135 files changed, 7381 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/25908-8.txt b/25908-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49f1b9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2406 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Washington Irving, by Henry W. Boynton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Washington Irving
+
+Author: Henry W. Boynton
+
+Release Date: June 26, 2008 [EBook #25908]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WASHINGTON IRVING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sankar Viswanathan and The Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                  The Riverside Biographical Series
+
+                              NUMBER 11
+
+
+                  [Illustration: Washington Irving]
+
+
+
+                          WASHINGTON IRVING
+
+
+                                  BY
+
+                           HENRY W. BOYNTON
+
+
+
+
+                         BOSTON AND NEW YORK
+
+                    HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
+
+                    The Riverside Press, Cambridge
+
+                                 1901
+
+
+
+                 COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY HENRY W. BOYNTON
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAP.                                    PAGE
+
+  I.  EARLY YEARS AND SURROUNDINGS         1
+
+ II.  MAN ABOUT TOWN                      16
+
+III.  MAN OF LETTERS--FIRST PERIOD        35
+
+ IV.  MAN OF LETTERS--SECOND PERIOD       59
+
+  V.  A PUBLIC CHARACTER                  81
+
+ VI.  THE MAN HIMSELF                    105
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+WASHINGTON IRVING
+
+I
+
+EARLY YEARS AND SURROUNDINGS
+
+
+Irving's name stands as the first landmark in American letters. No
+other American writer has won the same sort of recognition abroad or
+esteem at home as became his early in life. And he has lost very
+little ground, so far as we can judge by the appeal to figures. The
+copyright on his works ran out long since, and a great many editions
+of Irving, cheap and costly, complete and incomplete, have been issued
+from many sources. Yet his original publishers are now selling, year
+by year, more of his books than ever before. There is little doubt
+that his work is still widely read, and read not because it is
+prescribed, but because it gives pleasure; not as the product of a
+"standard author," but as the expression of a rich and engaging
+personality, which has written itself like an indorsement across the
+face of a young nation's literature. It is that of a man so sensitive
+that the scornful finger of a child might have left him sleepless; so
+kindly that nobody ever applied to him in vain for sympathy; so modest
+that the smallest praise embarrassed him. His manner and tastes were
+simple and unassuming. He had no great passions; the brother was
+stronger in him than the lover. To these qualities, which might by
+themselves belong to ineffectiveness, he added courage, firmness,
+magnanimity. It was because he was such a man, and because what he was
+shines on every page he wrote, that the world still warms to him.
+
+Not that so elusive a thing as personal charm can be neatly plotted by
+the card. We love certain people because we love them; and since that
+is so, everything they do is interesting to us. A great writer lives
+in his books, to be sure, but we want to know what he actually did in
+the flesh. Did he walk, eat, sleep, like other men? Was he as strong,
+as human, as lovable as one would think? What sort of boy was he? Did
+he marry a wife, and was she good enough for him? The world will never
+believe that such questions are impertinent.
+
+There are, of course, more formal matters to be considered,--his debt
+to circumstance, his place in the practical world, his influence on
+the moral or intellectual or national life of his day. Some of these
+themes may be touched on, even within the narrow limits of the present
+sketch; not categorically, but rather by way of such suggestion and
+indirection as may be consistent with a compact narrative.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One of those apparent chances which are the commonplaces of history
+led William Irving from his far home in the Orkneys, married him to
+Sarah Sanders, and made him the father of Washington Irving. The
+Irvings--a branch of the well-known Scotch Irvines--had been for
+generations the leading family on the Island of Shapinsha. Finally
+they had gone threadbare, and with a fortune to seek, William Irving
+chose the natural ordeal for an islander, the trial by sea. Toward the
+close of the French War he had become petty officer on an armed
+English packet. In New York he met Mistress Sanders, who was also
+English-born, and in 1761 they were married. He must have saved money,
+for at the end of the war he left the sea, and entered trade in New
+York.
+
+William Irving and his wife were very different in up-bringing and in
+temperament. He was a stern man, a strict Presbyterian, with the cold
+fire of Calvin in his bones. She had been bred an Episcopalian, and
+was genial and sympathetic by nature. The husband was the
+master-spirit, and the children grew up under the rigid exactions of
+his sect. Sunday was a long day of penance, and one of their two
+half-holidays was consecrated to the cheerful uses of the catechism.
+To New England ears it all has a familiar sound. When the children
+grew old enough they promptly left the fold and resigned themselves
+to her of Babylon and England. There were eleven of them, and
+Washington was the youngest, born in New York, April 3, 1783. As a
+very little child he had the honor of a pat on the head from his great
+namesake, for whom he was to do an important service many years later.
+
+He was a perfectly normal, healthy boy. Fortunately there are no
+brilliant sayings to record; he did not lisp in periods. Genius was
+not written upon his brow, nor tied upon his sleeve. He had none of
+the pale fervor of precocity, or the shyness of premature conceit. He
+was absorbed in childish things, loved play, shirked his studies,
+dreamed of a life on the ocean wave, and regarded "Robinson Crusoe"
+and "Sinbad the Sailor" as the end of all literary things. The
+savagery of boyhood he lacked. He was fond of playing battle, but
+could not bear to see his schoolfellows publicly thrashed, according
+to the amiable custom of that day. Otherwise he was all that a mother
+might deplore or an uncle delight in.
+
+Altogether the most interesting story of his schooldays has a
+dramatic setting. Addison's "Cato" was to be spouted in public by the
+schoolchildren. Irving, in the part of Juba, was called a little
+sooner than he expected, and came on the boards with his mouth full of
+honey-cake. Speech was out of the question--_vox haesit_--there was a
+momentary deadlock in his throat. The audience began to laugh, but the
+prince was not to be counted out. With a skillful rotary finger he
+removed the viand, and brought down the house by calmly taking up his
+lines as if nothing had happened. He was then ten years old, and deep
+in love with the leading lady. A year or two later he had decided to
+follow the sea; but a short experiment of sleeping on the floor and
+eating salt pork was too much for his enthusiasm, and at fourteen he
+gave up the ship. By this time he had begun to fancy that he could
+write, but there is nothing preserved which shows the least promise.
+
+"When I was young," he said long afterward, "I was led to think that
+somehow or other everything that was pleasant was wicked." The
+theatre was one of the forbidden sweets, and he naturally seized every
+chance to taste it. Family prayers at nine were something of an
+interruption, but he had managed a private exit by way of the roof
+which got him back to the theatre in time for the after-piece. This
+early liking for the stage he never outgrew. In the meantime he was
+going through with the ordinary schooling of the New York boy of that
+period. He learned a little Latin; he hated mathematics, and had very
+little love for dull books of any sort. At sixteen his formal
+education was over. Two of his elder brothers had studied at Columbia
+College, and no doubt Irving might have done the same. He was too
+lazy, or, to put it more gracefully, too little interested in set
+tasks. Later he expressed regret for the lost chance, but the loss
+cannot have been very great for him or for us. If we could imagine
+that he might have gained any sort of scholarship, its effect upon his
+writing would still be more than doubtful. His order of genius gains
+little from bookishness. Addison was supposed to be a classical
+scholar, but the "De Coverley Papers" are not a product of
+scholarship, and we could better spare anything else that he wrote.
+
+At sixteen Irving entered a law office, and for the next five years
+was understood to be studying law. He had no real aptitude for such
+study, to be sure, and must have known it; certainly he learned very
+little law. He had other things to be interested in. He was an eager
+reader in his own way, and a handsome, well-mannered boy, already fond
+of society. And I doubt if very much was expected of him in the way of
+steady application, for during this whole period his health was
+uncertain. More than once he had to give up study entirely, and go to
+this watering-place or that for weeks or months. His family and
+friends were afraid of consumption, and it was against all forecasts
+that he held his own till manhood.
+
+In 1800 he made his first voyage up the Hudson. "A voyage to Albany
+then," he wrote in 1851, "was equal to a voyage to Europe at present,
+and took almost as much time." The journey was made in a sloop manned
+by slaves, and commanded by a native of Albany, who spoke nothing but
+Dutch.
+
+Two years later his brother Peter became proprietor and editor of the
+New York "Morning Chronicle," for which Irving presently wrote a
+series of satirical letters signed "Jonathan Oldstyle." In these
+letters, his earliest work of any significance, he touches the
+Addisonian string upon which his critics have harped so insistently
+ever since. They are decidedly clever for a boy of nineteen, but not
+cleverer than the best college work of to-day, and perhaps more
+consciously imitative. The fact that they were greatly praised and
+gained some vogue through copying in other journals, is rather an
+indication of the unfruitfulness of the period than of their merit.
+One of their greatest admirers was Charles Brockden Browne, the only
+American before Irving to make a profession of writing.
+
+In 1804 the young amateur came of age. He was still threatened with
+consumption, and his family determined to send him abroad. Nobody felt
+very sanguine about his returning. As he was helped on board, the
+captain eyed him dubiously and said in an undertone, "There's a chap
+who will go overboard before we get across." If it had been in him to
+die just then, the captain gave him plenty of time; it was six weeks
+later when they landed at Bordeaux. But though the voyage had been not
+over-comfortable, it did him much good. Before the end of it he was
+scrambling about the vessel, and describes himself as "quite expert at
+climbing to the masthead, and going out on the maintopsail yard."
+Irving's body was never to be altogether tractable, but we shall hear
+nothing further of the consumptive tendency.
+
+His early letters from abroad are full of life and spirits. He jaunted
+about through France and Italy, picked up acquaintances everywhere,
+and was evidently much more interested in the people he met than in
+the "doing" of buildings or galleries. Evidently he was growing
+stronger all the time. In the company of a little Pennsylvania doctor,
+whom he had picked up in a diligence, he played several boyish pranks
+in France; he kicked out an insolent porter at Montpellier, and fell
+foul of a police spy at Avignon. In the main, however, he was inclined
+to take things as they came. "There is nothing I dread more," he wrote
+from Marseilles, "than to be taken for one of the Smellfungi of this
+world. I therefore endeavor to be pleased with everything about me,
+and with the masters, mistresses, and servants of the inns,
+particularly when I perceive they have 'all the dispositions in the
+world' to serve me; as Sterne says, 'It is enough for Heaven, and
+ought to be enough for me.'"
+
+At that day the European traveler was not hedged in from adventure. On
+the way from Genoa to Messina Irving's vessel was boarded by a
+piratical picaroon. The consequences were not dreadful, but the _mise
+en scène_ was all that could have been desired. The pirates had
+"fierce black eyes scowling under enormous bushy eyebrows.... They
+seemed to regard us with the most malignant looks, and I thought I
+could perceive a sinister smile upon their countenances, as if
+triumphing over us, who had fallen so easily into their hands."
+Nothing could have been more satisfactory. At Termini he had a
+romantic adventure with a masked Turk. At Genoa he was captivated by
+the beauty of a young Italian lady. Instead of trying to make her
+acquaintance, as he might easily have done, he contented himself with
+stealing a handkerchief which she had dropped. Some time later it was
+stolen from him. Thereupon he wrote an account of the affair to a
+friend whom he had left in Genoa. The lady heard of it, as ladies
+will, and sent him a lock of her hair, with a friendly hint that she
+might be better admired at closer quarters. By a natural paradox of
+boyish sentiment he did not return to Genoa, but had the hair put into
+a locket, which he wore for years. It was later unearthed by a friend
+from a pair of breeches borrowed from Irving, and made the subject of
+some badinage between them.
+
+Both his brothers and his biographer have made the aimlessness of this
+first European experience an occasion for something like reproach. His
+plans were of the vaguest. Such as they were, he was willing to
+sacrifice any of them for the sake of congenial companionship. After a
+few weeks he left Rome hurriedly because he could not bear to be
+parted from a friend who was going to Paris. He was anxious, he told
+his brothers quaintly, to study various arts and sciences there. In
+Paris he kept a journal for about three weeks; it records attendance
+upon a single lecture in botany and seventeen theatrical performances.
+Naturally his brothers could only see that he was an amiable, idle
+young fellow, who had drifted into a dilettante attitude toward life,
+and showed little promise of usefulness. But idling as well as
+industry has to be judged by its fruits. He was in a real sense seeing
+life, as he personally needed to see it, not in its passion and
+mystery, but in its lighter moods of humor and sentiment. Paris
+frankly seemed to him at this time the most profitable place in the
+world. Two months after his arrival, he wrote airily, "You will excuse
+the shortness and hastiness of this letter, for which I can only plead
+as an excuse that I am a young man and in Paris." He had momentary
+fancies as to a possible direction for his talents. A sudden intimacy
+at Rome with Washington Allston made him think for a time of turning
+painter. He was something of a dandy, and puts on record a Paris
+costume of "gray coat, white embroidered vest, and colored
+small-clothes." Presently he left Paris for London, where Kemble and
+Mrs. Siddons seem to have pleased him more than anything else English.
+Three months later he set sail for New York, and arrived in March,
+1826, after an absence of nearly two years.
+
+Irving was now twenty-three years old. All that he had done so far was
+haphazard enough. He had trifled with his schooling, loitered over his
+law, read a great deal at random, seen many theatres, and made many
+friends. He had escaped from the valley of the shadow, and was now
+free to go on in the primrose way of much society, little literature,
+and less law. For the next ten or twelve years he was to be little
+more than a petted man about town.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+MAN ABOUT TOWN
+
+
+At that time New York was hardly more than a big village, such as
+Boston continued to be for a half-century later. Everybody (who was
+anybody) knew everybody else in the friendly and informal way which
+nowadays belongs to a "set." Conviviality--this dignified name of the
+thing best suggests the way in which it was looked at then--was as
+much a part of fashionable life in New York as in Edinburgh or London.
+Into this society Irving entered with zest, flirting, dancing,
+tippling with other young swaggerers according to the mode. He went
+back nominally to his legal studies, but was really very little
+concerned with law or gospel. Of this kind of life, "Salmagundi," the
+first number of which, appeared in January, 1807, was the legitimate
+outcome. It was made up of short satirical sketches of the
+"Spectator" type. Irving and J. K. Paulding were the principal
+contributors, but they had some assistance from William Irving and a
+few others. In the course of a year twenty numbers were published at
+irregular intervals, when they suddenly ceased to appear. The authors,
+who wrote under fictitious names, affected from the start complete
+indifference to fame or profit. Their purpose, they said with
+whimsical assurance, was simply "to instruct the young, reform the
+old, correct the town, and castigate the age." The audacity of the
+thing caught the town; it was a decided success, and very
+profitable--for the publisher. There is a mildly sophomoric flavor
+about the "Salmagundi" papers, as there is about Irving's letters of
+the same period. But they are full of amusing things, and worth
+reading, too, for the odd side-lights they throw upon the foibles of
+that old New York.
+
+As he grew older, Irving came to feel the shallowness of fashionable
+society, but in the Salmagundi days he appears to have asked for
+nothing better. He had good looks, good humor, and good manners,
+showed a proper susceptibility, and knew how to turn a compliment or
+write a graceful letter. No wonder he found himself welcome wherever
+he went. After a visit to Philadelphia one of the ladies to whom he
+had made himself agreeable wrote, "Half the people exist but in the
+idea that _you_ will one day return."
+
+Early in the following year he had a little experience of the
+practical working of ward politics, which he described in a letter to
+a certain charming Mary Fairlie: "Truly, this saving one's country is
+a nauseous piece of business, and if patriotism is such a dirty
+virtue,--prythee, no more of it.... Such haranguing and puffing and
+strutting among the little great men of the day. Such shoals of
+unfledged heroes from the lower wards, who had broke away from their
+mammas, and run to electioneer with a slice of bread and butter in
+their hands." Irving's patriotism was not found wanting when the time
+came, but he had a life-long contempt for the petty trickery of party
+politics. That year he made another of his leisurely jaunts,
+nominally on business, this time to Virginia. His letters record the
+usual round of social gallantries, and some graver matter. Burr's
+trial was on in Richmond. Irving made his acquaintance, and was
+retained in some ornamental sense among his counsel. One or two
+letters from Richmond show a sentimental sympathy for his client of
+which the less said the better. A characteristic weakness of Irving's
+was always an unreasoning fondness for the under dog. In the autumn of
+1807 his father died, one of the most sincere among the "unco guid," a
+man whom few people loved and everybody respected.
+
+Not long after the discontinuance of the Salmagundi papers a new idea
+suggested itself to Irving and his brother Peter, which in its
+original form does not look especially promising. It was to develop
+into a really remarkable work, and to place Irving's name in a secure
+place among living humorists. The "Knickerbocker History of New York"
+really laid the foundation of his fame. The first plan was for a mere
+burlesque of an absurd book just published, a Dr. Samuel Mitchill's
+"Picture of New York." Mitchill began with the aborigines: the Irvings
+began with the creation of the world. Fortunately Peter was soon
+called away to Europe, and Irving was left to his own devices, which
+presently took a different and more original turn. He threw out most
+of the pompous erudition which belonged to the work as a burlesque,
+and condensed what remained. Everything after the five introductory
+chapters is his own.
+
+At this time he had begun to do commission business for certain New
+York houses, with a genuine impulse toward steadiness and industry
+which it is easy to account for. He was deep in love with the second
+daughter of Mr. Hoffman, in whose office he had originally idled. He
+had been for years very intimate with the family, and had ended by
+making a remarkable discovery about one of them. As he was evidently
+not in a position to marry, he was now setting to work with real
+energy to improve his means.
+
+Matilda Hoffman was a girl of seventeen, pretty, amiable, and clever.
+She died of quick consumption in April, 1809. It is certain that they
+loved each other very much, and that Irving never forgot her. The
+claim put forth by his nephew and biographer that he gave up marriage
+for her sake, and was romantically scrupulous in his faithfulness to
+her memory, seems hardly borne out by the facts. He was crushed for
+the moment, but not heartbroken. The truth is Irving's nature was
+sentimental rather than passionate. His love for Miss Hoffman appears
+to have been the deepest feeling of his life, but it did not absorb
+his whole nature. The first effect of her loss was to fill him with a
+sort of horror--the rebellion of a young and sensitive health against
+the tyranny of death. It was enough to show that the mourner was by no
+means in desperate case, for extreme grief is not afraid. In after
+life he never mentioned her name, and wrote of her only once. At the
+same time pretty faces and the charm of womanly companionship
+continued to attract him; indeed, a few years later he openly
+expressed his expectation of some time marrying. That he did not was
+clearly due to temper and circumstance rather than to romantic
+fidelity or abnegation. In the end his susceptibility became purely
+impersonal; his satisfaction in the exercise of a gentle old-school
+gallantry did much to take the sting from his life-long bachelorhood.
+Plainly, Irving was the sort of man who finds a grace in every
+feminine presence.
+
+It is encouraging to find him in a few months at work again upon the
+Knickerbocker history. Its appearance was cleverly heralded by a
+series of preliminary advertisements, announcing the disappearance of
+one Diedrich Knickerbocker, and the finding of a manuscript history by
+his hand. The book was published in December, 1809, and made a
+remarkable impression, in England as well as in America. Henry
+Brevoort, a close friend of Irving's, in 1813 sent a copy of the
+second edition to Walter Scott, who wrote at once: "I beg you to
+accept my best thanks for the uncommon degree of entertainment which
+I have received from the most excellently jocose History of New
+York.... I have never read anything so closely resembling the style of
+Dean Swift as the annals of Diedrich Knickerbocker. I have been
+employed these few evenings in reading them aloud to Mrs. Scott and
+two ladies who are our guests, and our sides have been absolutely sore
+with laughing. I think, too, there are passages which indicate that
+the author possesses powers of a different kind, and has some touches
+which remind me much of Sterne."
+
+The work in its completed form is a history of the three Dutch
+governors of New York, whom Irving uses as a stalking-horse for
+purposes of satire. Everybody laughed at it except a few descendants
+of the old Dutch worthies with whose names and characters he had made
+free. As late as the year 1818, G. C. Verplanck, a personal friend of
+Irving's, called him to account in an address before the New York
+Historical Society, to which the first edition of Knickerbocker was
+gravely dedicated, for "wasting the riches of his fancy on an
+ungrateful theme, and his exuberant humor in a coarse caricature." One
+of his brothers wrote to Irving, deprecating the attack. Irving
+replied: "I have seen what Verplanck said of my work. He did me more
+than justice in what he said of my mental qualifications; and he said
+nothing of my work that I have not long thought of it myself.... I am
+sure he wishes me well, and his own talents and acquirements are too
+great to suffer him to entertain jealousy; but were I his bitterest
+enemy, such an opinion have I of his integrity of mind, that I would
+refer any one to him for an honest account of me, sooner than to
+almost any one else."
+
+Soon after Knickerbocker came out, Irving went to Albany in the
+fruitless pursuit of a minor court appointment. There he found his
+name come not altogether pleasantly before him. "I have somehow or
+another formed acquaintance with some of the good people," he wrote,
+"and several of the little Yffrouws, and have even made my way and
+intrenched myself strongly in the parlors of several genuine Dutch
+families, who had declared utter hostility to me." One lady had said
+that if she were a man she would horsewhip him; but an hour with
+Irving, who had made a point of meeting her, left her resigned to be a
+woman.
+
+Irving had now scored his first great literary success. He had proved
+himself master of a fluent humorous style which might have been
+applied indefinitely to the treatment of similar themes. He was
+twenty-seven years old, and there was no reason why the next ten years
+should not be a most fruitful period. Unfortunately, during most of
+that time life was made too easy for him. He knew now that he could
+write, but he had no desire to write for a living. Probably he felt
+that such a course would be in some way not quite suitable for a man
+of fashion. At all events, ten years passed, and middle age was at
+hand before the promising author began to fulfill his promise. Not
+till 1819 appeared his next literary venture, conceived in a more
+serious spirit, and launched with many misgivings as the first
+performance of the professional man of letters.
+
+He had by this time pretty much given up any notion he may have had of
+living by the law. His attempts to gain civil appointments were not
+successful. The brilliant younger brother must be provided for;
+presently Peter and Ebenezer, who were proprietors of a fairly
+prosperous hardware business, offered him a partnership, with nominal
+duties and one fifth of the profits. His connection with the firm was
+at first a sinecure. Later, and when the business had come to the
+brink of failure, the burden fell upon him, and absorbed his whole
+time and energies for nearly two years. His literary idling cannot be
+said to have been due to this entanglement. In his view writing was
+apparently little more than an agreeable indulgence which had brought
+him some half-deserved praise, and a pleasant social recognition in
+desirable quarters. One of the first results of his new connection was
+a visit to Washington, ostensibly in the interests of the business.
+The character of his services may be surmised from the fact that his
+journey from New York to Washington, _via_ Philadelphia and
+Baltimore, consumed nineteen days; and that was when the affairs of
+the firm were in some straits, and supposed to be particularly in need
+of representation at Washington.
+
+In 1812 he accepted the editorship of a periodical called "Select
+Reviews," to which during the next two years he contributed various
+critical and biographical articles. He found little to his liking in
+the editorial and still less in the critical part of his work. "I do
+not profess," he wrote, "the art and mystery of reviewing, and am not
+ambitious of being wise or facetious at the expense of others." He was
+never a good critic, for he was too soft-hearted, and too little in
+conceit with his own judgment to give an unfavorable opinion. And this
+was in the period of "slashing" criticism, when it was the proper
+thing, unless an author could show good reason for being declared the
+greatest man of the age, to hang, draw, and quarter him on the spot.
+At about this time, Jeffrey of the "Edinburgh Review," a critic who
+made the most of his prerogative, visited America. His coming was
+heralded by Irving's friend Brevoort in a letter whose ludicrous
+climax is worth quoting: "It is essential that Jeffrey may imbibe a
+just estimate of the United States and its inhabitants.... Persuade
+him to visit Washington _and by all means to see the falls of
+Niagara_." Apparently Irving received the great Jeffrey with courtesy
+and composure; as an equal, and not in the least as an idol to be
+propitiated with gewgaws.
+
+It was an anxious time, the year 1813. The struggle with England had
+assumed a more serious form. At last the British succeeded in entering
+Washington, and destroyed most of the public buildings. Irving's
+attitude had been uncompromisingly American from the outset. This act
+of vandalism aroused his indignation; he promptly offered his services
+to Governor Tompkins of New York, and was made an aide on his staff,
+with the brevet rank of colonel. This position he held for four
+months, when Governor Tompkins retired from the command. During that
+time Irving showed much military zeal, and enough capacity to be
+ordered to the front at Sackett's Harbor, at an important moment, with
+powers of which he made creditable use.
+
+In the spring of 1815 he narrowly escaped sailing with Decatur on the
+expedition to Algiers. It was largely by his advice that Decatur
+decided to accept the command. Irving's trunks had been taken on board
+the commodore's frigate when orders came from Washington delaying the
+expedition. Irving was afraid that his presence might in some way
+embarrass the commander, and left the ship at once. He was not to be
+balked of Europe, however; he was ready to sail and the affairs of the
+firm seemed to promise an easy competence. On May 25 he embarked for
+Liverpool, with no very distinct plans, but with no expectation of
+being long abroad. It was seventeen years before he saw America again.
+
+He reached Liverpool at a dramatic moment. Napoleon had fallen, and
+the mail coaches were rushing through England with the news of
+Waterloo. It was the sort of pageant which always roused Irving's
+fancy. He was absorbed in the situation.
+
+His letters show that however he may have shrunk from concerning
+himself with practical politics, he viewed the great _coups_ of
+statecraft with the greatest interest. His sympathies are with
+Bonaparte; the English were perhaps too recent enemies to be treated
+quite charitably. "I have made a short visit to London," he wrote to
+one of his brothers in July. "The spirits of this nation, as you may
+suppose, are wonderfully elated by their successes on the Continent,
+and English pride is inflated to its full distention by the idea of
+having Paris at the mercy of Wellington and his army. The only thing
+that annoys the honest mob is that old Louis will not cut throats and
+lop off heads, and that Wellington will not blow up bridges and
+monuments, and plunder palaces and galleries. As to Bonaparte, they
+have disposed of him in a thousand ways; every fat-sided John Bull has
+him dished up in a way to please his own palate, excepting that as yet
+they have not observed the first direction in the famous receipt to
+cook a turbot,--'First catchy our turbot.'" Then comes a postscript:
+"The bells are ringing, and this moment news is brought that poor
+Boney is a prisoner at Plymouth. _John has caught the turbot!_"
+
+Peter Irving was in charge of the firm's English office at Liverpool.
+He was a bachelor, and Irving had to go to Birmingham, to the house of
+his brother-in-law, Henry van Wart, to find an American home in
+England. But he did not make his permanent escape from Liverpool so
+easily. Not many months had passed before Peter fell ill, had to leave
+Liverpool, and Irving was left in charge. For over eight months the
+entire management of an ill-ordered establishment fell into his hands.
+He seems to have made a thorough attempt to examine and arrange the
+confusions of the office. He studied bookkeeping, so that he might get
+some knowledge of the accounts, and otherwise busied himself in a
+methodical way foreign to his habit. At last, in 1818, the best thing
+possible under the circumstances happened,--the business collapsed,
+and the brothers found a road out of their difficulties by way of the
+bankruptcy court. It was a great relief. "For upwards of two years,"
+he wrote to Brevoort, "I have been bowed down in spirit, and harassed
+by the most sordid cares. As yet, I trust, my mind has not lost its
+elasticity, and I hope to recover some cheerful standing in the world.
+Indeed, I feel very little solicitude about my own prospects. I trust
+something will turn up to procure me subsistence, and am convinced,
+however scanty and precarious may be my lot, I can bring myself to be
+content. But I feel harassed in mind at times on behalf of my
+brothers. It is a dismal thing to look round on the wrecks of such a
+family connection. This is what, in spite of every exertion, will
+sometimes steep my soul in bitterness."
+
+Irving had now fairly arrived at maturity. The experience of the last
+few years had done much to sober him. He was still fond of society,
+and still of a cheerful temper; but the absorbing sophomoric joy in
+cakes and ale was now past and not to return. The pinch of necessity
+had come at last: the world no longer offered him the life of an
+elegant dawdler. He had a serious business before him,--to gain a
+competency for himself and his brother. The unpractical younger
+brother was to be after this the mainstay of the family fortunes. And
+what especially makes this the finest moment of his life is the sudden
+and clear perception that to gain this end he must depend upon the
+steady and fruitful exercise of his gift for writing. It was not to be
+taken up as a last resort, but as a matter of deliberate choice.
+Presently he received the offer of a good position on the Navy Board
+at Washington, with a salary of $2400. A few years earlier he would
+have snatched at it. "Flattering as the prospect undoubtedly is which
+your letters hold out," he wrote to his brother Ebenezer, "I have
+concluded to decline it for various reasons.... The principal one is,
+that I do not wish to undertake any situation that must involve me in
+such a routine of duties as to prevent my attending to literary
+pursuits." His determination was sturdy enough, but he was not then
+nor afterward the master of his moods. "I have heard him say," notes
+Pierre Irving, "that he was so disturbed by the responsibility he had
+taken in refusing such an offer and trusting to the uncertain chances
+of literary success, that for two months he could scarcely write a
+line." His elder brothers were heartily disappointed by the decision.
+They could not suppose that he would prove greatly more busy or
+fruitful in the future than he had in the past, and up to this time,
+he had done little enough. The youthful "Salmagundi" sketches, the
+broad satire of the Knickerbocker History were not much for a man of
+leisure to boast of at thirty-five. But they did not reckon justly
+with the new seriousness which had come into his purposes. Washington
+Irving was always fitful in his manner of working, often uncertain of
+himself and of his work. But from this time on he had no doubt of his
+calling; he had ceased to be a man about town, and become a man of
+letters.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+MAN OF LETTERS--FIRST PERIOD
+
+
+The appearance of the "Sketch Book," in 1819, marks the beginning of
+Irving's professional life as a literary man. It was, moreover, the
+first original literary work of moment by an American. Two years later
+Bryant's first volume of poems was published, and Cooper's novels had
+begun to appear; at this time Irving had the field to himself. Firm as
+his determination was to depend upon writing for support, he was by no
+means satisfied with what he was able to do. Even after the complete
+"Sketch Book" had appeared, and had been met with hearty applause in
+England and America, he continued to be doubtful of its merits, and
+embarrassed by its reception. In sending the manuscript of the first
+number to America, he wrote to his brother Ebenezer: "I have sent the
+first number of a work which I hope to continue from time to time. I
+send it more for the purpose of showing you what I am about, as I find
+my declining the situation at Washington has given you chagrin. The
+fact is, that situation would have given me barely a genteel
+subsistence. It would have led to no higher situations, for I am quite
+unfitted for political life. My talents are merely literary, and all
+my habits of thinking, reading, etc., have been in a different
+direction from that required by the active politician. It is a mistake
+also to suppose I would fill an office there, and devote myself at the
+same time to literature. I require much leisure, and a mind entirely
+abstracted from other cares and occupations, if I would write much or
+write well.... If I ever get any solid credit with the public, it must
+be in the quiet and assiduous operations of my pen, under the mere
+guidance of fancy or feeling.... I feel myself completely committed in
+literary reputation by what I have already written; and I feel by no
+means satisfied to rest my reputation on my preceding writings. I have
+suffered several precious years of youth and lively imagination to
+pass by unimproved, and it behooves me to make the most of what is
+left. If I indeed have the means within me of establishing a
+legitimate literary reputation, this is the very period of life most
+auspicious for it, and I am resolved to devote a few years exclusively
+to the attempt.... In fact, I consider myself at present as making a
+literary experiment, in the course of which I only care to be kept in
+bread and cheese. Should it not succeed--should my writings not
+acquire critical applause, I am content to throw up the pen and take
+to any commonplace employment. But if they should succeed, it would
+repay me for a world of care and privation to be placed among the
+established authors of my country, and to win the affections of my
+countrymen.... Do not, I beseech you, impute my lingering in Europe to
+any indifference to my own country or my friends.... I am determined
+not to return home until I have sent some writings before me that
+shall, if they have merit, make me return to the smiles, rather than
+skulk back to the pity, of my friends."
+
+To Brevoort he wrote at the same time: "I have attempted no lofty
+theme, nor sought to look wise and learned, which appears to be very
+much the fashion among our American writers, at present. I have
+preferred addressing myself to the feeling and fancy of the reader,
+more than to his judgment. My writings, therefore, may appear light
+and trifling in our country of philosophers and politicians; but if
+they possess merit in the class of literature to which they belong, it
+is all to which I aspire in the work. I seek only to blow a flute
+accompaniment in the national concert, and leave others to play the
+fiddle and French horn."
+
+The favorable reception of the "Sketch Book" not only failed to remove
+his diffidence, but left him oppressed by a new sense of obligation to
+the public which had lauded his work. This feeling is expressed in a
+letter to Leslie, the painter, with whom he had become very intimate:
+"I am glad to find the second number pleases more than the first. The
+sale is very rapid, and, altogether, the success exceeds my most
+sanguine expectation. Now you suppose I am all on the alert, full of
+spirit and excitement. No such thing. I am just as good for nothing as
+ever I was; and indeed I have been flurried and put out of my way by
+these puffings. I feel something as I suppose you did when your
+picture met with success--anxious to do something better, and at a
+loss what to do."
+
+Murray, who a little later was eager to publish anything from Irving's
+hand, declined to undertake the first English edition of the "Sketch
+Book." Irving was afraid of some incomplete pirated edition, and
+finally published the first number entirely at his own expense. Murray
+was glad enough to change his mind and bring out the later numbers.
+Among the many friends whom the young American had made in England was
+Walter Scott. A few days spent by Irving at Abbotsford had been enough
+to attach them strongly to each other. Scott had by no means outgrown
+his interest in the author of the "Knickerbocker History," and Irving
+found nothing that was not delightful in the great romancer's
+character and way of life. "As to Scott," he wrote, "I cannot express
+my delight at his character and manners. He is a sterling,
+golden-hearted old worthy, full of the joyousness of youth, with an
+imagination continually furnishing forth pictures, and a charming
+simplicity of manner that puts you at ease with him in a moment. It
+has been a constant source of pleasure to me to remark his deportment
+towards his family, his neighbors, his domestics, his very dogs and
+cats; everything that comes within his influence seems to catch a beam
+of that sunshine that plays round his heart." Now, while the prospects
+of the "Sketch Book" were still dubious, Scott offered him the
+editorship of an Anti-Jacobin magazine. Irving declined it, first on
+the ground of his dislike for politics, and second on account of his
+irregular habits of mind. "My whole course of life has been desultory,
+and I am unfitted for any periodically recurring task, or any
+stipulated labor of body or mind. I have no command of my talents
+such as they are, and have to watch the varyings of my mind as I would
+a weathercock. Practice and training may bring me more into rule; but
+at present I am as useless for regular service as one of my own
+country Indians or a Don Cossack."
+
+In August of this year, Irving and his brother Peter left England for
+the Continent. They had got no farther than Havre when their fancy was
+taken with an apparent business opening for Peter, who had been idle
+since the failure of the firm. A steamboat had just been put upon the
+Seine, to run between Havre and Rouen. Peter should be a chief
+stockholder and director; he and Washington would each put in $5000,
+and between Havre and Rouen the river would presently run gold for
+them. To be sure the money was yet to be found, but there were
+brothers William and Ebenezer, who would no doubt be glad to help set
+that little golden river flowing. Unfortunately brothers William and
+Ebenezer did not approve of the scheme at all. They flatly refused to
+lend brother Peter $5000, or to honor brother Washington's drafts for
+the same amount. More unfortunately still, Irving had already
+committed himself. All of his literary property had to be disposed of,
+to provide the pledged amount, which was forthwith placed in the
+little steamboat on the Seine, and never heard of more. Peter was
+associated with the management, and kept busy, at least, for several
+years. This was the first of a long series of business ventures which
+made Irving's life uneasy. He would no sooner turn a few thousand by
+writing than he must sink it in this or that absolutely safe and
+immensely profitable enterprise. It was not for many years that he
+learned how certainly he might count upon disastrous results from such
+experiments.
+
+After the settlement of this affair, Irving took lodgings in Paris.
+Here he met Tom Moore, and in his house more than anywhere else he
+became intimate. Moore's diary makes frequent mention of him; one of
+the most interesting entries records that Irving at this time wrote
+in ten days one hundred and thirty pages of the "Sketch Book" size.
+This was undoubtedly material for "Bracebridge Hall," the suggestion
+of which had come from Moore. In the meantime the "Sketch Book" had
+continued to gain ground in England. Byron admired it greatly, and its
+popularity with the general public may be judged from the fact that it
+was commonly attributed to Scott. Irving described himself in a letter
+to Murray as leading "a 'miscellaneous' kind of life at Paris....
+Anacreon Moore is living here, and has made me a gayer fellow than I
+could have wished; but I found it impossible to resist the charm of
+his society."
+
+In July (1821) he returned to London, in poor physical condition. He
+had now been tormented at intervals for several years by an eruptive
+complaint which kept him from exercise, and brought on other troubles.
+After his return he was bedridden for four or five months, most of
+which he passed at his sister's house in Birmingham. He grew very fond
+of his little nephews and nieces--particularly an urchin named
+George, of whom his letters record such items as: "George has made his
+appearance in a new pair of Grimaldi breeches, with pockets full as
+deep as the former. To balance his ball and marbles, he has the
+opposite pocket filled with a peg-top and a quantity of dry peas, so
+that he can only lie comfortably on his back or belly." He was by no
+means idle at this time. In January of the following year he sent the
+manuscript of "Bracebridge Hall" to his brother Ebenezer with the
+remark, "My health is still unrestored. This work has kept me from
+getting well, and my indisposition on the other hand has retarded the
+work. I have now been about five weeks in London, and have only once
+been out of doors, about a month since, and that made me worse." That
+single escape from the sick-room, his biographer says, was made for
+the sake of persuading Murray to publish Cooper's "Spy," which had
+already appeared in America. Irving's own experience was duplicated:
+Murray refused to take "The Spy," but was glad to publish Cooper's
+later work. He now gave Irving a thousand guineas for the English
+rights in "Bracebridge Hall." It was less than he might have given,
+but Irving could never be persuaded to haggle over prices. He seems to
+have agreed with Peter, who wrote cheerfully, "A thousand guineas has
+a golden sound." It was the amount which had been sunk in poor Peter's
+steamboat, which was still making its unprofitable trips up and down
+the Seine; and two hundred guineas of this thousand soon passed into
+his pocket, where no doubt he found their melody even pleasanter.
