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I
WASHINGTON IRVING.
Washington Irving
COMMEMORATION OF THK
ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTH
Washington Irving Association
TARRYTO\VN-ON-HUDSON
Tuesday Evening, April 3, li
ADDRESSES BY
JUDGE NOAH DAVIS, CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER, DONALD G. MITCHELL,
WILLIAM C. WILKINSON, JAMES WOOD, ETC.
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK : 27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET
LONDON : 25 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN
1884
COPYRIGHT BY
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
Press of
G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York
The following account of the commemoration of the
Centennial Anniversary of the birth of Washington
Irving has been prepared pursuant to a resolution of the
Washington Irving, Association of Tarrytown, adopted
at a meeting held on Saturday, the 7th of April, follow-
ing the celebration.
M. H. B.
J. T. L.
Tarrytown-on-Hudson
May, 1884
iwsooass
COMMITTEES.
COMMITTEE ON ARRANGEMENTS :
MARSHAL H. BRIGHT, JOHN ROCKWELL,
LUCIUS T. YALE, DAVID A. ROWE,
GEN. J. F. HALL.
COMMITTEE ON SPEAKERS :
JAMES T. LAW, STEPHEN H. THAYER,
MARSHAL H. BRIGHT, L. T. YALE.
COMMITTEE ON ENTERTAINMENT AND
TRANSPORTA TION :
JOHN ROCKWELL, T. J. TEMPLE,
JAMES RICHARDSON,
COMMITTEE ON BADGES:
D. A. ROWE, M. D. RAYMOND.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Portrait of Irving, from Early Miniature by
Jarvis . . . . . . . Frontispiece
Portrait of Irving, from Painting by Vanderlyn i
Etching of Sunnyside, by Gifford .... 4
Portrait of Irving, from Drawing by Martin . 6
Portrait of Irving, from Bust by Hughes . .12
Portrait of Matilda Hoffman . . . .18
Christ Church, Tarrytown 22
Christ Church, Tarrytown, Interior View 26
Christ Church, Tarrytown, Interior View, Showing
Irving Memorial Tablet . . 30
Old Mill, Sleepy Hollow 40
Old Wolfert's Roost, Prior to Alteration . . 48
/■/
fv"
Frommf. oHpnal'- drawing Jjy Vanderlyn, Fans. 2805.
J^*^**^ '^^^
(180SJ
/^^!^^Cc^*yf ^^
X'W'J-^,
INTRODUCTORY.
In this hurrying age anniversaries, whether of the birth
of great men or of great events, are easily lost sight of.
Indeed, the number of memorable anniversaries is small
at best. Back in the history of the world stretches an
endless procession of men who were great in some one at
least of all the possible elements of greatness, whose very
names even form a subject for dispute, while the years of
their birth are unknown, or if known seldom or never
recalled. So there are records of great deeds which have
changed the maps of the world, yet which are almost
lost in the morning mist or dimly seen in faint perspec-
tive, while nearly all are imbedded in the intensity and
dominance of the present. Interest in men and events
of the past, it scarcely need be said, is not so much pro-
portioned to their importance at the particular time of
their existence, as to the relation which they sustain to the
living issues and nearer generation of to-day. And so it
might be expected that while the two hundredth anniver-
sary of the death of quaint Sir Thomas Browne might
pass unnoticed, at least the one hundredth birthday of our
own Washington Irving, of whom it may historically be
more truly said than Halleck said of Cooper, that
His name is with his country's woven ;
First in her fields, her pioneer of mind ; —
I
it might naturally be expected that the birthday of
Washington Irving would not be forgotten either by those
his fellow-laborers in the field of literature or by his
sometime fellow-countrymen — some his immediate per-
sonal friends, inhabitants of Tarrytown, where he lived,
where he worshipped, and upon whose every hill, valley,
and bosky hollow he had cast like a spell the witchery of
his romance. Yet so it was, that the approaching anni-
versary seems to have wholly escaped attention until a
newspaper slip announcing the near centenary of Irving's
birth arrested the attention of three gentlemen living in
Tarrytown. These gentlemen meeting one day — it was
about the middle of March — the question naturally arose,
" Why not do something to commemorate the event ? "
Sure enough, why not ? The question was answered in
part by an agreement to invite a few friends to meet as
soon as practicable for consultation over the matter.
Later, Mr. T. J. Temple invited the gentlemen interested
to meet at his house — an invitation which was promptly
accepted, and subsequently made to include not only
that but all subsequent meetings.
On Monday, the 19th of March, the first meeting was
held. There were present on that occasion the following
gentlemen, viz. : M. H. Bright, Gen. James F. Hall, James
T. Law, David A. Rowe, Rev. J. Selden Spencer, T. J.
Temple, and L. T. Yale. The gentlemen then and there
assembled organized themselves into an Association to
be known as "The Washington Irving Association,"
whose object was declared to be that of " appropriately
commemorating the life and services to literature of
Washington Irving by appropriately celebrating the
centennial anniversary of his birth in the town where he
lived and died." Additions were made by election, con-
stituting the General Committee of the Association as
follows :
The General Committee.
Marshal H. Bright.
Washington Choate.
Harry A. Grant, Jr.
James F. Hall.
N. C. Husted.
D. W. JUDD.
James T, Law.
M. D. Raymond.
John Rockwell.
James Richardson.
David A. Rowe.
J. Selden Spencer.
Thos. J. Temple,
Stephen H. Thayer.
William C. Wilkinson.
Lucius T. Yale.
The following officers were then elected :
Rev. J. Selden Spencer, President.
T. J. Temple, ist Vice-President.
D, W. JUDD, 2d Vice-President.
L. T, Yale, Secretary.
D. A. Rowe, Treasurer.
It was then formally resolved, " that this Association
celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of
Washington Irving, in Tarrytown, on Tuesday evening
April 3, 1883." A committee on speakers was then ap-
pointed, viz. : Messrs. Jas. T. Law, S. H. Thayer, M. H.
Bright, L. T. Yale.
The next meeting of the General Committee was
held at Mr. Temple's residence, on Thursday evening,
March 22d. All the Committee were present. The offer
of the Trustees of the Second Reformed Church, tender-
ing the use of that building, was received and accepted
4
with thanks. It was ascertained that more extended
facilities could not be had ; — whatever celebration was had
must take place in a church, and arrangements must be
perfected during the ensuing ten days. The necessary
additional committees were then appointed [see p. v.].
It was resolved, that membership in the Association be
placed at one dollar, and that all citizens of Westchester
County in sympathy with the objects of the Association
be invited to join. It was further resolved, " that Mr.
Donald G. Mitchell be invited to deliver an address ap-
propriate to the occasion." A resolution was also
adopted, inviting the Westchester County Historical
Society to be present on the occasion ; and a like invita-
tion was extended to the old friends and acquaintances of
Mr. Irving, in Tarrytown. The presence of the Misses
Irving was also especially invited. Mr. S. H. Thayer
was invited to write a poem for the occasion, which,
though on brief notice, he consented to do.
The Committee met again on Friday, March 30th. It
was voted to request of the Misses Irving, the favor of hav-
ing Sunnyside open to the public on the 3d day of April.
[The request was promptly acceded to later by the ladies,
and Sunnyside was open for several days, very many
from all parts of the country availing themselves of the
opportunity to visit " Woolfort's Roost," which remained
the same as it was on the day of Mr. Irving's death.]
The various Committees then made their reports, and
the list of speakers being submitted, the following pro-
gramme was adopted :
5
THE WASHINGTON IRVING CENTENARY.
AT TARRYTOWN-ON-HUDSON.
Tuesday Evening, April 3, 1883,
AT THE
SECOND REFORMED CHURCH.
The Hon. NOAH DAVIS will Preside.
PROGRAMME.
PRELUDE . (" Rip Van Winkle ") . Miss Hawes.
SALUTATORY ADDRESS .... James Wood.
READING OF LETTERS, ETC . Rev. Washington Choate.
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES
ADDRESS
ADDRESS
SONG . " The Lost Chord "
ADDRESS
Rev. J. Selden Spencer.
Donald G. Mitchell.
Chas. Dudley Warner.
Miss Sears.
W. C. Wilkinson, D.D.
BENEDICTION . . . Prof. T. S. Doolittle, D.D.
commencing at eight o'clock.
Under the Auspices of the Washington Irving Association
Rev. J. Selden Spencer, President,
Gen. Jas. F. Hall,
T. J. Temple, ist Vice-President,
N. C. Husted,
D. W. JuDD, 2d Vice-President,
James T. Law,
L. T. Yale, Secretary,
John Rockwell,
General
D. A. Rowe, Treasurer,
James Richardsoh,
Committee
Marshal H. Bright,
M. D. Raymond,
Washington Choate, (
Stephen H. Thayer,
H.A.Grant, Jr.,
W. C. Wilkinson. J
THE CELEBRATION.
The services were held as appointed in the Second Re-
formed Church, Rev. J. A. Todd, D.D., pastor, and the
programme was carried out in its entirety. From New
York, Brooklyn, and other adjacent points, many came to
swell the audience assembled to do honor to the memory
of Washington Irving in the beautiful little town which
had so long been his home, and where he died. The
church presented a beautiful appearance, and especially
so the platform and its surroundings. The pulpit was
removed, and banks of exquisite flowers, ferns, and palms
formed a setting of rare beauty, in the centre of which was
the original portrait of Irving, executed by Jarvis when
the author was but twenty-four years of age. The legend
1783-1883 in large gilt figures stood against the bank
of greenery. The building was literally packed — every
square inch being occupied. Among those present were
Judges Larremore, Van Vorst, and Arnoux; President
Merrill Edward Gates, of Rutgers College ; the Misses
Irving; Rev. Drs. David Cole and James M.Ludlow;
Generals Francis Darr and Alexander Shaler ; Geo.
