he wishes to show his Elegant performances to the Members of the Lyceum and to be made a Member of that Society—it is his intention to Leave this City for Boston on Sunday morning. Meanwhile I recommend him to your good offices. Yours Truly as ever SAM, L. MITCHELL Aug t 4 t 1824 [Illustration: NOTE OF DR. SAMUEL L. MITCHELL, WRITTEN HURRIEDLY IN PENCIL, RECOMMENDING AUDUBON TO HIS FRIEND, DR. BARNES, AUGUST 4, 1824 From the Howland MSS.] Dr. Mitchell, who was the father and first president of the Lyceum of Natural History, had been a friend of young Audubon when he was clerking in New York in 1807.[311] His recommendation was accepted, and the naturalist was enrolled on the Lyceum's list of members; to justify his election, two papers, representing his first contribution to ornithology, were presented to the Society, and appeared in its _Annals_ of that year.[312] Audubon visited the Lyceum with Dr. DeKay and exhibited his drawings, but said that he felt awkward and uncomfortable. On August 3 he called on John Vanderlyn, the artist, examined his pictures, and "saw the medal given him by Napoleon, but was not impressed with the idea that he was a great painter." Upon meeting Vanderlyn again a little later, he was asked to sit for a portrait of Andrew Jackson; his journal entry regarding the incident was as follows:[313] August 10. My spirits low, and I long for the woods again; but the prospect of becoming better known prompts me to remain another day. Met the artist Vanderlyn, who asked me to give him a sitting for a portrait of General Jackson, since my figure considerably resembled that of the General, more than any he had ever seen. I likewise sketched my landlady and child, and filled my time. The context shows that the sitting was given, and as Mr. Stanley C. Arthur remarks, Vanderlyn's portrait, which now hangs in the City Hall in New York, shows "Old Hickory" from the shoulders up, but from the shoulders down it is John James Audubon. On the 14th Audubon wrote cheerfully to Sully: _Audubon to Thomas Sully_ My reception in New York has surpassed my hopes. I have been most kindly [received], and had I seen Col. Trumball, I would have found him the gentleman you represented, but his absence at Saratoga Springs has deprived me of that pleasure.