+
+"Bracebridge Hall" was well received; and confirmed its author's
+reputation, especially in England. He had only to be passive to find
+himself overwhelmed with social engagements. A more liberal diet and
+plenty of exercise had improved his condition, and for a month or so
+after getting rid of "Bracebridge Hall," he gave himself up to the
+engagements of a London season. But his ankles soon began to trouble
+him again, and in July, 1822, he set out for Aix-la-Chapelle, where
+he hoped to get permanent relief from his distressing complaint. He
+found nothing to keep him long at Aix. The baths and waters were well
+enough, but he was too dependent upon cheerful companionship to endure
+life among a company of invalids. He began a leisurely round of the
+Continental watering-places, staying a few weeks here and a few days
+there, and gradually improving in condition. Toward the close of the
+year he brought up at Dresden.
+
+The only touch of mystery which belongs to the story of Irving is
+connected with this six months' stay at Dresden. He made many friends
+there, and grew especially intimate with an English family named
+Foster, a mother and two daughters. It is said--and denied--that he
+would have liked to marry the youngest daughter, Emily. His biographer
+insists that there was nothing in the affair but friendship. To Mrs.
+Foster he wrote the only account he ever gave of his early love and
+loss; and his nephew quotes the closing passage as proof that he had
+no thought of marrying Emily Foster, however fond of her he may have
+been: "You wonder why I am not married. I have shown you why I was not
+long since. When I had sufficiently recovered from that loss, I became
+involved in ruin. It was not for a man broken down in the world, to
+drag down any woman to his paltry circumstances. I was too proud to
+tolerate the idea of ever mending my circumstances by matrimony. My
+time has now gone by; and I have growing claims upon my thoughts and
+upon my means, slender and precarious as they are. I feel as if I had
+already a family to think and provide for."
+
+But this might be the modest speech of a middle-aged lover. Years
+later the written reminiscences of the two daughters unmistakably
+impute the attentions of the brilliant American to something more than
+friendliness. It is certain that he had a very warm feeling for
+somebody or something in Dresden, which led to a temporary return of
+his youthful delight in society. For his time was by no means given up
+to the Fosters. He was received into the life of the little German
+court, and evidently derived such pleasure as is proper to a
+Republican from dancing with princesses, and acting in private
+theatricals with Highnesses and Excellencies. On the whole it seems to
+have been a peaceful, idle, rather trivial time of sojourn among
+congenial people. He danced, he strolled, he wrote verses to little
+Miss Emily; in short, he enjoyed himself as a youngish man may,
+whether the muse is waiting for him, or some less high-flown customer.
+"I wish I could give you a good account of my literary labors," he
+wrote his sister after several months in Dresden, "but I have nothing
+to report. I am merely seeing, and hearing, and my mind seems in too
+crowded and confused a state to produce anything. I am getting very
+familiar with the German language; and there is a lady here who is so
+kind as to give me lessons every day in Italian [Mrs. Foster], which
+language I have nearly forgotten, but which I am fast regaining.
+Another lady is superintending my French [Miss Emily Foster], so that
+if I am not acquiring ideas, I am at least acquiring a variety of
+modes of expressing them when they do come." Very likely the confusion
+of his mind was not lessened by the frequency of those French lessons.
+There really seems to be no reason for doubting the testimony of the
+elder sister's journal; "He has written. He has confessed to my
+mother, as to a dear and true friend, his love for E----, and his
+conviction of its utter hopelessness. He feels himself unable to
+combat it. He thinks he must try, by absence, to bring more peace to
+his mind.... He has almost resolved to make a tour in Silesia, which
+will keep him absent for a few weeks." The tour in Silesia was
+certainly made; and during the brief absence Irving wrote sundry
+sentimental letters to Mrs. Foster. There are occasions when he seems
+to imagine a pretty daughter looking over the admirable mother's
+shoulder, and being much affected by the famous author's tenderness
+for Dresden. Presently he comes back to be their escort, for they are
+going home to England; and at Rotterdam the good-bys are said. They
+met afterward in England, but the old intimacy was gone.
+
+More than thirty years after, Irving had a letter from a Mrs. Emily
+Fuller, whose name he did not know. Pleasantly and discreetly it
+recalled those happy Emily Foster days in Dresden. "She addresses him
+because she hopes that her eldest boy Henry may have the happiness and
+advantage of meeting him." Poor Irving! Her eldest boy Henry.... Well,
+the sting was all gone by that time, fortunately. His reply is all
+that it ought to be, and nothing more.
+
+Those first days in Paris were not cheerful ones for Irving. His
+pleasant dream was over, and he had forgotten what to do with waking
+moments. His memorandum-book records that he felt oppressed by "a
+strange horror on his mind--a dread of future evil--of failure in
+future literary attempts--a dismal foreboding that he could not drive
+off by any effort of reason." "When I once get going again with my
+pen," he wrote to Peter, "I mean to keep on steadily, until I can
+scrape together enough to produce a regular income, however moderate.
+We shall then be independent of the world and its chances." But he
+could not manage to get going. For some time he could write nothing at
+all. Fortunately, after an unprofitable month or two, he fell in with
+John Howard Payne, now remembered only for his "Home, Sweet Home," but
+then esteemed as an actor and dramatist. Irving had met him several
+years before, and now became associated with him in some dramatic
+translating and adapting. The results were nearly worthless from a
+literary point of view, but served to keep him busy, and to put him
+once more in the writing vein.
+
+For some time Murray had been pressing him hard for copy, and in the
+spring of 1824 the "Tales of a Traveler" were completed and sent to
+press. After the task of proof-reading came a reaction of high spirits
+which expressed itself in the most amusing letter Irving ever wrote:--
+
+"BRIGHTON, August 14, 1824.
+
+    "My boat is on the shore,
+    And my bark is on the sea.
+
+"I forget how the song ends, but here I am at Brighton just on the
+point of embarking for France. I have dragged myself out of London,
+as a horse drags himself out of the slough, or a fly out of a
+honey-pot, almost leaving a limb behind him at every tug. Not that I
+have been immersed in pleasure and surrounded by sweets, but rather up
+to the ears in ink and harassed by printers' devils.
+
+"I never have had such fagging in altering, adding, and correcting;
+and I have been detained beyond all patience by the delays of the
+press. Yesterday I absolutely broke away, without waiting for the last
+sheets. They are to be sent after me here by mail, to be corrected
+this morning, or else they must take their chance. From the time I
+first started pen in hand on this work, it has been nothing but hard
+driving with me.
+
+"I have not been able to get to Tunbridge to see the Donegals, which I
+really and greatly regret. Indeed I have seen nobody except a friend
+or two who had the kindness to hunt me out. Among these was Mr. Story,
+and I ate a dinner there that it took me a week to digest, having been
+obliged to swallow so much hard-favored nonsense from a loud-talking
+baronet whose name, thank God, I forget, but who maintained Byron was
+not a man of courage, and therefore his poetry was not readable. I was
+really afraid he would bring John Story to the same way of thinking.
+
+"I went a few evenings since to see Kenney's new piece, the Alcaid. It
+went off lamely, and the Alcaid is rather a bore, and comes near to be
+generally thought so. Poor Kenney came to my room next evening, and I
+could not believe that one night could have ruined a man so
+completely. I swear to you I thought at first it was a flimsy suit of
+clothes had left some bedside and walked into my room without waiting
+for the owner to get up; or that it was one of those frames on which
+clothiers stretch coats at their shop doors; until I perceived a thin
+face sticking edgeways out of the collar of the coat like the axe in a
+bundle of fasces. He was so thin, and pale, and nervous, and
+exhausted--he made a dozen difficulties in getting over a spot in the
+carpet, and never would have accomplished it if he had not lifted
+himself over by the points in his shirt-collar.
+
+"I saw Rogers just as I was leaving town. I had not time to ask him
+any particulars about you, and indeed he is not exactly the man from
+whom I would ask news about my friends. I dined tête-à-tête with him
+some time ago, and he served up his friends as he served up his fish,
+with a squeeze of lemon over each. It was very piquant, but it rather
+set my teeth on edge....
+
+"Farewell, my dear Moore. Let me hear from you, if but a line;
+particularly if my work pleases you, but don't say a word against it.
+I am easily put out of humor with what I do."
+
+Surely no more delicious bit of nonsense was ever written than the
+description of poor Kenney. Moore read it to a group of friends in the
+presence of the victim--a situation which would have been too
+"piquant" for Irving's taste.
+
+Moore had only the desired praise for the "Tales of a Traveler," but
+elsewhere it did not fare so well. Irving considered it on the whole
+his best work; but though it had a large sale, its reception in
+England was not quite what he had hoped for; and in America it was
+received by the press with something like hostility. Unfortunately
+some busybody in America made it his concern to forward to Irving all
+the ill-natured flings which could be gleaned from American notices of
+the new book. The incident--with all its unpleasantness--was trifling
+enough, but to Irving's raw sensitiveness it was torture. He was
+overwhelmed with an almost ludicrous melancholy, could not write,
+could not sleep, could not bear to be alone. This petty outburst of
+critical spleen, backed as it evidently was by personal antagonism on
+the part of a few obscure journalists, actually left him dumb for more
+than a year.
+
+Of course the public was right in its general estimate of the "Tales
+of a Traveler": they are not as good as the "Sketch Book." In kind
+they are similar--that in itself would be enough to excite prejudice
+against new work from an author who had been so long before the
+public; but they are also undeniably inferior in quality. One or two
+of the stories are distinctly morbid in tone, several give the
+impression of being long drawn out. In some way the collection lacks
+atmosphere; Italian scenery is painted with accuracy, but not Italian
+life or character. Irving could draw the early Dutch in America, or
+the mediæval Moors in Spain, or the Englishman in England or Italy:
+the modern Italian on his own soil he did not know except in his
+melodramatic exterior.
+
+Irving had now given his brother Peter a place in his little ménage.
+The steamboat scheme had failed utterly, and he had from this time on
+no sort of regular employment. Irving set himself cheerfully to
+provide for both. His goal at this time was less fame than
+fortune--"by every exertion to attain sufficient to make us both
+independent for the rest of our lives." Not for many years did he come
+to perceive that a life of leisure was not only impossible, but
+undesirable for him, and to express it as his fondest wish that he
+might "die in harness." The profits of the "Tales of a Traveler" went
+the way of most of his earnings--this time to help develop a Bolivia
+copper mine.
+
+He had been studying Spanish for a year or two, and had an increased
+desire to see Spain. As a mere aid in traveling, he asked for the
+nominal post of attaché to the American legation at Madrid. Alexander
+H. Everett, then minister to Spain, at once granted the request, and
+in replying suggested a possible literary task--the translation of a
+new Spanish work, Navarrete's "Voyages of Columbus," which was shortly
+to make its appearance. Murray, who was then in some difficulties, did
+not think favorably of the project.
+
+Irving went to Madrid, and by good fortune got lodgings with the
+American consul Rich, who had made an extensive private collection of
+documents dealing with early American history. Presently Navarrete's
+work was published, and found to be "rather a mass of rich materials
+for history than a history itself." This was in February, 1826. Irving
+at once began to take notes and sift materials for an original history
+of Columbus. For six months he worked incessantly. "Sometimes," says
+his biographer, "he would write all day and until twelve at night; in
+one instance his note-book shows him to have written from five in the
+morning until eight at night, stopping only for meals."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+MAN OF LETTERS--SECOND PERIOD
+
+
+There is something interesting, and in a sense pathetic, in this
+sudden steady diligence from the man of desultory habits, who had
+never written but by whim, whose finger had always been lifted to
+catch the lightest literary airs. Here, at last, was the firm trade
+wind, and the satisfaction of steady and methodical progress. The
+qualified success of the "Tales of a Traveler" had led him to feel
+that his vein was running out. The prospect of producing a solid work
+gave him keen pleasure. One cannot be always building castles in the
+air; why not try a pyramid, if only a little one? Since the world is
+perfectly delighted with our pretty things, very well, let us show
+that we can do a sublime thing. As for history--"Whatever may be the
+use of this sort of composition in itself and abstractedly," says
+Walter Bagehot, "it is certainly of great use relatively and to
+literary men. Consider the position of a man of that species. He sits
+beside a library fire, with nice white paper, a good pen, a capital
+style--every means of saying everything, but nothing to say. Of course
+he is an able man; of course he has an active intellect, besides
+wonderful culture: but still, one cannot always have original ideas.
+Every day cannot be an era; a train of new speculation very often will
+not be found: and how dull it is to make it your business to write, to
+stay by yourself in a room to write, and then to have nothing to say!
+It is dreary work mending seven pens, and waiting for a theory to
+'turn up.' What a gain if something would happen! then one could
+describe it. Something has happened, and that something is history."
+
+There is no doubt that Irving's early delicate sallies in literature
+represent his best. In a single department of belles-lettres he had
+shown mastery. During the remainder of his life he continued to work
+at intervals in that field with similar felicity; and, for the rest,
+to write amiably and respectably upon many topics foreign to his
+natural bent. But his greatest work was done in odd moments and at a
+heat; all the method in the world could not increase his real stature
+by a cubit.
+
+A word may perhaps be said here of Irving as an historian and
+biographer. Of course he could not write dully; his histories are just
+as readable as Goldsmith's, and rather more veracious. But he plainly
+had not the scholar's training and methods which we now demand of the
+historian; nor had he the larger view of men and events in their
+perspective. Generalization was beyond him. Fortunately to generalize
+is only a part of the business of the historian. To catch some dim
+historic figure, and give it life and color,--this power he had. And
+it was evidently this which gave him the praise of such men as
+Prescott and Bancroft and Motley. Washington had begun to loom vaguely
+and impersonally in the mind, a mere great man, when Irving with a
+touch turned him from cold bronze into flesh and blood again.
+
+During the years of Irving's stay abroad other American writers had
+come into notice. Bryant's poetry had become well known. Cooper had
+produced "The Spy," "The Pilot," "The Pioneers," and "The Last of the
+Mohicans." In 1827 appeared the first volume of poems by Edgar Allan
+Poe. In this year, too, Irving's diary records a meeting with
+Longfellow, who was then twenty-one, and came abroad to prepare
+himself for his professorship at Bowdoin. Longfellow's recollection of
+the incident is worth quoting: "I had the pleasure of meeting Mr.
+Irving in Spain, and found the author, whom I had loved, repeated in
+the man. The same playful humor; the same touches of sentiment; the
+same poetic atmosphere; and, what I admired still more, the entire
+absence of all literary jealousy, of all that mean avarice of fame,
+which counts what is given to another as so much taken from one's
+self--
+
+    "'And trembling, hears in every breeze
+    The laurels of Miltiades.'"
+
+In the following summer the "History of Columbus" was finished, and
+sold to Murray. It won high praise from the reviewers, especially from
+Alexander H. Everett, his former diplomatic chief, and at this time
+editor of the "North American Review."
+
+Early in the following year he made his first visit to Andalusian
+Spain. In the course of his grubbing among the Columbus archives, he
+had found a good deal of interesting material about the Moorish
+occupancy. The beauty of the country and the grandeur of its Moorish
+relics took strong hold upon him. In April, 1828, he settled in
+Seville, and there the "Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada" were
+written. By this time the market price of his wares had gone up very
+much. There is no doubt that his historical work had increased his
+temporary reputation. Murray gave him 2000 guineas for the "Conquest
+of Granada;" he further offered him £1000 a year to edit a new
+literary and scientific magazine, as well as £100 an article for any
+contribution he might choose to make to the "London Quarterly." He
+refused the first offer on the ground that he did not care to be tied
+in England, the second because the "Quarterly" had always been hostile
+to America. He continued to take an interest in affairs at home.
+Impatient as he was of political methods, he had opinions of his own
+as to candidates and measures. The election of Jackson called forth
+the following comment in a letter to Mr. Everett: "I was rather sorry
+when Mr. Adams was first raised to the presidency, but I am much more
+so at his being displaced; for he has made a far better president than
+I expected, and I am loth to see a man superseded who has filled his
+station worthily. These frequent changes in our administration are
+prejudicial to the country; we ought to be wary of using our power of
+changing our chief magistrate when the welfare of the country does not
+require it. In the present election there has, doubtless, been much
+honest, warm, grateful feeling toward Jackson, but I fear much pique,
+passion, and caprice as it respects Mr. Adams.
+
+"Since the old general was to be the man, however, I am well pleased
+upon the whole that he has a great majority, as it will, for the
+reasons you mention, produce a political calm in the country, and lull
+those angry passions which have been exasperated during the Adams
+administration, by the close contest of nearly balanced parties. As to
+the old general, with all his _hickory_ characteristics, I suspect he
+has good stuff in him, and will make a sagacious, independent, and
+high-spirited president; and I doubt his making so high-handed a one
+as many imagine."
+
+The "Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada" were well treated by
+critics, but never very popular. The humor of the mythical Fray
+Antonio's narrative was too sly and covert; the public was mystified,
+and had half a notion it was being made game of. But Irving was not
+yet done with Granada. Presently he went back, and in the course of a
+solitary two months in the Alhambra, got together the materials for
+the most characteristic work he had published since the "Tales of a
+Traveler" and the strongest since the "Sketch Book." His idyllic stay
+in the Alhambra was one of the pleasantest episodes of his life. When
+it was cut short by his appointment as secretary of legation at
+London, he made up his mind to leave the quiet breathing-spot with
+real regret. One cannot help seeing from the tone of his letter to
+Peter that the years have given him as much as they have taken away:
+"My only horror is the bustle and turmoil of the world: how shall I
+stand it after the delicious quiet and repose of the Alhambra? I had
+intended, however, to quit this place before long, and, indeed, was
+almost reproaching myself for protracting my sojourn, having little
+better than sheer self-indulgence to plead for it; for the effect of
+the climate, the air, the serenity and sweetness of the place, is
+almost as seductive as that of the Castle of Indolence, and I feel at
+times an impossibility of working, or of doing anything but yielding
+to a mere voluptuousness of sensation."
+
+At London he found himself associated with congenial men, but tied so
+closely to the legation that he could not even get away to visit his
+sister at Birmingham. The constraint chafed him at first, but before
+long his letters show him reconciled, and even interested in the
+practical business of diplomacy. They complain, however, of his
+growing stout. This, indeed, he had a perfect right to do. He was now
+forty-seven years old, and a man of solid reputation; weighty honors
+were being heaped upon him. Before leaving Spain he had been made a
+member of the Spanish Royal Academy of History; and in England he had
+just received a medal from the Royal Society of Literature, and the
+degree of LL. D. from Oxford. His leisure for literary work was not
+great in London, but he was making some progress with the Alhambra
+stories, and had begun to think seriously of the "Life of Washington,"
+which was to hold the main place in his thoughts for the rest of his
+life.
+
+At this time England was suffering under the double discomfort of
+cholera and the Reform Bill. A letter from Irving to his brother
+shows that even in the midst of his successes the popular author was
+subject to moods of mental gloom, and even to business difficulties:
+"The restlessness and uncertainty in which I have been kept have
+disordered my mind and feelings too much for imaginative writing, and
+I now doubt whether I could get the Alhambra ready in time for
+Christmas.... The present state of things here completely discourages
+the idea of publication of any kind. There is no knowing who among the
+booksellers is safe. Those who have published most are worst off, for
+in this time of public excitement nobody reads books or buys them."
+
+In 1831, Van Buren was nominated as Minister to the Court of St.
+James, and at once took charge of his diplomatic duties. His
+nomination was rejected by the Senate, however; and Irving determined
+to take advantage of the incident to make his own escape from the
+service, and return at last to America.
+
+In May, 1831, he arrived in New York. He had been a young man when he
+left America; he was now leaning toward the farther verge of his
+prime. In character he had refined and sobered greatly; and he had
+more than fulfilled his promise of literary excellence. He had still
+twenty-six years to live, and was to do much useful service in life
+and letters; but he could do nothing in that time to alter his
+reputation; he could merely confirm it. Irving had grown immensely,
+too, in the favor of his countrymen. He was welcomed back with
+extravagant effusion by his old friends and by the country at large.
+He had in fact come to be regarded as one of the chief glories of
+America; for he had been the first to make her a world-power in
+literature.
+
+During those seventeen years New York had changed almost beyond
+recognition in size, in appearance, in the tone of its life; but
+Irving was delighted with everything and everybody. All that he had to
+regret was the ordeal of a great public dinner in his honor, at which,
+after a great deal of preliminary nervousness, he made the one speech
+of his life. It was a good speech, but he could never be prevailed
+upon to repeat the experiment. He was always at his worst in a large
+company. The sight of a great number of unknown or half-known faces
+confused his thoughts and clogged his tongue. His intimates knew him
+for a brilliant and ready talker, full of easy fun and unaffected
+sentiment.
+
+Not long after his return, the "Tales of the Alhambra" were published.
+In the somewhat florid concert of critical praises which greeted the
+book, a simple theme is dominant. Everybody felt that in these stories
+Irving had come back to his own. The material was very different from
+that of the "Sketch Book," yet it yielded to similar treatment. The
+grace, romance, humor, of this "beautiful Spanish Sketch Book," as the
+historian Prescott called it, appealed at once to an audience which
+had listened somewhat coldly to the less spontaneous "Tales of a
+Traveler," and had given a formal approbation to the "History of
+Columbus," without finding very much Irving in it.
+
+A visit to Washington to clear up various odds and ends of his
+diplomatic experience resulted in an interview with President Jackson,
+which he reported in a letter to Peter Irving, now living alone in
+Paris: "I have been most kindly received by the old general, with whom
+I am much pleased as well as amused. As his admirers say, he is truly
+an _old Roman_--to which I could add, _with a little dash of the
+Greek_; for I suspect he is as _knowing_ as I believe he is _honest_.
+I took care to put myself promptly on a fair and independent footing
+with him; for, in expressing warmly and sincerely how much I had been
+gratified by the unsought but most seasonable mark of confidence he
+had shown me, when he hinted something about a disposition to place me
+elsewhere, I let him know emphatically that I wished for nothing
+more--that my whole desire was to live among my countrymen, and to
+follow my usual pursuits. In fact, I am persuaded that my true course
+is to be master of myself and of my time. Official station cannot add
+to my happiness or respectability, and certainly would stand in the
+way of my literary career." This disinclination to take office he
+never got over, although he was frequently approached with offers of
+place. In 1834, he was offered a nomination for Congress by the
+Jackson party; in 1838, he was offered the Tammany nomination as mayor
+of New York, and the secretaryship of the navy by Van Buren. And when
+three years later he was given a still more important post, it was
+only the evident spontaneity of the choice, and the feeling that in
+taking the office he should be representing country rather than party,
+which led him to accept it.
+
+Impatient as he was of political methods, he had opinions of his own
+on specific questions, and a broad political platform which he once
+stated in a letter to his old friend Kemble:--
+
+"As far as I know my own mind, I am thoroughly a republican, and
+attached, from complete conviction, to the institutions of my country;
+but I am a republican without gall, and have no bitterness in my
+creed. I have no relish for puritans either in religion or politics,
+who are for pushing principles to an extreme, and for overturning
+everything that stands in the way of their own zealous career. I have,
+therefore, felt a strong distaste for some of those loco-foco
+luminaries who of late have been urging strong and sweeping measures,
+subversive of the interests of great classes of the community. Their
+doctrines may be excellent in theory, but, if enforced in violent and
+uncompromising opposition to all our habitudes, may produce the most
+distressing effects. The best of remedies must be cautiously applied,
+and suited to the state and constitution of the patient; otherwise,
+what is intended to cure, may produce convulsion. The late elections
+have shown that the measures proposed by Government are repugnant to
+the feelings and habitudes or disastrous to the interests of great
+portions of our fellow citizens. They should not, then, be forced home
+with rigor. Ours is a government of compromise. We have several great
+and distinct interests bound up together, which, if not separately
+consulted and severally accommodated, may harass and impair each
+other. A stern, inflexible, and uniform policy may do for a small
+compact republic, like one of those of ancient Greece, where there is
+a unity of character, habits, and interests; but a more accommodating,
+discriminating, and variable policy must be observed in a vast
+republic like ours, formed of a variety of states widely differing in
+habits, pursuits, characters, and climes, and banded together by a few
+general ties.
+
+"I always distrust the soundness of political councils that are
+accompanied by acrimonious and disparaging attacks upon any great
+class of our fellow citizens. Such are those urged to the disadvantage
+of the great trading and financial classes of our country. You
+yourself know, from education and experience, how important these
+classes are to the prosperous conduct of the complicated affairs of
+this immense empire. You yourself know, in spite of all the
+commonplace cant and obloquy that has been cast upon them by political
+spouters and scribblers, what general good faith and fair dealing
+prevails throughout these classes."
+
+At this time he was studying with increasing interest the shifting
+spectacle of American life. The openings of the West especially caught
+his imagination, and when the chance came to travel on what was then
+the frontier, the trans-Mississippi territories, he was quick to
+accept it. As guest of one of the members of a commission appointed to
+treat with several Indian tribes, he went as far as Fort Gibson on the
+Arkansas. The literary fruits of this journey were "A Tour on the
+Prairies," and "The Adventures of Captain Bonneville."
+
+In April, 1833, he bought the little estate of Sunnyside, near the
+Sleepy Hollow which he had made famous. His first name for it was "The
+Roost" (Dutch for "Rest"), which he changed for reasons which are not
+recorded; possibly the little nieces who became regular inmates may
+have thought the old name not dignified enough. This he regarded as
+his home for the rest of his life. He set to work at once to enlarge
+the old Dutch stone cottage which stood upon the place; and from this
+time on he is continually "puttering" about the estate, building a
+poultry-yard here, planting trees there, with the full zeal of the
+rural landlord. His family letters are given to accounts of little
+country doings: "The goose war is happily terminated: Mr. Jones'
+squadron has left my waters, and my feathered navy now plows the
+Tappan Sea in triumph. I cannot but attribute this great victory to
+the valor and good conduct of the enterprising little duck, who seems
+to enjoy great power and popularity among both geese and ganders, and
+absolutely to be the master of the fleet.... I am happy to inform you
+that, among the many other blessings brought to the cottage by the
+good Mr. Lawrence is a pig of first-rate stock and lineage. It has
+been duly put in possession of the palace in the rear of the barn,
+where it is shown to every visitor with as much pride as if it was the
+youngest child of a family. As it is of the fair sex, and in the
+opinion of the best judges a pig of peerless beauty, I have named it
+'Fanny.' I know it is a name which with Kate and you has a romantic
+charm, and about the cottage everything, as old Mrs. Marthing says,
+must be romance." This was during the vogue of Fanny Kemble.
+
+In this quiet retreat the next five uneventful years were passed, with
+occasional excursions to New York or farther, which only served to
+make the seclusion of the country home more inviting. Peter Irving
+spent his last days at the Roost; and Ebenezer Irving and his family
+gave up their New York house to make their home with the now famous
+brother. While this arrangement greatly increased Irving's
+satisfaction in life, it made heavy demands upon his purse. One cannot
+be a country gentleman for nothing. The cottage had to be enlarged
+repeatedly, the grounds cared for; and the mere running expenses were
+a considerable matter for a man without dependable income. Irving had
+by this time received a great deal of money for his books, but an
+unfortunate "knack of hoping" had locked up most of it in unprofitable
+land speculations.
+
+In 1835 the three volumes of the "Crayon Miscellanies," were
+published. The "Tour on the Prairies" was especially palatable to
+Americans. Edward Everett said of it, in the highly colored style of
+the period: "We are proud of Mr. Irving's sketches of English life,
+proud of the gorgeous canvas upon which he has gathered in so much of
+the glowing imagery of Moorish times. We behold with delight his easy
+and triumphant march over these beaten fields; but we glow with
+rapture as we see him coming back, laden with the poetical treasures
+of the primitive wilderness, rich with spoil from the uninhabited
+desert."
+
+The second volume, containing "Abbotsford" and "Newstead Abbey,"
+naturally gained special praise in England; the third, "Legends of the
+Conquest of Spain," had comparatively little success.
+
+Of "Astoria" (1836) it is hard to know what to say; on the whole, it
+seems the most doubtful of his works in motive and quality. John Jacob
+Astor, now an old man, was anxious to perpetuate the fame of his
+commercial exploits, and was lucky enough to subsidize for this
+purpose the most prominent American writer of the day. The adventures
+of the various expeditions sent out to found an American trading
+company on the Pacific coast are interesting; but one puts down
+Irving's account of them with the feeling that it reflects rather more
+credit on Mr. Astor than on the writer. The truth is, Irving, like
+many less successful literary men, was constantly in need of money;
+and he had begun to be in some difficulty for subjects upon which to
+exercise his craft. The "Adventures of Captain Bonneville" (1837) was
+also a piece of skillful book-making rather than an original creative
+work; and after that nearly two years passed without his writing
+anything.
+
+At last, toward the close of 1838, he hit upon a subject which
+attracted him greatly--a "History of the Conquest of Mexico." He began
+at once upon preliminary studies, and had made considerable progress
+when he learned by chance that Prescott, who had recently made a name
+for himself by his "Ferdinand and Isabella," was at work upon the
+same subject. Irving immediately retired from the field, and conveyed
+a courteous assurance to Prescott of his satisfaction in leaving the
+theme to such hands. He felt this sacrifice keenly, however; the
+project had appealed to him peculiarly, and he had no other in mind to
+take its place. For lack of other literary work, therefore, he
+presently engaged to write a monthly article for the New York
+"Knickerbocker," at a salary of $2000 a year. The arrangement was just
+not too irksome to continue for two years.
+
+It is easy to see, then, that at fifty-five Irving was pretty well
+written out. In the twenty years that remained to him he produced
+nothing of account except the "Life of Washington," which, like his
+other works in biography and history, may be regarded as a _tour de
+force_ rather than a spontaneous outcome of his genius.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+A PUBLIC CHARACTER
+
+
+The data of Irving's literary achievements have been brought near a
+conclusion; what remains to be said may now deal less with what he
+wrote, and more with what he did and was. It is luckily unnecessary to
+try for a sharply drawn distinction between his popularity as a writer
+and as a man. In his home, in society, and in literature the single
+charm of his personality had made him beloved in the same way. And he
+had become, in the best sense of the term, a public character. For
+many years his name had been better known abroad than that of any
+other living American; and his reception at home after an absence of
+seventeen years showed in what regard his countrymen had come to hold
+him. Their pride in his success and gratitude for the new fame he had
+given a country which was still felt to be on probation, can hardly
+account for it; only the confidence of affection could have excused so
+prolonged an absenteeism.
+
+His peculiar hold upon popular affection cannot be better suggested
+than by the tone of a letter written by the only Englishman who during
+Irving's life could pretend to rival him in his peculiar field. In
+1841, Irving wrote to Dickens, expressing pleasure in his work.
+Dickens replied: "There is no man in the world who could have given me
+the heartfelt pleasure you have, by your kind note of the 13th of last
+month. There is no living writer, and there are very few among the
+dead, whose approbation I should feel so proud to earn. And with
+everything you have written upon my shelves, and in my thoughts, and
+in my heart of hearts, I may honestly and truly say so.... I wish I
+could find in your welcome letter some hint of an intention to visit
+England. I can't. I have held it at arm's length, and taken a bird's
+eye view of it, after reading it a great many times, but there is no
+greater encouragement in it this way than on a microscopic
+inspection. I should love to go with you--as I have gone, God knows
+how often--into Little Britain, and Eastcheap, and Green Arbor Court,
+and Westminster Abbey. I should like to travel with you, outside the
+last of the coaches, down to Bracebridge Hall. It would make my heart
+glad to compare notes with you about that shabby gentleman in the
+oilcloth hat and red nose, who sat in the nine-cornered back parlor of
+the Masons' Arms; and about Robert Preston, and the tallow chandler's
+widow, whose sitting-room is second nature to me; and about all those
+delightful places and people that I used to walk about and dream of in
+the daytime, when a very small and not over-particularly-taken-care-of
+boy. I have a good deal to say, too, about that dashing Alonzo de
+Ojeda, that you can't help being fonder of than you ought to be; and
+much to hear concerning Moorish legend and poor, unhappy Boabdil.
+Diedrich Knickerbocker I have worn to death in my pocket, and yet I
+should show you his mutilated carcass with a joy past all
+expression."
+
+Not long afterward Dickens visited America. Irving and he saw much of
+each other, though they did not meet many times. Irving presided at a
+great dinner given to Boz in New York, broke down in his introductory
+speech, and otherwise endeared himself to his brother author. When
+presently Dickens went back, he wrote, "I did not come to see you, for
+I really have not the heart to say 'good-by' again, and felt more than
+I can tell you when we shook hands last Wednesday."
+
+Pretty soon Irving himself was leaving America. In February, 1842, he
+was startled from the home quiet of Sunnyside by a summons which he
+could not disregard. Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, had
+secured his appointment as Minister to Spain. The Senate confirmed it
+almost by acclamation, and letters came from various quarters urging
+him to accept it. He could not doubt that the wish was general. But it
+was very hard for him to leave home and America again. For some time
+after accepting the post he was plunged into a dejection which seemed
+laughable to himself. "The crowning honor of his life," he admitted,
+had come to him, and he could only groan under it.
+
+"'It is hard, very hard,' he half murmured to himself, half to me; yet
+he added whimsically enough, being struck with the seeming absurdity
+of such a view, 'I must try to bear it. God tempers the wind to the
+shorn lamb'" (P. M. Irving).
+
+In April he sailed from New York, and made a leisurely journey by way
+of England and France, not reaching Madrid till the end of July.
+Europe had lost its old charm. Many places reminded him painfully of
+the favorite brother Peter who had shared his first impressions of
+them, and whose loss was one of the keenest griefs of his life. "My
+visit to Europe has by no means the charm of former visits," he wrote
+from Paris; "scenes and objects have no longer the effect of novelty
+with me. I am no longer curious to see great sights or great people,
+and have been so long accustomed to a life of quiet, that I find the
+turmoil of the world becomes irksome to me. Then I have a house of my
+own, a little domestic world, created in a manner by my own hand,
+which I have left behind, and which is continually haunting my
+thoughts, and coming in contrast with the noisy, tumultuous, heartless
+world in which I am called to mingle. However, I am somewhat of a
+philosopher, and can accommodate myself to changes, so I shall
+endeavor to resign myself to the splendor of courts and the
+conversation of courtiers, comforting myself with the thought that the
+time will come when I shall once more return to sweet little
+Sunnyside, and be able to sit on a stone fence, and talk about
+politics and rural affairs with Neighbor Forkel and Uncle Brom."
+
+At Madrid he very soon found himself too much occupied for the
+literary work he had counted on. He had accepted the place under the
+impression that his duties would not greatly interfere with the
+writing of the "Life of Washington," on which he was then fairly
+launched. But from the beginning he found the situation in Spain
+unexpectedly absorbing. It was the usual Spanish situation, to be
+sure: a designing pretender, a child monarch, a court honeycombed with
+intrigue, and a people ready for anything spectacular. When Irving was
+presented to the young queen, she was closely guarded. "On ascending
+the grand staircase, we found the portal at the head of it, opening
+into the royal suite of apartments, still bearing the marks of the
+midnight attack upon the palace in October last, when an attempt was
+made to get possession of the persons of the little queen and her
+sister, to carry them off.... The marble casements of the doors had
+been shattered in several places, and the double doors themselves
+pierced all over with bullet-holes, from the musketry that played upon
+them from the staircase during that eventful night. What must have
+been the feelings of those poor children, on listening from their
+apartment to the horrid tumult, the outcries of a furious multitude,
+and the reports of fire-arms, echoing and reverberating through the
+vaulted halls and spacious courts of the immense edifice, and dubious
+whether their own lives were not the object of the assault!" Such an
+appeal to Irving's sympathy and chivalry was enough to deprive the
+situation of its quality of opéra-bouffe.
+
+Presently an insurrection takes place in Barcelona. The regent hurries
+off to quell it, and Irving's letters are full of the pomp and
+circumstance of war. The regent is successful, and returns apparently
+firmer than ever in power. But a few months later the trouble breaks
+out again, more seriously; Madrid is placed in a state of siege, and
+martial law declared. The life of the queen is thought to be in
+danger, and the diplomatic corps, headed by Irving, offers its
+services for her protection. Finally the regent is driven out of
+power, and blows are once again succeeded by intrigue. Such, briefly,
+was the character of the little drama in which the quiet American
+author was to take a significant part, during his whole ministry. This
+Spanish experience is fully recorded in his family letters. He was
+always a voluminous letter-writer; during this period he is fairly
+encyclopedic. A single letter to his sister fills thirteen closely
+printed pages of his nephew's biography. His official dispatches, too,
+were very full and thorough. Webster valued them particularly, and
+remarked that he "always laid aside every other correspondence to read
+a diplomatic dispatch from Mr. Irving." He had time, too, for many
+charming chatty letters to the nieces at Sunnyside. Here is a
+Thackerayish passage from one of them: "You seem to pity the poor
+little queen, shut up with her sister like two princesses in a fairy
+tale, in a great, grand, dreary palace, and wonder whether she would
+not like to change her situation for a nice little cottage on the
+Hudson? Perhaps she would, Kate, if she knew anything of the gayeties
+of cottage life; if she had ever been with us at a picnic, or driven
+out in the shandry-dan with the two roans, and James, in his slipshod
+hat, for a coachman, or _yotted_ in the Dream, or sang in the
+Tarrytown choir, or shopped at Tommy Dean's; but, poor thing! she
+would not know how to set about enjoying herself. She would not think
+of appearing at church without a whole train of the Miss ----s and the
+Miss ----s, and the Miss ----s, as maids of honor, nor drive through
+Sleepy Hollow except in a coach and six, with a cloud of dust, and a
+troop of horsemen in glittering armor. So I think, Kate, we must be
+content with pitying her, and leaving her in ignorance of the
+comparative desolateness of her situation."
+
+In 1842, Irving suffered another of those petty persecutions which he
+was not thick-skinned enough to endure without suffering, nor
+confident enough to ignore. The charges were of the most ordinary
+sort, and advanced by men of little weight: he had appropriated
+material without giving due credit for it, and he had puffed his own
+work. Their only claim upon our notice lies in the fact that Irving
+thought it worth while to confute them at length. He was perhaps
+especially sensitive to critical attacks at this time. His income from
+literary property had nearly ceased. Some of his books were out of
+print, and the rest were having comparatively little sale. A wave of
+indifference had overtaken his public. "Everything behind me seems to
+have turned to chaff and stubble," he wrote. "And if I desire any
+further profits from literature, it must be by the further exercise of
+my pen." It is characteristic of his modesty that he was disposed to
+accept this momentary neglect as final. He planned to revise all his
+works, in the hope of finding a renewed market for them later, but
+evidently expected little.
