The Audubon Reader (69 page)

My parents send respects—and remembrances to all your friends—and I am your affectionate friend and well-wisher

J. W. Audubon

P.S. To skin an animal, you open him between the forelegs and cut off his head. You will find the skin tears off the rest of the body,
comme il faut
.

Charleston, South Carolina

22 January 1834

My dear beloved Victor,

God willing, we will be with you about the 4th of July next—I have been much tormented for some weeks past on account of the requisitions which you have made, that I should return to England as early in the spring as possible.
No reasons
have you given, and sorry indeed shall I be if, on our arrival in England, I find, as on a former occasion, that I should have been recalled to Europe for the mere gratification of a few friends and acquaintances, the whole of whom may I daresay long to see me, but none of whom can know the intentions, the cares and the anxieties which your father feels towards your welfare, that of your brother and equally that of your most kind mother. The die is cast, however; I have given up my urgent wish to revisit the Floridas and a certain portion of the western and northwestern parts of our own beloved country, and unless you write in answer to my last letters to you on this subject, with open thoughts of your own, that I may remain in America, depend upon what I say at the beginning of this: God willing, we will be with you about the 4th of July!

Fearing that you are troubled for the want of money, I will exert myself to the very utmost to send you forthwith 2, 3 or 4 hundred pounds to alleviate the difficulties (if any there are) in your calls for cash … I wish you had made it a point to have sent me the 20 volumes [i.e., sets of Vol. I] for which I have so often written to you—through them I could have sent you perhaps one thousand pounds. But this is all over now, and I must do the best I can without any of them but the 2 copies. I can do no more in England than you have done; depend upon it, the southern part of England will be of no effect when I go there. America, I am sure, is the country that will support us after all. This day the Numbers 34 and 35 have come into port for this city and the Columbia College, but I have not seen them yet. All the numbers by the
President
were
wet
and good for nothing. They have been sold at auction in New York, and vexed enough I have been about them. I ask you most earnestly not to ship anything more in this
slack manner
. If Havell will not see that our work is properly packed,
see it yourself
. I shall reach England, I hope, with as many drawings of water birds as will complete the 3rd volume of our work—but to tell you the truth, it will prove a most wonderful thing if the fourth volume does contain 100 plates.
You
are afraid of new species coming in,
I
am greatly afraid of wanting them. But enough of this; when we meet all will be understood in a few weeks, and in a few months I must return to our country to complete my researches and procure here (America) subscribers to enable us all to become one day independent of the world and particularly of England.

Long ere this reaches you, I hope you will have received the duplicate paper sent you for
Loudon’s Magazine
, and also that Mr. Loudon will have it inserted in his
Journal
. That that paper may produce some effect on the minds of many, I have no doubt, but that it will be an equivalent to the representations of my character being false is quite another affair. Here,
rattlesnakes are known to climb trees—to feed on squirrels, &c. Here,
Vultures are known to have no sense of smell, &c., but all that we know of these matters will require a century of time to establish these facts in the eyes of the British public.

Our work will become important even long ere it is completed; for this reason it is imperiously necessary that every execution in our power should be kept up, with truth, firmness, dignity and consistency, from beginning to end. That the world and naturalists especially will become satisfied that when finished, our work will be the standard of American ornithology, I have no doubt; but as this will in all probability only appear after my death, you and your brother are the ones that will reap the benefit of the worthiness of my practical studies, therefore I strongly advise you to believe in your father’s thoughts, that through this publication yourself and John may expect to become rich, respected and highly thought of.

Twenty years ago, my writing in the present style would have been ridiculous in me—but now I am sure of what I say, and proud that when thus I express my feelings freely to my sons, I am equally
sure that I tell them the truth and nothing but the truth connected with my most ardent wish that they should become most happy through my exertions, joined with their own …

Charleston, South Carolina

26 January 1834

… We have been as fully occupied as possible this winter, and in the amiable family [of John Bachman] we have spent our evenings and days in the society of, we have not felt the want of any of the society we enjoyed last winter in Boston. Nearly 100 water birds are arranged for the [third] volume [of
The Birds of America
] and many more, but your father becomes more and more particular about them, and draws some of them three or four times over, but they really are all beautiful, and I am sure there must be a time when it will be much sought-after …

New York, New York

15 April 1834

My Dear Friend

To tell you that I am surprised at your generous conduct in remitting to me four hundred & ninety dollars in advance for all the Numbers of my work would be a poor gratification to me; I
feel
your generosity and cannot say any more. God bless you. Numbers 36 & 37 have reached this place. My drawings shipped from Charleston are safely in the hands of Victor at London. I have been able to forward him 650£ and I have 30 sovereigns to defray our expenses from Liverpool to the great metropolis.

In 1824, poor, I had dreams, but how far was I then from believing that I should ever have succeeded as I have? Who will believe my story? Only one or 2 besides yourself have an idea of what I have undergone, but if God grants me life, I shall publish that story and send you the sheets thereof as they are struck by the printer. Whenever you see [the portrait painter Henry] Inman tell him to give you the sketch, as it is of my good wife, and you keep it for Victor should we be lost [at sea]. I have recommended to Victor to continue
The Birds of America
with all possible dispatch and to consult you and our other friend, John Bachman of Charleston, S.C., and should we be lost let me beg of you to assist my son by your friendly, prudent & worthy advice.

The election was a most remarkable one and I regret you did not witness it. I did, now I think that matters will soon operate powerfully and that the Tyrant will have to shrink from the view of the people—I mean
the American People
! I wish you to write to us soon, and not to wait with etiquette for regular answers. I will, or we all will, inform you of all that may happen to us after we are landed …

London, England

20 August 1834

My dear Harlan,

What has become of you? We have been here four months and although I wrote to you from Liverpool the day we landed there, not a line have we received from you—do let us know how yourself & good lady are as well as the rest of your family.