Haven Putnam, Esq.; Messrs. J. N, Hallock, Hamilton
W. Mabie, and Eliot McCormick, of the New York
religious press; .Professors E. T. Lounsbury ; T. S.
Doolittle, D.D., and Norman Fox ; Wm. S. Wilson,
6
^^^^^^^•^Lt^^?^
c^'^-^^-t-^^yd cy^ /xJ-C-cy ' /S - /Vj /
Jonathan Odell, and Jacob Odell, Esqs. : and other old
friends of Mr. Irving.
Precisely as the clock was striking eight the speakers,
headed by the President of the evening, Chief-Justice
Noah Davis, entered, taking their seats on the platform,
followed by the General Committee. Miss Hawes at
once commenced playing the appropriate selection of the
overture from "Rip Van Winkle" on the organ, and the
exercises were fairly under way. Upon the conclusion
of the overture Chief-Justice Davis rose and addressed
the stilled audience as follows :
CHIEF-JUSTICE NOAH DAVIS'S ADDRESS.
Ladies and Gentlemen : — We are met to commemorate
the one hundredth birthday of Washington Irving. No-
where in all America — and that is saying in all the world
— could that event be more fitly celebrated than here,
on this right bank of the majestic river, which he loved
to call the "lordly Hudson," and in this most beautiful
region of the Hudson's incomparable beauties. Here, on
these hills and in these valleys, Irving loved, in youth, to
wander and repose. Here in manhood he chose and
built the home where he lived for many years, and in
which he did much of his life's best work ; and here
he died, and in his self-chosen spot in yonder beautiful
cemetery rests all of him that was mortal.
To him this region was classic ground in the legendary
tales and dreamy lore of its early settlers ; and in many
memories of the war of the Revolution which had just
8
ended as his life began, — and notably in that singular
event which you recall in bronze and marble, when the
liberties of America hung trembling on the virtues of
three young yeomen of Westchester. Classic, also, it was
in the broad sweep of the " Tappan Zee," in the grand
outlook from these monumental hills, in the sweet com-
posure of these smiling valleys, and in the music of their
leaping rivulets. Here Nature and Irving became lovers
in his only wedded faith, and she made him her inter-
preter to cast over river and hill, valley and stream
the glamour of his genius. [Applause.]
To this Association comes the grateful duty, to make
this stretch of riverside comprising what is now known as
Tarrytown and Irvington, something akin to what Strat-
ford-upon-Avon is to the memory of Shakespeare, — a
Mecca, in which the lovers and devotees of letters bring
tribute to the shrine of genius. To the American who
visits Stratford-upon-Avon, next in interest after the
house and room in which Shakespeare was born, and the
church in which he was buried, and the few scenes known
to be interwoven with his life, is the little parlor of the
" Red Horse Inn " called Washington Irving's room, — full
of mementos of him, — in which he lived for many weeks
and where he wrote the sketch which made Americans
more familiar with Shakespeare's birthplace than English-
men themselves, and Englishmen more familiar than ever
before. [Applause.]
So I trust this Association will to-night give to the
domain of literature, similar portrayals of the life-place,
death-place, and burial-place of Washington Irving, to
whom belongs the honor of America's first-born con-
queror of an undisputed seat in the world's great Repub-
lic of Letters.
When the hearty and prolonged applause following the
address had subsided, Judge Davis presented Mr, James
Wood, President of the Westchester County Historical
Society. Mr. Wood spoke as follows :
MR. JAMES WOOD'S SALUTATORY ADDRESS.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentleme7i : — We all recog-
nize that the fame of Irving belongs to mankind. Even
America cannot claim it as exclusively her own, much
less the city of New York where he was born, and this
county of Westchester where he was pleased to make his
home and where he died ; and yet Westchester has a
claim peculiarly her own, for, while we are joint-heirs with
others in the heritage of his fame, Irving was here hon-
ored during his life for other qualities besides those of
the gifted author, as he was here also known as the good
citizen, the genial neighbor, and the Christian gentleman.
Hence, it has seemed most fitting that the celebration of
the centenary of his birth should take place here, close by
his loved Sunnyside, under the care of those who are
organized to preserve associations with his memory.
It was a happy coincidence that the year in which
Great Britain acknowledged America's political indepen-
dence witnessed the birth of him who was the first to
cause the mother-country to acknowledge her literary
independence also. The years that followed seemed illy
10
fitted for the cultured training of youth. The trying
times of the Revolution had almost destroyed the facil-
ities for education that had made such good progress in
the colonial period, and the nine colleges founded before
the war then barely maintained their existence, and some
of them not continuously. The wealthiest and some of
the most refined families of colonial times had been re-
duced to poverty or were expatriated because of their
political sentiments. All the means for culture were far
below the colonial facilities. But America has shown as
little regard for established rules in intellectual progress
as in her material development. Irving, closing an ordi-
nary school education at the age of sixteen, soon sur-
prised and delighted the literary world with his style of
classic elegance, and, in a condition of society that
favored the production of strength in character rather
than refinement, he displayed the best of those gentle
qualities claimed as only possible with a people long ac-
customed to the refining influences of an aristocracy.
Buffon had advanced the theory, and the Abb<S Raynal
had sought to confirm it, that it was impossible for
America to produce other than inferior races of men ;
and Lord Jeffrey, in noticing the " Sketch-Book " in the
Edinburgh Review, thought it " a remarkable thing " that
its " great purity and beauty of diction on the model
of the most elegant and polished writers," should have
been the work of an American. In old Amsterdam the
diamond-cutters have long manipulated precious stones,
making their surfaces that were rough and unattractive
shine with dazzling brilliancy. In New Amsterdam a
n
gem, uncut by others' art, shone in its inherent quaHty
with a mellow lustre that has charmed the world. This
lustre is unfading. So long as the heart of mankind re-
sponds when its chords are touched by the favored few
who find access to its sacred presence, so long will men,
from childhood to old age, smile and weep at Irving's
gentle touches of humor and of pathos.
We may justly be proud that our country furnished a
Motley for The Netherlands, and a Prescott for Spain,
and that Irving gave to the world that " Life of Columbus "
which has been pronounced by high English authority
" a model of tasteful elegance, felicitous in every de-
tail, and adequate in every respect " ; and that his hands
decked the walls of the Alhambra with unfading gar-
lands. We can congratulate ourselves that the task of
recording the life of Washington fell to his appreciative
pen ; and it is a part of our local good fortune that his
touch has made classic ground of familiar localities
about us, as his closely attached friend, Sir Walter
Scott, hallowed so many places by his genius.
We desire at all times to treasure this name, honored
and loved around the wide world ; and, on this centennial
anniversary of his birth, we bid you, gentlemen, who
have come to take part in this celebration, and all who
are here present, welcome to the home of Irving. Though
we cannot hope to grasp the inspiration of the genius
of the author, we may at least endeavor to emulate the
character of the man. [Applause.]
At the conclusion of Mr. Wood's address the Rev.
Washington Choate, of Irvington, read the following:
12
RESPONSES BY LETTER.
From Governor CLEVELAND.
Executive Chamber, Albany,
March 21, 1883.
Marshal H. Bright, Esq., Chairman, etc, :
Dear Sir — I have to-day received your invitation to attend
the celebration of the anniversary of the birth of Washington
Irving. I am sorry to be obliged to deny myself that pleasure
on account of official duties. If a pure life and the placid
calm of its later time are of benefit to the world, and if he who
writes to instruct and elevate, while he diverts, is entitled to
grateful remembrance, we do well to celebrate the birth of our
beloved countryman.
I hope the observance of this anniversary will long continue
to remind all who read of one who, though dead, should al-
ways live in their love and admiration.
Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.
From JOHN G. WHITTIER.
Amesbury, Third Month, 21, 1883.
y antes T. Law, Esq., Tarrytowti, N. V. :
Dear Friend — I have received thy invitation in behalf of
the committee in charge of the celebration of the looth anni-
versary of the birthday of Washington Irving. I greatly regret
that age and delicate health must prevent me from availing
myself of it.
So general are the admiration and love of all English-speak-
ing people for the genial author of the "Sketch-Book," that it
may be regarded superfluous for me to own my great indebted-
^^ ^<r
From Ihe Bust 'by BiU Huglies 'dboid IS-B"
13
ness to him as a writer of exceeding purity and beauty of style
and thought, the pioneer of American literature.
It has been long a matter of regret that while he was living
I did not feel myself warranted in seeking the acquaintance of
one upon whom I could have no other claim than that of
a sincere admirer. Our literature has assumed large propor-
tions since he laid aside his pen, but his writings have lost none
of their attractions ; and the veil of romance which he has
thrown over the Highlands of the Hudson still lingers there,
and Crow Nest and Dunderberg will always loom through it.
I thank the committee for remembering me on the occasion
of his anniversary, and am very truly thy friend,
John G. Whittier.
From GEORGE WM. CURTIS.
West New Brighton, Staten Island,
March 31, 1883.
Dear Sir — I am very sorry that I am unable to accept the
invitation to take part in the centenary commemoration of Irv-
ing, on Tuesday evening, at Tarrytown. Nowhere could the
anniversary of his birth be more fitly celebrated than in the
town which he chose for his home, and in which he died and
lies buried, on the banks of the noble river over which his
genius has thrown a romantic and enduring charm.
If it were possible for me to come, I should venture to sug-
gest that no place and no time could be more appropriate than
those of your meeting, for beginning an active movement to
secure a statue of Washington Irving in Central Park, The
Park is happily becoming a Sylvan Walhalla or Pantheon ; a
gallery of memorials of famous men, and especially of great
authors of every land, as befits a cosmopolitan city. But what
American could show a njiore commanding title to such an
honor than Irving ? Whose statue would stand with more pro-
14
priety among the noble figures that recall the glories of the lit-
erature of Britain, Germany, and Italy, than that of the man
who wrote the first American book that the whole world read,
and still reads with delight, and from which dates our distinc-
tive literature ?
