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.
[Illustration: PLATE CXII
_Bluebird_,
SYLVIA SIALIS,
_Male 1. Female 2. Young 3._
_Great Mullein, Verbascum Thapsus._
Drawn from nature by J.J. Audubon F.R.S. F.L.S.
Engraved, Printed & Coloured by R. Havell, London 1834.]
_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.
[Illustration:
WILLIAM SWAINSON THOMAS NUTTALL
CHARLES L. BONAPARTE CONSTANTINE S. RAFINESQUE
SWAINSON FROM HIS "BIOGRAPHY OF ZOÖLOGISTS"; NUTTALL FROM AN
ENGRAVING AFTER DERRY, 1825; BONAPARTE FROM A PHOTOGRAPH IN
POSSESSION OF MR. RUTHVEN DEANE, FIRST PUBLISHED IN "CASSINIA"; AND
RAFINESQUE FROM RICHARD ELLSWORTH CALL, "RAFINESQUE."]
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.