MR. BEY ANT'S ADDRESS ON HIS LIFE AND GENIUS. 
 
 ADDRESSES BY EVERETT, BANCROFT, LONGFELLOW, FELTON, 
 ASPINWALL, KING, FRANCIS, GREENE. 
 
 MR. ALLIBONE'S SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 
 
 WITH EIGHT PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM. 
 1860. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by 
 G. P. PUTNAM, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 
 District of New York, 
 
 R. CRAIOHEAD, 
 
 Printer, Stereotyper, and Electrotyper, 
 
 Carton twitting, 
 
 31. 83, and 85 Centre Street. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. BRYANT'S DISCOURSE ON IRVING. 
 
 II. ADDRESSES IN BOSTON AND NEW YORK, by 
 
 EDWARD EVERETT, COL. T. ASPINWALL, 
 
 PROF. C. C. FELTON, GEO. BANCROFT, 
 
 H. W. LONGFELLOW, CHARLES KING, 
 
 OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, DR. J. W. FRANCIS 
 
 GEO. W. GREENE. 
 
 III. SKETCH OF IRVING'S LIFE AND WORKS, 
 
 By S. AUSTIN ALLIBONE, Esq. 
 
 Photographs : 
 
 1. Portrait of IRVING at 27, . . . JARVIS. 
 
 2. Portrait of IRVING at 37, NEWTON. 
 
 3. Bust of IRVING at 50, BALL HUGHES. 
 
 4. Sketch of DANIEL WEBSTER, BRYANT, and ) 
 
 T <. /^ m *: IORQ > . . D. HuNTlNGTON. 
 
 IRVING, at Cooper Meeting, 1852. ) 
 
 5. Daguerreotype of IRVING in 1849, PLUMBE. 
 
 6. Portrait (the last one), 1851, MARTIN. 
 
 7. Portrait of W. C. BRYANT, Daguerreotype. 
 
 8. View of Sunnyside, MILLER. 
 
LIFE, CHARACTER AND GENIUS 
 
 or 
 
 WASHINGTON IRVING 
 
 BY WILLIAM CULLEN BETANT. 
 
w 
 
 p* 
 
 w *; 
 
A DISCOURSE 
 
 LIFE, CHAKACTEE AND GENIUS 
 
 OF 
 
 WASHINGTON IRVING, 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 
 
 AT THE ACADEMY OP MUSIC IN NEW YORK, 
 
 ON THE 3D OP APRIL, 1860. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. 
 
 NEW YOKK: 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM, 115 NASSAU STREET, 
 1860. 
 
ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by 
 WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of 
 New York. 
 
 W. H. TINSON Stereotyper. R. CRAIGHEAD, Printer. 
 
A DISCOUESE 
 
 ON THE LIFE, CHARACTER, AND GENIUS OF WASHINGTON IRVING, 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 
 
 AT THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC, IN NEW YORK, 
 
 ON THE 3D OF APRIL, 1860, 
 
 BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. 
 
 WE have come together, my friends, on the birthday of an 
 illustrious citizen of our republic, but so recent is his de- 
 parture from among us, that our assembling is rather an expres- 
 sion of sorrow for his death than of congratulation that such a man 
 was born into the world. His admirable writings, the beauti- 
 ful products of his peculiar genius, remain, to be the enjoyment 
 of the present and future generations. We keep the recollection 
 of his amiable and blameless life, and his kindly manners, and 
 for these we give thanks ; but the thought will force itself upon 
 us that the light of his friendly eye is quenched, that we must 
 no more hear his beloved voice, nor take his welcome hand. It 
 is as if some genial year had just closed and left us in frost and 
 gloom ; its flowery spring, its leafy summer, its plenteous autumn, 
 flown, never to return. Its gifts are strewn around us ; its 
 harvests are in our garners j but its season of bloom, and warmth, 
 
6 WASHINGTON IKVING. 
 
 and fruitfulness is past. We look around us and see that the 
 sunshine, which filled the golden ear and tinged the reddening 
 apple, brightens the earth no more. 
 
 Twelve years since, the task was assigned me to deliver the 
 funeral eulogy of Thomas Cole, the great father of landscape 
 painting in America, the artist who first taught the pencil to 
 portray, with the boldness of nature, our wild forests and lake 
 shores, our mountain regions and the borders of our majestic 
 rivers. Five years later I was bidden to express, in such terms 
 as I could command, the general sorrow which was felt for the 
 death of Fenimore Cooper, equally great and equally the leader 
 of his countrymen in a different walk of creative genius. 
 Another grave has been opened, and he who has gone down to 
 it, earlier than they in his labors and his fame, was, like them, 
 foremost in the peculiar walk to which his genius attracted him. 
 Cole was taken from us in the zenith of his manhood ; Cooper, 
 when the sun of life had stooped from its meridian. In both 
 instances the day was darkened by the cloud of death before the 
 natural hour of its close ; but Irving was permitted to behold 
 its light until, in the fulness of time and by the ordinary appoint- 
 ment of nature, it was carried below the horizon. 
 
 Washington Irving was born in New York, on the third of 
 April, 1183, but a few days after the news of the treaty with 
 Great Britain, acknowledging our independence, had been re- 
 ceived, to the great contentment of the people. He opened his 
 eyes to the light, therefore, just in the dawn of that Sabbath of 
 peace which brought rest to the land after a weary seven years' 
 war just as the city of which he was a native, and the republic 
 of which he was yet to be the ornament, were entering upon a 
 career of greatness and prosperity of which those who inhabited 
 them could scarce have dreamed. It seems fitting that one of 
 
ANECDOTE OF WASHINGTON. 7 
 
 the first births of the new peace, so welcome to the country, 
 should be that of a genius as kindly and fruitful as peace itself, 
 and destined to make the world better and happier by its gentle 
 influences. In one respect, those who were born at that time 
 had the advantage of those who are educated under the more 
 vulgar influences of the present age. Before their eyes were 
 placed, in the public actions of the men who achieved our revo- 
 lution, noble examples of steady rectitude, magnanimous self- 
 denial, and cheerful self-sacrifice for the sake of their country. 
 Irving carruB into the world when these great and virtuous men 
 were in the prime of their manhood, and passed his youth in the 
 midst of that general reverence which gathered round them as 
 they grew old. 
 
 William Irving, the father of the great author, was a native 
 of Scotland one of a race in which the instinct of veneration is 
 strong and a Scottish woman was employed as a nurse in his 
 household. It is related that one day while she was walking in 
 the street with her little charge, then five years old, she saw 
 General Washington in a shop, and, entering, led up the boy, 
 whom she presented as one to whom his name had been given. 
 The general turned, laid his hand on the child's head, and gave 
 him his smile and his blessing, little thinking that they were 
 bestowed upon his future biographer. The gentle pressure of 
 that hand Irving always remembered, and that blessing, he 
 believed, attended him through life. Who shall say what power 
 that recollection may have had in keeping him true to high and 
 generous aims ? 
 
 At the time that Washington Irving was born, the city of 
 New York contained scarcely more than twenty thousand in- 
 habitants. During the war its population had probably 
 diminished. The town was scarcely built up to Warren street ; 
 
8 OLD NEW YORK. 
 
 Broadway, a little beyond, was lost among grassy pastures and 
 tilled fields ; the Park, in which now stands our City Hall, was 
 an open common, and beyond it gleamed, in a hollow among the 
 meadows, a little sheet of fresh water, the Kolch, from which a 
 sluggish rivulet stole through the low grounds called Lispenard's 
 Meadows, and following the course of what is now Canal street, 
 entered the Hudson. With the exception of the little corner of 
 the island below the present City Hall, the rural character of 
 the whole region was unchanged, and the fresh air of the country 
 entered New York at every street. The town at that tune 
 contained a mingled population, drawn from different countries ; 
 but the descendants of the old Dutch settlers formed a large 
 proportion of the inhabitants, and these preserved many of their 
 peculiar customs, and had not ceased to use the speech of their 
 ancestors at their firesides. Many of them lived in the quaint 
 old houses, built of small yellow bricks from Holland, with their 
 notched gable-ends on the streets, which have since been swept 
 away with the language of those who built them. 
 
 In the surrounding country, along its rivers and beside its 
 harbors, and in many parts far inland, the original character of 
 the Dutch settlements was still less changed. Here they read 
 their Bibles and said their prayers and listened to sermons in 
 the ancestral tongue. Remains of this language yet linger in a 
 few neighborhoods ; but in most, the common schools, and ihe 
 irruptions of the Yankee race, and the growth of a population 
 newly derived from Europe, have stifled the ancient utterances 
 of New Amsterdam. I remember that twenty years since the 
 market people of Bergen chattered Dutch in the steamers which 
 brought them in the early morning to New York. I remember 
 also that, about ten years before, there were families in the 
 westernmost towns of Massachusetts where Dutch was still the 
 
THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 9 
 
 household tongue, and matrons of the English stock, marrying 
 into them, were laughed at for speaking it so badly. 
 
 It will be readily inferred that the isolation in which the use 
 of a language, strange to the rest of the country, placed these 
 people, would form them to a character of peculiar simplicity, 
 in which there was a great deal that was quaint and not a 
 little that would appear comic to their neighbors of the Anglo- 
 Saxon stock. It was among such a population, friendly and 
 hospitable, wearing their faults on the outside, and living in 
 homely comfort on their fertile and ample acres, that the boy- 
 hood and early youth of Irving were passed. He began, while 
 yet a stripling, to wander about the surrounding country, for the 
 love of rambling was the most remarkable peculiarity of that 
 period of his life. He became, as he himself writes, familiar with 
 all the neighboring places famous in history or fable, knew 
 every spot where a murder or a robbery had been committed or 
 a ghost seen ; strolled into the villages, noted their customs and 
 talked with their sages, a welcome guest, doubtless, with his 
 kindly and ingenuous manners and the natural playful turn of his 
 conversation. 
 
 I dwell upon these particulars because they help to show here 
 how the mind of Irving was trained, and by what process he 
 made himself master of the materials afterward wrought into 
 the forms we so much admire. It was in these rambles that his 
 strong love of nature was awakened and nourished. Those who 
 only know the island of New York as it now is, see few traces 
 of the beauty it wore before it was levelled and smoothed from 
 side to side for the builder. Immediately without the little 
 town, it was charmingly diversified with heights and hollows, 
 groves alternating with sunny openings, shining tracks of riv- 
 ulets, quiet country-seats with trim gardens, broad avenues of 
 
10 THE BANKS OF THE HUDSON. 
 
 trees, and lines of pleached hawthorn hedges. I came to New 
 York in 1825, and I well recollect how much I admired the 
 shores of the Hudson above Canal street, where the dark rocks 
 jutted far out in the water, with little bays between, above 
 which drooped forest trees overrun with wild vines. No less 
 beautiful were the shores of the East River, where the orchards 
 of the Stuyvesant estate reached to cliffs beetling over the 
 water, and still further on were inlets between rocky banks 
 bristling with red cedars. Some idea of this beauty may be 
 formed from looking at what remains of the natural shore of 
 New York island where the tides of the East River rush to and 
 fro by the rocky verge of Jones's Wood. 
 
 Here wandered Irving in his youth, and allowed the aspect of 
 that nature which he afterward portrayed so well to engrave 
 itself on his heart ; but his excursions were not confined to this 
 island. He became familiar with the banks of the Hudson, the 
 extraordinary beauty of which he was the first to describe. He 
 made acquaintance with the Dutch neighborhoods sheltered by 
 its hills, Nyack, Haverstraw, Sing Sing and Sleepy Hollow, and 
 with the majestic Highlands beyond. His rambles in another 
 direction led him to ancient Communipaw, lying in its quiet 
 recess by New York bay ; to the then peaceful Gowanus, now 
 noisy with the passage of visitors to Greenwood and thronged 
 with funerals ; to Hoboken, Horsimus and Paulus Hook, which 
 has since become a city. A ferry-boat dancing on the rapid 
 tides took him over to Brooklyn, now our flourishing and 
 beautiful neighbor city ; then a cluster of Dutch farms, whose 
 possessors lived in broad, low houses, with stoops in front, over- 
 shadowed by trees. 
 
 The generation with whom Irving grew up read the " Specta- 
 tor " and the " Rambler," the essays and tales of Mackenzie and 
 
SCHOOL DAYS. 11 
 
 those of Goldsmith ; the novels of the day were those of Rich- 
 ardson, Fielding and Smollett ; the religious world were occu- 
 pied with the pages of Hannah More, fresh from the press, and 
 with the writings of Doddridge ; politicians sought their models 
 of style and reasoning in the speeches of Burke and the writ- 
 ings of Mackintosh and Junius. These were certainly masters 
 of whom no pupil needed to be ashamed, but it can hardly be 
 said that the style of Irving was formed in the school of any 
 of them. His father's library was enriched with authors of the 
 Elizabethan age, and he delighted, we are told, in reading Chau- 
 cer and Spenser. The elder of these great poets might have 
 taught him the art of heightening his genial humor with poetic 
 graces, and from both he might have learned a freer mastery 
 over his native English than the somewhat formal taste of that 
 day encouraged. Cowper's poems, at that time, were in every- 
 body's hands, and if his father had not those of Burns, we must 
 believe that he was no Scotchman. I think we may fairly 
 infer that if the style of Irving took a bolder range than was 
 allowed in the way of writing which prevailed when he was a 
 youth, it was owing, in a great degree, to his studies in the 
 poets, and especially in those of the earlier English literature. 
 
 He owed little to the schools, though he began to attend 
 them early. His first instructions were given when he was 
 between four and six years old, by Mrs. Ann Kilmaster, at her 
 school in Ann street, who seems to have had some difficulty in 
 getting him through the alphabet. In 1789, he was transferred 
 to a school in Fulton street, then called Partition street, kept 
 by Benjamin Romaine, who had been a soldier in the Revolution 
 a sensible man and a good disciplinarian, but probably an 
 indifferent scholar and here he continued till he was fourteen 
 years of age. He was a favorite with the master, but preferred 
 
12 EARLY TEACHEKS. - 
 
 reading to regular study. At ten years of age he delighted in 
 the wild tales of Ariosto, as translated by Hoole ; at eleven, he 
 was deep in books of voyages and travels, which he took to 
 school and read by stealth. At that time he composed with 
 remarkable ease and fluency, and exchanged tasks with the other 
 boys, writing their compositions, while they solved his problems 
 in arithmetic, which he detested. At the age of thirteen he 
 tried his hand at composing a play, which was performed by 
 children at a friend's house, and of which he afterward forgot 
 every part, even the title. 
 
 Romaine gave up teaching in 1791, and in that year Irving 
 entered a school kept in Beekman street, by Jonathan Irish, 
 probably the most accomplished of his instructors. He left this 
 school in March, 1798, but continued for a time to receive pri- 
 vate lessons from the same teacher, at home. Dr. Francis, in 
 his pleasant reminiscences of Irving's early life, speaks of him as 
 preparing to enter Columbia College, and as being prevented by 
 the state of his health j but it is certain that an indifference to 
 the acquisition of learning had taken possession of him at that 
 age, which he afterward greatly regretted. 
 
 At the age of sixteen he entered his name as a student at law 
 in the office of Josiah Ogden Hoffman, an eminent advocate, 
 who, in later life, became a judge in one of our principal tribu- 
 nals. It was while engaged in his professional studies that he 
 made his first appearance as an author. I should have men- 
 tioned, among the circumstances that favored the unfolding of 
 his literary capacities, that two of his elder brothers were men 
 of decided literary tastes, William Irving, some seventeen years 
 his senior, and Dr. Peter Irving, who, in the year 1802, founded 
 a daily paper in New York, at a time when a daily paper was 
 not, as now, an enterprise requiring a large outlay of capital, 
 
FEBST JOUKNEY ABROAD. 13 
 
 but an experiment that might be tried and abandoned with lit- 
 tle risk. Dr. Irving established the " Morning Chronicle," and 
 his younger brother contributed a series of essays, bearing the 
 signature of Jonathan Oldstyle, of which Mr. Duyckinck, whose 
 judgment I willingly accept, says that they show how early he 
 acquired the style which so much charms us in his later writ- 
 ings. 
 
 In 1804, having reached the age of twenty-one, Irving, 
 alarmed by an increasing weakness of the chest, visited Europe 
 for the sake of his health. He sailed directly to the south of 
 France, landed at Bordeaux in May, and passed two months in 
 Genoa, where he embarked for Messina, in search of a softer 
 climate than any to be found on the Italian peninsula. While 
 at Messina, he saw the fleet of Nelson sweeping by that port on 
 its way to fight the great naval battle of Trafalgar. He made 
 the tour of Sicily, and crossing from Palermo to Naples, pro- 
 ceeded to Rome. Here he formed the acquaintance of Washing- 
 ton Allston, who was then entering on a career of art as extra- 
 ordinary as that of Irving in literature. With Allston he made 
 long rambles in the picturesque neighborhood of that old city, 
 visited the galleries of its palaces and villas, and studied their 
 works of art with a delight that rose to enthusiasm. He thought 
 of the dry pursuit of the law which awaited his return to Ame- 
 rica, and for which he had no inclination, and almost deter- 
 mined to be a painter. Allston encouraged him in this disposi- 
 tion, and together they planned the scheme of a life devoted to 
 the pursuit of art. It was fortunate for the world that, as 
 Irving reflected on the matter, doubts arose in his mind which 
 tempered his enthusiasm, and led him to a different destiny. The 
 two friends separated, each to take his own way to renown 
 Allston to become one of the greatest of painters, and Irving to 
 
WILLIAM IKVING. 
 
 take his place among the greatest of authors. Leaving Italy, 
 Irving passed through Switzerland to France, resided in Paris 
 several months, travelled through Flanders and Holland, went 
 to England, and returned to his native country in 1806, after 
 an absence of two years. 
 
 At the close of the year he was admitted to practice as an 
 attorney-at-law. He opened an office, but it could not be said 
 that he ever became a practitioner. He began the year 1807 
 with the earliest of those literary labors which have won him 
 the admiration of the world. On the 24th of January 
 appeared, in the form of a small .pamphlet, the first number of 
 a periodical entitled " Salmagundi," the joint production of him- 
 self, his brother William, and James K. Paulding. The elder 
 brother contributed the poetry, with hints and outlines for some 
 of the essays, but nearly all the prose was written by the two 
 younger associates. 
 
 William Irving, however, had talent enough to have taken a 
 more important part in the work. He was a man of wit, well 
 educated, well informed, and the author of many clever things 
 written for the press, in a vein of good natured satire and pub- 
 lished without his name. He was held in great esteem on 
 account of his personal character, and had great weight in Con- 
 gress, of which he was for some years a member.* 
 
 When " Salmagundi " appeared, the quaint old Dutch town in 
 which Irving was born had become transformed to a compara- 
 tively gay metropolis. Its population of twenty thousand souls 
 had enlarged to more than eighty thousand, although its aris- 
 tocratic class had yet their residences in what seems now to us 
 the narrow space between the Battery and Wall street. The 
 
 * See a brief but well written memoir of William Irving by Dr. Berrian. 
 
SALMAGUNDI. 15 
 
 modes and fashions of Europe were imported fresh and fresh. 
 " Salmagundi " speaks of leather breeches as all the rage for a 
 morning dress, and flesh-colored smalls for an evening party. 
 Gay equipages dashed through the streets. A new theatre had 
 risen in Park Row, on the boards of which Cooper, one of the 
 finest declaimers, was performing to crowded houses. The 
 churches had multiplied faster than the places of amusement ; 
 other public buildings of a magnificence hitherto unknown, 
 including our present City Hall, had been erected ; Tammany 
 Hall, fresh from the hands of the builder, overlooked the Park. 
 We began to affect a taste for pictures, and the rooms of 
 Michael Paff, the famous German picture dealer in Broadway, 
 were a favorite lounge for such connoisseurs as we then had, 
 who amused themselves with making him talk of Michael 
 Angelo. Ballston Springs were the great fashionable watering- 
 place of the country, to which resorted the planters of the South 
 with splendid equipages and troops of shining blacks in livery. 
 " Salmagundi" satirized the follies and ridiculed the humors of 
 the time with great prodigality of wit and no less exuberance of 
 good nature. In form it resembles the " Tattler," and that numer- 
 ous brood of periodical papers to which the success of the " Tat- 
 tler" and " Spectator" gave birth; but it is in no sense an imita- 
 tion. Its gaiety is its own; its style of humor is not that of Addi- 
 son nor Goldsmith, though it has all the genial spirit of theirs; 
 nor is it borrowed from any other writer. It is far more frolic- 
 some and joyous, yet tempered by a native gracefulness. " Salma- 
 gundi " was manifestly written without the fear of criticism before 
 the eyes of the authors, and to this sense of perfect freedom in 
 the exercise of their genius the charm is probably owing which 
 makes us still read it with so much delight. Irving never 
 seemed to place much value on the part he contributed to this 
 
16 CONTEMPORARY AUTHORSHIP. 
 
 work, yet I doubt whether he ever excelled some of those papers 
 in Salmagundi which bear the most evident marks of his style, 
 and Paulding, though he has since acquired a reputation by his 
 other writings, can hardly be said to have written anything bet- 
 ter than the best of those which are ascribed to his pen. 
 
 Just before Salmagundi appeared, several of the authors who 
 gave the literature of England its present character had begun 
 to write. For five years the quarterly issues of the " Edin- 
 burgh Review," then in the most brilliant period of its existence, 
 had been before the public. Hazlitt had taken his place among 
 the authors, and John Foster had published his essays. Of the 
 poets, Rogers, Campbell and Moore were beginning to be popu- 
 lar ; Wordsworth had published his Lyrical Ballads, Scott, his 
 Lay of the Last Ministrel, Southey, his Madoc, and Joanna 
 Baillie two volumes of her plays. In this revival of the crea- 
 tive power in literature it is pleasant to see that our own coun- 
 try took part, contributing a work of a character as fresh and 
 original as any they produced on the other side of the Atlantic. 
 
 Nearly two years afterward, in the autumn of 1809, 
 appeared in the " Evening Post," addressed to the humane, an 
 advertisement requesting information concerning a small elderly 
 gentleman named Knickerbocker, dressed in a black coat and 
 cocked hat, who had suddenly left his lodgings at the Columbian 
 Hotel in Mulberry street, and had not been heard of after- 
 ward. In the beginning of November, a " Traveller " commu- 
 nicated to the same journal the information that he had seen a 
 person answering to this description, apparently fatigued with 
 his journey, resting by the road-side a little north of Kings- 
 bridge. Ten days later Seth Handaside, the landlord of the 
 Columbian Hotel, gave notice, through the same journal, that he 
 had found in the missing gentleman's chamber " a curious kind 
 
WASHINGTON IRVING, FROM THE PICTURE BY JARVIS, 
 1809 aet. 27. 
 

DIEDRICH KNICKERBOCKER. IT 
 
 of written book," which lie should print by way of reimbursing 
 himself for what his lodger owed him. In December following, 
 Inskeep and Bradford, booksellers, published "Diedrich Knicker- 
 bocker's History of New York." 
 
 " Salmagundi" had prepared the public to receive this work 
 with favor, and Seth Handaside had no reason to regret having 
 undertaken its publication. I recollect well its early and imme- 
 diate popularity. I was then a youth in college, and having 
 committed to memory a portion of it to repeat as a declamation 
 before my class, I was so overcome with laughter, when I 
 appeared on the floor, that I was unable to proceed, and drew 
 upon myself the rebuke of the tutor. 
 
 I have just read this " History of New York " over again, 
 and I found myself no less delighted than when I first turned its 
 pages in my early youth. When I compare it with other 
 works of wit and humor of a similar length, I find that, unlike 
 most of them, it carries forward the reader to the conclusion 
 without weariness or satiety, so unsought, spontaneous, self-sug- 
 gested are the wit and the humor. The author makes us laugh, 
 because he can no more help it than we can help laughing. 
 Scott, in one of his letters, compared the humor of this work to 
 that of Swift. The rich vein of Irving's mirth is of a quality 
 quite distinct from the dry drollery of Swift, but they have this 
 in common, that they charm by the utter absence of effort, and 
 this was probably the ground of Scott's remark. A critic in the 
 " London Quarterly," some years after its appearance, spoke of 
 it as a " tantalizing book," on account of his inability to under- 
 stand what he called " the point of many of the allusions in this 
 political satire." I fear he must have been one of those respect- 
 able persons who find it difficult to understand a joke unless it 
 l)e accompanied with a commentary opening and explaining it 
 
18 AN OLDEN FLAVOR. 
 
 to the humblest capacity. Scott found no such difficulty. 
 "Our sides," he says, in a letter to Mr. Brevoort, a friend of 
 Irving, written just after he had read the book, <r are absolutely 
 sore with laughing." The mirth of the " History of New 
 York " is of the most transparent sort, and the author, even in 
 the later editions, judiciously abstained from any attempt to 
 make it more intelligible by notes. 
 
 I find in this work more manifest traces than in his other 
 writings of what Irving owed to the earlier authors in our lan- 
 guage. The quaint poetic coloring, and often the phraseology, 
 betray the disciple of Chaucer and Spenser. We are conscious 
 of a flavor of the olden time, as of a racy wine of some rich 
 vintage 
 
 u Cooled a long age in the deep-delved earth. 
 
 I will not say that there are no passages in this work which 
 are not worthy of their context ; that we do not sometimes 
 meet with phraseology which we could wish changed, that the 
 wit does not sometimes run wild and drop here and there a jest 
 which we could willingly spare. We forgive, we overlook, we 
 forget all this as we read, in consideration of the entertainment 
 we have enjoyed, and of that which beckons us onward in the 
 next page. Of all mock-heroic .works, "Knickerbocker's His- 
 tory of New York " is the gayest, the airiest, and the least tire- 
 some. 
 
 In 1848 Mr. Irving issued an edition of this work, to which 
 he prefixed what he called an " Apology," intended in part as 
 an answer to those who thought he had made too free with the 
 names of our old Dutch families. To speak frankly, I do not 
 much wonder that the descendants of the original founders of 
 New Amsterdam should have hardly known whether to laugh 
 
MAGAZINE WRITING. 19 
 
 or look grave on finding the names of their ancestors, of whom 
 they never thought but with respect, now connected with ludi- 
 crous associations, by a wit of another race. In one of his 
 excellent historical discourses Mr. Yerplanck had gently com- 
 plained of this freedom, expressing himself, as he said, more in 
 sorrow than in anger. Even the sorrow, I believe, must have 
 long since wholly passed away, when it is seen how little 
 Irving's pleasantries have detracted from the honor paid to the 
 early history of our city at all events, I do not see how it 
 could survive Irving's good-humored and graceful Apology. 
 
 It was not long after the publication of the " History of New 
 York " that Irving abandoned the profession of law, for which he 
 had so decided a distaste as never to have fully tried his capa- 
 city for pursuing it. Two of his brothers were engaged in com- 
 merce, and they received him as a silent partner. He did not, 
 however, renounce his literary occupations. He wrote, in 1810, 
 a memoir of Campbell, the poet, prefaced to an edition of the 
 writings of that author, which appeared in Philadelphia ; and 
 in 1813 and the following year, employed himself as editor of 
 the " Analectic Magazine," published in the same city ; making 
 the experiment of his talent for a vocation to which men of 
 decided literary tastes in this country are strongly inclined to 
 betake themselves. Those who remember this magazine cannot 
 have forgotten that it was a most entertaining miscellany, 
 partly compiled from English publications, mostly periodicals, 
 and partly made up of contributions of some of our own best 
 writers. Paulding wrote for it a series of biographical accounts 
 of the naval commanders of the United States, which added 
 greatly to its popularity ; and Yerplanck contributed memoirs of 
 Commodore Stewart and General Scott, Barlow, the poet, and 
 other distinguished Americans, which were received with favor. 
 
20 IN MEMOEIAM. 
 
 The Life of Campbell, with the exception perhaps of some less 
 important contributions to the magazine, is the only published 
 work of Irving between the appearance of the " History of New 
 York," in 1809, and that of the " Sketch Book," in 1819. 
 
 It was during this interval that an event took place which 
 had a marked influence on Irving's future life, affected the char- 
 acter of his writings, and, now that the death of both parties 
 allow it to be spoken of without reserve, gives a peculiar inter- 
 est to his personal history. He became attached to a young 
 lady whom he was to have married. She died unwedded, in the 
 flower of her age ; there was a sorrowful leave-taking between 
 her and her lover, as the grave was about to separate them on 
 the eve of what should have been her bridal ; and Irving, ever 
 after, to the close of his life, tenderly and faithfully cherished 
 her memory. In one of the biographical notices published 
 immediately after Irving's death, an old, well-worn copy of 
 the Bible is spoken of, which was kept lying on the table in 
 his chamber, within reach of his bedside, bearing her name on 
 the title page in a delicate female hand a relic which we may 
 presume to have been his constant companion. Those who are 
 fond of searching, in the biographies of eminent men, for the 
 circumstances which determined the bent of their genius, find in 
 this sad event, and the cloud it threw over the hopeful and 
 cheerful period of early manhood, an explanation of the transi- 
 tion from the unbounded playfulness of the " History of New 
 York " to the serious, tender and meditative vein of the " Sketch 
 Book." 
 
 In 1815, soon after our second peace with Great Britain, 
 Irving sailed again for Europe, and fixed himself at Liverpool, 
 where a branch of the large commercial house to which he be- 
 longed was established. His old love of rambling returned upon 
 
THE SKETCH BOOK. 21 
 
 him ; he wandered first into Wales, and over some of the finest 
 counties of England, and then northward to the sterner region 
 of the Scottish Highlands. His memoir of Campbell had pro- 
 cured him the acquaintance and friendship of that poet. Camp- 
 bell gave him, more than a year after his arrival in .England, a 
 letter of introduction to Scott, who, already acquainted with him 
 by his writings, welcomed him warmly to Abbotsford, and made 
 him his friend for life. Scott sent a special message to Camp- 
 bell, thanking him for having made him known to Irving. 
 "He is one of the best and pleasantest acquaintances/ 7 said 
 Scott, " that I have made this many a day." 
 
 In the same year that he visited Abbotsford his brothers failed. 
 The changes which followed the peace of 1815, swept away their 
 fortunes and his together, and he was now to begin the world 
 anew. 
 
 In 1819, he began to publish the Sketch Book. It was writ- 
 ten in England and sent over to New York, where it was issued 
 by Van Winkle, in octavo numbers, containing from seventy to 
 a hundred pages. In the preface he remarked that he was 
 " unsettled in his abode," that he had " his cares and vicissi- 
 tudes," and could not, therefore, give these papers the " tranquil 
 attention necessary to finished composition." Several of them 
 were copied with praise in the London " Literary Gazette," and 
 an intimation was conveyed to the author, that some person in 
 London was about to publish them entire. He preferred to do 
 this himself, and accordingly offered the work to the famous 
 bookseller, Murray. Murray was slow in giving the matter his 
 attention, and Irving, after a reasonable delay, wrote to ask 
 that the copy which he had left with him might be returned. It 
 was sent back with a note, pleading excess of occupation, the 
 great cross of all eminent booksellers, and alleging the " want 
 
22 MIKTH AND PATHOS. 
 
 of scope in the nature of the work," as a reason for declining it. 
 This was discouraging, but Irving had the enterprise to print 
 the first volume in London, at his own risk. It was issued by 
 John Miller, and was well received, but in a month afterward 
 the publisher failed. Immediately Sir Walter Scott came to 
 London and saw Murray, who allowed himself to be persuaded, 
 the more easily, doubtless, on account of the partial success of 
 the first volume, that the work had more " scope" than he sup- 
 posed, and purchased the copyright of both volumes for two hun- 
 dred pounds, which he afterward liberally raised to four hundred. 
 Whoever compares the Sketch Book with the History of New 
 York might at first, perhaps, fail to recognize it as the work of 
 the same hand, so much graver and more thoughtful is the 
 strain in which it is written. A more attentive examination, 
 however, shows that the humor in the lighter parts is of the 
 same peculiar and original cast, wholly unlike that of any author 
 who ever wrote, a humor which Mr. Dana happily characterized 
 as "a fanciful playing with common things, and here and 
 there beautiful touches, till the ludicrous becomes half pictur- 
 esque." Yet one cannot help perceiving that the author's 
 spirit had been sobered since he last appeared before the pub- 
 lic, as if the shadow of a great sorrow had fallen upon it. The 
 greater number of the papers are addressed to our deeper 
 sympathies, and some of them, as, for example, the Broken 
 Heart, the Widow and Her Son, and Rural Funerals, dwell 
 upon the saddest themes. Only in two of them Rip Yan 
 Winkle and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow does he lay the reins 
 loose on the neck of his frolicsome fancy, and allow it to dash 
 forward without restraint ; and these rank among the most de- 
 lightful and popular tales ever written. In our country they have 
 been read, I believe, by nearly everybody who can read at all. 
 
WASHINGTON IRVINGFROM THE PICTUBE BY STUART NEWTON. 
 1820 set. 87. 
 
ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 23 
 
 The " Sketch Book," and the two succeeding works of Irving, 
 " Bracebridge Hall" and the ' Tales of a Traveller," abound with 
 agreeable pictures of English life, seen under favorable lights 
 and sketched with a friendly pencil. Let me say here, that it 
 was not to pay court to the English that he thus described them 
 and their country ; it was because he could not describe them 
 otherwise. It was the instinct of his mind to attach itself to 
 the contemplation of the good and the beautiful, wherever he 
 found them, and to turn away from the sight of what was evil, 
 misshapen and hateful. His was not a nature to pry for faults, 
 or disabuse the world of good-natured mistakes ; he looked for 
 virtue, love and truth among men, and thanked God that he found 
 them in such large measure. If there are touches of satire in 
 his writings, he is the best-natured and most amiable of satirists, 
 amiable beyond Horace ; and in his irony for there is a vein 
 of playful irony running through many of his works there is no 
 tinge of bitterness. 
 