Such a memorial might well be erected in any part of the
country, for Irving belongs to that group of authors who are
not only admired for the charm of their works, but who are
themselves beloved for the purity and sweetness of their lives.
Yet while the whole country justly claims him, he was in a cer-
tain distinctive sense a New Yorker. He made the city and
its neighborhood, and the Hudson River, peculiarly his own.
His genius is especially connected with the region which the
Park commands, and the name of Knickerbocker, which he
has associated with New Amsterdam forever, is intimately and
familiarly blended with the life and activities of New York. In
New York, therefore, and in Central Park, his statue should
be erected, not for his own fame, which will endure as long as
the thunder rolls among the Catskill Mountains, and the mid-
night gusts sweep through Sleepy Hollow, but to remove from
his native city the reproach of neglecting to include among
those whom she honors in her great resort, her most illustrious
son, the benign patriarch of American literature.
Very truly yours,
George William Curtis.
D. A. Ro7ve, Esq.
From JOHN JAY.
The Rev. j/^. Selden Spencer^ President of the Irving Association :
Reverend and Dear Sir — I would gladly have accepted
the request of your Association, kindly brought to me by Mr.
Rowe, to assist in celebrating the centennial of Irving's birth,
had it not come at a moment of sudden domestic sorrow.
It is fitting that our old Westchester to which Irving by his
15
stories and his life has added the legendary charm which
blends so happily with its historic memories, should pay to the
author and to the man this loving tribute of remembrance ; and
it is proper that this tribute should be paid on the banks of the
Hudson, of which he wrote : "The Hudson is in a manner
my first and last love, and, after all my wanderings and seeming
infidelities, I return to it with a heartfelt preference over all
the rivers of the world."
Some twenty-four years have passed since Irving was taken
from us, and of the distinguished procession which saw him
laid to rest, the most have followed him to the Spirit Land.
Among those who on the third of April are to celebrate his
birth there will be none of the friends of his youth, and but
few who knew him in the serene evening of his days and amid
the genial atmosphere of his pleasant home ; few who can
recall the cordial greeting, the grace of manner, the cheery
tone, the playful humor, the uniform kindliness of his nature,
and the winning sunlight of his smile.
But all readers of Irving may learn his manly and tender
traits from the unconscious personality which marks his writ-
ings, from the earlier creations of his sportive fancy, to his last
and greatest work, the " Life of Washington."
It is pleasant to remember that if some of the names which
shone in the literary firmanent, when Irving's star was rising
modestly on the Western horizon, have paled amid the bright-
ening light of later luminaries, the fame of Washington Irving,
with a true, fixed, and resting quality, has attained the magni-
tude and brilliancy of a stately planet.
It is pleasant to think that when the people of Westchester
and New York, with kinsmen, friends, and neighbors, shall
meet at Tarrytown, near Sunnyside and Sleepy Hollow, to pay
this centennial tribute to his virtues and his fame, their service
of love will represent in a measure a world-wide circle, and
express the cultured sympathies of other lands.
I am, dear sir, faithfully yours,
John Jay.
New York, March 31, 1883.
i6
From President NOAH PORTER.
New Haven, Conn., March 24, 1883.
Mr. Marshal H. Bright^ Chairman^ etc. :
My Dear Sir — I regret that it will not be possible for me
to accept the courteous invitation of your Committee to be
present at the Centennial Anniversary of the birth of Wash-
ington Irving on the 3d of April.
I should be pleased to bring with me a well-worn and much-
read copy of the first ten numbers of Salmagiaidi, bound in a
volume, which somehow happens to find itself among the odds
and ends of my library. The numbers run from the second to
the seventh edition, and the volume would suggest very many
topics, upon all of which you will doubtless hear instructive and
eloquent speakers.
We cannot estimate too highly the many and varied services
which Washington Irving rendered to his generation in his
long and useful life of varied and efficient activity.
Very respectfully,
N. Porter.
Brief expressions of regret at inability to be present
were also received from Rev. Jno. A. Todd and Rev.
Jno. K. Allen of Tarrytown [these gentlemen were pre-
vented by previous engagements, calling them out of
town] ; Rev. Jno. B. Thompson, D.D., formerly of Tarry-
town ; Rev. Drs. Jno. M. Buckley, Howard Crosby, John
Hall, Wm. Ormiston, Samuel I. Prime and E. D. G.
Prime of The Observer; H. C. Potter, Wm. M. Taylor,
Wm. H. Ward of The Independent ; Jno. H. Dey, Esq.,
of The Evatigelist ; Parke Godwin, President Barnard of
Columbia College, President Eliot of Harvard, Thos.
Bailey Aldrich, Jno. Treat Irving — Mr. Irving being pre-
17
vented by illness from attending ; E. C. Stedman, and
others. At the conclusion of the reading of the letters,
the Rev. Washington Choate read the following poem,
by Mr. Stephen H. Thayer, of Tarrytovvn, which was
received with many manifestations of approval :
MR. THAYER'S POEM.
WASHINGTON IRVING. 1783-1883.
Distant we stand, as if from some far main
We viewed a wide expanse of wave and strand
Till, midway in the Eastern glimpse of land
Our vision greets a mountain on the plain.
Time, distance, cannot veil our wistful eyes ;
The lofty peak stands ever as before.
And we, while gazing from the level shore,
See now its form in stainless lustre rise.
Clear sky and golden beauty bathe the height.
Serene it lifts its airy crest to fame ;
Above the need or care of praise or blame, —
A fadeless summit clothed in robes of light :
So stands our Irving of a hundred years.
Loved master in the field of lettered lore,
Whose brow first bore the crown and nobly wore
Its circling nimbus far above his peers.
He missed the unsheathed sword, the battle-plain
That won for liberty her fair increase.
But kept his birthday in the year of peace.
The nation's jubilee from strife and pain.
I8
He taught our embryo empire in its youth
That Art was loyal to its natal cause,
And wrote of gentler manners, kindlier laws,
Of beauty bred in common ways of truth.
From the wild haunts of brooding solitude,
From old traditions steeped in romance dear
He brought his marvels to the duller ear,
And to the heart a finer fancy wooed.
He had the poet's music and his dream.
His wanton imagery without his song.
Yet deftly wrought, in rhythms pure and strong,
Idyllic-like the method of his theme.
To him was given the charmed magician's hand.
To weave withal a mystic tale of love.
Or some sweet spell, the spirit-life to move.
And win it captive by his potent wand.
An affluent soul was his that made man kin,
A genial humor graced with beauteous speech,
Evoking tears and laughter, blessed to teach
A purer accent to the voice within.
What fair creation has his genius wrought !
What witcheries — in peopling yon lone vale —
He wove into the texture of a tale
And fashioned in the fancy of his thought !
The tides that bore him once to Eastern lands,
Come back to-day, resounding as they came
Long years ago, with echoes of his name,
And sweep their messages across our sands,
-m.
^
KflATTDLOA ra(S)[riFKflAKl<
t9
Till we, within the shadow of his home,
Bless the full radiance of his renown.
That breaks benign beyond the sea and town,
Unvexed by other lights that go and come :
And through the centuries we see afar
His glory — nothing dimmed from age to age —
In panegyrics light the living page.
To pledge for him the orbit of a star !
The President of the evening then introduced the Rev.
James Selden Spencer, Rector of Christ Church, Tarry-
town, of which Irving was for many years a communicant
and warden. Mr. Spencer's topic was " Personal Remi-
niscences of Irving," whose pastor and intimate friend he
was. Mr. Spencer spoke as follows :
REV. JAMES SELDEN SPENCER'S ADDRESS.
Hazlitt, in his admirable "Table-Talk," has an essay
entitled, " Of Persons One would Wish to Have Seen."
Lamb suggested the subject at a gathering of literary
men, among whom were Dr. Burney, Leigh Hunt, Haz-
litt, and other celebrities. The ghosts of departed great-
ness were summoned before them, but with much adverse
criticism. " What we want to see," says Lamb, " are
persons ; Mr. Locke and Sir Isaac Newton are not persons,
that is, not characters. When you name them, you mean
the * Essay on the Human Understanding,' and the
' Principia.' " The discussion as to whom one would
wish to have seen, seemed to turn, not simply upon the
20
preference to gaze upon men distinguished by their
works, but upon the point of personality. Beyond the
deeds of great men and the works of great authors, there
may be nothing personally interesting in the men them-
selves. What we want most to see any one bodily for
is, because of something peculiar in the individual, some
spiritual magnetism of character, something more than
we can learn from his writings, and yet which we are
curious to know. The discussion closed by Lamb's say-
ing : " There is only one other Person I can ever think
of after this ; if Shakespeare were to come into the room,
we should all rise up to meet him ; but if that Person
were to come into it, we should all fall down and try to
kiss the hem of His garment," I think most of us in
this assembly, gathered together to honor his memory
on this centennial celebration of his birth, would name
Washington Irving as one we would wish to have
seen. And those of us who have been privileged to see
him in person will certainly count it among their most
valued recollections that they have looked upon that dis-
tinguished man, around whose mind the sweetest visions
of fancy played, like gleams of pleasant sunshine ; he
who stood in the foreground of American literature, and
compelled its respect abroad ; the playful humorist — the
genial companion — the warm-hearted friend — one who
has handed down to us the legends of the past so vividly
that they have become the antiquarian lore of our land —
one whose mind was a store-house of curious and quaint
devices — a true, honest, upright. Christian gentleman.
Seldom has literary fame been so beautifully blended
21
with personal attractiveness, nor did wit and learning
form so close an alliance, as in Washington Irving. The
name of Irving has taken a strong hold, not only upon
the American heart, but wherever the Saxon in which he
so purely wrote is spoken. Not only by the educated,
but by common consent, his remarkable genius is recog-
nized, and his fame secured. What largely evokes this
universal eulogy is the presence of the man in his works.