Here we go on much on the usual plan; that is, we all work hard and daily. I have finished my 2nd volume of [bird] biographies about ten days ago, but will not bring it out until December next on account of the emptiness of London until that time …

[page damaged] I spend at writing my own biography … This will be a curious book, for I shall give the good, the bad and the indifferent in a style which perhaps will not make
every
reader laugh. My friends will all be mentioned and my foes not neglected, and as my life from my earliest youth has been a singular and uncommon one, the whole may prove interesting to my kind and to naturalists more especially. It will prove 4 quarto volumes with the portrait of the author, from the miniature painted by Cruickshank, who has improved that picture much since my return to England. The famous
William Turner is the person who will engrave it on steel. You see that I have a good winter’s task before me, besides other avocations connected with my present works.

We came over in the company of Mr.
Charles Maywood of the Philadelphia theater, whom we have found a most interesting man, and of whom we have seen a good deal
here
 …

London, England

24 August 1834

Dear Thomas,

I believe if my recollection of you depended on the letters I received from you I should no longer believe in the existence of such a person, but fortunately it does not, and I cannot forget the many happy days we have spent together, and hope that you will not think of cutting me entirely, so let me beg you will write what you are at, what you have done and are likely to do in the next few months, for now we are so far apart, unless we let each other into prospects we shall know nothing of each other.

Have you ever sent any small animals to Mr. Bachman in Charleston, or have you any birds for us that you think new? I really believe that were you not urged on, you would let us all drop off, one by one, and all our enjoyment of studying the same subjects in different parts of the world be done away with. Papa has nearly done his 2nd volume of letterpress, and I believe your moose hunt will flourish in one part of it.

I have been truly astonished with the wealth and poverty of this wonderful city. It is a poor man’s hell. To the rich it is a paradise at last in point of luxuries and amusements. The rich have the best of everything and are as much above the poor (yes, more above the poor) than the rich whites of the south are above their slaves; if you walk the fashionable streets, you see liveries of the richest materials and colors, the most beautiful carriages and horse and dresses such as our richest men could only afford [at] one-half off, while perhaps in the next street all is poverty and the most filthy vagabonds fill the streets, begging to every corner. This is truly the state of London. This is all owing to the overpopulation, and an act of Parliament that prevents the estates of noblemen from passing away from their heirs; the duties on every foreign article are most outrageous, even on the very bread they eat … All things pay duties and of course only the rich can afford [them] … [Here
is] none of that happy poverty which we see in America, where a man owns a little house and a little land around and from that gains all he makes and is contented. All the poor are literally the slaves of the rich. But I must not run down a country that I find it convenient to live in.

Write soon and let me know where you are at …

London, England

25 August 1834

My dear Bachman,

You really are a lazy fellow! I have been in England four months, have written to you God knows how often, and yet the only letter I have received from you reached us 15 minutes ago. Now when I receive letters, I write in answer at once, you see; and if I receive none, I keep hammering at my friends’ doors like a Woodpecker on the back of some tough tree, the inside of which it longs to see.

Your letter is of July 22nd and was most welcome I assure you. To see your dear handwriting has quite raised our spirits, the more especially as you give us intelligence of all being well & happy under your roof. I wish I was there also, for between you & I and the post I hate this infernal smoky London as I do the Devil!!

I hear nothing more of [Audubon’s relentless critic Charles] Waterton. Your paper certainly “used him up” and I have no one to trouble me on the like scores. I am heartily glad that what the
honest
gentleman said of me has so well insured his purpose. Tell my sweetheart [
Maria Martin, Audubon’s background illustrator and Bachman’s sister-in-law] and our dear daughters [i.e., Bachman’s daughters] that I am most happy to hear of their perseverance, industry and augmentation of their acquirements. Tomorrow we forward them some dresses, prints and a book of instruction in the art of painting miniatures given us by Cruickshank. Also a box containing a 2nd volume for Mr. Rees and the Numbers for Charleston & Columbia. All those deliver and receive the money for
—as soon as you can!
We are going on now bravely, the 4th and 5th Numbers of water birds are engraved, and the 3 of which you will see with this will give you an idea of how they look. We will publish 7 Numbers of water birds by December next, and 10 next year and so on to the completion of the Work.

As it seems that you have received only 4 lines from me, I must repeat a great deal, and here goes.

I have written so constantly for two months, that I was obliged to leave off after having finished 100 articles of [bird] biography and 13 episodes. I became swelled [with piles] as I was at your house, &c., and have been idle there 10 days to assist my recovery. [William] MacGillivray is assisting me as before; he says this volume will be much superior to the first, & larger. The fact is that my late tramps, and our visitation to you was of the greatest benefit imaginable to my studies. Since here I have read [Prideaux John] Selby’s & [Conrad Jacob] Temminck’s works, but they are, I am sorry to say,
not from Nature
. Not a word could I find in them but what was compilation. I could not even be told at what time the Golden Eagle laid her eggs in Europe!
Sir William Jardine has published an enormous quantity of trash, all compilation, and takes the undue liberty of giving figures from my work and those of all others who may best suit his views. Mr. [John] Gould is publishing the Birds of England, of Europe, &c., &c., &c., in all sorts of ways. [William] Swainson has 17 volumes in his head and on papers, half-finished. I have seen him twice only. [William] Yarrell, who is a first-rate naturalist and a most excellent man, is now publishing a beautiful work (wood cuts) on the fishes of this country. Two brothers Meyers are also publishing the Birds of England. In fact, you could not pass a bookseller’s shop from the extreme “West End” to Wapping without seeing new books on Zoology in every window—and “at most reduced prices”! Swainson says he has upwards of 50,000 insects, and more bird skins that his house will hold.