CHAPTER XXIX

SIDELIGHTS ON AUDUBON AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES

What was a Quinarian?—Controversy over the authorship of the _Ornithological Biography_—Audubon's quaint proposal—Swainson's reply—Friendship suffers a check—Species-mongers—Hitting at one over the shoulders of another—Swainson as a biographer—His career—Bonaparte's grievance—A fortune in ornithology—Labors of John Gould and his relations with Audubon—The freemasonry of naturalists.

Few, probably, ever attain marked success in their chosen field without exciting jealous rivalry or misrepresentation on the part of some of their contemporaries. Audubon was no exception to the rule, but in this respect he has been subject to so much misunderstanding that the reader is entitled to know the truth, whenever it can be ascertained. An instance of this sort was furnished by the English naturalist, William Swainson, whose relations with Audubon have been touched upon in earlier chapters.

In April, 1828, Swainson published an eulogistic account of some of Audubon's plates, and shortly after they became good friends, as their familiar letters already reproduced amply testify;[88] in the autumn of that year, as we have related, they visited Paris together, and they kept up a correspondence for a number of years. At this time Swainson was known as a systematic zoölogist of merit and an excellent draughtsman, having published a series of "Zoölogical Illustrations" that seem to have been well received. Moreover, as early as 1824, he had adopted the notorious "Circular System" of the classification of animals, and at this time was its most zealous advocate in England. The tenets of this curious doctrine, often called "Quinarianism" from the recurrence of the number _5_, was confused in a mystical jargon which conveys little meaning to a reader of today; it was derived from William Sharp MacLeay, who had advocated a similar system in his _Horae Entomologicae_, published in 1821. According to Swainson's creed, "all things that have life have been created upon one plan, and this plan is founded on the principle of a series of affinities returning into themselves; which can only be represented by a circle." "This sublime discovery," which, as Swainson thought, was sufficient "to immortalize a name," was duly attributed to his "illustrious countryman."[89]

In the summer of 1830, when Audubon was ready to prepare the letterpress of his mammoth plates and needed assistance in its technical details, he applied to his friend Swainson, who, as we have seen, was then living at a farmstead in the Hertfordshire country, not far from St. Albans.[90] Some of the letters which passed between the two naturalists after the return of the former to England, in the spring of that year, will now be given, without amelioration or change of any sort. It should be remembered that Swainson at this time was in an overwrought state, since he was dependent mainly upon his scientific writings for the support of a family of five children, oppressed by pecuniary difficulties, and, no doubt, irritated by lack of success and the rebuffs which a leading part in the Quinarian movement was certain to entail. Audubon's letter[91] which follows served to answer that of Swainson, bearing date of January 30, 1830,[92] had been received in America but too late for the fulfillment of its commissions. References to Audubon's "book," which unfortunately proved a stumbling block in the path of friendship, are noticed here and in Swainson's reply for the first time.

_Audubon to William Swainson_

LONDON, _May 5th 1830_.

MY DEAR MR. SWAINSON,

You may be assured that nothing but an over [_word undecipherable_] or [_another similar word_] has stopt me from writing to you sooner, Yet I would have had the pleasure of announcing you my return to good old England had I not been informed by Mr. Havell that you we apraised of it when last in town & that more over you were quite well.—I hope that your kind wife and children are equally so and happy.—I brought my good wife with me to Liverpool where she is for a while with her sister Mrs. Gordon & the family Rathbourn. We had a rough voyage of 25 days & glad to be back on this hospitable shore. I am sorry to say that your last letter to me (I presume) did not reach me in time to enable me to procure either squirrels or birds for you.—I have indeed brought about 150 birds and some of them good singers and beautifull but all are on Double Elephant Paper—they may and I hope they will please your eyes, when I have the satisfaction to shake you by the hand the first time you come to town.—I called on Mr. Lea at Philadelphia, but he told me that you had countermanded your wishes to me & has given me a memorandum to that effect—Mr. Gilpin on whom I also called told me that your travelling boxes had forwardd. I saw Mr. Ward at New York he is doing _extremely well_ if what he told me is true. I saw M. le Comte also.—I have just taken the Reins of my Mammoth Publication which by the way I am glad to find in a good way of process or progress. I am greatly indebted to Mr. Children and grateful to him—Havell has done his part I think well and now I will set about procuring subscriptions with new ardour. Now in return of this packet of information I am very desirous to know what you are engaged at present in the way of science; I feel as if I had a world of talk for you.—Bonaparte's 4th volume is printing have you seen the third? I have it at Liverpool by this time.—I wrote to the author this morning.—I am well pleased with my voyage I think it will be of material advantage to my work my health & my comfort—We have left our two sons quite well and doing well at the Falls of the Ohio where I killed a fine Turkey about _forty days since_. Those sent to the Zoological Gardens alive have had ill luck. They received only one and 3 Oppossums—The blue Gias [?] and Parakets are not yet arrived, and Mr. Rathbone as well as Mr. Shepherd told me (to my great sorrow) that the last shipment of 10,000 forest trees were all dead. How did those sent to you?—I have commenced the having a complete collection of the Birds of America in skins & have instituted some agents in the U. S. to provide for me. So much have I seen of those dear creatures of the feathered creation that I feel even now as if I heard their notes and saw their all elegant movements.—I am going to _write a book!_ but more of this when we meet.—do you know that the poor woodsman who now is scribling to you will take his seat at the Royal Society of London tomorrow—the very words make my head whirl and I will stand it I do not know—I will indeed be glad when I am _seated_.—Mrs A and myself had the pleasure of being very kindly received and treated by our President Jackson Congress subscribed, I procured there four more and an act will be passed to enter my works Paintings etc free of the customs.—It is past 5 and I have to pay a penny, I wish I were allowed to write untill time made it a shilling so much do I think I could still trouble you with, however as time and tide wait neither for me or others I must conclude by begging that you will remember me most kindly to your amiable wife—kiss your little Folk and believe me