In him the affections and the intellect were beautifully
blended ; — the affections flowing in upon the intellect,
tempering it with their hallowed grace and charity, and
the intellect in return giving strength and dignity to the
affections, illustrating what Coleridge so aptly terms " the
heart in the head." It is of the man that I am to speak
to-night. Washington Irving is certainly the one whom
I most rejoice to have seen ; and those here present who
knew him will bear me out in the assertion that you saw
but half of him in his works ; the other half — and that
the best half — was the attractive, winsome, personal
character of the man. I shall ever count it among the
most precious memories of my life that I have held in-
tercourse with one so rarely gifted in heart and intellect
as he, and have been privileged to minister unto him in
holy things.
Disappointment has been expressed to me more than
once by friends who have read the admirable " Life and
Letters of Washington Irving," that so little is there said
respecting his religious character. But that explanation
is found, when we learn that the materials for that work
were mainly prepared by Irving himself, and that the
22
most his biographer had to do was to weave them into
shape. The latter himself says : " It has been my aim to
make the author, in every stage of his career, as far as
possible, his own biographer." Now, Irving was too
sensitive and modest in his nature to allow attention to
be drawn to his religious convictions. He instinctively
shrank from any such publicity. It has been said that
every man has two lives : that which is open and ap-
parent to others, and that which is known only to him-
self and God. It was emphatically true of Irving ; and
that inner spiritual life of his was sacred to him in its
privacy, into which no one must intrude. This was
partly due to the great constitutional modesty of his
nature, which was almost feminine in its delicacy, and
partly to the solemn awe with which the religion of
Christ impressed him. Religion directed and moulded
his life, without any self-consciousness, but as an ac-
cepted law of his being. To be all which his Maker
wished him to be, and gave him power to be, became a
law of his existence, which he faithfully tried to fulfil.
His religious convictions were deeply seated and sincere.
If he was not, with polemic skill, unceasingly driving a
religious sentiment into you with his lips, he yet was
ever beautifully illustrating the religious life in his own.
Every thing like display was foreign to his nature. His
piety was not obtrusive, but illustrative. It flowed,
not with the noisy murmurings of the shallow brook, but
with the calm, peaceful, yet strong current of the river.
He had the faith and humanity of a child, and in no one
has rare modesty with greatness been more sweetly com-
CHRIST CHURCH, TARRYTOWN
23
bined. Sallust's portrait of Cato is beautifully photo-
graphed in Irving : " He would rather be, than seem to be
a good man, so that the less he sought glory, the more he
obtained it." It was this which made his character so at-
tractive, and his companionship so endearing to his
friends ; and no one could draw near the inner sanctuary
of his heart, as some of us were privileged to do, without
the most confident assurance that he was a true and de-
vout Christian man.
My acquaintance with Irving began in the year 1854,
under circumstances so tender and affecting, as to lead
me ever after to regard him with the deepest affection.
At the beginning of my ministry in Christ Church, Tarry-
town, a heavy, foreboding sorrow overshadowed me ; and
when the blow came Washington Irving was one
of the first to call upon me and proffer me the comfort
and strength of his tender sympathy. The sorrow of an-
other perhaps awakened the memory of his own anguish
that followed the loss of his betrothed love. The warm
and prolonged pressure of the hand made me feel the
power of his sympathy, and then followed these few
words, softly and gently spoken : " They who minister
to others must not themselves refuse the consolation."
This may appear a slight thing to others but to me
it was a personal revelation of human sympathy, next to
the peaceful benediction of the Master Himself. We
often note how the world is surprised to learn that a man
distinguished for remarkable abilities in science or liter-
ature is a Christian ; and the surprise is often ac-
companied by chagrin, — for the world does not willingly
24
part with its votaries, — as if there were something quite
out of harmony between intellectual gifts and the humil-
ity of Christian faith. But with Irving that early sorrow
of his did not leave his heart stranded upon the arid
sands of mere worldly renown. Its chastening influence,
its hallowed memories, made that heart a sanctuary for
more exalted hopes, for higher aspirations, than earth
could ever satisfy ; and while the world justly honors
him with her admiration for his intellectual triumphs, the
beautiful qualities of his heart may as justly challenge
her profound esteem and love. I can never forget the
embarrassment which I first experienced in preaching be-
fore Washington Irving. I painfully anticipated the
criticism of one who stood in the foremost rank of our
authors, whose chaste and elegant style has entitled him
to be called the Addison of American Literature. But I
soon found that there was no more devout or attentive
listener in the church than he. He sat in his pew, with
his head lightly resting upon his hand, in that pensive at-
titude which one of his portraits exhibits, I think, with
great fidelity in the likeness. He would thus sit, with
his eye intent upon the speaker, as one anxious to receive
some truth for his soul's health. With all his powers of
mind he knew of no other spiritual sustenance than the
Gospel of Christ ; and its plain, simple truths such as
a little child might comprehend, were to him like the
precious feeding upon the loaves broken in the Master's
hands.
On my first interview with him at Sunnysidc he in-
troduced the subject of church music, of which he was
25
passionately fond. He then referred to the Gloria in Excel-
sis. Repeating the words, as if they were the joyful refrain
of his own heart, " Glory be to God on high, and on earth
peace, good-will toward men," he exclaimed, his eyes filling
with tears, and his voice trembling with emotion : " That
is religion Mr. Spencer, that is true religion for you " —
a simple truth enough, you say, but it assumes a vast
importance when it becomes the devout utterance of the
heart. In reference to the same divine hymn he said to
Dr. Creighton : " I like it above all things ; it contains
the sum and substance of our faith, and I never hear
it without having my mind lifted up and my heart made
better by it." On another occasion, also at Sunnyside,
he spoke to me, in words of thrilling tenderness, of a text
which had profoundly impressed him. It was this : " My
son, give me thine heart." Here was one of those in-
stances where a single verse of Holy Scripture will stand
out with a distinctness before unknown, and, as if with a
divinely magnetic force, draw the heart nearer and closer
to God. And this text he had thus treasured up as most
precious to him. Years before he must have been deeply
impressed with it, for on looking over a volume of
Bishop Wainwright's sermons I find one on this text,
accompanied by the statement in the preface, that it was
suggested to the Bishop by Washington Irving, as a text
which he should like of all things to hear treated of in a
sermon. And those of us who knew him well have
reason to believe that his character was formed and
disciplined under a profound sense of personal responsi-
bility to God. On another occasion, he expressed to me
26
with great feeling, the same general thought, in words
which may be classed with the best and most beautiful he
ever wrote : " Religion is of the heart — not of the head ;
we may, with the understanding approach the vestibule
of the Temple, but it is only with the heart that we can
enter its holy precincts and draw near its sacred altar."
It became a pleasant custom after morning service in
Christ Church for the congregation to exchange cordial
greetings with the venerable Dr. Creighton and Wash-
ington Irving at the vestibule. Some of us remember
those delightful occasions. Young children, of whom
Irving was specially fond, and who were fond of him,
would surround him, putting a bunch of flowers in his
hand, or a bud in his button-hole, — and they would
always receive from him a kind word or a beaming smile.
He diffused the pleasant sunshine of cheerfulness all
around him, and no one ever entered the charmed circle
of his presence without feeling the better for it. Some-
times he would say, with a warm grasp of the hand : " I
thank you for your sermon," and then he would offer
some striking observation upon the theme. He did not
intend by this to be complimentary. His true heart had
no words to waste in flattery, but he loved the plainest
truths of the Gospel, and prized them far beyond any
mere accessories of rhetoric or eloquence. A strong
sense of religious obligation must have influenced him
quite early in life. His parents were Scotch Cove-
nanters, who did not regard the Episcopal Church with
much favor. Irving became interested in the services at
Trinity Church, New York, and attended there, whenever
27
he could find opportunity, without his father's knowl-
edge. When a confirmation was announced, we read in
his Biography, that he stealthily left his home, when
quite young, and was confirmed by the Bishop in old
Trinity Church. We may detect in this method of his
to receive confirmation something of that vein of humor
blended with firmness in doing what he felt to be right
which so strongly marked his character as a man. He
first became a regular communicant in Christ Church,
Tarrytown, after the building of Sunnyside, and he
always continued a most devout and exemplary member
of the parish. On one occasion he said that when he
first attended church he felt but little interest in the ser-
vice, and waited rather impatiently till it was over, and
then settled himself down to listen to the sermon. But
one Sunday, he said, as he was entering the church, the
solemn exhortation to confession was being read, and
the thought struck him that he too had sins to confess,
and so he fell upon his knees and joined in solemn and
humble confession of sins. "And," said he, in that em-
phatic way which always carried with it the conviction
of his sincerity, and with an earnest gesticulation of his
arm which some of you will remember, " from that day
forward, the church service has ever been to me an in-
creasing comfort and delight." And who will say that
the Bible and the Prayer-Book of that fair maiden who
was Washington Irving's early and only love, — she who
" died in the beauty of her youth, and so in his memory
was ever young and beautiful," — who will say that those
treasured volumes, which from the first hour of agony at
28
his irreparable loss were ever by him, taken with him in
all his travels, and at his death still lay by his side, were
not, from their sweetly sad associations, as well as from
their spiritual counsel and comfort, the means of hallow-
ing that gifted heart with high and holy purposes of love
and duty to God and man, and with the blessed hope of
everlasting life, in which he lived and died ?
Passing on from these recollections, let me touch upon
some points of his character which are more generally
recognized. Sunnyside and Christ Church were both
built in the same year, 1836. That sweet ivy-crowned
home of Irving, nestling amid the trees on the banks of
the Hudson, is familiar to all. The ivy upon the church
tower was planted by his hand, taken from the vine
which now mantles in rich luxuriance the walls of Sunny-
side, and which was originally brought from the ruins of
Melrose Abbey. Within the church there still remains
his pew, in which many pilgrims to this shrine of
Irving's religious life love for a moment to sit. The
pew is marked with his name, and was set apart years
ago by the vestry for the use of any members of the
Irving family who might worship with us, if but for an
hour. As near the pew as it could be placed is a beauti-
ful mural tablet, erected by the vestry to his memory.
