Edwards in 1790, at the outbreak of the Revolution, at 8,536; there were over 800 sugar plantations, over 3,000 coffee estates, to mention two such resources. If to these items we add nearly half a million slaves, the total valuation of the movable and fixed property of the French planters and merchants of this period would reach 1,557,870,000 francs. In 1788, 98 slave ships entered the six principal ports on the French side, and landed 29,506 negroes; Les Cayes received 19 of these ships, which delivered at that port 4,590 blacks. These slaves were sold for 61,936,190 livres, or at the rate of 2,008.37 livres each; according to Edwards this was equivalent to £60 sterling, or to about $291.60 in American money, at the rate of 14½ cents to the livre or franc. See particularly Francis Alexander Stanilaus, Baron de Wimpffen, _A Voyage to Santo Domingo in the Years 1788, 1789, and 1790_, translated by J. Wright (London, 1817); and also Bryan Edwards, _An Historical Survey of the French Colony in the Island of San Domingo_ (London, 1797).

[21] As signed by herself, but variously spelled "Moinet," or "Moynette" in family documents of the period. On August 28, four days after their marriage, they drew up and signed a mutual contract regarding the disposition of their property in case children should be born to them.

[22] The destruction of _Le Comte d'Artois_ is noticed in a document bearing date of January 19, 1782; the name of the town only is given, but it is probable that it refers to the United States.

[23] For repeated reference to this unsettled claim, see his letter of 1805 to Francis Dacosta (Chapter VIII), where the name is written "Formont."

The bill of sale of _Le Comte d'Artois_ was drawn on February 21, 1779, when Jean Audubon appeared "before the notaries of the king in the seneschal's court of Saint Louis," and was described as "resident at Les Cayes, opposite the Isle à Vaches." The document, which in my copy is incomplete, reads in part as follows:

"The present M. Jean Audubon, captain-commander of the ship _Le Comte d'Artois_, of Nantes, armed for war and now laden with merchandise, anchored in this roadstead of Les Cayes, dispatched, and at the point of departure for France; armed by the Messrs. Coirond Brothers, merchants at the said city of Nantes, acting in his own name as one interested in the armament and cargo of the vessel, as well as in his capacity as captain; [he] acting as much also for the said furnishers of arms as for the others interested in the said armaments, and the merchandise, which will be hereafter mentioned, in consideration of the rights of each, promises to have these presents accepted and approved in due time; which said person, appearing in said names, in the quality aforesaid, by these presents has sold, ceded, given up, transferred, and relinquished all his legal rights in the aforesaid ship, to the business-associates Lacroix, Formon de Boisclair & Jacques, three merchants in partnership, living in this town, purchasers conjointly and severally, for themselves and the assigns of each, to the extent of one third; To wit: the said ship _Le Comte d'Artois_, of the said port of Nantes, of about two hundred and fifty tons, at present anchored in this roadstead of Les Cayes, dispatched, and at the point of departure for France, with all its rigging, outfit, and dependences, which consist among other things of two sets of sail, complete, and newly fitted out, all the tools, and the reserve sets of these, with the munitions of war, consisting of ten cannon, four of them mounted on gun carriages, and all that goes with them...." (Translated from the French original in possession of Monsieur Lavigne.)

[24] The fact that Captain Audubon did not accompany Rochambeau's fleet which assembled at Brest in April, 1780, and reached Newport in mid-July, may account for the omission of his name from the lists that have been recently published. See _Les Combattants François de la Guerre Américaine_, 1778-1783 (Paris, 1903).

[25] Others interested in this vessel were Messrs. David Ross & Company, with whom Captain Audubon later had financial difficulties (see Chapter VIII).

[26] See letter to Dacosta, Vol. I, p. 121.

[27] The proper name of this seaport town, as given by all French cartographers and writers, is _Les Cayes_, meaning "the cays" or "keys" (small islands, Spanish _cayos_); omitting the article it is often simply written "Cayes." French residents on the island, however, when dating or addressing a letter or receipting a bill would naturally write "_aux Cayes_," meaning of course "at The Cays," where the document was signed or where the person to whom the letter was addressed resided (see the Sanson bill, and bills of sale of negroes, Appendix I, Documents Nos. 1, 4, 5, and 6). It was thus an easy step for Englishmen, in ignorance or disregard of the French usage, to call the town "Aux Cayes"; even as early as 1797, Bryan Edwards, though giving the name correctly on his map, which doubtless had a French source, wrote "Aux Cayes" in his text; the corruption has survived, and is occasionally found in standard works, but is too egregious to be tolerated.

[28] And sometime as _marchand_, more strictly a retailer.

[29] Since a colonist's wealth was estimated upon the number of slaves he could afford, and since a slave was regarded as equivalent to a return of 1,500 francs a year, Jean Audubon's income on this basis would have been 63,000 francs.

[30] See Sir Spencer St. John, _Hayti, or the Black Republic_, 2d ed. (New York, 1889).

[31] Bryan Edwards, Esq., M.P., F.R.S., &c., _An Historical Survey of the French Colony in the Island of San Domingo_ (London, 1797).

[32] See Note, Vol. I, p. 31.

[33] The Superior Council, sitting at Port-au-Prince, in 1780 fixed the tax for the parish of Les Cayes at the rate of 2 francs, 10 centimes per head, which in this instance was certainly trifling. (Note furnished by M. L. Lavigne.)

[34] Baron de Wimpffen sailed from Port-au-Prince for Norfolk, Virginia, in July, 1790, about a year after Jean Audubon had left the island.

[35] This was one of the commonest names among the French Creoles of Santo Domingo, and was possibly assumed, though the evidence is inconclusive. See Vol. I, p. 61.

[36] For photographic reproduction see p. 54; and for transliteration and translation, Appendix I, Documents Nos. 1 and 1a; for "Fougère" see Appendix I, Documents Nos. 2 and 3; and for "Jean Rabin," Documents Nos. 14, 16, 17 and 18.

[37] The word "_Joue_," which occurs eleven times in this document—as "mulatto Joue," "Joue mulatto," "negro bossal named Joue," and "little negro Joue"—suggests the English equivalent "Cheek," but no such usage appears to be authorized. It is evidently a proper name, and is more likely to prove the French rendering of a word common to one of the negro dialects of the island. On the other hand it might represent a corrupted pet name, like "_joujou_" or "_bijou_," bestowed by the French Creoles of Santo Domingo upon their favorite _négrillons_ or _petits nègres_, which played a more or less ornamental _rôle_ in many households, whether as footmen or servants. In any case the use of this word is doubtless purely local.

[38] See Vol. I, p. 46.

[39] It was stated in the act of adoption, which was drawn up in March, 1794, that Audubon's mother had then been dead "about eight years," and the testimony of the Sanson bill shows that she was alive as late as October, 1785.

[40] The following letter of inquiry concerning Louise was written by Rosa's husband when Jean Audubon's will was being attacked in the courts at Nantes. It is dated at Couëron, June 26, 1819, and is addressed to "Monsieur Carpentier Chessé, engraver, place Royale, Nantes:"

"Following the friendly offer that you made me, I have the honor of asking you to undertake, at your next visit to La Rochelle, the following inquiries:

"1. There should be at La Rochelle (it is thought at the home of the widow Scipiot) a Miss Louise Bouffard, born at Les Cayes, Santo Domingo, in America.

"What is her position? What is she doing? What is her conduct? In short I should like to know absolutely all about her, being charged by the Madame, her mother, to make all inquiries."

(Translated from original in French, Lavigne MSS.)

[41] A principal street in the old quarters of Nantes, leading from the Place Royale to Place Graslin. Jean Audubon named this street as his place of residence in 1792, when he was living in a house belonging to Citizen Carricoule. He made his home also at No. 39, rue Rubens, a short street, with many of its houses still intact, in the same quarter; this was rented of Françoise Mocquard for five years, beginning June 24, 1799 (_le 6 Messidor, an 7_), at four hundred francs per annum. He also dwelt at various times at No. 5, rue de Gigant, and in the rue des Carmes, where his wife possessed a house, as well as in the rue des Fontenelles and the rue Saint-Leonard. Very likely "La Gerbetière" at Couëron was occupied intermittently, especially in summer, after the outbreak of the Revolution and his reverses in fortune; even after his retirement there in 1801, he still kept a lodging (_pied-à-terre_) at Nantes, where, as it chanced, he died, though it was not his usual stopping-place. See Note, Vol. I, p. 86.

[42] See Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and His Journals_ (Bibl. No. 86), vol. i, p. 8.

[43] For the original text of this act, here given in translation, see Appendix I, Document No. 2.