+
+A letter to Brevoort from Bordeaux dated November, 1843, accounts for
+the first break in his Madrid residence: "I am now on my way back to
+my post, after between two and three months' absence. I set out in
+pursuit of health, and thought a little traveling and a change of air
+would 'make me my own man again'; but I was laid by the heels at Paris
+by a recurrence of my malady, and have just escaped out of the
+doctor's hands.... This indisposition has been a sad check upon all my
+plans. I had hoped, by zealous employment of all the leisure afforded
+me at Madrid, to accomplish one or two literary tasks which I have in
+hand.... A year, however, has now been lost to me, and a precious
+year, at my time of life. The 'Life of Washington,' and indeed all my
+literary tasks, have remained suspended; and my pen has remained idle,
+excepting now and then in writing a dispatch to Government, or
+scrawling a letter to my family. In the mean time the income which I
+used to derive from farming out my writings has died away, and my
+moneyed investments yield scarce any interest.... However, thank God,
+my health and with it my capacity for work are returning. I shall soon
+again have pen in hand, and hope to get two or three good years of
+literary labor out of myself."
+
+After his return to Spain he was again laid by. He was disappointed,
+but not discouraged, for the self-pity of the invalid never deprived
+him of his strong man's humor. "When I drive out and notice the
+opening of spring, I feel sometimes almost moved to tears at the
+thought that in a little while I shall again have the use of my
+limbs, and be able to ramble about and enjoy these green fields and
+meadows. It seems almost too great a privilege. I am afraid when I
+once more sally forth and walk the streets, I shall feel like a boy
+with a new coat, who thinks everybody will turn around to look at him.
+'Bless my soul, how that gentleman has the use of his legs!'" A few
+days after this was written, he got word that one of his friends had
+just undergone a successful surgical operation. "God bless these
+surgeons and dentists!" he exclaims. "May their good deeds be returned
+upon them a thousand fold! May they have the felicity, in the next
+world, to have successful operations performed upon them to all
+eternity!"
+
+By this time he had come to take Spanish politics rather too
+seriously. The insincerity and profligacy of the Spanish character,
+the corruption of the court and state, fairly sicken him: "The last
+ten or twelve years of my life," he writes, "have shown me so much of
+the dark side of human nature, that I begin to have painful doubts of
+my fellow men, and look back with regret to the confiding period of my
+literary career, when, poor as a rat, but rich in dreams, I beheld the
+world through the medium of my imagination, and was apt to believe men
+as good as I wished them to be." His sense of responsibility for the
+young queen oppressed him, and he looked forward impatiently to the
+hour of his release.
+
+A year later he had gained far better health and spirits. On his
+sixty-second birthday--"I caught myself bounding upstairs three steps
+at a time, to the astonishment of the porter, and checked myself,
+recollecting that it was not the pace befitting a minister and a man
+of my years." His mental life had, however, caught the sober tone of
+age. "I am now at that time of life when the mind has a stock of
+recollections on which to employ itself; and though these may
+sometimes be of a melancholy nature, yet it is a 'sweet-souled
+melancholy,' mellowed and softened by the operation of time, and has
+no bitterness in it.... When I was young, my imagination was always
+in the advance, picturing out the future, and building castles in the
+air; now memory comes in the place of imagination, and I look back
+over the region I have traveled. Thank God, the same plastic feeling,
+which used to deck all the future with the hues of fairyland, throws a
+soft coloring over the past, until the very roughest places, through
+which I struggled with many a heartache, lose all their asperity in
+the distance."
+
+In July, 1846, his successor arrived, and Irving was free to leave
+Europe for the last time. His services in Spain had brought nothing
+but honor to himself and his country; he had earned a right to the
+quiet years that followed in his favorite home nook at Sunnyside.
+
+Soon after his return he began to busy himself with the revised
+edition of his works which he had projected in Spain. It was
+disheartening to find his old publishers dubious about undertaking the
+republication, and for a time the work went hard. "I am growing a sad
+laggard in literature," he wrote to his nephew, "and need some one to
+bolster me up occasionally. I am too ready to do anything else rather
+than write." For more than a year his time was largely devoted to
+overseeing an enlargement of the cottage, and a renovation of the
+grounds, at Sunnyside. At last he got it all into satisfactory order.
+"My own place has never been so beautiful as at present. I have made
+more openings by pruning and cutting down trees, so that from the
+piazza I have several charming views of the Tappan Zee and the hills
+beyond, all set, as it were, in verdant flames; and I am never tired
+of sitting there in my old Voltaire chair of a long summer morning
+with a book in my hand, sometimes reading, sometimes musing, and
+sometimes dozing, and mixing all up in a pleasant dream." As for New
+York, "For my part, I dread the noise and turmoil of it, and visit it
+but now and then, preferring the quiet of my country retreat; which
+shows that the bustling time of life is over with me, and that I am
+settling down into a sober, quiet, good-for-nothing old gentleman."
+
+This was all very well--for a mood. He spent the next winter in town,
+moving freely in society, and "not missing a single performance" of
+the opera. "One meets all one's acquaintances at the opera, and there
+is much visiting from box to box, and pleasant conversation, between
+the acts. The opera house is in fact the great feature of polite
+society in New York, and I believe is the great attraction that keeps
+me in town. Music is to me the great sweetener of existence, and I
+never enjoyed it more abundantly than at present." Clearly, the old
+social instinct was by no means dead in him, however he might express
+himself in less buoyant moods.
+
+Two years after his return from Spain the house of Putnam agreed to
+publish the revised edition of his works on very liberal terms--a
+twelve and a half per cent. royalty. The result of the enterprise was
+a surprise to author and publisher, for during the ten remaining years
+of his life the royalties amounted to more than $88,000. The
+arrangement brought about an immediate accession of courage and power,
+and he returned with fresh zeal to the "Life of Washington." "All I
+fear," he said, "is to fail in health, and fail in completing this
+work at the same time. If I can only live to finish it, I would be
+willing to die the next moment. I think I can make it a most
+interesting book. If I had only ten years more of life! I never felt
+more able to write. I might not conceive as I did in earlier days,
+when I had more romance of feeling, but I could execute with more
+rapidity and freedom." The consciousness of approaching age grew
+stronger in him, but without weakening his capacity for enjoyment or
+his turn for humorous expression. Early in 1850, George Ticknor sent
+him a copy of his "History of Spanish Literature." Irving dipped into
+it, liked it, and "When I have once read it through," he wrote, "I
+shall keep it by me, like a Stilton cheese, to give a dig into
+whenever I want a relishing morsel. I began to fear it would never
+see the light in my day, or that it might fare with you as with that
+good lady who went thirteen years with child, and then brought forth a
+little old man, who died in the course of a month of extreme old age.
+But you have produced three strapping volumes, full of life and
+freshness and vigor, that will live forever." This sounds well for
+Ticknor; but it needs only a glance at Irving's recorded
+correspondence to see that he was inclined to overestimate the work of
+others. That kind heart must needs assume the functions of a head
+which was very well able to take care of itself.
+
+In larger matters his judgment was often colored, but seldom warped,
+by feeling. The line between sentiment and common sense is clearly
+drawn in his comment upon the Kossuth obsession which held New York in
+1852. "I have heard and seen Kossuth both in public and private, and
+he is really a noble fellow, quite the beau ideal of a poetic hero....
+He is a kind of man that you would idolize. Yet, poor fellow, he has
+come here under a great mistake, and is doomed to be disappointed in
+the high-wrought expectations he had formed of coöperation on the part
+of our government in the affairs of his unhappy country. Admiration
+and sympathy he has in abundance from individuals; but there is no
+romance in councils of state or deliberative assemblies. There, cool
+judgment and cautious policy must restrain and regulate the warm
+impulses of feeling. I trust we are never to be carried away, by the
+fascinating eloquence of this second Peter the Hermit, into schemes of
+foreign interference, that would rival the wild enterprises of the
+Crusades." The letter concludes in a minor strain: "It is now
+half-past twelve at night, and I am sitting here scribbling in my
+study, long after the family are abed and asleep--a habit I have
+fallen much into of late. Indeed, I never fagged more steadily with my
+pen than I do at present. I have a long task in hand, which I am
+anxious to finish, that I may have a little leisure in the brief
+remnant of life that is left to me. However, I have a strong
+presentiment that I shall die in harness; and I am content to do so,
+provided I have the cheerful exercise of intellect to the last."
+
+By this time some of his Western investments had begun to make
+handsome returns. With an easy pocket, and a single congenial task for
+his leisure, it seemed that Irving's last years were certain to be
+peacefully rounded. Unfortunately his health did not hold; all his
+former ailments came back upon him, and the "Life of Washington"
+became an Old Man of the Sea, which one wishes heartily he might have
+been rid of. A visit to Saratoga in the summer of 1852, and the
+company of many pretty women, seemed for the moment to lift the years
+from his shoulders. "No one seemed more unconscious of the celebrity
+to which he had attained," wrote one of his Saratoga acquaintances,
+long after. "In this there was not a particle of affectation. Nothing
+he shrank from with greater earnestness and sincerity and (I may add)
+pertinacity, than any attempt to lionize him." His name was used to
+conjure with too often for his comfort. An "Irving Literary Union" had
+been formed in New York. Irving's attitude toward it was amusing and
+characteristic; he was always invited to attend the anniversary
+meeting, always accepted, and always stayed away.
+
+Events abroad continued to interest him. His sister had sent an
+account from Paris of the marriage of Louis Napoleon. "Louis Napoleon
+and Eugénie Montijo, Emperor and Empress of France!" he wrote. "One of
+whom I have had a guest at my cottage on the Hudson; the other of
+whom, when a child, I have had on my knee at Granada! It seems to cap
+the climax of the strange dramas of which Paris has been the theatre
+during my lifetime."
+
+In 1855, "Wolfert's Roost" was published. Most of its contents had
+figured years before in the "Knickerbocker Magazine." It is one of the
+best of his miscellaneous collections, and should be better known to
+the modern reader of Irving. Thereafter, his work was over, except for
+the "Life of Washington," which was to appear in parts during the next
+three years. Its merits were perhaps exaggerated at the time; to the
+modern critic they lie chiefly in its possession of the lucid
+simplicity of method without which its author could not write, and in
+the life which it infuses into a cold abstraction. If this is not
+Washington, it is at least a living and breathing person, whose
+interest for us lies not altogether in his career.
+
+These closing years were sadly clouded by sleeplessness and depression
+of spirits, from which at times he roused himself to bursts of his old
+brilliancy and humor. A year before his death he said to one of the
+innumerable inquiries about his health, "I have a streak of old age.
+Pity, when we have grown old, we could not turn round and grow young
+again, and die of cutting our teeth." A few months later, when he had
+begun to be troubled with difficulty of breathing, he had a long and
+prosy letter from a total stranger, who proposed a call. "Oh, if he
+could only give me his long wind," gasped Irving, "he should be most
+welcome."
+
+We need not follow here the rather pitiful struggle of those last
+months. "I do not fear death," said he, "but I would like to go down
+with all sail set." The thoughts of the gradual loss of his faculties
+haunted him with curious insistency. He conceived a dislike for his
+own room, could not bear to be alone, and hung with pathetic eagerness
+to the companionship of the few whom he held dearest. His fear was
+groundless. To the end his mind remained clear; and on the 29th of
+November, 1859, he "went down with all sail set."
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE MAN HIMSELF
+
+
+One is tempted to ask himself, in concluding a review of this man's
+life and work, what it was that he peculiarly stood for; what new kind
+of excellence he brought into being, and how far it survived him.
+Oddly enough, the accident of his birthplace is made at once his chief
+merit, and the subtle derogation of that merit; he is the first
+distinguished name in American letters, and he is "the American
+Addison." From the outset one who wishes to study his work is hampered
+by the fact of place. One must be always considering solemnly,
+"Although he was an American, he succeeded in doing this," or,
+"Because he was an American, he might have done that," till one is
+fairly inclined to wish that his English parents had not happened to
+marry and settle in New York. As a matter of fact, there are few
+writers against whom the point of nationality may be pushed with less
+pertinence.
+
+It is plain that earlier American writing interests us only in a local
+and guarded sense. The critical microscope discovers certain merits;
+but the least shifting of the eye-piece throws the object out of
+field. We value what these men wrote because of what they did as
+Americans, or stood for in American life. Of Irving and a few later
+writers this is not true. And our regard for them may lead us to
+suspect that from the literary point of view, it is better to be great
+than American; or at least that there is no formula to express the
+ratio between a writer's Americanism and his literary power. The
+historian esteems a flavor of nationality in literature; to the lover
+of pure letters, it is only a superior sort of local color. Irving's
+distinction is that he was the first prophet of pure letters in
+America. This is to speak thickly; and it will not help matters
+greatly to say that the mark of pure letters is style. The application
+of that foggy term to such a writer as Irving is likely to be
+particularly unfair; it has not been spared him. He has had more
+praise for his style than for anything else; indeed, it has been
+commonly suggested that there is little else to praise him for. This
+is, of course, a survival of the old notion that style is a sort of
+achievement in decorative art; that fine feathers may do much for the
+literary bird, at least. The style of a writer like Irving--a mere
+loiterer in the field of letters--is at best a creditable product of
+artifice. To him even so much credit has not been always allowed; the
+clever imitator of Addison--or, as some sager say, of Goldsmith--has
+not even invented a manner; he has borrowed one.
+
+Fortunately, novelty of form is a very different thing from literary
+excellence. Irving wrote like a well-bred Englishman, brought up in
+the sound traditions of the days of good Queen Anne. Whatever local
+merit his work may have, belongs to theme rather than to treatment.
+Its delicate humor is as far as possible from what has come to be
+known as American humor. His only conscious Americanism in motive--to
+speak of him merely as an artist--was to show England that "an
+American could write decent English." At that time, it seems,
+Englishmen considered this to be a good thing for an American to do;
+and the poet Campbell's remark was thought to be high praise: that
+Washington Irving had "added clarity to the English tongue." This was
+a service of which the language just then stood sadly in need. There
+are always men ready enough to make English turbid, to wreak their
+ingenuity upon oddities of phrase and diction. At that moment,
+certainly, the anxious courtier of words was not so much needed as the
+easy autocrat, whose style, however cavalier, should have grace and
+firmness and clarity to commend it. When Irving began to express
+himself, there was very little straightforward simple writing being
+done, either in America or in England. The stuffed buckram of
+Johnsonese had been succeeded by the mincing hifalutin of Mrs. Anne
+Radcliffe and her like. It is at least to Irving's credit that his
+taste led him back half a century to the comparative simplicity and
+purity of the prim Augustan style. But it is odd that it should have
+been for this acquired manner that the world thought it liked him
+while he lived, and has chiefly praised him since he died.
+
+But after all, as was said of Milton in a different connection, Irving
+has worn "the garb, but not the clothes, of the ancients." His kinship
+to them in temper of thought and feeling was closer than his
+resemblance in manner. Like Addison and Goldsmith, he wins his
+audience through sheer charm of personality. To open one of his books
+is like meeting a congenial stranger. You like his looks at first
+glance, you feel somehow that he likes yours; and while you may be
+hesitating about advances, he is at your side, and there is nothing
+more to be said. You do not care whether he is American or English,
+you are not particular what he talks about, but you do not willingly
+part with him.
+
+The charm of creative genius is less the charm of mind than of
+feeling. And it is to feeling refined and colored by temperament, that
+the more delicate modes of belles-lettres owe their whole power. That
+is, a writer in this sort is admirable as he subdues language and
+subordinates thought to his own temper, not as he gives elegant
+utterance to thought or feeling in their abstracted and general
+estate. Through a surface artificiality of style, which is far more
+marked in his earliest work, and from which at times he quite escapes,
+Irving's personality shines clearly. He has so employed a conventional
+medium as to make it serve his original purposes. He possessed, to be
+sure, a faculty of strong vernacular speech, which is little suggested
+in his to-be-published writing, or even in his private letters. The
+Oregon embroilment had led certain British journals into gross speech
+about America. Irving was much disturbed. What he wrote was, "A
+rancorous prejudice against us has been diligently inculcated of late
+years by the British press, and it is daily producing its fruits of
+bitterness." What he said was: "Bulwer,"--then English minister to
+Spain,--"I should deplore exceedingly a war with England, for depend
+upon it, if we must come to blows, it will be serious work for both.
+You might break our head at first, but by Heaven! we would break your
+back in the end!"
+
+But one need not write in the vernacular to be sincere and effective;
+personality may utter itself through different media, whether in
+different tongues or in distinct strata of the same tongue. Just now
+we have a bent toward colloquialism on paper; it was not the bent of
+Irving's day.
+
+As far as the external features of his style are concerned, he has had
+praise enough, and more than enough. Clearness, ease, a certain Gallic
+grace it has; the ink flows readily, the thing says itself without
+crabbedness or constraint. On the other hand this ready writer is
+often conventional; a set phrase contents him, why should he labor to
+escape the usual formula? He knew nothing of the struggle or the
+reward of the artist in words, who wrestles for the exact _nuance_,
+and will not let a sentence go till he has obtained its blessing.
+Consequently he is never finicking in his phraseology, and seldom
+final. The subtle artfulness of Stevenson is beyond him; but he has a
+rarer quality--that subtler artlessness which has belonged in some
+measure to all the greater writers of sentiment. It is a quality
+independent of the mechanics of writing; whether the author echoes the
+syntax of Addison or the diction of Goldsmith is an indifferent
+question. All that we know is that, through his use of words or in
+spite of it, a new melody has come into being, a golden _motif_ which
+is to ring in the world's ears nobody knows how long.
+
+It seems idle to say of such a man that because he does not concern
+himself with "the mystery of existence," and "the solemn eternities,"
+he has nothing to say. Surely the simple-souled artist may leave such
+matters for the philosophers and theologians to deal with. Surely his
+"message" is as significant as theirs. Irving is admirable not mainly
+because he "wrote beautifully," but because he said something which
+no one else could say: he uttered the most meaning of all
+messages--himself. And if literature is really a criticism of life,
+such a message from such a man has, it would seem, dignity enough.
+
+Evidently Irving, like Goldsmith and Oliver Wendell Holmes, owed his
+amazing influence largely to his cheerful and wholesome
+this-worldliness. He was a sentimentalist, but obviously different in
+spirit from the two great English writers of sentiment who were most
+nearly his contemporaries. Thackeray is sophisticated; fortune's
+buffets have left him still a tender interest in life, but pity rather
+than hopefulness gives color to his mood. Dickens's sentiment seldom
+rings perfectly true; too often it is sharped to flippancy, or flatted
+to mawkishness. The tone of Irving, in sentiment or in humor, is the
+clear and even utterance of a healthy nature. It was a period of
+sickly sentimentalism in which he began to write; men drew tears
+frequently and mechanically then, as they drew corks. The
+sentimentalist passed easily from broad mirth to unwinking pathos.
+Fortunately that weakest mood of sentiment without humor came seldom
+to Irving; he wrote only one "History of Margaret Nicholson."
+
+It was his nature to be achingly considerate of others, so that he was
+a better friend than critic; and he was as careful of their good
+opinion as of their comfort. Always doubtful what treatment his work
+would meet, and even what it deserved, he would ask his friends to say
+nothing about it, unless they liked it. "One condemning whisper," said
+one of them, "sounded louder in his ear than the plaudits of
+thousands." Socially, on the other hand, he never had the least doubt
+of himself. The tastes and manner of a gentleman did not need to be
+acquired; there was no question of his fitness for any society. During
+his whole career, thrown as he was into the choicest company of two
+continents, there was evidently not the least suspicion of
+embarrassment or awkwardness in his quiet bearing.
+
+He was in the largest sense of the word a generous man; and even in
+the smaller sense his generosity has distinction and significance.
+Addison we know to have been a little on the hither side of
+open-handedness. Goldsmith was by his own satirical confession the
+"good-natured man," to whom giving was a conscious indulgence. Irving
+was simply not aware that he gave; to share his best was a natural
+function. And it is our sense of this, of being admitted as a matter
+of course to share in all that he is and has, which largely explains
+his delightfulness as man and author.
+
+Citizen of the world as he was in his literary character, in practical
+life his Americanism was real and potent. He deplored the War of 1812
+and the war with Mexico, but believed firmly that it was no man's duty
+to go back of the government's decision. In the conduct of his mission
+to Spain he showed the utmost steadiness, loyalty, and self-possession
+in many trying situations. He was, in short, a valuable citizen, to
+whom honors came unsought, and who, out of office, and not desirous of
+political power, was trusted by all parties, and tempted by none. The
+mere existence of such a figure, calm, simple, incorruptible, honored
+wherever he was known, and known prominently throughout Europe, was a
+valuable stay to the young republic in that purgatorial first half of
+the nineteenth century.
+
+One fact about him will perhaps bear emphasis; that with all his
+gentlenesses he was strong and firm and full of spirit. He was
+susceptible to advice, yet nobody ever forced him to do a thing that
+was against his mind or conscience. That he was amiable, congenial,
+companionable--we do not forget these traits of his; we should
+remember, too, that he never faced an emergency to which he did not
+prove himself equal. His personal hold upon his contemporaries was
+plainly due to the fact that their confidence in him as a man was as
+perfect as their delight in him as an artist. What he did was, after
+all, only a little part of what he was.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Washington Irving, by Henry W. Boynton
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WASHINGTON IRVING ***
+
+***** This file should be named 25908-8.txt or 25908-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/9/0/25908/
+
+Produced by Sankar Viswanathan and The Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/25908-8.zip b/25908-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..99217d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-8.zip
diff --git a/25908-h.zip b/25908-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2da4ea3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-h.zip
diff --git a/25908-h/25908-h.htm b/25908-h/25908-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b213c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-h/25908-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,2553 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Washington Irving, by Henry W. Boynton
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
+<!--
+body { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; }
+
+p { margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em; }
+
+h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6
+{
+    text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+hr
+{
+    width: 33%;
+    margin-top: 2em;
+    margin-bottom: 2em;
+    margin-left: auto;
+    margin-right: auto;
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}
+.tocch    { text-align: right; vertical-align: top;}
+.tocpg    {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;}
+.p1 { font-size:smaller; }
+.p2 { margin-left:30%; }
+a[name] { position: static; }
+     a:link {color:#0000ff; text-decoration:none; }
+    a:visited {color:#0000ff; text-decoration:none; }
+     a:hover { color:#ff0000; }
+
+.pagenum
+{ /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
+    /*  visibility: hidden;  */
+    position: absolute;
+    left: 92%;
+    font-size: smaller;
+    text-align: right;
+} /* page numbers */
+
+.center   {text-align: center;}
+.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+
+.caption  {font-weight: bold;}
+
+/* Images */
+.figcenter   {margin: auto; text-align: center;}
+
+
+/* Poetry */
+.poem             {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;}
+
+.poem br          {display: none;}
+
+.poem .stanza     {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;}
+
+.poem span.i0
+{
+    display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;
+}
+
+.poem span.i2
+{
+    display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;
+}
+
+.poem span.i4
+{
+    display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;
+}
+
+// -->
+/* XML end  ]]>*/
+    </style>
+  </head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Washington Irving, by Henry W. Boynton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Washington Irving
+
+Author: Henry W. Boynton
+
+Release Date: June 26, 2008 [EBook #25908]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WASHINGTON IRVING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sankar Viswanathan and The Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h4>The Riverside Biographical Series</h4>
+<h3>NUMBER 11</h3>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/image_01.jpg" width="400" height="690" alt="Washington Irving" title="" />
+<span class="caption">Washington Irving</span>
+</div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>WASHINGTON IRVING</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>HENRY W. BOYNTON</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;">
+<img src="images/seal.jpg" alt="Seal" width="150" height="184" /></div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>BOSTON AND NEW YORK</h4>
+
+<h3>HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY</h3>
+
+<h4>The Riverside Press, Cambridge</h4>
+
+<h3>1901</h3>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY HENRY W. BOYNTON
+</h4>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table summary="Contents">
+<tr><td class="tocch p1">CHAP.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td></td><td class="tocpg p1">PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">I.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#I">Early Years and Surroundings</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"> II.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#II">Man about Town</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">III.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#III">Man of Letters&mdash;First Period</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"> IV.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#IV">Man of Letters&mdash;Second Period</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">V.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#V">A Public Character</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch"> VI.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><span class="smcap"><a href="#VI">The Man Himself</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+<h2>WASHINGTON IRVING</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2>
+
+<h2>EARLY YEARS AND SURROUNDINGS</h2>
+
+
+<p>Irving's name stands as the first landmark in American letters. No
+other American writer has won the same sort of recognition abroad or
+esteem at home as became his early in life. And he has lost very
+little ground, so far as we can judge by the appeal to figures. The
+copyright on his works ran out long since, and a great many editions
+of Irving, cheap and costly, complete and incomplete, have been issued
+from many sources. Yet his original publishers are now selling, year
+by year, more of his books than ever before. There is little doubt
+that his work is still widely read, and read not because it is
+prescribed, but because it gives pleasure; not as the product of a
+"standard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> author," but as the expression of a rich and engaging
+personality, which has written itself like an indorsement across the
+face of a young nation's literature. It is that of a man so sensitive
+that the scornful finger of a child might have left him sleepless; so
+kindly that nobody ever applied to him in vain for sympathy; so modest
+that the smallest praise embarrassed him. His manner and tastes were
+simple and unassuming. He had no great passions; the brother was
+stronger in him than the lover. To these qualities, which might by
+themselves belong to ineffectiveness, he added courage, firmness,
+magnanimity. It was because he was such a man, and because what he was
+shines on every page he wrote, that the world still warms to him.</p>
+
+<p>Not that so elusive a thing as personal charm can be neatly plotted by
+the card. We love certain people because we love them; and since that
+is so, everything they do is interesting to us. A great writer lives
+in his books, to be sure, but we want to know what he actually did in
+the flesh. Did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> he walk, eat, sleep, like other men? Was he as strong,
+as human, as lovable as one would think? What sort of boy was he? Did
+he marry a wife, and was she good enough for him? The world will never
+believe that such questions are impertinent.</p>
+
+<p>There are, of course, more formal matters to be considered,&mdash;his debt
+to circumstance, his place in the practical world, his influence on
+the moral or intellectual or national life of his day. Some of these
+themes may be touched on, even within the narrow limits of the present
+sketch; not categorically, but rather by way of such suggestion and
+indirection as may be consistent with a compact narrative.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>One of those apparent chances which are the commonplaces of history
+led William Irving from his far home in the Orkneys, married him to
+Sarah Sanders, and made him the father of Washington Irving. The
+Irvings&mdash;a branch of the well-known Scotch Irvines&mdash;had been for
+generations the leading family on the Island of Shapinsha.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> Finally
+they had gone threadbare, and with a fortune to seek, William Irving
+chose the natural ordeal for an islander, the trial by sea. Toward the
+close of the French War he had become petty officer on an armed
+English packet. In New York he met Mistress Sanders, who was also
+English-born, and in 1761 they were married. He must have saved money,
+for at the end of the war he left the sea, and entered trade in New
+York.</p>
+
+<p>William Irving and his wife were very different in up-bringing and in
+temperament. He was a stern man, a strict Presbyterian, with the cold
+fire of Calvin in his bones. She had been bred an Episcopalian, and
+was genial and sympathetic by nature. The husband was the
+master-spirit, and the children grew up under the rigid exactions of
+his sect. Sunday was a long day of penance, and one of their two
+half-holidays was consecrated to the cheerful uses of the catechism.
+To New England ears it all has a familiar sound. When the children
+grew old enough they promptly left the fold and resigned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> themselves
+to her of Babylon and England. There were eleven of them, and
+Washington was the youngest, born in New York, April 3, 1783. As a
+very little child he had the honor of a pat on the head from his great
+namesake, for whom he was to do an important service many years later.</p>
+
+<p>He was a perfectly normal, healthy boy. Fortunately there are no
+brilliant sayings to record; he did not lisp in periods. Genius was
+not written upon his brow, nor tied upon his sleeve. He had none of
+the pale fervor of precocity, or the shyness of premature conceit. He
+was absorbed in childish things, loved play, shirked his studies,
+dreamed of a life on the ocean wave, and regarded "Robinson Crusoe"
+and "Sinbad the Sailor" as the end of all literary things. The
+savagery of boyhood he lacked. He was fond of playing battle, but
+could not bear to see his schoolfellows publicly thrashed, according
+to the amiable custom of that day. Otherwise he was all that a mother
+might deplore or an uncle delight in.</p>
+
+<p>Altogether the most interesting story of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> his schooldays has a
+dramatic setting. Addison's "Cato" was to be spouted in public by the
+schoolchildren. Irving, in the part of Juba, was called a little
+sooner than he expected, and came on the boards with his mouth full of
+honey-cake. Speech was out of the question&mdash;<i>vox haesit</i>&mdash;there was a
+momentary deadlock in his throat. The audience began to laugh, but the
+prince was not to be counted out. With a skillful rotary finger he
+removed the viand, and brought down the house by calmly taking up his
+lines as if nothing had happened. He was then ten years old, and deep
+in love with the leading lady. A year or two later he had decided to
+follow the sea; but a short experiment of sleeping on the floor and
+eating salt pork was too much for his enthusiasm, and at fourteen he
+gave up the ship. By this time he had begun to fancy that he could
+write, but there is nothing preserved which shows the least promise.</p>
+
+<p>"When I was young," he said long afterward, "I was led to think that
+somehow or other everything that was pleasant was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> wicked." The
+theatre was one of the forbidden sweets, and he naturally seized every
+chance to taste it. Family prayers at nine were something of an
+interruption, but he had managed a private exit by way of the roof
+which got him back to the theatre in time for the after-piece. This
+early liking for the stage he never outgrew. In the meantime he was
+going through with the ordinary schooling of the New York boy of that
+period. He learned a little Latin; he hated mathematics, and had very
+little love for dull books of any sort. At sixteen his formal
+education was over. Two of his elder brothers had studied at Columbia
+College, and no doubt Irving might have done the same. He was too
+lazy, or, to put it more gracefully, too little interested in set
+tasks. Later he expressed regret for the lost chance, but the loss
+cannot have been very great for him or for us. If we could imagine
+that he might have gained any sort of scholarship, its effect upon his
+writing would still be more than doubtful. His order of genius gains
+little from bookishness. Addison was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> supposed to be a classical
+scholar, but the "De Coverley Papers" are not a product of
+scholarship, and we could better spare anything else that he wrote.</p>
+
+<p>At sixteen Irving entered a law office, and for the next five years
+was understood to be studying law. He had no real aptitude for such
+study, to be sure, and must have known it; certainly he learned very
+little law. He had other things to be interested in. He was an eager
+reader in his own way, and a handsome, well-mannered boy, already fond
+of society. And I doubt if very much was expected of him in the way of
+steady application, for during this whole period his health was
+uncertain. More than once he had to give up study entirely, and go to
+this watering-place or that for weeks or months. His family and
+friends were afraid of consumption, and it was against all forecasts
+that he held his own till manhood.</p>
+
+<p>In 1800 he made his first voyage up the Hudson. "A voyage to Albany
+then," he wrote in 1851, "was equal to a voyage to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> Europe at present,
+and took almost as much time." The journey was made in a sloop manned
+by slaves, and commanded by a native of Albany, who spoke nothing but
+Dutch.</p>
+
+<p>Two years later his brother Peter became proprietor and editor of the
+New York "Morning Chronicle," for which Irving presently wrote a
+series of satirical letters signed "Jonathan Oldstyle." In these
+letters, his earliest work of any significance, he touches the
+Addisonian string upon which his critics have harped so insistently
+ever since. They are decidedly clever for a boy of nineteen, but not
+cleverer than the best college work of to-day, and perhaps more
+consciously imitative. The fact that they were greatly praised and
+gained some vogue through copying in other journals, is rather an
+indication of the unfruitfulness of the period than of their merit.
+One of their greatest admirers was Charles Brockden Browne, the only
+American before Irving to make a profession of writing.</p>
+
+<p>In 1804 the young amateur came of age.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> He was still threatened with
+consumption, and his family determined to send him abroad. Nobody felt
+very sanguine about his returning. As he was helped on board, the
+captain eyed him dubiously and said in an undertone, "There's a chap
+who will go overboard before we get across." If it had been in him to
+die just then, the captain gave him plenty of time; it was six weeks
+later when they landed at Bordeaux. But though the voyage had been not
+over-comfortable, it did him much good. Before the end of it he was
+scrambling about the vessel, and describes himself as "quite expert at
+climbing to the masthead, and going out on the maintopsail yard."
+Irving's body was never to be altogether tractable, but we shall hear
+nothing further of the consumptive tendency.</p>
+
+<p>His early letters from abroad are full of life and spirits. He jaunted
+about through France and Italy, picked up acquaintances everywhere,
+and was evidently much more interested in the people he met than in
+the "doing" of buildings or galleries. Evidently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> he was growing
+stronger all the time. In the company of a little Pennsylvania doctor,
+whom he had picked up in a diligence, he played several boyish pranks
+in France; he kicked out an insolent porter at Montpellier, and fell
+foul of a police spy at Avignon. In the main, however, he was inclined
+to take things as they came. "There is nothing I dread more," he wrote
+from Marseilles, "than to be taken for one of the Smellfungi of this
+world. I therefore endeavor to be pleased with everything about me,
+and with the masters, mistresses, and servants of the inns,
+particularly when I perceive they have 'all the dispositions in the
+world' to serve me; as Sterne says, 'It is enough for Heaven, and
+ought to be enough for me.'"</p>
+
+<p>At that day the European traveler was not hedged in from adventure. On
+the way from Genoa to Messina Irving's vessel was boarded by a
+piratical picaroon. The consequences were not dreadful, but the <i>mise
+en sc&egrave;ne</i> was all that could have been desired. The pirates had
+"fierce black eyes scowling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> under enormous bushy eyebrows.... They
+seemed to regard us with the most malignant looks, and I thought I
+could perceive a sinister smile upon their countenances, as if
+triumphing over us, who had fallen so easily into their hands."
+Nothing could have been more satisfactory. At Termini he had a
+romantic adventure with a masked Turk. At Genoa he was captivated by
+the beauty of a young Italian lady. Instead of trying to make her
+acquaintance, as he might easily have done, he contented himself with
+stealing a handkerchief which she had dropped. Some time later it was
+stolen from him. Thereupon he wrote an account of the affair to a
+friend whom he had left in Genoa. The lady heard of it, as ladies
+will, and sent him a lock of her hair, with a friendly hint that she
+might be better admired at closer quarters. By a natural paradox of
+boyish sentiment he did not return to Genoa, but had the hair put into
+a locket, which he wore for years. It was later unearthed by a friend
+from a pair of breeches borrowed from Irving, and made the subject of
+some badinage between them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Both his brothers and his biographer have made the aimlessness of this
+first European experience an occasion for something like reproach. His
+plans were of the vaguest. Such as they were, he was willing to
+sacrifice any of them for the sake of congenial companionship. After a
+few weeks he left Rome hurriedly because he could not bear to be
+parted from a friend who was going to Paris. He was anxious, he told
+his brothers quaintly, to study various arts and sciences there. In
+Paris he kept a journal for about three weeks; it records attendance
+upon a single lecture in botany and seventeen theatrical performances.
+Naturally his brothers could only see that he was an amiable, idle
+young fellow, who had drifted into a dilettante attitude toward life,
+and showed little promise of usefulness. But idling as well as
+industry has to be judged by its fruits. He was in a real sense seeing
+life, as he personally needed to see it, not in its passion and
+mystery, but in its lighter moods of humor and sentiment. Paris
+frankly seemed to him at this time the most profitable place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> in the
+world. Two months after his arrival, he wrote airily, "You will excuse
+the shortness and hastiness of this letter, for which I can only plead
+as an excuse that I am a young man and in Paris." He had momentary
+fancies as to a possible direction for his talents. A sudden intimacy
+at Rome with Washington Allston made him think for a time of turning
+painter. He was something of a dandy, and puts on record a Paris
+costume of "gray coat, white embroidered vest, and colored
+small-clothes." Presently he left Paris for London, where Kemble and
+Mrs. Siddons seem to have pleased him more than anything else English.
+Three months later he set sail for New York, and arrived in March,
+1826, after an absence of nearly two years.</p>
+
+<p>Irving was now twenty-three years old. All that he had done so far was
+haphazard enough. He had trifled with his schooling, loitered over his
+law, read a great deal at random, seen many theatres, and made many
+friends. He had escaped from the valley of the shadow, and was now
+free to go on in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> primrose way of much society, little literature,
+and less law. For the next ten or twelve years he was to be little
+more than a petted man about town.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2>
+
+<h2>MAN ABOUT TOWN</h2>
+
+
+<p>At that time New York was hardly more than a big village, such as
+Boston continued to be for a half-century later. Everybody (who was
+anybody) knew everybody else in the friendly and informal way which
+nowadays belongs to a "set." Conviviality&mdash;this dignified name of the
+thing best suggests the way in which it was looked at then&mdash;was as
+much a part of fashionable life in New York as in Edinburgh or London.