It is skilfully and delicately wrought, and is in itself a
poem in stone. In the centre is the Irving coat of arms,
two royal supporters holding a shield, emblazoned with
holly leaves, having as a crest a hand holding a bunch of
holly. The tradition is that when Robert Bruce of
Scotland was a fugitive from King Edward, on being
29
pursued by his troops, he, with a few friends, among
whom was William Irvin — the first Irving of whom we
have any record — took refuge in a copse of holly and
escaped detection. On coming out, Bruce plucked off
the topmost branch of the holly, and adopted it as his
own crest, with the motto, Sjib sole, sub umbra, virens —
" Thriving in sun or shade," — in prosperity or adversity.
Ever since then the Scots have a saying that the upper
branch of the holly never withers. When Bruce won his
throne, he knighted Sir William de Irvin, his faithful
friend in adversity, gave him the Castle of Drum, in
Aberdeenshire, now the oldest inhabited castle in Scot-
land, and still in possession of a distant branch of the
family, and at the same time gave him this, his own coat
of arms, in memory of his perilous escape. In this tablet
the holly leaves and berries are beautifully interwoven in
Caen stone as the capitals of its marble columns. The
holly now becomes not only the sign of the deliverance
of Irving's ancestor and his king, but also the emblem of
Christmas joy into which Irving so heartily entered. On
the stone is the following inscription :
BORN IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, APRIL 3D, 1 783.
FOR MANY YEARS A COMMUNICANT AND WARDEN OF THIS CHURCH,
AND
REPEATEDLY ONE OF ITS DELEGATES TO THE CONVENTION
OF THE DIOCESE.
LOVED, HONORED, REVERED.
He fell asleep in yestis, -
NOVEMBER 28tH, 1859.
30
Irving was elected Warden of Christ Church after his
return from his mission as U. S. Minister to Spain. This
office of Warden he held until his death. The vestry of
Christ Church had among its members for many years,
Rev. Dr. Creighton, Washington Irving, Gen. James
Watson Webb, and other men of marked intelligence,
and we may imagine the wit and wisdom which sparkled
at their meetings. Genius, courtesy, racy, genuine humor,
blended with the highest considerations of duty, will
rarely so meet again on common ground. It became
Irving's duty, as one of the wardens, to gather the offer-
ings of the congregation, or, in parlance, to " take up
the collection," and he claimed no right of exemption
from what might be supposed to constitute a very unat-
tractive performance. One Sunday, on coming out of
church, he said, his eyes twinkling with humor : " I have
passed that plate so often up and down the aisle, that I
begin to feel like a highwayman. I feel as if I could
stop a man on the road, and say, ' Your money, or your
life.' "
At a vestry-meeting he once modestly remarked that
he had now taken up the collection in church for a very
long time, and he ventured to ask if some one of his
juniors in the vestry would not relieve him of this duty.
One of the vestry sprang to his feet at once, and said :
" Mr. Chairman, I protest against any such step on the
part of Mr. Irving ; — it will create great confusion ; the
service will be neglected, and the sermon unheeded.
When I bring my friends with me to church, the first
question I am asked is, ' Which is Mr. Irving ? ' and all I
31
have to say is : * Mr. Irving is the gentleman who will,
by and by, pass the plate in the north aisle ; ' but if he
gives up this duty, I shall have to rise up in my pew, and
thus point him out to my friends," [here, suiting the
action to the word,] " There he is ! there he is ! " Irving,
who greatly enjoyed a joke, even at his own expense,
laughed heartily, said no more about declining, and
** passed the plate " until within a fortnight of his death,
at one of the vestry-meetings, Mr. Holmes was ac-
companied by an inoffensive pet dog, who took refuge
at his feet. Some question of more serious moment than
usual had arisen, which led to animated discussion. Mr.
Holmes, in his earnest and emphatic matter, pressed his
views upon the vestry, and the discussion threatened to
be prolonged and serious. When he had ended, Mr.
Irving arose, and inquired of the Chairman whether Mr.
Holmes should be allowed to put them all in bodily
terror ; for he had not only come here to advocate his
measure, but had brought with him a fierce beast, to
overawe the vestry and control their votes : " And," he
added, pointing to the little dog, "there he is now, by
his side, keeping guard." The irresistible drollery of his
speech and manner allayed at once the heat of the
debate, and diffused a feeling of perfect good nature
over the meeting, which gave a satisfactory settlement to
the question.
Mr. Holmes was at one time complaining to Irving
that some boys had broken the church windows, and that
severe measures must be taken to stop them. " Now,
Holmes," says Irving, " you are the senior Warden, and
32
if any of the boys are to be punished for breaking the
church windows, you are the one to do it, and not I."
He would always be on good terms with the boys, and
doubtless recalled his own boyish pranks. Think of the
innate love of fun which prompted him, when a boy on
a visit to Gen, Paulding's house in this village, to rise at
midnight, go up to the old Dutch Church, and there
energetically ring the church bell, to the alarm of all the
ghost-fearing burghers round the country, and you have
the germ of that mirth-provoking spirit, which diffused
cheerfulness and good humor all around him, and made
him the sunshine of the circle in which he moved.
In his conversation, as in his writings, there was no
affectation, no parade of learning, no dazzling brilliancy,
but every thing was natural, simple, unaffected, often
mirthful, but never coarse — never vulgar, never rude.
We all know how difficult it is to wield the shafts of wit
and humor without inflicting pain upon others. But I
never heard an unkind or bitter word fall from Irving's
lips, nor do I believe that any one ever winced at his
keen, yet inoffensive humor. He was slow and hesitating
in conversation, and the first impression on hearing him
talk might be one of disappointment ; but you soon felt
its irresistible fascination. He would often hesitate for
a word, but when he found it, you saw at once that it
was just the word needed to make the thought perfect.
He told me that he wrote his MSS. in the same hesitating
way as it were, that is, with continual corrections ; and
even after the proof-sheets were sent to him to read over,
he would still alter and interline, to the confusion, no
33
doubt, of the printer, but to the clearer perception of his
thought. Yet how simple is the style of Irving ! It is
elaborated, painstaking simplicity. " Now," said he to
me, as he had sent off the last sheet of his final work, the
Biography of Washington — a work which had engaged
his thoughts and pen for years — " Now I feel as if I were
just ready to sit down, and begin to write the Life of
Washington."
At a dinner party, I was one of a little crowd
gathered round him, to whom he told the following
story, which I will give in his own words : " Shortly
after the ' Sketch-Book ' was published in England, when
I began to be known, I entered a store in London to
make some purchases. Wishing them sent to my rooms,
the shopkeeper asked me my name. ' Mr. Irving,'
I replied. * Ah ! ' said the tradesman, ' you bear the
name of a great man, sir.' 'Thank you,' I answered,
with a look of becoming modesty, * my friends are too
considerate of me.' ' A great man,' said the othtff — 'great
preacher ! great preacher ! ' I then found that he was
referring to the Scotch preacher, Rev. Edward Irving, who
was then beginning to make a great stir in London, and I
escaped from the store with the rising conceit taken all out
of me." Shortly after hearing this story, I came across
an incident in the Life of Thomas Campbell, which was
so exact a counterpart to Irving's, that I took it to Sun-
nyside, and read it to him. The poet had been greeted
under like circumstances with Irving, as the great Mr.
Campbell, and his writings held in the highest esteem by
the worthy shopkeepers. Flattered by the undoubted
34
sincerity of their admiration, he talked with them for a
while, and very willingly gave a guinea subscription to
some benevolent society of which the wife was treasurer.
But when he was asked whether he thought he would
ever make Christians of those horrible cannibals, he found
to his dismay that he had been mistaken for a missionary
to Africa, bearing the same name, and he left in haste,
minus a guinea, and a head shorter than he entered.
Irving was intimate with Campbell, and was much amused
with the story, which he had not heard before, and which
gave an experience so like his own, — only Irving's vanity
did not cost him a guinea.
Let me here add an incident of his political career
which he himself told me ; — it is not mentioned in his
Biography, I suppose because it was not desired to give
it publicity as the one to whom it chiefly relates was living.
Washington Irving was appointed Minister to Spain
by President Tyler, in 1842. The appointment was un-
doubtedly prompted by the desire to honor our dis-
tinguished friend. Yet he brought eminent qualities to
the discharge of his official duties. A prior residence
in Spain had made him familiar with the language and
the habits of the people, and his literary reputation and
personal character gained for him at once the confidence
and esteem of the Court. He had also had some diplo-
matic experience as Secretary of the American Legation,
at London. And when he went as Minister to Spain, he
industriously made himself familiar with the require-
ments of his mission. It was during his official career, when
that astute politician, James Buchanan, was Secretary of
35
State, that the attitude of our Government toward
Mexico threatened to involve us in serious complications
with Spain. The Madrid Government was alarmed, and
continually plied Mr. Irving as to the intentions of our
Government. " I wrote to Secretary Buchanan," said
Irving, " a full account of the state of feeling, but re-
ceived no answer. I wrote again, and again, but the
Secretary of State did not even deign a reply. I stood a
mortified representative of my country before that proud
and sensitive Court ; and when I returned home, I had
to go on to Washington, hunt up the letters I had writ-
ten to Mr. Buchanan, and place them myself on record
as a part of the history of my misson." You may imagine
the effect of such treatment upon a refined, sensitive
nature like Irving's.
Six days before the death of Irving, I gave a gentle-
man a letter of introduction to him. It was the last in-
terview he ever had with a stranger. My friend wrote to
me that Irving was exceedingly kind and cordial in his
reception of him, as he uniformly was to visitors properly
accredited. Among other things, he writes: "I hap-
pened to mention the name of his old friend, Washington
Allston. It set Irving's soul all glowing with tender, af-
fectionate enthusiasm. To hear the great painter so
praised by the great writer, with a voice tremulous,
partly with infirmity, but more with emotion, was some-
thing to keep as surely as if every word had been en-
graved with a diamond. I did not say a word about his
fame, or his books ; but I knew that he recognized me
as one of his thousands of admirers, quite as surely as if
36
I had spent the time in high-wrought encomiums upon
his writings. Now that he has gone, his kind reception
of me will ever be cherished as a benediction."