 I rejoice, for my part, that we have had such a writer as 
 Irving to bridge over the chasm between the two great nations 
 that an illustrious American lived so long in England, and was 
 so much beloved there, and sought so earnestly to bring the 
 people of the two countries to a better understanding with each 
 other, and to wean them from the animosities of narrow minds. 
 I am sure that there is not a large-minded and large-hearted 
 man in all our country who can read over the " Sketch Book " and 
 the other writings of Irving, and disown one of the magnani- 
 mous sentiments they express with regard to England, or desire 
 to abate the glow of one of his warm and cheerful pictures of 
 English life. Occasions will arise, no doubt, for saying some 
 things in a less accommodating spirit, and there are men 
 enough on both sides of the Atlantic who can say them ; but 
 
24: LITEEAEY PKOGKESS. 
 
 Irving was not sent into the world on that errand. A different 
 work was assigned him in the very structure of his mind, and 
 the endowments of his heart a work of peace and brotherhood, 
 and I will say for him that he nobly performed it. 
 
 Let me pause here to speak of what I believe to have been 
 the influence of the " Sketch Book" upon American literature. 
 At the time it appeared the periodical lists of new American 
 publications were extremely meagre, and consisted, to a great 
 extent, of occasional pamphlets and dissertations on the ques- 
 tions of the day. The works of greater pretension were, for 
 the most part, crudely and languidly made up, and destined to 
 be little read. A work like the " Sketch Book," welcomed on 
 both sides of the Atlantic, showed the possibility of an Ameri- 
 can author acquiring a fame bounded only by the limits, of his 
 own language, and gave an example of the qualities by which it 
 might be won. Within two years afterward we had Cooper's 
 " Spy " and Dana's " Idle Man;" the press of our country began, 
 by degrees, to teem with works composed with a literary skill 
 and a spirited activity of intellect until then little known among 
 us. Every year the assertion that we had no literature of our 
 own became less and less true : and now, when we look over a 
 list of new works by native authors, we find, with an astonish- 
 ment amounting almost to alarm, that the most voracious 
 devourer of books must despair of being able to read half those 
 which make a fair claim upon his attention. It was since 1819 
 that the great historians of our country, whose praise is in the 
 mouths of ajl the nations, began to write. One of them built 
 up the fabric of his fame long after Irving appeared as an 
 author, and slept with Herodotus two years before Irving's 
 death ; another of the band lives yet to be the ornament of the 
 association before which I am called to speak, and is framing 
 
Portrait by Gilbert Stuart Newton, in the possession of John Murray, Esq., London. 
 
OUR MEN OF LETTERS. 25 
 
 the annals of his country into a work for future ages. Within 
 that period has arisen among us the class who hold vast multi- 
 tudes spell-bound in motionless attention by public discourses, 
 the most perfect of their kind, such as make the fame of Everett. 
 Within that period our theologians have learned to write 
 with the elegance and vivacity of the essayists. We had but 
 one novelist before the era of the " Sketch Book f their num- 
 ber is now beyond enumeration by any but a professed cata- 
 logue-maker, and many of them are read in every cultivated 
 form of human speech. Those whom we acknowledge as our 
 poets one of whom is the special favorite of our brothers in 
 language who dwell beyond sea appeared in the world of let- 
 ters and won its attention after Irving had become famous. 
 We have wits, and humorists, and amusing essayists, authors 
 of some of the airiest and most graceful compositions of the pre- 
 sent century, and we owe them to the new impulse given to our 
 literature in 1819. I look abroad on these stars of our literary 
 firmament some crowded together with their minute points of 
 light in a galaxy some standing apart in glorious constellations; 
 I recognize Arcturus, and Orion, and Perseus, and the glittering 
 jewels of the Southern Crown, and the Pleiades shedding sweet 
 influences ; but the Evening Star, the soft and serene light 
 that glowed in their van, the precursor of them all, has sunk 
 below the horizon. The spheres, meantime, perform their 
 appointed courses ; the same motion which lifted them up to 
 the mid-sky bears them onward to their setting ; and they, too, 
 like their bright leader, must soon be carried by it below the 
 earth. 
 
 Irving went to Paris in 1820, where he passed the remainder 
 of the year and part of the next, and where he became 
 acquainted with the poet Moore, who frequently mentions him 
 
 2 
 
26 BRACEBKIDGE HALL. 
 
 in his Diary. Moore and he were much in each other's com- 
 pany and the poet has left on record an expression of his amaze- 
 ment at the rapidity with which " Bracebridge Hall" was com- 
 posed one hundred and thirty pages in ten days. The winter 
 of 1822 found him in Dresden. In that year was published 
 " Bracebridge Hall," the groundwork of which is a charming 
 description of country life in England, interspersed with narra- 
 tives, the scene of which is laid in other countries. Of these, 
 the Norman tale of " Annette Delarbre " seems to me the most 
 beautiful and affecting thing of its kind in all his works ; so 
 beautiful, indeed, that I can hardly see how he who has once 
 read it can resist the desire to read it again. In " Bracebridge 
 Hall " we have the Stout Gentleman, full of certain minute 
 paintings of familiar objects, where not a single touch is thrown 
 in that does not heighten the comic effect of the narrative. If 
 I am not greatly mistaken, the most popular novelists of the 
 day have learned from this pattern the skill with which they 
 have wrought up some of their most striking passages, both 
 grave and gay. In composing " Bracebridge Hall," Irving 
 showed that he had not forgotten his native country ; and in 
 the pleasant tale of Dolph Heyleger he went back to the banks 
 of that glorious river beside which he was born. 
 
 In 1823, Irving, still a wanderer, returned to Paris, and in 
 the year following gave the world his "Tales of a Traveller." 
 Murray, in the meantime, had become fully weaned from the 
 notion that Irving's writings lacked the quality which he called 
 " scope," for he had paid a thousand guineas for the copyright 
 of " Bracebridge Hall," and now offered fifteen hundred pounds 
 for the "Tales of a Traveller," which Irving accepted. "He 
 might have had two thousand," says Moore, but this assembly will 
 not, I hope, think the worse of him, if it be acknowledged that 
 
VISIT TO SPAIN. 27 
 
 the world contained men who were sharper than he at driving a 
 bargain. The "Tales of a Traveller" are most remarkable for 
 their second part, entitled " Buckthorne and his Friends," in which 
 the author introduces us to literary life in its various aspects, as he 
 had observed it in London, and to the relations in which authors 
 at that time stood to the booksellers. His sketches of the dif- 
 ferent personages are individual, characteristic and diverting, yet 
 with what a kindly pencil they are all drawn! His good nature 
 overspreads and harmonizes everything, like the warm atmos- 
 phere which so much delights us in a painting. 
 
 Irving, still " unsettled in his abode," passed the winter of 
 1825 in the south of France. When you are in that region 
 you see the snowy summits of the Spanish Pyrenees looking 
 down upon you ; Spanish visitors frequent the watering-places ; 
 Spanish pedlers, in their handsome costume, offer you the 
 fabrics of Barcelona and Valencia ; Spanish peasants come to 
 the fairs ; the traveller feels himself almost in Spain already, 
 and is haunted by the desire of visiting that remarkable country. 
 To Spain, Irving went in the latter part of the year, invited by 
 our Minister at Madrid, Alexander H. Everett, at the sugges- 
 tion of Mr. Rich, the American Consul, an industrious and 
 intelligent collector of Spanish works relating to America. His 
 errand was to translate into English the documents relating to 
 the discovery and early history of our Continent, collected by 
 the research of Navarrete. He passed the winter of 1826 at 
 the Spanish capital, as the guest of Mr. Rich ; the following 
 season took him to Granada, and he lingered awhile in that 
 beautiful region, profusedly watered by the streams that break 
 from the Snowy Ridge. In 1827, he again visited the South of 
 Spain, gathering materials for his " Life of Columbus," which, 
 immediately after his arrival in Spain, he had determined to write, 
 
28 LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 instead of translating the documents of Navarrete. In Spain 
 he began and finished that work, after having visited the places 
 associated with the principal events in the life of his hero. 
 Murray was so well satisfied with its " scope " that he gave him 
 three thousand guineas for the copyright, and laid it before the 
 public in 1828. Like the other works of Irving's, it was pub- 
 lished here at the same time as in London. 
 
 The " Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus " placed 
 Irving among the historians, for the biography of that great dis- 
 coverer is a part, and a remarkable part, of the history of the 
 world. Of what was strictly and simply personal in his adven- 
 tures, much, of course, has passed into irremediable oblivion; what 
 was both personal and historical is yet outstanding above the 
 shadow that has settled upon the rest. The work of Irving 
 was at once in everybody's hands and eagerly read. Navarrete 
 vouched for its historical accuracy and completeness. Jeffrey 
 declared that no work could ever take its place. It was written 
 with a strong love of the subject, and to this it owes much of 
 its power over the reader. Columbus was one of those who, 
 with all their faculties occupied by one great idea, and bent 
 on making it a practical reality, are looked upon as crazed, and 
 pitied and forgotten if they fail, but if they succeed are vene- 
 rated as the glory of their age. The poetic elements of his cha- 
 racter and history, the grandeur and mystery of his design, his 
 prophetic sagacity, his hopeful and devout courage, and his dis- 
 regard of the ridicule of meaner intellects, took a strong hold 
 on the mind of Irving, and formed the inspiration of the work. 
 
 Mr. Duyckinck gives, on the authority of one who knew 
 Irving intimately, an instructive anecdote relating to the " Life 
 of Columbus." When the work was nearly finished it was put 
 into the hands of Lieutenant Slidell Mackenzie, himself an agree- 
 
AN EXPERIMENT ON STYLE. 29 
 
 able writer, then on a visit to Spain, who read it with a view of 
 giving a critical opinion of its merits. "It is quite perfect," 
 said he, on returning the manuscript, " except the style, and that 
 is unequal." The remark made such an impression on the mind 
 of the author that he wrote over the whole narrative with the 
 view of making the style more uniform, but he afterward 
 thought that he had not improved it. 
 
 In this I have no doubt that Irving was quite right, and that 
 it would have been better if he had never touched the- work 
 after he had brought it to the state which satisfied his indi- 
 vidual judgment. An author can scarce commit a greater error 
 than to alter what he writes, except when he has a clear per- 
 ception that the alteration is for the better, and can make it 
 with as hearty a confidence in himself as he felt in giving the 
 work its first shape. What strikes me as an occasional defect 
 in the " Life of Columbus " is this elaborate uniformity of style 
 a certain prismatic coloring in passages where absolute simplicity 
 would have satisfied us better. It may well be supposed that 
 Irving originally wrote some parts of the work with the quiet 
 plainness of a calm relater of facts, and others, with the 
 spirit and fire of one who had become warmed with his subject, 
 and this probably gave occasion to what was said of the in- 
 equality of the style. The attempt to elevate the diction of the 
 simpler portions, we may suppose, marred what Irving after- 
 ward perceived had really been one of the merits of the work. 
 
 In the spring of 1829, Irving made another visit to the south 
 of Spain, collecting materials from which he afterward com- 
 posed some of his most popular works. When the traveller 
 now visits Granada and is taken to the Alhambra, his guide 
 will say, " Here is one of the curiosities of the place ; this is the 
 chamber occupied by Washington Irving," and he will show an 
 
30 WORKS ON SPANISH SUBJECTS. 
 
 apartment, from the windows of which you have a view of the 
 glorious valley of the Genii, with the mountain peaks overlook- 
 ing it, and hear the murmur of many mountain brooks at once, 
 as they hurry to the plain. In July of the same year, he 
 repaired to London, where he was to act as Secretary of the 
 American Legation. We had at that time certain controver- 
 sies with the British government which were the subject of nego- 
 tiation. Irving took great interest in these, and in some let- 
 ters which I saw at the time, stated the points in dispute at 
 considerable length and with admirable method and perspicuity. 
 In London he published his " Chronicles of the Conquest of 
 Granada," one of the most delightful of his works, an exact his- 
 tory, for such it is admitted to be by those who have searched 
 most carefully the ancient records of Spain, yet so full of per- 
 sonal incident, so diversified with surprising turns of fortune, 
 and these wrought up with such picturesque effect, that, to use 
 an expression of Pope, a young lady might read it by mistake 
 for a romance. In 1831, he gave the world another work on 
 Spanish history, the " Yoyages of the Companions of Colum- 
 bus," and in the year following the " Alhambra," which is another 
 " Sketch Book," with the scenes laid in Spain. 
 
 While in Spain, Irving had planned a Life of Cortez, the Con- 
 queror of Mexico, and collected the facts from which it was to 
 be written. When, afterward, he had actually begun the com- 
 position of the work, he happened to learn that Prescott 
 designed to write the " History of the Mexican Conquest," and 
 immediately he desisted. It was his intention to interweave 
 with the narrative, descriptions of the ancient customs of the 
 aborigines, such as their modes of warfare and their gorgeous 
 pageants, by way of relief to the sanguinary barbarities of the 
 Conquest. He saw what rich materials of the picturesque these 
 
KETUKN TO NEW YORK. 31 
 
 opened to him, and if he had accomplished his plan, he would 
 probably have produced one of his most popular works. 
 
 In 1832, Irving returned to New York. He returned, after 
 an absence of seventeen years, to find his native city doubled in 
 population ; its once quiet waters alive with sails and furrowed 
 by steamers passing to and fro, its wharves crowded with masts ; 
 the heights which surround it, and which he remembered wild 
 and solitary and lying in forest, now crowned with stately coun- 
 try seats, or with dwellings clustered in villages, and everywhere 
 the activity and bustle of a prosperous and hopeful people. 
 And he, too, how had he returned ? The young and compa- 
 ratively obscure author, whose works had only found here and 
 there a reader in England, had achieved a fame as wide as the 
 civilized world. All the trophies he had won in this field he 
 brought home to lay at the feet of his country. Meanwhile all 
 the country was moved to meet him ; the rejoicing was univer- 
 sal that one who had represented us so illustriously abroad was 
 henceforth to live among us. 
 
 Irving hated public dinners, but he was forced to accept one 
 pressed upon him by his enthusiastic countrymen. It was given at 
 the City Hotel on the 30th of May, Chancellor Kent presiding, 
 and the most eminent citizens of New York assembled at the 
 table. I remember the accounts of this festivity reaching me as 
 I was wandering in Illinois, hovering on the skirts of the Indian 
 war, in a region now populous, but then untilled and waste, 
 and I could only write to Irving and ask leave to add my voice 
 to the general acclamation. In his address at the dinner. Chan- 
 cellor Kent welcomed the historian of New Amsterdam back to 
 his native city, and Irving, in reply, poured forth his heart in the 
 warmest expressions of delight at finding himself again among his 
 countrymen and kindred, in a land of sunshine and freedom and 
 
32 ASTORIA. 
 
 hope. " I am asked," lie said, " how long I mean to remain 
 here. They know little of my heart who can ask me this ques- 
 tion. I answer, as long as I live." 
 
 The instinct of rambling, had not, however, forsaken him. 
 In the summer after his return he made a journey to the coun- 
 try west of the Mississippi, in company with Mr. Ellsworth, a 
 commissioner intrusted with the removal of certain Indian 
 tribes, and roamed over wild regions, then the hunting-grounds 
 of the savage, but into which the white man has since brought 
 his plough and his herds. He did not publish his account of this 
 journey until 1835, when it appeared as the first volume of the 
 " Crayon Miscellany," under the title of a " Tour on the Prai- 
 ries." In this work the original West is described as Irving 
 knew how to describe it, and the narrative is in that vein of 
 easy gaiety peculiar to his writings. " Abbotsford and New- 
 stead Abbey " formed the second volume of the " Crayon Mis- 
 cellany," and to these he afterward added another, entitled 
 " Legends of the Conquest of Spain." 
 
 In 1836, he published "Astoria ; or, Anecdotes of an Enter- 
 prise beyond the Rocky Mountains ;" a somewhat curious 
 example of literary skill. A voluminous commercial correspon- 
 dence was the dull ore of the earth which he refined and 
 wrought into symmetry and splendor. Irving reduced to a 
 regular narrative the events to which it referred, bringing out 
 the picturesque whenever he found it, and enlivening the whole 
 with touches of his native humor. His nephew, Pierre M. 
 Irving, lightened his labor materially by examining and collat- 
 ing the letters and making memoranda of their contents. In 
 1837, he prepared for the press the " Adventures of Captain 
 Bonneville, of the United States Army, in the Rocky Mountains 
 and the Far West." He had the manuscript journal of Bonne- 
 
WASHINGTON IRVING FROM THE BUST BY BALL HUGHES: 
 
 1885-ffit 52. 
 
A CONTEOVEESY. 33 
 
 ville before him, but the hand of Irving is apparent in every 
 sentence. 
 
 About the time that this work appeared, Irving was drawn 
 into the only public controversy in which, so far as I know, he 
 ever engaged. William Leggett then conducted a weekly 
 periodical entitled the " Plaindealer," remarkable both for its 
 ability and its love of disputation. It attacked Mr. Irving for 
 altering a line or two in one of my poems, with a view of mak- 
 ing it less offensive to English readers, and for writing a preface 
 to the American edition of his "Tour on the Prairies," full of 
 professions of love for his country, which were studiously omitted 
 from the English edition. From these circumstances the 
 " Plain dealer " drew an inference unfavorable to Irving's sincerity. 
 
 I should here mention, and I hope I may do it without much 
 egotism, that when a volume of my poems was published here 
 in the year 1832, Mr. Yerplanck had the kindness to send a 
 copy of it to Irving, desiring him to find a publisher for it in 
 England. This he readily engaged to do, though wholly unac- 
 quainted with me, and offered the volume to Murray. " Poetry 
 does not sell at present," said Murray, and declined it. A book- 
 seller in Bond street, named Andrews, undertook its publica- 
 tion, but required that Irving should introduce it with a preface 
 of his own. He did so, speaking of my verses in such terms as 
 would naturally command for them the attention of the public, 
 and allowing his name to be placed in the title-page as the 
 editor. The edition, in consequence, found a sale. It happened, 
 however, that the publisher objected to two lines in a poem 
 called the " Song of Marion's Men." One of them was 
 
 " The British soldier trembles," 
 
 and Irving good-naturedly consented that it should be altered to 
 
 2* 
 
" The foeman trembles in his camp." 
 
 The other alteration was of a similar character. 
 
 To the accusations of the " Plaindealer," Irving replied with 
 a mingled spirit and dignity which almost makes us regret that 
 his faculties were not oftener roused into energy by such collisions, 
 or, at least, that he did not sometimes employ his pen on contro- 
 verted points. He fully vindicated himself in both instances, 
 showing that he had made the alterations in my poem from a 
 simple desire to do me service, and that with regard to the " Tour 
 on the Prairies," he had sent a manuscript copy of it to England 
 for publication, at the same time that he sent another to the 
 printer here, and that it would have been an absurdity to 
 address the English edition to the American public. But as 
 this was the first time that he had appeared before his country- 
 men as an author since his return from Europe, it was but pro- 
 per that he should express to them the feelings awakened by 
 'their generous welcome. " These feelings/' he said, " were 
 genuine, and were not expressed with half the warmth with 
 which they were entertained ;" an assertion which every reader, 
 I believe, was disposed to receive literally. 
 
 In his answer to the " Plaindealer," some allusions were made 
 to me which seemed to imply that I had taken part in this 
 attack upon him. To remove the impression, I sent a note to 
 the " Plaindealer " for publication, in which I declared in sub- 
 stance that I never had complained of the alterations of my 
 poem that though they were not such as I should have made, 
 I was certain they were made with the kindest intentions, and 
 that I had no feeling toward Mr. Irving but gratitude for the 
 service he had rendered me. The explanation was graciously 
 accepted, and in a brief note, printed in the "Plaindealer," 
 Irving pronounced my acquittal. 
 
. ;..* 
 
 WASHINGTON IRVING FROM DRAWING FROM LIFE BY MARTIN. 
 1851 Jtet. 68. 
 
AGAIN IN SPAIN. 35 
 
 Several papers were written by Irving in 1839 and the fol- 
 lowing year, for the " Knickerbocker," a monthly periodical 
 conducted by his friend, Lewis Gaylord Clark, all of them such 
 as he only could write. They were afterward collected into a 
 volume, entitled " Wolfert's Roost," from the ancient name of 
 that beautiful residence of his on the banks of the Hudson, in 
 which they were mostly written. They were, perhaps, read 
 with more interest in the volume than in the magazine, just as 
 some paintings of the highest merit are seen with more pleasure 
 in the artist's room than on the walls of an exhibition. 
 
 In 1842, he went to Spain as the American minister, and 
 remained in that country for four years. I have never under^ 
 stood that anything occurred during that time to put his talents 
 as a negotiator to any rigorous test. He was a sagacious and 
 intelligent observer; his connection with the American Legation 
 in London had given him diplomatic experience, and I have 
 heard that he sent home to his government some valuable des- 
 patches on the subject of our relations with Spain. In other 
 respects, he did, at least, what all American ministers at the 
 European courts are doing, and I suppose my hearers under- 
 stand very well what that is ; but if there had been any ques- 
 tion of importance to be settled, I think he might have acquitted 
 himself as well as many who have had a higher reputation for 
 dexterity in business. When I was at Madrid in 185 1, a dis- 
 tinguished Spaniard said to me : " Why does not your govern- 
 ment send out Washington Irving to this court ? Why do you 
 not take as your agent the man whom all Spain admires, vene- 
 rates, loves ? I assure you, it would be difficult for our govern- 
 ment to refuse anything which Irving should ask, and his signa- 
 ture would make almost any treaty acceptable to our people." 
 
 Returning in 1846, Irving went back to Sunnyside, on the 
 
36 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH. 
 
 Hudson, and continued to make it his abode for the rest of his 
 life. Those who passed up and down the river before the year 
 1835, may remember a neglected cottage on a green bank, with 
 a few locust-trees before it, close to where a little brook brings 
 in its tribute to the mightier stream. In that year Irving be- 
 came its possessor ; he gave it the name it now wears, planted 
 its pleasant slopes with trees and shrubs, laid it out in walks, 
 built outhouses, and converted the cottage into a more spacious 
 dwelling, in the old Dutch style of architecture, with crow-steps 
 on the gables ; a quaint, picturesque building, with " as many 
 angles and corners," to use his own words, " as a cocked hat." 
 He caused creeping plants and climbing roses to be trained up 
 its walls ; the trees he planted prospered in that sheltered situa- 
 tion, and were filled with birds, which would not leave their 
 nests at the approach of the kind master of the place. The 
 house became almost hidden from sight by their lofty summits, 
 the perpetual rustlings of which, to those who sat within, were 
 blended with the murmurs of the water. Yan Tassel would 
 have had some difficulty in recognizing his old abode in this lit- 
 tle paradise, with the beauty of which one of Irving's friends * 
 has made the public familiar in prose and verse. 
 
 At Sunnyside, Irving wrote his " Life of Oliver Goldsmith." 
 Putnam, the bookseller, had said to him one day : " Here is 
 Foster's ' Life of Goldsmith ;' I think of republishing it." "I 
 once wrote a Memoir of Goldsmith," answered Irving, " which 
 was prefixed to an edition of his works printed at Paris ; and I 
 have thought of enlarging it and making it more perfect." " If 
 you will do that," was the reply of the bookseller, " I shall not 
 republish the Life by Foster." Within three months afterward, 
 
 * H. T. Tuckerman. 
 
IRVING AT SIXTY-EIGHT. 37 
 
 living's "Life of Goldsmith" was finished and in press. It 
 was so much superior to the original sketch, in the exactness of 
 the particulars, the entertainment of the anecdotes, and the 
 beauty of the style, that it was really a new work. For my 
 part, I know of nothing like it. I have read no biographical 
 memoir which carries forward the reader so delightfully and 
 with so little tediousness of recital or reflection. I never take it 
 up without being tempted to wish that Irving had written more 
 works of the kind; but this could hardly be ; for where could he 
 have found another Goldsmith ? 
 
 In 1850, appeared his "Lives of Mahomet and his Succes- 
 sors," composed principally from memoranda made by him dur- 
 ing his residence in Spain ; and in the same year he completed the 
 revisal of his works for a new edition, which was brought out 
 by Putnam, a bookseller of whose obliging and honorable con- 
 duct he delighted to speak. Irving was a man with whom it 
 was not easy to have a misunderstanding ; but, even if he had 
 been of a different temper, these commendations would have 
 been none the less deserved. 
 
 When Cooper died, toward the close of the year 1850, Irving, 
 who had not long before met him, apparently in the full vigor of 
 his excellent constitution, was much shocked by the event, and 
 took part in the meetings held for the purpose of collecting funds 
 to erect a monument to his memory in this city a design which, 
 I am sorry to say, has wholly failed. He wrote a letter advis- 
 ing that the monument should be a statue, and attended the 
 great memorial meeting held in Metropolitan Hall, in February 
 of the next year, at which Webster presided. He was then 
 near the end of his sixty-eighth year, and was remarked as one 
 over whom the last twenty years had passed lightly. He, whom 
 Dr. Francis describes as in early life a slender and delicate 
 
38 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 youth, preserving his health by habitual daily exercise, appeared 
 before that vast assembly a fresh, well-preserved gentleman 
 scarcely more than elderly, with firm but benevolent features, 
 well-knit and muscular limbs, and an elastic step, the sign of un- 
 diminished physical vigor. 
 
 In his retirement at Sunnyside, Irving planned and executed 
 his last great work, the " Life of Washington," to which he says 
 he had long looked forward as his crowning literary effort. Con- 
 stable, the Edinburgh bookseller, had proposed it to him thirty 
 years before, and he then resolved to undertake it as soon as he 
 should return to the United States. It was postponed in favor 
 of other projects, but never abandoned. At length the expected 
 time seemed to have arrived ; his other tasks had been success- 
 fully performed ; the world was waiting for new works from his 
 pen ; his mind and body were yet in their vigor; the habit and 
 the love of literary production yet remained, and he addressed 
 himself to this greatest of his labors. 
 
 Yet he had his misgivings, though they could not divert him 
 from his purpose. " They expect too much too much," he said 
 to a friend of mine, to whom he was speaking of the magnitude 
 of the task and the difficulty of satisfying the public. We can- 
 not wonder at these doubts. At the time when he began to 
 employ himself steadily on this work, he was near the age of 
 threescore and ten, when with most men the season of hope and 
 confidence is past. He was like one who should begin the great 
 labor of the day when the sun was shedding his latest beams, 
 and what if the shadows of night should descend upon him be- 
 fore his task was ended ? A vast labor had been thrown upon 
 him by the almost numberless documents and papers recently 
 brought to light relating to the events in which Washington was 
 concerned such as were amassed and digested by the research 
 
WASHINGTON IRVING FKOM DAGUEBBEOTYPE BY P!JUMBE. 
 
 1849 set. 66; 
 
ITS SIMPLICITY. 39 
 
 of Sparks, and accompanied by the commentary of his excellent 
 biography. These were all to be carefully examined and their 
 spirit extracted. Historians had in the meantime arisen in our 
 country, of a world-wide fame, with whose works his own must 
 be compared, and he was to be judged by a public whom he, more 
 than almost any other man, had taught to be impatient of medi- 
 ocrity. 
 
 I do not believe, however, that Irving's task would have been 
 performed so ably if it had been undertaken when it was sug- 
 gested by Constable ; the narrative could not have been so com- 
 plete in its facts ; it might not have been written with the same 
 becoming simplicity. It was fortunate that the work was de- 
 layed till it could be written from the largest store of materials, 
 till its plan was fully matured in all its fair proportions, and till 
 the author's mind had become filled with the profoundest vene- 
 ration for his subject. 
 
 The simplicity already mentioned is the first quality of this 
 work which impresses the reader. Here is a man of genius, a 
 poet by temperament, writing the life of a man of transcendent 
 wisdom and virtue a life passed amidst great events, and 
 marked by inestimable public services. There is a constant 
 temptation to eulogy, but the temptation is resisted ; the actions 
 of his hero are left to speak their own praise. He records events 
 reverently, as one might have recorded them before the art of 
 rhetoric was invented, with no exaggeration, with no parade of 
 reflection ; the lessons of the narrative are made to impress 
 themselves on the mind by the earnest and conscientious relation 
 of facts. Meantime the narrator keeps himself in the back- 
 ground, solely occupied with the due presentation of his subject. 
 Our eyes are upon the actors whom he sets before us we never 
 think of Mr. Irving. 
 
40 ITS IMPARTIALITY. 
 
 A closer examination reveals another great merit of the work, 
 the admirable proportion in which the author keeps the charac- 
 ters and events of his story. I suppose he could hardly have 
 been conscious of this merit, and that it was attained without a 
 direct effort. Long meditation had probably so shaped and 
 matured the plan in his mind, and so arranged its parts in their 
 just symmetry, that, executing it as he did, conscientiously, he 
 could not have made it a different thing from what we have it. 
 There is nothing distorted, nothing placed in too broad a light 
 or thrown too far in the shade. The incidents of our Revolu- 
 tionary war, the great event of Washington's life, pass before us 
 as they passed before the eyes of the commander-in-chief himself, 
 and from time to time varied his designs. Washington is kept 
 always in sight, and the office of the biographer is never allowed 
 to become merged in that of the historian. 
 
 The men who were the companions of Washington in the 
 field or in civil life, are shown only in th.eir association with 
 him, yet are their characters drawn, not only with skill and spirit, 
 but with a hand that delighted to do them justice. Nothing, I 
 believe, could be more abhorrent to Irving's ideas of the province 
 of a biographer, than the slightest detraction from the merits of 
 others, that his hero might appear the more eminent. So re- 
 markable is his work in this respect, that an accomplished mem- 
 ber of the Historical Society,* who has analyzed the merits of 
 the " Life of Washington" with a critical skill which makes me 
 ashamed to speak of the work after him, has declared that no 
 writer, within the circle of his reading, " has so successfully estab- 
 lished his claim to the rare and difficult virtue of impartiality." 
 
 I confess, my admiration of this work becomes the greater the 
 
 * G. W. Greene. " Biographical Studies." 
 
41 
 
 more I examine it. In the other writings of Irving are beauties 
 which strike the reader at once. In this I recognize qualities 
 which lie deeper, and which I was not sure of finding a rare 
 equity of judgment, a large grasp of the subject, a profound phi- 
 losophy, independent of philosophical forms, and even instinc- 
 tively rejecting them, the power of reducing an immense crowd 
 of loose materials to clear and orderly arrangement, and form- 
 ing them into one grand whole, as a skillful commander, from a 
 rabble of raw recruits, forms a disciplined army, animated and 
 moved by a single will. 
 
 The greater part of this last work of Irving was composed 
 while he was in the enjoyment of what might be called a happy 
 old age. This period of his life was not without its infirmities, 
 but his frame was yet unwasted, his intellect bright and active, 
 and the hour of decay seemed distant. He had become more 
 than ever the object of public veneration, and in his beautiful 
 retreat enjoyed all the advantages with few of the molestations 
 of acknowledged greatness ; a little too much visited, perhaps, 
 but submitting to the intrusion of his admirers with his charac- 
 teristic patience and kindness. That retreat had now become 
 more charming than ever, and the domestic life within was as 
 beautiful as the nature without. A surviving brother, older than 
 himself, shared it with him, and several affectionate nephews 
 and nieces stood to him in the relation of sons and daughters. 
 He was surrounded by neighbors who saw him daily, and hon- 
 ored and loved him the more for knowing him so well. 
 
 While he was engaged in writing the last pages of his " Life 
 of Washington," his countrymen heard with pain that his health 
 was failing and his strength ebbing away. He completed the 
 work, however, though he was not able to revise the last sheets, 
 and we then heard that his nights had become altogether sleep- 
 
42 THE FUNERAL. 
 
 less. He was himself of opinion that his labors had been too 
 severe for his time of life, and had sometimes feared that the 
 power to continue them would desert him before his work could 
 be finished. A catarrh to which he had been subject, had, by 
 some injudicious prescription, been converted into an asthma, 
 and the asthma, according to the testimony of his physician, 
 Dr. Peters, one of the most attentive and assiduous of his pro- 
 fession, was at length accompanied by an enlargement of the 
 heart. This disease ended in the usual way by a sudden disso- 
 lution. On the 28th of November last, in the evening, he had 
 bidden the family good night in his usual kind manner, and had 
 withdrawn to his room, attended by one of his nieces carrying 
 his medicines, when he complained of a sudden feeling of in- 
 tense sadness, sank immediately into her arms, and died with- 
 out a struggle. 
 
 Although he had reached an age beyond which life is rarely 
 prolonged, the news of his death was everywhere received with 
 profound sorrow. The whole country mourned, but the grief 
 was most deeply felt in his immediate neighborhood ; the little 
 children wept for the loss of their good friend. When the day 
 of his funeral arrived, the people gathered from far and near to 
 attend it ; this capital poured fourth its citizens ; the trains on 
 the railway were crowded, and a multitude, like a mass meeting, 
 but reverentially silent, moved through the streets of the neigh- 
 boring village, which had been dressed in the emblems of mourn- 
 ing, and clustered about the church and the burial-ground. It 
 was the first day of December ; the pleasant Indian summer of 
 our climate had been prolonged far beyond its usual date ; the 
 sun shone with his softest splendor and the elements were hushed 
 into a perfect calm ; it was like one of the blandest days of 
 October. The hills and forests, the meadows and waters which 
 
__ 
 
 II! 
 
 if* 
 
 g 
 
 
43 
 
 Irving had loved seemed listening, in that quiet atmosphere, as 
 the solemn funeral service was read. 
 
 It was read over the remains of one whose life had well pre- 
 pared his spirit for its new stage of being. Irving did not 
 aspire to be a theologian, but his heart was deeply penetrated 
 with the better part of religion, and he had sought humbly to 
 imitate the example of the Great Teacher of our faith. 
 
 That amiable character which makes itself se manifest in the 
 writings of Irving was seen in all his daily actions. He was 
 ever ready to do kind offices, tender of the feelings of others, 
 carefully just, but ever leaning to the merciful side of justice, 
 averse from strife, and so modest that the world never ceased to 
 wonder how it should have happened that one so much praised 
 should have gained so little assurance. He envied no man's 
 success, he sought to detract from no man's merits, but he was 
 acutely sensitive both to praise and to blame sensitive to such 
 a degree that an unfavorable criticism of any of his works would 
 almost persuade him that they were as worthless as the critic 
 represented them. He thought so little of himself that he 
 could never comprehend why it was that he should be the object 
 of curiosity or reverence. 
 