[44] Research at Nantes in 1915 revealed that the baptismal records of the parish of Saint-Similien were wanting for the period from 1792 to 1803, so it is probable that they were destroyed in the Revolution. The municipal archives of Nantes possess a book of baptismal records of the city without distinction of parishes, but this shows the names of neither "Fougère," "Rabin," nor "Audubon," for the year in question.

The Abbè Tardiveau was _un prêtre assermenté_, or one of those priests who had sworn in 1790 to recognize the civil constitution of the clergy.

For copy of the act of baptism in the French original, see Appendix I, Document No. 3. It is impossible to say whether the heading as given in my copy of this act was in the original or not.

[45] An English writer once gave the name of Audubon's mother as Mlle. La Forêt.

[46] Audubon's signature underwent frequent variations during the first twenty-five years of his life, but after 1820 he almost invariably signed himself "John J.," or "J. J. Audubon." In the record of the civil marriage of his sister, at Couëron in 1805, his name appears as "J. J. L. Audubon;" in the "Articles of Association" with Ferdinand Rozier, signed at Nantes in 1806, it is "Jean Audubon," and in the release given on the dissolution of this partnership, at Ste. Geneviève, in 1811, the English form, "John Audubon," appears.

[47] This statement was made to me by Miss Maria R. Audubon in 1914.

[48] For full text of the six wills drawn at different times by Jean Audubon and his wife see Appendix I, Documents Nos. 13-18.

[49] See Chapter XVII.

[50] This unique document reads as follows:

"To all to whom these presents may come: know ye that I, John Audubon, having special trust and confidence in my friend, G. Loyen Du Puigaudeau, of the Department of Loire and [_sic_] Inférieure, and Parish of Couëron, near Nantes, in the kingdom of France, [do constitute him] my true and lawful attorney, and the true and lawful attorney in fact of Jean Rabin, husband of Lucy Bakewell, of the County of Henderson and State of Kentucky, in the United States of America, for us [?], the said Jean Rabin, and in our name to our use and benefit, to ask, demand, sue for, recover, and receive all and every part of the Real and Personal Estate, that is to say Lands, Tenements, Grounds, Chattels, and credits, which I have, or either of us, in the Department of Loire and [_sic_] Inferieure in the kingdom of France, aforesaid, and to make sale of the same, either at auction, or by contract of the said Lands and Tenements, Goods, Chattells, and Credits, to receive the money arising from said sale, to give any Receipt, acquittance, or other discharge for the said money or any part thereof, if money or specie shall be received, or for any property he may receive in exchange or barter for said Real and personal Estate, and our said attorney, or the attorney of Jean Rabin aforesaid, is hereby authorized and empowered to make, give, execute, and deliver any Deed, Covenant, or transfer of said Real and Personal Estate to the purchaser of all or any part thereof for us, or for the said Jean Rabin, in as full and ample a manner as he, the said Jean, could do, was he personally present in said Department, in the Kingdom. In testimony whereof the said John Audubon has hereunto set his hand and affixed his seal the Twenty Sixth day of July, Anno Domini One thousand & Eight hundred and Seventeen. JOHN J. AUDUBON [Seal within]

On the back of the preceding is the notary's certificate that Jean Audubon appeared before him; seal affixed, and dated July 26, 1817.

Signed, "A[MBROZE] BARBAND, Notary of Henderson County, Kentucky."

[51] See Chapter XVI.

[52] Vol. i, p. v; see Bibliography, No. 2.

[53] Published by Maria R. Audubon (Bibl. No. 78) in _Scribner's Magazine_, vol. xiii (1893).

[54] Whether Jean Audubon had other sons born in Santo Domingo is not recorded, and this reference of the naturalist, which was repeated in his later sketch, cannot be verified.

[55] See Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and His Journals_, (Bibl. No. 86), vol. i, p. 7.

[56] See Note, Vol. I, p. 38.

[57] See J. W. Crozart, "Bibliographical and Genealogical Notes Concerning the Family of Philippe de Mandeville, Ecuyer Sieur de Marigny, 1709-1800," _Louisiana Historical Society Publications_, vol. v (New Orleans, 1911). The portrait referred to below now hangs in the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, New Orleans.

[58] Gordon Bakewell (Bibl. No. 90), _ibid._, p. 31.

[59] See _Laws of the United States, Treaties, Regulations, and Other Documents Respecting the Public Lands_, vol. i, p. 301 (Washington, 1836). In Number 756, entitled "An Act for the Relief of Bernard Marigny, of the State of Louisiana," Marigny is mentioned as assignee of Antonio Bonnabel, and his claim, which was confirmed, is described as follows: a tract of land of 4,020 superficial arpents, in the State of Louisiana, parish of St. Tammany, "bounded on the southwest by Lake Ponchartrain, and on the northwest by lands formerly owned by the heirs of Lewis Davis."

I am informed by Mr. Gaspar Cusachs, president of the Historical Society of Louisiana, who has carefully investigated the titles of this property and to whom I am indebted for much information concerning it and its owners, that the tract described above included the estate of "Fontainebleau." Marigny's claim included also a smaller tract of 774 arpents in the same parish. This land was bounded on the southwest by Lake Ponchartrain, on the north by Castin Bayou, and on the south by the tract acquired from Bonnabel; it was granted to the heirs of Lewis Davis in 1777, and certain of them filed a claim for it in 1812.

[60] One period of this service bears date of May 31.

[61] See Note, Vol. I, p. 27.

[62] The mayor, Saget, at the moment he was crossing the Place Egalité (the Place Royale of today) received point-blank a ball in his right thigh and another in his left leg, and lost both limbs.

[63] For the revolutionary history of Nantes I am chiefly indebted to M. A. Guépin's excellent _Histoire de Nantes_, 2d ed. (Nantes, 1839); Hipp. Etiennez, _Guide du Voyageur à Nantes, et aux Environs_ (Nantes, 1861); A. Lescadien et Aug. Laurent, _Histoire de la Ville de Nantes_, t.2 (Nantes, 1836); F. J. Verger, _Archives curieuses de la Ville de Nantes et des Départments de l'Ouest_, t. 5 (Nantes, 1837-41); and to a scholarly monograph by Dugast-Matifeux, entitled _Carrier à Nantes: Précis de la Conduite patriotique et révolutionnaire des citoyens de Nantes_ (Nantes, 1885).

[64] The unpublished documents of this Department are preserved in the archives of the Préfecture at Nantes, and through the courtesy of their custodians I was enabled to examine them freely. These documents deal with all the revolutionary changes in church and state consequent upon the breaking down of the old _régime_, and with the enrollment of volunteers and the dispatch of armed forces to centers of disturbance throughout that district. The present manuscripts are said to represent but a fraction of those which originally existed, the archives having been subjected to repeated raids, thefts, and wanton destruction by fire and other means. The most important have been listed and published by the Government in summary form under the title, _Les Archives du Département de la Loire Inférieure, 1790-1799_, Série L. (Nantes, 1909).

[65] During the Revolution Jean Audubon always added to his signature the cabalistic sign of three dots between parallel lines, which possibly stood for the three watchwords of the Republic—"_Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité_."

[66] In the published orders and correspondence of the royalist General Boulart the following letter, given here in translation, is addressed to Citizen Audubon: "I give you notice, Citizen, that my aide-de-camp will arrive immediately from Niort. I beg you to do all in your power to come this evening to confer with me, since I have something to ask you of the utmost importance. I also inform you that there has arrived at Les Sables Citizen Anguis, the people's representative. Perhaps it would be more advantageous that you should see him this evening, and that tomorrow early we attempt to bring all three together. You could depart in the morning for Nantes." [Signed] "THE GENERAL BOULART." Jean Audubon filed this letter from the enemy with his Department, but his answer is not given. See Ch. L. Chassin, _Etudes Documentaires sur La Révolution Française: La Vendée Patriote, 1793-1800_, vol. ii, p. 306, t. 1-4 (Paris, 1894-1895).

[67] _Délibérations-Arrêtés de Directoire du Département._ In MSS. pp. 107-108.

[68] Jean was actually in command of this war vessel in March of that year, as shown by a document given in full in Chapter IV (p. 59).

[69] These records are on file in the archives of the Department of Marine at Paris, but access to them will doubtless be denied until peace is restored in Europe.

[70] M. L. Lavigne writes that he possesses a copy of a letter addressed by M. G. L. du Puigaudeau to a lawyer in Paris, in which it is stated that Lieutenant Audubon's losses amounted to 1,500,000 francs. After making due allowance for the psychological tendency to overestimate losses, especially when sustained in remote and romantic lands, the true amount was no doubt large.