On this Centennial Anniversary of Washington Irving's
birth, we have more to commemorate than his services to
literature. Praise him, as we justly may, for his works,
he was more remarkable for his personality than his
writings. In this town where he lived and died, we want
to look upon him in person ; we want to evoke from the
shadows of the past that form which once walked in our
midst, as the man of a kind, warm, tender heart, — a man
loyal to every conviction of duty, a faithful friend — in the
best sense of the word, a true Christian gentleman ; hav-
ing no enemies, but all friends, so that one humorously
denounced against him the woe in the Gospel, " because
all men spake well of him." Such memories of good and
wise men are a people's best heritage ; they are the
wealth of our land — far more than the gold of California
and the silver of Colorado. They are worth treasuring
up. In Irving's own beautiful words, which we may ap-
ply to him to-night, " there is a remembrance of the
dead to which we turn even from the charms of the liv-
ing." So we, to-night, by an apotheosis of our reverent
and loving hearts, place Washington Irving among the
number of those in our land who have sanctified the
greatness they have achieved by their goodness, who
have added the softened lustre of all that is graceful
and pure and lovely in life to the valor of the soldier,
to the eloquence of the statesman, to the learning of the
author. And through the summer of our country's
37
youth, and the winter of her age, Irving's memory shall
be as green and fadeless as the ivy that mantles his own
sweet Sunnyside. [Applause].
At the conclusion of the address, which held the close
attention of the audience, Miss Sears sang "The Last
Chord," — Miss Proctor's words set to music by Sullivan
Judge Davis then announced an address " by Irving's
old-time friend and companion, and our friend, Mr. Don-
ald G. Mitchell." Mr. Mitchell then rose and delivered
the following address :
MR. DONALD G. MITCHELL'S ADDRESS.
You are met to-night to pay tribute to the memory of
a man we all loved — born a hundred years ago.
Yet, we who put voice to your tribute are brought to
pause at the very start : Who can say over again — in a
way that shall make listeners — the praises of a balmy day
in June ?
Simply to recall him, however, is — I think — to honor
him : for there is no memory of him however shadowy
or vagrant which is not grateful to you, — to me and to
all the reading world.
It is now wellnigh upon thirty-five years since I first
met Mr. Irving: It was in a sunny parlor in one of the
houses of that Colonnade Row which stands opposite the
Astor Library in Lafayette Place, New York. I can re-
call vividly the trepidation which I carried to that meet-
ing — so eager to encounter the man whom all honored
and admired — so apprehensive lest a chilling dignity
38
might disturb my ideal. And when that smiling, quiet,
well-preserved gentleman (I could hardly believe him
sixty-five) left his romp with some of his little kinsfolk,
to give me a hearty shake of the hand, and thereafter to
run on in lively, humorsome chat — stealing all trepida-
tion out of me, by — I know not what — kindly magnetism
of voice and manner, it was as if some one were playing
counterfeit — as if the venerated author were yet to ap-
pear and displace this beaming, winning personality,
with some awful dignity that should put me again into
worshipful tremor.
But no : this was indeed Mr. Irving — hard as it was to
adjust this gracious presence so full of benignity, with
the author who had told the story of the Knickerbockers
and of Columbus.
Another puzzle to me was — how this easy-going
gentleman, with his winning mildness and quiet delibera-
tion, — as if he never could, and never did, and never tvould
knuckle down to hard task-work, — should have reeled out
those hundreds — nay, thousands of pages of graceful,
well-ordered, sparkling English.
I could not understand how he did it. I do not think
we ever altogether understand how the birds sing and
sing ; and yet, with feathers quite unruffled, and eyes al-
ways a-twinkle.
My next sight of Mr. Irving was hereabout, at his own
home. By his kind invitation I had come up to pass a
day with him at Sunnyside, and he had promised me a
drive through Sleepy Hollow.
What a promise that was ! No boy ever went to his
39
Christmas holidays more joyously, I think, than I, to
meet that engagement.
It was along this road, beside which we are assembled
to-night, that we drove. He all alert and brisk, with the
cool morning breeze blowing down upon us from the
Haverstraw heights and across the wide sweep of river.
He called attention to the spot of poor Andre's cap-
ture — not forbearing that little touch of sympathy, which
came to firmer yet not disloyal expression, afterward, in
his story of Washington. A sweep of his whip-hand told
me the trees under which Paulding and the rest
chanced to be loitering on that memorable day.
We were whirling along the same road a short way
farther northward, when I ventured to query about the
memorable night-ride of Ichabod Crane and of the Head-
less Horseman.
Aye, it was thereabout that tragedy came off too.
" Down this bit of road the old horse ' Gunpowder '
came thundering: there away — Brom Bones with his
Pumpkin (I tell you this in confidence," he said) "was
in waiting ; and along here they went clattering neck
and neck — Ichabod holding a good seat till Van Ripper's
saddle-girths gave way, and then bumping and jouncing
from side to side as he clung to mane or neck, [a little
pantomime with the whip making it real] and so at last
— away yonder — well, where you like, the poor pedagogue
went sprawling to the ground — I hope in a soft place."
And I think the rollicking humor of it was as much en-
joyed by him that autumn morning, and that he felt in
his bones just as relishy a smack of it all — as if Katrina
40
Van Tassel had held her quilting frolic only on the yes-
ter-night.
Irving first came to know Tarrytown and Sleepy Hol-
low when a boy of fourteen or fifteen — he passing some
holidays in these parts, I think, with his friend Paulding.
To those days belong much of that idle sauntering along
brook-sides hereabout — with fly-hooks and fish-rods, and
memories of Walton, which get such delightful recogni-
tion in a certain paper of the " Sketch-Book."
Then, too, he with his companions came to know the
old Dutch farmers of the region — whose home interiors
found their way afterward into his books.
I think he pointed out also, with a significant twinkle
of the eye, which the dullest boy would have under-
stood, some orchards, with which he had early acquaint-
ance ; and specially, too, upon some hill-top (which I
think I could find now), a farmery, famous for its cider-
mill and the good cider made there ; he, with the rest,
testing it over and over in the old slow way with straws,
but provoked once on a time to a fuller test, by turn-
ing the hogshead, so they might sip from the open bung ;
and then (whether out of mischief or mishandling, he did
not absolutely declare to me) the big barrel got the better
of them, and set off upon a lazy roll down the hill — going
faster and faster — they, more and more frightened, and
scudding away slant-wise over the fences — the yelling
farmer appearing suddenly at the top of the slope, but
too broad in the beam for any sharp race, and the hogs-
head between them plunging, and bounding, and giving
out ghostly, guttural explosions of sound, and cider, at
every turn.
41
You may judge if Mr. Irving did not put a nice touch
to that story !
After this memorable autumn drive amongst the hills,
I met with Mr. Irving frequently at his own home ; and
shall I be thought impertinent and indiscreet if I say
that at times — rare times, it is true — I have seen this
most amiable gentleman manifest a little of that restive
choler which sometimes flamed up in William the Testy,
— not long-lived, not deliberate, — but a little human blaze,
of impatience at something gone awry in the dressing of
a garden border, in the care of some stable-pet — that was
all gone with the first blaze, but marked and indicated
the sources of that wrathy and pious zest (with which
he is not commonly credited) with which he loved to put
a contemptuous thrust of his sharper language into the
bloat of upstart pride, and of conceit, and of insolent
pretension.
The boy-mischief in him — which led him out from his
old home in William Street, after hours, over the shed-
roof — lingered in him for a good while, I think, and lent
not a little point to some of the keener pictures of the
Knickerbocker history ; and, if I do not mistake, there
was now and then a quiet chuckle, as he told me of the
foolish indignation with which some descendants of the
old Dutch worthies had seen their ancestors put to a
tender broil over the playful blaze of his humor.
Indeed there was a spontaneity and heartiness about
that Knickerbocker history, which I think he carried a
strong liking for, all his life.
The " Sketch-Book," written years later, and when neces-
42
sity enforced writing, was done with a great audience in
his eye ; and he won it, and keeps it bravely. I know
there is a disposition to speak of it rather patronizingly
and apologetically — as if it were reminiscent — Anglican
— conventional — as if he would have done better if he
had possessed our modern critical bias — or if he had been
born in Boston — or born a philosopher outright : Well,
perhaps so — perhaps so! But I love to think and believe
that our dear old Mr. Irving was born just where he
should have been born, and wrote in a way that it is
hardly worth our while to try and mend for him.
I understand that a great many promising young
people — without the fear of the critics before their eyes
— keep on, persistently reading that old " Sketch-Book,"
with its "Broken Hearts," and " Wife " twining like a
vine, and " Spectre Bridegroom," and all the rest.
And there are old people I know, — one I am sure of, —
who never visit St. Paul's Church-yard without wanting to
peep over Irving's shoulders into Mr. Newbury's shop,
full of dear old toy-books ; — who never go to Stratford-
upon-Avon but there is a hunt — first of all — for the Red
Horse Tavern and the poker which was Irving's sceptre ;
— never sail on summer afternoons past the wall of the
blue Katskills, but there is a longing look-out for the stray
cloud-caps, and an eager listening for the rumbling of the
balls which thundered in the ears of poor Rip Van
Winkle.
What, pray, if the hero of " Bracebridge Hall " be own
cousin to Sir Roger de Coverley ? Is that a relationship
to be discarded ? And could any other than the writer
43
we honor carry on more wisely the record of the cousin-
ship, or with so sure a hand and so deft a touch declare
and establish our inheritance in the rural beatitudes of
England ?