 From the time that he began the composition of his " Sketch 
 Book," his whole life was the life of an author. His habits of 
 composition were, however, by no means regular. When he 
 was in the vein, the periods would literally stream from his pen; 
 at other times he would scarcely write anything. For two 
 years after the failure of his brothers at Liverpool, he found it 
 almost impossible to write a line. He was throughout life an 
 early riser, and when in the mood, would write all the morning 
 and till late in the day, wholly engrossed with his subject. In 
 the evening he was ready for any cheerful pastime, in which he 
 
44 HABITS OF COMPOSITION. 
 
 took part with an animation almost amounting to high spirits. 
 These intervals of excitement and intense labor, sometimes last- 
 ing for weeks, were succeeded by languor, and at times by de- 
 pression of spirits, and for months the pen would lie untouched; 
 even to answer a letter at these times was an irksome task. 
 
 In the evening he wrote but very rarely, knowing so, at 
 least, I infer that no habit makes severer demands upon the 
 nervous system han this. It was owing, I doubt not, to this 
 prudent husbanding of his powers, along with his somewhat 
 abstinent habits and the exercise which he took every day, that 
 he was able to preserve unimpaired to so late a period the facul- 
 ties employed in original composition. He has been a vigorous 
 walker and a fearless rider, and in his declining years he drove 
 out daily, not only for the sake of the open air and motion, but 
 to refresh his mind with the aspect of nature. One of his favo- 
 rite recreations was listening to music, of which he was an indul- 
 gent critic, and he contrived to be pleased and soothed by strains 
 less artfully modulated than fastidious ears are apt to require. 
 
 His facility in writing and the charm of his style were owing 
 to very early practice, the reading of good authors and the 
 native elegance of his mind, and not, in my opinion, to any 
 special study of the graces of manner or any anxious care in the 
 use of terms and phrases. Words and combinations of words 
 are sometimes found in his writings to which a fastidious taste 
 might object ; but these do not prevent his style from being one 
 of the most agreeable in the whole range of our literature. It 
 is transparent as the light, sweetly modulated, unaffected, the 
 native expression of a fertile fancy, a benignant temper, and 
 a mind which, delighting in the noble and the beautiful, turned 
 involuntarily away from their opposities. His peculiar humor 
 was, in a great measure, the offspring of this constitution of his 
 
FUTURE FAME. 45 
 
 mind. This " fanciful playing with common things," as Mr. 
 Dana calls it, is never coarse, never tainted with grossness, and 
 always in harmony with our better sympathies. It not only 
 tinged his writings, but overflowed in his delightful conversation. 
 I have thus set before you, my friends, with such measure of 
 ability as I possess, a rapid and imperfect sketch of the life, cha- 
 racter and genius of Washington Irving. Other hands will yet 
 give the world a bolder, more vivid and more exact portraiture. 
 In the meantime, when I consider for how many years he stood 
 before the world as an author, with a still increasing fame half 
 a century in this most changeful of centuries I cannot hesitate 
 to predict for him a deathless renown. Since he began to write, 
 empires have risen and passed away ; mighty captains have 
 appeared on the stage of the world, performed their part, and 
 been called to their account ; wars have been fought and ended, 
 which have changed the destinies of the human race. New arts 
 have been invented and adopted, and have pushed the old out of 
 use ; the household economy of half mankind has undergone a 
 revolution. Science has learned a new dialect and forgotten the 
 old ; the chemist of 1807 would be a vain babbler among his 
 brethren of the present day, and would in turn become bewil- 
 dered in the attempt to understand them. Nation utters speech 
 to nation in words that pass from realm to realm with the speed 
 of light. Distant countries have been made neighbors ; the 
 Atlantic Ocean has become a narrow frith, and the Old World 
 and the New shake hands across it ; the East and the West 
 look in at each other's windows. The new inventions bring 
 new calamities, and men perish in crowds by the recoil of their 
 own devices. War has learned more frightful modes of havoc, 
 and armed himself with deadlier weapons ; armies are borne to 
 the battle-field on the wings of the wind, and dashed against 
 
46 A FAREWELL. 
 
 each other and destroyed with infinite bloodshed. We grow 
 giddy with this perpetual whirl of strange events, these rapid 
 and ceaseless mutations ; the earth seems to reel under our feet, 
 and we turn to those who write like Irving, for some assurance 
 that we are still in the same world into which we were born ; we 
 read, and are quieted and consoled. In his pages we see 
 that the language of the heart never becomes obsolete ; that 
 Truth and Good and Beauty, the offspring of God, are not sub- 
 ject to the changes which beset the inventions of men. We 
 become satisfied that he whose works were the delight of our 
 fathers, and are still ours, will be read with the same pleasure 
 by those who come after us. 
 
 If it were becoming, at this time and in this assembly, to 
 address our departed friend as if in his immediate presence, I 
 would say : "Farewell, thou who hast entered into the rest pre- 
 pared, from the foundation of the world, for serene and gentle 
 spirits like thine. Farewell, happy in thy life, happy in thy 
 death, happier in the reward to which that death was the 
 assured passage ; fortunate in attracting the admiration of the 
 world to thy beautiful writings ; still more fortunate in having 
 written nothing which did not tend to promote the reign of 
 magnanimous forbearance and generous sympathies among thy 
 fellow-men. The brightness of that enduring fame which thou 
 hast won on earth is but a shadowy symbol of the glory to 
 which thou art admitted in the world beyond the grave. 
 Thy errand upon earth was an errand of peace and good-will to 
 men, and thou art now in a region where hatred and strife 
 never enter, and where the harmonious activity of those who 
 inhabit it acknowledges no impulse less noble or less pure than 
 that of love." 
 
\VM. CULLEN BRYANT FROM DAGUERREOTYPE. 
 1854 
 
NEW YOEK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 AT the monthly meeting of the Society, held Dec. 6, 1859, after the usual 
 transactions, the President, the Hon. LUTHER BRADISH, made the following 
 remarks : 
 
 " Since our last meeting, death has again invaded the circle of our Society, 
 and removed from among us one of our earliest, most distinguished, and 
 most cherished members. After a long, brilliant, and well-closed life, WASH- 
 INGTON IRVING has gone to his final rest ! Few among the current events of 
 time have touched more profoundly the heart of the public, or moved more 
 deeply its finer sensibilities. It was natural that this should be so. For 
 Washington Irving was not only admired for the brilliancy of his genius and 
 its productions, but he was beloved for his genial spirit, the amenity of his 
 character, and the beauty of his life. In his departure from among us he has 
 left behind him, to remind us of the magnitude of our loss, not only the rich 
 heritage of his literary works, but the benign influence and encouraging 
 example of his own well-spent and successful life. In the universal grief at 
 such a loss, the members of this Society deeply sympathize ; but in the inti- 
 mate relations of the deceased with this Society as a loved and honored asso- 
 ciate, we have an additional and peculiar motive for grief. 
 
 " It is therefore fitting and proper that the Society should, in a manner 
 becoming the occasion and worthy of itself, signalize its high appreciation of 
 the deceased, and its own peculiar and profound grief at his loss. To this 
 end, I trust that suitable measures may be proposed and adopted on this 
 occasion, and which I now invite." 
 
 President KING, of Columbia College, rose and said, that the duty had been 
 assigned to him of laying before the Society some resolutions expressive of 
 the Society's appreciation of the loss it had sustained in the death of Washing- 
 ton Irving. They would require no preface, and he would therefore read 
 them. 
 
 Resolved, That the N"ew York Historical Society has received with deep 
 and solemn interest the intelligence of the death of our distinguished associate, 
 Washington Irving, whose glowing pen has illustrated the annals, as the 
 beauty of his life has advanced the character of our country and our race. 
 
 Resolved, That, while mourning, as all must mourn, the loss of such a man, 
 we acknowledge the Goodness that vouchsafed to him length of days to com- 
 plete his last great work ; and then, turning from further labors, to pass 
 serenely, and without suffering, from mortal life to immortality. 
 
 Resolved, That this Society will celebrate the next anniversary of the birth 
 of Washington Irving by a Public Address on his Life, Character, and Genius ; 
 that William Cullen Bryant be respectfully requested to prepare and deliver 
 the address : and that the executive committee make the proper arrangements 
 for the occasion. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolutions, duly authenticated, be 
 transmitted by the President of the Society to the family of the deceased. 
 
NEW YOEK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 51 
 
 ADDRESS OP CHARLES KING. 
 
 The duty has been assigned to me, Mr. President, of offering for 
 the consideration of the New York Historical Society certain 
 resolutions expressive of our feelings at the death of Washington 
 Irving, one of our earliest, oldest, and most distinguished members. 
 There is no preface needed for the performance of such a duty, 
 and I ask therefore at once to read the resolutions. 
 
 It is only a few short months ago that we met here to express 
 our regrets at the decease of another illustrious member of our 
 Society, too early snatched from us our great historian Prescott. 
 It was an added pang to our grief then, that in the meridian of his 
 powers, with his work yet unaccomplished, and while we might 
 reasonably look for continued years of honorable labors, Prescott 
 was suddenly struck down. Now our sorrow not less deep and 
 sincere is yet soothed by the reflection that Irving was graciously 
 permitted to fulfil his work : that Iiis beautiful life was prolonged 
 into genial old age, with heart and affections still fresh, with 
 judgment matured, and with faculties to complete the crowning 
 glory of his literary labor the biography of Washington. We 
 cannot see so bright a life go out without mourning ; s yet we are 
 consoled as by the dying sunset of a glorious day^ That whole 
 life, with the exception of the period passed in Europe, was spent 
 in this city and vicinity*,. .-Mr. Irving was eminently a New Yorker, 
 and fond of being so regarded ;yyet he was universal and catholic 
 in his sympathies : and wail^was that largeness of sympathy repaid 
 to him for where are not his friends and admirers ? 
 
 To those of us who knew him in early youth we are few and 
 far between now, who did thus know him his personal character 
 is so identified with his literary character, that we might well dis- 
 
52 NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 trust our judgment of his works from attachment to his person : 
 but that the united voice of Europe and America confirms the 
 most favorable judgment. He has written much, and on varied 
 and widely differing subjects, but- in all, well. In his great 
 biographies, careful in investigation, truthful in statement, impar- 
 tial in deciding, and always aiming to be right, he wins the 
 confidence of his readers by his honesty, quite as much as their 
 admiration by his pure, polished, transparent style. In his various 
 essays and fancy sketches, we find the same genial temper, quaint 
 imaginings, delicate humor, and stainless purity, which characterized 
 the man. Never, indeed, was author so completely daguerreotyped 
 in the sunlight of his own genius as Washington Irving. He stands 
 revealed in all the lineaments of his moral nature by the brightness 
 of his own flashing pen. And as those who knew him best cannot, 
 in all their intercourse, recall a word or act of his that could offend 
 the most sensitive delicacy, so no cheek ever felt a blush of distress 
 at any line or sentiment he ever wrote. 
 
 Of such a life, Mr. President, and such literary labors, it seems 
 meet and fitting altogether that his associates in this Society should 
 make honorable record, as well in affectionate testimony of their 
 own high regard, as for the edification of those who shall come 
 after us to profit by such an example. 
 
 And it is most fortunate shall I err in saying Providential ? 
 that the close of such a life should be beautiful and serene as its 
 course ; that he should pass from life to death without a struggle, a 
 murmur, or a sigh ; and that his obsequies should constitute the 
 most remarkable incident known in the record of any private man. 
 Truly the heavens that smiled propitious on his life, smiled, too, 
 propitious on his grave. Oil one of the loveliest (Jays of our love- 
 liest season, which our Longfellow tells us is called by the pious 
 Acadian peasants, " the Summer of all Saints" our friend was 
 
ME. KING'S ADDRESS. 53 
 
 borne to his rest, followed by thousands from city and country, the 
 long procession wending its way amid rustic displays of admiration 
 and regret all business suspended, all hearts intent upon the one 
 common sorrow, and among scenes which his pen has immortalized. 
 Slowly, slowly and sadly they went, as the great sun sank to its 
 rest, " looking with eyes of love, through the golden" vapors around 
 him, upon that grave which was just about to close upon all that 
 was mortal of our friend. 
 
 It is a " Washington Irving day," was an exclamation from many 
 lips a day in its beauty, calmness, and loveliness, akin to his life 
 and labors ; and turning from that hill-side where he was laid to 
 his rest, to gaze upon the enchanting panorama around, and to 
 mark the demeanor of the thronging multitudes as they separated 
 on their respective paths, it was impossible not to feel, with all the 
 joy of grief, that our dead had been fittingly and worthily honored. 
 
 Mr. President, I add no more, and simply move the adoption of 
 the resolutions. 
 
 THE REV. DR. BETHUNE, upon being called upon by Mr. Bradish, 
 said that he arose at the instance of an authority which he would 
 never willingly disobey, to second the resolutions. He wished it 
 to be understood that he did not deem himself a fit pergon to 
 assume such a charge, as he had never been brought into close 
 personal intimacy with Mr. Irving. He had indeed resided in his 
 rural neighborhood ; but he had not called upon him, out of respect 
 for his retirement and pursuits. Dr. Bethune spoke of Mr. Irving's 
 choice of a residence ; in the valley, not amid the mountains ; by the 
 fields and meadows of the broad Tappaan sea, rather than the 
 Highlands ; in a congenial region, suited to his temperament. 
 Aside from the intrinsic beauties of Irving's writings, he considered 
 their great excellence to be their moral worth. After enlarging 
 somewhat upon this topic, he concluded as follows : " Look upon 
 
54 NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 the Life of Washington, and you will see that Washington Irving 
 was, if he chose to be, as strong as he was gentle. Let us honor 
 his memory by following his example. If we cannot imitate the 
 beauty of his power, for it is not given to every one to be great, 
 to instruct all, as master let us, each in his sphere, show in his 
 life that he has not read in vain the lessons of that beautiful 
 teacher, who, though dead, yet speaketh." 
 
 ADDRESS OF GEORGE BANCROFT. 
 
 Memory cherishes the lovely qualities and beautiful career of our 
 friend who has just ceased to be mortal : but words are wanting 
 to portray his genius and his virtues. No American since 
 Washington has taken with him to the grave the undivided affec- 
 tion of the American people like Irving. And it is right that it 
 should be so. He came into the world just as a treaty with 
 England gave our Republic a recognised existence among the 
 nations ; and he was lulled in his cradle by the pleasant songs of 
 returning peace. The first great solemnity that he gazed upon in 
 his childhood was the inauguration of our Constitution ; so that 
 the early life of him who was called to take the foremost part in 
 creating an American literature, was bathed in the purest dews of 
 our country's morning. As he grew up, his genial humor was nursed 
 by the traditions and inspirations of his own native State ; he 
 opened his heart to all the pleasant influences that surrounded 
 him ; he made himself one with Nature as she reveals herself in her 
 glory along the Hudson ; and when he was scarce six-and-twenty 
 years old he had written what the world will not suffer to be for- 
 gotten. 
 
 Thus far his literary activity had been the outgoing of the joy- 
 ousness of youth ; his mind was to be ripened, his character to be 
 
ME. BANCROFT'S ADDKESS. 55 
 
 matured, his rightful career to be made plain by the trials of 
 affliction. He had loved and been beloved ; and he watched, to 
 use his own words, "beauty and innocence languish into the 
 tomb." The being was departed whom he had loved as he never 
 again was to love in this world, who had loved him as he was 
 never again to be loved ; and the gladsome humor that marked 
 his entrance into life had become, not subdued, but tinged by a 
 sweet-souled melancholy, and a large and more earnest sympathy 
 with his kind. Now, when he stood midway in the path of 
 human life, of a sudden his outward fortune was swept away and 
 disappeared, and he was left in possession of nothing but his own 
 mind. Blessed adversity ! that opened to him the treasures which 
 lay heaped up within his soul. Sorrow and misfortune only 
 brought out in its brightness the purity of his nature, and were 
 but as clouds that reflect the sunshine in a thousand hues. 
 
 In a foreign land, alone, impoverished, bereaved, he was so 
 good and true, we might also say angels ministered to him. He 
 looked with serene wisdom upon the angry waves that threatened 
 him, and they passed under him without harm. 
 
 The career of letters now claimed him for its service. He had 
 not been deeply read in books ; but his mind was richly stored 
 with images of beauty and primal truths, and he knew nature by 
 heart. The English language, which better than any other can 
 express the sincerity of affection, the delicacy of sentiment, the 
 freshness of rural scenes, spread out its boundless wealth as his 
 own ; and at that period of what he himself calls " his troubled 
 life," he conquered for himself fame and good will wherever that 
 language is spoken. 
 
 It was at this period of his life that, during a summer at Paris, 
 I formed with him that relation of friendly intimacy which grew 
 in strength to the last. Time has in a measure effaced the rela- 
 
56 NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 tive difference of our years, but then he was almost twice as old 
 as I. As we roamed together over the fields round Paris, many 
 an earnest, and noble, and encouraging word fell from him for my 
 behalf ; and sometimes he would speak to me of his own occupa- 
 tions. How he proceeded with descriptions, I cannot say ; but I 
 found that where he gave expression to feeling, he would write 
 continuously, pouring out as it were at one gush all he intended to 
 give forth. One evening, after we had been many hours together, 
 he took me to his room and read to me what he had written 
 at one sitting, without pause, without one inspiration, and almost 
 without interlineation or erasure. 
 
 I remember it to this day : it was his St. Mark's Eve, from the 
 words " I am now alone in my chamber," to the end. He that 
 studies such passages closely will find confessions of Irving's own 
 inward experience and affections. 
 
 As an historian, Irving stands in the front rank. His life of 
 Columbus has all kinds of merit research, critical .judgment, 
 interest in the narrative, picturesque description, and golden style ; 
 exquisite in the melody of its cadences and its choice of words. 
 His Life of Washington, which is still dear to the American 
 people, is a marvel. No one has so painted the Father of his 
 Country to the life ; modestly disclaiming great extent of original 
 research, he has yet added much that was not known before. 
 But what distinguishes him is the grace and facility of his move- 
 ment. He writes American history, as it were, by the aid of 
 special endowments ; he takes with him a candor that never 
 fails ; a clear, impartial judgment, and an unrivalled keenness of 
 insight into character. He may err in minor details, but never in 
 the general effect. No one has drawn so true, and touching, and 
 vivid a picture of Washington in his retirement, as Irving, who 
 published it while suffering from prostration of the nerves, a 
 
DR. FRANCIS' ADDRESS. 57 
 
 depression of spirits, and that attack of asthma which harassed 
 him to the last. 
 
 Nor let it be forgotten that Irving is a native of our own New 
 York. Like Chaucer, and Milton, and Pope, and Gray, his birth- 
 place was in the heart of a city. Among the Greeks, when a 
 victor returned from the Olympian games, the citizens of his own 
 home esteemed his prizes their own, went out to welcome his 
 return, and would even break down the walls to receive him in 
 greater triumph. Our Irving has wrestled in the game of life and 
 came off the conqueror ; he has gone to his long home ; on the 
 mildest of winter days we have surrounded him with flowers and 
 laid him among his kindred, and his spirit in its flight has been 
 borne upward on the affections of countless multitudes. Now, 
 what shall we do here to mark for him our veneration and love ? 
 He gave to this city of merchants fame throughout the world of 
 letters. Will not, then, the merchants of New York raise to his 
 memory a statue of purest marble ? It would be the payment of 
 a debt to his fame, a just tribute to his virtues, a lesson to the 
 rising generations. Fathers might then take their sons to gaze on 
 his lineaments, and say, " There is the man who during more than 
 fifty years employed his pen as none other could have done, and 
 in all that time never wrote one word that was tainted by skepti- 
 cism, nor one line that was not as chaste and pure as the violets 
 in Spring." 
 
 ADDRESS OF DE. JOHN W. FRANCIS. 
 
 -, 
 
 In my attendance on this meeting of the Historical Society, it 
 was my purpose to remain a listener, rather than be a speaker. 
 The deep interest which the notices of the life of the illustrious 
 deceased have awakened everywhere, and the grateful tributes 
 
 3* 
 
58 NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 now paid to the memory of the great author and his virtuous 
 career, by the several gentlemen who have gratified this large 
 assembly by their addresses this evening, have rendered the 
 announcement of his death, if possible, still more impressive and 
 instructive, and to this institution a memorable event indeed. I 
 most cordially agree with every sentiment that has been expressed 
 with regard to the spotless integrity of his life, the purity and 
 excellence of his writings, and the mighty influence they have 
 had, and are destined to maintain in after time, in the republic of 
 letters. The gentlemen who have so amply given us their opinion 
 on the richness of his intellect, the exquisite finish and chasteness 
 of his style, the fertility of his imagination, his humor, his wit, his 
 delicate satire, and e'en the very habits of the man, have rendered 
 additional remarks of that import superfluous on this occasion ; 
 and yet I cannot but believe, in part, that many of their infer- 
 ences, however faithfully deduced, have been drawn more from 
 a study of his printed works than from a close personal knowledge 
 of the man himself. I am aware that individually he was widely 
 known, and that his character was well understood ; and I am 
 ready to acknowledge the obligations we are under for the benefit 
 of that wisdom given us at this meeting, which their personal 
 knowledge of him in later years has enabled them to impart. 
 
 But there is a period in the life of the great author in which I 
 think I have some advantages, or information at least, over the 
 orators of to-night ; and that fact, and that alone, impels me to 
 the statement of a few circumstances associated with Washington 
 Irving during a portion of his school-boy days. In casting my 
 eyes around this assembly I see few older than myself, and none, 
 I believe, acquainted with him at the period to which I allude in 
 the same relationship with myself. I was a boy at the same 
 school with young Irving, now some sixty-two years ago, in 179Y, 
 
DR. FRANCIS' ADDRESS. 59 
 
 The institution was a male seminary, situated on John-street, next 
 to the primary Methodist Meeting-house, and in the vicinity of 
 the renowned John-street Theatre. There was some six years' 
 difference in our ages, and Irving occupied a place in the school 
 among the older youth at the head, where the prominent master 
 had his desk and exercised his ferule. The younger the scholar, 
 the nearer the entrance or door seemed to be the disposition of 
 the seat for him. In that day of dreary teaching in our acade- 
 mies, young Irving was associated with boys of about the same age 
 with himself, and their studies blended in classes in the ordinary 
 way so common in school arrangements. About four years since, 
 at an interview with Mr. Irving, the conversation turned to former 
 times, and I asked him if he had a fair recollection of his school- 
 associates of those days. He replied he believed they had all 
 departed. I stated that I had in memory two survivors : one 
 engaged in the lottery of political life, the other cultivating cab- 
 bages on his ample farm, with all the industry of an old Knicker- 
 bocker, though he was represented to be worth nigh half a million 
 of dollars. Mr. Irving manifested a desire to make a visit to this 
 legitimate descendant of the olden times, and we made an arrange- 
 ment with that intent; but circumstances intervened, and the 
 chances of life prevented it. 
 
 I remember well the elementary books scattered about the 
 seminary, so characteristic of a common English school at that 
 period : the Columbian Orator of Bingham, and Hamilton Moore's 
 Monitor ; the Schoolmaster *s Assistant of Dil worth, and the Arith- 
 metic of Pike, with here and there a copy of Dytch's English 
 Dictionary. In those days* ballads, on printed slips, or folded in 
 8vo half sheets, were widely sold in the streets, and many found 
 their way into the school-house. Watty and Meg was of the 
 number, supposed generally to be an offspring of Burns, but after- 
 
60 NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 wards known as an early production of the celebrated Alexander 
 Wilson, the great author of American Ornithology ; many of 
 Dibdin's famous songs, and Mrs. Rowson's America, Commerce, 
 and Freedom, were also in the hands of many scholars. It may 
 have been that the patriotism of the times in Adams' administra- 
 tion against the French, led to the distribution or toleration of 
 this sort of literature among the boys, the better to diffuse the 
 patriotic sentiment of the day. Young Irving, I think, was more 
 of a general reader than an exact student, so far as prescribed 
 duties enjoined. I take it that even at that juvenile period he 
 had already adopted his own peculiar method of obtaining know- 
 ledge. He ruminated within himself, while his often seeming 
 listlessness was seizing upon ludicrous perplexities which fell under 
 his own notice. That quick foresightedness, that apt seizure of a 
 novelty, a principle or a fact, that prompt comprehension when 
 too much labor was not demanded, rendered it comparatively an 
 easy matter for him to master his Rule of Three ; and as to 
 grammar, we may infer, from the ever-dominant beauty and grace- 
 fulness of his diction in all his writings, that he was etymological 
 from the beginning. The leading teacher of the institution was 
 ever insisting on the importance of rhetoric, and struggled hard to 
 make every boy a Cicero. He assigned pieces for memory, to be 
 rehearsed at the public exhibitions of his scholars, and such was 
 his ethnological science and his acquaintance with the doctrine of 
 temperaments, that he committed to Irving the heroic lines 
 
 " My voice is still for war," etc. 
 
 
 
 while I, nearly seven years younger, was given for rhetorical 
 display 
 
 ' Pity the sorrows of a poor old man," etc. 
 
DR. FRANCIS' ADDRESS. 61 
 
 There was a curious conflict existing in the school between the 
 principal and his assistant-instructor: the former a legitimate 
 burgher of the city, the latter a New England pedagogue. So far 
 as I can remember, something depended on the choice of the boy's 
 parents in the selection of his studies ; but if not expressed other- 
 wise, the principal stuck earnestly to Dilworth, while the assistant, 
 for his section of instruction, held to Noah Webster. The same 
 system or rule was adopted with the school in unfolding the intri- 
 cacies of arithmetic : Dilworth was all in all with the principal, 
 while Nicholas Pike, with his amended federal currency, was 
 imparted by the assistant. To render this sketch of the institu- 
 tion where young Irving received the earlier principles of his school- 
 education less imperfect, it may be stated that the slender duode- 
 cimo volume of Morse's geography was in use. This book was a 
 novelty in school-apparatus, being the first of its kind which pro- 
 fessed an account of the different States of the Union, and it 
 enlisted the attention of the schoolmasters. The glowing descrip- 
 tion of New England by the reverend author, its fertile soil and 
 products, often invoked a smile from the old Knickerbocker instruc- 
 tors. The picture which the patriotic author had drawn of Wethers- 
 field, its fair damsels and its exuberant onions, invoked merriment 
 among the juvenile learners, and secured for a while for the book 
 the sobriquet, the onion edition. There was, besides, a special 
 teacher of elocution, in partial association with the academy, by 
 the name of Milne. He was the compiler of a book entitled the 
 Well-bred Scholar j a man of taste, a dramatic writer, if not a per- 
 former. He possessed a magisterial air, a robust and athletic ful- 
 ness ; lived plethoric, and died, I believe, apoplectic. He was an 
 Englishman by birth, and perhaps the first among us, in the pro- 
 gress of instruction, who attempted expounding the art of speak- 
 ing. Where or how young Irving acquired a knowledge of the 
 
62 NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 classics I am unable to say. We bad but three or four scbools of 
 any pretensions among us in tbat department of education at tbat 
 time, and Irving, so far as I can learn, was not a scbolar of Edward 
 Riggs, a renowned teacher of the Latin, and the author of a popu- 
 lar grammar of that tongue the first, indeed, of American manu- 
 facture in New York, as that of the famous old Cheever was of 
 that of Boston. Irving, however, was preparing to enter Columbia 
 College, but health prevented his further progress. 
 
 Some few years after we find Irving a student at law with that 
 eminent advocate, the late Josiah Ogden Hoffman. What pro- 
 ficiency he made in that abstract study must be left to conjecture ; 
 but in due season he opened a law-office in Pearl-street, near Coen- 
 ties Slip. His health was still precarious, and he was threatened 
 with pulmonary mischiefs. He was slender and delicate in appear- 
 ance, but never weary in measures to improve his condition. For 
 wholesome exercise he carried into practical operation a sugges- 
 tion to be engaged in some mechanical operation daily, and for a 
 specified time to saw wood, in an apartment below his office ; and 
 it is more than probable that this service proved of greater benefit 
 to his physical powers than might have been derived at that time 
 from nostrums and a sea-voyage. 
 
 We need scarcely apprehend falling into error when we affirm 
 that his law-office proved neither burdensome to his mental nor 
 physical faculties. The legal profession, then, as now, abounded in 
 numbers and in great talent. Moreover, the contemplative quali- 
 ties of Irving were directed in other channels. He needed diver- 
 sion ; he demanded variety ; and his views of life were compre- 
 hensive. It is a remark well founded, that realities are but dimly 
 to be traced in the twilight of the imagination, and the first im- 
 pulses of genius are often to be illustrated by the subsequent career 
 of the individual. Young Irving at school was a quiet boy. I can 
 
63 
 
 narrate no wild freaks or sports, originating from his conduct. It 
 is true, that except from the general good order of his section of 
 the room, and his devotion to reading, I had little chance to do 
 more than occasion all} 7 " look at him as at other scholars, witness his 
 movements in the streets, and observe his rather taciturn and 
 sequestered way. He seemed to have a habit of loneliness or 
 abstraction ; but he was early a reader, and I might say an observer 
 from the beginning to the end of his life. These qualities, it is 
 not to be supposed, were so prominent as to induce special notice 
 among his school-associates at that period of his life ; yet as his 
 teacher seemed to bestow particular attention on his pupil, and 
 often spoke of it in after time, his maturer wisdom may have found 
 in his scholar a temperament of peculiar indications, and thus tole- 
 rated the impulse of a youth who gave promise of character. 
 Among the incidents of young Irving's life, we know him to have 
 been remarkable for his pedestrian excursions; at times alone, 
 sometimes accompanied with his intimate friends, Paulding, Bre- 
 voort, Verplanck, and Blauvelt, an unfledged poet of New Jersey. 
 His rambles at Weehawken and Powles' Hook; his tours to the 
 Passaic ; his grouse excursions at Hempstead ; his walks through 
 the Stuyvesant lane of cherry-trees (which, it may be remarked, 
 passed directly through the very grounds on which this edifice 
 where we are now convened stands), all betrayed that love oi 
 nature which he has so luxuriantly unfolded in his captivating 
 writings. 
 
 These rambles were profitable to health and wholesome to intel- 
 lect ; they furnished materials for contemplation and enlarged 
 intellectual capacity ; but Irving at this juncture in early manhood 
 sought out other resources of mental gratification. He was bookish, 
 and he read ; he individualized the author whom he studied, and 
 he extended the circle of his personal associations. He must have 
 
64 NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 formed an acquaintance with a portion of that mass of men who 
 flourished at that dawn of literary effort in this city. His profes- 
 sion, that of law, had secured to him some knowledge of Hamilton 
 and Burr, of Harrison and Golden, of Williams and Jay, of Jones 
 and Livingston ; but with a generous freedom he could seek out 
 Brown, the novelist, Linn, the poet, Allsop, Clifton, and Low. 
 This you will say is a brief list ; but genuine writers at that day 
 were not a common article. In my searches after novelties I have 
 walked a day to cast a glance at an author ; and a reward of a 
 thousand dollars could not bring forth for inspection a penny-a- 
 liner. For my own part I distinctly recollect the first time I 
 caught a glimpse of Noah "Webster, when I felt a triumph as if I 
 had made a discovery in philosophy. But there were other 
 sources of instruction abundantly accessible to all, and Irving would 
 draw wisdom from them ; the acting drama of those times yielded 
 gratification to the most refined in taste : the remnant of the old 
 American company of performers was stirring in their vocation, 
 and the great renown ;which waited upon their achievements was 
 recognised as substantially earned. That Irving's imagination was 
 at an early period enamored of scenic exhibitions, and that he took 
 great delight in theatrical displays, as holding the " mirror up to 
 nature," is the concurrent testimony of all acquainted with him 
 during his minority. That his mind was fructified by a close study 
 of the older dramatists I think a safe inference. He studied the 
 Spanish language the better to comprehend the Spanish drama. 
 That fountain of knowledge yields a living spring to all who desire 
 to delineate human character ; and who has excelled Irving in 
 that branch of intricate illustration? The animating movements, 
 the picturesqne displays made fiction almost a reality, and illumined 
 a mind so susceptible of impression. The drama, with sensibili- 
 ties like his, roused to newness of reflection, dissipated ennui, and 
 
DK. FKANCIS' ADDRESS. 65 
 
 invoked the inner powers of a lonely student to increased literary 
 effort. He must have availed himself of these advantages, now 
 still further multiplying by the efforts of Dunlap and Smith, to add 
 novelty to the stage, if not by gorgeous scenery, yet by the bring- 
 ing forward the popular productions of Kotzebue and Schiller, the 
 acknowledged masters of the drama at that time in Germany. A 
 personal knowledge of some facts, and the humorous and critical 
 disquisitions on the stage, which Irving published shortly after, 
 under the name of Jonathan Oldsty le, demonstrate his intimacy with 
 this species of literature. His Salmagundi adds to our proofs of 
 this fact. 
 
 T forbear to enter into a consideration of the literary labors of 
 Mr. Irving, voluminous as they are, and precious as the world 
 acknowledges them. His Knickerbocker's History excited an 
 interest in the metropolis never before roused up by any literary 
 occurrence ; scarcely, perhaps, by any public event. The reading 
 community, upon its first appearance, were seized with amazement 
 at the wondrous antiquarian research of the author, his lifelike 
 pictures of the olden times, and his boundless humor and refined 
 wit ; and many melted in sympathy at the fate of old Diedrick 
 himself, the deserted inhabitant of the Mulberry-street tenement. 
 I confess myself to have been one of the thousands who sought out 
 his obscure lodgings in vain. The brilliant career of Mr. Irving 
 may be dated from the publication of this assumed history, and 
 the wheel of fortune now turned in his behalf. The book was 
 received by Campbell, the poet : through the hands of Henry Bre- 
 voort, Walter Scott possessed a copy, and almost raved with- 
 delight in its perusal. The omnipotent wit and satirist, George 
 Canning, had nigh fractured his ribs by laughter over its pages. 
 The reading public sought after it, and what the select averred, the 
 masses confirmed. Mr. Irving now became the lion of London, 
 
66 NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 and of the literary world. It is, however, not of his writings that 
 I would wish to speak, at present, but rather confine myself to a 
 few reminiscences of his individuality. The ample page of criti- 
 cism has already recorded his vast literary merits, and inscribed his 
 name on the tablet of immortality. He is national, he is universal. 
 