+Into this society Irving entered with zest, flirting, dancing,
+tippling with other young swaggerers according to the mode. He went
+back nominally to his legal studies, but was really very little
+concerned with law or gospel. Of this kind of life, "Salmagundi," the
+first number of which, appeared in January, 1807, was the legitimate
+outcome. It was made up of short satirical sketches of the
+"Spectator"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> type. Irving and J. K. Paulding were the principal
+contributors, but they had some assistance from William Irving and a
+few others. In the course of a year twenty numbers were published at
+irregular intervals, when they suddenly ceased to appear. The authors,
+who wrote under fictitious names, affected from the start complete
+indifference to fame or profit. Their purpose, they said with
+whimsical assurance, was simply "to instruct the young, reform the
+old, correct the town, and castigate the age." The audacity of the
+thing caught the town; it was a decided success, and very
+profitable&mdash;for the publisher. There is a mildly sophomoric flavor
+about the "Salmagundi" papers, as there is about Irving's letters of
+the same period. But they are full of amusing things, and worth
+reading, too, for the odd side-lights they throw upon the foibles of
+that old New York.</p>
+
+<p>As he grew older, Irving came to feel the shallowness of fashionable
+society, but in the Salmagundi days he appears to have asked for
+nothing better. He had good looks,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> good humor, and good manners,
+showed a proper susceptibility, and knew how to turn a compliment or
+write a graceful letter. No wonder he found himself welcome wherever
+he went. After a visit to Philadelphia one of the ladies to whom he
+had made himself agreeable wrote, "Half the people exist but in the
+idea that <i>you</i> will one day return."</p>
+
+<p>Early in the following year he had a little experience of the
+practical working of ward politics, which he described in a letter to
+a certain charming Mary Fairlie: "Truly, this saving one's country is
+a nauseous piece of business, and if patriotism is such a dirty
+virtue,&mdash;prythee, no more of it.... Such haranguing and puffing and
+strutting among the little great men of the day. Such shoals of
+unfledged heroes from the lower wards, who had broke away from their
+mammas, and run to electioneer with a slice of bread and butter in
+their hands." Irving's patriotism was not found wanting when the time
+came, but he had a life-long contempt for the petty trickery of party
+politics. That year he made another of his leisurely jaunts,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+nominally on business, this time to Virginia. His letters record the
+usual round of social gallantries, and some graver matter. Burr's
+trial was on in Richmond. Irving made his acquaintance, and was
+retained in some ornamental sense among his counsel. One or two
+letters from Richmond show a sentimental sympathy for his client of
+which the less said the better. A characteristic weakness of Irving's
+was always an unreasoning fondness for the under dog. In the autumn of
+1807 his father died, one of the most sincere among the "unco guid," a
+man whom few people loved and everybody respected.</p>
+
+<p>Not long after the discontinuance of the Salmagundi papers a new idea
+suggested itself to Irving and his brother Peter, which in its
+original form does not look especially promising. It was to develop
+into a really remarkable work, and to place Irving's name in a secure
+place among living humorists. The "Knickerbocker History of New York"
+really laid the foundation of his fame. The first plan was for a mere
+burlesque<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> of an absurd book just published, a Dr. Samuel Mitchill's
+"Picture of New York." Mitchill began with the aborigines: the Irvings
+began with the creation of the world. Fortunately Peter was soon
+called away to Europe, and Irving was left to his own devices, which
+presently took a different and more original turn. He threw out most
+of the pompous erudition which belonged to the work as a burlesque,
+and condensed what remained. Everything after the five introductory
+chapters is his own.</p>
+
+<p>At this time he had begun to do commission business for certain New
+York houses, with a genuine impulse toward steadiness and industry
+which it is easy to account for. He was deep in love with the second
+daughter of Mr. Hoffman, in whose office he had originally idled. He
+had been for years very intimate with the family, and had ended by
+making a remarkable discovery about one of them. As he was evidently
+not in a position to marry, he was now setting to work with real
+energy to improve his means.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Matilda Hoffman was a girl of seventeen, pretty, amiable, and clever.
+She died of quick consumption in April, 1809. It is certain that they
+loved each other very much, and that Irving never forgot her. The
+claim put forth by his nephew and biographer that he gave up marriage
+for her sake, and was romantically scrupulous in his faithfulness to
+her memory, seems hardly borne out by the facts. He was crushed for
+the moment, but not heartbroken. The truth is Irving's nature was
+sentimental rather than passionate. His love for Miss Hoffman appears
+to have been the deepest feeling of his life, but it did not absorb
+his whole nature. The first effect of her loss was to fill him with a
+sort of horror&mdash;the rebellion of a young and sensitive health against
+the tyranny of death. It was enough to show that the mourner was by no
+means in desperate case, for extreme grief is not afraid. In after
+life he never mentioned her name, and wrote of her only once. At the
+same time pretty faces and the charm of womanly companionship
+continued to attract him;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> indeed, a few years later he openly
+expressed his expectation of some time marrying. That he did not was
+clearly due to temper and circumstance rather than to romantic
+fidelity or abnegation. In the end his susceptibility became purely
+impersonal; his satisfaction in the exercise of a gentle old-school
+gallantry did much to take the sting from his life-long bachelorhood.
+Plainly, Irving was the sort of man who finds a grace in every
+feminine presence.</p>
+
+<p>It is encouraging to find him in a few months at work again upon the
+Knickerbocker history. Its appearance was cleverly heralded by a
+series of preliminary advertisements, announcing the disappearance of
+one Diedrich Knickerbocker, and the finding of a manuscript history by
+his hand. The book was published in December, 1809, and made a
+remarkable impression, in England as well as in America. Henry
+Brevoort, a close friend of Irving's, in 1813 sent a copy of the
+second edition to Walter Scott, who wrote at once: "I beg you to
+accept my best thanks for the uncommon degree of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> entertainment which
+I have received from the most excellently jocose History of New
+York.... I have never read anything so closely resembling the style of
+Dean Swift as the annals of Diedrich Knickerbocker. I have been
+employed these few evenings in reading them aloud to Mrs. Scott and
+two ladies who are our guests, and our sides have been absolutely sore
+with laughing. I think, too, there are passages which indicate that
+the author possesses powers of a different kind, and has some touches
+which remind me much of Sterne."</p>
+
+<p>The work in its completed form is a history of the three Dutch
+governors of New York, whom Irving uses as a stalking-horse for
+purposes of satire. Everybody laughed at it except a few descendants
+of the old Dutch worthies with whose names and characters he had made
+free. As late as the year 1818, G. C. Verplanck, a personal friend of
+Irving's, called him to account in an address before the New York
+Historical Society, to which the first edition of Knickerbocker was
+gravely dedicated, for "wasting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> the riches of his fancy on an
+ungrateful theme, and his exuberant humor in a coarse caricature." One
+of his brothers wrote to Irving, deprecating the attack. Irving
+replied: "I have seen what Verplanck said of my work. He did me more
+than justice in what he said of my mental qualifications; and he said
+nothing of my work that I have not long thought of it myself.... I am
+sure he wishes me well, and his own talents and acquirements are too
+great to suffer him to entertain jealousy; but were I his bitterest
+enemy, such an opinion have I of his integrity of mind, that I would
+refer any one to him for an honest account of me, sooner than to
+almost any one else."</p>
+
+<p>Soon after Knickerbocker came out, Irving went to Albany in the
+fruitless pursuit of a minor court appointment. There he found his
+name come not altogether pleasantly before him. "I have somehow or
+another formed acquaintance with some of the good people," he wrote,
+"and several of the little Yffrouws, and have even made my way and
+intrenched myself strongly in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> parlors of several genuine Dutch
+families, who had declared utter hostility to me." One lady had said
+that if she were a man she would horsewhip him; but an hour with
+Irving, who had made a point of meeting her, left her resigned to be a
+woman.</p>
+
+<p>Irving had now scored his first great literary success. He had proved
+himself master of a fluent humorous style which might have been
+applied indefinitely to the treatment of similar themes. He was
+twenty-seven years old, and there was no reason why the next ten years
+should not be a most fruitful period. Unfortunately, during most of
+that time life was made too easy for him. He knew now that he could
+write, but he had no desire to write for a living. Probably he felt
+that such a course would be in some way not quite suitable for a man
+of fashion. At all events, ten years passed, and middle age was at
+hand before the promising author began to fulfill his promise. Not
+till 1819 appeared his next literary venture, conceived in a more
+serious spirit, and launched with many misgivings as the first
+performance of the professional man of letters.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He had by this time pretty much given up any notion he may have had of
+living by the law. His attempts to gain civil appointments were not
+successful. The brilliant younger brother must be provided for;
+presently Peter and Ebenezer, who were proprietors of a fairly
+prosperous hardware business, offered him a partnership, with nominal
+duties and one fifth of the profits. His connection with the firm was
+at first a sinecure. Later, and when the business had come to the
+brink of failure, the burden fell upon him, and absorbed his whole
+time and energies for nearly two years. His literary idling cannot be
+said to have been due to this entanglement. In his view writing was
+apparently little more than an agreeable indulgence which had brought
+him some half-deserved praise, and a pleasant social recognition in
+desirable quarters. One of the first results of his new connection was
+a visit to Washington, ostensibly in the interests of the business.
+The character of his services may be surmised from the fact that his
+journey from New York to Washington, <i>via</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> Philadelphia and
+Baltimore, consumed nineteen days; and that was when the affairs of
+the firm were in some straits, and supposed to be particularly in need
+of representation at Washington.</p>
+
+<p>In 1812 he accepted the editorship of a periodical called "Select
+Reviews," to which during the next two years he contributed various
+critical and biographical articles. He found little to his liking in
+the editorial and still less in the critical part of his work. "I do
+not profess," he wrote, "the art and mystery of reviewing, and am not
+ambitious of being wise or facetious at the expense of others." He was
+never a good critic, for he was too soft-hearted, and too little in
+conceit with his own judgment to give an unfavorable opinion. And this
+was in the period of "slashing" criticism, when it was the proper
+thing, unless an author could show good reason for being declared the
+greatest man of the age, to hang, draw, and quarter him on the spot.
+At about this time, Jeffrey of the "Edinburgh Review," a critic who
+made the most of his prerogative,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> visited America. His coming was
+heralded by Irving's friend Brevoort in a letter whose ludicrous
+climax is worth quoting: "It is essential that Jeffrey may imbibe a
+just estimate of the United States and its inhabitants.... Persuade
+him to visit Washington <i>and by all means to see the falls of
+Niagara</i>." Apparently Irving received the great Jeffrey with courtesy
+and composure; as an equal, and not in the least as an idol to be
+propitiated with gewgaws.</p>
+
+<p>It was an anxious time, the year 1813. The struggle with England had
+assumed a more serious form. At last the British succeeded in entering
+Washington, and destroyed most of the public buildings. Irving's
+attitude had been uncompromisingly American from the outset. This act
+of vandalism aroused his indignation; he promptly offered his services
+to Governor Tompkins of New York, and was made an aide on his staff,
+with the brevet rank of colonel. This position he held for four
+months, when Governor Tompkins retired from the command. During that
+time Irving showed much military<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> zeal, and enough capacity to be
+ordered to the front at Sackett's Harbor, at an important moment, with
+powers of which he made creditable use.</p>
+
+<p>In the spring of 1815 he narrowly escaped sailing with Decatur on the
+expedition to Algiers. It was largely by his advice that Decatur
+decided to accept the command. Irving's trunks had been taken on board
+the commodore's frigate when orders came from Washington delaying the
+expedition. Irving was afraid that his presence might in some way
+embarrass the commander, and left the ship at once. He was not to be
+balked of Europe, however; he was ready to sail and the affairs of the
+firm seemed to promise an easy competence. On May 25 he embarked for
+Liverpool, with no very distinct plans, but with no expectation of
+being long abroad. It was seventeen years before he saw America again.</p>
+
+<p>He reached Liverpool at a dramatic moment. Napoleon had fallen, and
+the mail coaches were rushing through England with the news of
+Waterloo. It was the sort of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> pageant which always roused Irving's
+fancy. He was absorbed in the situation.</p>
+
+<p>His letters show that however he may have shrunk from concerning
+himself with practical politics, he viewed the great <i>coups</i> of
+statecraft with the greatest interest. His sympathies are with
+Bonaparte; the English were perhaps too recent enemies to be treated
+quite charitably. "I have made a short visit to London," he wrote to
+one of his brothers in July. "The spirits of this nation, as you may
+suppose, are wonderfully elated by their successes on the Continent,
+and English pride is inflated to its full distention by the idea of
+having Paris at the mercy of Wellington and his army. The only thing
+that annoys the honest mob is that old Louis will not cut throats and
+lop off heads, and that Wellington will not blow up bridges and
+monuments, and plunder palaces and galleries. As to Bonaparte, they
+have disposed of him in a thousand ways; every fat-sided John Bull has
+him dished up in a way to please his own palate, excepting that as yet
+they have not observed the first direction in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> the famous receipt to
+cook a turbot,&mdash;'First catchy our turbot.'" Then comes a postscript:
+"The bells are ringing, and this moment news is brought that poor
+Boney is a prisoner at Plymouth. <i>John has caught the turbot!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Peter Irving was in charge of the firm's English office at Liverpool.
+He was a bachelor, and Irving had to go to Birmingham, to the house of
+his brother-in-law, Henry van Wart, to find an American home in
+England. But he did not make his permanent escape from Liverpool so
+easily. Not many months had passed before Peter fell ill, had to leave
+Liverpool, and Irving was left in charge. For over eight months the
+entire management of an ill-ordered establishment fell into his hands.
+He seems to have made a thorough attempt to examine and arrange the
+confusions of the office. He studied bookkeeping, so that he might get
+some knowledge of the accounts, and otherwise busied himself in a
+methodical way foreign to his habit. At last, in 1818, the best thing
+possible under the circumstances<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> happened,&mdash;the business collapsed,
+and the brothers found a road out of their difficulties by way of the
+bankruptcy court. It was a great relief. "For upwards of two years,"
+he wrote to Brevoort, "I have been bowed down in spirit, and harassed
+by the most sordid cares. As yet, I trust, my mind has not lost its
+elasticity, and I hope to recover some cheerful standing in the world.
+Indeed, I feel very little solicitude about my own prospects. I trust
+something will turn up to procure me subsistence, and am convinced,
+however scanty and precarious may be my lot, I can bring myself to be
+content. But I feel harassed in mind at times on behalf of my
+brothers. It is a dismal thing to look round on the wrecks of such a
+family connection. This is what, in spite of every exertion, will
+sometimes steep my soul in bitterness."</p>
+
+<p>Irving had now fairly arrived at maturity. The experience of the last
+few years had done much to sober him. He was still fond of society,
+and still of a cheerful temper; but the absorbing sophomoric joy in
+cakes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> and ale was now past and not to return. The pinch of necessity
+had come at last: the world no longer offered him the life of an
+elegant dawdler. He had a serious business before him,&mdash;to gain a
+competency for himself and his brother. The unpractical younger
+brother was to be after this the mainstay of the family fortunes. And
+what especially makes this the finest moment of his life is the sudden
+and clear perception that to gain this end he must depend upon the
+steady and fruitful exercise of his gift for writing. It was not to be
+taken up as a last resort, but as a matter of deliberate choice.
+Presently he received the offer of a good position on the Navy Board
+at Washington, with a salary of $2400. A few years earlier he would
+have snatched at it. "Flattering as the prospect undoubtedly is which
+your letters hold out," he wrote to his brother Ebenezer, "I have
+concluded to decline it for various reasons.... The principal one is,
+that I do not wish to undertake any situation that must involve me in
+such a routine of duties as to prevent my attending to literary
+pursuits." His determination<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> was sturdy enough, but he was not then
+nor afterward the master of his moods. "I have heard him say," notes
+Pierre Irving, "that he was so disturbed by the responsibility he had
+taken in refusing such an offer and trusting to the uncertain chances
+of literary success, that for two months he could scarcely write a
+line." His elder brothers were heartily disappointed by the decision.
+They could not suppose that he would prove greatly more busy or
+fruitful in the future than he had in the past, and up to this time,
+he had done little enough. The youthful "Salmagundi" sketches, the
+broad satire of the Knickerbocker History were not much for a man of
+leisure to boast of at thirty-five. But they did not reckon justly
+with the new seriousness which had come into his purposes. Washington
+Irving was always fitful in his manner of working, often uncertain of
+himself and of his work. But from this time on he had no doubt of his
+calling; he had ceased to be a man about town, and become a man of
+letters.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2>
+
+<h2>MAN OF LETTERS&mdash;FIRST PERIOD</h2>
+
+
+<p>The appearance of the "Sketch Book," in 1819, marks the beginning of
+Irving's professional life as a literary man. It was, moreover, the
+first original literary work of moment by an American. Two years later
+Bryant's first volume of poems was published, and Cooper's novels had
+begun to appear; at this time Irving had the field to himself. Firm as
+his determination was to depend upon writing for support, he was by no
+means satisfied with what he was able to do. Even after the complete
+"Sketch Book" had appeared, and had been met with hearty applause in
+England and America, he continued to be doubtful of its merits, and
+embarrassed by its reception. In sending the manuscript of the first
+number to America, he wrote to his brother Ebenezer: "I have sent the
+first number of a work which I hope to continue<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> from time to time. I
+send it more for the purpose of showing you what I am about, as I find
+my declining the situation at Washington has given you chagrin. The
+fact is, that situation would have given me barely a genteel
+subsistence. It would have led to no higher situations, for I am quite
+unfitted for political life. My talents are merely literary, and all
+my habits of thinking, reading, etc., have been in a different
+direction from that required by the active politician. It is a mistake
+also to suppose I would fill an office there, and devote myself at the
+same time to literature. I require much leisure, and a mind entirely
+abstracted from other cares and occupations, if I would write much or
+write well.... If I ever get any solid credit with the public, it must
+be in the quiet and assiduous operations of my pen, under the mere
+guidance of fancy or feeling.... I feel myself completely committed in
+literary reputation by what I have already written; and I feel by no
+means satisfied to rest my reputation on my preceding writings. I have
+suffered several precious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> years of youth and lively imagination to
+pass by unimproved, and it behooves me to make the most of what is
+left. If I indeed have the means within me of establishing a
+legitimate literary reputation, this is the very period of life most
+auspicious for it, and I am resolved to devote a few years exclusively
+to the attempt.... In fact, I consider myself at present as making a
+literary experiment, in the course of which I only care to be kept in
+bread and cheese. Should it not succeed&mdash;should my writings not
+acquire critical applause, I am content to throw up the pen and take
+to any commonplace employment. But if they should succeed, it would
+repay me for a world of care and privation to be placed among the
+established authors of my country, and to win the affections of my
+countrymen.... Do not, I beseech you, impute my lingering in Europe to
+any indifference to my own country or my friends.... I am determined
+not to return home until I have sent some writings before me that
+shall, if they have merit, make me return to the smiles, rather than
+skulk back to the pity, of my friends."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To Brevoort he wrote at the same time: "I have attempted no lofty
+theme, nor sought to look wise and learned, which appears to be very
+much the fashion among our American writers, at present. I have
+preferred addressing myself to the feeling and fancy of the reader,
+more than to his judgment. My writings, therefore, may appear light
+and trifling in our country of philosophers and politicians; but if
+they possess merit in the class of literature to which they belong, it
+is all to which I aspire in the work. I seek only to blow a flute
+accompaniment in the national concert, and leave others to play the
+fiddle and French horn."</p>
+
+<p>The favorable reception of the "Sketch Book" not only failed to remove
+his diffidence, but left him oppressed by a new sense of obligation to
+the public which had lauded his work. This feeling is expressed in a
+letter to Leslie, the painter, with whom he had become very intimate:
+"I am glad to find the second number pleases more than the first. The
+sale is very rapid, and, altogether,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> the success exceeds my most
+sanguine expectation. Now you suppose I am all on the alert, full of
+spirit and excitement. No such thing. I am just as good for nothing as
+ever I was; and indeed I have been flurried and put out of my way by
+these puffings. I feel something as I suppose you did when your
+picture met with success&mdash;anxious to do something better, and at a
+loss what to do."</p>
+
+<p>Murray, who a little later was eager to publish anything from Irving's
+hand, declined to undertake the first English edition of the "Sketch
+Book." Irving was afraid of some incomplete pirated edition, and
+finally published the first number entirely at his own expense. Murray
+was glad enough to change his mind and bring out the later numbers.
+Among the many friends whom the young American had made in England was
+Walter Scott. A few days spent by Irving at Abbotsford had been enough
+to attach them strongly to each other. Scott had by no means outgrown
+his interest in the author of the "Knickerbocker History,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> and Irving
+found nothing that was not delightful in the great romancer's
+character and way of life. "As to Scott," he wrote, "I cannot express
+my delight at his character and manners. He is a sterling,
+golden-hearted old worthy, full of the joyousness of youth, with an
+imagination continually furnishing forth pictures, and a charming
+simplicity of manner that puts you at ease with him in a moment. It
+has been a constant source of pleasure to me to remark his deportment
+towards his family, his neighbors, his domestics, his very dogs and
+cats; everything that comes within his influence seems to catch a beam
+of that sunshine that plays round his heart." Now, while the prospects
+of the "Sketch Book" were still dubious, Scott offered him the
+editorship of an Anti-Jacobin magazine. Irving declined it, first on
+the ground of his dislike for politics, and second on account of his
+irregular habits of mind. "My whole course of life has been desultory,
+and I am unfitted for any periodically recurring task, or any
+stipulated labor of body or mind. I have no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> command of my talents
+such as they are, and have to watch the varyings of my mind as I would
+a weathercock. Practice and training may bring me more into rule; but
+at present I am as useless for regular service as one of my own
+country Indians or a Don Cossack."</p>
+
+<p>In August of this year, Irving and his brother Peter left England for
+the Continent. They had got no farther than Havre when their fancy was
+taken with an apparent business opening for Peter, who had been idle
+since the failure of the firm. A steamboat had just been put upon the
+Seine, to run between Havre and Rouen. Peter should be a chief
+stockholder and director; he and Washington would each put in $5000,
+and between Havre and Rouen the river would presently run gold for
+them. To be sure the money was yet to be found, but there were
+brothers William and Ebenezer, who would no doubt be glad to help set
+that little golden river flowing. Unfortunately brothers William and
+Ebenezer did not approve of the scheme at all. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> flatly refused to
+lend brother Peter $5000, or to honor brother Washington's drafts for
+the same amount. More unfortunately still, Irving had already
+committed himself. All of his literary property had to be disposed of,
+to provide the pledged amount, which was forthwith placed in the
+little steamboat on the Seine, and never heard of more. Peter was
+associated with the management, and kept busy, at least, for several
+years. This was the first of a long series of business ventures which
+made Irving's life uneasy. He would no sooner turn a few thousand by
+writing than he must sink it in this or that absolutely safe and
+immensely profitable enterprise. It was not for many years that he
+learned how certainly he might count upon disastrous results from such
+experiments.</p>
+
+<p>After the settlement of this affair, Irving took lodgings in Paris.
+Here he met Tom Moore, and in his house more than anywhere else he
+became intimate. Moore's diary makes frequent mention of him; one of
+the most interesting entries records that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> Irving at this time wrote
+in ten days one hundred and thirty pages of the "Sketch Book" size.
+This was undoubtedly material for "Bracebridge Hall," the suggestion
+of which had come from Moore. In the meantime the "Sketch Book" had
+continued to gain ground in England. Byron admired it greatly, and its
+popularity with the general public may be judged from the fact that it
+was commonly attributed to Scott. Irving described himself in a letter
+to Murray as leading "a 'miscellaneous' kind of life at Paris....
+Anacreon Moore is living here, and has made me a gayer fellow than I
+could have wished; but I found it impossible to resist the charm of
+his society."</p>
+
+<p>In July (1821) he returned to London, in poor physical condition. He
+had now been tormented at intervals for several years by an eruptive
+complaint which kept him from exercise, and brought on other troubles.
+After his return he was bedridden for four or five months, most of
+which he passed at his sister's house in Birmingham. He grew very fond
+of his little nephews and nieces&mdash;particularly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> an urchin named
+George, of whom his letters record such items as: "George has made his
+appearance in a new pair of Grimaldi breeches, with pockets full as
+deep as the former. To balance his ball and marbles, he has the
+opposite pocket filled with a peg-top and a quantity of dry peas, so
+that he can only lie comfortably on his back or belly." He was by no
+means idle at this time. In January of the following year he sent the
+manuscript of "Bracebridge Hall" to his brother Ebenezer with the
+remark, "My health is still unrestored. This work has kept me from
+getting well, and my indisposition on the other hand has retarded the
+work. I have now been about five weeks in London, and have only once
+been out of doors, about a month since, and that made me worse." That
+single escape from the sick-room, his biographer says, was made for
+the sake of persuading Murray to publish Cooper's "Spy," which had
+already appeared in America. Irving's own experience was duplicated:
+Murray refused to take "The Spy," but was glad to publish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> Cooper's
+later work. He now gave Irving a thousand guineas for the English
+rights in "Bracebridge Hall." It was less than he might have given,
+but Irving could never be persuaded to haggle over prices. He seems to
+have agreed with Peter, who wrote cheerfully, "A thousand guineas has
+a golden sound." It was the amount which had been sunk in poor Peter's
+steamboat, which was still making its unprofitable trips up and down
+the Seine; and two hundred guineas of this thousand soon passed into
+his pocket, where no doubt he found their melody even pleasanter.</p>
+
+<p>"Bracebridge Hall" was well received; and confirmed its author's
+reputation, especially in England. He had only to be passive to find
+himself overwhelmed with social engagements. A more liberal diet and
+plenty of exercise had improved his condition, and for a month or so
+after getting rid of "Bracebridge Hall," he gave himself up to the
+engagements of a London season. But his ankles soon began to trouble
+him again, and in July, 1822, he set out for Aix-la-Chapelle,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> where
+he hoped to get permanent relief from his distressing complaint. He
+found nothing to keep him long at Aix. The baths and waters were well
+enough, but he was too dependent upon cheerful companionship to endure
+life among a company of invalids. He began a leisurely round of the
+Continental watering-places, staying a few weeks here and a few days
+there, and gradually improving in condition. Toward the close of the
+year he brought up at Dresden.</p>
+
+<p>The only touch of mystery which belongs to the story of Irving is
+connected with this six months' stay at Dresden. He made many friends
+there, and grew especially intimate with an English family named
+Foster, a mother and two daughters. It is said&mdash;and denied&mdash;that he
+would have liked to marry the youngest daughter, Emily. His biographer
+insists that there was nothing in the affair but friendship. To Mrs.
+Foster he wrote the only account he ever gave of his early love and
+loss; and his nephew quotes the closing passage as proof that he had
+no thought of marrying Emily Foster,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> however fond of her he may have
+been: "You wonder why I am not married. I have shown you why I was not
+long since. When I had sufficiently recovered from that loss, I became
+involved in ruin. It was not for a man broken down in the world, to
+drag down any woman to his paltry circumstances. I was too proud to
+tolerate the idea of ever mending my circumstances by matrimony. My
+time has now gone by; and I have growing claims upon my thoughts and
+upon my means, slender and precarious as they are. I feel as if I had
+already a family to think and provide for."</p>
+
+<p>But this might be the modest speech of a middle-aged lover. Years
+later the written reminiscences of the two daughters unmistakably
+impute the attentions of the brilliant American to something more than
+friendliness. It is certain that he had a very warm feeling for
+somebody or something in Dresden, which led to a temporary return of
+his youthful delight in society. For his time was by no means given up
+to the Fosters. He was received into the life of the little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> German
+court, and evidently derived such pleasure as is proper to a
+Republican from dancing with princesses, and acting in private
+theatricals with Highnesses and Excellencies. On the whole it seems to
+have been a peaceful, idle, rather trivial time of sojourn among
+congenial people. He danced, he strolled, he wrote verses to little
+Miss Emily; in short, he enjoyed himself as a youngish man may,
+whether the muse is waiting for him, or some less high-flown customer.
+"I wish I could give you a good account of my literary labors," he
+wrote his sister after several months in Dresden, "but I have nothing
+to report. I am merely seeing, and hearing, and my mind seems in too
+crowded and confused a state to produce anything. I am getting very
+familiar with the German language; and there is a lady here who is so
+kind as to give me lessons every day in Italian [Mrs. Foster], which
+language I have nearly forgotten, but which I am fast regaining.
+Another lady is superintending my French [Miss Emily Foster], so that
+if I am not acquiring ideas, I am at least acquiring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> a variety of
+modes of expressing them when they do come." Very likely the confusion
+of his mind was not lessened by the frequency of those French lessons.
+There really seems to be no reason for doubting the testimony of the
+elder sister's journal; "He has written. He has confessed to my
+mother, as to a dear and true friend, his love for E&mdash;&mdash;, and his
+conviction of its utter hopelessness. He feels himself unable to
+combat it. He thinks he must try, by absence, to bring more peace to
+his mind.... He has almost resolved to make a tour in Silesia, which
+will keep him absent for a few weeks." The tour in Silesia was
+certainly made; and during the brief absence Irving wrote sundry
+sentimental letters to Mrs. Foster. There are occasions when he seems
+to imagine a pretty daughter looking over the admirable mother's
+shoulder, and being much affected by the famous author's tenderness
+for Dresden. Presently he comes back to be their escort, for they are
+going home to England; and at Rotterdam the good-bys are said. They
+met afterward in England, but the old intimacy was gone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>More than thirty years after, Irving had a letter from a Mrs. Emily
+Fuller, whose name he did not know. Pleasantly and discreetly it
+recalled those happy Emily Foster days in Dresden. "She addresses him
+because she hopes that her eldest boy Henry may have the happiness and
+advantage of meeting him." Poor Irving! Her eldest boy Henry.... Well,
+the sting was all gone by that time, fortunately. His reply is all
+that it ought to be, and nothing more.</p>
+
+<p>Those first days in Paris were not cheerful ones for Irving. His
+pleasant dream was over, and he had forgotten what to do with waking
+moments. His memorandum-book records that he felt oppressed by "a
+strange horror on his mind&mdash;a dread of future evil&mdash;of failure in
+future literary attempts&mdash;a dismal foreboding that he could not drive
+off by any effort of reason." "When I once get going again with my
+pen," he wrote to Peter, "I mean to keep on steadily, until I can
+scrape together enough to produce a regular income, however moderate.
+We shall then be independent of the world and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> its chances." But he
+could not manage to get going. For some time he could write nothing at
+all. Fortunately, after an unprofitable month or two, he fell in with
+John Howard Payne, now remembered only for his "Home, Sweet Home," but
+then esteemed as an actor and dramatist. Irving had met him several
+years before, and now became associated with him in some dramatic
+translating and adapting. The results were nearly worthless from a
+literary point of view, but served to keep him busy, and to put him
+once more in the writing vein.</p>
+
+<p>For some time Murray had been pressing him hard for copy, and in the
+spring of 1824 the "Tales of a Traveler" were completed and sent to
+press. After the task of proof-reading came a reaction of high spirits
+which expressed itself in the most amusing letter Irving ever wrote:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="p2">"<span class="smcap">Brighton</span>, August 14, 1824.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"My boat is on the shore,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And my bark is on the sea.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"I forget how the song ends, but here I am at Brighton just on the
+point of embarking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> for France. I have dragged myself out of London,
+as a horse drags himself out of the slough, or a fly out of a
+honey-pot, almost leaving a limb behind him at every tug. Not that I
+have been immersed in pleasure and surrounded by sweets, but rather up
+to the ears in ink and harassed by printers' devils.</p>
+
+<p>"I never have had such fagging in altering, adding, and correcting;
+and I have been detained beyond all patience by the delays of the
+press. Yesterday I absolutely broke away, without waiting for the last
+sheets. They are to be sent after me here by mail, to be corrected
+this morning, or else they must take their chance. From the time I
+first started pen in hand on this work, it has been nothing but hard
+driving with me.</p>
+
+<p>"I have not been able to get to Tunbridge to see the Donegals, which I
+really and greatly regret. Indeed I have seen nobody except a friend
+or two who had the kindness to hunt me out. Among these was Mr. Story,
+and I ate a dinner there that it took me a week to digest, having been
+obliged to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> swallow so much hard-favored nonsense from a loud-talking
+baronet whose name, thank God, I forget, but who maintained Byron was
+not a man of courage, and therefore his poetry was not readable. I was
+really afraid he would bring John Story to the same way of thinking.</p>
+
+<p>"I went a few evenings since to see Kenney's new piece, the Alcaid. It
+went off lamely, and the Alcaid is rather a bore, and comes near to be
+generally thought so. Poor Kenney came to my room next evening, and I
+could not believe that one night could have ruined a man so
+completely. I swear to you I thought at first it was a flimsy suit of
+clothes had left some bedside and walked into my room without waiting
+for the owner to get up; or that it was one of those frames on which
+clothiers stretch coats at their shop doors; until I perceived a thin
+face sticking edgeways out of the collar of the coat like the axe in a
+bundle of fasces. He was so thin, and pale, and nervous, and
+exhausted&mdash;he made a dozen difficulties in getting over a spot in the
+carpet, and never would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> have accomplished it if he had not lifted
+himself over by the points in his shirt-collar.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw Rogers just as I was leaving town. I had not time to ask him
+any particulars about you, and indeed he is not exactly the man from
+whom I would ask news about my friends. I dined t&ecirc;te-&agrave;-t&ecirc;te with him
+some time ago, and he served up his friends as he served up his fish,
+with a squeeze of lemon over each. It was very piquant, but it rather
+set my teeth on edge....</p>
+
+<p>"Farewell, my dear Moore. Let me hear from you, if but a line;
+particularly if my work pleases you, but don't say a word against it.
+I am easily put out of humor with what I do."</p>
+
+<p>Surely no more delicious bit of nonsense was ever written than the
+description of poor Kenney. Moore read it to a group of friends in the
+presence of the victim&mdash;a situation which would have been too
+"piquant" for Irving's taste.</p>
+
+<p>Moore had only the desired praise for the "Tales of a Traveler," but
+elsewhere it did not fare so well. Irving considered it on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> whole
+his best work; but though it had a large sale, its reception in
+England was not quite what he had hoped for; and in America it was
+received by the press with something like hostility. Unfortunately
+some busybody in America made it his concern to forward to Irving all
+the ill-natured flings which could be gleaned from American notices of
+the new book. The incident&mdash;with all its unpleasantness&mdash;was trifling
+enough, but to Irving's raw sensitiveness it was torture. He was
+overwhelmed with an almost ludicrous melancholy, could not write,
+could not sleep, could not bear to be alone. This petty outburst of
+critical spleen, backed as it evidently was by personal antagonism on
+the part of a few obscure journalists, actually left him dumb for more
+than a year.</p>
+
+<p>Of course the public was right in its general estimate of the "Tales
+of a Traveler": they are not as good as the "Sketch Book." In kind
+they are similar&mdash;that in itself would be enough to excite prejudice
+against new work from an author who had been so long before the
+public; but they are also<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> undeniably inferior in quality. One or two
+of the stories are distinctly morbid in tone, several give the
+impression of being long drawn out. In some way the collection lacks
+atmosphere; Italian scenery is painted with accuracy, but not Italian
+life or character. Irving could draw the early Dutch in America, or
+the medi&aelig;val Moors in Spain, or the Englishman in England or Italy:
+the modern Italian on his own soil he did not know except in his
+melodramatic exterior.</p>
+
+<p>Irving had now given his brother Peter a place in his little m&eacute;nage.
+The steamboat scheme had failed utterly, and he had from this time on
+no sort of regular employment. Irving set himself cheerfully to
+provide for both. His goal at this time was less fame than
+fortune&mdash;"by every exertion to attain sufficient to make us both
+independent for the rest of our lives." Not for many years did he come
+to perceive that a life of leisure was not only impossible, but
+undesirable for him, and to express it as his fondest wish that he
+might "die in harness." The profits of the "Tales of a Traveler" went
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> way of most of his earnings&mdash;this time to help develop a Bolivia
+copper mine.</p>
+
+<p>He had been studying Spanish for a year or two, and had an increased
+desire to see Spain. As a mere aid in traveling, he asked for the
+nominal post of attach&eacute; to the American legation at Madrid. Alexander
+H. Everett, then minister to Spain, at once granted the request, and
+in replying suggested a possible literary task&mdash;the translation of a
+new Spanish work, Navarrete's "Voyages of Columbus," which was shortly
+to make its appearance. Murray, who was then in some difficulties, did
+not think favorably of the project.</p>
+
+<p>Irving went to Madrid, and by good fortune got lodgings with the
+American consul Rich, who had made an extensive private collection of
+documents dealing with early American history. Presently Navarrete's
+work was published, and found to be "rather a mass of rich materials
+for history than a history itself." This was in February, 1826. Irving
+at once began to take notes and sift materials for an original history
+of Columbus.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> For six months he worked incessantly. "Sometimes," says
+his biographer, "he would write all day and until twelve at night; in
+one instance his note-book shows him to have written from five in the
+morning until eight at night, stopping only for meals."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2>
+
+<h2>MAN OF LETTERS&mdash;SECOND PERIOD</h2>
+
+
+<p>There is something interesting, and in a sense pathetic, in this
+sudden steady diligence from the man of desultory habits, who had
+never written but by whim, whose finger had always been lifted to
+catch the lightest literary airs. Here, at last, was the firm trade
+wind, and the satisfaction of steady and methodical progress. The
+qualified success of the "Tales of a Traveler" had led him to feel
+that his vein was running out. The prospect of producing a solid work
+gave him keen pleasure. One cannot be always building castles in the
+air; why not try a pyramid, if only a little one? Since the world is
+perfectly delighted with our pretty things, very well, let us show
+that we can do a sublime thing. As for history&mdash;"Whatever may be the
+use of this sort of composition in itself and abstractedly," says<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+Walter Bagehot, "it is certainly of great use relatively and to
+literary men. Consider the position of a man of that species. He sits
+beside a library fire, with nice white paper, a good pen, a capital
+style&mdash;every means of saying everything, but nothing to say. Of course
+he is an able man; of course he has an active intellect, besides
+wonderful culture: but still, one cannot always have original ideas.
+Every day cannot be an era; a train of new speculation very often will
+not be found: and how dull it is to make it your business to write, to
+stay by yourself in a room to write, and then to have nothing to say!
+It is dreary work mending seven pens, and waiting for a theory to
+'turn up.' What a gain if something would happen! then one could
+describe it. Something has happened, and that something is history."</p>
+
+<p>There is no doubt that Irving's early delicate sallies in literature
+represent his best. In a single department of belles-lettres he had
+shown mastery. During the remainder of his life he continued to work
+at intervals in that field with similar felicity; and, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> the rest,
+to write amiably and respectably upon many topics foreign to his
+natural bent. But his greatest work was done in odd moments and at a
+heat; all the method in the world could not increase his real stature
+by a cubit.</p>
+
+<p>A word may perhaps be said here of Irving as an historian and
+biographer. Of course he could not write dully; his histories are just
+as readable as Goldsmith's, and rather more veracious. But he plainly
+had not the scholar's training and methods which we now demand of the
+historian; nor had he the larger view of men and events in their
+perspective. Generalization was beyond him. Fortunately to generalize
+is only a part of the business of the historian. To catch some dim
+historic figure, and give it life and color,&mdash;this power he had. And
+it was evidently this which gave him the praise of such men as
+Prescott and Bancroft and Motley. Washington had begun to loom vaguely
+and impersonally in the mind, a mere great man, when Irving with a
+touch turned him from cold bronze into flesh and blood again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>During the years of Irving's stay abroad other American writers had
+come into notice. Bryant's poetry had become well known. Cooper had
+produced "The Spy," "The Pilot," "The Pioneers," and "The Last of the
+Mohicans." In 1827 appeared the first volume of poems by Edgar Allan
+Poe. In this year, too, Irving's diary records a meeting with
+Longfellow, who was then twenty-one, and came abroad to prepare
+himself for his professorship at Bowdoin. Longfellow's recollection of
+the incident is worth quoting: "I had the pleasure of meeting Mr.