[71] Or "lieutenant of a frigate," and corresponding to "mate" in the merchant marine.

[72] The certificate which Lieutenant Audubon received at the time of his discharge is preserved among the Lavigne manuscripts and documents at Couëron, and is headed:

[Sidenote: PORT DE ROCHEFORT.]

ETAT des Services du Citoyen _Jean Audubon_ natif des Sables d'Ollonne Département de La Vendée âgé de 58 ans.

It is signed by the Chief of Administration, Daniel, the Naval Commander-in-Chief of the District, Martin, and by the naval commissioner and clerk, February 26, 1801 (_le sept Ventose, an 9 de la République_).

[73] Jean Audubon was 11 years, 6 months and 25 days in the service of the merchant marine of France (_service au commerce_), in the course of which he rose to the rank of captain of the first grade in 1774. He served in the French navy (_service à l'état_) 8 years, 2 months and 17 days, ranking successively as sailor, ensign-commander, and lieutenant-commander (_lieutenant de vaisseau_); 8 months and 22 days of this period (1768-1769) were in intervals of peace, and 7 years, 5 months and 25 days (1793-1801), in times of war. Any conflict which may seem to occur in titles must be attributed to this double service.

[74] This property was evidently encumbered to a considerable extent, for he repeatedly filed with the Department letters for the removal of restrictions placed upon it (_lettres pour obtenir la main levée_). I cannot give the dates of these letters, but believe that they were drawn in 1801 or shortly after.

[75] This house was rented at the time to Françoise Mocquard (see Note, Vol. I, p. 57), but it is probable that Lieutenant Audubon had reserved rooms which were occupied during his visits to the city while his permanent home was at Couëron. In the power of attorney issued by Jean Audubon, his wife, and Claude François Rozier, at Nantes, April 4, 1806, the senior Audubon gave his residence as "rue Rubens, No. 39."

[76] Presumably a widow of one of the Coyrons (or Coironds), merchants at Nantes, whose business interests in Santo Domingo were entrusted to Jean Audubon's hands in 1783 (see Chapter III, p. 38).

[77] The following extract from the registry of deaths at Nantes, which is here given in translation, indicates that Lieutenant Audubon passed away suddenly, since his death did not occur in his own apartments (for original see Appendix I, Document No. 19):

"In the year 1818, on the 19th day of February, at eleven o'clock in the morning, in the presence of the undersigned, deputies and officers of the civil service, delegates of Monsieur the Mayor of Nantes, have appeared the Messrs. Gabriel Loyen du Puigaudeau, gentleman of leisure, son-in-law of the deceased, residing hereafter at Couëron, and Francis Guillet, grocer, living on the Quai de la Fosse, of legal age, who have certified in our presence that on this day, at six o'clock in the morning, Jean Audubon, retired ship-captain, pensioner of the State, born at Les Sables d'Olonne, department of La Vendée, husband of Anne Moinet, died in the house of Mlle. Berthier, in the Chaussée de le Madeleine, No. 24, 4th Canton.

"The witnesses have signed with us the present act, after it was read to them. The deceased was 74 years of age."

{ GABRIEL LOYEN DU PUIGAUDEAU, "Signed in the register:-{ GUILLET, and JOSEPH DE LA { TULLAYE, deputy

The Audubons and Du Puigaudeaus were probably buried in one of the large cemeteries at Nantes, since no trace of their graves has been found at Couëron by M. Lavigne.

[78] Audubon said that he was at the time fourteen years old, which could not have been the case, but when writing in 1835 he placed this experience at shortly before his return to America, which would have been in the winter of 1805-6; "I underwent," to quote this later account, "a mockery of an examination, and was received as a midshipman in the navy, went to Rochefort, was placed on board a man-of-war, and ran a short cruise. On my return, my father had in some way obtained passports for Rozier and me, and we sailed for New York."

[79] Audubon, writing in 1820, described himself at this time as "a young man of seventeen, sent to America to make money (for such was my father's wish), brought up in France in easy circumstances;" but in the same journal he said that he did not reach Philadelphia until three months after landing, and that "shortly after" his arrival at "Mill Grove" the Bakewell family moved to "Fatland Ford." Mr. G. W. Bakewell, the historian of his family, states that in the spring of 1804, William Bakewell, Audubon's future father-in-law, with his son, Thomas, traveled through Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland in search of a farm; they purchased "Fatland Ford," which was then the property of James Vaux. Audubon's account of the Pewee (_Ornithological Biography_, vol. ii, p. 124) shows that he was at "Mill Grove" before April 10, when "the ground was still partially covered with snow, and the air retained the piercing chill of winter." If these various statements are correct, they would indicate that Audubon left Nantes about the middle of November, 1803, and that he finally reached "Mill Grove" not far from the end of March, 1804. On the other hand, Mr. W. H. Wetherill, the present owner of "Mill Grove," informs me that his records indicate that the Bakewells occupied "Fatland Ford" in January, 1804. If this were the case, young Audubon could not have left France later than August, 1803. Too much weight, however, should not be attached to such references of a biographical character in Audubon's own writings; for in the account referred to above Audubon said that after his first visit to the United States he remained two years in France and returned to America "early in August;" while we know that his sojourn in France lasted but little more than a year and that he landed in New York on the 28th of May.

[80] A plague of genuine yellow fever had visited New York in 1795, but in 1804 and 1805 the city suffered from a malignant fever of another type, and to such an extent that 27,000 persons, or one-third of the entire population, are said to have fled to escape the pestilence. This was possibly the malady which seized young Audubon not far from the beginning of the former year.

[81] The rough draft of a letter in English, evidently written by Lieutenant Audubon to be delivered by his son to the ship's captain, and probably in duplicate to his agent, Miers Fisher, but bearing no name or date, (Lavigne MSS.)

[82] See Note, Vol. I, p. 98.

[83] The yearly rent of "Mill Grove" in 1804, according to the accounts of Francis Dacosta, who had then acquired a half interest in it, amounted to $353.34.

[84] "Mill Grove" farm is in Montgomery County, twenty-four miles northwest of Philadelphia, in the town known, after 1823, as Shannonville, but in 1899 rechristened "Audubon;" Norristown is five miles to the east.

[85] Mr. William H. Wetherill of Philadelphia, whose hospitality I have enjoyed and to whom I am indebted for many interesting facts and records pertaining to "Mill Grove." Samuel Wetherill, Mr. W. H. Wetherill's grandfather, was one of the first to bring "black rock," or coal, from Reading to Philadelphia. Samuel Wetherill, Junior, who is said to have started the first woolen mill in the country and to have produced the first white lead made in the United States, purchased "Mill Grove" for the sake of its minerals in 1813, the war having put a stop to all importations from England at that time. He actually succeeded in extracting several hundred tons of lead from the "Mill Grove" mines, doing better, it is thought, than any who preceded or followed him. Samuel Wetherill, Junior, died in 1829, and was succeeded in the lead and drugs industry by his four sons, of whom Samuel Price Wetherill became the owner of "Mill Grove" in 1833. The farm remained in the hands of the Wetherill family until 1876, and returned to them again, when the present owner came into possession, in 1892.

[86] In 1761 James Morgan, the first miller and builder, conveyed one-half of the mill site of five acres to Roland Evans, who came into possession of the other half, with the adjoining farm, in 1771; the property was sold to Governor John Penn in 1776; it passed to Samuel C. Morris in 1784, and to the Prevosts in 1786.

[87] The lease, which was drawn up in English, April 10, 1789, reads in part as follows: "This indenture, made on the tenth Day of April in the Year of our Lord, One thousand Seven hundred & Eighty nine, Between John Audubon, of the Island of St. Domingo, Gentleman, now being in the City of Philadelphia, of the one party, and Augustine Prevost...." The lease included the messuages, grist mills, saw mills, plantation and tract of land, which is described, tools, implements, stock, and furniture of the mills and farm, and was drawn for one year; it was signed in the presence of Miers Fisher, agent and attorney for Jean Audubon.

In the inventory were included one windmill, one pair of scales, with weights of 56, 28 and 7 pounds, "skreen," four bolting cloths, two hoisting tubs, and one large screw and circle for raising the millstones. This lease was renewed in October, 1790, when Jean Audubon, who was then living at Nantes, agreed to keep the house in good repair from that time onward. It was the Prevost mortgage that Miers Fisher paid but forgot to cancel (see Vol. I, p. 122); it was finally cleared up by Dacosta in October, 1806.

Miers Fisher's Philadelphia residence, called "Ury," which Audubon often visited, was near Fox Chase, now in the Twenty-third Ward. See Witmer Stone, _Cassinia_, No. xvii (Philadelphia, 1913).

