Kidd worked intermittently on some such scheme for about three years, and produced numerous pictures on canvas or mill-board. He was thus engaged in 1833 when he wrote to ask for an advance of from twelve to fourteen pounds on account of an accident that had befallen him on the 16th of May of that year. Kidd said in his letter that while he was attending a sale of Lord Eldin's pictures, the floor of the building suddenly gave way with a crash and precipitated the whole company, together with the furniture, into a room below; that he had sustained many bruises himself, not to speak of a dislocated arm, but what with blisters, cupping, nurses and remedies of all sorts, he was then slowly mending. Another of their projects was to publish Kidd's copies of Audubon's drawings as individual pieces, and a notice of this appeared in _Blackwood's Magazine_ for 1831. John Wilson, in reviewing Audubon's work in the magazine for that year said: "it is expected that there will be completed by Audubon, Kidd, and others,—Four Hundred Subjects. Audubon purposes opening, on his return [from America], an Ornithological Gallery, of which may the proceeds prove a moderate fortune!" All such plans, however, seem to have been delayed or frustrated, and a misunderstanding with Kidd brought them suddenly to a close in 1833. Audubon's explicit directions under this head were given in a letter to his son Victor, written at Charleston on Christmas Day of that year.[390] When his letterpress was finished, Audubon left Edinburgh with Mrs. Audubon on April 15, 1831. Newcastle, York, Leeds, and Manchester were again visited, and a pause of several days was made at Liverpool before proceeding to London, when, as the naturalist recorded, they "traveled on that extraordinary road, called the railway, at the rate of 24 miles an hour." In May[391] they visited Paris, Audubon no doubt wishing to collect the money due from his agent there, as well as to introduce his wife to the unrivaled attractions of the great city. Upon returning to London in July he had the pleasure of again meeting his _fidus Achates_, Edward Harris,[392] of Moorestown, New Jersey, and immediately began to put his affairs in order for a long period of absence. While Audubon was in Paris, the following letter[393] was written by his staunch friend and supporter in Congress, Edward Everett, who, as has been seen, fully appreciated the national character of his great undertakings. The effort of this able advocate to give _The Birds of America_ free passage to their native land, however, do not appear to have been successful until two years later, as a letter to be quoted in due course clearly indicates. _Edward Everett to Audubon_ CHARLESTOWN, MASS., _May 19th, 1831_. MY DEAR SIR