sincerely your friend

JOHN J. AUDUBON

_William Swainson to Audubon_

_Saturday, 1[10?] May, 1830. _

Welcome once more, my good friend to merry England:

I had indeed heard from Havell, with the greatest pleasure, that you had safely landed at Liverpool; and I regret very much that you did not reach London before I had left it; for I am now much seldomer in town than formerly, and I know not when I may have the power to do so again. My old and most valued friend Mr. Burchell has also, to my great delight, just returned to England after _six years_ spent in wandering over the Forests and Andes of South America bringing with him collections, that will make everything else in this country _sink into utter insignificance_, he too, is longing to see me, and if I possibly can get away for a day next week, with two such desirable objects I will, but my literary engagements bind me, hand and foot.

You think that I do not know that you are an F. R. S.—you are mistaken, furthermore, you will be surprised at knowing I have been fighting your battles against a rising opposition which originated among some of your _Ornithological friends_ (at least so I strongly suspect) for the purpose of your name being _blackballed_. But more of this when we meet, such matters had better not be committed to paper.

The whole of your bundle of young trees reached me as withered sticks, not a spark of life in any one of them.

So you are going to write a book 'tis a thing of little moment for one who is not known, because they have no reputation to loose, but much will be expected from _you_, and you must, therefore, as the saying is, _put your best leg foremost_. I am coming fast round to the prejudice, as you may think it, against the Americans.

Dr. Richardson's and my own volume on the Arctic Birds, is now in press. Not being able to refer to your plates, I have not had the power to quote your work, you know how repeatedly I have applied on this head, both to you and Mr. Havell in vain.

Prince C. Bonaparte has long promised me his second & third volume but they have never come. Ward[93] is a regular _Scamp_ he has taught me a good lesson—fool that he is—and that is, to steal my heart against distress such as his was, and to consult, like all the rest of the world, my own interest only. I am sick of the world and of mankind, and but for my family would end my days in my beloved forests of Brazil.

So Mr. Lea[94] did not settle my account with you? I have found _him out_, also, to be no better than he should be. He also is one of your _friends_ who would, if he could, cut your throat. Another _friend_ of yours has been in England, Mr. Ord and has been doing you all the _good_ he can: if these are samples of American Naturalists, defend me from ever coming in contact with any of their whole race.

Mrs. Swainson's health I am grieved to say, has suffered much the last twelve months, she is now at Birmingham with the children. I have not failed to mention your kind inquiries after both, whenever Havell has a parcel for me, I hope you will occasionally accompany it with a few lines.

Yours my dear Sir very faith'ly

W. SWAINSON

JOHN J. AUDUBON at MR. HAVELL'S 79 Newman St. Oxford St.

As already noticed, Audubon started on a canvassing tour late in July, 1830, as announced in the following letter to Swainson, but he changed his plans, and instead of returning to London, went to Edinburgh, and again settled there for the winter.

_Audubon to William Swainson_

_July 26th 1830._

MY DEAR FRIEND,

I was particularly pleased at receiving yours of the 22nd this _morning_, I cannot well say where it has rambled since it was dated, but certainly its migration has not been that of a Swallow for instance.—

Thank you about the Jay—It has been my misfortune to have been _rather_ misunderstood by you respecting what you please to call "Poor Nomenclators" had I not _some_ regard for you all of that nobler breed I would not borrow names in my work but would have like some others, made new ones right out.—_If you have_ a new Woodpecker from the _visited states_, a new species, I will feel greatly honoured to have it dedicated to me, and the more so by you who first dared _in good faith_ to write respecting an unknown woodsman—one of my case[s] is come to hand, I gave from it to the British Museum _thirty skins_ several of which are very rare indeed and 3 of which I [_here a word is apparently omitted by the writer_] as 3 new [_here another word is omitted_]—I have males and females of the woodpecker you speak of quite at your service for a few weeks—and I have also a _few duplicates_ for you altogether as I promised.—Say how I am to send them—I go to Bristol tomorrow in search of subscribers for ten days—To Paris on the 15th of August—have written to queen Adelaide this pleasant morning & am glad to see that you are all well. Mr. A. joins in respects to you all & I am as ever

your friend most truly

JOHN J. AUDUBON

[The following note is written up the side of the page across the main letter:]

I cannot at present say When we can avail ourselves of your kind invitation but will let you know in good time should we but find it convenient to you when we return.—

It should be noticed that the revolution in France which upset the Bourbon dynasty occurred just as Audubon was leaving London, and that the House of Orleans, in the person of Louis Philippe, was seated on the throne the day the following letter[95] was written; very likely Audubon was not reluctant to change his plan of visiting Paris after hearing of these events, although he had enjoyed an interview with the new king, who was his patron.