[88] For a photograph of this portrait of Lieutenant Audubon here reproduced, I am indebted to Miss Maria R. Audubon; the originals of both portraits are now in possession of Audubon's granddaughter, Mrs. Morris F. Tyler.

[89] See Note, Vol. I, p. 99.

[90] For this and the preceding quotation, see Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl. No. 86), vol. i, pp. 18 and 27.

[91] In Dacosta's final statement of his account, which was disputed, carried into court, and eventually settled by arbitration at Philadelphia, on August 1, 1807, these items occur: "Omitted, $300.00, paid by Francis Dacosta to Miers Fisher, on May 24, 1803;" and "Ditto $176.67, the proportion of Francis Dacosta in the rent of the first year, which has not been paid to him." (See Appendix I, Document 11a; MSS. in possession of Mr. Welton A. Rosier.)

It seems probable that Dacosta was sent to this country by Lieutenant Audubon to act as his agent for the disposition of "Mill Grove," and to succeed Miers Fisher in the conduct of his business affairs. Interest in the neglected and forgotten mine may have diverted them from their original plans.

[92] The following notice, copied from _Relf's Gazette_, appeared in the _New York Herald_ for Saturday, November 17, 1804:

"The lead mine discovered on Perkiomen creek, in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, the property of Francis Dacosta, has been lately opened, and attended with great success. The vein proves to be a regular one, and of long continuance. Its course is N.N.E.; its direction is nearly perpendicular, and its thickness from one foot to 15 inches. Two tons of that beautiful ore were raised in a few hours, and one ton more at least was left in the bottom on the pit, which is yet but nine feet deep. From the situation of this mine, its nearness to navigation and market, its very commanding height, its richness in metal, and the large scale it forms on; it is thought by judges to be one of the first discoveries yet made in the U. S.

"From the analysis made of 100 parts, it contains:

Oxyd of lead 85 Oxyd of iron 1 Sulphuric acid 13 Water 1 —— 100

"The lead being coupelled, has proved to contain 2½ oz. fine silver to 100, which is nearly 3 dollars worth of that metal."

[93] For the sum of 31,000 francs, or $6,200, a slight advance on the cost to Jean Audubon, when he had taken over the farm fifteen years before (see Vol. I, p. 105).

[94] The following item appears in Dacosta's final account: "To compensation claimed by Francis Dacosta for making up half of his expenses, in managing the mining works, the mill-repairs, and taking up the formation of a company during two years of constant cares, troubles, and loss of time, at 300 dollars a year—$600.00." (From statement of disputed claim; see Note, Vol. I, p. 168.)

[95] For copies of a part of the Audubon-Dacosta correspondence, which is perhaps half of what exists but all that it was possible to obtain, I am indebted to Monsieur Lavigne. The first letter, the present copy of which is incomplete, was evidently written in the winter of 1804-5. Lieutenant Audubon, who at this time was sixty-one years old, was living at Couëron, but came to Nantes to conduct his correspondence. All the letters were carefully transcribed in a separate copybook, and are here translated as literally as possible from the French.

[96] That is, after having become a part owner of the "Mill Grove" property.

[97] That is, at Couëron.

[98] This name appears as "Rost" in all the letters.

[99] Member of the firm of Audubon, Lacroix, Formon & Jacques, engaged in the Santo Domingo trade (see Chapter II, p. 33). In these letters the name usually appears as "Formont."

[100] Vessels in which Jean Audubon was personally interested, and upon which he endeavored in vain to collect the money and interest due him (see Vol. I, p. 34). In a document in English, dated [Les Cayes] April 9, 1782, concerning the _Annette_, of which Jean Audubon was captain and part owner, and signed by him and David Ross & Company, it is stated this vessel was bound for Nantes with a cargo of tobacco, in the purchase and sale of which Captain Audubon was under orders of Mr. Ezekiel Edwards of Nantes.

[101] This was probably the mortgage which Jean Audubon gave to Prevost when "Mill Grove" was purchased in 1789, for in Dacosta's final account for 1806-1807 this item occurs under October 15, 1806: "To the recorder in Norristown for entering satisfaction of John Audubon mortgage to John Augustin Prevost ... $2.83."

[102] The principal house at "Mill Grove," which Dacosta was preparing to occupy.

[103] Owing to the delay in receiving his legal papers from France, Dacosta had threatened to carry his case to the courts, and had stopped work at the mine.

[104] In the light of the preceding letters, Dacosta would appear in these respects to have been only attempting to carry out his instructions.

[105] Probably Sarah White Palmer, Benjamin Bakewell's sister-in-law, and widow of the Rev. John Palmer, who at one time was associated with Joseph Priestley in editing the _Theological Repository_, an organ of the Unitarians. Her son-in-law, Thomas W. Pears, was later a partner in Audubon's business ventures at Henderson, Kentucky. Her grave is in the Bakewell burying plot at "Fatland Ford."

[106] See Appendix I, Document No. 7.

[107] Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl. No. 86), vol. i, p. 39.

[108] Dr. d'Orbigny had three sons, all of whom were born in Couëron: Alcide Charles Victor in 1802, Gaston Edouard in 1805, and Charles in 1806; the youngest and eldest became distinguished naturalists. So far as known, Audubon was godfather only to the second, Gaston Edouard, who according to the records of the Catholic church at Couëron, "was born on the 3d day of the present [month], the issue of the legitimate marriage of Mr. Charles Marie d'Orbigny, doctor of medicine, and of Anna Pepart," was christened on August 20, 1805, in the presence of the godfather, John James Audubon, the godmother, Rosa Audubon, the father and mother, together with the "undersigned" (Extracted by Monsieur Lavigne). D'Orbigny appears as a witness to the powers of attorney which Jean Audubon and his wife issued jointly to their son and to Ferdinand Rozier at Couëron in 1805 (see Appendix I, Document No. 8) and on November 20, 1806 (see Vol. I, p. 153).

[109] For copies of this and the following letters, which are here translated from the French, I am indebted to Monsieur Lavigne.

[110] A daughter of Catharine Bouffard, regarding whom see Vol. I, p. 56.

[111] See Appendix I, Document No. 8.

[112] The civil ceremony of Rosa Audubon's marriage was performed at the mayor's office in Couëron, on December 16, 1805 (_le 26 frimaire, an 14_), when the bride was in her eighteenth year; the contract had been drawn on the 12th day of that month (_le 22 frimaire, an 14_) by notary Martin Daviais, who was mayor of Couëron in the following year, and the religious ceremony was conducted by the Bishop of Nantes. "The following have assisted," so reads in translation the Couëron record, "at the marriage, aforesaid, on the side of the groom, M. André Loyen du Puigaudeau, his brother, and M. Honoré François Guiraud, his brother-in-law; by the side of the bride, her father, and M. Jean Audubon, her brother, [and these have] undersigned, together with the bridegroom." Audubon's signature reads "J. L. J. Audubon."

[113] For the full text of these two documents, which are so interesting for our story, see Appendix I, Documents Nos. 9 and 10; and for translations, Documents Nos. 9a and 10a. For the privilege of examining and reproducing the first of these papers I am indebted to Mr. Charles A. Rozier, of St. Louis, and for the second, as well as the power of attorney of 1805 (see Document No. 8), referred to earlier, to Mr. Tom J. Rozier, of Sainte Geneviève, Missouri. In the case of this second warrant it will be noticed that the grantors signed only the minute which was filed with the notaries, who, with the judge of the Court of the First Instance, affixed their names to the document itself. No better illustration could be given of the dignity which the French attach to the office of notary, to the honored incumbents of which their private affairs are unreservedly entrusted, than this elaborate judicial document.

[114] In the register of the Central Committee of Nantes it is noted, under date of October 4, 1793, that "owing to the friendly relations then existing between France and the citizens of the United States, and to the good feeling evinced by them in sending to us for food, four American ships are accordingly permitted to leave the port of Nantes, with cargoes of wine, sugar, and coffee, and also to take enough biscuit for the voyage."

[115] The receipt which the captain handed the young men, and which the methodical Rozier preserved, remains as a souvenir of this voyage (in the Tom J. Rozier MSS); it reads as follows:

Recvd. from Mr. John Audubon & ferdinand Rozier the sum of five Hundred and twenty five Livers being in full for their passage from Nantes to New York in the Ship Polly........................... S. Sammis

[In Rozier's (?) handwriting] New York May 28, 1806

[Indorsed by Rozier on back] Payé le 11 avril 1806

[116] The total population of Couëron, as given in the official directory for 1913, was 2,035, but the total working population is probably three times as great.