 Did not the lateness of the evening forbid, I would dwell upon 
 that remarkable faculty which Irving possessed of rejoicing in the 
 luxuries and beauties of nature ; his love of animals, and his kindly 
 feelings for their comfort ; his delight in surveying the garden and 
 the farm-yard ; his zeal to behold the anomalies of the vegetable 
 world ; his gratification in comprehending the labors of the natur- 
 alist ; and I would attempt to point out how the defects of the 
 schools of his boyhood were overcome by reading, and a close 
 observation of men and things. He had the power of drawing 
 knowledge from minute as well as great occurrences, from the 
 ludicrous as well as the severe. He has more than once dwelt 
 with me upon the odd characters he had encountered in the streets 
 of our city, in those early days, and none seems to have made a 
 stronger impression on him than the once famous Wilhelm Hoff- 
 meister, popularly known as Billy the Fiddler. I do not know 
 whether this musical genius and singularly-constructed man finds 
 a place in any of Irving's writings. 
 
 You all, gentlemen, have dwelt upon the genial humor of Irving ; 
 his kindly nature was ever apparent. An instance in illus- 
 tration I will give. Upon his return from his first European tour, 
 after an absence of two years, he had scarcely entered into his 
 parent's domicile in William-street, when his first inquiry was con- 
 cerning the condition and prospects of an unfortunate maimed 
 boy, of the neighborhood, who possessed singular qualities 
 of mental organization. Mr. Irving had a marvellous ten- 
 dency to the curious. Had he walked through a lunatic 
 
DR. FRANCIS' ADDRESS. 6V 
 
 asylum he would seem to have been qualified to write a trea- 
 tise on insanity ; had he been bred to physic, could his sensibili- 
 ties have endured such servitude, he might have become famous 
 for his descriptive powers in diagnostic pathology. Language like 
 this may sqund extravagant ; but the devoted reader of his pages 
 will be strengthened in such an opinion, by comparing the pro- 
 priety and clearness of his diction in all he utters touching the 
 subject in hand, whether belonging to the schools of arts or of 
 letters, whether in technical science or in the philosophy of nature. 
 Mr. Irving was the best judge of his own faculties and attainments, 
 and what he assumed he accomplished. His competitor is yet to 
 be discovered. 
 
 His courteous and benignant intercourse with others, whether 
 in the humbler or the higher walks of life, was of so captivating a 
 character as never to create a rebellious feeling, but ever awaken 
 emotions of friendship. Unobtrusive, with his vast merits, nay 
 almost timid, he won esteem from all beholders. IJe. possessed a 
 quick discernment in the analysis of character. I will give an 
 example. Jarvis, the painter, had just finished the head of a vene- 
 rable member of the bar, and courteously requested, Lavater-like, 
 Mr. Irving's opinion of the character. " You have faithfully deli- 
 neated the Genius of Dulness," replied Irving. The answer was 
 a biography of the individual. There was a trait of singular and 
 peculiar excellence in Mr. Irving, of all mortals he was the freest 
 of envy ; and merit of every order he was ready to recognise. A 
 literary man, par excellence, he could admire the arts, and look 
 upon mechanical skill and the artisan with the feelings, if not the 
 acquisition, of the most accomplished in scientific pursuits ; he 
 knew that intellect presided in mechanics as well as in the Home- 
 ric song. He endured without annoyance the renown which 
 waited upon the career of Fenimore Cooper ; nay, he has written 
 
68 NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 of the genius of his great rival in terms of strongest laudation, in 
 admiration of his noble conceptions and his graphic powers. In 
 like manner has he treated our Bryant. He rarely volunteered 
 his opinion, but he never turned his back on what he had once 
 expressed. Were I to concentrate my views on the more imme- 
 diate sources of that knowledge, in his several writings, which he 
 displayed with such copious profusion both in active life and in 
 letters, I would affirm that a cautious reading of good authors, an 
 almost unquenchable thirst for dramatic literature in early man- 
 hood, and a wide observation, secured by much travel, of the 
 scenery of the bustling world, and of nature herself, had fertilized 
 that peculiar and susceptible mind, and given to his happy mental 
 organization its most potent charms. 
 
 The deduction is safe, if formed even from the study of his 
 writings alone, that he was fond of incidents and adventures; they 
 enriched his gallery for illustration. Like Hawthorne, he admired 
 a snow-storm ; he loved music ; he loved little children, that faith- 
 ful index of the human soul, and often participated in their inno- 
 cent sports. He abjured excess, and was, at all times, moderate 
 in indulgence at the table. He detested tobacco in every form, 
 with all the abhorrence of Doctor Franklin or Daniel Webster. 
 
 His toilet was neat ; his dress free from peculiarities : the 
 extremes of fashion never reached him. His portrait, with the 
 ample furred coat, executed by Jarvis, and painted after the appear- 
 ance of the Knickerbocker history, is the most characteristic of 
 him at that period of his life, and gives the most striking idea of 
 his mental aspect, as he was daily seen in public, accompanied with 
 his friend Renwick, or with the superb Decatur, or old Iron- 
 sides. 
 
 About two weeks before his death, Mr. Irving made his final 
 visit to this city from his residence at Sunnyside. He had an offi- 
 
DR. FRANCIS' ADDRESS. 69 
 
 cial trust to fulfil as President of the Board of Trustees of the 
 Astor Library : he manifested no special indications of alarming 
 physical suffering. Yet it was observed he had less of muscular 
 strength, and that his frame was much attenuated. With his inti- 
 mate friend, the learned librarian, Dr. Cogswell, having surveyed 
 with gratification the improvements of the enlarged edifice and the 
 accessions of books recently made to that great institution, he 
 remarked with some earnestness, " What, Doctor, might have been 
 my destiny could I have commanded these treasures in my 
 youth !" 
 
 Foreign criticism has exerted her refined powers in unfolding 
 the merits and the beauties inherent in the writings of our illus- 
 trious friend and associate ; the schools of Addison and of Johnson 
 have each awarded to him the laurel. At home a dissentient 
 voice has not been expressed, and the republic at large has testi- 
 fied to the purity of his principles and the worth of his labors by 
 a sale almost unparalleled in the annals of bibliopoly. Allibone, 
 with the impartiality of a literary historian, has given us a charm- 
 ing view of this gratifying truth. But I shall make but one brief 
 citation on the subject of our national author's qualities ; it is from 
 a classical pen, that has repeatedly dwelt upon the delectable har- 
 mony of the life and literature of Irving. I have taken it from 
 Tuckerman ; could I have written half so well I would have pre- 
 ferred my own language : 
 
 " The outline of his works," says Mr. T, " should be filled by 
 the reader's imagination with the accessories and coloring incident 
 to so varied, honorable, and congenial a life. In all his wander- 
 ings, his eye was busied with the scenes of nature, and cognizant 
 of their every feature ; his memory brooded over the tradition of 
 the past, and his heart caught and reflected every phase of huma- 
 nity. With the feelings of a poet and the habitudes of an artist, 
 
70 NEW YOEK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 he then wandered over the rural districts of merry England, the 
 melancholy hills of romantic Spain, and the exuberant wilderness 
 of his native land, gathering up their most picturesque aspects and 
 their most affecting legends, and transferring them, with the pure 
 and varied colors of his genial expression, into permanent memo- 
 rials." 
 
 Posterity, to whom he may most safely be confided, will neither 
 forget the man nor his writings : these unfold the treasures of a 
 commanding genius, with the excellences of an unparalleled dic- 
 tion, while of the author himself we may emphatically affirm that his 
 literary products are a faithful transcript of his peculiar mind. He 
 enjoys a glorious triumph : we need not plead in extenuation of a 
 line that he has penned. Let us console ourselves at his loss that 
 lie was a native and " to the manner born," that his life was imma- 
 culate and without reproach, and that in death he triumphed 
 over its terrors. Let it be our pride that the patriarch of 
 American literature is indissolubly connected, in his mighty fame, 
 with the Father of his Country. 
 

 * 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 A special meeting of the Society was held this evening (Thursday), the 
 15th of December, 1859, at the residence of the Hon. David Sears, in 
 Beacon Street. 
 
 Mr. SEARS, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society, on taking the chair 
 at eight o'clock, announced in appropriate terms, that the purpose of the 
 meeting was to take some action relative to the death of "Washington Irving, 
 an Honorary Member of the Society. 
 
 Mr. Longfellow offered the following resolutions: 
 
 Resolved, That while we deeply deplore the death of our friend and associ- 
 ate, "Washington Irving, we rejoice in the completeness of his life and labors, 
 which, closing together, have left behind them so sweet a fame, and a me- 
 mory so precious. 
 
 Resolved, That we feel a just pride in his renown as an author ; not for- 
 getting, that, to his other claims upon our gratitude, he adds also that of 
 having been the first to win for our country an honorable name and position 
 in the history of letters. 
 
 Resolved, That we hold in affectionate remembrance the noble example of 
 his long literary career, extending through half a century of unremitted 
 labors, graced with all the amenities of authorship, and marred by none of 
 its discords and contentions. 
 
 Resolved, That, as members of this Historical Society, we regard with 
 especial honor and admiration his Lives of Columbus, the Discoverer, and of 
 "Washington, the Father, of our* country. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to his family, 
 with the expression of our deepest and sincerest sympathy. 
 
 Mr. SEARS read a note from Mr. Ticknor. stating that a slight accident 
 prevented him from being present, and uniting, as he would gladly have 
 done, with the Society, in paying the tribute of respect to the memory of 
 then- late eminent associate. 
 
ME. LONGFELLOW'S KEMAKKS. 73 
 
 REMARKS OF MR. LONGFELLOW. 
 
 Every reader has his first book : I mean to say, one book, 
 among all others, which, in early youth, first fascinates his imagi- 
 nation, and at once excites and satisfies the desires of his mind. 
 To me, this first book was the " Sketch-Book " of Washington 
 Irving. I was a school-boy when it was published, and read each 
 succeeding number with ever-increasing wonder and delight, 
 spell-bound by its pleasant humor, its melancholy tenderness, its 
 atmosphere of revery ; nay, even by its grey-brown covers, the 
 shaded letters of the titles, and the fair, clear type, which seemed 
 an outward symbol of the style. 
 
 How many delightful books the same author has given us, 
 written before and since, volumes of history and of fiction, most 
 of which illustrate his native land, and some of which illuminate 
 it, and make the Hudson, I will not say as classic, but as romantic, 
 as the Rhine ! Yet still the charm of the " Sketch-Book " remains 
 unbroken ; the old fascination still lingers about it ; and, whenever 
 I open its pages, I open also that mysterious door which leads 
 back into the haunted chambers of youth. 
 
 Many years afterward, 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 rustling, hears in every breeze 
 The laurels of Miltiades." 
 4 
 
74 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 At this time, Mr. Irving was at Madrid, engaged upon his " Life 
 of Columbus ; " and if the work itself did not bear ample testimony 
 to his zealous and conscientious labor, I could do so from personal 
 observation. He seemed to be always at work. "Sit down," he 
 would say : " I will talk with you in a moment ; but I must first 
 finish this sentence." 
 
 One summer morning, passing his house at the early hour of six, 
 I saw his study-window already wide open. On my mentioning 
 it to him afterwards, he said, " Yes : I am always at my work as 
 early as six." Since then, I have often remembered that sunny 
 morning and that open window, so suggestive of his sunny tem- 
 perament and his open heart, and equally so of his patient and 
 persistent toil ; and have recalled those striking words of Dante : 
 
 " Seggendo in piuma, 
 In fama non si vien, ne sotto coltre ; 
 
 Senza la qual, chi sua vita consuma, 
 Cotal vestigio in terra, di se lascia 
 Qual fummo in aere ed in acqua la schiuma." 
 
 " Seated upon down, 
 Or in his bed, man cometh not to fame ; 
 
 Withouten which, whoso his life consumes, 
 Such vestige of himself on earth shall leave 
 As smoke in air and in the water foam." 
 
 Remembering these things, T esteem it a great though a melan- 
 choly privilege to lay upon his hearse the passing tribute of these 
 resolutions. 
 
MR. EVERETT'S REMARKS. 75 
 
 REMARKS OF MR. EYERETT. 
 
 I cordially concur in the resolutions which Mr. Longfellow has 
 submitted to the Society. They do no more than justice to the 
 merits and character of Mr. Irving as a man and as a writer ; and 
 it is to me, sir, a very pleasing circumstance, that a tribute like 
 this to the Nestor of the prose writers of America so just and so 
 happily expressed should be paid by the most distinguished of 
 our American poets. 
 
 If the year 1769 is memorable above every other of the last 
 century for the number of eminent men to which it gave birth, the 
 year 1859 is thus far signalized in this century for the number of 
 bright names which it has taken from us ; and surely that of 
 Washington Irving may be accounted with the brightest on the list. 
 
 It is eminently proper that we should take a respectful notice of 
 his decease. He has stood for many years on the roll of our Hon- 
 orary Members; and he has enriched the literature of the country 
 with two first-class historical works, which, although from their 
 subjects they possess a peculiar attraction for the people of the 
 United States, are yet, in general interest, second to no contempo- 
 rary works in that department of literature. I allude, of course, 
 to the " History of the Life and Voyages of Columbus," and the 
 " Life of Washington." 
 
 Although Mr. Irving's devotion to literature as a profession 
 and a profession pursued with almost unequalled success was 
 caused by untoward events, which, in ordinary cases, would have 
 proved the ruin of a life, a rare good fortune attended his literary 
 career. Without having received a collegiate education, and 
 destined first to the legal profession, which he abandoned as uncon- 
 genial, he had, in very early life, given promise of attaining a bril- 
 
76 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 liant reputation as a writer. Some essays from his pen attracted 
 notice before he had reached his majority. A few years later, the 
 numbers of the " Salmagundi," to which he was a principal con- 
 tributor, enjoyed a success, throughout the United States, far be- 
 yond any former similar work, and not surpassed, if equalled, by 
 anything which has since appeared. 
 
 This was followed by " Knickerbocker's History of New York," 
 which at once placed Mr. Irving at the head of American humor- 
 ists. In the class of compositions to which it belongs, I know of 
 nothing happier than this work in our language. It has probably 
 been read as widely, and with as keen a relish, as anything from 
 Mr. Irving's pen. It would seem cynical to subject a work of this 
 kind to an austere commentary, at least, while we are paying a 
 tribute to the memory of its lamented author ; but I may be per- 
 mitted to observe, that, while this kind of humorous writing fits 
 well with the joyous temperament of youth, in the first flush of 
 successful authorship, and is managed by Mr. Irving with great 
 delicacy and skill, it is still, in my opinion, better adapted for ajeu 
 d'esprit in a magazine than for a work of considerable compass. 
 To travesty an entire history seems to me a mistaken effort of in- 
 genuity, and not well applied to the countrymen of William of 
 Orange, Grotius, the De Witts, and Van Tromp. 
 
 This work first made Mr. Irving known in Europe. His friend, 
 Mr. Henry Brevoort, one of the associate wits of the " Salmagundi," 
 had sent a copy of it to Sir Walter Scott, himself chiefly known, 
 at that time, as the most popular of the English poets of the day ; 
 though, as such, beginning to be outshone by the fresher brightness 
 of Byron's inspiration. Scott, though necessarily ignorant of the 
 piquant allusions to topics of contemporary interest, and wholly 
 destitute of sympathy with the spirit of the work, entered fully into 
 its humor as a literary effort, and spoke of it with discrimination 
 
MR. EVERETT'S REMARKS. 77 
 
 and warmth. His letter to Mr. Henry Brevoort is now in the pos- 
 session of his son, our esteemed corresponding associate, Mr. J. 
 Carson Brevoort; to whose liberality we are indebted for the 
 curious panoramic drawing of the military works in the environs 
 of Boston, executed by a British officer in 1775, which I have had 
 the pleasure, on behalf of Mr. Brevoort, of tendering to the Society 
 this evening. Mr. Carson Brevoort has caused a lithographic fac- 
 simile of Sir Walter Scott's letter to be executed ; and of this in- 
 teresting relic he also offers a copy to the acceptance of the Society. 
 The letter has been inserted in the very instructive article on Mr. 
 Irving in Allibone's invaluable " Dictionary of English and Ameri- 
 can Authors ; " but as it is short, and may not be generally known 
 to the Society, I will read it from the fac-simile* 
 
 After Mr. Irving had been led to take up his residence abroad, 
 and to adopt literature as a profession and a livelihood, a resource 
 to which he was driven by the failure of the commercial house of 
 his relatives, of which he was nominally a partner, he produced 
 in rapid succession, a series of works which stood the test of Eng- 
 lish criticism, and attained a popularity not surpassed hardly 
 equalled by that of any of his European contemporaries. This 
 fact, besides being attested by the critical journals of the day, may 
 be safely inferred from the munificent prices paid by the great 
 London bookseller, the elder Murray, for the copyright of several of 
 his productions. He wrote, among other subjects, of English man- 
 ners, sports, and traditions, national traits of character, certainly 
 the most difficult topics for a foreigner to treat : and he wrote at 
 a time when Scott was almost annually sending forth one of his 
 marvellous novels ; when the poetical reputation of Moore, Byron, 
 Campbell, and Rogers, was at the zenith ; and the public appetite 
 was consequently fed almost to satiety by these familiar domestic 
 
 * For this letter see Allibone's Sketch, page 25. 
 
78 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 favorites. But, notwithstanding these disadvantages and obstacles 
 to success, he rose at once to a popularity of the most brilliant and 
 enviable kind ; and this, too, in a branch of literature -which had 
 not been cultivated with distinguished success in England since the 
 time of Goldsmith ; and, with the exception of Goldsmith, not since 
 the days of Addison and Steele. 
 
 Mr. Irving's manner is often compared with Addison's ; though, 
 closely examined, there is no great resemblance between them, 
 except that they both write in a simple, unaffected style, remote 
 from the tiresome stateliness of Johnson and Gibbon. It was one 
 of the witty but rather ill-natured sayings of Mr. Samuel Rogers, 
 whose epigrams sometimes did as much injustice to his own kind 
 and generous nature as they did to the victims of his pleasantry, 
 that Washington Irving was Addison and water, a judgment 
 which, if seriously dealt with, is altogether aside from the merits 
 of the two writers, who have very little in common. Addison had 
 received a finished classical education at the Charter-House and at 
 Oxford ; was eminently a man of books, and had a decided taste 
 for literary criticism. Mr. Irving, for a man of letters, was not a 
 great reader ; and, if he possessed the critical faculty, never exer- 
 cised it. Addison quoted the Latin poets freely, and wrote correct 
 Latin verses himself. Mr. Irving made no pretensions to a familiar 
 acquaintance with the classics, and probably never made a hexa- 
 meter in his life. Addison wrote some smooth English poetry, 
 which Mr. Irving, I believe, never attempted ; but, with the excep- 
 tion of two or three exquisite hymns (which will last as long as the 
 English language does), one brilliant simile of six lines in the 
 " Campaign," and one or two sententious but not very brilliant 
 passages from Cato, not a line of Addison's poetry has been quoted 
 for a hundred years. But Mr. Irving's peculiar vein of humor is 
 not inferior in playful raciness to Addison's ; his nicety of charac* 
 
ME. EVERETT'S EEMAEKS. 79 
 
 terization is quite equal ; his judgment upon all moral relations a& 
 sound and true ; his human sympathies more comprehensive, ten- 
 derer, and chaster ; and his poetical faculty, though never developed 
 in verse, vastly above Addison's. One chord in the human heart, 
 the pathetic, for whose sweet music Addison had no ear, 
 Irving touched with the hand of a master. He learned that skill 
 in the school of early disappointment. 
 
 In this respect, the writer was, in both cases, reflected in the 
 man. Addison, after a protracted suit, made an " ambitious 
 match " with a termagant peeress. Irving, who would as soon 
 have married Hecate as a woman like the Countess of Warwick, 
 buried a blighted hope never to be rekindled, in the grave of a 
 youthful sorrow. 
 
 As miscellaneous essayists, in which capacity only they can be 
 compared, Irving exceeds Addison in versatility and range, quite 
 as much as Addison exceeds Irving in the far less important quality 
 of classical tincture ; while, as a great national historian, our coun- 
 tryman reaped laurels in a field which Addison never entered. 
 
 Mr. Irving's first great historical work, the " Life and Voyages 
 of Columbus," appeared at London and New York in 1828. Being 
 at Bordeaux in the winter of 1825-6, he received a letter from Mr. 
 Alexander H. Everett, then Minister of the United States in Spain, 
 informing him that .a work was passing through the press, con- 
 taining a collection of documents relative to the voyages of Colum- 
 bus ; among which were many, of a highly important nature, 
 recently discovered in the public archives. This was the now 
 well-known work of Navarrete, the Secretary of the Royal Spanish 
 Academy of History. Mr. Everett, in making this communication 
 to Mr. Irving, suggested that the translation of Navarrete's volumes 
 into English, by some American scholar, would be very desirable. 
 Mr. Irving concurred in this opinion, and, having previously in- 
 
80 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 tended to visit Madrid, shortly afterwards repaired to that capital, 
 with a view to undertake the proposed translation. 
 
 Navarrete's collection was published soon after Mr. Irving's 
 arrival at Madrid ; and finding it rich in original documents hitherto 
 unknown, which threw additional light on the discovery of America, 
 he conceived the happy idea (instead of a simple translation) of 
 preparing from them, and other materials, liberally placed at his 
 disposal, in the public and private libraries of Spain, and especially 
 that of Mr. Obadiah Rich, our Consul at Valencia, with whom 
 Mr. Irving was domesticated at Madrid, and who possessed a col- 
 lection of manuscripts and books of extreme value, a new history 
 of the greatest event of modern times, drawn up in the form of a 
 Life of Columbus. He addressed himself with zeal and assiduity 
 to the execution of this happy conception ; and, in about two years, 
 the work, in four octavo volumes, was ready for the press. When 
 it is considered that much of the material was to be drawn from 
 ancient manuscripts and black-letter chronicles in a foreign tongue, 
 it is a noble monument of the industry as well as the literary talent 
 of its author. 
 
 That these newly discovered materials for a life of Columbus, 
 and a history of the great discovery, should have fallen directly 
 into the hands of an American writer so well qualified to make a 
 good use of them as Mr. Irving, and that the credit of producing 
 the first adequate memorial of this all-important event should have 
 been thus secured to the United States by their most popular 
 author, is certainly a very pleasing coincidence. 
 
 The limits of this occasion require me to pass over two or three 
 popular works of a light cast, for which Mr. Irving collected the 
 materials while carrying on his historical researches in Spain, as 
 also those which issued from his industrious and fertile pen after 
 his return to the United States in 1832. At this period of his life, 
 
MR. EVERETT'S REMARKS. 81 
 
 he began seriously to contemplate the preparation of his last great 
 production, the " Life of Washington." This subject had been 
 pressed upon him, while he was yet in Europe, by Mr. Archibald 
 Constable, the celebrated publisher at Edinburgh ; and Mr. Irving 
 determined to undertake it as soon as his return to America should 
 bring him within reach of the necessary documents. Various 
 circumstances concurred to prevent the execution of the project at 
 this time ; especially his appointment as Minister to Spain, and his 
 residence in that country from 1842 to 1846. On his return to 
 America, at the close of his mission, he appears to have applied 
 himself diligently to the long-meditated undertaking ; though he 
 proceeded but slowly, at first, in its execution. The first volume 
 appeared in 1855, and the four following in rapid succession. The 
 work was finally completed the present year, fit close of the life 
 of its illustrious author, and of a literary career of such rare bril- 
 liancy and success. 
 
 It would be altogether a work of supererogation to engage in 
 any general commentary on the merits of Mr. Irving's two great 
 historical works ; and the occasion is not appropriate for a critical 
 analysis of them. They have taken a recognised place in the 
 historical literature of the age, and stand, by all confession, in the 
 front rank of those works of history, of which this century, and 
 especially this country, has been so honorably prolific. Reserving 
 a distinguished place apart for the venerable name of Marshall, Mr. 
 Irving leads the long line of American historians, first in time, 
 and not second in beauty of style, conscientious accuracy, and 
 skilful arrangement of materials. As his two works treat respec- 
 tively of themes, which, for purely American interest, stand at the 
 head of all single subjects of historical research ; so there is no one 
 of our writers to whom the united voice of the country would, with 
 such cheerful unanimity, have intrusted their composition. 
 
 4* 
 
82 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 From the time that he entered for life upon a literary career, 
 Mr. Irving gave himself almost exclusively to its pursuit. He filled 
 the office of Charge d'Affaires for a short time in London, prior to 
 his return to the United States ; and that of Minister to Spain 
 from 1842 to 1846. His diplomatic despatches in that capacity 
 are among the richest of the treasures which lie buried in the 
 public archives at Washington. 
 
 A more beautiful life than Mr. Irving's can hardly be imagined. 
 Not uncheckered with adversity, his early trials, under the soothing 
 influence of time, without subduing the natural cheerfulness of his 
 disposition, threw over it a mellow tenderness, which breathes in 
 his habitual trains of thought, and is reflected in the amenity of 
 his style. His misfortunes in business, kindly overruled by a 
 gracious Providence, laid the foundation of literary success, reputa- 
 tion, and prosperity. At two different periods of his career, he 
 engaged in public life; entering it without ambition, performing 
 its duties with diligence and punctuality, and leaving it without 
 regret. He was appointed Charge d'Affaires to London under 
 General Jackson's administration, and Minister to Spain under Mr, 
 Tyler's, the only instances, perhaps, in this century, in which a 
 distinguished executive appointment has been made without a 
 thought as to the political opinions of the person appointed. Mr. 
 Irving's appointment to Spain was made on the recommendation 
 of Mr. Webster, who told me that he regarded it as one of the 
 most honorable memorials of his administration of the Department 
 of State. It was no doubt a pleasing circumstance to Mr. Irving, 
 to return, in his advancing years, crowned with public honors, to 
 the country where, in earlier life, he had pursued his historical 
 studies with so much success. But public life had no attractions for 
 him. The respect and affection of the community followed him 
 .to his retirement. He lived in prosperity, without an ill-wisher 
 
COL. ASPINW ALL'S REMARKS. 83 
 
 finished the work which was given him to do, amidst the blessings 
 of his countrymen ; and died, amidst loving kindred, in honor and 
 peace. 
 
 REMARKS OF COL. ASPINWALL. 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT, I speak by request, and should not otherwise 
 have ventured to address you on the present occasion. It was my 
 good fortune, sir, to make the acquaintance of "Washington Irving 
 in London, shortly after the termination of our last war with Great 
 Britain. This led to an intimacy, quite domestic at times ; and to 
 years of cordial, unbroken friendship. In 1817, the mercantile 
 establishment which he had been kindly persuaded by his brother 
 to join, that he might share its prosperity rather than the labor of 
 the counting-house had sunk under the pressure of unavoidable 
 calamities ; and he, with his brother (Dr. Peter Irving), came to 
 reside in London, where he resumed his pen, and manfully braced 
 himself up to the task of gaining an honest independence. The 
 period was not propitious. The irritation excited by the war had 
 not ceased. English critics and periodical writers, in obedience to 
 the popular impulse, derided the scantiness of our literature, and 
 seized upon an American book as if it were their prey, and not at 
 all a theme or subject of fair, legitimate criticism. On the other 
 hand, it was a marked peculiarity of Washington Irving to need 
 sympathy, support, and cheering encouragement. When these 
 were withheld, he was shorn of half his strength. 
 
 It was under such disheartening circumstances that he began 
 the " Sketch-Book." Writing, as it were, under the spur of neces- 
 sity, he did not, as afterwards, when engaged upon other works of 
 taste and imagination, wait for the moment of inspiration, but, 
 oftentimes to the detriment of his health, toiled on incessantly, 
 
84 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 whether in the vein or not. Sensible that he was no longer in 
 the midst of his old friends and countrymen, who had welcomed 
 his previous works with rapturous applause, but in a community 
 whose tolerance could hardly be hoped for, he earnestly strove, in 
 the course of his " Sketch-Book," to forestall, to soften and pro- 
 pitiate, the prevailing adverse spirit, by gentle rebuke, and appeals 
 to generous feelings of brotherhood. For still greater protection, 
 he took excessive pains to refine and perfect every sentence and 
 every expression, until he considered it proof against cavil and 
 derision. 
 
 When the " Sketch-Book " was ready for publication, no London 
 publisher of eminence would consent to bring it out After part of it 
 had appeared in numbers in the United States, Mr. Miller, the present 
 despatch-agent of the American Legation in London, but at that 
 period a publisher and bookseller, undertook the publication at the 
 author's expense. But scarcely had the first volume made its ap- 
 pearance, when Mr. Miller failed. Shortly after, at the friendly 
 instance of Sir Walter Scott, Mr. Murray, who stood at the head 
 of English publishers, bought the impression and British copyright. 
 Under his auspices, the " Sketch-Book" soon found its way to the 
 libraries and drawing-rooma of the three kingdoms. All classes 
 of readers were fascinated by the beauty, and the malignity of 
 criticism was disarmed by the humor, of the book. The author 
 was overwhelmed by civilities from all quarters, from the wise, 
 the good, and the great, who sought to know and to honor him ; 
 and from the manoeuvring aspirants of the fashionable circles, who 
 merely sought to make their houses more attractive by showing 
 him up as a lion. To be thus singled out, and exposed to the 
 public gaze, or, indeed, to be placed at any time in a conspicuous 
 station before an assemblage, was his utter aversion. To escape 
 such annoyances, he would often take refuge with his friends or 
 
COL. ASPINWALL'S REMARKS. 85 
 
 family connections in the country. It was in an excursion of this 
 sort, I believe from Birmingham to Oxford, in company with 
 his distinguished friend Leslie, the artist, that he wrought out, on 
 the top of a stage-coach, his inimitable burlesque, "The Stout 
 Gentleman." 
 
 It is not my purpose, Mr. President, to enter into any criticism 
 of Mr. Irving's works ; that subject has been exhausted by the able 
 and comprehensive comments of our eminent colleagues (Mr. 
 Longfellow and Mr. Everett) who have preceded me : but I would 
 advert merely to the charge of anachronism which was brought 
 against the " Sketch-Book." It was boldly said, that Mr. Irving 
 had portrayed, as existing, English manners and customs that had 
 been borrowed from the bygone days and writings of Addison and 
 Steele, but were now utterly unknown and obsolete. Nothing is 
 more untrue. He described what still exists, and what he had, 
 and his Scotch critic had not, seen. Mr. Irving was no plagiarist. 
 In regard to all proper subjects of description, and all that maybe 
 derived from observation, few writers have been so completely in- 
 dependent of extraneous aid as Washington Irving. Nothing 
 seems to escape his notice. The narratives of his own adventures 
 on the prairies and elsewhere, furnish, in every page, proofs of the 
 vigilance and acuteness of his observation. His other more imagi- 
 native writings abound in instances, as all his friends know, of 
 character, manners, and incidents drawn from life. His quick 
 sense of the ludicrous was always in unison with the genuine kind- 
 ness of his heart. He makes his portraits of character laughable, 
 but generally contrives to secure our good-will for the individual 
 portrayed. 
 
 Such of the works of Washington Irving as were written out of 
 England after 1824 were confided to my disposal, and published 
 under contracts made by me as his agent. Hence I am able to 
 
86 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 state, that, in his transactions, he had all the tact, promptitude, 
 and exactness of a trained man of business ; and also, that, owing 
 to his amiable, upright, and liberal demeanor under all exigencies, 
 a long intercourse between him, his publishers, and myself, con- 
 tinued to the end, unclouded even by a shade of dissatisfaction. 
 
 It would not become me, sir, to advert to Mr. living's diplomatic 
 career, after the ample and honorable tribute paid to his merits by 
 so accomplished a diplomatist and statesman as our distinguished 
 colleague (Mr. Everett) ; but I would merely say, that, when he 
 was Charge d' Affaires in London, such was the mutual confidence 
 and cordial good-will subsisting between him and the corps of the 
 Foreign Office, that he often drew up his reply to the minister's 
 despatch in the office itself, and in concert with those who would 
 commonly be regarded as his standing antagonists, but who were 
 in truth, to the end of life, his fast friends. 
 
 His frank, affable, unassuming deportment, the purity of his life, 
 his refined intelligence, and his quiet and cheerful pleasantry, made 
 him welcome everywhere ; and he, in turn, appreciated very highly 
 the hospitalities and social intercourse which he enjoyed in Eng- 
 land. But the favorite scene of his hours of relaxation was among 
 children who had once known him and his amusing frolics and 
 stories. He was always sure to be welcomed, at the first glimpse, 
 with shouts of delight from the little merry group that rushed to 
 him, hung upon his skirts, and clamored for another repetition of 
 some thrice-told nursery-tale of his own invention. 
 
 A more touching example of fraternal affection than that which 
 bound Washington Irving and his brothers together, the world has 
 seldom witnessed. When Peter and Washington lived together 
 in London, in modest apartments in Edward Street, Foley Place, 
 the little daily stratagems, and efforts of self-sacrifice, of each, for the 
 comfort of the other, were frequently the admiration of their friends 
 
87 
 
 and countrymen. Both were industriously engaged in literary 
 labors ; but the earnings all went into one purse. 
 
 In after-years, when in Spain, Peter, in the hope of aiding his 
 brother, and to spare him an irksome toil, heedless of all fame or 
 reward, devoted himself to the task of collecting and arranging 
 materials from books, manuscripts, and documents, and to making 
 preliminary investigations, connected with the life of Columbus. 
 Of this service he would not suffer the slightest notice to be given. 
 
 When his brothers were prosperous, every want of Washington's 
 was gladly supplied, even, as he said, for all his foolish youthful 
 extravagances. When they were borne down by reverses, his purse, 
 his home, his heart, was theirs. I shall never forget the tone of 
 exultation in which he gave vent to his joy at being able to make 
 some return for the thousand kindnesses of his prince of brothers, 
 Ebenezer. 
 
 We may well imagine how severely the blow, which we all de- 
 plore, has fallen on the amiable and intellectual family circle which 
 he had gathered under his roof; and how forlorn and desolate to 
 them their home must be in the absence of him who was its light, 
 ornament, and support, and the idol of their affections. 
 