It may be true that as we read some of those earlier
books of his we shall come upon some truisms which in
these fast-paced times may chafe us, — some rhetorical
furbelows or broidery that belong to the wardrobes of
the past, — some tears that flow too easily, — but scarce ever
a page anywhere but, on a sudden, some shimmer of
buoyant humor breaks through all the crevices of a sen-
tence, — a humor not born of rhetoric or measurable by
critics' rules, — but coming as the winds come, and playing
up and down with a frolicsome, mischievous blaze, that
warms, and piques, and delights us.
In the summer of 1852 I chanced to be quartered at
the same hotel with him in Saratoga for a fortnight or
more. He was then in his seventieth year — but still
carrying himself easily up and down upon the corridors,
and along the street, and through the grove at the spring.
I recall vividly the tremulous pride with which, in those
far-off days, I was permitted to join in many of these walks.
He in his dark suit — of such cut and fit as to make one for-
get utterly its fashion — and remember only the figure of the
quiet gentleman, looking hardly middle-aged, with head
thrown slightly to one side, and an eye always alert ; not
a fair young face dashing past us in its drapery of muslin,
but his eye drank in all its freshness and beauty with the
keen appetite and the grateful admiration of a boy ; not
a dowager brushed us, bedizened with finery, but he fast-
44
ened the apparition in my memory with some piquant
remark — as the pin of an entomologist fastens a gaudy fly.
Other times there was a playful nudge of the elbow,
and a curious, meaning lift of the brow, to call attention
to something of droll aspect — perhaps some threatened
scrimmage amongst school-boys — may be, only a passing
encounter between street dogs — for he had all the quick
responsiveness to canine language which belonged to the
author of " Rab and his Friends " ; and I have known
him to stay his walk for five minutes together in a boyish,
eager intentness upon those premonitions of a dog en-
counter — watching the first inquisitive sniff — the remi-
niscent lift of the head — then the derogatory growl — the
growl apprehensive — the renewed sniff — the pauses for
reflection, then the milder and discursive growls — as if
either dog could, if he would — until one or the other,
thinking more wisely of the matter, should turn tail, and
trot quietly away.
I trust I do not seem to vulgarize the occasion in bring-
ing to view these little traits which set before us the
man : as I have already said, we cannot honor him more
than by recalling him in his full personality.
Over and over in his shrugs, in a twinkle of his eye, in
that arching of his brow which was curiously full of
meaning, did I see, as I thought, the germ of some new
chapter, such as crept into his sketch-books. Did I inti-
mate as much : — " Ah," he would say, " that is game for
youngsters ; we old fellows are not nimble enough to give
chase to sentiment."
He was engaged at that time upon his " Life of Wash-
45
ington " — going out, as I remember, on one of these
Saratoga days, for a careful inspection of the field of
Burgoyne's surrender.
I asked after the system of his note-making for history.
" Ah," he said, " don't talk to me of system ; I never had
any ; you must go to Bancroft for that : I have, it is true,
my little budgets of notes — some tied one way, some
another — and which, when I need, I think I come upon in
my pigeon-holes by a sort of instinct. That is all there
is of it."
There were some two or three beautiful dark-eyed
women that summer at Saratoga, who were his special
admiration, and of whose charms of feature he loved to
discourse eloquently.
Those dark eyes led him back, doubtless, to the glad
young days when he had known the beauties of Seville
and Cordova. Indeed, there was no episode in his life of
which he was more prone to talk, than of that which car-
ried him in his Spanish studies to the delightful regions
which lie south of the Gaudalquiver. Granada — the Al-
hambra — those names made the touchstone of his most
gushing and eloquent talk.
Much as he loved and well as he painted the green
fields of Warwickshire, and the hedges and the ivy-clad
towers and the embowered lanes and the primroses and
the hawthorn which set off the stories of " Bracebridge
Hall," yet I think he was never stirred by these memories
so much as by the sunny valleys which lay in Andalusia,
and by the tinkling fountains and rosy walls that caught
the sunshine in the palace courts of Granada.
46
I should say that the crowning literary enthusiasms of
his life were those which grouped themselves — first about
those early Dutch foregatherings amongst the Van
Twillers and the Stuyvesants and the Van Tassels — and
next and stronger, those others which grouped about the
great Moorish captains of Granada.
In the first — that is to say, his Knickerbocker studies —
the historic sense was active but not dominant, and his
humor in its first lusty wantonness went careering
through the files of the old magnates, like a boy at play ;
and the memor}' of the play abode with him, and had its
keen awakenings all through his life ; there was never a
year, I suspect, when the wooden leg of the doughty
Peter Stuyvesant did not come clattering spunkily, and
bringing its own boisterous welcome, to his pleased
recollection.
In the Spanish studies and amongst the Moors the
historic sense was more dominant, the humor more in
hand, and the magnificent ruins of this wrecked nation —
which had brought its trail of light across Southern
Europe from the far East — piqued all his sympathies,
appealed to all his livelier fancies, and the splendors of
court and camp lent a lustre to his pages which he greatly
relished.
No English-speaking visitor can go to the Alhambra
now, or henceforth ever will go thither, but the name of
the author we honor to-night will come to his lip, and
will lend, by some subtle magic, the' master's silver>'
utterance to the dash of the fountains, to the soughing
of the winds, to the chanting of the birds who sing in
the ruinous courts of the Alhambra.
47
But I keep you too long: — [Cries of "No! no! — go
on ! "] — and yet I have said no word yet of that quality
in him which will, I think, most of all, make Centenary
like this follow upon Centenary.
'T is the kindness in him: 't is the simple goodheart-
edness of the man.
Did he ever wrong a neighbor? Did he ever say an
unkind thing of you, or me, or any one? Can you cull
me a sneer, that has hate in it, anywhere in his books ?
Can you tell me of a thrust of either words or silence,
which has malignity in it?
Fashions of books may change — do change : a studious
realism may put in disorder the quaint dressing of his
thought ; an elegant philosophy of indifference may
pluck out the bowels from his books.
But — the fashion of his heart and of his abiding good-
will toward men will last — will last while the hills last.
And when you* and I, sir, and all of us are beyond the
reach of the centennial calls, I think that old Anthony
Van Corlear's trumpet will still boom along the banks of
the Hudson, heralding a man and a master, who to
exquisite graces of speech added purity of life, and to
the most buoyant and playful of humors added a love
for all mankind.
When the prolonged and enthusiastic applause, which
had found constant expression and which was con-
tinued for some time, had subsided, Judge Davis most
* Chief-Justice Davis presided over the assemblage, and brought to his
duties a dignity, a sympathy, and a quiet humor which went far to make
the occasion memorable.
48
happily said : •' That was a beautiful address — none
of you can deny that ; it is a marvel indeed ; and
[confidentially] let me just say to you, I don't believe
Mr. Mitchell wrote it, — Mr. Irving surely must have writ-
ten it himself ; if he did not, think how he must have
enjoyed hearing it ! " Judge Davis then announced an
address on " Irving's Influence as a Writer," by Mr.
Charles Dudley Warner.
MR. CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER'S ADDRESS.
We meet to-day — the one-hundredth anniversary of
the birth of Washington Irving — not so much to celebrate
a great event as a great influence. The number of peo-
ple interested in literature at any one time is small. Out
of the millions in the republic who can read, only a few
hundred thousand read books of literature ; a few thou-
sand copies supply the utmost demand of what is called
the reading-public for the best work of literature ; the
mind must be much awakened when it reaches the point
of desire to borrow such a wo'rk ; it has formed an un-
common intellectual habit when it reaches the desire to
buy one, for itself, and not as a piece of conventional
house-furniture, or as a holiday gift when invention fails
to suggest any thing else. Books are a necessity to few,
and do not compete in the minds of most people with the
longing for an ornament, a good dinner, or something to
"purify the blood." The author, of all craftsmen, is the
one whose occupation is regarded by the majority of the
world as most nearly superfluous, who is most insecure in
\ i
49
his position, and most open to attack, and who has no
legal right in his productions except by grace. The
Psalmist understood the disadvantages of the author ; he
knew what act would put a man in his power, and he never
exclaimed : " Oh ! that mine enemy would invent a
patent medicine."
But however literature may be regarded, it is the most
potent and enduring influence — except supernatural in-
fluence — in the world. No monument erected by men is
so lasting, no event of whatever historic significance is so
far-reaching, so perpetual in its power to mould thought,
and shape institutions, and form character. It is a silent,
controlling, civilizing force in society, permeating the
whole mass, far beyond the limit of those who recognize
its power. The birth of a boy in the little house on
William Street, in New York, a century ago, was not an
event promising importance. It was a great age, an age
of great events and great men. It was the era of the
making of a nation, of an original political development
unexampled in history ; when we recall the names of
Franklin, Washington, the Adamses, Hamilton, Madison,
Jefferson, Jay, and their compeers, we name a group of
men almost unrivalled in lustre and achievement. In the
work of that time and of the years following, which de-
termined the political destiny of America, Irving had lit-
tle share. In naming the men who had contributed most
to make America what it was up to the year 1835, the
historian would scarcely have included Washington
Irving.
A century has passed since General Washington saw
50
the last symbol of British authority in these States dis-
appear through the Narrows, and influences have gained
a new proportion in our eyes. Something else has gone
to the making of the people of the United States what
they are besides political wisdom and energy; another
force, perhaps scarcely recognized as a force, has been
slowly at work — a refining, modifying force, a process which
changes mankind, enlarges the rational pleasure of life,
gives a new tone and meaning to it, broadens and civil-
izes. About the year 1822 the elder Dana wrote to Mr.