[117] There is also the _grand calvaire_, which stands on an eminence in the village. This was erected in 1825 on the foundations of the chateau of the dukes of Brittany, the last of whom, Francis II, died at Couëron in 1488. His tomb is in the nave of the cathedral at Nantes; the _grand calvaire_ was restored by two Couëron families in 1873, and is a very elaborate structure.

[118] Mr. William Beer, who paid a visit to "La Gerbetière" with Dr. Louis Bureau in 1910, writes me that the woodwork was poor in quality, and that all the rooms had been altered in size and appearance.

[119] But not related to M. L. Lavigne, to whom I am indebted for extracts from the deed, a translation of which is given below, as well as for many other references.

[120] That is, the landlord to receive one-half the produce.

[121] A "journal" of land being as much as a man could cultivate in a day's labor.

[122] See Chapter XVII.

[123] For the privilege of examining Ferdinand Rozier's copy of their "Articles of Association" I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Charles A. Rozier, of Saint Louis. This is written on three sides of hand-made, hand-ruled Government linen, small letter size, with printed revenue stamp (50 centimes) of the French Republic at top, and stamped with the seal of the Department of Registration and Stamps ("ADM. DES DOM. DE L'ENREG. ET DU TIMBRE REP. FRA.—_Administration des domaines de l'enregistrement et du timbre, République Française_"). The signature of "Jean Audubon" bears a close resemblance to that of the father, Lieutenant Jean Audubon, who was undoubtedly the author of the document. For the "Articles" in full, in French and English, see Appendix I, Documents Nos. 9 and 9a.

[124] Among the elder Rozier's papers was part of an old letterbook belonging to his son; it is written in French, and labeled "Correspondence of Ferdinand Rozier." On one of the four sheets preserved this item occurs: "4 July, 1806, Philadelphia; record of an agreement with Mr. Dacosta proprietor of one half of the Mill Grove farm,—at least of the value of sale." The first entry is dated "19 février—1806, New York," which, if correct, would imply that Rozier spent two years instead of one in the United States when he visited this country in 1804 (or came a second time), and that he returned, with young Audubon, almost immediately after reaching France (see Vol. I, p. 245); the last record is "August, 1807, New York." (MS. in possession of Dr. Louis Bureau, Nantes.)

[125] According to the records of Montgomery County, as collated for Mr. W. H. Wetherill, the remaining half interest in "Mill Grove" was sold by J. J. Audubon (and Ferdinand Rozier) to Francis Dacosta & Company, for a consideration of $9,640.33. The business was conducted mainly by Rozier, acting under the advice of their friend, Miers Fisher.

[126] Translated from the French of Ferdinand's copy, in possession of Mr. Welton A. Rozier, to whom I am indebted for the privilege of reproducing it.

[127] "_Gourdes_," that is, piasters or Spanish dollars.

[128] Claude François Rozier, at this time an aged man, died at Nantes on September 7, 1807; he had two sons and six daughters, of whom Ferdinand was the second son and the fifth child; his wife, Renée Angelique Colas, died at Nantes, February 9, 1824.

[129] This was issued, so the letter reads, to "their son, John Audubon, and Ferdinand Rozier, both of the said city of Philadelphia, Gentlemen," by "John Audubon, late of the city of Philadelphia, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, now residing in the commune of Couëron, near the city of Nantes in France, Gentleman, and Anne Moynette, his wife," to apply to all lands and other property belonging to them in the United States, with the power to "raise or borrow money on the whole or any part or parts of the said lands, tenements, or hereditaments, to secure the repayment of said monies by bond, warrant of attorney, to contest judgment of the mortgage of the said lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or any part or parts thereof...." Written in French and English; signed by Jean Audubon, Anne Moynet, his wife, by Doctors Chapelain and C. d'Orbigny as witnesses, by the mayor of Couëron, the prefect of the arrondissement and the prefect of the department; countersigned on December 4, 1806, by W. D. Patterson, of the "Commercial Agency of the United States at Nantes." For the favor of examining this paper, I am indebted to the kindness of Miss Maria R. Audubon.

[130] For the privilege of examining these letters I am indebted to the courtesy of Dr. Louis Bureau, Director of the Museum of Natural History and Professor in the School of Medicine at Nantes, maternal great-grandson of François, and grandnephew of Ferdinand Rozier. The letters were found in an old trunk that once belonged to his grandfather, François Denis Rozier. Five were written in French (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7), and addressed from New York to François Rozier at Nantes; one (No. 3) in English and another (No. 5) in French were sent in care of Rozier, to his father, John Audubon, Esq., Nantes, with the direction to be delivered as soon as possible; all are on unruled foolscap, wafer-sealed, and each also bears an outside seal in wax, stamped with Bakewell's initial (B). It is not possible to say whether Lieutenant Audubon ever received these letters of his son; if received, it is not very obvious why they should have been left in the old merchant's hands, unless his ill health at the time, and subsequent death were the cause (see Note, Vol. I, p. 152). I am further indebted to Mr. William Beer, for the perusal of his copies, which have been followed to a large extent.

Since all of these early letters throw an interesting light upon the times as well as upon Audubon's personal history, we shall give them in full, rendering the French into English as literally as practicable.

[131] This Philadelphia merchant was evidently in France and intending to visit Nantes at this time.

[132] "Of the St. Domingo packet."

[133] "Mr. L. Huron did, a few days ago, receive some wines on a/c of M. Rozier, and hopes they prove good," etc.

[134] Miers Fisher, for many years Jean Audubon's trusted agent and attorney in America. See Vol. I, p. 100.

[135] Gabriel Loyen du Puigaudeau, his brother-in-law.

[136] That is a miniature or an old portrait of his father in the uniform of a lieutenant-commander, which with its companion, representing Mme. Jean Audubon, his stepmother, then hung in the house of "La Gerbetière" at Couëron. The original portraits, which are reproduced facing page 78, measure 23½ by 18½ inches, and were painted probably between 1801 and 1806; they were inventoried in documents bearing date of November 14, 15 and 17, 1821, shortly after Mme. Jean Audubon's death. They were restored in Paris about ten years ago for Monsieur Lavigne, to whom I am indebted for the photographs and this information.

[137] Audubon's intimate friend, see Vol. I, p. 128.

[138] "_Serinettes_," the old time music boxes, or bird-organs, of Swiss origin, that were very popular in America down to the time of the Civil War, or even later. They were manufactured at St. Croix as late as 1880; instruments of similar type, with dancing figures, have been adapted to the penny-in-the-slot machines common in Switzerland to-day.

[139] _Marchand_, or retail merchant.

[140] Initials of the head of his firm, Benjamin Bakewell.

[141] The reference was to Mme. Stephanie-Felicité de Genlis (1746-1830), teacher of the children of the Duke of Orleans, Philippe-Egalité, and authoress of many works on education, once popular, but now known only to the antiquary and the ragman.

[142] Meaning possibly his prospective brother-in-law, Thomas W. Bakewell, a fellow clerk in the office.

[143] One Louis was equal to twenty francs, or four dollars.

[144] Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl. No. 86), vol. i, p. 32.

[145] Especially his account current, from June 1, 1806, to July 25, 1807, with the "Mill Grove" farm, and "John Audubon of Nantz," drawn up and signed at Philadelphia on the latter date. Dacosta then claimed a balance due him of $950.64 above the returns from farm and mine, of which he was entitled to one-half; this sum included his salary and numerous minor expenditures. When his account was contested and taken out of court for settlement, it was cut by the arbitrators to $530. See Appendix I, Document 11a.

The following is a "copy of the Award given by John Laval & Laurence Huron appointed referees by Francis Dacosta and John Audubon the elder by a rule of reference in the Common Pleas of this county to have their differences in accounts settled:"

"We the within named referees, having heard the parties and examined their respective accounts & vouchers, do award that there is due by the defendant, John Audubon the elder, to the plaintiff, Francis Dacosta, the sum of five hundred and thirty dollars, which we find to be the full balance of all current accounts between them, and we award that the said ballance be paid by the said John Audubon the elder to the said Francis Dacosta by defalking the same from the account of the condition of the Bond of Eight Hundred Dollars—mentioned in the within rule of reference conformably to the agreement endorsed on the said Bond."

"Witness our hands Philadelphia 1st August, 1807."

"Signed—JOHN LAVAL."

"LAURENCE HURON."

(Copy of original MS., in possession of Mr. Welton H. Rozier.)

