Audubon and His Journals, Volume 1Audubon, John James
History
Audubon and His Journals, Volume 1
Audubon, John James
Audubon, John James, 1785-1851 -- Diaries; Birds -- North America; Naturalists -- United States -- Diaries
was said, and we sat down to a sumptuous dinner. Eating was not
precisely my object, it seldom is; I looked first at the _convives_. A
hundred students sat apart from our table, and the "Fellows," twelve
in number, with twenty guests constituted our "mess." The dinner, as I
said, was excellent, and I thought these learned "Fellows" must have
read, among other studies, Dr. Kitchener on the "Art of Cookery." The
students gradually left in parcels, as vultures leave a carcass; we
remained. A fine gilt or gold tankard, containing a very strong sort
of nectar, was handed to me; I handed it, after tasting, to the next,
and so it went round. Now a young man came, and as we rose, he read a
short prayer from a small board (such as butchers use to kill flies
with). We then went to the room where we had assembled, and
conversation at once began; perhaps the wines went the rounds for an
hour, then tea and coffee, after which the table was cleared, and I
was requested to open my portfolio. I am proud _now_ to show them, and
I saw with pleasure these gentlemen admired them. I turned over
twenty-five, but before I had finished received the subscription of
the Librarian for the University, and the assurance of the Secretary
of the Philosophical Society that they would take it. It was late
before I was allowed to come away.
_Thursday, March 6._ A cold snowy day; I went to the library of the
University and the Philosophical Society rooms, and dined again in
"Hall," with Professor Sedgwick. There were four hundred students, and
forty "Fellows;" quite a different scene from Corpus College. Each one
devoured his meal in a hurry; in less than half an hour grace was read
again by _two_ students, and Professor Whewell took me to his own
rooms with some eight or ten others. My book was inspected as a matter
of courtesy. Professor Sedgwick was gay, full of wit and cleverness;
the conversation was very animated, and I enjoyed it much. Oh! my
Lucy, that I also had received a university education! I listened and
admired for a long time, when suddenly Professor Whewell began asking
me questions about the woods, the birds, the aborigines of America.
The more I rove about, the more I find how little known the interior
of America is; we sat till late. No subscriber to-day, but I must not
despair; nothing can be done without patience and industry, and, thank
God, I have both.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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