_William Swainson to Audubon_

_Saturday 7 August 1830._

MY DEAR MR. AUDUBON

as you was on the point of leaving London, when you wrote your last letter, I did not reply to it. This will probably find you returned from your excursion, and I hope with every success, on the score of increased subscribers, that you had anticipated, If you will be so good as send me your specimens of the Woodpeckers to Havell's, I shall be very glad to see them, and they shall be returned to you after examination with the Arctic ones. You will assist me very much by any _Duplicates_ you can spare me, I particularly want a pair of the Ivory billed Woodpecker, the No Am: Parrots. Summer red birds and the Painted Buntlings also the Pinecreeping Warbler. m & fem.

I do not expect that these most wonderful events in France will deter you from going, seeing that everything is now quiet. The french are certainly a great nation. I never had such an opinion of them as I now have.

I suppose you will be at the Dinner to Cuvier on Tuesday, when you will no doubt hear complements passing about, and a long speech from Mr Vigors. I have neither time nor health for such things.

Our united true regards to Mrs Audubon. In haste

very faithfully yours

W SWAINSON

J. J. AUDUBON ESQ. 43 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury.

From Manchester Audubon sent Swainson this letter, in which he makes a quaint proposal regarding the text of his projected work, suggesting that they combine their resources and their families, he to provide the ideas, as well as his own wine or ale, while Swainson furnished the science.

_Audubon to William Swainson_

MANCHESTER _22nd August 1830_.

MY DEAR MR. SWAINSON,—

At the time that I sent you the Woodpeckers skins, I had not a moment to spare or be assured I would have answered your note—When I opened my boxes of skins I had the mortification to find most of them touched by insects—I felt a desire that those nondescribed specimen [s] which I had should go to a public institution & I therefore presented them to the British Museum through my friend Children—I sent others to New Castle upon Tyne some to this place and some to our friends Selby & Sir Wm Jardine.—respecting the Woodpeckers which you look upon as knew I will merely say that if for instance it differs from all others known by having the top of the head entirely red that it may be a young bird, I say this because I do not know if you are acquainted with the fact that almost all the Woodpecker tribe have this in their youth more or less extended but after the first moult they assume the red in the form they are to wear it during life. I sent you a young of the Downy in that state—and if I recollect well also one of the Golden Winged—had you sent me your specimen, I _think_ I could assisted you in determining if or no it is a new bird.—should you become satisfied on that head, and I am honoured with its being named after me, I will feel gratified and thankful to you.—Mrs. Audubon is with me & we are bound to the Scotch Lakes & will return in about 2 months.—I am desirous to hear from you if you can have the time to spare & the inclination to _Bear a hand_ in the text of my work.—by my furnishing you with the ideas & observations which I have and you to add _the science which I have not_!—If it would suit you and Mrs Swainson to take us as borders for few months when being almost always together I could partake of your observations & you of mine.—I would like to receive here your ideas on this subject & if possible what amount you would expect from us as remuneration.—My first volume will comprise an introduction and _one hundred letters addressed to the Reader_ referring to the 100 plates forming the first volume of my illustrations.—I will enter even on local descriptions of the country.—Adventures and anecdotes, speak of the trees & the flowers the reptiles or the fishes or insects as far as I know—I wish if possible to make a _pleasing_ book as well as an _instruction_ one.—In the event of my living with you we will furnish our own wines, porter or ale.—

I hope you know me well enough to write to me your ideas without fearing any offence done us should you find it either disagreeable or inconvenient, indeed this is simply to know from you if such a thing is at all likely to be advantageous to all parties.—We leave this on Saturday for Leeds and I will be glad to hear from you then—I have a confounded steel pen that scratches abominably.—Present Mrs Audubon's kind regards to your good Lady & accept Yourself our united good wishes,

your friend

JOHN J. AUDUBON.

Address to the care of THOS FOWLER Esq. Bookseller Aug 22nd 1830 Manchester.

[Superscribed] WM SWAINSON Esq. Tittenhanger Green Nr St Albans, Herts.

In Swainson's clear and candid reply,[96] which followed at once, all was figured "to a nicety"; he would supply his share of the matter at the rate of three dollars and seventy-eight cents per printed page, with an extra charge for corrections; he would follow his own ideas, but strive to avoid any conflict of opinion, and would expect his name to stand on the title.

_William Swainson to Audubon_

[between _August 24 and 28, 1830_] Thursday

MY DEAR MR. AUDUBON.

I received your letter yesterday, and hasten to reply to it. By some mistake or other, of Havell's, he has not sent the birds to which you allude, and I did not of course know that you had left them with him, now to your two propositions.

First, as to boarding with us, you do not know probably, that this is never done in England, except as a matter of necessity or profession, in which case the domestic establishment is framed accordingly. But this consideration would have no influence with me, in _your_ case did other circumstances allow of it. It would however be attended with so many changes in our every-day domestic arrangements, that it becomes impossible.

Secondly, as to the proposition I once made to you, I am fearful you have put it out of my power to do _so much_ as I _might_ have done, from your having distributed the very birds which would have been the materials I was to work upon; and upon which only, any scientific observations truly original, (& therefore _worth_ putting into your book), must be founded. Fortunately, however, my own collection is not poor in North American Specimens, and these would still furnish a mass of interesting information to _the Scientific_. It would be, however, highly advisable that all these species which I have not, but which you have brought home, and given away, should be borrowed back again, without delay.