 Mr. President, all will lament his death as a heavy loss to the 
 nation and to the literary world ; but there are thousands, here and 
 abroad, who will mourn for him as a departed brother, who never 
 made an enemy nor lost a friend. 
 
 REMARKS OF PROFESSOR FELTOff. 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT, After the just and eloquent tributes to Mr. 
 Irving, I rise to express, in the simplest and most informal manner, 
 my hearty sympathy with the feeling which has called this meet- 
 ing together. We seem to be standing in a field of battle. The 
 
f 
 
 88 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 great leaders of thought, one after another, in rapid succession, are 
 falling around us ; the brightest stars are going down ; and we, 
 who have so long watched their courses through the heavens, find 
 it hard to turn our gaze in the opposite direction, and to worship 
 the new luminaries, however brilliant their rising. It is but a few 
 months since we came together to sympathize with one another in 
 the sudden loss of the great historian, who had done so much honor 
 to the literature of our country by his masterly works, and who 
 was so beloved as a friend. Later we followed to the tomb the 
 advocate and statesman, whose vivid eloquence had so long de- 
 lighted the court, the senate, and the popular assembly. 
 
 And, now, the most venerable of our men of letters, the graceful 
 essayist, the brilliant writer of fiction, the delightful biographer and 
 historian, the genial and generous friend, whose whole life has been 
 loyal to the sacred Muses ; the man who never had an enemy ; 
 the author who never wrote a line, which, dying, he could wish to 
 blot, has closed the varied scene of his labors. Ripe in age, 
 crowned with the warmest affections of his countrymen and of the 
 whole literary world, he has gone from among us ; and we shall 
 see his face no more. Such an event, while it cannot surprise us, 
 excites our sensibility, and naturally touches the heart. The tears 
 we shed are a tribute to one common humanity. It soothes our 
 grief to listen to the warm and tender tributes, paid from every 
 quarter, to the memory of such a man ; and we bless the elevating 
 influence of the hour, when the orator and the poet, moved by the 
 generous impulse of kindred natures, console the common sorrow 
 by giving fit expression to the common admiration and love. 
 
 Who did not know Washington Irving, if not personally, in his 
 works ? Who, that read anything, did not read his beautiful books ? 
 Who, that read them, ever failed to find there, not only entertain- 
 ment for the passing hour, but the ennobling influence of refined and 
 
89 
 
 generous thoughts pervading his mind for ever after ? His English 
 style, so pure, so delicate, so clear, so rhythmical, the natural 
 expression of a pure, beautiful, and harmonious soul, exquisitely 
 attuned to all that is lovely, graceful, and noble in nature and life, 
 embodying a character painted in immortal colors by the genius 
 of Plato ; his imagination, so gentle and so powerful, that bright- 
 ened everything it touched, as the genial sunshine kindles the 
 landscape into beauty ; his ready and delightful wit and humor, 
 that exhilarated us, not with tumultuous laughter, except, perhaps, 
 in those sallies of the sportive genius of his youth, so happily 
 touched upon by Mr. Everett, but with a serene gladness of spirit ; 
 his pathos, so tender, so true, so full of feeling for every form of 
 sorrow, toned with a sweet, lingering sadness from the unforgotten 
 sorrow of his early days, what a combination of attractive quali- 
 ties, adorning his personal character, and clothing his literary works 
 with an inexpressible charm ! 
 
 The personal associations of all, who ever had the happiness of 
 knowing Mr. Irving, tell the same story. I recall with pleasure the 
 fact, that, more than twenty years ago, I was indebted to rny friend 
 Mr. Longfellow the mover of the resolutions on your table for 
 a letter of introduction to him, when making a visit to New York. 
 I shall never forget the impression he then made upon me by his 
 pleasant and cordial manners, the sprightliness of his conversation, 
 and the unaffected friendliness, wholly free from any air of conde- 
 scension, with which he placed me at ease, conversing as gentle- 
 man with gentleman ; though he was the writer, world-renowned, 
 and I was, till then, unknown to him by name. The acquaintance 
 thus begun was maintained by social intercourse from time to time, 
 and by occasional correspondence ; and I can truly say, that his 
 conversation, his letters, and his published writings, have always 
 breathed the same modest, gentle, and generous spirit, utterly free 
 
90 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 from the jealous rivalries that sometimes mar the literary character, 
 and harmonizing perfectly with his daily life, as portrayed to us 
 this evening by the gallant soldier (Col. Aspinwall), who was so 
 long his intimate and loving friend. 
 
 Allow me, Mr. President, to recall two or three little incidents, 
 that may serve to illustrate some of the aspects of his character. 
 The time when I saw the most of Mr. Irving was the winter of 
 1842, during the visit of Charles Dickens in New York. I had 
 known this already distinguished writer in Boston and Cambridge ; 
 and, while passing some weeks with my dear and lamented friend 
 Albert Sumner, I renewed my acquaintance with Mr. Dickens, 
 often meeting him in the brilliant literary society which then made 
 New York a most agreeable resort. Halleck, Bryant, Washington 
 Irving, Davis, and others scarcely less attractive by their genius, 
 wit, and social graces, constituted a circle not to be surpassed any- 
 where in the world. I passed much of the time with Mr. Irving 
 and Mr. Dickens ; and it was delightful to witness the cordial 
 intercourse of the young man, in the flush and glory of his fervent 
 genius, and his elder compeer, then in the assured possession of 
 immortal renown. Dickens said, in his frank, hearty manner, that, 
 from his childhood, he had known the works of Irving ; and that, 
 before he thought of coming to this country, he had received a 
 letter from him, expressing the delight he felt in reading the story 
 of little Nell; and from that day they had shaken hands autogra- 
 phically across the Atlantic. Great and varied as was the genius 
 of Mr. Irving, there was one thing he shrank with a comical terror 
 from attempting ; and that was a dinner-speech. A great dinner, 
 however, was to be given to Mr. Dickens in New York, as one had 
 already been given in Boston ; and it was evident to all, that no 
 man but Washington Irving could be thought of to preside. With 
 all his dread of making a speech, he was obliged to obey the uni 
 
PJROFESSOK FELTOX'S REMARKS. 91 
 
 versal call, and to accept the painful pre-eminence. I saw him 
 daily during the interval of preparation, either at the lodgings of 
 Dickens, or at dinner or evening parties. I hope I showed no want 
 of sympathy with his forebodings ; but I could not help being 
 amused with the tragi-comical distress which the thought of that 
 approaching dinner had caused him. His pleasant humor mingled 
 with the real dread, and played with the whimsical horrors of his 
 own position with an irresistible drollery. Whenever it was al- 
 luded to, his invariable answer was, " I shall certainly break down !" 
 uttered in a half-melancholy tone, the ludicrous effect of which 
 it is impossible to describe. He was haunted, as if by a nightmare ; 
 and I could only compare his dismay to that of Mr. Pickwick, who 
 was so alarmed at the prospect of leading about that " dreadful 
 horse " all day. At length, the long-expected evening arrived ; a 
 company of the most eminent persons, from all the professions and 
 every walk of life, were assembled ; and Mr. Irving took the chair. 
 I had gladly accepted an invitation ; making it, however, a condi- 
 tion that I should not be called upon to speak : a thing I then 
 dreaded quite as much as Mr. Irving himself. The direful com- 
 pulsions of life have since helped me to overcome, in some measure, 
 the post-prandial fright. Under the circumstances, an invited 
 guest, with no impending speech, I sat calmly, and watched with 
 interest the imposing scene. I had the honor to be placed next 
 but one to Mr. Irving, and the great pleasure of sharing in his con- 
 versation. He had brought the manuscript of his speech, and laid 
 it under his plate. " I shall certainly break down," he repeated 
 over and over again. At last, the moment arrived. Mr. Irving 
 rose and was received with deafening and long-continued applause, 
 which by no means lessened his apprehension. He began in his 
 pleasant voice ; got through two or three sentences pretty easily, 
 but in the next hesitated ; and, after one or two attempts to go on, 
 
92 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 gave it up, with a graceful allusion to the tournament, and the 
 troops of knights all armed and eager for the fray ; ended with the 
 toast, " Charles Dickens, the guest of the nation." " There," said 
 he, as he resumed his seat under a repetition of the applause which 
 had saluted his rising, " there, I told you I should break down ; 
 and I've done it" There certainly never was made a shorter after- 
 dinner speech : I doubt if there ever was a more successful one. 
 The manuscript seemed to be a dozen or twenty pages long ; but 
 the printed speech was not as many lines. I suppose that manu- 
 script may be still in existence ; and, if so, I wish it might be pub- 
 lished. Mr. Irving often spoke with a good-humored envy of the 
 felicity with which Dickens always acquitted himself on such occa- 
 sions. In the following spring, Irving went to England ; and, being 
 in London in May, he was, of course, invited to the annual dinner 
 of the Literary Fund Society : but he was followed by the memory 
 of the Dickens Dinner, and declined. One of the most amusing 
 pages in the diary of Thomas Moore is the record of his conversa- 
 tion with Irving on the subject, and the final success of his endea- 
 vors to persuade him to go. " That Dickens dinner" says Moore, 
 " which he always pronounced with strong emphasis, hammering 
 away all the time with his right arm, more suo, that Dickens dinner 
 still haunted his imagination ; and I almost gave up all hope of 
 persuading him." But he succeeded. He closes his record with 
 the philosophical reflection, that "it is very odd, that, while some 
 of the shallowest fellows go on so glib and ready with the tongue, 
 men whose minds are abounding with matter should find such 
 difficulty in bringing it out. I found that Lockhart also had 
 declined attending the dinner, under a similar apprehension ; 
 and only consented on condition that his health should not be 
 given." 
 
 I felt a particular interest in the sequel of this dinner history ; 
 
PROFESSOE FELTON'S REMARKS. 93 
 
 for, some years later, I had a whimsical adventure with that same 
 Literary Fund Anniversary myself. Hand inexpertus. 
 
 The crowning work of Mr. Irving's literary life connecting his 
 literary fame, as his baptismal name had from his infancy connected 
 him, with the Father of his country was, of course, the "Life of 
 Washington. Every American must have hailed with no common 
 delight a work on such a subject, from such a pen. I have read 
 hut few books in my life with so deep an interest as I read the 
 successive volumes of that most faithful yet brilliant and picturesque 
 biography. The genius of the author and the character of the man 
 seemed to me to shine with peculiar brightness from its enchanting 
 pages. In the description of life in Virginia, during Washington's 
 youth, Irving's power of word-painting is beautifully shown. In 
 the sketches of the frontier wars, in which the youthful hero bore 
 so conspicuous a part ; in the tragedy of Braddock's rash expedi- 
 tion ; in the military narratives of the Revolution ; in the presenta- 
 tion of Washington as the Chief Magistrate of the Republic ; in 
 the picture of his retirement, and his peaceful death, everywhere 
 we feel the inspiration of genius working upon a congenial theme ; 
 everywhere we discern a profound and loving appreciation of 
 Washington's peerless character. 
 
 In the second volume there is an account of Washington's resi- 
 dence at Cambridge, as Commander-in-chief of the American Army. 
 Mr. Irving was led into a slight mistake in reference to the Gene- 
 ral's head-quarters. The records state that the President's house 
 was assigned him for this purpose ; meaning the President of the 
 Provincial Congress of Massachusetts : but Mr. Irving understood 
 it to be the President of the University, and so stated. Feeling a 
 great interest in the historical fame of the Cragie House, the real 
 head-quarters of the General, and at that time one of the most 
 stately mansions in Massachusetts, having been built for a Tory 
 
94 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 family of great wealth, I took the liberty of calling Mr. Irving's 
 attention to the error, and of stating to him the leading facts in the 
 subsequent history of the house ; its occupancy by Mr. Cragie, 
 from whom it derives its present name ; more recently by Mr. 
 Everett, Mr. Sparks, Judge Phillips, Mr. Worcester, and now and, 
 I trust, for many years to come by the poet Longfellow. Mr. 
 Irving immediately wrote me a most cordial letter, and, in a pleasant 
 note to the next volume, made the correction. When the conclud- 
 ing volume appeared, I was confined to my bed with severe illness. 
 This circumstance enabled me to read it continuously to the end ; and 
 I would gladly have submitted to a much longer and more serious 
 illness, if its pains could have been charmed away by another vo- 
 lume from the same magic pen. To me, under any circumstances, 
 the last volume would have had a powerful fascination, not only 
 because it sketched admirably the closing of Washington's great 
 career, but because some elements of interest are interwoven here, 
 that give delightful play to the author's gentle imagination. Nelly 
 Custis " was now maturing into a lovely and attractive woman ; " 
 and "these were among the poetic days of Mount Vernon, when 
 its halls echoed to the tread of lovers." The pictures of romance 
 blend softly with the surrounding scenes ; and the tender genius of 
 Irving, neither repressed by age nor cooled by the chills of ap- 
 proaching dissolution, sympathizes as warmly as ever with the joys 
 and affections of the young. But I confess that I felt the charm of 
 this volume, enhanced by the circumstances under which I read it, 
 more powerfully than I had been affected by either of its predeces- 
 sors. As soon as I was able to hold a pen, I could not resist the 
 impulse to write Mr. Irving a letter of thanks for the gratification 
 and benefit I had derived from it ; and as I knew that he was in 
 feeble health, and must be exhausted by his recent labors, I begged 
 him not to take the trouble of replying. I had written to gratify 
 
PROFESSOR FELTON'S REMARKS. 95 
 
 my own feelings, to express my own sense of obligation under 
 peculiar circumstances, and not to impose on him the burden of 
 sending an answer. 
 
 But, notwithstanding this, only a few days elapsed before an 
 answer came. The tone of the letter is so cordial, and the acknow- 
 ledgment so warm towards me, that I have never read or shown it 
 to any except one or two members of my own immediate family. 
 I hesitated somewhat to bring it with me to-night ; but, considering 
 that it illustrates the peculiar sweetness and beauty of his character, 
 I cast all personal scruples aside, and, with your permission, will 
 read it now for the first time, hoping the members of the Society 
 will look upon my act simply as what I intend it to be, a most 
 affectionate testimony to the incomparable loveliness of his temper, 
 and the winning modesty of his judgment of himself. 
 
 SuNNYsroE, May 17, 1859. 
 
 MY DEAR Sre, I cannot sufficiently express to you how much I feel 
 myself obliged by your very kind letter of the 12th instant, giving such 
 a favorable notice of my last volume. I have been very much out of 
 health of late, with my nerves in a sad state, and with occasional de- 
 pression of spirits ; and, in this forlorn plight, had come to feel very 
 dubious about the volume I had committed to the press. Your letter 
 had a most salutary and cheering effect ; and your assurance, that the 
 last volume had been to you of more absorbing interest than either of the 
 others, carried a ray of joy to my heart : for I was sadly afraid the inte- 
 rest might be considered as falling off. 
 
 Excuse the brevity of this letter ; for I am suffering to-day from the 
 lingerings of a nervous complaint, from which I am slowly recovering : 
 but I could not suffer another day to elapse without thanking you for 
 correspondence which has a more balmy effect than any of my doctor's 
 prescriptions. 
 
 With great regard, 
 
 I am, my dear Mr. Felton, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 WASHINGTON IRVING 
 PROFESSOR C. C. FELTON. 
 
96 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 I happened afterwards to learn, from an intimate friend of Mr. 
 Irving's family, that, at the moment my letter arrived, he was in a 
 peculiar state of nervous depression, and had not yet received any 
 of those cheering testimonies, which doubtless came to him soon 
 after, of the entire success of the concluding volume ; and this 
 circumstance gave to my letter an exaggerated value in his judg- 
 ment. That I happened to give a moment's pleasure to a man 
 from whose genius I had enjoyed so much for many years, is a 
 cherished recollection to me now, and will be as long as I live. 
 
 Mr. Everett, in his elegant memoir, spoke of the vast extent of 
 Mr. Irving's literary fame. It was only last week, Mr. President, 
 that I received a package of books from friends of mine in Athens. 
 On looking them over, I found one with the following title, in 
 Greek : " Christopher Columbus ; a History of his Life and Voyages, 
 according to Washington Irving " (Kara <rov 'Ouatfiyroova 'Ip&^y). 
 It is the translation of an abridgment of the original work, pub- 
 lished in Athens only last year. And who, do you think, is the 
 translator ? Why, no less a person than Mr. G. A. ARISTIDES, a 
 Greek of Mitylene, Sappho's home, who vindicates his right to 
 the name by the justice of his estimate of Mr. Irving. In a well 
 and even classically written preface, after giving an account of the 
 other works published in Europe on the life of Columbus, he says, 
 "In the following year (i.e., after the publication of Navarrete's 
 * Spanish Collections') the illustrious Washington Irving, residing 
 in Spain, and having at his disposal the materials already prepared, 
 composed in four volumes the * History of the Life and Adventures 
 of Christopher Columbus.' This work met with a warm reception ; 
 and within a few years, having been translated into the different 
 languages, was circulated through Europe, and raised its author to 
 the highest degree of fame." 
 
 I have been pleased to find that Aristides has been able to trans- 
 
PEOFESSOR FELTON'S KEMAKKS. 97 
 
 fer to his Greek the grace and amenity of Mr. Irving. His trans- 
 lation has qualities of style that would do no discredit to Xenophon 
 himself. It is free and flowing, descriptive and luminous. In those 
 remarkable chapters which record the anxieties and difficulties that 
 beset the great commander in the trying days when he was 
 approaching the coast of the hitherto undiscovered continent, and 
 which contain such vivid descriptions of the aspects of nature, and 
 the new wonders which, for the first time, met the eyes of the 
 European navigators, Mr. Aristides finds his native Greek fully 
 equal to the demand made upon its resources of expression. 
 
 I have taken the liberty, Mr. President, to give these little details, 
 in order to throw, if I might, a few side-lights upon Mr. Irving's 
 character. The admirable memoir by Mr. Everett, the beautiful 
 and discriminating remarks with which Mr. Longfellow introduced 
 the appropriate series of resolutions on your table, and the interest- 
 ing details, given with so much manly tenderness of feeling, by 
 Col. Aspinwall, left nothing to be desired ; but I could not hesitate 
 a moment to add the expression of my concurrence in the honors 
 they have so fittingly paid to the virtues and genius of Washington 
 Irving. 
 
 I am struck, Mr. President, by the harmony of the final scene 
 with the gentle tenor of Mr. Irving's life. He died, as he lived, 
 the favored of Heaven, and the beloved of men. It was a beautiful 
 fiction of ancient poetry, that Sleep and Death were twin-brothers, 
 the ministers of Jove. In a remarkable passage of the oldest and 
 best of poets, one of the heroes, a son of Jupiter, having closed his 
 career on the field of battle, is borne away by Sleep and Death to 
 his distant home in Lycia, and buried in his native earth. This 
 legend, a poetical fiction to the ancients, became a beautiful reality 
 to our illustrious associate. After passing an evening in pleasant 
 conversation with the loving circle at Sunnyside, he retired to his 
 
 5 
 
98 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 chamber to sleep ; but, happier than he thought, Sleep and Death 
 gracious ministers of God bore him thence to his eternal home 
 in heaven. 
 
 DR. HOLMES'S REMARKS. 
 
 I have made no formal preparation for this evening in the shape 
 of any written line ; and I should feel any elaborate paper uncalled 
 for, after the varied and most interesting tributes to the personal 
 and literary character of Mr. Irving, to which we have just listened. 
 I have nothing to suggest in addition or modification, except to 
 correct the impression that Mr. Irving never wrote in verse. Three 
 instances are mentioned by Mr. Duyckinck in his notes of Irving, 
 contained in the " Cyclopaedia of American Literature," which show 
 how slight an accident might have made a versifier of one who 
 was born a poet. I have long remembered some lines of his, printed 
 in an Annual, as an illustration of a picture of Stuart Newton's, and 
 beginning, 
 
 "Frostie age, frostie age, 
 
 Vain all thy learning ; 
 Drowsie page, drowsie page, 
 Evermore turning." 
 
 If we wonder at first that he did not write oftener with the aid of 
 rhythm and rhyme, we shall cease to wonder when we remember 
 how natural a music flows with the unbroken current of his trans- 
 lucent prose. 
 
 I should not have risen, were it not that I have a few slight but 
 recent personal reminiscences of Mr. Irving, which some may be 
 pleased to hear. I visited New York and its vicinity last Decem- 
 ber, professedly for the purpose of delivering certain lectures, but 
 
DK. HOLMES'S EEMAEKS. 99 
 
 mainly with the intent of looking upon the face of Washington 
 Irving before it should be veiled from our earthly eyes. The kind 
 invitation of a friend of his and mine promised me an introduction 
 to the home in which he was realizing his early dream of rest and 
 peace. I learned, however, on arriving at New York, that he had 
 been very ill of late, and that it was doubtful whether he would 
 be in a condition to see me. At least, however, I might look upon 
 that home of his, next to Mount Vernon, the best known and most 
 cherished of all the dwellings in our land. 
 
 Sunnyside was Snowyside on that December morning ; yet the 
 thin white veil could not conceal the features of a place long fami- 
 liar to me through the aid of engravings and photographs, and as 
 stereotyped in the miraculous solid sun-pictures. The sharp-pin- 
 nacled roof, surmounted by the old Dutch weather-cock ; the vine- 
 clad cottage, with its three-arched open porch, open on all sides, 
 like the master's heart, were there just as I knew them, just as 
 thousands know them who have never trodden or floated between 
 the banks of the Hudson. 
 
 We knocked, and were admitted; feeling still very doubtful 
 whether Mr. Irving would be able to see us. Presently we heard 
 a slow step, which could not be mistaken in that household of 
 noiseless footfalls. Mr. Irving entered the room and welcomed us 
 in the most cordial manner. He was slighter, and more delicately 
 organized, than I had supposed ; of less than average stature, I 
 should think; looking feeble, but with kindness beaming from 
 every feature. He spoke almost in a whisper, with effort, his voice 
 muffled by some obstruction. Age had treated him like a friend ; 
 borrowing somewhat, as is his wont, but lending also those gentle 
 graces which give an inexpressible charm to the converse of wise 
 and good old men, whose sympathies keep their hearts young and 
 their minds open. 
 
100 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 I could not repeat the half-hour's talk I enjoyed with him, if I 
 would. It would be pardonable in any of us, whose boyhood has 
 breathed the atmosphere of his delicious day-dreams, to speak of 
 the pleasure we had received from a writer whom we had so long 
 loved unseen. It was not unnatural that he should speak with in- 
 dulgent good nature to a visitor from a distant place, almost a 
 generation younger than himself ; since he was born in the same 
 year which saw the advent in the literary world of the renowned 
 Diedrich Knickerbocker. But it was painful to see the labor 
 which it cost Mr. Irving to talk ; and I could not forget, that, how- 
 ever warm my welcome, I was calling upon an invalid, and that my 
 visit must be short. Something authorized me to allude to his ill- 
 ness, and my old professional instincts led me to suggest to him 
 the use of certain palliatives which I had known to be used in some 
 cases having symptoms which resembled his own. 
 
 After returning home I sent him some articles of this kind. 
 Early in January, he wrote me a letter of considerable length ; 
 saying, among other things, that he had used some medicated 
 cigarettes I sent him, with much relief. This letter was overflow- 
 ing with expressions of kindness ; but, though written in his own 
 hand, it had no signature. I sent it back to him for his name ; 
 telling him that his was the first autograph I had ever asked for, 
 but that I must have it at the end of such a letter. The next post 
 brought the letter back signed. 
 
 I received about this time a communication from Mr. Irving's 
 attached and intelligent family physician, Dr. J. C. Peters of New 
 York, containing many details of his symptoms, and of what had 
 been done to relieve them. Some general account of Mr. Irving's 
 mode of life, before and after he was attacked by his then recent 
 illness, may interest the members of the Society. [Extracts from 
 Dr. Peters's letter were here read ; which are omitted, as the full 
 
101 
 
 details of Mr. living's case will doubtless be given to the public 
 hereafter.] Even in his usual health, he had a " strange gipsy and 
 cat-like way of murdering good Christian sleep," as his physician 
 pleasantly calls it. He was in the habit of rising in the night, be- 
 tween twelve and four o'clock, and reading, or even writing, for 
 half an hour or an hour. He did not get, on the average, more 
 than four hours' sleep at night, but often took short naps in the 
 afternoon and evening. This natural, or at least habitual, irregu- 
 larity of sleep, became aggravated to extreme nervousness and 
 restlessness after an attack of fever and ague in the autumn of 1858. 
 He was still suffering from the effects of this when I saw him. 
 
 But beneath all these nervous disturbances lay a deeper difficulty, 
 which was distinctly mentioned to me in his physician's letter as 
 " enlargement of the heart," accompanied by " an obstructed circu- 
 lation." Under these influences, with growing age to weaken the 
 power of resistance, his health gradually declined, until the flame 
 of life, which had been getting paler and feebler, was blown out, as 
 it were, by a single breath ; a gentle end of a sweet and lovely life, 
 such an end as Nature prepares by slow and measured ap- 
 proaches, and consummates with swift kindness when she grants 
 the blessing of euthanasia to her favorite children. 
 
102 NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 ADDRESS OF PROFESSOR G. W. GREENE.* 
 
 " I shall not attempt to enlarge upon the subject that has been 
 brought before us this evening with so much eloquence and taste ; 
 for what can I hope to add to this picture of the mind and the 
 heart of the first of our prose writers by the first of our poets? 
 But I have felt, sir, while listening to those appropriate and ear- 
 nest words, what I have never but once before felt so deeply, how 
 truly the great Roman spoke, when he said that all the arts of 
 civilization are bound together by a common tie. 
 
 U I said, but once before. You will remember, sir, that some 
 years ago, when Brown's fine statue of DeWitt Clinton was com- 
 pleted, it was placed for a few days in front of the City Hall, that 
 all might have an opportunity of seeing it. One day, as I was 
 watching the groups aroimd it, and endeavoring to draw a lesson 
 from the free expression of untaught opinion, my attention was 
 attracted by a bright-faced little boy, who, without heeding the 
 jostling of the passers-by, or the hum of busy voices, stood gazing 
 upon it with an air of innocent perplexity, in which pleasure and 
 doubt seemed to be struggling for the mastery. I made my way 
 through the crowd, and placed myself near him in such a manner 
 as to catch his eye for a moment. And then, after looking at the 
 statue again with the same bewildered air, he turned to me and 
 asked me with a timid voice, as if half ashamed of his ignorance, 
 * Will you please, sir, to tell me who that is ?' * Did you ever hear 
 of DeWitt Clinton, my lad?' 'No, sir; never.' 'But you have 
 heard of the great canal which brings the water from Lake Erie 
 to the Hudson river, haven't you ?' ' O yes, sir ; and I have seen 
 the canal boats at the wharves, many a time.' ' Wi 11, it was De- 
 
 * At the Irving Commemoration by the N. Y. Historical Society; after 
 Mr. Bryant's Address; April 3, 1860. 
 
ADDRESS OF PEOF. G. W. GREENE. 103 
 
 Witt Clinton that got the people to make that canal. A great 
 many folks, who thought themselves very wise, laughed at him, 
 and said that it would be throwing money away. But he knew 
 better, and with all their laughing they could not laugh him out 
 of it. And so he went on talking and writing and making 
 speeches, till he prevailed upon the legislature to have the canal 
 made ; and now everybody sees that he was right, and thanks him 
 for it. He did a great many other good things, too, and was 
 member of Congress, and Mayor of New York, and Governor of 
 the State. He has been dead'a great many years, but people have 
 not forgotten him. There is a portrait of him in the Governor's 
 room yonder, and they have had this statue made to put over his 
 grave at Greenwood and will help tell what a great man he was/ 
 
 "I wish you could have seen the little fellow's face as I told him 
 my story. It seemed to me that I could almost see the electric 
 spark as it passed from the speaking bronze into a responsive soul. 
 I do not know his name. I have never seen him since. But 
 years hence, when some future historian takes up his pen to trace 
 the annals of a new life of usefulness and glory, may he not find 
 that the birth of young ambition, the first conception of that ideal 
 which led his hero upward to purer regions of thought, and pre- 
 served him unfaltering and untainted in the midst of disheartening 
 collision and alluring corruption, began with this brief communi- 
 cation with the spirit of a great statesman, embodied and inter- 
 preted by a great artist ? It was then that the words of the Roman 
 orator came to my mind, and I could hardly refrain from repeating 
 aloud as I turned away ! Omnes artes quae ad humanitatem perti- 
 nent habent quoddam commune vinculum et quasi cognatione 
 quadam inter se continentur. 
 
 " And this evening, sir, while listening to this beautiful tribute to 
 another form of greatness from lips of kindred power, those words 
 
104 NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 came back to me again with deeper and more solemn significance. 
 The feeling that has brought us together, pure and earnest as it is, 
 must yield, at last, to the sure influences of time. Other graves 
 will be opened. Other great men pass away. Other faces that 
 are familiar cease to be seen amongst us. And although none, 
 perhaps, will leave so deep a void, yet even that void must sooner 
 or later be filled. How, then, shall the semblance of personal 
 intercourse be preserved when the grave has divided, for ever, the 
 living from the dead ? How, then, if it be good for us to look 
 upon the faces of great men ; if there be inspiration in the glance 
 of an eye that has made itself familiar with things beyond the 
 reach of common vision ; if there be and is there not? a pecu- 
 liar thrill in the pressure of a hand that has used the sword, or the 
 pencil, or the chisel, or the pen for the good of mankind, how 
 shall we secure the fleeting treasure and transmit its blessing as a 
 proof that we have prized and used it aright, to the remotest gene- 
 rations ? Is it not here that, when the orator has spoken, and the 
 poet has sung, and the historian has framed his enduring record, 
 the sculptor comes with that sister art which seems to take so 
 much from the awful interval that separates us from the great men 
 of other days, to give form and substance to our struggling con- 
 ceptions, and to break the chilling silence of the grave by an elo- 
 quence so calm, so impressive, so appropriate, and so solemn ? We 
 have, it is true, no Santa Croce to deck with cenotaph and statue ; 
 no Westminster Abbey, with its twilight shadows and subduing 
 silence, with generation upon generation mouldering beneath its 
 pavement, and six centuries of national glory lingering around its 
 walls. We have not these ; and grand and imposing as they are, 
 we need them not. They belong to other forms of life, and are 
 the fitting auxiliaries of other institutions. For us, children of a 
 new era, inhabitants of a new world, with a history but of yester- 
 
ADDRESS OF PROF. G. W. GREENE. 105 
 
 day, for us the open spaces on which the sun and the stars can 
 look down; the green turf, where violets can grow' in spring-time, 
 and leaves fall with the waning year; the song of birds and the 
 chorus of the winds, and the shadows of those groves which the 
 poet tells us ' were God's first temples/ And our vast city, in its 
 rapid growth, has already clasped in her embrace a spot which 
 would seem to have been marked out by nature herself for this 
 consecration of hallowed memories; a spot which a few years 
 earlier might have become a favorite resort of him whose great- 
 ness and goodness we are met to commemorate, and witnessed, 
 perhaps, the birth of some of those beautiful thoughts which have 
 bound him for ever to the true-hearted and truth-loving wherever 
 the language of Shakspeare and Milton is known and loved ; a 
 spot, which, in its beauty of hillside and lawn, of woodland and 
 lake, of broad vistas and recesses of rural tranquillity, may some 
 day, perhaps, call forth from him who has sung of our woods, and 
 streams, and skies, one more of those immortal strains which fill the 
 heart with holy longings and noble aspirations, and shed over the 
 sweet aspect of nature herself a serener and more enduring love- 
 liness. 
 
 " What, then, could be more appropriate than that some place 
 in it should be set apart for the statues of our great poets, our 
 great historians, our great orators, our great artists ; for the heroes 
 of thought as well as for the heroes of action ? That they who 
 have been our teachers and our comforters in our hours of labor 
 and care, with whose spirits we have held sweet communion 
 through the printed page or glowing canvas, should mingle, as 
 with a living presence, in our hours of recreation, and be brought 
 before us in the life-like presentment of sculpture, when we go 
 forth to breathe the pure air and listen to the voices of nature. 
 
 " Then, in some green recess, where the light falls' softened, and 
 
 5* 
 
106 NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 the voice of waters is heard, and the birds love to build and sing, 
 we may meet once more the familiar form of our Irving with the 
 simple bearing and unconscious dignity with which he walked 
 amongst us. The student, fresh from the pages of the Sketch 
 Book, or the Columbus, or the Washington, will feel his pulses 
 quicken as he gazes upon it, and strives to read in the speaking 
 lineaments the traces of the spirit that was once united with them. 
 And children, as they fill the air with the merry sounds that he 
 loved, shall often pause in the midst of their sports, won by the 
 pensive sweetness of that benignant smile, and lay down at his 
 feet the flowers which they had gathered for mothers and sisters 
 at home. There, on some rocky height, shall the commanding 
 figure of our Cooper be seen, looking forth in the stern conscious- 
 ness of power upon the islands and the waters which he has 
 invested with the magic associations of inventive genius. There 
 shall a place be found for him who, though snatched away in the 
 first development of his strength, built on the banks of the Hud- 
 son a bower for the fairies which Shakespeare would not have 
 rejected for his Oberon and Titania. And there, too, shall that 
 New York boy, who, unaided but by the strong will which nature 
 had implanted in his breast, unsustained but by the abiding trust 
 that God would not withdraw his hand from the genius which he 
 had bestowed, went bravely forth to contend with the great mas- 
 ters of art in her chosen temple, find at last, in the city of his 
 birth, and under the skies which shed their choicest influences 
 upon his expanding soul, a shrine from which he too can join the 
 choral symphony which the heroes of thought have repeated from 
 generation to generation through the long lapse of ages. How 
 mysterious is the gift of genius ! How rich the rewards of a life 
 devoted to the service of the Good, the Beautiful, and the True." 
 
