beds of richly tinted mosses relieve the desolation of huge mountain ridges, and the barren aspect of these

wastes.

Far above the boisterous waves of the St. Lawrence, towers a line of crag and cliff, like a granite bulwark of the waters. From its summit open all around, in gorgeous array, fertile valleys, thickets clothed with green, and glassy lakes, over which hover birds of varied wing, and banks of snow backed by mountains, mingling their grey tints with those of the cold northern sky. On the numerous low islands dotting the western coast of these regions, are multitudes of Cormorants and other aquatic wanderers, their sable wings sailing with astonishing rapidity over the waters, or spread to seek their nests among cliffs washed by the surge.

But, whether on northern or southern soil, there is attraction for the lover, no less than the student of nature, in the New World. Sources of poetic inspiration and of scientific interest abound, from the genial land of Louisiana, to the inclement regions of Labrador. A very intellectual El Dorado for the Naturalist, -no more propitious element could be imagined for the nativity of Audubon, the Genius of the woods.

For him nature breathed an irresistibly persuasive language, and allured, as with a magic charm the loving soul of her disciple-favoured inhabitant, he thought, of retreats where surely she must have lingered to scatter her costliest treasures, and display her most winning grace. Gratitude for such a birthright added fresh zeal to the warmth of his love. Recog

nising, moreover, divinity in the impress of beauty on the earth, this love was elevated into worship of the great Spirit of Truth and Light, which brooded over the troubled waters, and still ordains the invariable harmony of the Universe.

To this worship was doubtless owing that entire dedication to his calling, which crowned him with such distinguished honours in his vocation, as Naturalist.

The traits even of his childhood appropriately characterised him for this, his chosen career. Woods, brooks, and wilds were his favourite haunts.

Welcoming the coming seasons, or watching with special wonder and delight the return of the brightliveried birds to their retreats, were employments which had for him an unequalled charm. Such ecstacy even did he experience when gazing on the shining pearly eggs, imbedded in softest down, among dried leaves, or exposed on the burning weather-beaten shores of the Atlantic, that an intimacy with such objects, not of friendship merely, "but of ardent passion bordering on frenzy," he felt assured must accompany his steps through life. This conviction increased with advancing years, fostered by the paternal companion who shared and sympathised in all his congenial pursuits. He longed to understand nature, and the hidden agency by which the spells of her enchantment were wrought. In order for this he must ally himself with her he must devote himself to her; be the constant companion of her changing moods. Only

through this allegiance could he make her his. He resolved; and wedded to this object of his dearest desire, during life he cherished it faithfully and well. Vicissitudes and trials had only power to stimulate him in his course. Yet disappointment awaited him for many years. He was inspired with an ardent wish to possess the productions of nature. This haunted him, and incited that creative impulse through which the artist strives to embody the idealism of his loving thought, thus reproducing the beautiful objects of the material world mirrored by his imagination.

To appease this desire the father of Audubon presented him with a book of ornithological illustrations. Received with avidity, it only increased the desire to produce a work of the same character; but the sorest mortification attended this effort. His production, Audubon, tells us, had no more resemblance to nature than mangled remains on the battle-field to the forms of living men. But with the unwearied assiduity of true genius, he persevered in these attempts. "To have been torn from the study," he says, "would have been as death to him." Hundreds of such sketches were by his request the materials for bonfires on the anniversaries of his birth-seemingly the sacrificial offerings of his young fancy at the altar of that artistic truth he would so zealously and devoutly serve. Patiently he continued in his endeavours; various plans of study were successively adopted and as surely abandoned. Before the age of seventeen he visited France, for the purpose of education. There

he had David for his master, who gave him as models gigantic human features and colossal animal representations, the curious mythological devices of some ancient sculpture. But no classical bias induced him to appreciate these strange productions of antique taste. Such exercises were immediately laid aside. By living, breathing nature only he was arrested. To him she was manifested in all her wisdom, and he was thus furnished with a thousand infallible sources of enlightenment. Creation he could unweariedly study, and from perpetual contemplation acquired a skill in his delineations which at length brought him success beyond his most sanguine expectations.

With fresh energy and delight he returned from France to the glorious woods of the New World. Inspired again by their atmosphere, he commenced that marvellous collection of drawings perpetuated in the "Birds of America." This work is one of unequalled magnificence, and in the tints of its gorgeous illustrations, as in illuminated characters, the fame of its author remains inscribed. From this period his exertions were unremittingly continued. Difficulty, toil, privation, and even danger, often attended his researches, pursued as they were throughout the entire extent of the American territory. Rude swamps, dreary solitudes, wild barren regions-these were of necessity the resorts of the naturalist, no less than the gladsome scenes of his native soil. To roam, furnished only with his wallet and fowling-piece, from day dawn till compelled by darkness to seek the shelter of some copse or shade in the unknown waste; there, beside

the fire kindled by his own hands, to partake of his frugal meal friendless and alone, to be surprised perhaps by the resistless fury of the elements-lightning, storm, and thunder causing the wreck of nature round his unsheltered resting-place-menaced by the ferocity of wild animals or the hostility of his own species;-such were his customs, and the conditions essential to his vocation.

Successive intervals present us with various phases of this great man's career; yet always we see the rare truthfulness of his nature, and his high-souled faith transparent in that dauntless nobility which made him display equal freedom of action, as well as equal affability and ease, in the camp of the Indian or the settler's hut as in the assemblies of refined society. He visited successively all the most distinguished capitals of Europe, and we gladly find him welcomed, encouraged, courted, and honoured by the great and good of the earth. But with yet more gladness we follow him, unchanged, through the vicissitudes of his destiny, retaining the simplicity of taste, the freshness of sentiment, the cordial feeling, and geniality of heart, which, as a richer endowment even than his intellectual superiority, distinguished so specially and so honourably the renowned Poet Naturalist of the New World.

Through an amiable modesty, Audubon himself permits many details of his life to be veiled in obscurity. This, which may reasonably be supposed to increase the difficulty of the biographer in following minutely and accurately his career, is not, however, an