+Irving in Spain, and found the author, whom I had loved, repeated in
+the man. The same playful humor; the same touches of sentiment; the
+same poetic atmosphere; and, what I admired still more, the entire
+absence of all literary jealousy, of all that mean avarice of fame,
+which counts what is given to another as so much taken from one's
+self&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'And trembling, hears in every breeze<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The laurels of Miltiades.'"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In the following summer the "History of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> Columbus" was finished, and
+sold to Murray. It won high praise from the reviewers, especially from
+Alexander H. Everett, his former diplomatic chief, and at this time
+editor of the "North American Review."</p>
+
+<p>Early in the following year he made his first visit to Andalusian
+Spain. In the course of his grubbing among the Columbus archives, he
+had found a good deal of interesting material about the Moorish
+occupancy. The beauty of the country and the grandeur of its Moorish
+relics took strong hold upon him. In April, 1828, he settled in
+Seville, and there the "Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada" were
+written. By this time the market price of his wares had gone up very
+much. There is no doubt that his historical work had increased his
+temporary reputation. Murray gave him 2000 guineas for the "Conquest
+of Granada;" he further offered him &pound;1000 a year to edit a new
+literary and scientific magazine, as well as &pound;100 an article for any
+contribution he might choose to make to the "London Quarterly." He
+refused the first offer on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> ground that he did not care to be tied
+in England, the second because the "Quarterly" had always been hostile
+to America. He continued to take an interest in affairs at home.
+Impatient as he was of political methods, he had opinions of his own
+as to candidates and measures. The election of Jackson called forth
+the following comment in a letter to Mr. Everett: "I was rather sorry
+when Mr. Adams was first raised to the presidency, but I am much more
+so at his being displaced; for he has made a far better president than
+I expected, and I am loth to see a man superseded who has filled his
+station worthily. These frequent changes in our administration are
+prejudicial to the country; we ought to be wary of using our power of
+changing our chief magistrate when the welfare of the country does not
+require it. In the present election there has, doubtless, been much
+honest, warm, grateful feeling toward Jackson, but I fear much pique,
+passion, and caprice as it respects Mr. Adams.</p>
+
+<p>"Since the old general was to be the man,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> however, I am well pleased
+upon the whole that he has a great majority, as it will, for the
+reasons you mention, produce a political calm in the country, and lull
+those angry passions which have been exasperated during the Adams
+administration, by the close contest of nearly balanced parties. As to
+the old general, with all his <i>hickory</i> characteristics, I suspect he
+has good stuff in him, and will make a sagacious, independent, and
+high-spirited president; and I doubt his making so high-handed a one
+as many imagine."</p>
+
+<p>The "Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada" were well treated by
+critics, but never very popular. The humor of the mythical Fray
+Antonio's narrative was too sly and covert; the public was mystified,
+and had half a notion it was being made game of. But Irving was not
+yet done with Granada. Presently he went back, and in the course of a
+solitary two months in the Alhambra, got together the materials for
+the most characteristic work he had published since the "Tales of a
+Traveler" and the strongest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> since the "Sketch Book." His idyllic stay
+in the Alhambra was one of the pleasantest episodes of his life. When
+it was cut short by his appointment as secretary of legation at
+London, he made up his mind to leave the quiet breathing-spot with
+real regret. One cannot help seeing from the tone of his letter to
+Peter that the years have given him as much as they have taken away:
+"My only horror is the bustle and turmoil of the world: how shall I
+stand it after the delicious quiet and repose of the Alhambra? I had
+intended, however, to quit this place before long, and, indeed, was
+almost reproaching myself for protracting my sojourn, having little
+better than sheer self-indulgence to plead for it; for the effect of
+the climate, the air, the serenity and sweetness of the place, is
+almost as seductive as that of the Castle of Indolence, and I feel at
+times an impossibility of working, or of doing anything but yielding
+to a mere voluptuousness of sensation."</p>
+
+<p>At London he found himself associated with congenial men, but tied so
+closely to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> the legation that he could not even get away to visit his
+sister at Birmingham. The constraint chafed him at first, but before
+long his letters show him reconciled, and even interested in the
+practical business of diplomacy. They complain, however, of his
+growing stout. This, indeed, he had a perfect right to do. He was now
+forty-seven years old, and a man of solid reputation; weighty honors
+were being heaped upon him. Before leaving Spain he had been made a
+member of the Spanish Royal Academy of History; and in England he had
+just received a medal from the Royal Society of Literature, and the
+degree of LL. D. from Oxford. His leisure for literary work was not
+great in London, but he was making some progress with the Alhambra
+stories, and had begun to think seriously of the "Life of Washington,"
+which was to hold the main place in his thoughts for the rest of his
+life.</p>
+
+<p>At this time England was suffering under the double discomfort of
+cholera and the Reform Bill. A letter from Irving to his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> brother
+shows that even in the midst of his successes the popular author was
+subject to moods of mental gloom, and even to business difficulties:
+"The restlessness and uncertainty in which I have been kept have
+disordered my mind and feelings too much for imaginative writing, and
+I now doubt whether I could get the Alhambra ready in time for
+Christmas.... The present state of things here completely discourages
+the idea of publication of any kind. There is no knowing who among the
+booksellers is safe. Those who have published most are worst off, for
+in this time of public excitement nobody reads books or buys them."</p>
+
+<p>In 1831, Van Buren was nominated as Minister to the Court of St.
+James, and at once took charge of his diplomatic duties. His
+nomination was rejected by the Senate, however; and Irving determined
+to take advantage of the incident to make his own escape from the
+service, and return at last to America.</p>
+
+<p>In May, 1831, he arrived in New York. He had been a young man when he
+left<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> America; he was now leaning toward the farther verge of his
+prime. In character he had refined and sobered greatly; and he had
+more than fulfilled his promise of literary excellence. He had still
+twenty-six years to live, and was to do much useful service in life
+and letters; but he could do nothing in that time to alter his
+reputation; he could merely confirm it. Irving had grown immensely,
+too, in the favor of his countrymen. He was welcomed back with
+extravagant effusion by his old friends and by the country at large.
+He had in fact come to be regarded as one of the chief glories of
+America; for he had been the first to make her a world-power in
+literature.</p>
+
+<p>During those seventeen years New York had changed almost beyond
+recognition in size, in appearance, in the tone of its life; but
+Irving was delighted with everything and everybody. All that he had to
+regret was the ordeal of a great public dinner in his honor, at which,
+after a great deal of preliminary nervousness, he made the one speech
+of his life. It was a good speech, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> he could never be prevailed
+upon to repeat the experiment. He was always at his worst in a large
+company. The sight of a great number of unknown or half-known faces
+confused his thoughts and clogged his tongue. His intimates knew him
+for a brilliant and ready talker, full of easy fun and unaffected
+sentiment.</p>
+
+<p>Not long after his return, the "Tales of the Alhambra" were published.
+In the somewhat florid concert of critical praises which greeted the
+book, a simple theme is dominant. Everybody felt that in these stories
+Irving had come back to his own. The material was very different from
+that of the "Sketch Book," yet it yielded to similar treatment. The
+grace, romance, humor, of this "beautiful Spanish Sketch Book," as the
+historian Prescott called it, appealed at once to an audience which
+had listened somewhat coldly to the less spontaneous "Tales of a
+Traveler," and had given a formal approbation to the "History of
+Columbus," without finding very much Irving in it.</p>
+
+<p>A visit to Washington to clear up various<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> odds and ends of his
+diplomatic experience resulted in an interview with President Jackson,
+which he reported in a letter to Peter Irving, now living alone in
+Paris: "I have been most kindly received by the old general, with whom
+I am much pleased as well as amused. As his admirers say, he is truly
+an <i>old Roman</i>&mdash;to which I could add, <i>with a little dash of the
+Greek</i>; for I suspect he is as <i>knowing</i> as I believe he is <i>honest</i>.
+I took care to put myself promptly on a fair and independent footing
+with him; for, in expressing warmly and sincerely how much I had been
+gratified by the unsought but most seasonable mark of confidence he
+had shown me, when he hinted something about a disposition to place me
+elsewhere, I let him know emphatically that I wished for nothing
+more&mdash;that my whole desire was to live among my countrymen, and to
+follow my usual pursuits. In fact, I am persuaded that my true course
+is to be master of myself and of my time. Official station cannot add
+to my happiness or respectability, and certainly would stand in the
+way of my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> literary career." This disinclination to take office he
+never got over, although he was frequently approached with offers of
+place. In 1834, he was offered a nomination for Congress by the
+Jackson party; in 1838, he was offered the Tammany nomination as mayor
+of New York, and the secretaryship of the navy by Van Buren. And when
+three years later he was given a still more important post, it was
+only the evident spontaneity of the choice, and the feeling that in
+taking the office he should be representing country rather than party,
+which led him to accept it.</p>
+
+<p>Impatient as he was of political methods, he had opinions of his own
+on specific questions, and a broad political platform which he once
+stated in a letter to his old friend Kemble:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"As far as I know my own mind, I am thoroughly a republican, and
+attached, from complete conviction, to the institutions of my country;
+but I am a republican without gall, and have no bitterness in my
+creed. I have no relish for puritans either in religion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> or politics,
+who are for pushing principles to an extreme, and for overturning
+everything that stands in the way of their own zealous career. I have,
+therefore, felt a strong distaste for some of those loco-foco
+luminaries who of late have been urging strong and sweeping measures,
+subversive of the interests of great classes of the community. Their
+doctrines may be excellent in theory, but, if enforced in violent and
+uncompromising opposition to all our habitudes, may produce the most
+distressing effects. The best of remedies must be cautiously applied,
+and suited to the state and constitution of the patient; otherwise,
+what is intended to cure, may produce convulsion. The late elections
+have shown that the measures proposed by Government are repugnant to
+the feelings and habitudes or disastrous to the interests of great
+portions of our fellow citizens. They should not, then, be forced home
+with rigor. Ours is a government of compromise. We have several great
+and distinct interests bound up together, which, if not separately
+consulted and severally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> accommodated, may harass and impair each
+other. A stern, inflexible, and uniform policy may do for a small
+compact republic, like one of those of ancient Greece, where there is
+a unity of character, habits, and interests; but a more accommodating,
+discriminating, and variable policy must be observed in a vast
+republic like ours, formed of a variety of states widely differing in
+habits, pursuits, characters, and climes, and banded together by a few
+general ties.</p>
+
+<p>"I always distrust the soundness of political councils that are
+accompanied by acrimonious and disparaging attacks upon any great
+class of our fellow citizens. Such are those urged to the disadvantage
+of the great trading and financial classes of our country. You
+yourself know, from education and experience, how important these
+classes are to the prosperous conduct of the complicated affairs of
+this immense empire. You yourself know, in spite of all the
+commonplace cant and obloquy that has been cast upon them by political
+spouters and scribblers, what general good faith and fair dealing
+prevails throughout these classes."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At this time he was studying with increasing interest the shifting
+spectacle of American life. The openings of the West especially caught
+his imagination, and when the chance came to travel on what was then
+the frontier, the trans-Mississippi territories, he was quick to
+accept it. As guest of one of the members of a commission appointed to
+treat with several Indian tribes, he went as far as Fort Gibson on the
+Arkansas. The literary fruits of this journey were "A Tour on the
+Prairies," and "The Adventures of Captain Bonneville."</p>
+
+<p>In April, 1833, he bought the little estate of Sunnyside, near the
+Sleepy Hollow which he had made famous. His first name for it was "The
+Roost" (Dutch for "Rest"), which he changed for reasons which are not
+recorded; possibly the little nieces who became regular inmates may
+have thought the old name not dignified enough. This he regarded as
+his home for the rest of his life. He set to work at once to enlarge
+the old Dutch stone cottage which stood upon the place; and from this
+time on he is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> continually "puttering" about the estate, building a
+poultry-yard here, planting trees there, with the full zeal of the
+rural landlord. His family letters are given to accounts of little
+country doings: "The goose war is happily terminated: Mr. Jones'
+squadron has left my waters, and my feathered navy now plows the
+Tappan Sea in triumph. I cannot but attribute this great victory to
+the valor and good conduct of the enterprising little duck, who seems
+to enjoy great power and popularity among both geese and ganders, and
+absolutely to be the master of the fleet.... I am happy to inform you
+that, among the many other blessings brought to the cottage by the
+good Mr. Lawrence is a pig of first-rate stock and lineage. It has
+been duly put in possession of the palace in the rear of the barn,
+where it is shown to every visitor with as much pride as if it was the
+youngest child of a family. As it is of the fair sex, and in the
+opinion of the best judges a pig of peerless beauty, I have named it
+'Fanny.' I know it is a name which with Kate and you has a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> romantic
+charm, and about the cottage everything, as old Mrs. Marthing says,
+must be romance." This was during the vogue of Fanny Kemble.</p>
+
+<p>In this quiet retreat the next five uneventful years were passed, with
+occasional excursions to New York or farther, which only served to
+make the seclusion of the country home more inviting. Peter Irving
+spent his last days at the Roost; and Ebenezer Irving and his family
+gave up their New York house to make their home with the now famous
+brother. While this arrangement greatly increased Irving's
+satisfaction in life, it made heavy demands upon his purse. One cannot
+be a country gentleman for nothing. The cottage had to be enlarged
+repeatedly, the grounds cared for; and the mere running expenses were
+a considerable matter for a man without dependable income. Irving had
+by this time received a great deal of money for his books, but an
+unfortunate "knack of hoping" had locked up most of it in unprofitable
+land speculations.</p>
+
+<p>In 1835 the three volumes of the "Crayon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> Miscellanies," were
+published. The "Tour on the Prairies" was especially palatable to
+Americans. Edward Everett said of it, in the highly colored style of
+the period: "We are proud of Mr. Irving's sketches of English life,
+proud of the gorgeous canvas upon which he has gathered in so much of
+the glowing imagery of Moorish times. We behold with delight his easy
+and triumphant march over these beaten fields; but we glow with
+rapture as we see him coming back, laden with the poetical treasures
+of the primitive wilderness, rich with spoil from the uninhabited
+desert."</p>
+
+<p>The second volume, containing "Abbotsford" and "Newstead Abbey,"
+naturally gained special praise in England; the third, "Legends of the
+Conquest of Spain," had comparatively little success.</p>
+
+<p>Of "Astoria" (1836) it is hard to know what to say; on the whole, it
+seems the most doubtful of his works in motive and quality. John Jacob
+Astor, now an old man, was anxious to perpetuate the fame of his
+commercial exploits, and was lucky<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> enough to subsidize for this
+purpose the most prominent American writer of the day. The adventures
+of the various expeditions sent out to found an American trading
+company on the Pacific coast are interesting; but one puts down
+Irving's account of them with the feeling that it reflects rather more
+credit on Mr. Astor than on the writer. The truth is, Irving, like
+many less successful literary men, was constantly in need of money;
+and he had begun to be in some difficulty for subjects upon which to
+exercise his craft. The "Adventures of Captain Bonneville" (1837) was
+also a piece of skillful book-making rather than an original creative
+work; and after that nearly two years passed without his writing
+anything.</p>
+
+<p>At last, toward the close of 1838, he hit upon a subject which
+attracted him greatly&mdash;a "History of the Conquest of Mexico." He began
+at once upon preliminary studies, and had made considerable progress
+when he learned by chance that Prescott, who had recently made a name
+for himself by his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> "Ferdinand and Isabella," was at work upon the
+same subject. Irving immediately retired from the field, and conveyed
+a courteous assurance to Prescott of his satisfaction in leaving the
+theme to such hands. He felt this sacrifice keenly, however; the
+project had appealed to him peculiarly, and he had no other in mind to
+take its place. For lack of other literary work, therefore, he
+presently engaged to write a monthly article for the New York
+"Knickerbocker," at a salary of $2000 a year. The arrangement was just
+not too irksome to continue for two years.</p>
+
+<p>It is easy to see, then, that at fifty-five Irving was pretty well
+written out. In the twenty years that remained to him he produced
+nothing of account except the "Life of Washington," which, like his
+other works in biography and history, may be regarded as a <i>tour de
+force</i> rather than a spontaneous outcome of his genius.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2>
+
+<h2>A PUBLIC CHARACTER</h2>
+
+
+<p>The data of Irving's literary achievements have been brought near a
+conclusion; what remains to be said may now deal less with what he
+wrote, and more with what he did and was. It is luckily unnecessary to
+try for a sharply drawn distinction between his popularity as a writer
+and as a man. In his home, in society, and in literature the single
+charm of his personality had made him beloved in the same way. And he
+had become, in the best sense of the term, a public character. For
+many years his name had been better known abroad than that of any
+other living American; and his reception at home after an absence of
+seventeen years showed in what regard his countrymen had come to hold
+him. Their pride in his success and gratitude for the new fame he had
+given a country which was still felt to be on probation,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> can hardly
+account for it; only the confidence of affection could have excused so
+prolonged an absenteeism.</p>
+
+<p>His peculiar hold upon popular affection cannot be better suggested
+than by the tone of a letter written by the only Englishman who during
+Irving's life could pretend to rival him in his peculiar field. In
+1841, Irving wrote to Dickens, expressing pleasure in his work.
+Dickens replied: "There is no man in the world who could have given me
+the heartfelt pleasure you have, by your kind note of the 13th of last
+month. There is no living writer, and there are very few among the
+dead, whose approbation I should feel so proud to earn. And with
+everything you have written upon my shelves, and in my thoughts, and
+in my heart of hearts, I may honestly and truly say so.... I wish I
+could find in your welcome letter some hint of an intention to visit
+England. I can't. I have held it at arm's length, and taken a bird's
+eye view of it, after reading it a great many times, but there is no
+greater encouragement in it this way than on a microscopic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+inspection. I should love to go with you&mdash;as I have gone, God knows
+how often&mdash;into Little Britain, and Eastcheap, and Green Arbor Court,
+and Westminster Abbey. I should like to travel with you, outside the
+last of the coaches, down to Bracebridge Hall. It would make my heart
+glad to compare notes with you about that shabby gentleman in the
+oilcloth hat and red nose, who sat in the nine-cornered back parlor of
+the Masons' Arms; and about Robert Preston, and the tallow chandler's
+widow, whose sitting-room is second nature to me; and about all those
+delightful places and people that I used to walk about and dream of in
+the daytime, when a very small and not over-particularly-taken-care-of
+boy. I have a good deal to say, too, about that dashing Alonzo de
+Ojeda, that you can't help being fonder of than you ought to be; and
+much to hear concerning Moorish legend and poor, unhappy Boabdil.
+Diedrich Knickerbocker I have worn to death in my pocket, and yet I
+should show you his mutilated carcass with a joy past all
+expression."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Not long afterward Dickens visited America. Irving and he saw much of
+each other, though they did not meet many times. Irving presided at a
+great dinner given to Boz in New York, broke down in his introductory
+speech, and otherwise endeared himself to his brother author. When
+presently Dickens went back, he wrote, "I did not come to see you, for
+I really have not the heart to say 'good-by' again, and felt more than
+I can tell you when we shook hands last Wednesday."</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon Irving himself was leaving America. In February, 1842, he
+was startled from the home quiet of Sunnyside by a summons which he
+could not disregard. Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, had
+secured his appointment as Minister to Spain. The Senate confirmed it
+almost by acclamation, and letters came from various quarters urging
+him to accept it. He could not doubt that the wish was general. But it
+was very hard for him to leave home and America again. For some time
+after accepting the post he was plunged into a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> dejection which seemed
+laughable to himself. "The crowning honor of his life," he admitted,
+had come to him, and he could only groan under it.</p>
+
+<p>"'It is hard, very hard,' he half murmured to himself, half to me; yet
+he added whimsically enough, being struck with the seeming absurdity
+of such a view, 'I must try to bear it. God tempers the wind to the
+shorn lamb'" (P. M. Irving).</p>
+
+<p>In April he sailed from New York, and made a leisurely journey by way
+of England and France, not reaching Madrid till the end of July.
+Europe had lost its old charm. Many places reminded him painfully of
+the favorite brother Peter who had shared his first impressions of
+them, and whose loss was one of the keenest griefs of his life. "My
+visit to Europe has by no means the charm of former visits," he wrote
+from Paris; "scenes and objects have no longer the effect of novelty
+with me. I am no longer curious to see great sights or great people,
+and have been so long accustomed to a life of quiet, that I find the
+turmoil of the world becomes irksome<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> to me. Then I have a house of my
+own, a little domestic world, created in a manner by my own hand,
+which I have left behind, and which is continually haunting my
+thoughts, and coming in contrast with the noisy, tumultuous, heartless
+world in which I am called to mingle. However, I am somewhat of a
+philosopher, and can accommodate myself to changes, so I shall
+endeavor to resign myself to the splendor of courts and the
+conversation of courtiers, comforting myself with the thought that the
+time will come when I shall once more return to sweet little
+Sunnyside, and be able to sit on a stone fence, and talk about
+politics and rural affairs with Neighbor Forkel and Uncle Brom."</p>
+
+<p>At Madrid he very soon found himself too much occupied for the
+literary work he had counted on. He had accepted the place under the
+impression that his duties would not greatly interfere with the
+writing of the "Life of Washington," on which he was then fairly
+launched. But from the beginning he found the situation in Spain
+unexpectedly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> absorbing. It was the usual Spanish situation, to be
+sure: a designing pretender, a child monarch, a court honeycombed with
+intrigue, and a people ready for anything spectacular. When Irving was
+presented to the young queen, she was closely guarded. "On ascending
+the grand staircase, we found the portal at the head of it, opening
+into the royal suite of apartments, still bearing the marks of the
+midnight attack upon the palace in October last, when an attempt was
+made to get possession of the persons of the little queen and her
+sister, to carry them off.... The marble casements of the doors had
+been shattered in several places, and the double doors themselves
+pierced all over with bullet-holes, from the musketry that played upon
+them from the staircase during that eventful night. What must have
+been the feelings of those poor children, on listening from their
+apartment to the horrid tumult, the outcries of a furious multitude,
+and the reports of fire-arms, echoing and reverberating through the
+vaulted halls and spacious courts of the immense<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> edifice, and dubious
+whether their own lives were not the object of the assault!" Such an
+appeal to Irving's sympathy and chivalry was enough to deprive the
+situation of its quality of op&eacute;ra-bouffe.</p>
+
+<p>Presently an insurrection takes place in Barcelona. The regent hurries
+off to quell it, and Irving's letters are full of the pomp and
+circumstance of war. The regent is successful, and returns apparently
+firmer than ever in power. But a few months later the trouble breaks
+out again, more seriously; Madrid is placed in a state of siege, and
+martial law declared. The life of the queen is thought to be in
+danger, and the diplomatic corps, headed by Irving, offers its
+services for her protection. Finally the regent is driven out of
+power, and blows are once again succeeded by intrigue. Such, briefly,
+was the character of the little drama in which the quiet American
+author was to take a significant part, during his whole ministry. This
+Spanish experience is fully recorded in his family letters. He was
+always a voluminous letter-writer; during<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> this period he is fairly
+encyclopedic. A single letter to his sister fills thirteen closely
+printed pages of his nephew's biography. His official dispatches, too,
+were very full and thorough. Webster valued them particularly, and
+remarked that he "always laid aside every other correspondence to read
+a diplomatic dispatch from Mr. Irving." He had time, too, for many
+charming chatty letters to the nieces at Sunnyside. Here is a
+Thackerayish passage from one of them: "You seem to pity the poor
+little queen, shut up with her sister like two princesses in a fairy
+tale, in a great, grand, dreary palace, and wonder whether she would
+not like to change her situation for a nice little cottage on the
+Hudson? Perhaps she would, Kate, if she knew anything of the gayeties
+of cottage life; if she had ever been with us at a picnic, or driven
+out in the shandry-dan with the two roans, and James, in his slipshod
+hat, for a coachman, or <i>yotted</i> in the Dream, or sang in the
+Tarrytown choir, or shopped at Tommy Dean's; but, poor thing! she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+would not know how to set about enjoying herself. She would not think
+of appearing at church without a whole train of the Miss &mdash;&mdash;s and the
+Miss &mdash;&mdash;s, and the Miss &mdash;&mdash;s, as maids of honor, nor drive through
+Sleepy Hollow except in a coach and six, with a cloud of dust, and a
+troop of horsemen in glittering armor. So I think, Kate, we must be
+content with pitying her, and leaving her in ignorance of the
+comparative desolateness of her situation."</p>
+
+<p>In 1842, Irving suffered another of those petty persecutions which he
+was not thick-skinned enough to endure without suffering, nor
+confident enough to ignore. The charges were of the most ordinary
+sort, and advanced by men of little weight: he had appropriated
+material without giving due credit for it, and he had puffed his own
+work. Their only claim upon our notice lies in the fact that Irving
+thought it worth while to confute them at length. He was perhaps
+especially sensitive to critical attacks at this time. His income from
+literary property had nearly ceased. Some of his books were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> out of
+print, and the rest were having comparatively little sale. A wave of
+indifference had overtaken his public. "Everything behind me seems to
+have turned to chaff and stubble," he wrote. "And if I desire any
+further profits from literature, it must be by the further exercise of
+my pen." It is characteristic of his modesty that he was disposed to
+accept this momentary neglect as final. He planned to revise all his
+works, in the hope of finding a renewed market for them later, but
+evidently expected little.</p>
+
+<p>A letter to Brevoort from Bordeaux dated November, 1843, accounts for
+the first break in his Madrid residence: "I am now on my way back to
+my post, after between two and three months' absence. I set out in
+pursuit of health, and thought a little traveling and a change of air
+would 'make me my own man again'; but I was laid by the heels at Paris
+by a recurrence of my malady, and have just escaped out of the
+doctor's hands.... This indisposition has been a sad check upon all my
+plans. I had hoped, by zealous employment of all the leisure afforded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+me at Madrid, to accomplish one or two literary tasks which I have in
+hand.... A year, however, has now been lost to me, and a precious
+year, at my time of life. The 'Life of Washington,' and indeed all my
+literary tasks, have remained suspended; and my pen has remained idle,
+excepting now and then in writing a dispatch to Government, or
+scrawling a letter to my family. In the mean time the income which I
+used to derive from farming out my writings has died away, and my
+moneyed investments yield scarce any interest.... However, thank God,
+my health and with it my capacity for work are returning. I shall soon
+again have pen in hand, and hope to get two or three good years of
+literary labor out of myself."</p>
+
+<p>After his return to Spain he was again laid by. He was disappointed,
+but not discouraged, for the self-pity of the invalid never deprived
+him of his strong man's humor. "When I drive out and notice the
+opening of spring, I feel sometimes almost moved to tears at the
+thought that in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> a little while I shall again have the use of my
+limbs, and be able to ramble about and enjoy these green fields and
+meadows. It seems almost too great a privilege. I am afraid when I
+once more sally forth and walk the streets, I shall feel like a boy
+with a new coat, who thinks everybody will turn around to look at him.
+'Bless my soul, how that gentleman has the use of his legs!'" A few
+days after this was written, he got word that one of his friends had
+just undergone a successful surgical operation. "God bless these
+surgeons and dentists!" he exclaims. "May their good deeds be returned
+upon them a thousand fold! May they have the felicity, in the next
+world, to have successful operations performed upon them to all
+eternity!"</p>
+
+<p>By this time he had come to take Spanish politics rather too
+seriously. The insincerity and profligacy of the Spanish character,
+the corruption of the court and state, fairly sicken him: "The last
+ten or twelve years of my life," he writes, "have shown me so much of
+the dark side of human nature, that I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> begin to have painful doubts of
+my fellow men, and look back with regret to the confiding period of my
+literary career, when, poor as a rat, but rich in dreams, I beheld the
+world through the medium of my imagination, and was apt to believe men
+as good as I wished them to be." His sense of responsibility for the
+young queen oppressed him, and he looked forward impatiently to the
+hour of his release.</p>
+
+<p>A year later he had gained far better health and spirits. On his
+sixty-second birthday&mdash;"I caught myself bounding upstairs three steps
+at a time, to the astonishment of the porter, and checked myself,
+recollecting that it was not the pace befitting a minister and a man
+of my years." His mental life had, however, caught the sober tone of
+age. "I am now at that time of life when the mind has a stock of
+recollections on which to employ itself; and though these may
+sometimes be of a melancholy nature, yet it is a 'sweet-souled
+melancholy,' mellowed and softened by the operation of time, and has
+no bitterness in it....<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> When I was young, my imagination was always
+in the advance, picturing out the future, and building castles in the
+air; now memory comes in the place of imagination, and I look back
+over the region I have traveled. Thank God, the same plastic feeling,
+which used to deck all the future with the hues of fairyland, throws a
+soft coloring over the past, until the very roughest places, through
+which I struggled with many a heartache, lose all their asperity in
+the distance."</p>
+
+<p>In July, 1846, his successor arrived, and Irving was free to leave
+Europe for the last time. His services in Spain had brought nothing
+but honor to himself and his country; he had earned a right to the
+quiet years that followed in his favorite home nook at Sunnyside.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after his return he began to busy himself with the revised
+edition of his works which he had projected in Spain. It was
+disheartening to find his old publishers dubious about undertaking the
+republication, and for a time the work went hard. "I am<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> growing a sad
+laggard in literature," he wrote to his nephew, "and need some one to
+bolster me up occasionally. I am too ready to do anything else rather
+than write." For more than a year his time was largely devoted to
+overseeing an enlargement of the cottage, and a renovation of the
+grounds, at Sunnyside. At last he got it all into satisfactory order.
+"My own place has never been so beautiful as at present. I have made
+more openings by pruning and cutting down trees, so that from the
+piazza I have several charming views of the Tappan Zee and the hills
+beyond, all set, as it were, in verdant flames; and I am never tired
+of sitting there in my old Voltaire chair of a long summer morning
+with a book in my hand, sometimes reading, sometimes musing, and
+sometimes dozing, and mixing all up in a pleasant dream." As for New
+York, "For my part, I dread the noise and turmoil of it, and visit it
+but now and then, preferring the quiet of my country retreat; which
+shows that the bustling time of life is over with me, and that I am
+settling down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> into a sober, quiet, good-for-nothing old gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>This was all very well&mdash;for a mood. He spent the next winter in town,
+moving freely in society, and "not missing a single performance" of
+the opera. "One meets all one's acquaintances at the opera, and there
+is much visiting from box to box, and pleasant conversation, between
+the acts. The opera house is in fact the great feature of polite
+society in New York, and I believe is the great attraction that keeps
+me in town. Music is to me the great sweetener of existence, and I
+never enjoyed it more abundantly than at present." Clearly, the old
+social instinct was by no means dead in him, however he might express
+himself in less buoyant moods.</p>
+
+<p>Two years after his return from Spain the house of Putnam agreed to
+publish the revised edition of his works on very liberal terms&mdash;a
+twelve and a half per cent. royalty. The result of the enterprise was
+a surprise to author and publisher, for during the ten remaining years
+of his life the royalties<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> amounted to more than $88,000. The
+arrangement brought about an immediate accession of courage and power,
+and he returned with fresh zeal to the "Life of Washington." "All I
+fear," he said, "is to fail in health, and fail in completing this
+work at the same time. If I can only live to finish it, I would be
+willing to die the next moment. I think I can make it a most
+interesting book. If I had only ten years more of life! I never felt
+more able to write. I might not conceive as I did in earlier days,
+when I had more romance of feeling, but I could execute with more
+rapidity and freedom." The consciousness of approaching age grew
+stronger in him, but without weakening his capacity for enjoyment or
+his turn for humorous expression. Early in 1850, George Ticknor sent
+him a copy of his "History of Spanish Literature." Irving dipped into
+it, liked it, and "When I have once read it through," he wrote, "I
+shall keep it by me, like a Stilton cheese, to give a dig into
+whenever I want a relishing morsel. I began to fear it would never
+see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> the light in my day, or that it might fare with you as with that
+good lady who went thirteen years with child, and then brought forth a
+little old man, who died in the course of a month of extreme old age.
+But you have produced three strapping volumes, full of life and
+freshness and vigor, that will live forever." This sounds well for
+Ticknor; but it needs only a glance at Irving's recorded
+correspondence to see that he was inclined to overestimate the work of
+others. That kind heart must needs assume the functions of a head
+which was very well able to take care of itself.</p>
+
+<p>In larger matters his judgment was often colored, but seldom warped,
+by feeling. The line between sentiment and common sense is clearly
+drawn in his comment upon the Kossuth obsession which held New York in
+1852. "I have heard and seen Kossuth both in public and private, and
+he is really a noble fellow, quite the beau ideal of a poetic hero....
+He is a kind of man that you would idolize. Yet, poor fellow, he has
+come here under a great mistake, and is doomed to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> disappointed in
+the high-wrought expectations he had formed of co&ouml;peration on the part
+of our government in the affairs of his unhappy country. Admiration
+and sympathy he has in abundance from individuals; but there is no
+romance in councils of state or deliberative assemblies. There, cool
+judgment and cautious policy must restrain and regulate the warm
+impulses of feeling. I trust we are never to be carried away, by the
+fascinating eloquence of this second Peter the Hermit, into schemes of
+foreign interference, that would rival the wild enterprises of the
+Crusades." The letter concludes in a minor strain: "It is now
+half-past twelve at night, and I am sitting here scribbling in my
+study, long after the family are abed and asleep&mdash;a habit I have
+fallen much into of late. Indeed, I never fagged more steadily with my
+pen than I do at present. I have a long task in hand, which I am
+anxious to finish, that I may have a little leisure in the brief
+remnant of life that is left to me. However, I have a strong
+presentiment that I shall die in harness; and I am<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> content to do so,
+provided I have the cheerful exercise of intellect to the last."</p>
+
+<p>By this time some of his Western investments had begun to make
+handsome returns. With an easy pocket, and a single congenial task for
+his leisure, it seemed that Irving's last years were certain to be
+peacefully rounded. Unfortunately his health did not hold; all his
+former ailments came back upon him, and the "Life of Washington"
+became an Old Man of the Sea, which one wishes heartily he might have
+been rid of. A visit to Saratoga in the summer of 1852, and the
+company of many pretty women, seemed for the moment to lift the years
+from his shoulders. "No one seemed more unconscious of the celebrity
+to which he had attained," wrote one of his Saratoga acquaintances,
+long after. "In this there was not a particle of affectation. Nothing
+he shrank from with greater earnestness and sincerity and (I may add)
+pertinacity, than any attempt to lionize him." His name was used to
+conjure with too often for his comfort. An "Irving Literary Union" had
+been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> formed in New York. Irving's attitude toward it was amusing and
+characteristic; he was always invited to attend the anniversary
+meeting, always accepted, and always stayed away.</p>
+
+<p>Events abroad continued to interest him. His sister had sent an
+account from Paris of the marriage of Louis Napoleon. "Louis Napoleon
+and Eug&eacute;nie Montijo, Emperor and Empress of France!" he wrote. "One of
+whom I have had a guest at my cottage on the Hudson; the other of
+whom, when a child, I have had on my knee at Granada! It seems to cap
+the climax of the strange dramas of which Paris has been the theatre
+during my lifetime."</p>
+
+<p>In 1855, "Wolfert's Roost" was published. Most of its contents had
+figured years before in the "Knickerbocker Magazine." It is one of the
+best of his miscellaneous collections, and should be better known to
+the modern reader of Irving. Thereafter, his work was over, except for
+the "Life of Washington," which was to appear in parts during the next
+three years. Its merits<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> were perhaps exaggerated at the time; to the
+modern critic they lie chiefly in its possession of the lucid
+simplicity of method without which its author could not write, and in
+the life which it infuses into a cold abstraction. If this is not
+Washington, it is at least a living and breathing person, whose
+interest for us lies not altogether in his career.</p>
+
+<p>These closing years were sadly clouded by sleeplessness and depression
+of spirits, from which at times he roused himself to bursts of his old
+brilliancy and humor. A year before his death he said to one of the
+innumerable inquiries about his health, "I have a streak of old age.
+Pity, when we have grown old, we could not turn round and grow young
+again, and die of cutting our teeth." A few months later, when he had
+begun to be troubled with difficulty of breathing, he had a long and
+prosy letter from a total stranger, who proposed a call. "Oh, if he
+could only give me his long wind," gasped Irving, "he should be most
+welcome."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We need not follow here the rather pitiful struggle of those last
+months. "I do not fear death," said he, "but I would like to go down
+with all sail set." The thoughts of the gradual loss of his faculties
+haunted him with curious insistency. He conceived a dislike for his
+own room, could not bear to be alone, and hung with pathetic eagerness
+to the companionship of the few whom he held dearest. His fear was
+groundless. To the end his mind remained clear; and on the 29th of
+November, 1859, he "went down with all sail set."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2>
+
+<h2>THE MAN HIMSELF</h2>
+
+
+<p>One is tempted to ask himself, in concluding a review of this man's
+life and work, what it was that he peculiarly stood for; what new kind
+of excellence he brought into being, and how far it survived him.
+Oddly enough, the accident of his birthplace is made at once his chief
+merit, and the subtle derogation of that merit; he is the first
+distinguished name in American letters, and he is "the American
+Addison." From the outset one who wishes to study his work is hampered
+by the fact of place. One must be always considering solemnly,
+"Although he was an American, he succeeded in doing this," or,
+"Because he was an American, he might have done that," till one is
+fairly inclined to wish that his English parents had not happened to
+marry and settle in New York. As a matter of fact, there are few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
+writers against whom the point of nationality may be pushed with less
+pertinence.</p>
+
+<p>It is plain that earlier American writing interests us only in a local
+and guarded sense. The critical microscope discovers certain merits;
+but the least shifting of the eye-piece throws the object out of
+field. We value what these men wrote because of what they did as
+Americans, or stood for in American life. Of Irving and a few later
+writers this is not true. And our regard for them may lead us to
+suspect that from the literary point of view, it is better to be great
+than American; or at least that there is no formula to express the
+ratio between a writer's Americanism and his literary power. The
+historian esteems a flavor of nationality in literature; to the lover
+of pure letters, it is only a superior sort of local color. Irving's
+distinction is that he was the first prophet of pure letters in
+America. This is to speak thickly; and it will not help matters
+greatly to say that the mark of pure letters is style. The application
+of that foggy term to such a writer as Irving is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> likely to be
+particularly unfair; it has not been spared him. He has had more
+praise for his style than for anything else; indeed, it has been
+commonly suggested that there is little else to praise him for. This
+is, of course, a survival of the old notion that style is a sort of
+achievement in decorative art; that fine feathers may do much for the
+literary bird, at least. The style of a writer like Irving&mdash;a mere
+loiterer in the field of letters&mdash;is at best a creditable product of
+artifice. To him even so much credit has not been always allowed; the
+clever imitator of Addison&mdash;or, as some sager say, of Goldsmith&mdash;has
+not even invented a manner; he has borrowed one.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, novelty of form is a very different thing from literary
+excellence. Irving wrote like a well-bred Englishman, brought up in
+the sound traditions of the days of good Queen Anne. Whatever local
+merit his work may have, belongs to theme rather than to treatment.