MR. EVERETT'S ADDRESS. 107 
 
 MR. EVERETT'S ADDRESS * 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen, 
 
 I RISE at your instance, Sir, with much pleasure, to assure you, 
 on behalf of my friend Mr. Ticknor, and other friends from the 
 East, who share with me the privilege of being present with you 
 this evening, that all that New England to which you have so 
 kindly alluded for I know that I may speak for her on this occa- 
 sion responds most emphatically to every word that has been said, 
 sympathizes most cordially with everything that can be felt or 
 uttered, in honor of the bright and beloved name to which you 
 have consecrated the hour. It does not belong to me in this 
 presence to attempt the eulogium of Irving. On other occasions, 
 and in other places, and while the country was still saddened by his 
 recent loss, I claimed the mournful privilege of joining my voice 
 to the unanimous expression of respectful and affectionate admi- 
 ration which followed him to his grave. We come now only, 
 honored by your invitation, to listen to the just, the discriminat- 
 ing, and eloquent tribute which your distinguished fellow-citizen, 
 inspired by the sympathy of kindred genius, has paid to his 
 memory, giving utterance, I am sure, to the thought and feeling 
 of this great and approving audience. 
 
 It is, indeed, fitting, Sir, that every part of the country should 
 unite with you in these offices of commemoration. It was one of 
 the peculiar felicities of the literary career of Irving, that he was 
 an equal favorite in every part of the country. Although his first 
 productions were mainly one of them exclusively on local 
 themes, and therefore, in ordinary hands, likely to excite only a 
 local interest, these first displays of his happy talent, alternately 
 
 * At the Irving Commemoration by the New York Hist. Soc. at the 
 Academy of Music, April 3, 1860. 
 
108 
 
 playful, shrewd, and tender, were as promptly and cordially wel- 
 comed in Boston, in Philadelphia, in Baltimore, in Richmond, and 
 in Charleston as in New York. The good taste which prescribed 
 limits to the extravagance, the kind feeling which tempered the ridi- 
 cule, the sound sense which chastened the pleasantry, and, above all, 
 that "touch of nature which makes the whole world kin," shone out 
 in every page of these sportive creations of the youthful humorist. 
 These were qualities that were equally attractive in every part of the 
 country, and they secured for him, from the outset, throughout the 
 Union, the same popularity which he enjoyed in his native city ; 
 and this happiness attended him throughout his career. There never 
 was a day, from his first appearance as an author down to the publi- 
 cation of his last volume, in which the slightest trace of locality, if 
 I may so express myself, attached to his reputation. If from that 
 remoteness of local position, which must exist between the dif- 
 ferent parts of a great continent, if from peculiarities having their 
 origin in national descent or historical recollections, if from feel- 
 ings of State or sectional preference, growing out of the political 
 organization of the country I mean its division into States and 
 groups of States if from any or all of these causes sectional likes 
 and dislikes of author's, on account of their place of birth or resi- 
 dence, have crept into our literature (and I must say there is less 
 of this narrow feeling than might have been expected), there 
 never has been the slightest indication of it in reference to Mr. 
 Irving. The East and the West, the North and the South have 
 shown themselves equally prompt to swell the chorus of his unen- 
 vied popularity. 
 
 I own, Sir, that I look upon this universal favor which 
 crowned Mr. Irving's literary efforts, and followed him through 
 life, as not less happy for the country than honorable for 
 himself. It tended to foster a nationality of the purest and noblest 
 
ME. EVERETT'S ADDRESS. 109 
 
 kind a nationality of mind. It is not easy to overrate the influ- 
 ence of such a writer as Mr. Irving over a community like ours 
 a reading and a thinking but also a sensitive and impressible 
 people; and that influence has from the first been wholesome, 
 genial, and conciliatory, tending to form a generous public senti- 
 ment, unalloyed by local prejudice, and thus to prove, amid causes 
 of alienation and estrangement, 
 
 " A hoop of gold to bind our brothers in." 
 
 To Mr. Irving must be awarded, as has just be.en stated by the 
 distinguished eulogist of the evening, the credit of being the first 
 entirely successful American author. The state of our literature 
 when he came forward 1 rather, I should say, the almost total 
 want of everything that could be called an American literature 
 entitles him to this praise. Not so much a country as the germ 
 of a country, the entire population of the United States, at the 
 close of the war of the Revolution, not equalling that of the State 
 of New York at the present day ; your Imperial City, Mr. Bryant 
 has informed us, not numbering, probably, more than twenty 
 thousand inhabitants when Mr. Irving was born ; there never was 
 a period in our history when literature stood at so low an ebb. 
 The literary culture which our fathers brought from Europe was 
 mostly of a theological character, and as far as general literature 
 was concerned, there had been a decline rather than advancement. 
 The pioneers of civilization struggling under the difficulties of 
 colonial life, though in many respects they did wonders, could not 
 work miracles, and it would have been a miracle if they had 
 made independent progress in polite literature. The community 
 could not be expected to keep itself au courant with the intel- 
 lectual progress of Europe. Controlling circumstances in the 
 Revolutionary age I mean from the Stamp Act down to the 
 Constitution forced the mental energy of the country into poli- 
 
110 MR. EVERETT'S ADDRESS. 
 
 tical channels. In the department of organic and constitutional 
 polities, and in political history, some works of great ability were 
 produced, but of a native literature, properly so-called, there was 
 next to nothing. Books we got only by importation ; those 
 copies of Spenser, the Spectator, and Goldsmith, to which Mr. 
 Bryant has alluded, all came from London. Neither these nor 
 the other classics of our language were republished on this side 
 of the Atlantic. I do not remember that the works of any one 
 of the great English authors had been reprinted in America. Pos- 
 sibly some enterprising booksellers in the large cities had ventured 
 at an edition of "Pope's Essay on Man," or "Young's Night 
 Thoughts;" but with some trifling exception of this kind, my remark, 
 I believe, will be found to hold true. Toward contemporary English 
 literature there was the same indifference. Boswell's " Johnson," 
 of which Lord Macaulay says, that " it is read beyond the Mississippi 
 and under the Southern Cross, and is likely to be read as long as the 
 English exists either as a living or a dead language" the most 
 delightful of books by the most despicable of writers a work 
 which would be republished at the present day in this country, 
 before the sheets were dry from the English press, appeared in 
 England in 1791, and was not reprinted in America till 1807. In 
 that self-same year, at the darkest hour which preceded the dawn 
 of our national literature, the first purple gleam of Irving's fancy 
 began to blush in the East. Soon the sky was seen to redden 
 and glow with the coming splendors ; Hope and Expectation 
 strained their waiting eyes towards the glorious light, and anon the 
 sun of his resplendent genius arose, with healing in his wings, and 
 moved with steadfast glory up to the meridian. Then like the 
 sun on Gibeon, it stood still a long and gladsome noon shedding 
 light and joy through the world of letters, till it went down at 
 length with unclouded beams to the golden West. His fame and 
 
MR. EVERETT'S ADDRESS. Ill 
 
 his favor grew with the growth, and strengthened with the strength 
 of the country. His early productions were the favorites of the 
 club-room and the fireside, when we counted some seven millions 
 of population, in 1807-1809, and those mostly this side of the 
 Ohio. His Life of Columbus and Life of Washington have been 
 received as classics by four times that number, whose overflow 
 has spread to the Pacific Ocean. The most popular of our 
 writers in his youth, when there were none to contest the palm, 
 he led, with cheerfully acknowledged superiority, the rapidly 
 increasing company of names not unworthy to be classed with 
 his own, and went down to his grave in his well-earned, undis- 
 puted, unenvied pre-eminence. 
 
 Such he was to his countrymen as an American writer ; nor 
 was his career less distinguished as a member of the great republic 
 of European, and especially of English, Letters. Milton observed, 
 two centuries ago, that " the Italians were not forward to bestow 
 written encomiums on men of this side the Alps." It might be said 
 with equal truth fifty years ago, if not now, that the English were 
 not forward to bestow written encomiums on men this side of the 
 Atlantic. It must be owned, however, that at the beginning of 
 this century, there had not been many occasions to put their libe- 
 rality in this respect to the test. About the time that Mr. Irving's 
 career began, it had been asked rather invidiously than unjustly, 
 by a kind-hearted humorist, who really loved America, " Who 
 reads an American book ?" Thanks to the pen of our accom- 
 plished countryman, the question was soon reversed, and after the 
 publication of the Sketch Book, it might with equal propriety 
 have been asked, " Who does not read an American book ?" 
 
 Mr. Irving, however, went abroad at the most unfavorable moment 
 at which an American author could present himself before the Bri- 
 tish public. To the general prejudices to which I have alluded, 
 
112 MK. EVEKETT'S ADDRESS. 
 
 and all the traditional sources of anti-American feeling connected 
 with recollections of the Revolution, were superadded the irritations 
 of a recent war. Of all literary adventurers a young American, 
 writing for bread, seemed the least likely to gain a favorable ear 
 in London. Even if there were no obstacles of this kind to be 
 surmounted, Mr. Irving's arrival in Europe coincided with the 
 palmy days of Scott, Byron, Moore, Campbell, Rogers, Coleridge, 
 and Wordsworth. But with calm relf-reliance of sterling merit, 
 he fearlessly entered the Olympian race with these illustrious 
 rivals. He entered it unknown to the great English public, with 
 but one friend among the literary magnates of the day. But, with 
 courage, set off by unaffected diffidence, he guided his glowing 
 axle along the imperial course. A shout of generous applause 
 soon cheered the gallant stranger ; the brightest eyes in England 
 rained influence on his noble adventure ; more than one of the 
 veteran candidates for public favor dropped successively behind 
 him, and he wheeled his panting coursers in triumph to the goal, 
 abreast of the most admired of his competitors. 
 
 It would be highly presumptuous in me, sir, after what has been 
 said by the distinguished eulogist of the evening, and the other 
 gentlemen who have preceded me, to pursue in any detail the noble 
 career of our departed friend. Happy in his genius, happy in the 
 early bloom of his reputation at home, happy, I will say, in his 
 misfortunes, happy in the success of his miscellaneous writings, he 
 was thrice happy in the choice of the subjects of his two great his- 
 torical compositions. One might ask what theme so auspicious for 
 the most popular of American writers, at the meridian of his fame, 
 as the Life of Columbus, had he not found for his later years a still 
 more auspicious theme in the Life of Washington? What unex- 
 ampled felicity, not only to accompany the great Discoverer, as 
 he went forth " weeping, but bearing precious seed," but also to 
 
MB. EVERETT'S ADDRESS. 113 
 
 " come again with rejoicing," at the evening of the year, " bearing 
 the full-grown sheaves" of the Father of his Country ! How 
 favored the life, beyond all ordinary measures of human happiness, 
 opening with the year which gave a recognised national existence 
 to the country, consecrated by the benediction of Washington on 
 his infant head, the chief of the men of letters of his own country 
 at home and their accredited representative abroad, and permitted 
 to rehearse to all coming time the wondrous tale of a hidden world, 
 called forth by the glorious Adventurer from behind the veil of 
 waters, and the still more, wondrous, still more glorious tale of that 
 peerless name, in which all the blessings, and hopes, and destinies 
 of that new-found world flowered out in the loveliness of their 
 consummation. 
 
 There is yet one happiness in the life of Irving that must not be 
 forgotten, I mean that he was permitted to enjoy while living, in 
 all its amplitude and without deduction, his world-wide reputation. 
 So cheerful, so unanimous a recognition of contemporary merit has 
 perhaps never been witnessed. Success, fame, affluence, political 
 advancement things rarely forgiven to the candidate for public 
 favor raised up no enemies to him. No one envied his good for- 
 tune, no one qualified his praises, no one hated, no one maligned 
 him. Detraction was melted into kindness by the angelic love- 
 liness of his character, and no voice but that of respect, affection, 
 and veneration reached his ear. So he lived and so he died. 
 These posthumous honors of commemoration are but the echoes 
 of those which you delighted to pay him while he sojourned among 
 us ; and the chaplet which you reverently place upon his grave, 
 you wove for his living brow. What can be added to the hap- 
 piness of such a life and such a death ? 
 
 THE END. 
 
ALLIBONE'S SKETCH OF IRVING. 
 
SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 
 
 [The following sketch of the Life and Works of Mr. Irving is reprinted 
 by special permission from the proof sheets of the " Critical Dictionary of 
 Authors of Literature," by S. AUSTIN ALLIBONE : published by Childs & Peter- 
 son, Philadelphia. It is proper to siate that the article was prepared by Mr. 
 Allibone, and is now reprinted, without consultation with Mr. Irving or 
 his friends. The plan of the work for which it was prepared, includes a 
 comprehensive reference to the best contemporary criticisms, both favorable 
 and otherwise. Publisher.] 
 
 WASHINGTON IRVING, one of the most distinguished of modern 
 authors, was born April 3, 1783, in the city of New York, in a 
 house in William Street, between John and Fulton Streets, and 
 not far from that venerable pile, the Old Dutch Church. This 
 mansion so long an object of interest to citizen and sojourner 
 had until within the last few years resisted the progress of " im- 
 provement," which was gradually changing the face of the neigh- 
 borhood ; but it too at last yielded to its fate, and in 1846 its 
 site was occupied by one of the "Washington Stores." The 
 father of Washington Irving was a native of Scotland, his 
 mother an Englishwoman : and perhaps it is not entirely a matter 
 of imagination to fancy that the national characteristics of both 
 
10 SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 
 
 parents are to be discovered in several of the productions of the 
 author of The Sketch-Book and Bracebridge Hall. 
 
 The earliest of Mr. Irving's contributions to the Kepublic of 
 Letters a number of letters on the drama, the social customs of 
 New York, <fcc., were published, in 1802 (under the nom de 
 plume of Jonathan Oldstyle), in the Morning Chronicle, a 
 Democratic journal, edited by the author's brother, Dr. Peter 
 Irving. These epistles appeared in pamphlet form, without the 
 author's consent, in the year 1824. After some attention to the 
 study of Coke and Blackstone, the state of Mr. Irving's health 
 caused him in 1804 to seek for that physical benefit which a 
 change of scene and climate might naturally be expected to 
 afford. After an absence of two years in Italy, Switzerland, 
 France, and England, &c., he returned home in 1806, resumed 
 his legal studies, and was admitted to the bar. In January, 
 1807, appeared, to the great delight of the wits of the good city 
 of Gotham, the first number of a semi-monthly magazine, the 
 joint production of Washington Irving, William Irving, (who 
 contributed the poetry, and hints and sketches for some of the 
 essays,) and James K. Paulding. This was the since-famous 
 Salmagundi ; or, The Whim- Whams and Opinions of Launcelot 
 Langstaff and others. The amusing character of this periodical 
 rendered it exceedingly agreeable to the town, and its popularity 
 promised a long and profitable life ; but for some reason or other 
 it was discontinued, after the issue of the twentieth number. In 
 1809 was published the famous History of New York, by Died- 
 rich Knickerbocker. The first part of this work was sketched in 
 company with Dr. Peter Irving, who, on his departure for Europe, 
 confided the whole to Washington, by whose humorous genius it 
 was expanded to its present shape. Though this was one of the 
 
SKETCH OF IRYING'S WORKS. H 
 
 first-fruits of his inventive talent, it is risking but little to affirm 
 that in its peculiar qualities it has not been surpassed by any 
 later efforts successful as they have been of its accomplished 
 author. In 1810, Washington Irving who had never found 
 sufficient attraction in his legal studies to induce him to practise 
 the profession was admitted as a partner, with two of his broth- 
 ers, in the extensive commercial establishment which they con- 
 ducted at New York and Liverpool. The failure of this house 
 in 1817, consequent upon the pecuniary difficulties which followed 
 the treaty of peace between England and the United States, oc- 
 curred when Washington was in Europe, and this reverse of for- 
 tune induced the already popular author to determine to follow 
 literature as a profession. He had of late employed his pen but 
 seldom: a series of naval biographies contributed to Moses 
 Thomas's (of Philadelphia) Analectic Magazine, (of which Irving 
 was in 1813-14 the editor,) and a biographical sketch of Thomas 
 Campbell, prefixed to a Philadelphia edition of the works of the 
 latter, are all of Irving's productions with which the world seems 
 to have been favored, from the date of the publication of The 
 Knickerbocker, in 1809, to the time of the appearance of the 
 Sketch-Book, in 1819. The numbers of the last-named work 
 (composed in London) were transmitted to New York for publi- 
 cation, were read with avidity on both sides of the water, and 
 several of the series were soon copied by Jerdan in the London 
 Literary Gazette, and by the editors of other periodicals. 
 
 " We are greatly at a loss [remarks the formidable Black- 
 wood in the number for February, 1820] to comprehend for what 
 reason Mr. Irving has thought fit to publish his Sketch-Book in 
 America earlier than in Britain ; but at all events he is doing 
 himself great injustice by not having an edition printed here of 
 
12 SKETCH OP IRVING'S WORKS. 
 
 every number, after it has appeared in New York. Nothing has 
 been written for a long time, for which it would be more safe to 
 promise great and eager acceptance." Vol. vi. 557, (by J. G. 
 Lockhart.) 
 
 This* is the article referred to by Sir Walter Scott in the let- 
 ter quoted by Irving in the Preface to his revised edition of the 
 Sketch-Book. 
 
 This was encouragement indeed, encouragement such as 
 many a British aspirant for literary fame would have given the 
 copy-right of his best work to have secured. In the same month 
 in which the above eulogy appeared, Irving published in London, 
 under the nom de plume of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent n , the first 
 volume of the Sketch-Book. It was printed by John Miller, 
 but at the author's expense ; Murray, the Great Mogul of the 
 book-trade, having declined the enterprise. The failure of Miller 
 within a few weeks after the publication threw Irving again on 
 the town for a publisher, and, through the friendly offices of Sir 
 Walter Scott, Murray was induced to act in the premises. He 
 gave the author 200, which he soon felt justified by the sale of 
 the work in increasing to 400. The Sketch-Book was origi- 
 nally published in February, 1820, in one volume, but in July of 
 the same year it appeared in two volumes, a second edition of 
 the first, together with a new volume. The author had now at- 
 tained an extended literary reputation, both at home and abroad ; 
 and so far was he from having any difficulty in procuring a pub- 
 lisher, that when Bracebridge Hall or the Humorists was ready 
 for the press in 1822, Mr. Murray was ready to offer 1,000 
 guineas for the copy-right without having seen the MS. He ob- 
 tained the coveted prize at his offer, and subsequently gave the 
 same author nearly twice as much (2,000) for the Chronicle of 
 
SKETCH OP IRVING'S WORKS. 13 
 
 the Conquest of Granada, and quite three times as much (3,000 
 guineas) for the History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher 
 Columbus. But we anticipate. The dates of the publications of 
 Irving's succeeding works, given to the world between the ap- 
 pearance of the Sketch-Book in London, in 1820, and his return 
 to the United States in May, 1832, were as follows : 
 
 Bracebridge Hall, or, the Humorists ; a Medley, by Geoffrey 
 Crayon, Gent, Lon., 1822, 2 vols. 8vo. ; N. York, 1822, 2 vols. 
 8vo. 
 
 Tales of a Traveller, by Geoffrey Crayon, Gentn, Lon., 1824, 
 2 vols. 8vo. ; N. York, 1824, 4 Pts. Sold to Murray (without 
 his having seen the MS.) for 1500 guineas. 
 
 The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, 1828, 4 
 vols. 8vo. ; N. York, 1828, 3 vols. 8vo. 
 
 Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, Lon., 1829, 2 vols. p. 
 8vo. ; Phila., 1829, 2 vols. 12mo. 
 
 Voyages of the Companions of Columbus, 1 vol. Lon., Paris 
 and Phila., 1831. 
 
 The Alhambra, Lon., 1832, 2 vols. 8vo.; Phila., 1832, 2 
 vols. 12mo. 
 
 In May, 1832, as above stated, Mr. Irving returned home, after 
 an absence of seventeen years. During this long period he had 
 been an extensive traveller. We left him at London, superin- 
 tending the publication of The Sketch-Book, in 1820. A por- 
 tion of this year and of the following was spent in the city of 
 Paris : the winter of 1822 was passed at Dresden, and that of 
 1825 in the south of France. In the winter of 1825-26, at the 
 earnest request of Mr. Alexander H. Everett, American Minister 
 to Spain, to whom the idea was first suggested by 0. Eich, Esq., 
 American Consul at Madrid, Mr. Irving visited Madrid for the 
 
14 SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 
 
 purpose of translating into English the valuable compilation of 
 Navarrete, Coleccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos, <fec., pub- 
 lished at Madrid in 1825, (after Mr. Irving's arrival,) in 2 vols. 
 4to. Mr. Eich, indeed, had from the first set his heart not 
 upon a mere translation of this collection, but upon a Life of 
 Columbus from the pen of Washington Irving. This darling de- 
 sire he was so happy as to see realized, and to him, therefore, is 
 the world indebted for the publication of this work. Mr. Irving 
 was the guest of this eminent bibliographer, whose name has 
 long been honored by students in both hemispheres; and, 
 says he, 
 
 " In his extensive and curious library I found one of the best 
 collections extant of Spanish colonial history, containing many 
 documents for which I might elsewhere search in vain. This he 
 put at my absolute command, with a frankness and unreserve sel- 
 dom to be met with among the possessors of such rare and valu- 
 able works ; and his library has been my main resource through- 
 out the whole of my labors." 
 
 We shall have more to quote to Mr. Rich's credit when we 
 reach his patronymic in the future pages of our Dictionary. In 
 this year (1826) and the following, as also in the spring of 1829, 
 Mr. Irving made profitable journeys in the south of Spain, the 
 results of which were given to the world in 1829, in the Chron- 
 icle of the Conquest of Granada ; in 1832, in the picturesque 
 pages of the Alhambra ; in 1835, in the Legends of the Con- 
 quest of Spain; and in 1849-50, in Mahomet and his Suc- 
 cessors. 
 
 Mr. Irving left Spain in July, 1829, and returned to London 
 to discharge the duties connected with the Secretaryship of .Le- 
 gation to the American Embassy, which had been conferred upon 
 
SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 15 
 
 him during his absence. In 1830 Mr. Henry Hallam and him- 
 self were honored by the gift of the two fifty-guinea gold medals, 
 ordered by George IV. to be presented to the two authors who 
 should be adjudged to have attained the greatest excellence in 
 historical composition. This high compliment to Mr. Irving was 
 a well-deserved tribute to the merits of his History of the Life 
 and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. In the next year the 
 degree of LL.D. was conferred upon Mr. Irving by the University 
 of Oxford, a testimonial which that august body is not in the 
 habit of bestowing upon slight foundations. After an absence 
 protracted through seventeen years, Mr. Irving at length sailed 
 for home, and arrived in New York on the 21st day of May, 
 1832. To one who had conferred such imperishable renown upon 
 the American name even had there been nothing in the man to 
 elicit that enthusiastic affection with which Washington Irving is 
 regarded by his countrymen no common honors were accorded. 
 A public dinner was immediately tendered to him in New York, 
 and the friends of early days, together with those who had grown 
 into civic eminence and social consideration during his absence, 
 united in paying homage to him who had conferred honor upon 
 all. The citizens of other States also claimed their right to en- 
 tertain their illustrious countryman, and nothing but that mod- 
 esty which has always been a distinguishing trait of his charac- 
 ter, prevented a series of ovations and a triumphal march through 
 the American Eepublic from Boston to St. Louis and Philadelphia 
 to New Orleans. 
 
 " We cannot refuse ourselves the pleasure," remarks one of 
 the most eminent of his countrymen, "of bearing our humble 
 part in the cordial welcome with which the unanimous voice of 
 the country is now greeting the distinguished pilgrim on his re- 
 
16 SKETCH OF IBVING'S WORKS. 
 
 turn from abroad. . . . The open and hearty welcome which his 
 fellow-citizens have given him, shows that he is best appreciated 
 where he is best known. His reception at New York was the 
 fairest triumph that has yet been accorded to literary desert in 
 the New World." EDWARD EVERETT : Review of the Al- 
 hambra, in N. Amer. jRev., xxxv. 265-282. 
 
 Shortly after his return to the United States, Mr. Irving vis- 
 ited some of the most interesting portions of the Great West, 
 and gratified the world with the fruits of his researches among 
 the Indians, in the Tour on the Prairies, published in the Crayon 
 Miscellany in 1835. Those more fond of studying the phenom- 
 ena of life under another phase, found in the Kecollections of 
 Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey, and The Legends of the Con- 
 quest of Spain, comprising the second and third volumes of the 
 Crayon Miscellany, sufficient to charm the imagination and de- 
 light the taste. To this collection succeeded Astoria ; or, Anec- 
 dotes of an Enterprise beyond the Eocky Mountains, published 
 in 1836, (in which the author was assisted by his nephew, Pierre 
 M. Irving ;) and the Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U. S. A., 
 in the Eocky Mountains and the Far West, (based upon the 
 MSS. of Capt. B. and other materials,) which was given to the 
 world in 1837. In the years 1839 and '40, Mr. Irving contrib- 
 uted a number of papers to The Knickerbocker Magazine, a por- 
 tion of which, with other fugitive articles, were collected in 1855, 
 and published in a volume under the title of Wolfert's Eoost. 
 From 1842 to '46, Mr. Irving resided at Madrid as United States 
 Minister to Spain, and, returning home in the latter year, sought 
 a quiet retreat for his remaining years in Wolfert's Eoost, an 
 earthly paradise which we shall not attempt to describe after the 
 portraiture which the owner himself has given to the world. 
 
SKETCH OF IKVING'S WOKKS. 17 
 
 The " strong-hold of old Baltus Van Tassel on the banks of the 
 Hudson," so graphically sketched in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, 
 acquired a fresh and undying interest as the rural home of Geoffery 
 Crayon himself. A genial picture of that quiet and charming 
 retreat, the modified "Wolfert's Roost," is given by Tucker- 
 man, in " Homes of American Authors." Here in his bachelor- 
 home,* in the. society of his eldest brother, and of affectionate 
 nieces, who were to him as daughters, the author of the Sketch- 
 Book passed his tranquil days, in calm anticipation of that change 
 which took place on the 28th November, 1859 an event which 
 touched the hearts not only of his friends and relatives, but of the 
 whole reading world. 
 
 His later writings, after his retirement to " Sunnyside," were 
 the following : A Biography of Margaret Miller Davidson, 1841 ; 
 Oliver Goldsmith, a Biography, 1849 ; Mahomet and his Succes- 
 sors, 2 vols., 1849 ; Life of Washington, 1855-59. He also super- 
 intended the publication of a uniform and revised edition of his 
 whole works, suggested and issued by the eminent publisher, Mr. 
 Geo. P. Putnam, of New York. In this edition, "Knickerbocker" 
 was remodelled, with much new matter and on the other works 
 careful revision was bestowed. The series commenced in 1848 
 is comprised in 16 vols. ; and for these the demand, up to April 
 1860, had absorbed about 30,000 sets, or 480,000 volumes. Of 
 the Life of Washington, in 5 vols. (making 21 of the whole series), 
 about 45,000 sets, or 225,000 vols. had been called for.f 
 
 * The reason why it remained so while its occupant was so eminently 
 affectionate in disposition and so domestic in tastes and habits, is touchingly 
 alluded to by Mr. Bryant in his Birth-Day Discourse. 
 
 f An illustrated edition of the Life of Washington was also issued by Put- 
 nam, in 5 vols. imp. 8vo., and 110 copies with proof plates in quarto. Some 
 of the other works on large paper contain illustrations by Barley and others 
 and a very handsome edition is now (1860) in progress. 
 
18 SKETCH OF IKVING'S WORKS. 
 
 The sale of these works abroad has been very large. The only 
 European editions in which the author's pecuniary interests were 
 recognised, were those of Mr. John Murray and Mr. Bentley the 
 latter publishing Bonneville, Astoria, and the Alhambra : and both 
 publishers made liberal returns to the author. The absence of legal 
 copyright on American works in England, however, having been 
 more recently ascertained, cheap rival editions in large numbers 
 were issued (1846-50) by Routledge, Smith, Tegg, and Bohn. 
 Galignani ' and Baudry printed editions in Paris ; and Tauchnitz, 
 of Leipsig, includes them in his series of " British Authors." 
 
 And now, in accordance with our promise in the preface to 
 this work, a promise which the preceding pages will prove we 
 have neither forgotten nor delayed to fulfil, we shall proceed to 
 adduce, as we have done in other instances, the verdicts which 
 eminent critics have passed upon the literary characteristics of 
 the subject of our notice. In many preceding cases we have been 
 obliged to omit much more than we had space to quote of inter- 
 esting and truly valuable criticism ; but, when we commence the 
 pleasing task of citing opinions respecting the productions of 
 Washington Irving, we are literally oppressed by the embarras 
 de richesses. As we glance around our library-shelves, and be- 
 hold the mass of materials which we have been for years collect- 
 ing on this theme, (as we have on the same scale, though not to 
 the same extent, collected for the illustration of many thousands 
 of other writers,) we feel it to be no exaggeration to say that we 
 could readily fill a goodly octavo volume with the matter which 
 our space will oblige us to reject. Be it our care, therefore, to 
 make that judicious selection from the materials which invite our 
 research, which shall truly represent the impression which this 
 distinguished writer has made upon the present generation, and 
 
SKETCH OF IKVING'S WORKS. 19 
 
 the one which first sat in judgment on the early fruits of his lit- 
 erary toil. 
 
 1. SALMAGUNDI; OR, THE WHIM- WHAMS AND OPINIONS OP 
 LAUNCELOT LANGSTAFF, ESQ., AND OTHERS, January, 1807, to 
 January, 1808: 
 
 " We all remember the success of Salmagundi, to which he 
 was a large and distinguished contributor ; with what rapidity 
 and to what extent it circulated through America ; how familiar 
 it made us with the local pleasantry and the personal humors of 
 New York, and what an abiding influence it has had in that 
 city, by forming a sort of school of wit of a character somewhat 
 marked and peculiar, and superior to every thing our country has 
 witnessed, except, perhaps, that of the wits of The Anarchiad in 
 Connecticut" EDWARD EVERETT : N~. Amer. Rev., xv. 206, 
 July, 1822. 
 
 " We have no hesitation in saying at the outset, that we con- 
 sider the good papers of Salmagundi, and the greater part of 
 Knickerbocker, superior to the Sketch-Book. ... It [Salmagundi] 
 was exceedingly pleasant morning or after-dinner reading, never 
 taking up too much of a gentleman's time from his business and 
 pleasures, nor so exalted and spiritualized as to seem mystical to 
 his far-reaching vision. . . . Though its wit is sometimes forced, 
 and its serious style sometimes false, upon looking it over we 
 have found it full of entertainment, with an infinite variety of 
 characters and circumstances, and with that amiable, good-na- 
 tured wit and pathos which shows that the heart has not grown 
 hard while making merry of the world." KICHARD H. DANA, 
 SR. : N. Amer. Rev., ix. 323, 334, 344-345, Sept. 1819. 
 
 " The better pieces are written in Mr. Irving's best manner. 
 Take it altogether, it was certainly a production of extraordinary 
 merit, and was instantaneously and universally recognized as 
 such by the public. It wants, of course, the graver merits of the 
 modern British Collections of Essays ; but for spirit, effect, and 
 
20 SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 
 
 actual literary value, we doubt whether any publication of the 
 class since The Spectator, upon which it is directly modelled, can 
 fairly be put in competition with it." ALEXANDER H. EVERETT : 
 N. Amer. Rev., xxviii. 116, Jan. 1829. 
 
 " It was in form and method of publication imitated from 
 The Spectator, but, in details, spirit, and aim, so exquisitely 
 adapted to the latitude of New York, that its appearance was 
 hailed with a delight hitherto unknown : it was, in fact, a com- 
 plete triumph of local genius." HENRY T. TUCKERMAN : Sketch 
 of Amer. Lit. 
 
 " In this work we are introduced to the watering-places, balls, 
 elections, reviews, and coteries of the daughter-country, and par- 
 ticularly of New York, the centre of its fashion, in a style of un- 
 sparing and broad humor, infinitely outdoing any liberties which 
 Mathews thought fit to take with his hospitable entertainers, and 
 reflecting some credit on the good temper which was shown by 
 its reception. . . . That Salmagundi owes its principal pretensions 
 to Mr. Irving's exertions, we are the more inclined to conclude 
 from the evidence of a work in which, not very long afterwards, 
 he tried his strength single-handed, under the title of Knicker- 
 bocker's Humorous History of New York." Lon. Quar. Rev., 
 xxxi. 474, 475, March, 1825. 
 
 " The production of Paulding, Irving, Verplanck,* and per- 
 haps of others, in partnership : the papers of Paulding are more 
 sarcastic, ill-natured, acrimonious, bitter, than those of Irving ; 
 but quite as able : those by Verplanck we do not know : we have 
 only heard of him as one of the writers : it is a work in two vol- 
 umes duodecimo; essays, after the manner of Goldsmith, a 
 downright, secret, labored, continual imitation of him, abound- 
 ing, too, in plagiarisms : the title is from our English FLIM- 
 FLAMS: oriental papers, the little man in black, &c. &c., from 
 the Citizen of the World : parts are capital : as a whole, the work 
 is quite superior to any thing of the kind which this age has pro- 
 duced." Blackw. Mag., xvii. 61, Jan. 1825. 
 
 * An error : Mr. Verplanck had no part in the work. Ed. 
 
SKETCH OF IBVING'S WOKKS. 21 
 
 2. KNICKERBOCKER'S HISTORY OP NEW YORK, 1809. 
 
 It was to this work that Irving owed his fortunate introduc- 
 tion to Sir Walter Scott. Campbell was aware of the delight 
 with which it was read by the Great Unknown, and therefore 
 gave the author a letter to Abbotsford. The young American 
 arrived at Selkirk on the 29th of August, 1817. 
 
 " I had come down from Edinburgh," he tells us, " partly to 
 visit Melrose Abbey and its vicinity, but chiefly to get a sight of 
 the * mighty minstrel of the North.' I had a letter of introduc- 
 tion to him from Thomas Campbell, the poet, and had reason to 
 think, from the interest he had taken in some of my earlier scrib- 
 blings, that a visit from me would not be deemed an intrusion. 
 On the following morning, after an early breakfast, I set off in a 
 post-chaise for the Abbey. On the way thither I stopped at the 
 gate of Abbotsford, and sent the postillion to the house with the 
 letter of introduction and my card, on which I had written that 
 I was on my way to the ruins of Melrose Abbey, and wished to 
 know whether it would be agreeable to Mr. Scott (he had not yet 
 been made a baronet) to receive a visit from me in the course of 
 the morning." Irving's Abbotsford. 
 
