The principal object of Mr. Audubon's visit to England is to make arrangements for the publication of an extensive and very valuable collection of his drawings in Natural History, chiefly if not wholly of American Birds, and he takes them with him for that purpose. Can you be of any assistance to him by letters to Manchester and London? If you can I have no doubt that my introduction of him will insure your best attention and services.—Mr. Audubon is afraid of having to pay heavy duties upon his drawings. He will describe them to you, and if in getting them entered Low at the Custom House, or if in any other respect you can further his views, I shall consider your aid as an obligation conferred upon myself. Pray introduce him particularly to Mr. Booth, who I am sure will feel great interest in being acquainted with him, were it only on account of the desire he has always expressed to be of service to the new Manchester Institution, to which Mr. Audubon's drawings would be an invaluable acquisition.
I am Dr. Sir
Yours truly,
Edward Holden.
Among the letters which Audubon carried on this occasion, but which apparently he did not deliver, was the following, addressed by a friend in New Orleans to General Lafayette:[321]
Louis P. Caire to General Lafayette
New Orleans, 15 May, 1826.
My dear General,
Monsieur Audubon, after having spent twenty-two years in the United States, is returning to Europe in order to publish a work to which he has devoted his entire life. This distinguished ornithologist, who bears letters from the most eminent citizens of the Union, will find, I trust, the encouragement to which his talents and his perseverance so fully entitle him, and however flattering may be the recommendations which his friends are eager to give him, these are yet, my dear General, beneath his merits. I have presumed to assure him of your patronage, and in introducing him to you I am convinced that it will be agreeable to you both.
Adieu my General: give my kind regards to all your family, and permit me to embrace you as I love you.
Louis P. Caire.