[146] In 1811 "Mill Grove" was conveyed by Francis Dacosta & Company, to Frederick Beates, who in 1813 sold it to Samuel Wetherill, Jr., for $7,000, the property having shrunk to less than one-half the value placed upon it in 1806. For the enterprises of the Wetherills, see Note, Vol. I, p. 102.

[147] Since we have been obliged to enter rather minutely into the history of "Mill Grove," in order to trace the relations of the Audubons to it in an important period of the naturalist's career, the reader may be interested in the anticlimax which its famous mines reached at a later day. The Ecton Consolidated Mining Company had been in operation at "Mill Grove" for a considerable period, when, in 1848, the Perkioming Association was formed and ten thousand dollars was at once invested in machinery. In 1851 these two companies were combined under the name of the Perkioming Consolidated Mining Company, which issued 50,000 shares of stock, at six dollars each, thus representing a capital of $300,000. A mining settlement quickly sprang up on Audubon's old farm, where numerous buildings of stone, a general store, and miners' houses were to be seen. In the first annual statement issued by this company, the buildings were said to represent an outlay of $15,000, while $140,000 had been expended on machinery, both above and below ground. A Cornish expert, who was summoned from England, was paid $1,414 for a verbose report, the substance of which, it was said, was expressed in conveying the information, already known, that the "mineral mined is copper ore" (copper pyrite occurring in association with lead). This company closed its business in 1851, by assessing its stockholders one dollar a share, thus bringing the total loss in this final effort to $350,000, nearly one-third of which had been drawn from Philadelphia. After one, or two, further unsuccessful attempts had been made, all the substantial buildings of the mining works became a quarry, from which stone was sold by the perch, the ruins of the old engine house alone remaining to this day as a witness of the follies of the generations that are gone. (This account is based upon reports which have appeared in the press of Philadelphia or in other Pennsylvania newspapers.)

[148] Samuel Latham Mitchell (1764-1831), physician, naturalist, politician and voluminous writer on many subjects. In 1797 he founded, in association with Dr. Edward Miller and Dr. Elihu H. Smith, the _New York Medical Repository_, and was its chief editor. He began also, at the University of New York, one of the earliest collections in natural history, and in 1817 appealed to the Historical Society of his city for the foundation of a Zoölogical Museum; in the same year he organized the Lyceum of Natural History, and was its first president, Joseph Le Conte serving as corresponding secretary, and John Torrey as one of its curators. On April 9, the following subjects were assigned to different members for investigation, "Ichthyology or fishes, Plaxology or crustaceous animals, Apalology or mollusca, and Geology or the earth" being reserved for the president; Samuel Constantine Rafinesque (see Chapter XIX) took charge of "Helmintology or worms, Polypoligy or polyps, Atmology or Meteorology, Hydrology or waters, and Taxodomy or classification;" John Torrey, who became a distinguished botanist, was more modest, and assumed charge only of "Entomology or insects;" while to John Le Conte were given "Mastodology or mammalia, Erpetology or reptiles, and Glossology or nomenclature." See the _American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review_ (New York) for August, 1817, p. 272.

[149] See Vol. I, p. 185.

[150] Cuvier stated in his report on Audubon's _Birds_, delivered at the Academy of Sciences, Paris, September 22, 1828, that the author had been twenty-five years before a pupil in the school of David. This would place the date in 1803, but earlier than the autumn of that year, when Audubon started for America. See Note, Vol. I, p. 99.

[151] _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p. viii.

[152] F. T. Verger, _Archives curieuses de la ville de Nantes et des départements de l'ouest_ (Nantes, 1837-41); for further references to David in this chapter I am mainly indebted to Georges Cain, _Le Long des Rues_ (Paris, 1812), and Charles Saunier, _Louis David_ (Paris, no date).

[153] The implication as to time, which is repeated above, contradicts an earlier statement, which is probably more nearly correct, for when Audubon returned to America in 1806 he was twenty-one.

[154] See R. W. Shufeldt, in _The Auk_ and the _Audubonian Magazine_ (Bibliography, Nos. 184 and 190).

[155] Referring to the fire of 1835, in New York.

[156] See Chapter XXI.

[157] When it passed into the equally worthy hands of Mr. Joseph Y. Jeanes, of Philadelphia. Mr. Jeanes purchased from the estate of Mr. Edward Harris, 2d, directly or indirectly, and at different times, about 110 of these early originals; others were dispersed, four of early date being in the Museum of Harvard University. Mr. Jeanes also possesses a large section of the Audubon-Harris correspondence, which extended over nearly a quarter of a century, and of which little has been published; to his kindness I am indebted for the privilege of reproducing some of the drawings, as well as numerous extracts from the letters, in the present work.

[158] Audubon said that some of the originals of _The Birds of America_ were "made as long ago as 1805," which may well have been the case, but the earliest date which has been preserved on the drawings is that of July 1, 1808, for "Rathbone's Warbler," later recognized as an immature form of the Summer Warbler. The Carbonated Warbler was drawn May 7, 1811. Seven bear the date of 1812, namely: Yellow-rumped Warbler, April 22; Le petit Caporal, April 23; Wood Pewee, April 28; Blackburnian and Bay-breasted Warblers, May 12; Chestnut-sided Warbler, May 17; and Cuvier's Wren, June 8.

[159] For a list of Audubon's early dated drawings see Appendix II. Through the courtesy of Mr. Jeanes, I am able to reproduce a fuller series of Audubon's early drawings of French and American birds than has hitherto been published, and have chosen the subjects to illustrate the development of his style.

[160] See Vol. I, p. 125.

[161] _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p. 354.

[162] See Appendix II.

[163] See Appendix I, Document No. 11.

[164] This diary was first brought to my attention by Mr. Ruthven Deane, and for permission to reproduce it I am indebted to the kindness of a great-grandson of Ferdinand, Mr. Welton A. Rozier, of Saint Louis. Mr. Rozier writes that the original French notes have been mislaid or lost, but that they were closely followed in this translation, whenever complete. Though numerous verbal changes have been made in the present draft, these have not altered the meaning in any respect. Ferdinand Rozier's narrative begins as follows:

"I left Nantes, France, in company with John James Audubon, on Saturday, the 12th day of April, 1806, bound for the city of New York, U. S. A., on an American ship named the _Polly_, commanded by Captain Sammis, and arrived at New York on Tuesday, the 27th day of May. While on the voyage across the ocean our vessel was stopped, overhauled, searched, and robbed by an English privateer, named the _Rattlesnake_, which detained us a day and a night.

"We remained in New York City for a few days, and then removed to Mill Grove, on Pickering [Perkioming] Creek, in Pennsylvania, a tract of land owned by our fathers, and at that time thought to contain valuable minerals."

[165] In the rich bottom-lands of the Ohio River basin the hackberry or sugarberry (_Celtis occidentals_) sometimes exceeds one hundred feet in height, and has a diameter of from four to five feet.

[166] The population of the second city of Pennsylvania in 1800 was 1,565; in 1840, 4,768; and in 1910, after the annexation of Allegheny, 533,905.

[167] Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl. No. 86), vol. i, p. 28.

[168] See Appendix I, Document No. 11.

[169] See Chapter XI, page 158.

[170] When Audubon was returning with his wife and infant son from Pennsylvania to Kentucky in the autumn of 1810; see "The Ohio," _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p. 29.

[171] In 1800 the population of Louisville was 600, and in 1810 it had risen to 1,350; see Charles Cist, _Cincinnati in 1841_ (Cincinnati, 1841).

[172] For this and the letter of Thomas Bakewell's uncle, William Bakewell, which follows later, I am indebted to Mr. Tom J. Rozier; see Note, Vol. I, p. 133, and for accompanying "Account Current" of Audubon & Rozier, Appendix I, Document No. 11.

[173] See Note, Vol. I, p. 196.

[174] The lead mine at "Mill Grove," which with the remaining Audubon and Rozier interests in the farm had been taken over by Dacosta's company in September, 1806. The failure of Dacosta followed in about a year after the date of this letter.

[175] Victor Gifford Audubon, who was then nine months old.

[176] See Vol. I, p. 153.

[177] William Bakewell died at Philadelphia on March 6, of the same year, after suffering from the effects of a sunstroke, and was, eventually, buried at "Fatland Ford;" in 1822 his farm, originally of 800 acres, passed into the hands of Dr. William Wetherill. See Note, Vol. I, p. 99, and W. G. Bakewell, _Bakewell-Page-Campbell_ (Bibl. No. 200).

[178] In a letter to Alexander Lawson, written from Pittsburgh, on February 22, 1810; see Elliott Coues, "Private Letters of Wilson, Ord, and Bonaparte," _Penn Monthly_, vol. x, pp. 443-455 (Philadelphia, 1879).