Next as to plan. I have always told you that the plan you mention, so far as your own narrative goes, is the _very best_ which could possibly be chosen. _You_ have to speak of the birds as they are alive, _I_ to speak of their outward form, structure, and their place in the great System of their Creator, for the true system, if I have, or anybody else, has discovered is not a _Human_ System. If my views are correct, every observation you make, _plain_, _unvarnished_, and strictly _accurate_, will fully and perfectly harmonize. Our parts are totally distinct, and we have no occasion to consult with each other what we should say at every page. Where our views may differ, I shall not, of course, say anything. My own remarks had better be kept distinct, in the form of "Scientific Notes" to each letter, at the end, and in this way you will make the work, the _standard authority_ on American Ornithology, which without Science, it certainly would not be, however interesting or valuable in other respects.

As to time, and remuneration, I shall have completed all my portion of Dr. Richardson's works in two months. I can then _devote_ a portion of each day to yours. The terms of my remuneration will be those which I always receive from the Booksellers, and which are fixed, worth twelve guineas a sheet of the same size and Type as the Zoölogical Journal, each sheet being 16 pages, and each page averages 390 words, the calculation is there brought to a nicety, and you may spend as much as you choose. If I have to revise and correct the proofs, make alterations etc. that will be something additional, I always charge this by the _time_ each sheet takes me, and would come to from 5/ to 7/6 a sheet but the booksellers generally give me a round sum, which I name after trying the three first sheets of a work, with Dr. Richardson's the case was different, I there had 300 £ for my assistance and drawings. It would of course be understood that my name stands in the title page as responsible for such portion as concerns me.

Should we arrange this matter, it will be time enough to fix on other minor points. But I should like to know your decision soon, as I have been applied to in another quarter. Indeed I am already so full of business, that I have two years active employment ahead of me. I go for two days to assist Burchell[97] in the arrangement of his African Birds prior to publication, at the end of the month, I shall bear in mind what you say on the Woodpecker but I have peculiar notions on _Species_, which, as I _believe_ them correct, so I do not suffer to be influenced by others, you will see more of this in my Book of American Birds.[98] Our kindest remembrance to Mrs. Audubon, and always look upon me as your sincere, but very plain spoken friend,

W. SWAINSON.

P. S. I had a long letter from Chas. Bonaparte the other day, Vigors is gone to Rome!!

[Addressed] J. J. AUDUBON c/o Mr. THOMAS FOWLER, Bookseller, Manchester.

[Endorsed by Audubon:] Answered 29th Aug. 1830. J. J. A.

Audubon's next letter, which was written from Manchester on August 29, must have been distinctly provocative, to judge from the following caustic reply[99] which it drew forth; this is dated, "Tittenhanger Green, 2d October, 1830":

_William Swainson to Audubon_

MY DR SIR

I have refrained from replying to your letter until I thought you had returned to London.

Either you do not appear to have understood the nature of my proposition on supplying scientific information for your work, or you are very erroneously informed on the matter in which such assistance is usually given. Dr. Richardson, and a hundred others, similarly situated, might with equal justice say that no name should appear but their own; as it would rob them of their fame, because notes are furnished by one or two other persons, your friends would tell you, if you enquired of them, that even _my_ name would _add_ something to the value of the "The Birds of America". You pay me compliments on my scientific knowledge, and wished you possessed a portion; & you liken the acquisition of such a portion to purchasing the sketch of an eminent painter—the simile is good, but allow me to ask you, whether, after procuring the sketch, you would mix it up with your own, and pass it off to your friends as your production? I cannot possibly suppose that such would be your duplicity and I therefore must not suppose that you intended that I should give all the scientific information I have laboured to acquire during twenty years on ornithology—conceal my name,—and transfer my fame to your pages & to your reputation.

Few have enjoyed the opportunity of benefiting by the advice and assistance of a scientific friend so much as yourself; and no one, I must be allowed to say, has evinced so little inclination to profit by it. When I call to mind the repeated offers I have made you to correct the nomenclature of your birds, from the first time of our acquaintance, and recollect the dislike you appeared to have to receiving any such information or correction, I cannot but feel perfect surprize at you now wishing to profit by that aid, you have hitherto been so indifferent about.

Let me however urge upon you one advise which, for your own sake, I should be sorry you despised. It is to characterize yourself, or get some friend to do so for you, all your new species. The specimens, you tell me, are now in England, & the task will be comparatively easy. I urge this, because you may not be aware that a new species, deposited in a museum, is of no authority whatsoever, _until its name and its character are_ published. I have repeatedly set my face against such authorities, so has Mr. Vigors, so has Ch. Bonaparte, and on this head we are all perfectly unanimous. Unless, therefore, this is done, you will, I am fearful, loose the credit of discovering nearly all the new species you possess, and this I again repeat, for your own sake I should be sorry for. To me, individually, your not doing so, would rather be advantageous.

The more a book is quoted, the more is its merits admitted, and its authority established. it was on this account I so repeatedly requested the _use_ only, of a copy of your book, that it might have been cited in "Northern Zoölogy"[100] not having it—I could not therefore mention it.

