This manuscript was found in an old book which had been in a barn on Staten Island for years.
3
1
"My name is John James Laforest Audubon. The name Laforest I never sign except when writing to my wife, and she is the only being, since my father's death, who calls me by it." (Letter of Audubon to Mrs. Rathbone, 1827.) All Mrs. Audubon's letters to her husband address him as Laforest.
2
This manuscript was found in an old book which had been in a barn on Staten Island for years.
3
Reprinted from Scribner's Magazine, March, 1893, p. 267. A few errors in names and dates are now corrected.
4
Isle à Vache, eight miles south of Aux Cayes.
5
This vessel was the "Annelle."
6
The family still own this portrait, of which Victor G. Audubon writes: "This portrait is probably the first one taken of that great and good man, and although the drawing is hard, the coloring and costume are correct, I have no doubt. It was copied by Greenhow, the sculptor, when he was preparing to model his 'Washington' for the Capitol, and he considered it as a valuable addition to the material already obtained. This portrait was painted by an artist named Polk, but who or what he was, I know not."
7
There still remain those who recall how Audubon would walk up and down, snapping his fingers, a habit he had when excited, when relating how he had seen his aunt tied to a wagon and dragged through the streets of Nantes in the time of Carrier.
8
This brother left three daughters; only one married, and her descendants, if any, cannot be traced.
9
"The Polly," Captain Sammis commander.
12
This visit passed into history in the published works of each of the great ornithologists, who were never friends. See "Behind the Veil," by Dr. Coues in Bulletin of Nuttall Ornithological Club, Oct., 1880, p. 200.
13
Episode "Breaking of the Ice."
15
Stephen Harriman Long, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, who was then on his way to explore the region of the upper Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers.
16
Titian R. Peale, afterward naturalist of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, under Commodore Wilkes. Later in life he was for many years an examiner in the Patent Office at Washington, and died at a very advanced age. He was a member of the eminent Peale family of artists, one of whom established Peale's Museum in Philadelphia. – E. C.
17
The distinguished naturalist of that name. – E. C.
18
Jacques Louis David (1748-1825), court painter to Louis XVI. and afterwards to Napoleon I.
19
In 1836, Audubon wrote to Dr. John Bachman: "Some of my early drawings of European birds are still in our possession, but many have been given away, and the greatest number were destroyed, not by the rats that gnawed my collection of the "Birds of America," but by the great fire in New York, as these drawings were considered my wife's special property and seldom out of her sight. Would that the others had been under her especial care also! Yet, after all, who can say that it was not a material advantage, both to myself and to the world, that the Norway rats destroyed those drawings?"
20
Mr. W. H. Wetherill, of Philadelphia.
22
"I have often seen the red-sandstone monument placed to mark the terminal of the Sullivan Bridge on our side of the river, but the curiosity hunters have so marred it that only 'livans' and part of the date remain." (Extract from letter of Mr. W. H. Wetherill, Aug. 12, 1893.)
23
This statement is from the "Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography," vol. xiv., No. 2, page 218, July, 1890.
24
"Under the will of Col. Jno. Macomb Wetherill, late owner of Fatland Farm, 40 feet square were deeded out of the farm, and placed in trust, and $1000 trusteed to keep the grove and lot in order. A granite curb and heavy iron rail surround this plot; Col. Wetherill was buried there and his remains lie with those of your ancestors." (Extract from letter of W. H. Wetherill, May 10, 1897.)
25
From "History of Henderson County, Kentucky," by E. L. Starling, page 794.
26
Of these many sketches few can be traced, and none purchased.
27
Mrs. Audubon afterwards received four hundred dollars, of the twelve hundred dollars due; the remainder was never paid.
28
See Episode: "A Tough Walk for a Youth."
29
The before-mentioned journal, 1822-24.
30
(With slight alterations) from "Bird Life," by F. M. Chapman, 1897, p. 13.
31
Prince of Musignano, and subsequently a distinguished ornithologist. In March, 1824, Bonaparte was just publishing his "Observations on the Nomenclature of Wilson's Ornithology," which ran through the "Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences," of Philadelphia, from April 5, 1824, to Aug. 25, 1825, in five parts. This was preliminary to Bonaparte's "American Ornithology," which appeared in four quarto vols., 1825-33, to his "Synopsis," of 1828, and to his "Comparative List," of 1838. – E. C.
32
Probably the Academy of Natural Sciences.
33
Ord had edited the posthumous vols. viii. and ix. of "Wilson's Ornithology," which appeared in 1814; and in 1824 was engaged upon that edition of Wilson which was published in 3 vols. 8vo, in 1828-29, with a folio atlas of 76 plates. This is probably enough to account for his attitude toward Audubon. – E. C.
34
"Defence of Audubon," by John Bachman. "Bucks Co. Intelligencer," 1835, and other papers.
35
Almost the only other enemy Audubon appears to have ever had in public print was Charles Waterton, who vehemently assailed him in "Loudon's Magazine of Natural History," vi. 1833, pp. 215-218, and vii., 1834, pp. 66-74. Audubon was warmly defended by his son Victor in the same magazine, vi. 1833, p. 369, and at greater length by "R. B.," ibid., pp. 369-372. Dr. Coues characterizes Waterton's attack as "flippant and supercilious animadversion,"
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