[179] See Elliott Coues, _loc. cit._

[180] Letter to Alexander Lawson, dated at Lexington, April 4, 1810; see Grosart, _Poems and Literary Prose of Alexander Wilson_, vol. i, p. 189.

[181] See Grosart, _Poems and Literary Prose of Alexander Wilson_, vol. i, p. xxiv.

[182] For "The Shark, or Lang Mills Detected," a satire directed against William Sharp, a manufacturer of Paisley; Wilson was fined £12 13s. 6d.

[183] See Bibliography, No. 43.

[184] At Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on October 3, 1799, Alexander Wilson sent George Simpson, Esq., a State Treasurer's check in favor of Joseph Brown for $475, to be entered to the credit of Mr. Brown as one installment on 38 shares of scrip in the new loan at eight per cent, in the names of Thomas Eyes, 14 shares; Alexander Wilson, 14 shares; and Kenneth Sewell, 10 shares.

[185] This was the American edition of Abraham Rees' revision of Ephraim Chambers' _Cyclopædia_, which had appeared in London in 1728; it was published at Philadelphia, in forty-one quarto volumes of text and six volumes of plates, by Samuel F. Bradford and the Messrs. Murray, Fairman & Company, 1810-1824.

[186] "The types," said Charles Robert Leslie, "which were very beautiful, were cast in America, and though at that time paper was largely imported, he [Mr. Bradford] determined that the paper should be of American manufacture; and I remember that Ames, the paper maker, carried his patriotism so far that he declared that he would use only American rags in making it." (_Autobiographical Recollections_, Boston, 1860.)

[187] The _American Ornithology: or, the Natural History of the Birds of the United States_: Illustrated with Plates Engraved and Colored from Original Drawings taken from Nature, by Alexander Wilson, was published in nine imperial quarto volumes by Messrs. Bradford and Inskeep, at Philadelphia, 1808-1814. Each volume contained nine plates and from 100 to 167 pages of text, exclusive of prefatory and other matter. The eighth volume, which was nearly ready for press at the time of the author's death, was edited by George Ord, Wilson's friend and executor; the final volume, which was wholly by Ord, and which was issued in the same year, contained a life of Wilson. After the appearance of the initial volume, the edition was extended to 500 copies and the first volume was entirely reset. Ord's life of Wilson was expanded for a three-volume edition of the _Ornithology_, and from oversheets of this work was produced as a separate volume in 1828 (see Note, Vol. I, p. 223).

Wilson's published lists of subscribers show 449 names, calling for 458 copies, more than half of which were taken by residents of Pennsylvania, New York and Louisiana; 70 were subscribed for in Philadelphia, chiefly by business men, artists, and "those in the middle class of society;" New Orleans in seventeen days gave him 60 subscribers; Europe supplied 15, among whom were William Roscoe, later a patron of Audubon, and Benjamin West, the artist. Wilson figured and described 278 species of American birds (within the limits of the United States), of which 56 were supposed to be new, and the total number, given by Wilson and Ord, is said to be 320. Twenty-three species were erroneously supposed to be identical with their European counterparts, yet all of Wilson's birds except the "Small-headed Flycatcher," referred to at the end of this chapter, have been identified. Considering the time and the difficulties under which he labored, his mistakes were remarkably few.

[188] See Vol. I, p. 340.

[189] See a letter to Professor S. S. Haldeman, dated February 6, 1879, in _Penn Monthly_, vol. x (Philadelphia, 1879).

[190] _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p. 437.

[191] _Sketch of the Life of Alexander Wilson, Author of the American Ornithology_, by George Ord, F. L. S. &c. pp. i-cxcix, Philadelphia, 1828; taken from vol. i of an octavo edition of Wilson, edited by Ord, and issued by Harrison Hall, in three volumes, at Philadelphia in 1828-29, with folio atlas of plates reproduced from the original work; see Note 187, _supra_.

[192] See Ord's charge of plagiarism against Audubon (Bibl. No. 145) in the _Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society_, vol. i (1840). So far as could be ascertained in the summer of 1915, Wilson's diary of 1810 was not in the possession of any library or scientific society in Philadelphia, nor was it in the large collection of books which was given by Ord to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of that city at the time of his death in 1866.

[193] The bracketed lines are from Waterton, who once stated that he had examined the original.

[194] This sentence is quoted from Burns' biographical sketch of Wilson (Bibl., No. 161), but tenses are changed to correspond with other entries.

[195] _Musicapa minuta_, which appears in Figure 5, Plate 50, of volume vi of Wilson's _American Ornithology_ (pp. 62-63 of the text), and in Figure 2, Plate ccccxxxiv, of Audubon's _Birds of America_ (_Ornithological Biography_, vol. v, pp. 291-3).

[196] Nevertheless so careful and discerning a naturalist as Thomas Nuttall confidently asserted that his friend, Mr. M. C. Pickering, had "obtained a specimen several years ago near Salem (Massachusetts)"; see _A Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and Canada_ (Cambridge, 1832). Dr. Elliott Coues at one time thought that it might have been the Pine-creeping Warbler, and Professor Baird identified it as the female or young of the Hooded Warbler.

[197] Compare _Ornithological Biography_, vol. iii, p. 203, where in Audubon's article on the Whooping Crane, there is this note: "Louisville, State of Kentucky, March, 1810. I had the gratification of taking Alexander Wilson to some ponds within a few miles of town, and of showing him many birds of this species, of which he had not previously seen any other than stuffed specimens. I told him that the white birds were the adults, and that the grey ones were the young. Wilson, in his article on the Whooping Crane, has alluded to this, but, as on other occasions, he has not informed his readers whence his information came."

[198] What appear to be the original legends, written on this drawing in ink, are as follows: "Chute de l'Ohio. July 1, 1808. No. 31. J. A. Que j'avais figuré [?] 12 pennes à la queue." Above were later added, also in ink, the names, "sylvia Trochilus delicata; Sylvia delicata, Aud."

[199] On this drawing, which with Audubon's other originals is in the collections of the Historical Society of New York, the legends are as follows: "Mississippi Kite, Male, Falco mississippiensis; Drawn from nature by John J. Audubon, Louisiana, parish of Feliciana, James Perrie's Esq., Plantation. June 28th, 1821. Length 14 inches; Breadth 3 feet, ½ inches; Weight 10¾ ounces; Tail feathers, 12." It is drawn in his usual style of that period, in pastel, water color and pencil, and has been dismounted.

[200] See Vol. I, p. 305.

[201] _American Ornithology_, vol. iii, p. 80.

[202] See Witmer Stone, "Some Letters of Alexander Wilson and John Abbot," _The Auk_, vol. xxiii, 1906.

[203] In 1840, by W. B. O. Peabody, naturalist; author of a _Life_ of Wilson; see Bibliography, No. 105.

[204] Vincent Nolte, _Fifty Years in Both Hemispheres_ (Bibl. No. 176).

[205] The first steamboat on the Ohio was the _Orleans_, a vessel of 200-400 tons, built at Pittsburgh in the summer and fall of 1811, by Robert Fulton and Robert M. Livingston; her first voyage, when she touched at Henderson, was signalized, as it seemed to many, by the great earthquakes of that year. The first Kentucky steamer was built at Henderson in 1817, the same year that a small vessel was constructed by Samuel Bowen and J. J. Audubon at the same place (see Chapter XVI). Compare Edmund L. Starling, _History of Henderson County, Kentucky_ (Bibl. No. 186).

[206] Known first as Redbank or Redbanks, to distinguish it from Yellowbank, or Owensboro, on a similar bend farther upstream; called also Hendersonville, but this term had no official standing. The population of Henderson in 1810 is given as 159, and that of the entire county, then larger than at present, as 5,000. See Starling, _op. cit._

[207] See Vol. I, p. 235.

[208] See translations from copies of the originals, in French, in possession of the Louisiana Historical Society, New Orleans, in Appendix I, Document No. 21.

[209] Boat for the exchange of prisoners of war.

[210] Compare Note, Vol. I, p. 152.

[211] See Note, Vol. I, p. 148.

[212] For this characterization of Ferdinand Rozier I am indebted mainly to an account by his son, Firman A. Rozier, at one time mayor of Ste. Geneviève and member of the State Legislature; see his _History of the Early Settlement of the Mississippi Valley_ (Bibl. No. 202) (St. Louis, 1890).

[213] For a photograph of the old Rozier store at Ste. Geneviève, as well as for the likeness of Rozier, made in 1862, when he was in his eighty-fifth year, I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Ruthven Deane, who received them from a son of Ferdinand, Felix Rozier, in November, 1905, when the latter had attained his eighty-third year.