I shall always be as thankful to you as formerly for any information on the habits, economy, and manners of birds; but, as to _species_, I want not, nor do I ever ask, the opinions of any one. that is quite a different matter, and entertaining peculiar ideas on that subject, you must not feel surprised at my differing from you in almost every instance. My reasons will always be laid before the public. In the present case, we totally differ about _species_ of Woodpeckers. I shall not, however propitiate a favourable opinion from you, or any one, by a compliment and therefore I will wait for some species which you yourself will admit, which I shall then give your name to, I am rather glad you did not accept my offer, for I am _now_ assisting in bringing out an Octavo edition of Wilson, by Sir W Jardine which will be arranged according to _my_ nomenclature.

Yours my dr Sir Very faithy

W SWAINSON

The letter just quoted naturally served as a check to their intimacy, but Audubon did not withdraw his friendly hand, as shown by his letters to follow later, though his answer to this has not been preserved.[101]

Audubon reached Edinburgh early in October, soon after receiving Swainson's decisive reply, and immediately made an arrangement with MacGillivray, as already related.[102] It is evident from Swainson's letter that when Audubon called upon him for editorial aid, he was by no means ready to defer to him wholly in the matter of naming his birds, a subject in which Swainson regarded himself as the first of living authorities. Swainson's pride was also wounded at Audubon's apparent lack of appreciation of the weight which his name would carry if allowed to grace the title pages of his works, and he speaks of Audubon as if he were ready to bargain for scientific information but determined to withhold that credit which is every writer's just due. It is only fair to say that Swainson's vanity seems to have outrun his candor, for when the controversy over the authorship of Audubon's _Biography of Birds_ was started in 1833, he publicly denied that any such proposal had been made.[103] According to Swainson's own statement, quoted earlier, Audubon was ready to grant him whatever credit was due, but it is evident that he was not then disposed to adopt Swainson's peculiar ideas upon the classification of birds or to enter upon a thoroughgoing arrangement of joint authorship. Though no philosopher himself, it seems clear that the American woodsman was by no means disposed to swallow all the vagaries of the "Circular System" to which his friend was committed, and which was later held up to ridicule.

The craze for describing new species of animals was all too common in both England and America at the time of which we write; the chief aim of many naturalists seems to have been to attach their names to as many of nature's forms as possible. Swainson, who "never went to bed without describing a new species," as Audubon said at a later time, had admonished his friend above all else to hasten to publish descriptions of every new bird which he had obtained in America, lest he lose credit for the discovery; but Audubon, who had not hesitated to poke fun at the species-mongering Rafinesque, was still inclined to look with disdain upon work of this sort. He not only rejected Swainson's advice but answered it rather tartly in the first volume of his letterpress, which appeared in the following year. A passage which caused the naturalist no little annoyance on another score was as follows:[104]

Since I became acquainted with Mr. Alexander Wilson, the celebrated author of the well known and duly appreciated work on American Birds, and subsequently with my excellent friend, Charles Lucien Bonaparte, I have been aware of the keenness with which every student of Natural History presses forward to describe an object of his discovery, or that may have occurred to travellers in distant countries. There seems to be a pride, a glory in doing this, that thrusts aside every other consideration; and I really believe that the ties of friendship itself would not prevent some naturalists from even robbing an old acquaintance of the merit of first describing a previously unknown object. Although I have certainly felt very great pleasure, when, on picking up a bird, I discovered it to be new to me, yet I have never known the desire above alluded to. This feeling I still cherish; and in spite of the many injunctions which I have received from naturalists far more eminent than I can ever expect to be, I have kept, and still keep, unknown to others, the species, which, not finding portrayed in any published work, I look upon as new, having only given in my Illustrations a number of them proportionate to the drawings of already known species that have been engraved. Attached to the descriptions of these, you will find the place and date of their discovery. I do not, however, intend to claim any merit for these discoveries, and should have liked as well that the objects of them had been previously known, as this would have saved some unbelievers the trouble of searching for them in books, and the disappointment of finding them actually new. I assure you, good reader, that, even at this moment, I should have less pleasure in presenting to the scientific world a new bird, the knowledge of whose habits I do not possess, than in describing the peculiarities of one long since discovered.

It is a pity that Audubon did not maintain so admirable an attitude towards the description of new species as was here expressed, but at the close of his career in England, when he desired to make his work on American ornithology as complete as possible, he appeared as keen to describe and publish new birds as any of his contemporaries.

Shortly after his return to London in the spring of 1831, Audubon sent Swainson the following letter with a copy of the first volume of his _Biography_ of Birds, but his one-time friend was not the author of an extended and impartial review of the work, which appeared in the _Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal_ in the same year.[105]

_Audubon to William Swainson_

LONDON _April 28th 1830_ [1831]

MY DEAR MR SWAINSON,

We arrived here last evening & I found your favour of the 17th instant for which I offer you my sincere thanks—I had began to think that I was erased from your list.—I have now the pleasure of sending you a copy of my first volume of ornithological biography which I hope you will accept as a small memento of the high regard I have for your self & your talents.—My inserting your name was not a matter merely of duty but of great pleasure and believe when I say that I never will be ungrateful to anyone who has been kind to me.—