Bryant, urging him to write a longer poem than he had
yet attempted : " There are men of talent enough to
carry on the common world, but men of genius are not
so plenty that any can afford to be idle, neither can any
man tell how great the effect of a work of genius is in
the course of time. Set about it in good earnest." No
doubt Mr. Bryant did noble service with his political pen,
but the greater service to his country and to mankind,
the service which helped to give us a place in universal
literature, was of another sort, and his influence that en-
dures is in those poems which appeal to the heart of
mankind. When Irving was creating the vast Knicker-
bocker legend, I have no doubt that it seemed idle and
ephemeral work to the politicians, lawyers, merchants,
and builders of new enterprises, in comparison with the
important business they had in hand. Their business
was important, as to-day's always is, and I would indulge
in no comparison to disparage it. But a grain of genius
is the mustard seed of the parable. The addition of one
original page to literature is of incalculable moment.
51
The real creations of the mind are indestructible, surviv-
ing monuments and even institutions. The creation may
be fanciful, whimsical, wholly in the realm of the imagi-
nation, of sympathy, of feeling. If it be genuine, it will
live on, with an influence almost incomparable. It is
simply impossible to calculate the influence of such a
writer as Irving upon a people who are familiar with him
for half a century. It is all the more effective that it is
silent, arouses no opposition, is almost unrecognized. I
speak of his influence now in the way of culture, apart
from the national historic consciousness he aided us in
attaining. I do not know how many Greeks could read
Homer ; there were probably few who did not think more
of themselves because he was a Greek.
It is my pleasure to come here to-day, a little apart from
the unrest of our affairs, into the atmosphere of Irving's
home, to still our thoughts to that intellectual calmness
in which he moved. How free he was from peevishness,
from strain, from self-consciousness ! What a liking he
had for humanity, what a kind word for the lamest, most
useless of us all I If it is asked in what consisted his
power over the hearts of his readers, it may be answered
in the words of Mrs. Browning about Napoleon — " he
had the genius to be loved." And did you ever think
what an elevating force it is in a nation to have an ob-
ject that can be loved ? Here every thing speaks of
Irving. We see this river, these indented shores, these
ravines that returning spring decks with flowers for his
birthday, these legendary mountains, in the light of his
genius. It was Irving and not Hudson who truly dis-
cuw i utiil tills river Stnd gave it to as. The early naviga-
tots used to get agnraod in it. He made it a highway
off the imagination. TiaveQeas who never leave their
firesides voyage np and down it. In the Indian summer
these shfMes are golden, tibese hills are porple, the stream
flows as in a dream. In aU seasons to aD the worid this
region weais these hues ijl romance that Irvic^ g^ve it.
His ^irit abides here. Here is his ivied cottage. Here
is his grave. I come, refnesoiting, I am sure, many who
cannot come, to lay upon it a wreath of sincere affection.
7 ess was received with constant ezinressions of
he condnding address was then announced
. - bv Prof. T^Tinianj C Wilkinson, D.D., of
PROF. WM. C WILKIXSON^S ADDRESS.
When tfcr -'',:'- ---:--.-,_- -■■ -- --rhrr's birth-
day is celer . — fpontane-
oos gather: : Diial papers blossom-
ing out z : - . t t z - -vrhere over all the field of period-
ical .be presumed that the world
ha: - "rhat it thinks of that au-
thc . rn patiently to be told by
anj- ::.z
This certainly is by = e the case as to Washing-
tor ' It is partly by ionune^ and partly by merit,
' ■ - ■ -:tever, of any age or countr>% is more
Washington Irving's fame is at least
as sure to stand idiat it now is, beyond an^^ peradventure
53
dut ooiald le»ea i^ as is tine osmaAsj x&aM wlKsae kRn-
OKcd and bdloved, mo/t Ica^ vIksoc hanoimg and hnring,
son he was. IKa^^, Was h iagtoM Ixna^s burnt is fdt saocr
off its iiBBiBMMrtaJity tiBU> is tise .AnDcsiicaoB icpoBoIfic Jlau-
tsoos gomrtiairs die, whcaa tiac baga^ys tipcy spdke sa»g-
vive. As long as tibe EaiglBA laagv^ie is ^pdkcn, Wadk-
ington Irwag wiM umAmm c to be a faawMg aartSnoc.
What are tiie rir i w i riHits ia Ina US te ajay doassclter tihat
fltake Waa him g to n Irwnig tinas imaMMtall ?
I begin witii the least ezaSlted vdbem I vaamt Iris s&|^
Nobody tliat is qnafified to ^peak at aM off stji^ ia fitccfr-
tme CDold poosiMjr, afitcr &me. caammadSam, dcoiy to
Wa ahii ^t o m Irving tine niasfeesy off a ooasnannate art of
oppression. Pesbs^s tiie cbaiacteirisltic off Iwk sSySe tbat
strikes fiist and most Strang^ is tiDe air «iff ahwnHntfr ease
tiiat pervades it. For niy part, I know off no writer in
any laogoa^e tiiat iinipresses his Rsaderwittb a. sense nnoic
absidnte off tbe abwrnrr off eibrt in pmdncttion. This
oestainly in tbose cowopositMWBS oS. his wlricb arc tbe finnt
of his most iw Innat e moods. His f'^ i iff i *"'^ off wonds
and off owiwil mctMins srf ms» iBmo^ magirallB mmacnflons.
Tbati^ it would seem so, iff yon were not bcgnOed oat off
thinkia^ off the matter at aO, by the vcfj p eife i ii un off
the resolt. These is afflwpnre off dirtioa, these is vasiely
of tnsn to the phrase, these is snp t cme aponflaaeoas fit-
ness between the idea to be czpscssed and the langna^c
cfaosfiii to capteas the idea — and ^ this goes on, page
after p^c; with never a bseal^ nntil yon asc Almost leady
to bcfieve that yon have ^^ied apoa aa aathor at fast
to whom composition is as easy and as deBgjhtfal as it is
54
for the rivulet to flow down to the sea or for the lark on
May mornings to sing out of his full heart,
" In profuse strains of unpremeditated art."
I said that in naming style as an element in Irving's
literary character, I should name the least exalted of the
elements that made him the writer that he was. But in
truth, as has been said, the style is of the man, Irving's
style was the perfect impress of his genius, and his
genius was the reflection of his character. He was at ease
within himself. There was no discord in him. He was
made up of melody, of harmony. There could be no
strain, no hardness, no want of grace, in his expression
of himself, for there were none of these things in the
man to be expressed. The ease, therefore, of Irving's
style is not an external, accidental attribute. It belonged
to his style, because it belonged first to the man.
Akin to ease of style in Irving is another quality
which I am somewhat at a loss to name properly. I
shall call it urbanity. This element of urbanity diffuses
itself everywhere over Irving's pages. It makes an
atmosphere that covers them and beautifies them.
Whether you laugh or cry, or are simply entertained
and instructed, no matter, you are still conscious of an
indescribable circumfluent charm that enfolds you when-
ever you read what Irving wrote. There is a matchless
spell to win and to master in this exquisite urbanity on
the part of an author. It is a flattery to you that you
cannot resist, as you cannot escape. It is impersonal and
personal, both at once. It respects everybody, but it
55
also respects you. It is absolutely genuine on the part
of Irving. It is not an expedient adopted. If it were,
it would be sometimes an expedient forgotten. You
would now and then be inadvertently permitted to look
behind the mask. But in Irving there was no mask.
The urbane smile that you meet is a true smile, not a
smirk. It is not a set grimace, but a sweet mobile play
of ever-changeful, but ever-urbane expression.
But now, of course, I have been using an inadequate
word. The urbanity of Irving's style deserves a better
name. Let us go inward and find a better. At heart,
Irving's urbanity was less urbanity than benignity.
The benignity that I ascribe to Irving's literary char-
acter is not an insipid negative trait. It has a pro-
nounced individual flavor. It is so sure of itself, it feels
so fixed in truth, that it can do what it will without fear.
It can deal with your foibles and laugh at you. It can
make others laugh at you. It can make you laugh at
yourself, and you shall not be hurt or feel offended.
You shall not lose any part of your self-respect. The
reason is, you know that this sweetly-attempered genius,
this soul of urbanity, of benignity, at bottom respects
you and loves you. You confide in him unreservedly.
You consent that he should have you laughing or weep-
ing at his will.
Those two things, mated to each other, each the other's
completing half — I mean Irving's humor and his pathos,
— are simply two different expressions of the one whole,
round, perfect benignity of his nature. His eye twinkles
now in pure mirth, and you laugh — melts now in soft
/
56
pathos, and you weep. But you have responded in both
cases to benignity still — only in two variant moods. You
love this writer — you cannot help it, for you feel sure,
whoever you are, that he loves you.
So I carry up the writer to the man — his literary char-
acteristics to his personal. As old an author as Aristotle
— pagan, too, though he was — told us that the good ora-
tor should be a good man. The same thing must be said
of the good writer. And Washington Irving was a good
man. We do not need to say that he was of an heroic
goodness. That we do not know. But he was pure,
upright, good.
Blessings on his memory ! Those of us at least who
live here have done what Choate once passionately said
concerning Webster: we have buried him in our hearts.
His memory is a benediction, under the unfailing dew of
which our hearts are perennially freshened and glad-
dened. Irving's literary characteristics here are dis-
solved away from our view. We cannot keep them
fixed to look at them. They melt and merge, blended
into the lovely image of the man himself, who lived and
is buried. Let us be thankful for the dust that makes
Tarrytown a Mecca of the mind and of the heart, a
goal of pilgrimage, a spot of " haunted holy ground."
[Applause].
The benediction was then pronounced by Professor
T. Sandford Doolittle, D.D., of Rutgers College, New
Brunswick, N. J., and then, the exercises being con-
cluded, the gratified audience — which had paid the
closest attention, and welcomed the entire programme
57
with warm expressions of approval — dispersed, to take
with them and forever keep the memory of that soft
April evening when, upon the occasion of the one
hundredth anniversary of his birth, the name of WASH-
INGTON Irving was recalled and honored in the little
town where he lived and died, which he loved so well,
and within whose beautiful cemetery of Sleepy Hollow
his remains are fittingly enshrined, to be visited by
future generations that will not forget the writer or
the man !
i
A.
Ms-