+Its delicate humor is as far as possible from what has come to be
+known as American humor. His only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> conscious Americanism in motive&mdash;to
+speak of him merely as an artist&mdash;was to show England that "an
+American could write decent English." At that time, it seems,
+Englishmen considered this to be a good thing for an American to do;
+and the poet Campbell's remark was thought to be high praise: that
+Washington Irving had "added clarity to the English tongue." This was
+a service of which the language just then stood sadly in need. There
+are always men ready enough to make English turbid, to wreak their
+ingenuity upon oddities of phrase and diction. At that moment,
+certainly, the anxious courtier of words was not so much needed as the
+easy autocrat, whose style, however cavalier, should have grace and
+firmness and clarity to commend it. When Irving began to express
+himself, there was very little straightforward simple writing being
+done, either in America or in England. The stuffed buckram of
+Johnsonese had been succeeded by the mincing hifalutin of Mrs. Anne
+Radcliffe and her like. It is at least to Irving's credit that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> his
+taste led him back half a century to the comparative simplicity and
+purity of the prim Augustan style. But it is odd that it should have
+been for this acquired manner that the world thought it liked him
+while he lived, and has chiefly praised him since he died.</p>
+
+<p>But after all, as was said of Milton in a different connection, Irving
+has worn "the garb, but not the clothes, of the ancients." His kinship
+to them in temper of thought and feeling was closer than his
+resemblance in manner. Like Addison and Goldsmith, he wins his
+audience through sheer charm of personality. To open one of his books
+is like meeting a congenial stranger. You like his looks at first
+glance, you feel somehow that he likes yours; and while you may be
+hesitating about advances, he is at your side, and there is nothing
+more to be said. You do not care whether he is American or English,
+you are not particular what he talks about, but you do not willingly
+part with him.</p>
+
+<p>The charm of creative genius is less the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> charm of mind than of
+feeling. And it is to feeling refined and colored by temperament, that
+the more delicate modes of belles-lettres owe their whole power. That
+is, a writer in this sort is admirable as he subdues language and
+subordinates thought to his own temper, not as he gives elegant
+utterance to thought or feeling in their abstracted and general
+estate. Through a surface artificiality of style, which is far more
+marked in his earliest work, and from which at times he quite escapes,
+Irving's personality shines clearly. He has so employed a conventional
+medium as to make it serve his original purposes. He possessed, to be
+sure, a faculty of strong vernacular speech, which is little suggested
+in his to-be-published writing, or even in his private letters. The
+Oregon embroilment had led certain British journals into gross speech
+about America. Irving was much disturbed. What he wrote was, "A
+rancorous prejudice against us has been diligently inculcated of late
+years by the British press, and it is daily producing its fruits of
+bitterness." What he said was:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> "Bulwer,"&mdash;then English minister to
+Spain,&mdash;"I should deplore exceedingly a war with England, for depend
+upon it, if we must come to blows, it will be serious work for both.
+You might break our head at first, but by Heaven! we would break your
+back in the end!"</p>
+
+<p>But one need not write in the vernacular to be sincere and effective;
+personality may utter itself through different media, whether in
+different tongues or in distinct strata of the same tongue. Just now
+we have a bent toward colloquialism on paper; it was not the bent of
+Irving's day.</p>
+
+<p>As far as the external features of his style are concerned, he has had
+praise enough, and more than enough. Clearness, ease, a certain Gallic
+grace it has; the ink flows readily, the thing says itself without
+crabbedness or constraint. On the other hand this ready writer is
+often conventional; a set phrase contents him, why should he labor to
+escape the usual formula? He knew nothing of the struggle or the
+reward of the artist in words, who wrestles for the exact <i>nuance</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+and will not let a sentence go till he has obtained its blessing.
+Consequently he is never finicking in his phraseology, and seldom
+final. The subtle artfulness of Stevenson is beyond him; but he has a
+rarer quality&mdash;that subtler artlessness which has belonged in some
+measure to all the greater writers of sentiment. It is a quality
+independent of the mechanics of writing; whether the author echoes the
+syntax of Addison or the diction of Goldsmith is an indifferent
+question. All that we know is that, through his use of words or in
+spite of it, a new melody has come into being, a golden <i>motif</i> which
+is to ring in the world's ears nobody knows how long.</p>
+
+<p>It seems idle to say of such a man that because he does not concern
+himself with "the mystery of existence," and "the solemn eternities,"
+he has nothing to say. Surely the simple-souled artist may leave such
+matters for the philosophers and theologians to deal with. Surely his
+"message" is as significant as theirs. Irving is admirable not mainly
+because he "wrote beautifully," but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> because he said something which
+no one else could say: he uttered the most meaning of all
+messages&mdash;himself. And if literature is really a criticism of life,
+such a message from such a man has, it would seem, dignity enough.</p>
+
+<p>Evidently Irving, like Goldsmith and Oliver Wendell Holmes, owed his
+amazing influence largely to his cheerful and wholesome
+this-worldliness. He was a sentimentalist, but obviously different in
+spirit from the two great English writers of sentiment who were most
+nearly his contemporaries. Thackeray is sophisticated; fortune's
+buffets have left him still a tender interest in life, but pity rather
+than hopefulness gives color to his mood. Dickens's sentiment seldom
+rings perfectly true; too often it is sharped to flippancy, or flatted
+to mawkishness. The tone of Irving, in sentiment or in humor, is the
+clear and even utterance of a healthy nature. It was a period of
+sickly sentimentalism in which he began to write; men drew tears
+frequently and mechanically then, as they drew corks. The
+sentimentalist passed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> easily from broad mirth to unwinking pathos.
+Fortunately that weakest mood of sentiment without humor came seldom
+to Irving; he wrote only one "History of Margaret Nicholson."</p>
+
+<p>It was his nature to be achingly considerate of others, so that he was
+a better friend than critic; and he was as careful of their good
+opinion as of their comfort. Always doubtful what treatment his work
+would meet, and even what it deserved, he would ask his friends to say
+nothing about it, unless they liked it. "One condemning whisper," said
+one of them, "sounded louder in his ear than the plaudits of
+thousands." Socially, on the other hand, he never had the least doubt
+of himself. The tastes and manner of a gentleman did not need to be
+acquired; there was no question of his fitness for any society. During
+his whole career, thrown as he was into the choicest company of two
+continents, there was evidently not the least suspicion of
+embarrassment or awkwardness in his quiet bearing.</p>
+
+<p>He was in the largest sense of the word a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> generous man; and even in
+the smaller sense his generosity has distinction and significance.
+Addison we know to have been a little on the hither side of
+open-handedness. Goldsmith was by his own satirical confession the
+"good-natured man," to whom giving was a conscious indulgence. Irving
+was simply not aware that he gave; to share his best was a natural
+function. And it is our sense of this, of being admitted as a matter
+of course to share in all that he is and has, which largely explains
+his delightfulness as man and author.</p>
+
+<p>Citizen of the world as he was in his literary character, in practical
+life his Americanism was real and potent. He deplored the War of 1812
+and the war with Mexico, but believed firmly that it was no man's duty
+to go back of the government's decision. In the conduct of his mission
+to Spain he showed the utmost steadiness, loyalty, and self-possession
+in many trying situations. He was, in short, a valuable citizen, to
+whom honors came unsought, and who, out of office, and not desirous of
+political power, was trusted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> by all parties, and tempted by none. The
+mere existence of such a figure, calm, simple, incorruptible, honored
+wherever he was known, and known prominently throughout Europe, was a
+valuable stay to the young republic in that purgatorial first half of
+the nineteenth century.</p>
+
+<p>One fact about him will perhaps bear emphasis; that with all his
+gentlenesses he was strong and firm and full of spirit. He was
+susceptible to advice, yet nobody ever forced him to do a thing that
+was against his mind or conscience. That he was amiable, congenial,
+companionable&mdash;we do not forget these traits of his; we should
+remember, too, that he never faced an emergency to which he did not
+prove himself equal. His personal hold upon his contemporaries was
+plainly due to the fact that their confidence in him as a man was as
+perfect as their delight in him as an artist. What he did was, after
+all, only a little part of what he was.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Washington Irving, by Henry W. Boynton
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WASHINGTON IRVING ***
+
+***** This file should be named 25908-h.htm or 25908-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/9/0/25908/
+
+Produced by Sankar Viswanathan and The Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/25908-h/images/image_01.jpg b/25908-h/images/image_01.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6f4638
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-h/images/image_01.jpg
diff --git a/25908-h/images/seal.jpg b/25908-h/images/seal.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..96b5c48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-h/images/seal.jpg
diff --git a/25908-page-images/f001.png b/25908-page-images/f001.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69bd8f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/f001.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/f002.png b/25908-page-images/f002.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6b2b330
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/f002.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/f003.png b/25908-page-images/f003.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e55ec75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/f003.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/f004.jpg b/25908-page-images/f004.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..622728a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/f004.jpg
diff --git a/25908-page-images/f005.png b/25908-page-images/f005.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..14f1868
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/f005.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/f006.png b/25908-page-images/f006.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2e86371
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/f006.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/f007.png b/25908-page-images/f007.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..36c7e92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/f007.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/f008.png b/25908-page-images/f008.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..29c7ab0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/f008.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p001.png b/25908-page-images/p001.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41e3842
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p001.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p002.png b/25908-page-images/p002.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9559f39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p002.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p003.png b/25908-page-images/p003.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3899340
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p003.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p004.png b/25908-page-images/p004.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa3358b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p004.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p005.png b/25908-page-images/p005.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6705a7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p005.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p006.png b/25908-page-images/p006.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f36e4ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p006.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p007.png b/25908-page-images/p007.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ace38a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p007.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p008.png b/25908-page-images/p008.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..751e625
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p008.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p009.png b/25908-page-images/p009.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f069232
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p009.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p010.png b/25908-page-images/p010.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3567d31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p010.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p011.png b/25908-page-images/p011.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2ee6199
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p011.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p012.png b/25908-page-images/p012.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69adbfc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p012.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p013.png b/25908-page-images/p013.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..33f0950
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p013.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p014.png b/25908-page-images/p014.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d2596e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p014.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p015.png b/25908-page-images/p015.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6218ee1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p015.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p016.png b/25908-page-images/p016.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5f6373
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p016.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p017.png b/25908-page-images/p017.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..789cd83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p017.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p018.png b/25908-page-images/p018.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3402d05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p018.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p019.png b/25908-page-images/p019.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ed17c62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p019.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p020.png b/25908-page-images/p020.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea58c73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p020.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p021.png b/25908-page-images/p021.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c71ffa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p021.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p022.png b/25908-page-images/p022.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c56034c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p022.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p023.png b/25908-page-images/p023.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e8c885f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p023.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p024.png b/25908-page-images/p024.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ceddbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p024.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p025.png b/25908-page-images/p025.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cce58f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p025.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p026.png b/25908-page-images/p026.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0eb0ccc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p026.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p027.png b/25908-page-images/p027.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a8f07d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p027.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p028.png b/25908-page-images/p028.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cf8fc8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p028.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p029.png b/25908-page-images/p029.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..35490a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p029.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p030.png b/25908-page-images/p030.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69e5f83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p030.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p031.png b/25908-page-images/p031.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b537f9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p031.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p032.png b/25908-page-images/p032.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..145ac56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p032.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p033.png b/25908-page-images/p033.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c97b009
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p033.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p034.png b/25908-page-images/p034.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f585d5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p034.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p035.png b/25908-page-images/p035.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5041d6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p035.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p036.png b/25908-page-images/p036.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d62693
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p036.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p037.png b/25908-page-images/p037.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e693e09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p037.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p038.png b/25908-page-images/p038.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..71ec19c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p038.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p039.png b/25908-page-images/p039.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a195c05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p039.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p040.png b/25908-page-images/p040.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f4f455e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p040.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p041.png b/25908-page-images/p041.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d9905d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p041.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p042.png b/25908-page-images/p042.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6be5056
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p042.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p043.png b/25908-page-images/p043.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9fe4962
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p043.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p044.png b/25908-page-images/p044.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a8fbf5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p044.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p045.png b/25908-page-images/p045.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..201192a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p045.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p046.png b/25908-page-images/p046.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7713514
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p046.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p047.png b/25908-page-images/p047.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a840e33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p047.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p048.png b/25908-page-images/p048.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..85d99ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p048.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p049.png b/25908-page-images/p049.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f4b8d6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p049.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p050.png b/25908-page-images/p050.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5cd786d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p050.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p051.png b/25908-page-images/p051.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6cbcd4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p051.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p052.png b/25908-page-images/p052.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16b6294
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p052.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p053.png b/25908-page-images/p053.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1972bbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p053.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p054.png b/25908-page-images/p054.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a25fd1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p054.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p055.png b/25908-page-images/p055.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8fa94c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p055.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p056.png b/25908-page-images/p056.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9096a46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p056.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p057.png b/25908-page-images/p057.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f553643
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p057.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p058.png b/25908-page-images/p058.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..11458df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p058.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p059.png b/25908-page-images/p059.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c4e4b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p059.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p060.png b/25908-page-images/p060.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..786dae1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p060.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p061.png b/25908-page-images/p061.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..887a78f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p061.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p062.png b/25908-page-images/p062.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a7f7330
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p062.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p063.png b/25908-page-images/p063.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f5c3b91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p063.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p064.png b/25908-page-images/p064.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d1a6a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p064.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p065.png b/25908-page-images/p065.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e2c5ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p065.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p066.png b/25908-page-images/p066.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..51d9c26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p066.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p067.png b/25908-page-images/p067.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9742c9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p067.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p068.png b/25908-page-images/p068.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e9b55c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p068.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p069.png b/25908-page-images/p069.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bb97a30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p069.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p070.png b/25908-page-images/p070.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d0f9e7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p070.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p071.png b/25908-page-images/p071.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd36887
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p071.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p072.png b/25908-page-images/p072.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a4e6d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p072.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p073.png b/25908-page-images/p073.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b6bc3cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p073.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p074.png b/25908-page-images/p074.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..04081ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p074.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p075.png b/25908-page-images/p075.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1e8fb06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p075.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p076.png b/25908-page-images/p076.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bee03f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p076.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p077.png b/25908-page-images/p077.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0806949
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p077.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p078.png b/25908-page-images/p078.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aa0387d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p078.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p079.png b/25908-page-images/p079.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..36c62b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p079.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p080.png b/25908-page-images/p080.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d5f2024
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p080.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p081.png b/25908-page-images/p081.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..48a98ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p081.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p082.png b/25908-page-images/p082.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c152bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p082.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p083.png b/25908-page-images/p083.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7a1f9dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p083.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p084.png b/25908-page-images/p084.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..830adae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p084.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p085.png b/25908-page-images/p085.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ab533d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p085.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p086.png b/25908-page-images/p086.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0692a57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p086.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p087.png b/25908-page-images/p087.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..984cd86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p087.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p088.png b/25908-page-images/p088.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff922bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p088.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p089.png b/25908-page-images/p089.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8b78f8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p089.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p090.png b/25908-page-images/p090.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b756b65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p090.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p091.png b/25908-page-images/p091.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f1cfd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p091.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p092.png b/25908-page-images/p092.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..631433f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p092.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p093.png b/25908-page-images/p093.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9952112
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p093.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p094.png b/25908-page-images/p094.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2349436
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p094.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p095.png b/25908-page-images/p095.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5422a6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p095.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p096.png b/25908-page-images/p096.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4689ef1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p096.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p097.png b/25908-page-images/p097.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42f6f19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p097.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p098.png b/25908-page-images/p098.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8e0981f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p098.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p099.png b/25908-page-images/p099.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c30ef9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p099.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p100.png b/25908-page-images/p100.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ada5e8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p100.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p101.png b/25908-page-images/p101.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f5414a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p101.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p102.png b/25908-page-images/p102.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5deeebb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p102.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p103.png b/25908-page-images/p103.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6b41ca4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p103.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p104.png b/25908-page-images/p104.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c373b8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p104.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p105.png b/25908-page-images/p105.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3fcdc1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p105.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p106.png b/25908-page-images/p106.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7aa8fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p106.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p107.png b/25908-page-images/p107.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1e1eff7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p107.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p108.png b/25908-page-images/p108.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..95cf887
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p108.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p109.png b/25908-page-images/p109.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bcd1e3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p109.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p110.png b/25908-page-images/p110.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a9b5691
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p110.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p111.png b/25908-page-images/p111.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2c3e7b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p111.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p112.png b/25908-page-images/p112.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..76caa51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p112.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p113.png b/25908-page-images/p113.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6629d35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p113.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p114.png b/25908-page-images/p114.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e482ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p114.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p115.png b/25908-page-images/p115.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd7fbda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p115.png
diff --git a/25908-page-images/p116.png b/25908-page-images/p116.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0be608e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908-page-images/p116.png
diff --git a/25908.txt b/25908.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cfb6d72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2406 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Washington Irving, by Henry W. Boynton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Washington Irving
+
+Author: Henry W. Boynton
+
+Release Date: June 26, 2008 [EBook #25908]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WASHINGTON IRVING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sankar Viswanathan and The Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                  The Riverside Biographical Series
+
+                              NUMBER 11
+
+
+                  [Illustration: Washington Irving]
+
+
+
+                          WASHINGTON IRVING
+
+
+                                  BY
+
+                           HENRY W. BOYNTON
+
+
+
+
+                         BOSTON AND NEW YORK
+
+                    HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
+
+                    The Riverside Press, Cambridge
+
+                                 1901
+
+
+
+                 COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY HENRY W. BOYNTON
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAP.                                    PAGE
+
+  I.  EARLY YEARS AND SURROUNDINGS         1
+
+ II.  MAN ABOUT TOWN                      16
+
+III.  MAN OF LETTERS--FIRST PERIOD        35
+
+ IV.  MAN OF LETTERS--SECOND PERIOD       59
+
+  V.  A PUBLIC CHARACTER                  81
+
+ VI.  THE MAN HIMSELF                    105
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+WASHINGTON IRVING
+
+I
+
+EARLY YEARS AND SURROUNDINGS
+
+
+Irving's name stands as the first landmark in American letters. No
+other American writer has won the same sort of recognition abroad or
+esteem at home as became his early in life. And he has lost very
+little ground, so far as we can judge by the appeal to figures. The
+copyright on his works ran out long since, and a great many editions
+of Irving, cheap and costly, complete and incomplete, have been issued
+from many sources. Yet his original publishers are now selling, year
+by year, more of his books than ever before. There is little doubt
+that his work is still widely read, and read not because it is
+prescribed, but because it gives pleasure; not as the product of a
+"standard author," but as the expression of a rich and engaging
+personality, which has written itself like an indorsement across the
+face of a young nation's literature. It is that of a man so sensitive
+that the scornful finger of a child might have left him sleepless; so
+kindly that nobody ever applied to him in vain for sympathy; so modest
+that the smallest praise embarrassed him. His manner and tastes were
+simple and unassuming. He had no great passions; the brother was
+stronger in him than the lover. To these qualities, which might by
+themselves belong to ineffectiveness, he added courage, firmness,
+magnanimity. It was because he was such a man, and because what he was
+shines on every page he wrote, that the world still warms to him.
+
+Not that so elusive a thing as personal charm can be neatly plotted by
+the card. We love certain people because we love them; and since that
+is so, everything they do is interesting to us. A great writer lives
+in his books, to be sure, but we want to know what he actually did in
+the flesh. Did he walk, eat, sleep, like other men? Was he as strong,
+as human, as lovable as one would think? What sort of boy was he? Did
+he marry a wife, and was she good enough for him? The world will never
+believe that such questions are impertinent.
+
+There are, of course, more formal matters to be considered,--his debt
+to circumstance, his place in the practical world, his influence on
+the moral or intellectual or national life of his day. Some of these
+themes may be touched on, even within the narrow limits of the present
+sketch; not categorically, but rather by way of such suggestion and
+indirection as may be consistent with a compact narrative.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One of those apparent chances which are the commonplaces of history
+led William Irving from his far home in the Orkneys, married him to
+Sarah Sanders, and made him the father of Washington Irving. The
+Irvings--a branch of the well-known Scotch Irvines--had been for
+generations the leading family on the Island of Shapinsha. Finally
+they had gone threadbare, and with a fortune to seek, William Irving
+chose the natural ordeal for an islander, the trial by sea. Toward the
+close of the French War he had become petty officer on an armed
+English packet. In New York he met Mistress Sanders, who was also
+English-born, and in 1761 they were married. He must have saved money,
+for at the end of the war he left the sea, and entered trade in New
+York.
+
+William Irving and his wife were very different in up-bringing and in
+temperament. He was a stern man, a strict Presbyterian, with the cold
+fire of Calvin in his bones. She had been bred an Episcopalian, and
+was genial and sympathetic by nature. The husband was the
+master-spirit, and the children grew up under the rigid exactions of
+his sect. Sunday was a long day of penance, and one of their two
+half-holidays was consecrated to the cheerful uses of the catechism.
+To New England ears it all has a familiar sound. When the children
+grew old enough they promptly left the fold and resigned themselves
+to her of Babylon and England. There were eleven of them, and
+Washington was the youngest, born in New York, April 3, 1783. As a
+very little child he had the honor of a pat on the head from his great
+namesake, for whom he was to do an important service many years later.
+
+He was a perfectly normal, healthy boy. Fortunately there are no
+brilliant sayings to record; he did not lisp in periods. Genius was
+not written upon his brow, nor tied upon his sleeve. He had none of
+the pale fervor of precocity, or the shyness of premature conceit. He
+was absorbed in childish things, loved play, shirked his studies,
+dreamed of a life on the ocean wave, and regarded "Robinson Crusoe"
+and "Sinbad the Sailor" as the end of all literary things. The
+savagery of boyhood he lacked. He was fond of playing battle, but
+could not bear to see his schoolfellows publicly thrashed, according
+to the amiable custom of that day. Otherwise he was all that a mother
+might deplore or an uncle delight in.
+
+Altogether the most interesting story of his schooldays has a
+dramatic setting. Addison's "Cato" was to be spouted in public by the
+schoolchildren. Irving, in the part of Juba, was called a little
+sooner than he expected, and came on the boards with his mouth full of
+honey-cake. Speech was out of the question--_vox haesit_--there was a
+momentary deadlock in his throat. The audience began to laugh, but the
+prince was not to be counted out. With a skillful rotary finger he
+removed the viand, and brought down the house by calmly taking up his
+lines as if nothing had happened. He was then ten years old, and deep
+in love with the leading lady. A year or two later he had decided to
+follow the sea; but a short experiment of sleeping on the floor and
+eating salt pork was too much for his enthusiasm, and at fourteen he
+gave up the ship. By this time he had begun to fancy that he could
+write, but there is nothing preserved which shows the least promise.
+
+"When I was young," he said long afterward, "I was led to think that
+somehow or other everything that was pleasant was wicked." The
+theatre was one of the forbidden sweets, and he naturally seized every
+chance to taste it. Family prayers at nine were something of an
+interruption, but he had managed a private exit by way of the roof
+which got him back to the theatre in time for the after-piece. This
+early liking for the stage he never outgrew. In the meantime he was
+going through with the ordinary schooling of the New York boy of that
+period. He learned a little Latin; he hated mathematics, and had very
+little love for dull books of any sort. At sixteen his formal
+education was over. Two of his elder brothers had studied at Columbia
+College, and no doubt Irving might have done the same. He was too
+lazy, or, to put it more gracefully, too little interested in set
+tasks. Later he expressed regret for the lost chance, but the loss
+cannot have been very great for him or for us. If we could imagine
+that he might have gained any sort of scholarship, its effect upon his
+writing would still be more than doubtful. His order of genius gains
+little from bookishness. Addison was supposed to be a classical
+scholar, but the "De Coverley Papers" are not a product of
+scholarship, and we could better spare anything else that he wrote.
+
+At sixteen Irving entered a law office, and for the next five years
+was understood to be studying law. He had no real aptitude for such
+study, to be sure, and must have known it; certainly he learned very
+little law. He had other things to be interested in. He was an eager
+reader in his own way, and a handsome, well-mannered boy, already fond
+of society. And I doubt if very much was expected of him in the way of
+steady application, for during this whole period his health was
+uncertain. More than once he had to give up study entirely, and go to
+this watering-place or that for weeks or months. His family and
+friends were afraid of consumption, and it was against all forecasts
+that he held his own till manhood.
+
+In 1800 he made his first voyage up the Hudson. "A voyage to Albany
+then," he wrote in 1851, "was equal to a voyage to Europe at present,
+and took almost as much time." The journey was made in a sloop manned
+by slaves, and commanded by a native of Albany, who spoke nothing but
+Dutch.
+
+Two years later his brother Peter became proprietor and editor of the
+New York "Morning Chronicle," for which Irving presently wrote a
+series of satirical letters signed "Jonathan Oldstyle." In these
+letters, his earliest work of any significance, he touches the
+Addisonian string upon which his critics have harped so insistently
+ever since. They are decidedly clever for a boy of nineteen, but not
+cleverer than the best college work of to-day, and perhaps more
+consciously imitative. The fact that they were greatly praised and
+gained some vogue through copying in other journals, is rather an
+indication of the unfruitfulness of the period than of their merit.
+One of their greatest admirers was Charles Brockden Browne, the only
+American before Irving to make a profession of writing.
+
+In 1804 the young amateur came of age. He was still threatened with
+consumption, and his family determined to send him abroad. Nobody felt
+very sanguine about his returning. As he was helped on board, the
+captain eyed him dubiously and said in an undertone, "There's a chap
+who will go overboard before we get across." If it had been in him to
+die just then, the captain gave him plenty of time; it was six weeks
+later when they landed at Bordeaux. But though the voyage had been not
+over-comfortable, it did him much good. Before the end of it he was
+scrambling about the vessel, and describes himself as "quite expert at
+climbing to the masthead, and going out on the maintopsail yard."
+Irving's body was never to be altogether tractable, but we shall hear
+nothing further of the consumptive tendency.
+
+His early letters from abroad are full of life and spirits. He jaunted
+about through France and Italy, picked up acquaintances everywhere,
+and was evidently much more interested in the people he met than in
+the "doing" of buildings or galleries. Evidently he was growing
+stronger all the time. In the company of a little Pennsylvania doctor,
+whom he had picked up in a diligence, he played several boyish pranks
+in France; he kicked out an insolent porter at Montpellier, and fell
+foul of a police spy at Avignon. In the main, however, he was inclined
+to take things as they came. "There is nothing I dread more," he wrote
+from Marseilles, "than to be taken for one of the Smellfungi of this
+world. I therefore endeavor to be pleased with everything about me,
+and with the masters, mistresses, and servants of the inns,
+particularly when I perceive they have 'all the dispositions in the
+world' to serve me; as Sterne says, 'It is enough for Heaven, and
+ought to be enough for me.'"
+
+At that day the European traveler was not hedged in from adventure. On
+the way from Genoa to Messina Irving's vessel was boarded by a
+piratical picaroon. The consequences were not dreadful, but the _mise
+en scene_ was all that could have been desired. The pirates had
+"fierce black eyes scowling under enormous bushy eyebrows.... They
+seemed to regard us with the most malignant looks, and I thought I
+could perceive a sinister smile upon their countenances, as if
+triumphing over us, who had fallen so easily into their hands."
+Nothing could have been more satisfactory. At Termini he had a
+romantic adventure with a masked Turk. At Genoa he was captivated by
+the beauty of a young Italian lady. Instead of trying to make her
+acquaintance, as he might easily have done, he contented himself with
+stealing a handkerchief which she had dropped. Some time later it was
+stolen from him. Thereupon he wrote an account of the affair to a
+friend whom he had left in Genoa. The lady heard of it, as ladies
+will, and sent him a lock of her hair, with a friendly hint that she
+might be better admired at closer quarters. By a natural paradox of
+boyish sentiment he did not return to Genoa, but had the hair put into
+a locket, which he wore for years. It was later unearthed by a friend
+from a pair of breeches borrowed from Irving, and made the subject of
+some badinage between them.
+
+Both his brothers and his biographer have made the aimlessness of this
+first European experience an occasion for something like reproach. His
+plans were of the vaguest. Such as they were, he was willing to
+sacrifice any of them for the sake of congenial companionship. After a
+few weeks he left Rome hurriedly because he could not bear to be
+parted from a friend who was going to Paris. He was anxious, he told
+his brothers quaintly, to study various arts and sciences there. In
+Paris he kept a journal for about three weeks; it records attendance
+upon a single lecture in botany and seventeen theatrical performances.
+Naturally his brothers could only see that he was an amiable, idle
+young fellow, who had drifted into a dilettante attitude toward life,
+and showed little promise of usefulness. But idling as well as
+industry has to be judged by its fruits. He was in a real sense seeing
+life, as he personally needed to see it, not in its passion and
+mystery, but in its lighter moods of humor and sentiment. Paris
+frankly seemed to him at this time the most profitable place in the
+world. Two months after his arrival, he wrote airily, "You will excuse
+the shortness and hastiness of this letter, for which I can only plead
+as an excuse that I am a young man and in Paris." He had momentary
+fancies as to a possible direction for his talents. A sudden intimacy
+at Rome with Washington Allston made him think for a time of turning
+painter. He was something of a dandy, and puts on record a Paris
+costume of "gray coat, white embroidered vest, and colored
+small-clothes." Presently he left Paris for London, where Kemble and
+Mrs. Siddons seem to have pleased him more than anything else English.
+Three months later he set sail for New York, and arrived in March,
+1826, after an absence of nearly two years.
+
+Irving was now twenty-three years old. All that he had done so far was
+haphazard enough. He had trifled with his schooling, loitered over his
+law, read a great deal at random, seen many theatres, and made many
+friends. He had escaped from the valley of the shadow, and was now
+free to go on in the primrose way of much society, little literature,
+and less law. For the next ten or twelve years he was to be little
+more than a petted man about town.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+MAN ABOUT TOWN
+
+
+At that time New York was hardly more than a big village, such as
+Boston continued to be for a half-century later. Everybody (who was
+anybody) knew everybody else in the friendly and informal way which
+nowadays belongs to a "set." Conviviality--this dignified name of the
+thing best suggests the way in which it was looked at then--was as
+much a part of fashionable life in New York as in Edinburgh or London.
+Into this society Irving entered with zest, flirting, dancing,
+tippling with other young swaggerers according to the mode. He went
+back nominally to his legal studies, but was really very little
+concerned with law or gospel. Of this kind of life, "Salmagundi," the
+first number of which, appeared in January, 1807, was the legitimate
+outcome. It was made up of short satirical sketches of the
+"Spectator" type. Irving and J. K. Paulding were the principal
+contributors, but they had some assistance from William Irving and a
+few others. In the course of a year twenty numbers were published at
+irregular intervals, when they suddenly ceased to appear. The authors,
+who wrote under fictitious names, affected from the start complete
+indifference to fame or profit. Their purpose, they said with
+whimsical assurance, was simply "to instruct the young, reform the
+old, correct the town, and castigate the age." The audacity of the
+thing caught the town; it was a decided success, and very
+profitable--for the publisher. There is a mildly sophomoric flavor
+about the "Salmagundi" papers, as there is about Irving's letters of
+the same period. But they are full of amusing things, and worth
+reading, too, for the odd side-lights they throw upon the foibles of
+that old New York.
+
+As he grew older, Irving came to feel the shallowness of fashionable
+society, but in the Salmagundi days he appears to have asked for
+nothing better. He had good looks, good humor, and good manners,
+showed a proper susceptibility, and knew how to turn a compliment or
+write a graceful letter. No wonder he found himself welcome wherever
+he went. After a visit to Philadelphia one of the ladies to whom he
+had made himself agreeable wrote, "Half the people exist but in the
+idea that _you_ will one day return."
+
+Early in the following year he had a little experience of the
+practical working of ward politics, which he described in a letter to
+a certain charming Mary Fairlie: "Truly, this saving one's country is
+a nauseous piece of business, and if patriotism is such a dirty
+virtue,--prythee, no more of it.... Such haranguing and puffing and
+strutting among the little great men of the day. Such shoals of
+unfledged heroes from the lower wards, who had broke away from their
+mammas, and run to electioneer with a slice of bread and butter in
+their hands." Irving's patriotism was not found wanting when the time
+came, but he had a life-long contempt for the petty trickery of party
+politics. That year he made another of his leisurely jaunts,
+nominally on business, this time to Virginia. His letters record the
+usual round of social gallantries, and some graver matter. Burr's
+trial was on in Richmond. Irving made his acquaintance, and was
+retained in some ornamental sense among his counsel. One or two
+letters from Richmond show a sentimental sympathy for his client of
+which the less said the better. A characteristic weakness of Irving's
+was always an unreasoning fondness for the under dog. In the autumn of
+1807 his father died, one of the most sincere among the "unco guid," a
+man whom few people loved and everybody respected.
+
+Not long after the discontinuance of the Salmagundi papers a new idea
+suggested itself to Irving and his brother Peter, which in its
+original form does not look especially promising. It was to develop
+into a really remarkable work, and to place Irving's name in a secure
+place among living humorists. The "Knickerbocker History of New York"
+really laid the foundation of his fame. The first plan was for a mere
+burlesque of an absurd book just published, a Dr. Samuel Mitchill's
+"Picture of New York." Mitchill began with the aborigines: the Irvings
+began with the creation of the world. Fortunately Peter was soon
+called away to Europe, and Irving was left to his own devices, which
+presently took a different and more original turn. He threw out most
+of the pompous erudition which belonged to the work as a burlesque,
+and condensed what remained. Everything after the five introductory
+chapters is his own.
+
+At this time he had begun to do commission business for certain New
+York houses, with a genuine impulse toward steadiness and industry
+which it is easy to account for. He was deep in love with the second
+daughter of Mr. Hoffman, in whose office he had originally idled. He
+had been for years very intimate with the family, and had ended by
+making a remarkable discovery about one of them. As he was evidently
+not in a position to marry, he was now setting to work with real
+energy to improve his means.
+
+Matilda Hoffman was a girl of seventeen, pretty, amiable, and clever.
+She died of quick consumption in April, 1809. It is certain that they
+loved each other very much, and that Irving never forgot her. The
+claim put forth by his nephew and biographer that he gave up marriage
+for her sake, and was romantically scrupulous in his faithfulness to
+her memory, seems hardly borne out by the facts. He was crushed for
+the moment, but not heartbroken. The truth is Irving's nature was
+sentimental rather than passionate. His love for Miss Hoffman appears
+to have been the deepest feeling of his life, but it did not absorb
+his whole nature. The first effect of her loss was to fill him with a
+sort of horror--the rebellion of a young and sensitive health against
+the tyranny of death. It was enough to show that the mourner was by no
+means in desperate case, for extreme grief is not afraid. In after
+life he never mentioned her name, and wrote of her only once. At the
+same time pretty faces and the charm of womanly companionship
+continued to attract him; indeed, a few years later he openly
+expressed his expectation of some time marrying. That he did not was
+clearly due to temper and circumstance rather than to romantic
+fidelity or abnegation. In the end his susceptibility became purely
+impersonal; his satisfaction in the exercise of a gentle old-school
+gallantry did much to take the sting from his life-long bachelorhood.
+Plainly, Irving was the sort of man who finds a grace in every
+feminine presence.
+
+It is encouraging to find him in a few months at work again upon the
+Knickerbocker history. Its appearance was cleverly heralded by a
+series of preliminary advertisements, announcing the disappearance of
+one Diedrich Knickerbocker, and the finding of a manuscript history by
+his hand. The book was published in December, 1809, and made a
+remarkable impression, in England as well as in America. Henry
+Brevoort, a close friend of Irving's, in 1813 sent a copy of the
+second edition to Walter Scott, who wrote at once: "I beg you to
+accept my best thanks for the uncommon degree of entertainment which
+I have received from the most excellently jocose History of New
+York.... I have never read anything so closely resembling the style of
+Dean Swift as the annals of Diedrich Knickerbocker. I have been
+employed these few evenings in reading them aloud to Mrs. Scott and
+two ladies who are our guests, and our sides have been absolutely sore
+with laughing. I think, too, there are passages which indicate that
+the author possesses powers of a different kind, and has some touches
+which remind me much of Sterne."
+
+The work in its completed form is a history of the three Dutch
+governors of New York, whom Irving uses as a stalking-horse for
+purposes of satire. Everybody laughed at it except a few descendants
+of the old Dutch worthies with whose names and characters he had made
+free. As late as the year 1818, G. C. Verplanck, a personal friend of
+Irving's, called him to account in an address before the New York
+Historical Society, to which the first edition of Knickerbocker was
+gravely dedicated, for "wasting the riches of his fancy on an
+ungrateful theme, and his exuberant humor in a coarse caricature." One
+of his brothers wrote to Irving, deprecating the attack. Irving
+replied: "I have seen what Verplanck said of my work. He did me more
+than justice in what he said of my mental qualifications; and he said
+nothing of my work that I have not long thought of it myself.... I am
+sure he wishes me well, and his own talents and acquirements are too
+great to suffer him to entertain jealousy; but were I his bitterest
+enemy, such an opinion have I of his integrity of mind, that I would
+refer any one to him for an honest account of me, sooner than to
+almost any one else."
+
+Soon after Knickerbocker came out, Irving went to Albany in the
+fruitless pursuit of a minor court appointment. There he found his
+name come not altogether pleasantly before him. "I have somehow or
+another formed acquaintance with some of the good people," he wrote,
+"and several of the little Yffrouws, and have even made my way and
+intrenched myself strongly in the parlors of several genuine Dutch
+families, who had declared utter hostility to me." One lady had said
+that if she were a man she would horsewhip him; but an hour with
+Irving, who had made a point of meeting her, left her resigned to be a
+woman.
+
+Irving had now scored his first great literary success. He had proved
+himself master of a fluent humorous style which might have been
+applied indefinitely to the treatment of similar themes. He was
+twenty-seven years old, and there was no reason why the next ten years
+should not be a most fruitful period. Unfortunately, during most of
+that time life was made too easy for him. He knew now that he could
+write, but he had no desire to write for a living. Probably he felt
+that such a course would be in some way not quite suitable for a man
+of fashion. At all events, ten years passed, and middle age was at
+hand before the promising author began to fulfill his promise. Not
+till 1819 appeared his next literary venture, conceived in a more
+serious spirit, and launched with many misgivings as the first
+performance of the professional man of letters.