We are going to Paris on Friday week & will be absent about a month—on the first day of August next we sail from Liverpool to America where I intend to beat the bushes once more—my peregrinations will extend in all probability & God willing to the Pacific Ocean into California etc—After my return I wish to settle in England somewhere, but where is yet undetermined.—

I have felt much grieved at reading the article of yours respecting _French Naturalists_. I say _grieved_, because I am always so when I see men of superior talents employing their pen time and mind at sparring instead of peacably giving to the world those results of their investigations & experience at all times so desired by everyone bent on studying the wonderful laws & beauties of nature. I do not wish to read a _lecture_ to you but from my heart I am sorry you should be _à la joute_ [?] with any one & will conclude by sincerely hoping that you will have no more of this sort of warfare.—

I am over head in business as you may well suppose after an absence of 8 months but will be most happy to hear from you. Have you heard from C. Bonaparte lately? Is he still at Rome? it is now two months since I heard from him.—

Present our united kind respects to your good Lady, accept the same yourself & believe me your friend

J. J. AUDUBON.

77 Oxford Street.

It is interesting to notice that Swainson kept his promise about the woodpeckers, and in 1831 named one, which had been obtained from Louisiana, _Picus auduboni_;[106] although Audubon later repudiated it, saying that he believed it to represent only an immature state of the common Downy Woodpecker, he returned the compliment by dedicating to Swainson one of his warblers, _Sylvia_, now _Helinaria, swainsonii_.

When William Swainson brought to a close his labors on the _Cabinet Cyclopædia_ in 1840, a part of the eleventh volume was devoted to a biography of naturalists.[107] In this little work Audubon was accorded a page, Alexander Wilson received eight, while the author devoted fourteen pages to himself. The talented MacGillivray, whose memorable _History of British Birds_ had then advanced to its third volume, was studiously ignored, and was referred to only in a footnote as "Mr. Gilvray"; but he was of necessity a sharer in the following criticism of Audubon's _Biography of Birds_: "a want of precision in his descriptions, and a general ignorance of modern ornithology sadly disappoint the scientific reader." The technical descriptions in that work were written, as Swainson must have known, by his young rival, William MacGillivray, then one of the ablest exponents of the anatomy of birds in Great Britain; but anatomy, the master key to relationship, Swainson affected to regard with contempt, though overzealous friends had compared him with Cuvier, one of the greatest masters of anatomy of all time. To follow the comment of a later critic,[108] Swainson probably regarded the title of "the British Cuvier" as rather derogatory, since he had pronounced Cuvier to have been "totally unacquainted with the very first principles of the natural system." To Swainson, however, as the same commentator explains, "the natural system" implied the concept of a magical number and a circle, ideas which Cuvier would have been the first to repudiate or ignore.

The ardent MacGillivray was naturally scornful of Swainson's unscientific attitude, which he had roundly scored in the introduction to his _History of British Birds_ that had begun to appear in 1837; he then said that Swainson could exclaim: "How superficially do we study nature," while in anatomy his own studies were a century behind the times and his opinions on the subject worthy of the Dark Ages.

In his biographical notice of Audubon, Swainson refers to their Paris experience in the following words:

It is singular how two minds, possessing the same tastes, can be so diversified, as to differ _in toto_ respecting the very same objects. During the whole of Mr. Audubon's residence in Paris, he only visited the Ornithological Gallery twice, (where I was studying for hours, almost daily), for the purpose of calling upon me; and even then he merely bestowed that sort of passing glance at the magnificent cases of birds, which a careless observer would do while sauntering in the room.

Audubon, to be sure, was never much of a closet naturalist or an admirer of stuffed specimens; but in reading this criticism of an estranged friend, one wonders if the writer had really forgotten that while his own expressed desire in going to Paris in 1828 was to study in the Museum, Audubon's sole purpose was to extend his subscription list; that after innumerable interviews with ministers of state and running from post to pillar for two months, his friend was obliged to come away with but thirteen additional names or orders for his work. Had Swainson also forgotten that during all that time Audubon acted as his interpreter, assisting him in all his visits and purchases, and that but shortly after, when hard pressed for money, he had called on Audubon for a considerable sum?

As a parting shot to his former friend, Swainson also said:

He can shoot a bird, and make it live again, as it were, upon canvass; but he cannot describe it in scientific, and therefore in perfectly intelligible terms. Hence he found it necessary, in this part of his work, to call in the aid of others; but being jealous that any other name should appear on the title page than his own, he was content with the assistance of some one who, very good naturedly, would fall in with his humour.

What was here said of Audubon might have been true in 1830, but it was not true in 1840. Swainson could never understand that his friend was a man who never stood still. Audubon drew heavily upon his more learned associates, and he could give as well as take. When working under the influence of a powerful motive, he improved as rapidly in his use of English words as he had in the finish and composition of his pictures; he soon came to write not only with fluency but at times with eloquence, and the technicalities of his science did not remain to him a sealed book, though for the drudgery of detailed description he had confessedly no stomach.