[214] While living at Henderson the Audubons lost their two daughters, Rosa and Lucy, both of whom died when very young.

[215] "The Earthquake," _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2) vol. i, p. 280.

[216] This journey was probably made in February, though the date is given as April (see Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_, vol. i, p. 44), if the legends of four drawings of this time are to be trusted; all are labeled Pennsylvania, and bear the following dates: Swamp Sparrow, March, 1812; Spotted Sandpiper, April 22, 1812; White-throated Sparrow, April 24, 1812; and Whippoorwill, May 7, 1812.

[217] _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p. 81. In his biographical sketch of 1835 Audubon said that this occurred on his first return from Ste. Geneviève to Henderson (in 1811), a contradiction characteristic of his manner of dealing with biographical and historical details. For an account of this "Episode," see Chapter XVIII.

[218] For early references to Henderson I am indebted mainly to Edmund L. Starling, _History of Henderson County, Kentucky_ (Bibl. No. 186), who had access to all the town and county records.

[219] In 1819, the year of Audubon's departure, 129 town lots had been sold, while 29 had been given to privileged persons or to prospective settlers.

[220] According to the town records, as quoted by Starling, on December 22, 1813, Audubon purchased lots numbers 95 and 96, which were one-half of the square lying on the west side of Third Street and between Green and Elm Streets, from General Samuel Hopkins, agent of the Messrs. Richard Henderson & Company; on September 3, 1814, he bought lots numbers 91 and 92, or one-half of the square on the west side of Second Street, between Green and Elm. The mill site on the Ohio River was a part of the land given to Henderson by the Transylvania Company, the original owners of a large part of Kentucky; this site was leased for 99 years to J. J. Audubon, was sold and resold, but reverted to the city of Henderson in 1915. In the latter year the project was broached of obtaining the original mill site, together with adjoining property along the river, and converting the whole into a public park dedicated to Audubon.

[221] At a somewhat later time the naturalist occupied a one-story frame house, built in 1814, which stood at the corner of Fourth and Main Streets; see Starling, _op. cit._

[222] See Note 15, Vol. I, p. 124.

[223] A Henderson correspondent of Joseph M. Wade, under the signature of "W. S. J.," August 8, 1883, gave the following account of the structure. The original mill covered forty-five by sixty-five feet, and consisted of four stories and basement; the basement walls of stone stood four feet thick, while at the third story the thickness was three feet; the three upper stories were in frame. The studding measured three by six, and the rafters four by eight, inches. Many of the large timbers that could then be seen were sound and apparently good for a century or more. Parts of the old machinery that had been used in the grist mill were lying about under the eaves; the building was then used as a tobacco stemmery. See Joseph M. Wade (Bibl. No. 182), _Ornithologist and Oölogist_, vol. viii, p. 79 (1883).

The old Audubon mill in more recent times was incorporated into a warehouse for the storage of leaf tobacco; it was burned to the ground on March 18, 1913.

[224] The mill is supposed to have cost about $15,000; of this sum Thomas Pears is said to have contributed from $3,000 to $4,000, and William Bakewell a similar amount in the interest of his son, while Audubon presumably furnished the balance.

[225] Maria R. Audubon, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 47.

[226] In his journal of 1820 Audubon said that after the withdrawal of Bakewell, "men with whom I had long been associated offered me a partnership. I accepted, and a small ray of light appeared in my business, but a revolution occasioned by a numberless quantity of failures put all to an end."

[227] One of J. J. Audubon & Company's bills is here reproduced from Starling, _op. cit._

"To the President and Directors of the Bank of Henderson to Henderson steam mill:

"To three pieces of scantling, 56 feet, 4½ c $2.52

"To ten pieces of scantling, 34 feet ——

"To sixty rafters, 714 feet, at 4 c 28.56

"To five pieces scantling, 40 feet, at 3 c 1.20

"To fifteen joists [?], 278½ feet, at 6 c 16.71 ——— "J. J. Audubon & Co." $48.99

[228] According to W. G. Bakewell, _Bakewell-Page-Campbell_ (Bibl. No. 200), Thomas Bakewell sold his interest in the store and mill to Audubon in 1817, but this is contradicted by other accounts. For the incident which follows, see Maria R. Audubon, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 34.

[229] See Dixon L. Merritt (Bibl. No. 226a), "Audubon in Kentucky," _The Taylor-Trotwood Magazine_, vol. 10 (1909), p. 293.

[230] Thomas Bakewell later became a successful builder of steamboats, first at Pittsburgh, and after 1824 at Cincinnati, where he was an important factor in the rising commerce of the Ohio Valley, and where he left his mark on the history of that city. As a theoretical mechanic in iron and wood he is said to have had no superior; his business was nearly destroyed in the panic of 1837, and he never regained his financial position. To his credit also it must be added that in 1860, at the age of seventy-two, he began at the bottom of the ladder again by engaging as a clerk with a paper company at Cincinnati, and, refusing the proffered aid of his children, he did not give up work until his eightieth year, seven years before his death in 1874. See W. G. Bakewell, _Bakewell-Page-Campbell_ (Bibl. No. 200).

[231] Audubon was not so accurate when in his biographical sketch of 1835 he said: "Finally I paid every bill, and at last left Henderson probably forever...," for when at Charleston with Bachman in 1834, one of his former creditors attempted to sue him for debt and apparently carried his case to court. When Bachman asked for an explanation, Audubon wrote from New York, April 5, 1834, as follows: "Respecting the suit let me tell you ... that I went to Gaol at Louisville after having given up all to my creditors, and that I took the benefit of the act of insolvency at the Louisville Court House, Kentucky, before Judge Fortunatus Crosby & many witnesses, and that a copy of the record of that step can easily be had from that court.... I wish friend Donkin to do all he can to put a _Conclusion_—stop to this matter, for it makes me sick at heart." The lawyer here referred to was probably Judge Dunkin, friend of Bachman and distinguished in his profession, who had a plantation at Waccamaw, near Charleston, South Carolina (see Chapter XXVII, Vol. II, p. 64.)

[232] See Chapter IX, p. 63.

[233] For complete text of these wills, in the original, See Appendix I, Documents 13-18.

[234] See Note 4, Vol. I, p 27. The suit brought by these plaintiffs was based upon a French law, which at that time debarred a natural child from inheriting property.

[235] Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl. No. 86), vol i, pp. iii and 130.

[236] Lucy B. Audubon, ed., _The Life of John James Audubon_ (Bibl. No. 73), p. 55.

[237] See Chapter VIII, p. 121.

[238] See Chapter II, pp. 33 and 34.

[239] From G. L. du Puigaudeau's copy of his letter to John James Audubon (at Henderson), dated "Couëron, August 15, 1819," translated from the French. (Lavigne MSS.)

[240] See Vol. I, p. 64.

[241] This, and the letter to follow, translated from Gabriel du Puigaudeau's copies. (Lavigne MSS.)

[242] This reference is evidently to the litigation over Lieutenant Audubon's will and the final disposition of his estate.

[243] It was thought that Victor had come to settle the family's financial affairs, and his uncle and aunt asked if this were the case; he replied that it was not, that the children of Jean Audubon who were in America had taken their [share of the] property in that country, while those in France had theirs in France; he considered that all was settled, but if Rosa's children wished for any money, they had but to ask for it, and the heirs in America would send them what they desired; the subject was then dropped. A considerable correspondence followed this visit, but the letters were all destroyed about twenty-five years ago by Monsieur du Puigaudeau, when putting his effects in order. This account is given on the authority of Monsieur Lavigne.

[244] These passages, which were shown to me by his granddaughter, Miss Maria R. Audubon, in 1914, but not for publication, occur in his journals under the following dates; June 4, 1826, at sea; March 15, 1827, at Edinburgh, after describing a visit of Lady Selkirk and her daughter; again on the 18th of March of the same or the following year; and on October 8, 1828, when writing to his wife from Paris and reflecting on the advisability of visiting his old home at Nantes. While these extraordinary passages are not quoted, out of deference to the wishes of his granddaughters, it seems only just to Audubon, in view of the revelations that have already been made, to add this brief reference to the incidents in question.

[245] This statement was made to me in 1914 by Miss Maria R. Audubon.

[246] See Note, Vol. I, p. 27.

[247] In the first three volumes only of the _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), being omitted from the last two on account of the exigencies of space.

[248] _Ornithological Biography_, vol. iii, p. 270.

[249] While the object of this visit is not mentioned in the "Episode," it is stated in the second biographical sketch; the ambiguities connected with the sale of this farm, in which others besides Audubon were then interested, are discussed in