+
+He had by this time pretty much given up any notion he may have had of
+living by the law. His attempts to gain civil appointments were not
+successful. The brilliant younger brother must be provided for;
+presently Peter and Ebenezer, who were proprietors of a fairly
+prosperous hardware business, offered him a partnership, with nominal
+duties and one fifth of the profits. His connection with the firm was
+at first a sinecure. Later, and when the business had come to the
+brink of failure, the burden fell upon him, and absorbed his whole
+time and energies for nearly two years. His literary idling cannot be
+said to have been due to this entanglement. In his view writing was
+apparently little more than an agreeable indulgence which had brought
+him some half-deserved praise, and a pleasant social recognition in
+desirable quarters. One of the first results of his new connection was
+a visit to Washington, ostensibly in the interests of the business.
+The character of his services may be surmised from the fact that his
+journey from New York to Washington, _via_ Philadelphia and
+Baltimore, consumed nineteen days; and that was when the affairs of
+the firm were in some straits, and supposed to be particularly in need
+of representation at Washington.
+
+In 1812 he accepted the editorship of a periodical called "Select
+Reviews," to which during the next two years he contributed various
+critical and biographical articles. He found little to his liking in
+the editorial and still less in the critical part of his work. "I do
+not profess," he wrote, "the art and mystery of reviewing, and am not
+ambitious of being wise or facetious at the expense of others." He was
+never a good critic, for he was too soft-hearted, and too little in
+conceit with his own judgment to give an unfavorable opinion. And this
+was in the period of "slashing" criticism, when it was the proper
+thing, unless an author could show good reason for being declared the
+greatest man of the age, to hang, draw, and quarter him on the spot.
+At about this time, Jeffrey of the "Edinburgh Review," a critic who
+made the most of his prerogative, visited America. His coming was
+heralded by Irving's friend Brevoort in a letter whose ludicrous
+climax is worth quoting: "It is essential that Jeffrey may imbibe a
+just estimate of the United States and its inhabitants.... Persuade
+him to visit Washington _and by all means to see the falls of
+Niagara_." Apparently Irving received the great Jeffrey with courtesy
+and composure; as an equal, and not in the least as an idol to be
+propitiated with gewgaws.
+
+It was an anxious time, the year 1813. The struggle with England had
+assumed a more serious form. At last the British succeeded in entering
+Washington, and destroyed most of the public buildings. Irving's
+attitude had been uncompromisingly American from the outset. This act
+of vandalism aroused his indignation; he promptly offered his services
+to Governor Tompkins of New York, and was made an aide on his staff,
+with the brevet rank of colonel. This position he held for four
+months, when Governor Tompkins retired from the command. During that
+time Irving showed much military zeal, and enough capacity to be
+ordered to the front at Sackett's Harbor, at an important moment, with
+powers of which he made creditable use.
+
+In the spring of 1815 he narrowly escaped sailing with Decatur on the
+expedition to Algiers. It was largely by his advice that Decatur
+decided to accept the command. Irving's trunks had been taken on board
+the commodore's frigate when orders came from Washington delaying the
+expedition. Irving was afraid that his presence might in some way
+embarrass the commander, and left the ship at once. He was not to be
+balked of Europe, however; he was ready to sail and the affairs of the
+firm seemed to promise an easy competence. On May 25 he embarked for
+Liverpool, with no very distinct plans, but with no expectation of
+being long abroad. It was seventeen years before he saw America again.
+
+He reached Liverpool at a dramatic moment. Napoleon had fallen, and
+the mail coaches were rushing through England with the news of
+Waterloo. It was the sort of pageant which always roused Irving's
+fancy. He was absorbed in the situation.
+
+His letters show that however he may have shrunk from concerning
+himself with practical politics, he viewed the great _coups_ of
+statecraft with the greatest interest. His sympathies are with
+Bonaparte; the English were perhaps too recent enemies to be treated
+quite charitably. "I have made a short visit to London," he wrote to
+one of his brothers in July. "The spirits of this nation, as you may
+suppose, are wonderfully elated by their successes on the Continent,
+and English pride is inflated to its full distention by the idea of
+having Paris at the mercy of Wellington and his army. The only thing
+that annoys the honest mob is that old Louis will not cut throats and
+lop off heads, and that Wellington will not blow up bridges and
+monuments, and plunder palaces and galleries. As to Bonaparte, they
+have disposed of him in a thousand ways; every fat-sided John Bull has
+him dished up in a way to please his own palate, excepting that as yet
+they have not observed the first direction in the famous receipt to
+cook a turbot,--'First catchy our turbot.'" Then comes a postscript:
+"The bells are ringing, and this moment news is brought that poor
+Boney is a prisoner at Plymouth. _John has caught the turbot!_"
+
+Peter Irving was in charge of the firm's English office at Liverpool.
+He was a bachelor, and Irving had to go to Birmingham, to the house of
+his brother-in-law, Henry van Wart, to find an American home in
+England. But he did not make his permanent escape from Liverpool so
+easily. Not many months had passed before Peter fell ill, had to leave
+Liverpool, and Irving was left in charge. For over eight months the
+entire management of an ill-ordered establishment fell into his hands.
+He seems to have made a thorough attempt to examine and arrange the
+confusions of the office. He studied bookkeeping, so that he might get
+some knowledge of the accounts, and otherwise busied himself in a
+methodical way foreign to his habit. At last, in 1818, the best thing
+possible under the circumstances happened,--the business collapsed,
+and the brothers found a road out of their difficulties by way of the
+bankruptcy court. It was a great relief. "For upwards of two years,"
+he wrote to Brevoort, "I have been bowed down in spirit, and harassed
+by the most sordid cares. As yet, I trust, my mind has not lost its
+elasticity, and I hope to recover some cheerful standing in the world.
+Indeed, I feel very little solicitude about my own prospects. I trust
+something will turn up to procure me subsistence, and am convinced,
+however scanty and precarious may be my lot, I can bring myself to be
+content. But I feel harassed in mind at times on behalf of my
+brothers. It is a dismal thing to look round on the wrecks of such a
+family connection. This is what, in spite of every exertion, will
+sometimes steep my soul in bitterness."
+
+Irving had now fairly arrived at maturity. The experience of the last
+few years had done much to sober him. He was still fond of society,
+and still of a cheerful temper; but the absorbing sophomoric joy in
+cakes and ale was now past and not to return. The pinch of necessity
+had come at last: the world no longer offered him the life of an
+elegant dawdler. He had a serious business before him,--to gain a
+competency for himself and his brother. The unpractical younger
+brother was to be after this the mainstay of the family fortunes. And
+what especially makes this the finest moment of his life is the sudden
+and clear perception that to gain this end he must depend upon the
+steady and fruitful exercise of his gift for writing. It was not to be
+taken up as a last resort, but as a matter of deliberate choice.
+Presently he received the offer of a good position on the Navy Board
+at Washington, with a salary of $2400. A few years earlier he would
+have snatched at it. "Flattering as the prospect undoubtedly is which
+your letters hold out," he wrote to his brother Ebenezer, "I have
+concluded to decline it for various reasons.... The principal one is,
+that I do not wish to undertake any situation that must involve me in
+such a routine of duties as to prevent my attending to literary
+pursuits." His determination was sturdy enough, but he was not then
+nor afterward the master of his moods. "I have heard him say," notes
+Pierre Irving, "that he was so disturbed by the responsibility he had
+taken in refusing such an offer and trusting to the uncertain chances
+of literary success, that for two months he could scarcely write a
+line." His elder brothers were heartily disappointed by the decision.
+They could not suppose that he would prove greatly more busy or
+fruitful in the future than he had in the past, and up to this time,
+he had done little enough. The youthful "Salmagundi" sketches, the
+broad satire of the Knickerbocker History were not much for a man of
+leisure to boast of at thirty-five. But they did not reckon justly
+with the new seriousness which had come into his purposes. Washington
+Irving was always fitful in his manner of working, often uncertain of
+himself and of his work. But from this time on he had no doubt of his
+calling; he had ceased to be a man about town, and become a man of
+letters.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+MAN OF LETTERS--FIRST PERIOD
+
+
+The appearance of the "Sketch Book," in 1819, marks the beginning of
+Irving's professional life as a literary man. It was, moreover, the
+first original literary work of moment by an American. Two years later
+Bryant's first volume of poems was published, and Cooper's novels had
+begun to appear; at this time Irving had the field to himself. Firm as
+his determination was to depend upon writing for support, he was by no
+means satisfied with what he was able to do. Even after the complete
+"Sketch Book" had appeared, and had been met with hearty applause in
+England and America, he continued to be doubtful of its merits, and
+embarrassed by its reception. In sending the manuscript of the first
+number to America, he wrote to his brother Ebenezer: "I have sent the
+first number of a work which I hope to continue from time to time. I
+send it more for the purpose of showing you what I am about, as I find
+my declining the situation at Washington has given you chagrin. The
+fact is, that situation would have given me barely a genteel
+subsistence. It would have led to no higher situations, for I am quite
+unfitted for political life. My talents are merely literary, and all
+my habits of thinking, reading, etc., have been in a different
+direction from that required by the active politician. It is a mistake
+also to suppose I would fill an office there, and devote myself at the
+same time to literature. I require much leisure, and a mind entirely
+abstracted from other cares and occupations, if I would write much or
+write well.... If I ever get any solid credit with the public, it must
+be in the quiet and assiduous operations of my pen, under the mere
+guidance of fancy or feeling.... I feel myself completely committed in
+literary reputation by what I have already written; and I feel by no
+means satisfied to rest my reputation on my preceding writings. I have
+suffered several precious years of youth and lively imagination to
+pass by unimproved, and it behooves me to make the most of what is
+left. If I indeed have the means within me of establishing a
+legitimate literary reputation, this is the very period of life most
+auspicious for it, and I am resolved to devote a few years exclusively
+to the attempt.... In fact, I consider myself at present as making a
+literary experiment, in the course of which I only care to be kept in
+bread and cheese. Should it not succeed--should my writings not
+acquire critical applause, I am content to throw up the pen and take
+to any commonplace employment. But if they should succeed, it would
+repay me for a world of care and privation to be placed among the
+established authors of my country, and to win the affections of my
+countrymen.... Do not, I beseech you, impute my lingering in Europe to
+any indifference to my own country or my friends.... I am determined
+not to return home until I have sent some writings before me that
+shall, if they have merit, make me return to the smiles, rather than
+skulk back to the pity, of my friends."
+
+To Brevoort he wrote at the same time: "I have attempted no lofty
+theme, nor sought to look wise and learned, which appears to be very
+much the fashion among our American writers, at present. I have
+preferred addressing myself to the feeling and fancy of the reader,
+more than to his judgment. My writings, therefore, may appear light
+and trifling in our country of philosophers and politicians; but if
+they possess merit in the class of literature to which they belong, it
+is all to which I aspire in the work. I seek only to blow a flute
+accompaniment in the national concert, and leave others to play the
+fiddle and French horn."
+
+The favorable reception of the "Sketch Book" not only failed to remove
+his diffidence, but left him oppressed by a new sense of obligation to
+the public which had lauded his work. This feeling is expressed in a
+letter to Leslie, the painter, with whom he had become very intimate:
+"I am glad to find the second number pleases more than the first. The
+sale is very rapid, and, altogether, the success exceeds my most
+sanguine expectation. Now you suppose I am all on the alert, full of
+spirit and excitement. No such thing. I am just as good for nothing as
+ever I was; and indeed I have been flurried and put out of my way by
+these puffings. I feel something as I suppose you did when your
+picture met with success--anxious to do something better, and at a
+loss what to do."
+
+Murray, who a little later was eager to publish anything from Irving's
+hand, declined to undertake the first English edition of the "Sketch
+Book." Irving was afraid of some incomplete pirated edition, and
+finally published the first number entirely at his own expense. Murray
+was glad enough to change his mind and bring out the later numbers.
+Among the many friends whom the young American had made in England was
+Walter Scott. A few days spent by Irving at Abbotsford had been enough
+to attach them strongly to each other. Scott had by no means outgrown
+his interest in the author of the "Knickerbocker History," and Irving
+found nothing that was not delightful in the great romancer's
+character and way of life. "As to Scott," he wrote, "I cannot express
+my delight at his character and manners. He is a sterling,
+golden-hearted old worthy, full of the joyousness of youth, with an
+imagination continually furnishing forth pictures, and a charming
+simplicity of manner that puts you at ease with him in a moment. It
+has been a constant source of pleasure to me to remark his deportment
+towards his family, his neighbors, his domestics, his very dogs and
+cats; everything that comes within his influence seems to catch a beam
+of that sunshine that plays round his heart." Now, while the prospects
+of the "Sketch Book" were still dubious, Scott offered him the
+editorship of an Anti-Jacobin magazine. Irving declined it, first on
+the ground of his dislike for politics, and second on account of his
+irregular habits of mind. "My whole course of life has been desultory,
+and I am unfitted for any periodically recurring task, or any
+stipulated labor of body or mind. I have no command of my talents
+such as they are, and have to watch the varyings of my mind as I would
+a weathercock. Practice and training may bring me more into rule; but
+at present I am as useless for regular service as one of my own
+country Indians or a Don Cossack."
+
+In August of this year, Irving and his brother Peter left England for
+the Continent. They had got no farther than Havre when their fancy was
+taken with an apparent business opening for Peter, who had been idle
+since the failure of the firm. A steamboat had just been put upon the
+Seine, to run between Havre and Rouen. Peter should be a chief
+stockholder and director; he and Washington would each put in $5000,
+and between Havre and Rouen the river would presently run gold for
+them. To be sure the money was yet to be found, but there were
+brothers William and Ebenezer, who would no doubt be glad to help set
+that little golden river flowing. Unfortunately brothers William and
+Ebenezer did not approve of the scheme at all. They flatly refused to
+lend brother Peter $5000, or to honor brother Washington's drafts for
+the same amount. More unfortunately still, Irving had already
+committed himself. All of his literary property had to be disposed of,
+to provide the pledged amount, which was forthwith placed in the
+little steamboat on the Seine, and never heard of more. Peter was
+associated with the management, and kept busy, at least, for several
+years. This was the first of a long series of business ventures which
+made Irving's life uneasy. He would no sooner turn a few thousand by
+writing than he must sink it in this or that absolutely safe and
+immensely profitable enterprise. It was not for many years that he
+learned how certainly he might count upon disastrous results from such
+experiments.
+
+After the settlement of this affair, Irving took lodgings in Paris.
+Here he met Tom Moore, and in his house more than anywhere else he
+became intimate. Moore's diary makes frequent mention of him; one of
+the most interesting entries records that Irving at this time wrote
+in ten days one hundred and thirty pages of the "Sketch Book" size.
+This was undoubtedly material for "Bracebridge Hall," the suggestion
+of which had come from Moore. In the meantime the "Sketch Book" had
+continued to gain ground in England. Byron admired it greatly, and its
+popularity with the general public may be judged from the fact that it
+was commonly attributed to Scott. Irving described himself in a letter
+to Murray as leading "a 'miscellaneous' kind of life at Paris....
+Anacreon Moore is living here, and has made me a gayer fellow than I
+could have wished; but I found it impossible to resist the charm of
+his society."
+
+In July (1821) he returned to London, in poor physical condition. He
+had now been tormented at intervals for several years by an eruptive
+complaint which kept him from exercise, and brought on other troubles.
+After his return he was bedridden for four or five months, most of
+which he passed at his sister's house in Birmingham. He grew very fond
+of his little nephews and nieces--particularly an urchin named
+George, of whom his letters record such items as: "George has made his
+appearance in a new pair of Grimaldi breeches, with pockets full as
+deep as the former. To balance his ball and marbles, he has the
+opposite pocket filled with a peg-top and a quantity of dry peas, so
+that he can only lie comfortably on his back or belly." He was by no
+means idle at this time. In January of the following year he sent the
+manuscript of "Bracebridge Hall" to his brother Ebenezer with the
+remark, "My health is still unrestored. This work has kept me from
+getting well, and my indisposition on the other hand has retarded the
+work. I have now been about five weeks in London, and have only once
+been out of doors, about a month since, and that made me worse." That
+single escape from the sick-room, his biographer says, was made for
+the sake of persuading Murray to publish Cooper's "Spy," which had
+already appeared in America. Irving's own experience was duplicated:
+Murray refused to take "The Spy," but was glad to publish Cooper's
+later work. He now gave Irving a thousand guineas for the English
+rights in "Bracebridge Hall." It was less than he might have given,
+but Irving could never be persuaded to haggle over prices. He seems to
+have agreed with Peter, who wrote cheerfully, "A thousand guineas has
+a golden sound." It was the amount which had been sunk in poor Peter's
+steamboat, which was still making its unprofitable trips up and down
+the Seine; and two hundred guineas of this thousand soon passed into
+his pocket, where no doubt he found their melody even pleasanter.
+
+"Bracebridge Hall" was well received; and confirmed its author's
+reputation, especially in England. He had only to be passive to find
+himself overwhelmed with social engagements. A more liberal diet and
+plenty of exercise had improved his condition, and for a month or so
+after getting rid of "Bracebridge Hall," he gave himself up to the
+engagements of a London season. But his ankles soon began to trouble
+him again, and in July, 1822, he set out for Aix-la-Chapelle, where
+he hoped to get permanent relief from his distressing complaint. He
+found nothing to keep him long at Aix. The baths and waters were well
+enough, but he was too dependent upon cheerful companionship to endure
+life among a company of invalids. He began a leisurely round of the
+Continental watering-places, staying a few weeks here and a few days
+there, and gradually improving in condition. Toward the close of the
+year he brought up at Dresden.
+
+The only touch of mystery which belongs to the story of Irving is
+connected with this six months' stay at Dresden. He made many friends
+there, and grew especially intimate with an English family named
+Foster, a mother and two daughters. It is said--and denied--that he
+would have liked to marry the youngest daughter, Emily. His biographer
+insists that there was nothing in the affair but friendship. To Mrs.
+Foster he wrote the only account he ever gave of his early love and
+loss; and his nephew quotes the closing passage as proof that he had
+no thought of marrying Emily Foster, however fond of her he may have
+been: "You wonder why I am not married. I have shown you why I was not
+long since. When I had sufficiently recovered from that loss, I became
+involved in ruin. It was not for a man broken down in the world, to
+drag down any woman to his paltry circumstances. I was too proud to
+tolerate the idea of ever mending my circumstances by matrimony. My
+time has now gone by; and I have growing claims upon my thoughts and
+upon my means, slender and precarious as they are. I feel as if I had
+already a family to think and provide for."
+
+But this might be the modest speech of a middle-aged lover. Years
+later the written reminiscences of the two daughters unmistakably
+impute the attentions of the brilliant American to something more than
+friendliness. It is certain that he had a very warm feeling for
+somebody or something in Dresden, which led to a temporary return of
+his youthful delight in society. For his time was by no means given up
+to the Fosters. He was received into the life of the little German
+court, and evidently derived such pleasure as is proper to a
+Republican from dancing with princesses, and acting in private
+theatricals with Highnesses and Excellencies. On the whole it seems to
+have been a peaceful, idle, rather trivial time of sojourn among
+congenial people. He danced, he strolled, he wrote verses to little
+Miss Emily; in short, he enjoyed himself as a youngish man may,
+whether the muse is waiting for him, or some less high-flown customer.
+"I wish I could give you a good account of my literary labors," he
+wrote his sister after several months in Dresden, "but I have nothing
+to report. I am merely seeing, and hearing, and my mind seems in too
+crowded and confused a state to produce anything. I am getting very
+familiar with the German language; and there is a lady here who is so
+kind as to give me lessons every day in Italian [Mrs. Foster], which
+language I have nearly forgotten, but which I am fast regaining.
+Another lady is superintending my French [Miss Emily Foster], so that
+if I am not acquiring ideas, I am at least acquiring a variety of
+modes of expressing them when they do come." Very likely the confusion
+of his mind was not lessened by the frequency of those French lessons.
+There really seems to be no reason for doubting the testimony of the
+elder sister's journal; "He has written. He has confessed to my
+mother, as to a dear and true friend, his love for E----, and his
+conviction of its utter hopelessness. He feels himself unable to
+combat it. He thinks he must try, by absence, to bring more peace to
+his mind.... He has almost resolved to make a tour in Silesia, which
+will keep him absent for a few weeks." The tour in Silesia was
+certainly made; and during the brief absence Irving wrote sundry
+sentimental letters to Mrs. Foster. There are occasions when he seems
+to imagine a pretty daughter looking over the admirable mother's
+shoulder, and being much affected by the famous author's tenderness
+for Dresden. Presently he comes back to be their escort, for they are
+going home to England; and at Rotterdam the good-bys are said. They
+met afterward in England, but the old intimacy was gone.
+
+More than thirty years after, Irving had a letter from a Mrs. Emily
+Fuller, whose name he did not know. Pleasantly and discreetly it
+recalled those happy Emily Foster days in Dresden. "She addresses him
+because she hopes that her eldest boy Henry may have the happiness and
+advantage of meeting him." Poor Irving! Her eldest boy Henry.... Well,
+the sting was all gone by that time, fortunately. His reply is all
+that it ought to be, and nothing more.
+
+Those first days in Paris were not cheerful ones for Irving. His
+pleasant dream was over, and he had forgotten what to do with waking
+moments. His memorandum-book records that he felt oppressed by "a
+strange horror on his mind--a dread of future evil--of failure in
+future literary attempts--a dismal foreboding that he could not drive
+off by any effort of reason." "When I once get going again with my
+pen," he wrote to Peter, "I mean to keep on steadily, until I can
+scrape together enough to produce a regular income, however moderate.
+We shall then be independent of the world and its chances." But he
+could not manage to get going. For some time he could write nothing at
+all. Fortunately, after an unprofitable month or two, he fell in with
+John Howard Payne, now remembered only for his "Home, Sweet Home," but
+then esteemed as an actor and dramatist. Irving had met him several
+years before, and now became associated with him in some dramatic
+translating and adapting. The results were nearly worthless from a
+literary point of view, but served to keep him busy, and to put him
+once more in the writing vein.
+
+For some time Murray had been pressing him hard for copy, and in the
+spring of 1824 the "Tales of a Traveler" were completed and sent to
+press. After the task of proof-reading came a reaction of high spirits
+which expressed itself in the most amusing letter Irving ever wrote:--
+
+"BRIGHTON, August 14, 1824.
+
+    "My boat is on the shore,
+    And my bark is on the sea.
+
+"I forget how the song ends, but here I am at Brighton just on the
+point of embarking for France. I have dragged myself out of London,
+as a horse drags himself out of the slough, or a fly out of a
+honey-pot, almost leaving a limb behind him at every tug. Not that I
+have been immersed in pleasure and surrounded by sweets, but rather up
+to the ears in ink and harassed by printers' devils.
+
+"I never have had such fagging in altering, adding, and correcting;
+and I have been detained beyond all patience by the delays of the
+press. Yesterday I absolutely broke away, without waiting for the last
+sheets. They are to be sent after me here by mail, to be corrected
+this morning, or else they must take their chance. From the time I
+first started pen in hand on this work, it has been nothing but hard
+driving with me.
+
+"I have not been able to get to Tunbridge to see the Donegals, which I
+really and greatly regret. Indeed I have seen nobody except a friend
+or two who had the kindness to hunt me out. Among these was Mr. Story,
+and I ate a dinner there that it took me a week to digest, having been
+obliged to swallow so much hard-favored nonsense from a loud-talking
+baronet whose name, thank God, I forget, but who maintained Byron was
+not a man of courage, and therefore his poetry was not readable. I was
+really afraid he would bring John Story to the same way of thinking.
+
+"I went a few evenings since to see Kenney's new piece, the Alcaid. It
+went off lamely, and the Alcaid is rather a bore, and comes near to be
+generally thought so. Poor Kenney came to my room next evening, and I
+could not believe that one night could have ruined a man so
+completely. I swear to you I thought at first it was a flimsy suit of
+clothes had left some bedside and walked into my room without waiting
+for the owner to get up; or that it was one of those frames on which
+clothiers stretch coats at their shop doors; until I perceived a thin
+face sticking edgeways out of the collar of the coat like the axe in a
+bundle of fasces. He was so thin, and pale, and nervous, and
+exhausted--he made a dozen difficulties in getting over a spot in the
+carpet, and never would have accomplished it if he had not lifted
+himself over by the points in his shirt-collar.
+
+"I saw Rogers just as I was leaving town. I had not time to ask him
+any particulars about you, and indeed he is not exactly the man from
+whom I would ask news about my friends. I dined tete-a-tete with him
+some time ago, and he served up his friends as he served up his fish,
+with a squeeze of lemon over each. It was very piquant, but it rather
+set my teeth on edge....
+
+"Farewell, my dear Moore. Let me hear from you, if but a line;
+particularly if my work pleases you, but don't say a word against it.
+I am easily put out of humor with what I do."
+
+Surely no more delicious bit of nonsense was ever written than the
+description of poor Kenney. Moore read it to a group of friends in the
+presence of the victim--a situation which would have been too
+"piquant" for Irving's taste.
+
+Moore had only the desired praise for the "Tales of a Traveler," but
+elsewhere it did not fare so well. Irving considered it on the whole
+his best work; but though it had a large sale, its reception in
+England was not quite what he had hoped for; and in America it was
+received by the press with something like hostility. Unfortunately
+some busybody in America made it his concern to forward to Irving all
+the ill-natured flings which could be gleaned from American notices of
+the new book. The incident--with all its unpleasantness--was trifling
+enough, but to Irving's raw sensitiveness it was torture. He was
+overwhelmed with an almost ludicrous melancholy, could not write,
+could not sleep, could not bear to be alone. This petty outburst of
+critical spleen, backed as it evidently was by personal antagonism on
+the part of a few obscure journalists, actually left him dumb for more
+than a year.
+
+Of course the public was right in its general estimate of the "Tales
+of a Traveler": they are not as good as the "Sketch Book." In kind
+they are similar--that in itself would be enough to excite prejudice
+against new work from an author who had been so long before the
+public; but they are also undeniably inferior in quality. One or two
+of the stories are distinctly morbid in tone, several give the
+impression of being long drawn out. In some way the collection lacks
+atmosphere; Italian scenery is painted with accuracy, but not Italian
+life or character. Irving could draw the early Dutch in America, or
+the mediaeval Moors in Spain, or the Englishman in England or Italy:
+the modern Italian on his own soil he did not know except in his
+melodramatic exterior.
+
+Irving had now given his brother Peter a place in his little menage.
+The steamboat scheme had failed utterly, and he had from this time on
+no sort of regular employment. Irving set himself cheerfully to
+provide for both. His goal at this time was less fame than
+fortune--"by every exertion to attain sufficient to make us both
+independent for the rest of our lives." Not for many years did he come
+to perceive that a life of leisure was not only impossible, but
+undesirable for him, and to express it as his fondest wish that he
+might "die in harness." The profits of the "Tales of a Traveler" went
+the way of most of his earnings--this time to help develop a Bolivia
+copper mine.
+
+He had been studying Spanish for a year or two, and had an increased
+desire to see Spain. As a mere aid in traveling, he asked for the
+nominal post of attache to the American legation at Madrid. Alexander
+H. Everett, then minister to Spain, at once granted the request, and
+in replying suggested a possible literary task--the translation of a
+new Spanish work, Navarrete's "Voyages of Columbus," which was shortly
+to make its appearance. Murray, who was then in some difficulties, did
+not think favorably of the project.
+
+Irving went to Madrid, and by good fortune got lodgings with the
+American consul Rich, who had made an extensive private collection of
+documents dealing with early American history. Presently Navarrete's
+work was published, and found to be "rather a mass of rich materials
+for history than a history itself." This was in February, 1826. Irving
+at once began to take notes and sift materials for an original history
+of Columbus. For six months he worked incessantly. "Sometimes," says
+his biographer, "he would write all day and until twelve at night; in
+one instance his note-book shows him to have written from five in the
+morning until eight at night, stopping only for meals."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+MAN OF LETTERS--SECOND PERIOD
+
+
+There is something interesting, and in a sense pathetic, in this
+sudden steady diligence from the man of desultory habits, who had
+never written but by whim, whose finger had always been lifted to
+catch the lightest literary airs. Here, at last, was the firm trade
+wind, and the satisfaction of steady and methodical progress. The
+qualified success of the "Tales of a Traveler" had led him to feel
+that his vein was running out. The prospect of producing a solid work
+gave him keen pleasure. One cannot be always building castles in the
+air; why not try a pyramid, if only a little one? Since the world is
+perfectly delighted with our pretty things, very well, let us show
+that we can do a sublime thing. As for history--"Whatever may be the
+use of this sort of composition in itself and abstractedly," says
+Walter Bagehot, "it is certainly of great use relatively and to
+literary men. Consider the position of a man of that species. He sits
+beside a library fire, with nice white paper, a good pen, a capital
+style--every means of saying everything, but nothing to say. Of course
+he is an able man; of course he has an active intellect, besides
+wonderful culture: but still, one cannot always have original ideas.
+Every day cannot be an era; a train of new speculation very often will
+not be found: and how dull it is to make it your business to write, to
+stay by yourself in a room to write, and then to have nothing to say!
+It is dreary work mending seven pens, and waiting for a theory to
+'turn up.' What a gain if something would happen! then one could
+describe it. Something has happened, and that something is history."
+
+There is no doubt that Irving's early delicate sallies in literature
+represent his best. In a single department of belles-lettres he had
+shown mastery. During the remainder of his life he continued to work
+at intervals in that field with similar felicity; and, for the rest,
+to write amiably and respectably upon many topics foreign to his
+natural bent. But his greatest work was done in odd moments and at a
+heat; all the method in the world could not increase his real stature
+by a cubit.
+
+A word may perhaps be said here of Irving as an historian and
+biographer. Of course he could not write dully; his histories are just
+as readable as Goldsmith's, and rather more veracious. But he plainly
+had not the scholar's training and methods which we now demand of the
+historian; nor had he the larger view of men and events in their
+perspective. Generalization was beyond him. Fortunately to generalize
+is only a part of the business of the historian. To catch some dim
+historic figure, and give it life and color,--this power he had. And
+it was evidently this which gave him the praise of such men as
+Prescott and Bancroft and Motley. Washington had begun to loom vaguely
+and impersonally in the mind, a mere great man, when Irving with a
+touch turned him from cold bronze into flesh and blood again.
+
+During the years of Irving's stay abroad other American writers had
+come into notice. Bryant's poetry had become well known. Cooper had
+produced "The Spy," "The Pilot," "The Pioneers," and "The Last of the
+Mohicans." In 1827 appeared the first volume of poems by Edgar Allan
+Poe. In this year, too, Irving's diary records a meeting with
+Longfellow, who was then twenty-one, and came abroad to prepare
+himself for his professorship at Bowdoin. Longfellow's recollection of
+the incident is worth quoting: "I had the pleasure of meeting Mr.
+Irving in Spain, and found the author, whom I had loved, repeated in
+the man. The same playful humor; the same touches of sentiment; the
+same poetic atmosphere; and, what I admired still more, the entire
+absence of all literary jealousy, of all that mean avarice of fame,
+which counts what is given to another as so much taken from one's
+self--
+
+    "'And trembling, hears in every breeze
+    The laurels of Miltiades.'"
+
+In the following summer the "History of Columbus" was finished, and
+sold to Murray. It won high praise from the reviewers, especially from
+Alexander H. Everett, his former diplomatic chief, and at this time
+editor of the "North American Review."
+
+Early in the following year he made his first visit to Andalusian
+Spain. In the course of his grubbing among the Columbus archives, he
+had found a good deal of interesting material about the Moorish
+occupancy. The beauty of the country and the grandeur of its Moorish
+relics took strong hold upon him. In April, 1828, he settled in
+Seville, and there the "Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada" were
+written. By this time the market price of his wares had gone up very
+much. There is no doubt that his historical work had increased his
+temporary reputation. Murray gave him 2000 guineas for the "Conquest
+of Granada;" he further offered him L1000 a year to edit a new
+literary and scientific magazine, as well as L100 an article for any
+contribution he might choose to make to the "London Quarterly." He
+refused the first offer on the ground that he did not care to be tied
+in England, the second because the "Quarterly" had always been hostile
+to America. He continued to take an interest in affairs at home.
+Impatient as he was of political methods, he had opinions of his own
+as to candidates and measures. The election of Jackson called forth
+the following comment in a letter to Mr. Everett: "I was rather sorry
+when Mr. Adams was first raised to the presidency, but I am much more
+so at his being displaced; for he has made a far better president than
+I expected, and I am loth to see a man superseded who has filled his
+station worthily. These frequent changes in our administration are
+prejudicial to the country; we ought to be wary of using our power of
+changing our chief magistrate when the welfare of the country does not
+require it. In the present election there has, doubtless, been much
+honest, warm, grateful feeling toward Jackson, but I fear much pique,
+passion, and caprice as it respects Mr. Adams.
+
+"Since the old general was to be the man, however, I am well pleased
+upon the whole that he has a great majority, as it will, for the
+reasons you mention, produce a political calm in the country, and lull
+those angry passions which have been exasperated during the Adams
+administration, by the close contest of nearly balanced parties. As to
+the old general, with all his _hickory_ characteristics, I suspect he
+has good stuff in him, and will make a sagacious, independent, and
+high-spirited president; and I doubt his making so high-handed a one
+as many imagine."
+
+The "Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada" were well treated by
+critics, but never very popular. The humor of the mythical Fray
+Antonio's narrative was too sly and covert; the public was mystified,
+and had half a notion it was being made game of. But Irving was not
+yet done with Granada. Presently he went back, and in the course of a
+solitary two months in the Alhambra, got together the materials for
+the most characteristic work he had published since the "Tales of a
+Traveler" and the strongest since the "Sketch Book." His idyllic stay
+in the Alhambra was one of the pleasantest episodes of his life. When
+it was cut short by his appointment as secretary of legation at
+London, he made up his mind to leave the quiet breathing-spot with
+real regret. One cannot help seeing from the tone of his letter to
+Peter that the years have given him as much as they have taken away:
+"My only horror is the bustle and turmoil of the world: how shall I
+stand it after the delicious quiet and repose of the Alhambra? I had
+intended, however, to quit this place before long, and, indeed, was
+almost reproaching myself for protracting my sojourn, having little
+better than sheer self-indulgence to plead for it; for the effect of
+the climate, the air, the serenity and sweetness of the place, is
+almost as seductive as that of the Castle of Indolence, and I feel at
+times an impossibility of working, or of doing anything but yielding
+to a mere voluptuousness of sensation."
+
+At London he found himself associated with congenial men, but tied so
+closely to the legation that he could not even get away to visit his
+sister at Birmingham. The constraint chafed him at first, but before
+long his letters show him reconciled, and even interested in the
+practical business of diplomacy. They complain, however, of his
+growing stout. This, indeed, he had a perfect right to do. He was now
+forty-seven years old, and a man of solid reputation; weighty honors
+were being heaped upon him. Before leaving Spain he had been made a
+member of the Spanish Royal Academy of History; and in England he had
+just received a medal from the Royal Society of Literature, and the
+degree of LL. D. from Oxford. His leisure for literary work was not
+great in London, but he was making some progress with the Alhambra
+stories, and had begun to think seriously of the "Life of Washington,"
+which was to hold the main place in his thoughts for the rest of his
+life.
+
+At this time England was suffering under the double discomfort of
+cholera and the Reform Bill. A letter from Irving to his brother
+shows that even in the midst of his successes the popular author was
+subject to moods of mental gloom, and even to business difficulties:
+"The restlessness and uncertainty in which I have been kept have
+disordered my mind and feelings too much for imaginative writing, and
+I now doubt whether I could get the Alhambra ready in time for
+Christmas.... The present state of things here completely discourages
+the idea of publication of any kind. There is no knowing who among the
+booksellers is safe. Those who have published most are worst off, for
+in this time of public excitement nobody reads books or buys them."
+
+In 1831, Van Buren was nominated as Minister to the Court of St.
+James, and at once took charge of his diplomatic duties. His
+nomination was rejected by the Senate, however; and Irving determined
+to take advantage of the incident to make his own escape from the
+service, and return at last to America.
+
+In May, 1831, he arrived in New York. He had been a young man when he
+left America; he was now leaning toward the farther verge of his
+prime. In character he had refined and sobered greatly; and he had
+more than fulfilled his promise of literary excellence. He had still
+twenty-six years to live, and was to do much useful service in life
+and letters; but he could do nothing in that time to alter his
+reputation; he could merely confirm it. Irving had grown immensely,
+too, in the favor of his countrymen. He was welcomed back with
+extravagant effusion by his old friends and by the country at large.
+He had in fact come to be regarded as one of the chief glories of
+America; for he had been the first to make her a world-power in
+literature.
+
+During those seventeen years New York had changed almost beyond
+recognition in size, in appearance, in the tone of its life; but
+Irving was delighted with everything and everybody. All that he had to
+regret was the ordeal of a great public dinner in his honor, at which,
+after a great deal of preliminary nervousness, he made the one speech
+of his life. It was a good speech, but he could never be prevailed
+upon to repeat the experiment. He was always at his worst in a large
+company. The sight of a great number of unknown or half-known faces
+confused his thoughts and clogged his tongue. His intimates knew him
+for a brilliant and ready talker, full of easy fun and unaffected
+sentiment.
+
+Not long after his return, the "Tales of the Alhambra" were published.
+In the somewhat florid concert of critical praises which greeted the
+book, a simple theme is dominant. Everybody felt that in these stories
+Irving had come back to his own. The material was very different from
+that of the "Sketch Book," yet it yielded to similar treatment. The
+grace, romance, humor, of this "beautiful Spanish Sketch Book," as the
+historian Prescott called it, appealed at once to an audience which
+had listened somewhat coldly to the less spontaneous "Tales of a
+Traveler," and had given a formal approbation to the "History of
+Columbus," without finding very much Irving in it.
+
+A visit to Washington to clear up various odds and ends of his
+diplomatic experience resulted in an interview with President Jackson,
+which he reported in a letter to Peter Irving, now living alone in
+Paris: "I have been most kindly received by the old general, with whom
+I am much pleased as well as amused. As his admirers say, he is truly
+an _old Roman_--to which I could add, _with a little dash of the
+Greek_; for I suspect he is as _knowing_ as I believe he is _honest_.