 Mr. Lockhart shall tell us in what spirit this " modest ap- 
 proach " was received : 
 
 " Scott's family well remember the delight with which he re- 
 ceived this announcement : he was at breakfast, and sallied forth 
 instantly, dogs and children after him as usual, to greet the guest 
 and conduct him in person from the highway to the door." 
 Lockhart's Life of Scott. 
 
 Mr. Irving must be permitted to take up the thread : 
 
 " Before Scott had reached the gate, he called out to me in a 
 hearty tone, welcoming me to Abbotsford, and asking news of 
 Campbell. Arrived at the door of the chaise, he grasped me 
 
22 SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 
 
 warmly by the hand : ' Come, drive down, drive down to the 
 house,' said he ; * ye're just in time for breakfast, and afterwards 
 ye shall see all the wonders of the Abbey.' 
 
 " I would have excused myself on the plea of having already 
 made my breakfast. l Hout, man ! ' cried he ; 4 a ride in the 
 morning in the keen air of the Scotch hills is warrant enough for 
 a second breakfast ! ' " Ubi supra. 
 
 Thus graphically is sketched, by the gratified stranger, his 
 first interview with the tried and loving friend of many years ; 
 and this lifelike description is familiar, or should be so, to all. 
 But it has been the happy lot of the writer of these pages to hear 
 from Irving's own lips while the generous tear of affection quiv- 
 ered in his eye the pathetic account of his last interview with 
 his friend, a few months before the lamentations of nations over 
 his grave testified to the strong hold which he had gained upon 
 the hearts of his readers in every land. But we are anticipating 
 here : should we ever record the deeply-interesting narration ta 
 which we refer, it will be more appropriately introduced in oui 
 life of the author of Waverley. It is worth mentioning in this 
 connection, that in a letter from Scott to John Richardson, dated 
 22d Sept. 1817, he remarks: 
 
 " When you see Tom Campbell, tell him with my best love 
 that I have to thank him for making me known to Mr. Washing- 
 ton Irving, who is one of the best and pleasantest acquaintances 
 I have made this many a day." 
 
 Every American who has been abroad, and mingled at all in 
 the polite circles of Europe, can testify that Sir Walter Scott 
 here speaks that only which thousands will gladly endorse. We 
 quote one instance which we find recorded in Mr. N. P. Willis's 
 agreeable Pencillings by the Way. He is describing an evening 
 party at the Countess of Blessington's : 
 
SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 23 
 
 " Nearest me sat Smith, the author of Eejected Addresses, 
 a hale, handsome man, apparently fifty, with white hair, and a 
 very nobly-formed head and physiognomy. . . . Among other 
 things, he talked a great deal of America, and asked me if I 
 knew our distinguished countryman, Washington Irving. I had 
 never been so fortunate as to meet him. l You have lost a great 
 deal,' he said, ' for never was so delightful a fellow. I was once 
 taken down with him into the country by a merchant to dinner. 
 Our friend stopped his carriage at the gate of his park, and 
 asked us if we would walk through his grounds to the house. 
 Irving refused, and held me down by the coat, so that we drove 
 on to the house together, leaving our host to follow on foot. " I 
 make it a principle," said Irving, " never to walk with a man 
 through his own grounds. I have no idea of praising a thing 
 whether I like it or not. You and I will do them to-morrow 
 morning by ourselves." ' The rest of the company had turned 
 their attention to Smith as he began his story, and there was a 
 universal inquiry after Mr. Irving. Indeed, the first questions on 
 the lips of every one to whom I am introduced as an American 
 are of him and Cooper." 
 
 Tom Moore's warm affection for the author of the Sketch- 
 Book is no secret to those who have read the entertaining Diary 
 of the former, recently published by Lord John Kussell. We 
 quote from one of the poet's entries a Ion mot of Irving's, which 
 has amused us not a little : 
 
 " April 10, 1830. Forgot to mention in its place Irving's 
 description of the evening at Horace Twiss's, (the evening of the 
 day he wanted me to meet the Duke of Wellington.) But few 
 people had come ; and l there was Twiss,' said Irving, ' with his 
 two great men, the Duke and the Chancellor, just like a spider 
 that has got two big flies, and does not know what to do with 
 them.' " 
 
 But, the reader will query, how had Scott become acquainted 
 
24 SKETCH OF IRVING'S WOKKS. 
 
 with the literary merits of the young American ? for such ac- 
 quaintance he seems to have had. Lockhart shall again be our 
 spokesman : 
 
 " Scott had received The History of New York by Knicker- 
 bocker, shortly after its appearance in 1812, from an accom- 
 plished American traveller, Mr. Brevoort ; and the admirable hu- 
 mor of this early work had led him to anticipate the brilliant 
 career which its author has since run. Mr. Thomas Campbell, 
 being no stranger to Scott's high estimate of Irving's genius, 
 gave him a letter of introduction," &c. 
 
 It so happens though it is hardly an accident, either that 
 we have before us a fac-simile of Scott's letter to Mr. Henry Bre- 
 voort, acknowledging the receipt of Knickerbocker's History of 
 New York ; and it is strictly to our present purpose the citation 
 of opinions upon Irving's works to quote this epistle for the 
 gratification of the reader : 
 
 " My Dear Sir : 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 am 
 sensible that as a stranger to American parties and politics, I 
 must lose much of the concealed satire of the piece ; but I must 
 own that, looking at the simple and obvious meaning only, I have 
 never read any thing so closely resembling the style of Dean 
 Swift as the annals of Diedrich Knickerbocker. I have been em- 
 ployed these few evenings in reading them aloud to Mrs. S. and 
 two ladies who are our guests, and our sides have been absolutely 
 sore with laughing. I think, too, there are passages which indi- 
 cate that the author possesses power of a different kind, and [he] 
 has some touches which remind me much of Sterne. I beg you 
 will have the kindness to let me know when Mr. Irving takes 
 j>en in hand again, for assuredly I shall expect a very great treat, 
 
SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 25 
 
 which I may chance never to hear of but through your kindness. 
 Believe me, dear sir, 
 
 " Your obliged and humble servant, 
 
 "WALTER SCOTT. 
 " Abbotsford, 23d April, 1813." 
 
 We have already seen that it was to the friendly offices of 
 Scott that Irving was indebted for the happy circumstance which 
 made John Murray his publisher, and the handsome tribute to 
 both these gentlemen which appears in the Preface to the revised 
 edition of The Sketch-Book (New York, 1848), must not be 
 omitted in this place : 
 
 "From that time [the publication of The Sketch-Book in 
 1820] Murray became my publisher, conducting himself in all his 
 dealings with that fair, open, and liberal spirit which had ob- 
 tained for him the well-merited appellation of the Prince of 
 Booksellers. Thus, under the kind and cordial auspices of Sir 
 Walter Scott, I began my literary career in Europe ; and I feel 
 that I am but discharging, in a trifling degree, my debt of grati- 
 tude to the memory of that golden-hearted man, in acknowledg- 
 ing my obligations to him. But who of his literary contempora- 
 ries ever applied to him for aid or counsel, that did not experience 
 the most prompt, generous, and effectual assistance ? " 
 
 We continue the quotation of opinions : 
 
 " Equally or more admired [than Salmagundi] was Knicker- 
 bocker's History of New York, a work to be compared with any 
 thing of the kind in our language ; a book of unwearying pleas- 
 antry, which, instead of flashing out, as English and American 
 humor is wont, from time to time, with long and dull intervals, 
 is kept up with a true French vivacity from beginning to end; a 
 book which, if it have a fault, has only that of being too pleas- 
 ant, too sustained a tissue of merriment and ridicule." EDWARD 
 EVERETT : N. Amer. Rev., xv. 206, July, 1822. 
 2 
 
26 SKETCH OF IRV ING'S WORKS. 
 
 " It has the same faults and same good qualities IL its style, 
 its wit and humor ; and its characters are evidently by the same 
 hand as the leading ones in Salmagundi, though not copies from 
 them. They are perfectly fresh and original, and suited to their 
 situations. Too much of the first part of the first volume is labo- 
 rious and up-hill ; and there are places, here and there, in the 
 last part, to which there is the same objection. Our feelings sel- 
 dom flag in the second." EICHARD H. DANA, SR. : N". Amer. 
 Rev., ix. 345, Sept. 1819. 
 
 " This we consider as equal to the best, and in some respects 
 perhaps superior to any other, of our author's productions, [viz. : 
 Oldstyle, Salmagundi, Naval Biographies, The Sketch-Book, 
 Bracebridge Hall, Tales of a Traveller, and Columbus.] It is 
 the one which exhibits most distinctly the stamp of real inventive 
 power, the true test, as we have hinted, of genius. The plan, 
 though simple enough, and when hit upon sufficiently obvious, is 
 entirely original." ALEX. H. EVERETT : N. Amer. Rev., xxviii. 
 117-118, Jan. 1829. 
 
 "The most elaborate piece of humor in our literature, 
 Irving's facetious history of his native town." HENRY T. TUCK- 
 ERMAN : Sketch of Amer. Lit. 
 
 " Of the point of many of the allusions contained in this po- 
 litical satire, partaking somewhat of the style of Swift's Tale of 
 a Tub, and in which more than one President of the United 
 States figures, we very much lament that we are not fully compe- 
 tent to judge. To us it is a tantalizing book, of which all that 
 we understand is so good, and affords us so much pleasure, even 
 through an imperfect acquaintance with it, that we cannot but 
 conclude that a thorough knowledge of the whole point in every 
 part would be a treat indeed." Lon. Quar. Rev., xxxi. 475, 
 March, 1825. 
 
 Another English authority does not consider that Irving was 
 so invariably allegorical as the critic just quoted seems to sup- 
 pose: 
 
SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 27 
 
 " By nine readers out of ten, perhaps, Knickerbocker is read 
 as a piece of generous drollery, nothing more. Be it so. It 
 will wear the better. The design of Irving himself is not always 
 clear, nor was he always undeviating in his course. Truth or 
 fable, fact or falsehood, it was all the same to him, if a bit of 
 material came in his way. In a word, we look upon this volume 
 of Knickerbocker though it is tiresome, though there are some 
 wretched failures in it, a little overdoing of the humorous, and a 
 little confusion of purpose throughout as a work honorable to 
 English literature, manly, bold, and so altogether original, with- 
 out being extravagant, as to stand alone among the labors of 
 men." American Writers, No. 4, in Blackw. Mag., xvii. 62, 
 Jan. 1825. 
 
 " To speak the plain truth, Diedrich Knickerbocker is, after 
 all, our favorite. There is more richness of humor, and there is 
 more strength of language too, in these earlier efforts." Ibid., 
 xiv. 504, Nov. 1823. 
 
 "The whole book is bjeu-d" 1 esprit, and perhaps its only fault 
 is, that no jeu-<$ esprit ought to be quite so long as to fill two 
 closely-printed volumes." Ibid., vii. 361, July, 1820, (by J. G. 
 Lockhart.) 
 
 The eloquent historian of the Conquest of Mexico, in a dis- 
 sertation upon the Eight of Title by Discovery, after referring 
 .he reader to some of the great legal luminaries of different 
 countries, to Vattel, Kent, and Wheaton, concludes with the 
 following allusion to the erudite essay of our ancient friend, the 
 chronicler of the early fortunes of Nieuw-Nederlandts : 
 
 "If it were not treating a grave discussion too lightly, I 
 should crave leave to refer the reader to the renowned Diedrich 
 Knickerbocker's History of New York, (book 1, chap. 5,) for a 
 luminous disquisition on this knotty question. At all events, he 
 will find there the popular arguments subjected to the test of 
 ridicule, a test showing, more than any reasoning can, how 
 
28 
 
 SKETCH OF IEVING'S WORKS. 
 
 much, or rather how little, they are really worth." PrescotPs 
 Hist, of the Conquest of Mexico, 23d. ed., Bost, 1855, ii. 
 33, n. 
 
 For further notices of Knickerbocker's History of New York, 
 see Lon. Month. Eev., xciv. 67 ; Lon. Athen., 1832, 458 ; 
 Knickerbocker Mag., iii. 1 ; GRAHAME, JAMES, p. 717, in this 
 Dictionary. 
 
 3. THE SKETCH-BOOK, 1819-20. 
 
 "I have glanced over the Sketch-Book. It is positively 
 beautiful, and increases my desire to crimp you, if it be possible." 
 Sir Walter Scott to Washington Irving, offering him the 
 editorship (with a salary of 500 per annum) of a projected 
 Edinburgh weekly literary periodical. This offer was gratefully 
 declined by Irving. 
 
 " But, though it is primarily for its style and composition 
 that we are induced to notice this book, it would be quite unjust 
 to the author not to add, that he deserves very high commenda- 
 tion for its more substantial qualities ; and that we have seldom 
 seen a work that gave us a more pleasing impression of the 
 writer's character, or a more favorable one of his judgment and 
 taste. ... It seemed fair and courteous not to stint a stranger on 
 his first introduction to our pages ; and what we have quoted, we 
 are persuaded, will justify all that we have said in his favor. . . . 
 We have found the book in the hands of most of those to whom 
 we have thought of mentioning it." LORD JEFFREY : Edin. 
 Eev., xxxiv. 161, 168, 176, Aug. 1820. 
 
 " Few recent publications have been so well received in Eng- 
 land as the Sketch-Book. Several of the Waverley novels have 
 passed through fewer editions than this agreeable work, a-nd the 
 journals of most consequence have paid the highest compliments 
 to its merit. We are nevertheless free to confess, that we think 
 The Sketch-Book, as a whole, inferior to the author's earlier 
 
SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 29 
 
 writings. EDWARD EVERETT : JST. Amer. Rev., xv. 208, July, 
 1822. 
 
 " We will be open with him, and tell him that we do not 
 think the change is for the better. He appears to have lost a 
 little of that natural run of style for which his lighter writings 
 were so remarkable. He has given up something of his direcr, 
 simple manner, and plain phraseology, for a more studied, peri- 
 phrastical mode of expression. He seems to have exchanged 
 words and phrases which were strong, distinct, and definite, for a 
 genteel sort of language, cool, less definite, and general. It is 
 as if his mother-English had been sent abroad to be improved, 
 and, in attempting to become accomplished, had lost too many of 
 her home qualities. . . . The Sketch-Book is extremely popular, 
 and it is worthy of being so. Yet it is with surprise that we 
 have heard its style indiscriminately praised. . . . Had we thought 
 less highly of his powers, we should have said less about his 
 errors. Did we not take delight in reading him, we should have 
 been less earnest about his mistakes. . . . He is a man of genius, 
 and able to bear his faults." EICHARD H. DANA, SR. : JV". Amer. 
 Rev., ix. 348, 350, 356, Sept. 1819. 
 
 " The characteristics of the Sketch-Book are essentially the 
 same with those of the preceding work ; but, with somewhat 
 more polish and elegance, it has somewhat less vivacity, fresh- 
 ness, and power. This difference constitutes the distinction be- 
 tween Mr. Irving's first and second manner, the latter of which 
 is preserved in all his subsequent publications, excepting the one 
 immediately before us [Life of Columbus]. Of these two man- 
 ners, the one or the other may perhaps be preferred by different 
 readers, according to their different tastes. We incline ourselves 
 to the former, conceiving that spirit and vigor are the highest 
 qualities of style, and thai the loss of any merit of this descrip- 
 tion is but poorly compensated by a little additional finish." 
 ALEX. H. EVERETT: N. Amer. Rev., xxviii. 119, Jan. 1829. 
 
 " His stories of Rip Van Winkle and Sleepy Hollow are per- 
 
30 SKETCH OF IBVLNG'S WOKKS. 
 
 haps the finest pieces of original fictitious writing that this coun- 
 try has produced, next to the works of Scott." Chambers^ 
 Cyc. Eng. Lit., Edin., 1844, ii. 594. 
 
 Dr. Dibdin, a Nestor among critics, cannot find words suffi - 
 ciently strong in which to express his admiration of The Sketch- 
 Book. Eeferring to Mr. Roscoe, he remarks : 
 
 " This is probably the last time that his name will adorn 
 these pages ; and in taking leave of it, how can I better express 
 my feelings than in the beautiful language of the author of The 
 Sketch-Book?" Library Companion, ed. 1825, 542. 
 
 Again : 
 
 "I know of few passages indeed, I know of none which 
 so completely and so deliciously (if I may so speak) describe the 
 comforts of a well-stored library as the following, from the author 
 of The Sketch-Book : i When all that is worldly turns to dross 
 around us, these only retain their steady value,' &c." 
 
 The doctor quotes to the end of the next paragraph, and then 
 demands, 
 
 " Can sentiment (I ask) be purer, or language more harmoni- 
 ous, than this?" Ubi supra, p. 544. See also p. 346. 
 
 "The Sketch-Book is a timid, beautiful work; with some 
 childish pathos in it ; some rich, pure, bold poetry ; a little 
 squeamish, puling, lady-like sentimentality; some courageous 
 writing, some wit, and a world of humor, so happy, so natural, 
 so altogether unlike that of any other man, dead or alive, that 
 we would rather have been the writer of it, fifty times over, than 
 of every thing else that he has ever written. The touches of 
 poetry are every where ; but never where we would look for them. 
 Irving has no passion : he fails utterly in true pathos, cannot 
 speak as if he were carried away by any thing. He is always 
 thoughtful ; and, save when he tries to be fine or sentimental, 
 
SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 31 
 
 always natural. The 'dusty splendor* of Westminster Abbey, 
 the * ship staggering ' over the precipices of the ocean, the shark 
 1 darting, like a spectre, through the blue waters,' all these things 
 are poetry, such poetry as never was, never will be, surpassed. 
 We could mention fifty more passages, epithets of power, which 
 no mere prose writer would have dared, under any circumstances, 
 to use." American Writers, No. 4, in Blackw. Mag., xvii. 65, 
 Jan. 1825. 
 
 " We trust some arrangement has been entered into by virtue 
 of which the succeeding numbers of this exquisite miscellany 
 may be early given to the English public ; who, we are sure, are, 
 at least, as much inclined to receive them well as the American. 
 Mr. Washington Irving is one of our first favorites among the 
 English writers of this age, and he is not a bit the less so for 
 having been born in America." Blackw. Mag., vii. 361, July, 
 1820, (by J. G. Lockhart.) 
 
 We have already quoted Lockhart's opinion of The Sketch- 
 Book in a preceding page, q. v. See also Christopher North's 
 Noctes Ambrosianae, July, 1822, and May, 1823. 
 
 " Of the merit of his Knickerbocker and New York Stories, 
 we cannot pretend to judge. But in his Sketch-Book and Brace- 
 bridge Hall he gives us very good American copies of our British 
 Essayists and Novelists, which may be very well on the other side 
 of the water, or as proofs of the capabilities of the national ge- 
 nius, but which might be dispensed with here, where we have to 
 boast of the originals. Not only Mr. Irving's language is with 
 great taste and felicity modelled on that of Addison, Goldsmith, 
 Sterne, or Mackenzie, but the thoughts and sentiments are taken 
 at the rebound, and, as they are brought forward at the present 
 period, want both freshness and probability. Mr. Irving's writ 
 ings are literary anachronisms. He comes to England for the first 
 [the second] time ; and, being on the spot, fancies himself in the 
 midst of those characters and manners which he had read of in 
 
32 SKETCH OF IKVING'S WORKS. 
 
 The Spectator and other approved authors, and which were the 
 only idea he had hitherto formed of the parent-country. Instead 
 of looking around to see what we are, he sets to work to describe 
 us as we were, at second-hand." HazlitCs Spirit of the Age. 
 
 As this charge of literary anachronism has often been 
 urged against some of the graphic scenes depicted in The Sketch- 
 Book and Bracebridge Hall, it is only just to allow the author to 
 be heard in his own defence : 
 
 "At the time of the first publication of this paper [The 
 Christmas Dinner, in the Sketch-Book], the picture of an old- 
 fashioned Christmas in the country was pronounced by some as 
 out of date. The author had afterwards an opportunity of wit- 
 nessing almost all the customs above described, existing in unex- 
 pected vigor in the skirts of Derbyshire and Yorkshire, where he 
 passed the Christmas holidays. The reader will find some ac- 
 count of them in the author's account of his sojourn in Newstead 
 Abbey." Note to revised edit, of The Sketch-Book, New York, 
 1848, p. 298. 
 
 We lack space to quote Mr. Irving's description of the primi- 
 tive customs which he found in full and honored observance in 
 different parts of England, customs which, as he remarks, 
 
 " Have only been pronounced obsolete by those who draw 
 their experience merely from city life. ... It has been deemed 
 that some of the anecdotes of holiday customs given in my pre- 
 ceding writings, related to usages which have entirely passed 
 away. Critics who reside in cities have little idea of the primi- 
 tive manners and observances which still prevail in remote and 
 rural neighborhoods." Crayon Miscellany: Newstead Abbey, N. 
 York, 1848, 298, 299. 
 
 Mr. Irving's comments are fully endorsed by an eminent 
 English authority : 
 
SKETCH OP IRVING' s WOKKS. 33 
 
 " The accuracy of his pictures of old English customs and 
 sports, which he represents as flourishing under the influence of 
 the benevolent squire, has been questioned, we know, by suburban 
 readers : in our opinion, and according to our experience, there is 
 nothing too highly colored in them. [The writer then proceeds 
 to prove his position.] We think, therefore, that, far from ex 
 ceeding the limits of probability in this respect, Mr. Irving has 
 hardly made the full use of northern customs which was really 
 open to him. Nor can we see any thing overdrawn in the char- 
 acters themselves." Lon. Quar. Rev., yyyi. 476, 477, March, 
 1825. 
 
 The Dublin University Magazine remarks, in the same strain : 
 
 " Bracebridge Hall is the only account we have which gives 
 any thing like a true picture of the life of an English country 
 gentleman of our own day." May, 1835, 554. 
 
 Other reviews of The Sketch-Book appeared in the Lon. 
 Quar. Kev., xxv. 50; Lon. Month. Eev., xciii. 198; Edin. 
 Month. Eev., iv. 303. In our life of Lord Byron, p. 322 of this 
 Dictionary, will be found an interesting account of the enthusias- 
 tic admiration expressed by his lordship of The Sketch-Book and 
 its author. 
 
 Before we leave our subject, we must not forget to copy an 
 entry in Moore's Diary, in which the success of The Sketch-Book 
 at its first appearance is referred to : 
 
 " Dined with McKay at the table-cFhote, at Meurice's, for the 
 purpose of being made known to Mr. Washington Irving, the au- 
 thor of the work which has lately had success, The Sketch-Book ; 
 a good-looking and intelligent-mannered man." Paris, Dec. 21, 
 1820. 
 
 4. BRACEBREDGE HALL ; OR, THE HUMORISTS, 1822 : 
 
 " The great charm and peculiarity of his work consists now, 
 2* 
 
34 SKETCH OF IRVItfG'S WOKKS. 
 
 as on former occasions, in the singular sweetness of the composi- 
 tion, and the mildness of the sentiments, sicklied over perhaps 
 a little, now and then, with that cloying heaviness into which 
 unvaried sweetness is so apt to subside. The rhythm and melo- 
 dy of the sentences is certainly excessive : as it not only gives an 
 air of mannerism, but raises too strong an impression of the 
 labor that must have been bestowed, and the importance which 
 must have been attached to that which is, after all, but a second- 
 ary attribute to good writing. It is very ill-natured in us, how- 
 ever, to object to what has given us so much pleasure ; for we 
 happen to be very intense and sensitive admirers of those soft 
 harmonies of studied speech in which this author is apt to indulge 
 himself; and have caught ourselves, oftener than we shall con- 
 fess, neglecting his excellent matter, to lap ourselves in the liquid 
 music of his periods, and letting ourselves float passively down 
 the mellow falls and windings of his soft-flowing sentences, with 
 a delight not inferior to that which we derive from fine versifica- 
 tion." LORD JEFFREY : Edin. Rev., xxxvii. 338-339, Nov. 1822. 
 
 "We have no hesitation in pronouncing Bracebridge Hall 
 quite equal to any thing which the present age of English litera- 
 ture has produced in this department. In saying this, we class it 
 in the branch of essay-writing. . . . Besides the episodical tables, 
 he has given us admirable sketches of life and manners, highly 
 curious in themselves, and rendered almost important by the 
 good-natured mock gravity, the ironical reverence, and lively wit, 
 with which they are described. We can scarce express the de- 
 light with which we turn to the definite images such a work ex- 
 cites, from the vagueness and generality of ordinary story-writ- 
 ing, where personages without prototypes in any society on earth 
 speak a language learned out of books, without a trait of nature, 
 life, or truth." EDWARD EVERETT: N. Amer. Rev., xv. 209, 
 223-224, July, 1822. 
 
 " Bracebridge Hall certainly does not possess the spirit of 
 The Sketch-Book." Mm Mag., xi. 688, June, 1822. 
 
SKETCH OF IEVING'S WORKS. 35 
 
 " STOUT GENTLEMAN very good, and a pretty fair account of 
 a real occurrence, [see Note at bottom of the page ;] STUDENT OP 
 SALAMANCA beneath contempt ; Irving has no idea of genuine 
 romance, or love, or any thing else, we believe, that ever seri- 
 ously troubles the blood of men : KOOKERY struck off in a few 
 hours ; contrary to what has been said, Irving does not labor as 
 people suppose he is too indolent given too much, we know, to 
 revery : DOLPH HEYUGER ; THE HAUNTED HOUSE ; STORM-SHIP 
 all in the fashion of his early time ; perhaps we are greatly in- 
 clined to believe perhaps the remains of what was meant for 
 Salmagundi or Knickerbocker : the rest of the two volumes quite 
 unworthy of Irving's reputation." American Writers, No. 4, in 
 Blackw. Mag., xvii. 66, Jan. 1825. 
 
 " In spite, however, of the pleasure which Bracebridge Hall 
 has afforded us, we can see nothing in it which might not have been 
 compressed into the space of one volume. The make-weights (for 
 we can give them no other name) which are thrown in to round off 
 the work more properly belong to Mr. Irving's recent publication, 
 the Tales of a Traveller ; in fact they are, for the most part, told 
 by the same imaginary narrators, and we shall, therefore, consider 
 them under the same head." Lon. Quar. Rev., xxxi. 481-482, 
 March, 1825. 
 
 See also Moore's Diary, March 19, 1821. 
 
 
 
 5. TALES OF A TRAVELLER, 1824. 
 
 " I have been miserably disappointed in the Tales of a Trav- 
 eller." In this strain commences Timothy Tickler's review of the 
 Tales, and he proceeds to abuse them terribly : the more so, he 
 intimates, from the fact that 
 
 " Few people have admired Mr. Irving more than myself, few 
 have praised him more, and certainly few wish him and his career 
 better than I do at this moment." Blackw. Mag., xvi. 294, 297, 
 Sept. 1824. 
 
36 SKETCH OF IEYING'S WORKS. 
 
 In the same periodical (xvii. 66-67, American Writers, No. 
 4) the Tales are quite as severely handled, but the critic dismisses 
 the author with many civil words and a hearty benediction* 
 
 You Geoffrey Crayon have great power, original power. 
 We rejoice in your failure now, because we believe that it will 
 drive you into a style of original composition, far more worthy of 
 yourself. Go to work. Lose no time. Your foundations will be 
 the stronger for this uproar. You cannot write a novel, a poem, 
 a true tale, or a tragedy. You can write another SKETCH-BOOK 
 worth all that you have ever written, if you will draw out from 
 yourself. You have some qualities that no other living writer 
 has, a bold, quiet humor, a rich, beautiful mode of painting 
 without caricature, a delightful, free, happy spirit : make use of 
 them. We look to see you all the better for this trouncing. 
 God bless you ! Farewell." 
 
 The reviewer in the London Quarterly (vol. xxxi. 481-487, 
 March, 1825) finds hardly any thing to commend in the Tales of 
 a Traveller, save the autobiography of Buckthorne : 
 
 "It is with great pleasure that we turn from productions 
 which Mr. Irving honestly confesses to be the sweepings of his 
 Scrap-book, to the tale of Buckthorne, whose adventures, together 
 with those of his friends, occupy the second division of the Tales. 
 In this instance, finding the contents of the said Scrap-book run 
 short, he has been driven to tax his own invention in good ear- 
 nest, and the result is excellent. From the evidence of this tale, 
 wh5ch abounds in point and incident, it seems probable to us that 
 he might as a novelist prove no contemptible rival to Goldsmith, 
 whose turn of mind he very much inherits, and of whose style 
 he particularly reminds us in the life of Dribble. Like him, too, 
 Mr. Irving possesses the art of setting ludicrous perplexities in 
 the most irresistible point of view, and we think equals him in 
 the variety, if not in the force, of his humor. . . . After the evi- 
 dence of Mr. living's powers afforded by the last-quoted passage, 
 
SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 37 
 
 he must in future be true to his own reputation throughout, and 
 correct the habits of indolence which so considerable a part of the 
 Tales of a Traveller evince. The indulgence which he so fairly 
 deserved at his outset, as an ingenious stranger intuitively profi- 
 cient in the style and ideas of the mother-country, must now 
 cease, and he must be considered in future as not only admitted 
 to the full freedom and privileges of the English guild of author- 
 ship, but amenable also at the same time, as an experienced 
 craftsman, to its most vigorous statutes. We may congratulate 
 him on the rank which he has already gained, of which the 
 momentary caprice of the public cannot long deprive him ; and 
 with hearty good will, playfully, but we hope not profanely, we 
 exclaim, as we part with him, * Very pleasant hast thou been to 
 me, my brother Jonathan.' " Lon. Qmr. Rev., xxxi. 483-484, 
 486-487. 
 
 But perhaps the most severe of all the reviews of the Tales 
 of a Traveller appeared in the Westminster Keview (ii. 334), 
 then in the first blossom of its youth. Geoffrey Crayon's cour- 
 teous notices of the English nobility, and his equally creditable 
 disgust at the sanguinary horrors of the French ^Revolution, ex- 
 cited the ire of the democratic critic to an uncontrollable pitch. 
 Even the author's admiring friend, Tom Moore, seems to have 
 had but little hope for the success of the Tales : 
 
 " Irving and I set out for the cottage between ten and eleven. 
 Took Irving after dinner to show him to the Starkeys, but he was 
 sleepy, and did not open his mouth : the same at Elwyn's dinner. 
 Not strong as a lion, but delightful as a domestic animal. 
 Walked him over this morning to call on Lord Lansdowne, (come 
 down in consequence of Lord King's illness,) who walked part of 
 the way back with us. Bead me some part of his new work. 
 Tales of a Traveller. Eather tremble for its fate. Murray has 
 given him 1,500 for it ; might have had, I think, 2,000." 
 June 17, 1824. 
 
38 SKETCH OF lEVING'S WORKS. 
 
 6. THE LIFE AND VOYAGES OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, 1828 ; 
 
 " Venient annis 
 Ssecula serfs, quibus, Oceanus 
 Vincula reram laxet, et ingens 
 Pateat tellus, Typhisque novos 
 Detegat Orbes, nee sit terris 
 Ultima Thule." SENECA : Medea. 
 
 "The author, having resided for some years past in Madrid, 
 and enjoyed access to the archives of the Spanish Government, as 
 well as to many private Libraries, has been enabled to weave 
 into this work many curious facts, hitherto unknown, concerning 
 the History of Columbus." 
 
 The existence of a new world beyond the Atlantic was firmly 
 believed by many of the ancients, as is abundantly proved by 
 numerous passages in the classics : 
 
 " None of the intimations [remarks Mr. Prescott] are so pre- 
 cise as that contained in the well-known lines of Seneca's Medea : 
 
 'Venient annis ssecula,' &c. 
 
 Although, when regarded as a mere poetical vagary, it has not 
 the weight which belongs to more serious suggestions of similar 
 import, in the writings of Aristotle and Strabo. The various 
 allusions in the ancient classic writers to an undiscovered world 
 form the subject of an elaborate essay in the Memorias da AcacL 
 Eeal das Sciengas de Lisboa, (torn. v. pp. 101-112,) and are em- 
 bodied, in much greater detail, in the first section of Humboldt's 
 Histoire de la Geographic du Nouveau Continent : a work in 
 which the author, with his usual acuteness, has successfully ap- 
 plied the vast stores of his erudition and experience to the illus- 
 tration of many interesting points connected with the discovery 
 of the New World and the personal history of Columbus." Hist, 
 of the Reign of Ferd. and Isabella, llth ed., Boat., 1856, ii. 116- 
 117, n. 
 
SKETCH OF IKVING'S WORKS. 39 
 
 Mr. Prescott remarks in the text : 
 
 " A proof of this popular belief occurs in a curious passage of 
 the Morgante Maggiore of the Florentine poet Pulci, a man of 
 letters, but not distinguished for scientific attainments beyond 
 his day. The passage is remarkable, independently of the cos- 
 mographical knowledge it implies, for its allusion to phenomena 
 in physical science not established till more than a century later. 
 The devil, alluding to the vulgar supposition respecting the Pil- 
 lars of Hercules, thus addresses his companion Einaldo : 
 
 " ' Know that this theory is false : his bark 
 The daring mariner shall urge far o'er 
 The western wave, a smooth and level plain, 
 Albeit the earth is fashioned like a wheel. 
 Man was in ancient days of grosser mould, 
 And Hercules might blush to learn how far 
 Beyond the limits he had vainly set 
 The dullest sea-boat soon shall wing her way. 
 Men shah" descry another hemisphere, 
 Since to one common centre all things tend ; 
 So earth, by curious mystery divine, 
 Well balanced, hangs amid the starry spheres. 
 At our Antipodes are cities, states, 
 And thronged empires, never divined of yore. 
 But see, the Sun speeds on his western path 
 To glad the nations with expected light.' 
 
 PULCI : Morgante Maggiore, canto 25, st. 229, 230." 
 
