ceived with a kindness well suited to elevate his depressed spirits,
and afterwards ascending the Hudson, went westward to the great lakes,
and in the wildest solitudes of the pathless forests renewed his labors.
He now began to think of visiting Europe; the number of his drawings had
greatly increased notwithstanding a misfortune by which two hundred of
them, representing nearly a thousand birds, had been destroyed; and he
fancied his work under the hands of the engraver. "Happy days and nights
of pleasing dreams" followed, as he retired farther from the haunts of
men, determined to leave nothing undone which could be accomplished by
time or toil. Another year and a half passed by; he returned to his
family, then in Louisiana; and having explored the woods of that state,
at last sailed for England, where he arrived in 1826. In Liverpool and
Manchester his works procured him a generous reception from the most
distinguished men of science and letters; and when he proceeded to
Edinburgh and exhibited there his four hundred paintings, "the hearts of
all warmed toward Audubon," says Professor Wilson, "who were capable of
conceiving the difficulties, dangers, and sacrifices that must have been
encountered, endured, and overcome before genius could have embodied
these, the glory of its innumerable triumphs."[I] "The man himself," at
this period writes the same eloquent author in another work, "is just
what you would expect from his productions; full of fine enthusiasm and
intelligence, most interesting in his looks and manners, a perfect
gentleman, and esteemed by all who know him for the simplicity and
frankness of his nature."[J]

His reception encouraged him to proceed immediately with his plans of
publication. It was a vast undertaking which it would take probably
sixteen years to accomplish, and when his first drawings were delivered
to the engraver he had not a single subscriber. His friends pointed out
the rashness of the project and urged him to abandon it. "But my heart
was nerved," he exclaims, "and my reliance on that Power on whom all
must depend brought bright anticipations of success." Leaving his work
in the care of his engravers and agents, in the summer of 1828 he
visited Paris, and received the homage of the most distinguished men of
science in that capital. Humboldt too, whose gigantic intelligence arose
above all others in central Europe, became his warm friend, and remained
until his death a sympathizing c