+I took care to put myself promptly on a fair and independent footing
+with him; for, in expressing warmly and sincerely how much I had been
+gratified by the unsought but most seasonable mark of confidence he
+had shown me, when he hinted something about a disposition to place me
+elsewhere, I let him know emphatically that I wished for nothing
+more--that my whole desire was to live among my countrymen, and to
+follow my usual pursuits. In fact, I am persuaded that my true course
+is to be master of myself and of my time. Official station cannot add
+to my happiness or respectability, and certainly would stand in the
+way of my literary career." This disinclination to take office he
+never got over, although he was frequently approached with offers of
+place. In 1834, he was offered a nomination for Congress by the
+Jackson party; in 1838, he was offered the Tammany nomination as mayor
+of New York, and the secretaryship of the navy by Van Buren. And when
+three years later he was given a still more important post, it was
+only the evident spontaneity of the choice, and the feeling that in
+taking the office he should be representing country rather than party,
+which led him to accept it.
+
+Impatient as he was of political methods, he had opinions of his own
+on specific questions, and a broad political platform which he once
+stated in a letter to his old friend Kemble:--
+
+"As far as I know my own mind, I am thoroughly a republican, and
+attached, from complete conviction, to the institutions of my country;
+but I am a republican without gall, and have no bitterness in my
+creed. I have no relish for puritans either in religion or politics,
+who are for pushing principles to an extreme, and for overturning
+everything that stands in the way of their own zealous career. I have,
+therefore, felt a strong distaste for some of those loco-foco
+luminaries who of late have been urging strong and sweeping measures,
+subversive of the interests of great classes of the community. Their
+doctrines may be excellent in theory, but, if enforced in violent and
+uncompromising opposition to all our habitudes, may produce the most
+distressing effects. The best of remedies must be cautiously applied,
+and suited to the state and constitution of the patient; otherwise,
+what is intended to cure, may produce convulsion. The late elections
+have shown that the measures proposed by Government are repugnant to
+the feelings and habitudes or disastrous to the interests of great
+portions of our fellow citizens. They should not, then, be forced home
+with rigor. Ours is a government of compromise. We have several great
+and distinct interests bound up together, which, if not separately
+consulted and severally accommodated, may harass and impair each
+other. A stern, inflexible, and uniform policy may do for a small
+compact republic, like one of those of ancient Greece, where there is
+a unity of character, habits, and interests; but a more accommodating,
+discriminating, and variable policy must be observed in a vast
+republic like ours, formed of a variety of states widely differing in
+habits, pursuits, characters, and climes, and banded together by a few
+general ties.
+
+"I always distrust the soundness of political councils that are
+accompanied by acrimonious and disparaging attacks upon any great
+class of our fellow citizens. Such are those urged to the disadvantage
+of the great trading and financial classes of our country. You
+yourself know, from education and experience, how important these
+classes are to the prosperous conduct of the complicated affairs of
+this immense empire. You yourself know, in spite of all the
+commonplace cant and obloquy that has been cast upon them by political
+spouters and scribblers, what general good faith and fair dealing
+prevails throughout these classes."
+
+At this time he was studying with increasing interest the shifting
+spectacle of American life. The openings of the West especially caught
+his imagination, and when the chance came to travel on what was then
+the frontier, the trans-Mississippi territories, he was quick to
+accept it. As guest of one of the members of a commission appointed to
+treat with several Indian tribes, he went as far as Fort Gibson on the
+Arkansas. The literary fruits of this journey were "A Tour on the
+Prairies," and "The Adventures of Captain Bonneville."
+
+In April, 1833, he bought the little estate of Sunnyside, near the
+Sleepy Hollow which he had made famous. His first name for it was "The
+Roost" (Dutch for "Rest"), which he changed for reasons which are not
+recorded; possibly the little nieces who became regular inmates may
+have thought the old name not dignified enough. This he regarded as
+his home for the rest of his life. He set to work at once to enlarge
+the old Dutch stone cottage which stood upon the place; and from this
+time on he is continually "puttering" about the estate, building a
+poultry-yard here, planting trees there, with the full zeal of the
+rural landlord. His family letters are given to accounts of little
+country doings: "The goose war is happily terminated: Mr. Jones'
+squadron has left my waters, and my feathered navy now plows the
+Tappan Sea in triumph. I cannot but attribute this great victory to
+the valor and good conduct of the enterprising little duck, who seems
+to enjoy great power and popularity among both geese and ganders, and
+absolutely to be the master of the fleet.... I am happy to inform you
+that, among the many other blessings brought to the cottage by the
+good Mr. Lawrence is a pig of first-rate stock and lineage. It has
+been duly put in possession of the palace in the rear of the barn,
+where it is shown to every visitor with as much pride as if it was the
+youngest child of a family. As it is of the fair sex, and in the
+opinion of the best judges a pig of peerless beauty, I have named it
+'Fanny.' I know it is a name which with Kate and you has a romantic
+charm, and about the cottage everything, as old Mrs. Marthing says,
+must be romance." This was during the vogue of Fanny Kemble.
+
+In this quiet retreat the next five uneventful years were passed, with
+occasional excursions to New York or farther, which only served to
+make the seclusion of the country home more inviting. Peter Irving
+spent his last days at the Roost; and Ebenezer Irving and his family
+gave up their New York house to make their home with the now famous
+brother. While this arrangement greatly increased Irving's
+satisfaction in life, it made heavy demands upon his purse. One cannot
+be a country gentleman for nothing. The cottage had to be enlarged
+repeatedly, the grounds cared for; and the mere running expenses were
+a considerable matter for a man without dependable income. Irving had
+by this time received a great deal of money for his books, but an
+unfortunate "knack of hoping" had locked up most of it in unprofitable
+land speculations.
+
+In 1835 the three volumes of the "Crayon Miscellanies," were
+published. The "Tour on the Prairies" was especially palatable to
+Americans. Edward Everett said of it, in the highly colored style of
+the period: "We are proud of Mr. Irving's sketches of English life,
+proud of the gorgeous canvas upon which he has gathered in so much of
+the glowing imagery of Moorish times. We behold with delight his easy
+and triumphant march over these beaten fields; but we glow with
+rapture as we see him coming back, laden with the poetical treasures
+of the primitive wilderness, rich with spoil from the uninhabited
+desert."
+
+The second volume, containing "Abbotsford" and "Newstead Abbey,"
+naturally gained special praise in England; the third, "Legends of the
+Conquest of Spain," had comparatively little success.
+
+Of "Astoria" (1836) it is hard to know what to say; on the whole, it
+seems the most doubtful of his works in motive and quality. John Jacob
+Astor, now an old man, was anxious to perpetuate the fame of his
+commercial exploits, and was lucky enough to subsidize for this
+purpose the most prominent American writer of the day. The adventures
+of the various expeditions sent out to found an American trading
+company on the Pacific coast are interesting; but one puts down
+Irving's account of them with the feeling that it reflects rather more
+credit on Mr. Astor than on the writer. The truth is, Irving, like
+many less successful literary men, was constantly in need of money;
+and he had begun to be in some difficulty for subjects upon which to
+exercise his craft. The "Adventures of Captain Bonneville" (1837) was
+also a piece of skillful book-making rather than an original creative
+work; and after that nearly two years passed without his writing
+anything.
+
+At last, toward the close of 1838, he hit upon a subject which
+attracted him greatly--a "History of the Conquest of Mexico." He began
+at once upon preliminary studies, and had made considerable progress
+when he learned by chance that Prescott, who had recently made a name
+for himself by his "Ferdinand and Isabella," was at work upon the
+same subject. Irving immediately retired from the field, and conveyed
+a courteous assurance to Prescott of his satisfaction in leaving the
+theme to such hands. He felt this sacrifice keenly, however; the
+project had appealed to him peculiarly, and he had no other in mind to
+take its place. For lack of other literary work, therefore, he
+presently engaged to write a monthly article for the New York
+"Knickerbocker," at a salary of $2000 a year. The arrangement was just
+not too irksome to continue for two years.
+
+It is easy to see, then, that at fifty-five Irving was pretty well
+written out. In the twenty years that remained to him he produced
+nothing of account except the "Life of Washington," which, like his
+other works in biography and history, may be regarded as a _tour de
+force_ rather than a spontaneous outcome of his genius.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+A PUBLIC CHARACTER
+
+
+The data of Irving's literary achievements have been brought near a
+conclusion; what remains to be said may now deal less with what he
+wrote, and more with what he did and was. It is luckily unnecessary to
+try for a sharply drawn distinction between his popularity as a writer
+and as a man. In his home, in society, and in literature the single
+charm of his personality had made him beloved in the same way. And he
+had become, in the best sense of the term, a public character. For
+many years his name had been better known abroad than that of any
+other living American; and his reception at home after an absence of
+seventeen years showed in what regard his countrymen had come to hold
+him. Their pride in his success and gratitude for the new fame he had
+given a country which was still felt to be on probation, can hardly
+account for it; only the confidence of affection could have excused so
+prolonged an absenteeism.
+
+His peculiar hold upon popular affection cannot be better suggested
+than by the tone of a letter written by the only Englishman who during
+Irving's life could pretend to rival him in his peculiar field. In
+1841, Irving wrote to Dickens, expressing pleasure in his work.
+Dickens replied: "There is no man in the world who could have given me
+the heartfelt pleasure you have, by your kind note of the 13th of last
+month. There is no living writer, and there are very few among the
+dead, whose approbation I should feel so proud to earn. And with
+everything you have written upon my shelves, and in my thoughts, and
+in my heart of hearts, I may honestly and truly say so.... I wish I
+could find in your welcome letter some hint of an intention to visit
+England. I can't. I have held it at arm's length, and taken a bird's
+eye view of it, after reading it a great many times, but there is no
+greater encouragement in it this way than on a microscopic
+inspection. I should love to go with you--as I have gone, God knows
+how often--into Little Britain, and Eastcheap, and Green Arbor Court,
+and Westminster Abbey. I should like to travel with you, outside the
+last of the coaches, down to Bracebridge Hall. It would make my heart
+glad to compare notes with you about that shabby gentleman in the
+oilcloth hat and red nose, who sat in the nine-cornered back parlor of
+the Masons' Arms; and about Robert Preston, and the tallow chandler's
+widow, whose sitting-room is second nature to me; and about all those
+delightful places and people that I used to walk about and dream of in
+the daytime, when a very small and not over-particularly-taken-care-of
+boy. I have a good deal to say, too, about that dashing Alonzo de
+Ojeda, that you can't help being fonder of than you ought to be; and
+much to hear concerning Moorish legend and poor, unhappy Boabdil.
+Diedrich Knickerbocker I have worn to death in my pocket, and yet I
+should show you his mutilated carcass with a joy past all
+expression."
+
+Not long afterward Dickens visited America. Irving and he saw much of
+each other, though they did not meet many times. Irving presided at a
+great dinner given to Boz in New York, broke down in his introductory
+speech, and otherwise endeared himself to his brother author. When
+presently Dickens went back, he wrote, "I did not come to see you, for
+I really have not the heart to say 'good-by' again, and felt more than
+I can tell you when we shook hands last Wednesday."
+
+Pretty soon Irving himself was leaving America. In February, 1842, he
+was startled from the home quiet of Sunnyside by a summons which he
+could not disregard. Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, had
+secured his appointment as Minister to Spain. The Senate confirmed it
+almost by acclamation, and letters came from various quarters urging
+him to accept it. He could not doubt that the wish was general. But it
+was very hard for him to leave home and America again. For some time
+after accepting the post he was plunged into a dejection which seemed
+laughable to himself. "The crowning honor of his life," he admitted,
+had come to him, and he could only groan under it.
+
+"'It is hard, very hard,' he half murmured to himself, half to me; yet
+he added whimsically enough, being struck with the seeming absurdity
+of such a view, 'I must try to bear it. God tempers the wind to the
+shorn lamb'" (P. M. Irving).
+
+In April he sailed from New York, and made a leisurely journey by way
+of England and France, not reaching Madrid till the end of July.
+Europe had lost its old charm. Many places reminded him painfully of
+the favorite brother Peter who had shared his first impressions of
+them, and whose loss was one of the keenest griefs of his life. "My
+visit to Europe has by no means the charm of former visits," he wrote
+from Paris; "scenes and objects have no longer the effect of novelty
+with me. I am no longer curious to see great sights or great people,
+and have been so long accustomed to a life of quiet, that I find the
+turmoil of the world becomes irksome to me. Then I have a house of my
+own, a little domestic world, created in a manner by my own hand,
+which I have left behind, and which is continually haunting my
+thoughts, and coming in contrast with the noisy, tumultuous, heartless
+world in which I am called to mingle. However, I am somewhat of a
+philosopher, and can accommodate myself to changes, so I shall
+endeavor to resign myself to the splendor of courts and the
+conversation of courtiers, comforting myself with the thought that the
+time will come when I shall once more return to sweet little
+Sunnyside, and be able to sit on a stone fence, and talk about
+politics and rural affairs with Neighbor Forkel and Uncle Brom."
+
+At Madrid he very soon found himself too much occupied for the
+literary work he had counted on. He had accepted the place under the
+impression that his duties would not greatly interfere with the
+writing of the "Life of Washington," on which he was then fairly
+launched. But from the beginning he found the situation in Spain
+unexpectedly absorbing. It was the usual Spanish situation, to be
+sure: a designing pretender, a child monarch, a court honeycombed with
+intrigue, and a people ready for anything spectacular. When Irving was
+presented to the young queen, she was closely guarded. "On ascending
+the grand staircase, we found the portal at the head of it, opening
+into the royal suite of apartments, still bearing the marks of the
+midnight attack upon the palace in October last, when an attempt was
+made to get possession of the persons of the little queen and her
+sister, to carry them off.... The marble casements of the doors had
+been shattered in several places, and the double doors themselves
+pierced all over with bullet-holes, from the musketry that played upon
+them from the staircase during that eventful night. What must have
+been the feelings of those poor children, on listening from their
+apartment to the horrid tumult, the outcries of a furious multitude,
+and the reports of fire-arms, echoing and reverberating through the
+vaulted halls and spacious courts of the immense edifice, and dubious
+whether their own lives were not the object of the assault!" Such an
+appeal to Irving's sympathy and chivalry was enough to deprive the
+situation of its quality of opera-bouffe.
+
+Presently an insurrection takes place in Barcelona. The regent hurries
+off to quell it, and Irving's letters are full of the pomp and
+circumstance of war. The regent is successful, and returns apparently
+firmer than ever in power. But a few months later the trouble breaks
+out again, more seriously; Madrid is placed in a state of siege, and
+martial law declared. The life of the queen is thought to be in
+danger, and the diplomatic corps, headed by Irving, offers its
+services for her protection. Finally the regent is driven out of
+power, and blows are once again succeeded by intrigue. Such, briefly,
+was the character of the little drama in which the quiet American
+author was to take a significant part, during his whole ministry. This
+Spanish experience is fully recorded in his family letters. He was
+always a voluminous letter-writer; during this period he is fairly
+encyclopedic. A single letter to his sister fills thirteen closely
+printed pages of his nephew's biography. His official dispatches, too,
+were very full and thorough. Webster valued them particularly, and
+remarked that he "always laid aside every other correspondence to read
+a diplomatic dispatch from Mr. Irving." He had time, too, for many
+charming chatty letters to the nieces at Sunnyside. Here is a
+Thackerayish passage from one of them: "You seem to pity the poor
+little queen, shut up with her sister like two princesses in a fairy
+tale, in a great, grand, dreary palace, and wonder whether she would
+not like to change her situation for a nice little cottage on the
+Hudson? Perhaps she would, Kate, if she knew anything of the gayeties
+of cottage life; if she had ever been with us at a picnic, or driven
+out in the shandry-dan with the two roans, and James, in his slipshod
+hat, for a coachman, or _yotted_ in the Dream, or sang in the
+Tarrytown choir, or shopped at Tommy Dean's; but, poor thing! she
+would not know how to set about enjoying herself. She would not think
+of appearing at church without a whole train of the Miss ----s and the
+Miss ----s, and the Miss ----s, as maids of honor, nor drive through
+Sleepy Hollow except in a coach and six, with a cloud of dust, and a
+troop of horsemen in glittering armor. So I think, Kate, we must be
+content with pitying her, and leaving her in ignorance of the
+comparative desolateness of her situation."
+
+In 1842, Irving suffered another of those petty persecutions which he
+was not thick-skinned enough to endure without suffering, nor
+confident enough to ignore. The charges were of the most ordinary
+sort, and advanced by men of little weight: he had appropriated
+material without giving due credit for it, and he had puffed his own
+work. Their only claim upon our notice lies in the fact that Irving
+thought it worth while to confute them at length. He was perhaps
+especially sensitive to critical attacks at this time. His income from
+literary property had nearly ceased. Some of his books were out of
+print, and the rest were having comparatively little sale. A wave of
+indifference had overtaken his public. "Everything behind me seems to
+have turned to chaff and stubble," he wrote. "And if I desire any
+further profits from literature, it must be by the further exercise of
+my pen." It is characteristic of his modesty that he was disposed to
+accept this momentary neglect as final. He planned to revise all his
+works, in the hope of finding a renewed market for them later, but
+evidently expected little.
+
+A letter to Brevoort from Bordeaux dated November, 1843, accounts for
+the first break in his Madrid residence: "I am now on my way back to
+my post, after between two and three months' absence. I set out in
+pursuit of health, and thought a little traveling and a change of air
+would 'make me my own man again'; but I was laid by the heels at Paris
+by a recurrence of my malady, and have just escaped out of the
+doctor's hands.... This indisposition has been a sad check upon all my
+plans. I had hoped, by zealous employment of all the leisure afforded
+me at Madrid, to accomplish one or two literary tasks which I have in
+hand.... A year, however, has now been lost to me, and a precious
+year, at my time of life. The 'Life of Washington,' and indeed all my
+literary tasks, have remained suspended; and my pen has remained idle,
+excepting now and then in writing a dispatch to Government, or
+scrawling a letter to my family. In the mean time the income which I
+used to derive from farming out my writings has died away, and my
+moneyed investments yield scarce any interest.... However, thank God,
+my health and with it my capacity for work are returning. I shall soon
+again have pen in hand, and hope to get two or three good years of
+literary labor out of myself."
+
+After his return to Spain he was again laid by. He was disappointed,
+but not discouraged, for the self-pity of the invalid never deprived
+him of his strong man's humor. "When I drive out and notice the
+opening of spring, I feel sometimes almost moved to tears at the
+thought that in a little while I shall again have the use of my
+limbs, and be able to ramble about and enjoy these green fields and
+meadows. It seems almost too great a privilege. I am afraid when I
+once more sally forth and walk the streets, I shall feel like a boy
+with a new coat, who thinks everybody will turn around to look at him.
+'Bless my soul, how that gentleman has the use of his legs!'" A few
+days after this was written, he got word that one of his friends had
+just undergone a successful surgical operation. "God bless these
+surgeons and dentists!" he exclaims. "May their good deeds be returned
+upon them a thousand fold! May they have the felicity, in the next
+world, to have successful operations performed upon them to all
+eternity!"
+
+By this time he had come to take Spanish politics rather too
+seriously. The insincerity and profligacy of the Spanish character,
+the corruption of the court and state, fairly sicken him: "The last
+ten or twelve years of my life," he writes, "have shown me so much of
+the dark side of human nature, that I begin to have painful doubts of
+my fellow men, and look back with regret to the confiding period of my
+literary career, when, poor as a rat, but rich in dreams, I beheld the
+world through the medium of my imagination, and was apt to believe men
+as good as I wished them to be." His sense of responsibility for the
+young queen oppressed him, and he looked forward impatiently to the
+hour of his release.
+
+A year later he had gained far better health and spirits. On his
+sixty-second birthday--"I caught myself bounding upstairs three steps
+at a time, to the astonishment of the porter, and checked myself,
+recollecting that it was not the pace befitting a minister and a man
+of my years." His mental life had, however, caught the sober tone of
+age. "I am now at that time of life when the mind has a stock of
+recollections on which to employ itself; and though these may
+sometimes be of a melancholy nature, yet it is a 'sweet-souled
+melancholy,' mellowed and softened by the operation of time, and has
+no bitterness in it.... When I was young, my imagination was always
+in the advance, picturing out the future, and building castles in the
+air; now memory comes in the place of imagination, and I look back
+over the region I have traveled. Thank God, the same plastic feeling,
+which used to deck all the future with the hues of fairyland, throws a
+soft coloring over the past, until the very roughest places, through
+which I struggled with many a heartache, lose all their asperity in
+the distance."
+
+In July, 1846, his successor arrived, and Irving was free to leave
+Europe for the last time. His services in Spain had brought nothing
+but honor to himself and his country; he had earned a right to the
+quiet years that followed in his favorite home nook at Sunnyside.
+
+Soon after his return he began to busy himself with the revised
+edition of his works which he had projected in Spain. It was
+disheartening to find his old publishers dubious about undertaking the
+republication, and for a time the work went hard. "I am growing a sad
+laggard in literature," he wrote to his nephew, "and need some one to
+bolster me up occasionally. I am too ready to do anything else rather
+than write." For more than a year his time was largely devoted to
+overseeing an enlargement of the cottage, and a renovation of the
+grounds, at Sunnyside. At last he got it all into satisfactory order.
+"My own place has never been so beautiful as at present. I have made
+more openings by pruning and cutting down trees, so that from the
+piazza I have several charming views of the Tappan Zee and the hills
+beyond, all set, as it were, in verdant flames; and I am never tired
+of sitting there in my old Voltaire chair of a long summer morning
+with a book in my hand, sometimes reading, sometimes musing, and
+sometimes dozing, and mixing all up in a pleasant dream." As for New
+York, "For my part, I dread the noise and turmoil of it, and visit it
+but now and then, preferring the quiet of my country retreat; which
+shows that the bustling time of life is over with me, and that I am
+settling down into a sober, quiet, good-for-nothing old gentleman."
+
+This was all very well--for a mood. He spent the next winter in town,
+moving freely in society, and "not missing a single performance" of
+the opera. "One meets all one's acquaintances at the opera, and there
+is much visiting from box to box, and pleasant conversation, between
+the acts. The opera house is in fact the great feature of polite
+society in New York, and I believe is the great attraction that keeps
+me in town. Music is to me the great sweetener of existence, and I
+never enjoyed it more abundantly than at present." Clearly, the old
+social instinct was by no means dead in him, however he might express
+himself in less buoyant moods.
+
+Two years after his return from Spain the house of Putnam agreed to
+publish the revised edition of his works on very liberal terms--a
+twelve and a half per cent. royalty. The result of the enterprise was
+a surprise to author and publisher, for during the ten remaining years
+of his life the royalties amounted to more than $88,000. The
+arrangement brought about an immediate accession of courage and power,
+and he returned with fresh zeal to the "Life of Washington." "All I
+fear," he said, "is to fail in health, and fail in completing this
+work at the same time. If I can only live to finish it, I would be
+willing to die the next moment. I think I can make it a most
+interesting book. If I had only ten years more of life! I never felt
+more able to write. I might not conceive as I did in earlier days,
+when I had more romance of feeling, but I could execute with more
+rapidity and freedom." The consciousness of approaching age grew
+stronger in him, but without weakening his capacity for enjoyment or
+his turn for humorous expression. Early in 1850, George Ticknor sent
+him a copy of his "History of Spanish Literature." Irving dipped into
+it, liked it, and "When I have once read it through," he wrote, "I
+shall keep it by me, like a Stilton cheese, to give a dig into
+whenever I want a relishing morsel. I began to fear it would never
+see the light in my day, or that it might fare with you as with that
+good lady who went thirteen years with child, and then brought forth a
+little old man, who died in the course of a month of extreme old age.
+But you have produced three strapping volumes, full of life and
+freshness and vigor, that will live forever." This sounds well for
+Ticknor; but it needs only a glance at Irving's recorded
+correspondence to see that he was inclined to overestimate the work of
+others. That kind heart must needs assume the functions of a head
+which was very well able to take care of itself.
+
+In larger matters his judgment was often colored, but seldom warped,
+by feeling. The line between sentiment and common sense is clearly
+drawn in his comment upon the Kossuth obsession which held New York in
+1852. "I have heard and seen Kossuth both in public and private, and
+he is really a noble fellow, quite the beau ideal of a poetic hero....
+He is a kind of man that you would idolize. Yet, poor fellow, he has
+come here under a great mistake, and is doomed to be disappointed in
+the high-wrought expectations he had formed of cooperation on the part
+of our government in the affairs of his unhappy country. Admiration
+and sympathy he has in abundance from individuals; but there is no
+romance in councils of state or deliberative assemblies. There, cool
+judgment and cautious policy must restrain and regulate the warm
+impulses of feeling. I trust we are never to be carried away, by the
+fascinating eloquence of this second Peter the Hermit, into schemes of
+foreign interference, that would rival the wild enterprises of the
+Crusades." The letter concludes in a minor strain: "It is now
+half-past twelve at night, and I am sitting here scribbling in my
+study, long after the family are abed and asleep--a habit I have
+fallen much into of late. Indeed, I never fagged more steadily with my
+pen than I do at present. I have a long task in hand, which I am
+anxious to finish, that I may have a little leisure in the brief
+remnant of life that is left to me. However, I have a strong
+presentiment that I shall die in harness; and I am content to do so,
+provided I have the cheerful exercise of intellect to the last."
+
+By this time some of his Western investments had begun to make
+handsome returns. With an easy pocket, and a single congenial task for
+his leisure, it seemed that Irving's last years were certain to be
+peacefully rounded. Unfortunately his health did not hold; all his
+former ailments came back upon him, and the "Life of Washington"
+became an Old Man of the Sea, which one wishes heartily he might have
+been rid of. A visit to Saratoga in the summer of 1852, and the
+company of many pretty women, seemed for the moment to lift the years
+from his shoulders. "No one seemed more unconscious of the celebrity
+to which he had attained," wrote one of his Saratoga acquaintances,
+long after. "In this there was not a particle of affectation. Nothing
+he shrank from with greater earnestness and sincerity and (I may add)
+pertinacity, than any attempt to lionize him." His name was used to
+conjure with too often for his comfort. An "Irving Literary Union" had
+been formed in New York. Irving's attitude toward it was amusing and
+characteristic; he was always invited to attend the anniversary
+meeting, always accepted, and always stayed away.
+
+Events abroad continued to interest him. His sister had sent an
+account from Paris of the marriage of Louis Napoleon. "Louis Napoleon
+and Eugenie Montijo, Emperor and Empress of France!" he wrote. "One of
+whom I have had a guest at my cottage on the Hudson; the other of
+whom, when a child, I have had on my knee at Granada! It seems to cap
+the climax of the strange dramas of which Paris has been the theatre
+during my lifetime."
+
+In 1855, "Wolfert's Roost" was published. Most of its contents had
+figured years before in the "Knickerbocker Magazine." It is one of the
+best of his miscellaneous collections, and should be better known to
+the modern reader of Irving. Thereafter, his work was over, except for
+the "Life of Washington," which was to appear in parts during the next
+three years. Its merits were perhaps exaggerated at the time; to the
+modern critic they lie chiefly in its possession of the lucid
+simplicity of method without which its author could not write, and in
+the life which it infuses into a cold abstraction. If this is not
+Washington, it is at least a living and breathing person, whose
+interest for us lies not altogether in his career.
+
+These closing years were sadly clouded by sleeplessness and depression
+of spirits, from which at times he roused himself to bursts of his old
+brilliancy and humor. A year before his death he said to one of the
+innumerable inquiries about his health, "I have a streak of old age.
+Pity, when we have grown old, we could not turn round and grow young
+again, and die of cutting our teeth." A few months later, when he had
+begun to be troubled with difficulty of breathing, he had a long and
+prosy letter from a total stranger, who proposed a call. "Oh, if he
+could only give me his long wind," gasped Irving, "he should be most
+welcome."
+
+We need not follow here the rather pitiful struggle of those last
+months. "I do not fear death," said he, "but I would like to go down
+with all sail set." The thoughts of the gradual loss of his faculties
+haunted him with curious insistency. He conceived a dislike for his
+own room, could not bear to be alone, and hung with pathetic eagerness
+to the companionship of the few whom he held dearest. His fear was
+groundless. To the end his mind remained clear; and on the 29th of
+November, 1859, he "went down with all sail set."
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE MAN HIMSELF
+
+
+One is tempted to ask himself, in concluding a review of this man's
+life and work, what it was that he peculiarly stood for; what new kind
+of excellence he brought into being, and how far it survived him.
+Oddly enough, the accident of his birthplace is made at once his chief
+merit, and the subtle derogation of that merit; he is the first
+distinguished name in American letters, and he is "the American
+Addison." From the outset one who wishes to study his work is hampered
+by the fact of place. One must be always considering solemnly,
+"Although he was an American, he succeeded in doing this," or,
+"Because he was an American, he might have done that," till one is
+fairly inclined to wish that his English parents had not happened to
+marry and settle in New York. As a matter of fact, there are few
+writers against whom the point of nationality may be pushed with less
+pertinence.
+
+It is plain that earlier American writing interests us only in a local
+and guarded sense. The critical microscope discovers certain merits;
+but the least shifting of the eye-piece throws the object out of
+field. We value what these men wrote because of what they did as
+Americans, or stood for in American life. Of Irving and a few later
+writers this is not true. And our regard for them may lead us to
+suspect that from the literary point of view, it is better to be great
+than American; or at least that there is no formula to express the
+ratio between a writer's Americanism and his literary power. The
+historian esteems a flavor of nationality in literature; to the lover
+of pure letters, it is only a superior sort of local color. Irving's
+distinction is that he was the first prophet of pure letters in
+America. This is to speak thickly; and it will not help matters
+greatly to say that the mark of pure letters is style. The application
+of that foggy term to such a writer as Irving is likely to be
+particularly unfair; it has not been spared him. He has had more
+praise for his style than for anything else; indeed, it has been
+commonly suggested that there is little else to praise him for. This
+is, of course, a survival of the old notion that style is a sort of
+achievement in decorative art; that fine feathers may do much for the
+literary bird, at least. The style of a writer like Irving--a mere
+loiterer in the field of letters--is at best a creditable product of
+artifice. To him even so much credit has not been always allowed; the
+clever imitator of Addison--or, as some sager say, of Goldsmith--has
+not even invented a manner; he has borrowed one.
+
+Fortunately, novelty of form is a very different thing from literary
+excellence. Irving wrote like a well-bred Englishman, brought up in
+the sound traditions of the days of good Queen Anne. Whatever local
+merit his work may have, belongs to theme rather than to treatment.
+Its delicate humor is as far as possible from what has come to be
+known as American humor. His only conscious Americanism in motive--to
+speak of him merely as an artist--was to show England that "an
+American could write decent English." At that time, it seems,
+Englishmen considered this to be a good thing for an American to do;
+and the poet Campbell's remark was thought to be high praise: that
+Washington Irving had "added clarity to the English tongue." This was
+a service of which the language just then stood sadly in need. There
+are always men ready enough to make English turbid, to wreak their
+ingenuity upon oddities of phrase and diction. At that moment,
+certainly, the anxious courtier of words was not so much needed as the
+easy autocrat, whose style, however cavalier, should have grace and
+firmness and clarity to commend it. When Irving began to express
+himself, there was very little straightforward simple writing being
+done, either in America or in England. The stuffed buckram of
+Johnsonese had been succeeded by the mincing hifalutin of Mrs. Anne
+Radcliffe and her like. It is at least to Irving's credit that his
+taste led him back half a century to the comparative simplicity and
+purity of the prim Augustan style. But it is odd that it should have
+been for this acquired manner that the world thought it liked him
+while he lived, and has chiefly praised him since he died.
+
+But after all, as was said of Milton in a different connection, Irving
+has worn "the garb, but not the clothes, of the ancients." His kinship
+to them in temper of thought and feeling was closer than his
+resemblance in manner. Like Addison and Goldsmith, he wins his
+audience through sheer charm of personality. To open one of his books
+is like meeting a congenial stranger. You like his looks at first
+glance, you feel somehow that he likes yours; and while you may be
+hesitating about advances, he is at your side, and there is nothing
+more to be said. You do not care whether he is American or English,
+you are not particular what he talks about, but you do not willingly
+part with him.
+
+The charm of creative genius is less the charm of mind than of
+feeling. And it is to feeling refined and colored by temperament, that
+the more delicate modes of belles-lettres owe their whole power. That
+is, a writer in this sort is admirable as he subdues language and
+subordinates thought to his own temper, not as he gives elegant
+utterance to thought or feeling in their abstracted and general
+estate. Through a surface artificiality of style, which is far more
+marked in his earliest work, and from which at times he quite escapes,
+Irving's personality shines clearly. He has so employed a conventional
+medium as to make it serve his original purposes. He possessed, to be
+sure, a faculty of strong vernacular speech, which is little suggested
+in his to-be-published writing, or even in his private letters. The
+Oregon embroilment had led certain British journals into gross speech
+about America. Irving was much disturbed. What he wrote was, "A
+rancorous prejudice against us has been diligently inculcated of late
+years by the British press, and it is daily producing its fruits of
+bitterness." What he said was: "Bulwer,"--then English minister to
+Spain,--"I should deplore exceedingly a war with England, for depend
+upon it, if we must come to blows, it will be serious work for both.
+You might break our head at first, but by Heaven! we would break your
+back in the end!"
+
+But one need not write in the vernacular to be sincere and effective;
+personality may utter itself through different media, whether in
+different tongues or in distinct strata of the same tongue. Just now
+we have a bent toward colloquialism on paper; it was not the bent of
+Irving's day.
+
+As far as the external features of his style are concerned, he has had
+praise enough, and more than enough. Clearness, ease, a certain Gallic
+grace it has; the ink flows readily, the thing says itself without
+crabbedness or constraint. On the other hand this ready writer is
+often conventional; a set phrase contents him, why should he labor to
+escape the usual formula? He knew nothing of the struggle or the
+reward of the artist in words, who wrestles for the exact _nuance_,
+and will not let a sentence go till he has obtained its blessing.
+Consequently he is never finicking in his phraseology, and seldom
+final. The subtle artfulness of Stevenson is beyond him; but he has a
+rarer quality--that subtler artlessness which has belonged in some
+measure to all the greater writers of sentiment. It is a quality
+independent of the mechanics of writing; whether the author echoes the
+syntax of Addison or the diction of Goldsmith is an indifferent
+question. All that we know is that, through his use of words or in
+spite of it, a new melody has come into being, a golden _motif_ which
+is to ring in the world's ears nobody knows how long.
+
+It seems idle to say of such a man that because he does not concern
+himself with "the mystery of existence," and "the solemn eternities,"
+he has nothing to say. Surely the simple-souled artist may leave such
+matters for the philosophers and theologians to deal with. Surely his
+"message" is as significant as theirs. Irving is admirable not mainly
+because he "wrote beautifully," but because he said something which
+no one else could say: he uttered the most meaning of all
+messages--himself. And if literature is really a criticism of life,
+such a message from such a man has, it would seem, dignity enough.
+
+Evidently Irving, like Goldsmith and Oliver Wendell Holmes, owed his
+amazing influence largely to his cheerful and wholesome
+this-worldliness. He was a sentimentalist, but obviously different in
+spirit from the two great English writers of sentiment who were most
+nearly his contemporaries. Thackeray is sophisticated; fortune's
+buffets have left him still a tender interest in life, but pity rather
+than hopefulness gives color to his mood. Dickens's sentiment seldom
+rings perfectly true; too often it is sharped to flippancy, or flatted
+to mawkishness. The tone of Irving, in sentiment or in humor, is the
+clear and even utterance of a healthy nature. It was a period of
+sickly sentimentalism in which he began to write; men drew tears
+frequently and mechanically then, as they drew corks. The
+sentimentalist passed easily from broad mirth to unwinking pathos.
+Fortunately that weakest mood of sentiment without humor came seldom
+to Irving; he wrote only one "History of Margaret Nicholson."
+
+It was his nature to be achingly considerate of others, so that he was
+a better friend than critic; and he was as careful of their good
+opinion as of their comfort. Always doubtful what treatment his work
+would meet, and even what it deserved, he would ask his friends to say
+nothing about it, unless they liked it. "One condemning whisper," said
+one of them, "sounded louder in his ear than the plaudits of
+thousands." Socially, on the other hand, he never had the least doubt
+of himself. The tastes and manner of a gentleman did not need to be
+acquired; there was no question of his fitness for any society. During
+his whole career, thrown as he was into the choicest company of two
+continents, there was evidently not the least suspicion of
+embarrassment or awkwardness in his quiet bearing.
+
+He was in the largest sense of the word a generous man; and even in
+the smaller sense his generosity has distinction and significance.
+Addison we know to have been a little on the hither side of
+open-handedness. Goldsmith was by his own satirical confession the
+"good-natured man," to whom giving was a conscious indulgence. Irving
+was simply not aware that he gave; to share his best was a natural
+function. And it is our sense of this, of being admitted as a matter
+of course to share in all that he is and has, which largely explains
+his delightfulness as man and author.
+
+Citizen of the world as he was in his literary character, in practical
+life his Americanism was real and potent. He deplored the War of 1812
+and the war with Mexico, but believed firmly that it was no man's duty
+to go back of the government's decision. In the conduct of his mission
+to Spain he showed the utmost steadiness, loyalty, and self-possession
+in many trying situations. He was, in short, a valuable citizen, to
+whom honors came unsought, and who, out of office, and not desirous of
+political power, was trusted by all parties, and tempted by none. The
+mere existence of such a figure, calm, simple, incorruptible, honored
+wherever he was known, and known prominently throughout Europe, was a
+valuable stay to the young republic in that purgatorial first half of
+the nineteenth century.
+
+One fact about him will perhaps bear emphasis; that with all his
+gentlenesses he was strong and firm and full of spirit. He was
+susceptible to advice, yet nobody ever forced him to do a thing that
+was against his mind or conscience. That he was amiable, congenial,
+companionable--we do not forget these traits of his; we should
+remember, too, that he never faced an emergency to which he did not
+prove himself equal. His personal hold upon his contemporaries was
+plainly due to the fact that their confidence in him as a man was as
+perfect as their delight in him as an artist. What he did was, after
+all, only a little part of what he was.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Washington Irving, by Henry W. Boynton
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WASHINGTON IRVING ***
+
+***** This file should be named 25908.txt or 25908.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/9/0/25908/
+
+Produced by Sankar Viswanathan and The Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/25908.zip b/25908.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49080e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/25908.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..862c8a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #25908 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25908)