We have referred to William Swainson's advocacy of the "Circular" or "Quinarian" system of the classification of animals, with him amounting almost to a monomania, which was one of the most notorious examples of reasoning in a circle of which zoölogists have ever been guilty. It was a serious attempt to rationalize nature in a wholly irrational manner, and must be regarded as a curious by-product of minds fixed in the belief of a special creation,—to whom every form of evolutionary doctrine was sacrilegious and abhorrent. Its advocates, nevertheless, were sincere, and Swainson probably regarded himself as a martyr to the cause. As a later critic remarked, the system served him well by investing with a cloak of originality his treatises on those classes of animals with which he had little first-hand knowledge. His work on fishes is regarded as "a literary curiosity, the appearance of which was a misfortune to a man who, by his indefatigable industry under by no means favorable circumstances, had contributed as much as any of his contemporaries to the advancement of Zoölogy and its diffusion among the people."[109] This egregious doctrine, which its disciples called "the natural system" without grasping the true meaning of "affinity," or "homology," to use the more modern word, vitiated most of their writings; abler men played with it for a time, only to cast it aside, and no one but a historian or a psychologist would now give it a passing thought.

So far as Swainson was concerned, Audubon's conduct appears to have been above reproach, and it must be regarded as fortunate that this ardent "Quinarian" did not have a hand in the _Biography of Birds_, for if it were really true that Audubon could have brought himself to accept the artificial system then in vogue, American ornithology, as Elliott Coues remarked, escaped a great affliction.

Swainson's early life affords a striking illustration of nepotism, and his later years reflected some of its disastrous consequences. At fourteen he was appointed as a junior clerk in the Liverpool Customs House at a salary of eighty pounds a year, to service under his father, who had in turn succeeded his grandfather in the office of Collector. At eighteen he received an appointment in the commissary department of the English army and went to Sicily, where he remained eight years, during which he worked industriously at natural-history pursuits. Having attained the rank of Assistant Commissary-General, at twenty-six he was retired on half-pay because of ill health. Upon returning to England he became a member of the Linnæan Society, in 1816, before his departure for Brazil, where with Henry Koster he collected birds for nearly two years. Having settled again at Liverpool, he entered the Royal Society, on the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks, in 1820, the year in which he began to publish the results of his studies. Swainson was married in 1825, but upon the death of his father in the following year, his income so much reduced that he resorted to authorship as a profession; of course he found it a poor crutch, though he worked with indefatigable industry and produced from one to two illustrated volumes each year. Eventually he became embittered against Audubon and towards the world of men and things in general, especially after 1835, when domestic bereavement and trouble of many kinds pressed hard upon him. He repeatedly applied to the Zoölogical Department of the British Museum for a position which went to others; he tried to sell his collections to the Museum and failed; he applied for an appointment on the Civil List but was denied; then he decided to give up the struggle of authorship in England and leave the country.

In 1840 Swainson emigrated with his family to New Zealand, where he seems to have met with no better success, although his scientific activity did not wholly cease. Though four years younger than Audubon, he outlived him five years, dying in 1856. His excellent draughtsmanship, tireless industry, and punctilious habits were deserving of recognition, but he suffered from the lack of a liberal education, and was rather too vain, too inclined to jealousy and to quarrel with his contemporaries, to have achieved great success.

In a paragraph already quoted from the _Ornithological Biography_, in which Audubon portrayed the eagerness with which some naturalists pressed forward to describe new species of birds, too often forgetting every propriety in their eagerness to outstrip a rival, the name of his "excellent friend, Charles Lucien Bonaparte,"[110] had been indiscreetly mentioned. Though there was no evident intention of giving offense, this reference was keenly resented. Bonaparte, it may be recalled, was still engaged upon his _American Ornithology_, the last volume of which was not published until 1833, and was therefore, in a degree, a rival of Audubon in the ornithological field. Audubon did his best to smooth over the difficulty but with little success. In writing to his son, Victor, from New York in 1833,[111] he referred to the following letter which he was about to send "by duplicate, to try to correct that error" of his early friend:

_Audubon to Charles Lucien Bonaparte_

TO CHARLES BONAPARTE, Prince of Musignano, &c., &c., &c.

MY DEAR SIR:—

I am sadly grieved to hear through our friend, Wm. Cooper, of this city, that you have taken umbrage to a passage in the Introduction to my first volume of Ornithological Biographies.

To tell you that not even a thought of disparagement ever existed in my mind towards you, would not be enough. I have always repeated to all my Friends, nay, to all persons who have ever spoken of you, of the superior talents you possess, and of the Intrinsic value connected with all your ornithological or otherwise scientific productions.

I am a plain sailing man. You know full well that I derive no knowledge from classical education, and that being the case, connected with my being honest, I always try to say what I think truth, at once. Could I have praised you at one place, and attempted to lower you in the estimation of the Scientific World at another? If so—I would acknowledge myself unworthy the good wishes of _any one_, much less of the good wishes of Charles Bonaparte! the very being who brought me forward into worldly notice by his kind advice. Nay, Nay; take me for what I am in truth

Your Friend & ever your well wisher, as well as your obt. Sert.

JOHN J. AUDUBON.

Bonaparte was too much of a man of the world to permit such an incident to cause any sudden break in their relations. We know that they met in London in 1837, when, as Audubon said in a later letter to Harris[112] he "pumped him sadly too much"; at his request Bonaparte then drew up a list of American birds, to the number of 425.[113] Although his subscription to _The Birds of America_ was permitted to lapse, Bonaparte's name was retained on the list to the end. When the business was being closed up in London, however, Audubon wrote to Havell, from Edinburgh, under date of 15 May, 1839: "As respects my _old_ Friend, C. Bonaparte, _unless_ he pays the long standing balance which he owes me of £8.18.6, and also the price of the set of Nos. 81-87, _on the nail_, he is not to receive the latter." Again on the thirtieth of June he wrote: "I have no numbers for Charles Bonaparte, and no 5th. vol. of Biog. for Mr. Gould; let the Gentlemen purchase or procure what they want where they can."

In 1838 Bonaparte published a paper[114] in which appeared this comment:

Throughout the list I have quoted, as types of the species under consideration, the figures of the great works of Mr. John Gould and Mr. Audubon on the Ornithology of the two regions, as they must be considered the standard works of the subject. The merit of Mr. Audubon's work yields only to the size of his book; while Mr. Gould's work on the _Birds of Europe_ though inferior in size to that of Mr. Audubon—is the most beautiful work that has ever appeared in this or any other country.

A reviewer in America,[115] who could not repress his resentment at the last remark, said: "It would be invidious to make any comment on this—to even insinuate a wonder that a personage bearing this world renowned name would consent to resign his reputation as a man of science, through all time, to the doubtful association of such an expression of mere professional spite."

John Gould, to whom Bonaparte referred, was perhaps the only ornithologist who ever grew rich at his profession. He was the author of forty large, illustrated folios, produced at the rate of about one a year, on the birds of Great Britain, Europe, Asia, and Australia, as well as those of numerous families of the tropical Orient. Audubon, in response to Bachman, thus referred to him when writing in London, April 30, 1835: "Gould is a man of great industry and has the advantage of the Zoölogical Society, museums, gardens, &c., and is in correspondence with Temminck, Jardine, Selby, James Wilson and the rest of the scientific gentry. His wife makes his drawings on stone. She is a plain, fine woman, and although their works are not quite up to nature, both deserve great credit."

Acting no doubt upon this expressed belief, Audubon became a subscriber to Gould's _Century of Birds_, published in 1831, and also to his _Birds of Europe_ (1832-37). In the preface to the latter work, "J. J. Audubon, Esq.," and twenty others are thanked "for the warm interest which they have at all times taken in the present work"; it was also said that the greater part of the plates of this series, those of his _Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains_ and his _Monograph on the Trogons_, as well as three-quarters of those of the _Monograph on the Toucans_, "have been drawn and lithographed by Mrs. Gould, from sketches and designs by myself always taken from nature." It should be noticed also that Gould appeared as a subscriber to _The Birds of America_ in 1838, but his name was soon dropped.

Gould was preëminently a museum naturalist, of strong commercial instincts, and spent but little time in the field. His books were mainly composed of illustrations made by artists from stuffed specimens, with a text of so thin a quality as to possess little scientific value; but, as Alfred Newton has remarked, a scientific character was so adroitly assumed that scientific men have often been deceived. In his best work, that on the Humming Birds,[116] the plates are enlivened by numerous specimens of tropical flowers and fruits, an accessory not so noticeable in his early productions. It has been said that Gould sought and received Audubon's aid in the composition of some of his plates, and that thereafter his figures began to show more vitality. The over-zealous writer quoted above[117] made the charge that Gould not only received much unacknowledged aid from Audubon, but copied his drawings; he mentioned five cases of what he called "picking and stealing," in one of which the Red-headed Pochard is declared to have been copied from Audubon's Scaup Duck: "here the trick is so shallow," he adds, "that detection cannot for a moment be at fault. You see that the Scaup Ducks have been accurately outlined, then lifted from the original 'grounding,' and let down upon a new one, by Gould, who found it safer for his pencil to adjust earth and water differently beneath them, than to tamper in the slightest degree with the proportions of the figures themselves." Suffice it to say that there is little or no substantial basis for such odious charges.

Gould is said to have possessed a kind heart under a rather gruff exterior. The following anecdote of his methods comes at second hand from his friend and collaborator, Mr. Bowlder Sharpe. Mr. Gould was invited to dine at a well known country estate, where were gathered numerous representatives of wealth and aristocracy. The attention of the ornithologist was soon directed from the guests to a bird on the lawn, which he was watching intently when dinner was announced; abruptly leaving the table with the remark that dinner was of no consequence to him when he could study a bird, he returned to the window and stood there munching a roll or piece of bread. Of course the seated guests began to inquire who the peculiar individual was, and were quietly informed by their host that it was "Mr. Gould, the famous ornithologist." The meal over, Gould selected a promising looking young nobleman and began to tell him about the habits of the bird which had so fascinated him; "that species," he said, "I have described in my _Birds of Europe_. Of course, you have seen my _Birds of Europe_." The nobleman was obliged to admit that he had not. "Why," said Mr. Gould, "you must have seen it; every country gentleman has it in his library. Won't you let me put you down for a copy?" Naturally he could not refuse a work which every country gentleman possessed, and down went his name on the list; later he received the volumes and also a bill for fifty pounds. John Gould is said to have left a fortune of eighty thousand pounds.

Probably no class of men with kindred tastes are bound together with stronger ties of good fellowship than the naturalists. Their free-masonry extends to every clime and race, and knows no distinction of language, class or station; but, as with all serious workers, occasional jealousies or disputes occur to ruffle the serenity of their lives. Though we have been obliged to touch upon some of these incidents, they are nevertheless quite exceptional.