 " I have used blank verse [proceeds Mr. Prescott, in a note] 
 as affording facility for a more literal version than the corre- 
 sponding ottava rima of the original. This passage of Pulci, 
 which has not fallen under the notice of Humboldt, or any other 
 writer on the same subject whom I have consulted, affords proba- 
 bly the most circumstantial prediction that is to be found of the 
 existence of a western world. Dante, two centuries before, had 
 intimated more vaguely his belief in an undiscovered quarter of 
 the globe : 
 
40 SKETCH OF IKVIN-G'S WORKS. 
 
 De' vostri sensi ch' e del rimanente, 
 No vogliate negar 1'esperienza, 
 Diretro al sol, del mondo senza gente.' 
 Inferno, cant. 26, v. U5."Ubi Supra, 117-118, 118, n. 
 
 We happen to have lying on our table a notice of a work 
 which should not be neglected by the collector of American His- 
 tory, (a large class among our friends in Boston and New York,) 
 and which we observe has not escaped the researches of Mr. 
 Irving (Hist, of Columbus) or of Mr. Prescott (Hist, of Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella). It is entitled Eaccolta del Documento Ori- 
 ginale e inediti spettante a Cristoforo Colombo alia Scoperta ed 
 al Governo dell' America, Genoa, 1823, 4to. An invaluable col- 
 lection of authentic remains, letters, memorials, &c., of the great 
 navigator, with a learned introduction by Prof. Spotorno. 
 
 An English translation of this work was issued in the same 
 year (1 vol. 8vo. pp. 159 and 255) in London. A notice of this 
 collection will be found in Eich's Bibl. Amer. Nova, ii. 152, 155 ; 
 N. Amer. Rev., xviii. 415-417, April, 1824, by Jared Sparks ;) 
 Ibid., xxi. 398-429, Oct. 1825. The Coleccion de los Viages y 
 Descubrimientos de Don Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, Mad- 
 rid, 1825, 2 vols. 4to, (3d vol., 1829, 4to,) to which we have 
 already referred, will of course be found in the American depart- 
 ment of the collector's Library. Those who are still ignorant of 
 the value of this treasury, and the eminent services of its erudite 
 compiler to the important cause of historical research, must con- 
 sult Prescott's Mexico, 23d ed., 1855, Pref., vi.-vii. ; his Ferd. 
 and Isabella, llth ed., 1856, Pref., v., and vol. ii., 133-134, 
 507, n. ; his Peru, ed. 1855, Pref., vi.-vii., vol. ii., 76 ; Irving's 
 Columbus and his Companions, ed. 1848, i., Pref., 13-18, iii., 
 Introduc., xv. See also a review of Navarrete's Coleccion, 
 
SKETCH OF lEVING'S WORKS. 41 
 
 written by Caleb Gushing, of Massachusetts, a ripe scholar, in 
 the N. Amer. Kev., xxiv. 265-294, April, 1827. 
 
 " His great work, Coleccion de los Viages y Descubrimien- 
 tos," remarks Mr. Prescott, " although far from being completed 
 after the original plan of its author, is of inestimable service to 
 the historian." Peru, Pref., vii. 
 
 Perhaps we have already lingered sufficiently long on the 
 threshold of our subject, the citation of opinions respecting 
 Irving' s History of Columbus ; but we must not pass on without 
 commending to our reafer a notice in the N. Amer. Kev., xliii. 
 43-52, July, 1836, (by J. L. Kingsley,) of the Italian Jesuit 
 Ubertino Carrara's Latin epic on the Discovery of America, enti- 
 tled Columbus, first published in 1715, at Eome. The poet thus 
 announces his subject : 
 
 " Primus ab Europa, Solis qui viserit urnam, 
 Parque prophanatum veils mare, maxima regna 
 Regibus Hispanis, orbemque adjecerit orbi, 
 Sit mihi materies operis." Lib. i. 1. 
 
 We recently cut the following notice from some paper of the 
 day : 
 
 " Chart of Columbus. An old picture-dealer has lately sold 
 to the Spanish Government, for 4,000 fr., the chart which .the 
 pilot of Columbus, Juan de la Cossa, used in his Voyage to the 
 New World. It was formerly in one of the public libraries of 
 Spain ; and, when the galleries and churches of that country were 
 ravaged by Marshal Soult, it fell into his hands, with the Con- 
 ception, by Murillo, and various other spoils." 
 
 In the adduction of opinions respecting the manner in which 
 Mr. Irving has acquitted himself in the responsible office of the 
 biographer of the Great Admiral, with whom can we so properly 
 
42 SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 
 
 begin as with that eminent scholar to whose researches Mr. Irving 
 and the world at large are so much indebted for all that we know 
 of the illustrious Genoese ? And here we are greatly pleased in 
 being able to quote in evidence the most unqualified commenda- 
 tion of Mr. Irving' s labors, which eulogy we are the more rejoiced 
 to find from the certainty that if the opinion made as much 
 against, as it fortunately does for, the historian's reputation, it 
 would not be withheld from our readers. Our duty is neither to 
 bury Caesars nor to praise them, but rather to faithfully chronicle 
 the recorded decisions of the great judges of literary jurispru- 
 dence. M. Navarrete may well be supposed to have entertained 
 a natural anxiety that the copious collections for the illustration 
 of the Life of Columbus which he had brought together, at the 
 price of so many days and nights of persevering industry and 
 careful research, should be faithfully made known to those who 
 could only enjoy them in an English dress. Indeed, as we have 
 seen in a preceding page, nothing more was originally contem- 
 plated by Mr. Everett than a translation by Irving of Navarrete's 
 Coleccion. But, fortunately for the cause -of letters, Mr. Irving 
 determined upon a more comprehensive undertaking : 
 
 " On considering the matter more maturely [he remarks], I 
 perceived that, although there were many books, in various lan- 
 guages, relative to Columbus, they all contained limited and in 
 complete accounts of his life and voyages ; while numerous valu- 
 able tracts on the subject existed only in manuscript or in the 
 form of letters, journals, and public muniments. It appeared to 
 me that a history faithfully digested from these various materials 
 was a desideratum in literature, and would be a more satisfactory 
 occupation to myself, and a more acceptable work to my country, 
 than the translation I had contemplated." Madrid, 1827 : Pref. 
 to 1st edit. Life of Cofambus. 
 
SKETCH OF IRVINE'S WOKKS. 43 
 
 The work was completed, and this decisive seal to its excel- 
 lence was impressed by the learned Navarrete himself: 
 
 " Yo me complazeo en que los documentos y noticias que 
 publico en mi coleccion sobre los primeros acontecimientos de la 
 historia de America hayan recaido en manos tan habiles para 
 apreciar su autenticidad, para examinarlas con critica, y propa- 
 garlas por todos partes, echando los fundamentos de la verdad 
 que hasta ahora ha sido tan adulterada por los escritores parciales 
 6 sistematicos." From a Letter dated Madrid, April 1, 1831. 
 
 The same distinguished authority, in the Introduction to the 
 3d volume of his Collection of Spanish Voyages, after adducing 
 a number of testimonials to the usefulness of the two first vol- 
 umes (1825, 4to), remarks: 
 
 " Insigne prueba de esto mismo acaba de darnos el Sen or 
 Washington Irving en la Historia de la Vida y de los Viages de 
 Cristobal Colon que ha publicado con una aceptacion tan general 
 como bien merecida. Digimos en nuestra introduccion (1, 56, 
 pag. Ixxxii.) que no nos proponiamos escribir la historia de aquel 
 almirante, sino publicar noticias y materiales para que se escri- 
 biese con veracidad, y es una fortuna que el primero que se haya 
 aprovechado de ellas sea un literato juicioso y erudito, conocido 
 ya en su patria y en Europa por otras obras apreciables. Colo- 
 cado en Madrid, exento de las rwalidades que han dominado 
 entre algunas naciones Europeas sobre Colon y sus descubrimien- 
 tos ; con la proporcion de examinar excelentes libros y preciosos 
 manuscritos, de tratar a personas instruidas en estas materias, y 
 teniendo siempre a la mano los autenticos documentos que acaba- 
 mos de publicar, ha logrado dar a su historia aquella extension, 
 imparcialidad, y exactitud que la hacen muy superior a las de los 
 escritores que le precedieron. Agregase a esto, su metodico, 
 arreglo, y conveniente distribucion ; su estilo animado, puro, y 
 elegante ; la noticia de varias personages que intervenieron de los 
 Bucesos de Colon, y el examen de varias cuestiones en que luce 
 
44 SKETCH OF IB\TNG'S WORKS. 
 
 siempre la mas Sana critica, la erudicion y buen gusto." Prologo 
 al tamo iii., Madrid, 1829, 4to. 
 
 It is proper that we should next quote the verdict of Mr. 
 Alexander H. Everett, so intimately connected with the incep 
 tion of this great enterprise, one of the ripest scholars that 
 America has yet produced, and a critic of too much candor to 
 permit his own interest in the work or his friendship for the au- 
 thor to either influence his judgment or qualify its expression : 
 
 " This is one of those works which are at the same time tho 
 delight of readers and the despair of critics It is as nearly per- 
 fect as any work well can be ; and there is therefore little or 
 nothing left for the reviewer but to write at the bottom of every 
 page, as Voltaire said he should be obliged- to do, if he published 
 a commentary on Eacine, Pulchre ! bene ! optime ! . . . He has at 
 length filled up the void that before existed, in this respect, in 
 the literature of the world, and produced a work which will fully 
 satisfy the public and supersede the necessity of any future labors 
 in the same field. While we venture to predict that the adven- 
 tures of Columbus will hereafter be read only in the work of Mr. 
 Irving, we cannot but think it a beautiful coincidence that the 
 task of duly celebrating the achievements of the discoverer of our 
 continent should have been reserved for one of its inhabitants ; 
 and that the earliest professed author of first-rate talent who ap- 
 peared among us should have devoted one of his most important 
 and finished works to this pious purpose. 
 
 ' Such honors Hion to her hero paid, 
 And peaceful slept the mighty Hector's shade.* 
 
 For the particular kind of historical writing in which Mr. Irving 
 is fitted to labor and excel, the Life of Columbus is undoubtedly 
 one of the very best perhaps we might say, without the fear of 
 mistake, the very best subject afforded by the annals of the 
 world. ... In treating this happy and splendid subject, Mr. 
 
SKETCH OF lEVING'S WORKS. 45 
 
 Irving has brought out the full force of his genius, as far as a 
 just regard for the principles of historical writing would admit." 
 N. Amer. Rev., xxviii. 103, 128, 129, Jan. 1829. 
 
 The verdict of the brilliant historian of the Eeign of Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella who has so greatly distinguished himself by 
 his researches in the same field of historical investigation as that 
 in which Mr. Irving gleaned so abundant a harvest must have 
 been awaited by the latter with no little anxiety. In a notice of 
 the publication of the Coleccion of Senor Navarrete, to which we 
 have frequently referred, Mr. Prescott remarks : 
 
 "Fortunately, Mr. Irving' s visit to Spain at this period ena- 
 bled the world to derive the full benefit of Senor Navarrete's re- 
 searches, by presenting their results in connection with whatever 
 had been before known of Columbus, in the lucid and attractive 
 form which engages the interest of every reader. It would seem 
 highly proper that the fortunes of the discoverer of America 
 should engage the pen of an inhabitant of her most favored and 
 enlightened region ; and it is unnecessary to add, that the task 
 has been executed in a manner which must secure to the historian 
 a share in the imperishable renown of his subject." Ferd. and 
 Isabella, llth ed., 1856, ii. 133. 
 
 "It is not necessary to pursue the track of the illustrious 
 voyager whose career, forming the most brilliant episode to the 
 history of the present reign, has been so recently traced by a 
 hand* which few will care to follow." Ibid., ii. 465-466. See 
 also 482-483, n. 
 
 "The noblest monument to the memory of Columbus." 
 Ibid., ii. 509. 
 
 " I will only remark, in conclusion of this too prolix discus- 
 sion about myself, that, while making my tortoise-like progress, I 
 saw what I had fondly looked upon as my own ground (having 
 indeed lain unmolested by any other invader for so many ages) 
 
46 SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 
 
 suddenly entered, and in part occupied, by one of my country- 
 men. I allude to Mr. living's History of Columbus and Chroni- 
 cle of Granada ; the subjects of which, although covering but a 
 small part of my whole plan, form certainly two of its most bril- 
 liant portions. Now, alas ! if not devoid of interest, they are at 
 least stripped of the charm of novelty. For what eye has not 
 been attracted to the spot on which the light of that writer's ge- 
 nius has not fallen ? " Ibid., i., Pref., xi.-xii. 
 
 In his Preface to the History of the Conquest of Mexico, Mr. 
 Prescott, referring to the passage just quoted, notices it as a 
 "singular chance," that, after collecting the materials for his 
 last-named work, he found himself "unconsciously taking up 
 ground which Mr. Irving was preparing to occupy." But we 
 have already noticed this fact in our Life of CHARLES JAMES Fox, 
 p. 624 of this Dictionary, to which the reader is referred. We 
 had intended to quote other comments of Mr. Prescott's upon 
 Irving's History of Columbus, but, as our article already length- 
 ens beyond our intended limits, we must be content to refer the 
 reader to the Preface to Mexico, ix., x. ; Ibid., iii. 252, n. ; Pres- 
 cott's review of Irving's Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, 
 in N. Amer. Rev., xxix. 293-314, Oct. 1829. See also W. H. 
 Gardiner's review of Prescott's Ferd. and Isabella, in N. Amer. 
 Kev., xlvi. 203-291, Jan. 1838, Prescott and Irving Com- 
 pared, &c. 
 
 We proceed with our quotations ; but they must be brief: 
 
 " This is on the whole an excellent book ; and we venture to 
 anticipate that it will be an enduring one. Neither do we hazard 
 this prediction lightly, or without a full consciousness of all it 
 implies. . . . For we mean, not merely that the book will be 
 familiarly known and referred to some twenty or thirty years 
 hence, and will pass in solid binding into every considerable col- 
 
SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 47 
 
 lection ; but that it will supersede all former works on the same 
 subject, and never be itself superseded." LORD JEFFREY : Edin. 
 Rev., xlviii. 1-32, Sept. 1828. 
 
 "When he writes the History of Columbus, you see him 
 weighing doubtful facts in the scales of a golden criticism. You 
 behold him laden with the manuscript treasures of well-searched 
 archives, and disposing the heterogeneous materials into a well- 
 digested and instructive narration." EDWARD EVERETT: JV. 
 Amer. Rev., xli. 5, July, 1835. 
 
 " This work is written with the attractions of style and taste, 
 and glowing description, which belong to the inspiration of the 
 theme, and to the genius of the distinguished author." CHAN- 
 CELLOR KENT. 
 
 " A life of Columbus, authentic, clear, and animated in nar- 
 ration, graphic in its descriptive episodes, and sustained and fin- 
 ished in style. It is a permanent contribution to English as well 
 as American literature ; one which was greatly needed, and most 
 appropriately supplied." HENRY T. TUCKERMAN : Sketch of Amer. 
 Lit. 
 
 " Since I have been here, I have contrived (by reading a half- 
 hour in the night and a half-hour in the morning) to peruse the 
 whole of Irving's Life of Columbus, in three volumes. It is 
 quite an interesting work, though I think too much spread out 
 by repetition of the same thoughts and descriptions. It is in all 
 respects, however, reputable to the literature of our country." 
 JUDGE STORY: Letter to Wm. W. Story, Washington, Feb. 21, 
 1836. 
 
 Judge Story's comment reminds us of a similar one recorded 
 by Tom Moore, and Cooper's ready retort : 
 
 " When Rogers, in talking of Washington Irving's Columbus, 
 said, in his dry, significant way, ' It's rather long? Cooper turned 
 round on him, and said, sharply, ( That's a short criticism.'" 
 Moore's Diary, May 27, 1828. 
 
48 SKETCH OP IRVING'S WORKS. 
 
 " By the accession of his volumes, we have now tne Biogra- 
 phy of Columbus ; as by Robertson's [History of America] we 
 before had, and still have, the history. Mr. Irving's has been to 
 me a very interesting production, sometimes marked with pas- 
 sages of great force and beauty ; and it contains every thing re- 
 specting Columbus that can be wanted. He has had valuable 
 sources of information, which he describes, and which were not 
 within the reach of Kobertson. Still, his volumes only show, as 
 usual, the merits of Kobertson. Upon looking over the historian's 
 account once more, I see no mistakes, and no material omissions : 
 in a concise and calm manner every particular of importance is 
 intimated to the reader ; and Mr. Irving has only told in the de- 
 tail (but in a very interesting and agreeable manner, and I 
 recommend his volumes to you) what our excellent historian had 
 told before." Prof. Smyth's Lects. on Mod. Hist. 
 
 There is another comparison between Eobertson and Irving 
 which it occurs to us to quote. It is one drawn by Lord 
 Brougham in his Life of Dr. Kobertson, and elicited by the ac- 
 count of the latter, in his History of America, of the first discov- 
 ery of land by Columbus : 
 
 "If the word dramatic," remarks his lordship, "has been 
 applied to this narrative, it has been advisedly chosen 5 because 
 no one can doubt that with the most scrupulous regard to the 
 truth, and even to the minute accuracy of his history, this com- 
 position has all the beauties of a striking poem. To judge of its 
 merits in this respect, I will not compare or rather contrast it 
 with the Histories of Oviedo or Herrera, or Ferdinand Columbus, 
 or even with the far better composition of Dr. Campbell, or who- 
 ever wrote the history of the discovery in Harris's Bibliotheca 
 Itinerarium, nor yet with the ambitious but worse-written narra- 
 tive of Mr. Washington Irving in his Life and Voyages of Co- 
 lumbus," &c. 
 
SKETCH OP IBVING'S WORKS. 49 
 
 The noble critic then proceeds (in a note) to quote examples 
 from both writers : 
 
 " It is no part of my intention to underrate the merits of this 
 very popular author ; but I speak of the manner in which he has 
 treated the subject ; and, coming after so great a master, it was 
 not judicious in him to try for effect, instead of studying the 
 chaste simplicity of his predecessors. These are a few of his ex- 
 pressions : The ships * were ploughing the waves ; ' Columbus was 
 * wrapped in the shades of night ; ' he ' maintained an intense 
 watch ; ' he ' ranged his eye along the dusky horizon ; ' he beheld 
 1 suddenly a glimmering light.' Kobertson had never thought of 
 saying ' suddenly,' as knowing that light must of necessity be 
 sudden. Then the light has ' passing gleams ; ' his feelings 
 i must have been tumultuous and intense ; ' contrary to the fact, 
 and to the character of the man ; ' the great mystery of the ocean 
 was revealed ; ' ' what a bewildering crowd of conjectures thronged 
 on his mind ! ' All this speculation of the writer to insure the 
 effect, Dr. Robertson rejects as fatal to effect, and gives only what 
 actually happened. Finally, he was possibly to find ' the morn- 
 ing dawn upon spicy groves, and glittering fanes, and gilded 
 cities.' Surely no one can hesitate which of the two pictures to 
 prefer. If the one is not absolutely tawdry, the other is assur- 
 edly more chaste. To compare the two pieces of workmanship is 
 a good lesson, and may tend to cure a vitiated taste, (Book iii. 
 Chap 3.) To take only one instance : ' About two hours before 
 midnight, Columbus, standing on the forecastle, observed a light 
 at a distance, and privately pointed it out to Pedro," &c. Thus 
 Robertson. Irving says: * Wrapped from observation in the 
 shades of night, he maintained an intense and unremitting watch, 
 ranging his eye along the dusky horizon. Suddenly, about ten 
 o'clock, he thought he beheld a light glimmering at a distance.' 
 Can any one doubt which of the two passages is the most strik- 
 ing, the chaste and severe, or the ornamented and gaudy and 
 meretricious ? The account of Robertson makes the ships lie-to 
 3 
 
50 SKETCH OF IKVING'S WOKKS. 
 
 all night. Irving either makes them lie-to, and afterwards go on 
 sailing rapidly ; or the lying-to was the night before, and they 
 sailed quicker the nearer they came to land and in the dusk. 
 The one makes them only see the shore after dawn ; the other 
 makes them see it two leagues off, in a dark night, at two in the 
 morning, within the tropics." Lives of Men of Letters of the 
 Time of George III., Lon. and Glasg., 1855, 265-2-66, n.* 
 
 In addition to the opinions cited above, see Lon. Month. 
 Eev., cxv. 419; cxxiv. 244; Lon. Lit. Gaz., 1828, 65-67; 
 Amer. Quar. Eev., iii. 173 ; ix. 163 ; South. Eev., ii. 1 ; vii. 
 214 ; South. Lit. Mess., vi. 569 ; Phila. Mus. of For. Lit., xiii. 
 23, from Lon. Weekly Eev. 
 
 7. CHRONICLE OF THE CONQUEST OF GRANADA, FROM THE MSS 
 OF FRAY ANTONIO AGAPIDA, 1829. 
 
 Perhaps we need hardly inform our readers that the worthy 
 chronicler Fray is an imaginary personage. 
 
 " Mr. Irving's late publication, the Chronicle of the Conquest 
 of Granada, has superseded all further necessity for poetry, and, 
 unfortunately for me, for history. He has fully availed himself 
 of all the picturesque and animating movements of this romantic 
 era ; and the reader who will take the trouble to compare his 
 Chronicle with the present more prosaic and literal narrative 
 [War of Granada, in Ferdinand and Isabella] will see how little 
 he has been seduced from historic accuracy by the poetical aspect 
 of his subject. The fictitious and romantic dress of his work has 
 enabled him to make it the medium for reflecting more vividly 
 the floating opinions and chimerical fancies of the age, while he 
 has illuminated the picture with the dramatic brilliancy of color- 
 ing denied to sober history." Prescotts Ferd. and Isabella, llth 
 ed., 1856, ii. 109, n. 
 
 * An article on Irving's works, in the "Christian Review," questions the 
 justice of this criticism. 
 
SKETCH OF IEVING'S WOEKS. 51 
 
 And see Mr. Prescott's review of the Chronicle, in N. Amer. 
 Rev., xxix. 293-314; also in his Miscellanies, 1855, 88-122. 
 
 " A few works recently published in the United States have 
 shed far more light [than Robertson's Charles V. and Watson's 
 Philip II.] on the interior organization and intellectual culture of 
 the Spanish nation. Such, for example, are the writings Oi 
 Irving, whose gorgeous coloring reflects so clearly the chivalrous 
 splendors of the fifteenth century." Ibid, MiscelL, 125, 126, q. 
 v. ; (from N. Amer. Rev., July, 1837.) 
 
 Since Mr. Prescott's commendation was penned, the Chronicle 
 has been brought more strictly within historical bounds, and in 
 other respects also greatly improved. 
 
 " His Chronicle, at times, wears almost the air of romance ; 
 yet the story is authenticated by frequent reference to existing 
 documents, proving that he has substantial foundation for his 
 most extraordinary incidents." Lon. Quar. Rev., xliii. 55-80. 
 
 This article, explanatory of the work, and carefully avoiding 
 commendation, was written for the Quarterly by Mr. Irving, at 
 the request of Mr. John Murray. See also Lon. Month. Rev., 
 cxix. 430 ; Amer. Month. Rev., v. 190 ; Lon. Lit. Gaz., 1829, 
 329. 
 
 8. VOYAGES OP THE COMPANIONS OF COLUMBUS, 1831. 
 
 See Lon. Month. Rev., N. S., xvi. 244 ; Lon. Gent. Mag., 
 1831, Pt. 1, 143 ; Prescott's Conq. of Peru, ed. 1855, i. 198, n. 
 
 9. THE ALHAMBRA. 1832. 
 
 " On the whole, we consider tne work before us as equal in 
 literary value to any of the others of the same class, with the 
 exception of The Sketch-Book ; and we should not be surprised 
 if it were read as extensively as even that very popular produc- 
 
52 SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 
 
 tion. We hope to have it in our power, at no remote period, to 
 announce a continuation of the series, which we are satisfied will 
 bear, in the booksellers' phrase, several more volumes." EDWARD 
 EVERETT : N. Amer. Rev., xxxv. 265-282, Oct. 1832. 
 
 A very suggestive remark occurs in the course of this review, 
 which we once quoted in hope that it would bring forth fruit in its 
 season : 
 
 " The period of the Moorish ascendancy is, perhaps, the most 
 interesting in the annals of Spain, and would furnish a fit subject 
 for a more methodical, extensive, and elaborate historical descrip- 
 tion than has yet been given of it in any language." 
 
 After the above was written, Mr. Prescott gave to the world 
 his truly great work on the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, 
 in which we gave a graphic account of the decadence or, more 
 properly speaking, the extirpation of the Moorish power in 
 Spain ; and he has not neglected eloquently to dilate upon the 
 ancient glories of Cordova, Seville, and Granada in their best 
 estate ; but it did not enter into his plan to discuss this compre- 
 hensive theme in the extent which can alone do it justice. With 
 the vast collections which he diligently made, the profound 
 knowledge of the subject which the digestion of those materials 
 had conferred, and the eloquence and force of his historic pen, 
 what better subject could Mr. Prescott have had, than the one we 
 ventured to suggest ? But, before we entirely forget Mr. Irving 
 in this episode, we must remember to notice that, whilst Mr. 
 Everett ranks the Alhambra below The Sketch-Book, Mr. Pres- 
 cott very happily refers to the volume as the " beautiful Spanish 
 Sketch-Book, The Alhambra." See Ferd. and Isabella, llth ed., 
 1856. ii. 100, n. See other reviews of the Alhambra, in the 
 Westminster Rev., xvii. 132; Lon. Athen., 1832, 283; Amer. 
 
SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 53 
 
 Month. Eev., ii. 117. We must commend to the attention of 
 those fond of the remains of Moorish antiquity, the splendid pub- 
 lication of Owen Jones, 1842-'45, entitled Illustrations of the 
 Palace of the Alhambra. This superb work comprises the plans, 
 elevations, sections, and details of the Alhambra, with a complete 
 translation, by Pasqual de Gayangos, of the Arabic Inscriptions, 
 and an Historical Notice of the Kings of Granada, from the Con- 
 quest of that City by the Arabs, to the Expulsion by the Moors ; 
 from Drawings taken on the spot, in the year 1834, by the late 
 Jules Goury, and in 1834 and '37, by Owen Jones, Architect, 2 
 vols. fol., with 100 superb plates, 67 of which are magnificently 
 executed in gold and colors ; the remainder are elaborate engrav 
 ings in outline ; also fine wood-cuts in the text. 
 
 10. A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES, 1835. 
 
 " To what class of compositions the present work belongs, we 
 are hardly able to say. It can scarcely be called a book of trav- 
 els, for there is too much painting of manners and scenery, and 
 too little statistics ; it is not a novel, for there is no story ; and it 
 is not a romance, for it is all true. It is a sort of sentimental 
 journey, a romantic excursion, in which nearly all the elements 
 of several different kinds of writing are beautifully and gaily 
 blended into a production almost sui generis. . . . We are not sure 
 that the passage in the book which we have read with greatest 
 satisfaction is not that in which we are promised its continua- 
 tion." EDWARD EVERETT: JV. Amer. Rev., xli. 1-28, July, 
 1835. 
 
 See also Dubl. Univ. Mag., v. 555 ; and see reviews of The 
 Crayon Miscellany, in South. Lit. Mess., i. 646; South. Lit. 
 Jour., i. 8. 
 
 11. ASTORIA, Lon. 1836, 3 vols. cr. 8vo. ; Phila., 1836, 2 
 
54 SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 
 
 vols. 8vo. See Kich's Bibl. Amer. Nova, ii. 283. In French, 
 trans, by P. N. Grolier, 1839, 2 vols. 8vo. 
 
 " The whole work bears the impress of Mr. Irving's taste. A 
 great variety of somewhat discordant materials is brought into a 
 consistent whole, of which the parts have a due reference to each 
 other ; and some sketches of life and traits of humor come fresh 
 from the pen of Geoffrey Crayon." EDWARD EVERETT: jV. 
 Amer. Rev., xliv. 200-237, Jan. 1837. 
 
 " I have read Astoria with great pleasure : it is a book to put 
 in your library, as an entertaining, well-written very well-writ- 
 ten account of savage life, on a most extensive scale. Ellice, 
 who has just come from America, says Mr. Astor is worth 
 5,000,000 sterling ; but Baring does not believe it, or is jealous 
 perhaps." Rev. Sydney Smith to Sir George Philips, Combe Foley, 
 Dec. 22, 1836: Smith's Letters and Corresp., 1855, vol. ii. 
 
 " The narrative, though told with the grace of the writer, is 
 necessarily dry." Blackw. Mag., xli. 169, Feb. 1837, q. v. 
 
 We must not omit to quote the following well-merited tribute 
 to a gentleman who, by his extensive circulation of sound litera- 
 ture for many years both in Europe and America, has honestly 
 earned the title of a benefactor to the public mind. We refer to 
 Mr. Irving's friend and publisher, Mr. George P. Putnam, of 
 New York : 
 
 " We notice Astoria and the Tour on the Prairies now, only 
 on account of their connection with our subject, and to commend 
 the taste and enterprise of the publisher who has given to the 
 reading world what has long been wanted, a neat and uniform 
 edition of all the writings of Mr. Irving, at a price which ought 
 to obtain for them a wide circulation. These two works, which 
 have all the pleasing characteristics of the author's style, appear 
 very seasonably in a new edition." PROF. FRANCIS BOWEN : Ad- 
 
SKETCH OF IBVING'S WORKS. 55 
 
 ventures on the Prairies, in N. Amer. Rev., Ixix. 175-196, July, 
 1849. 
 
 We have not the slightest interest in the gains or losses of 
 Mr. Putnam's copy-rights, but we have much in the moral and 
 intellectual cultivation of the mind and heart of our countrymen 
 and countrywomen, and therefore, as Lord Chesterfield said of 
 the witty scintillations of the Dean of St. Patrick's, " He that 
 hath any books in the three kingdoms hath those of Swift," so 
 say we, He that hath any books in this great republic, should 
 have those of Irving. As for those who have no books, if any 
 such there be, in that household you may look for ennui, mental 
 and physical languor, gossiping, dissipation, and " every evil 
 work." As Sancho Panza conferred his hearty benediction upon 
 the philanthropic inventor of sleep, so do we cordially revere the 
 character of the literary Howard who founded the first family 
 library. Of Sancho's favorite recreation he could only say, in 
 the height of his somniferous paean, that it " covered a man like 
 a mantle ; " but of good books we can testify that they nurture 
 the soul with the food of angels. 
 
 But " to proceed with our subject," as the divines say, which 
 has "naturally divided itself" into a hydra-headed discourse: 
 other reviews of Astoria will be found in the Westminster Eev., 
 xxvi. 318 ; Amer. Quar. Kev., xxi. 60 ; South. Lit. Mess., iii. 
 59. See also Franchere's Narrative of a Voyage to the North- 
 west Coast of America, in 18 11-' 14, translated into English by 
 J. V. Huntingdon, N. York, 1854, 12mo. This work contains 
 comments upon some of the statements in Irving's Astoria. 
 
 12. THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE, Lon. and 
 Phila., 1837, 2 vols. 12mo. 
 
56 SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 
 
 " Washington Irving, after gleaning the romance of Europe, 
 is now indefatigably laboring at the romance of America." 
 Blackw. Mag., xlii. 64-67, July, 1837. 
 
 " These volumes are full of exciting incident, and, by reason 
 of Mr. Irving's fine taste and attractive style, they possess the 
 power and the charms of romance." CHANCELLOR KENT. 
 
 13. OLIVER GOLDSMITH : A BIOGRAPHY, N. York, 1849, 12mo. 
 This work we have already noticed in our Lives of JOHN FORSTER 
 and OLIVER GOLDSMITH, in this Dictionary. See also Lon. 
 Athen., 1849, 1151, 1152. 
 
 14. MAHOMET AND HIS SUCCESSORS, 1850, 2 vols. 12mo. See 
 N. Amer. Rev., Ixxi. 273 ; N. York Church Rev., iii. 401 ; South. 
 Quar. Rev., xx. 173. 
 
 15. WOLFERT'S ROOST, 1855, 12mo. The publication of this 
 volume elicited so many complimentary notices, that the New York 
 publishers, Messrs. George P. Putnam <fe Co., issued a collection 
 of them in pamphlet form of 24 pages. This little brochure 
 should accompany every set of Irving's works. We give an ex- 
 tract from a notice which has escaped the vigilance of the pub- 
 lisher : 
 
 " We envy those who will now read these tales and sketches 
 of character for the first time. Washington Irving is here, as he 
 always is, equal to himself. He has the finish of our best writers ; 
 he has the equality and gentle humor of Addison and Gold- 
 smith." Westminster Rev., April, 1855. 
 
 Another complimentary notice, also not in the pamphlet just 
 referred to, appeared in the London New Monthly Magazine, and 
 was copied into the Boston Living Age for Aug. 11, 1855. 
 From a review of Wolfert's Roost, in the London Athenaeum, 
 
SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 57 
 
 1855, 192, 193, we have already given an extract in our article 
 on Ralph Waldo Emerson, to which the reader is referred. 
 
 16. THE LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1ST. York, vol. i. 1855 ; 
 vols. ii., iii. 1856 ; iv. 1857 ; v. 1859. 
 
 The limited space to which we are necessarily confined pre- 
 cludes the quotation of testimonies to the value of Mr. Irving's 
 last and greatest production. The learned and long-continued 
 researches of the most accurate of our State-Paper investigators 
 (we need instance only Bancroft the historian and Everett the 
 orator) attest the fidelity, the enthusiastic commendation of the 
 lovers of pure and graceful English confess the charm of this 
 instructive and delightful narrative. In the mean time, there can 
 be no impropriety in our remarking, that the biographer well 
 merited the gratitude of his countrymen for transporting the illus- 
 trious commander from the learned austerity of the Senate-Cham- 
 ber, and the chilling dignity of Congressional Libraries, to the 
 domestic familiarity of the parlor and winter-evening fireside of 
 the cottage. Reviews of the early volumes of the Life of Wash- 
 ington will be found, of vol. i., in Westminster Rev., Oct. 1855 ; 
 vol. iii., Ibid., Oct. 1856 ; vols. i., ii., iii., Lon. Athenaeum, Aug. 
 16, 1856 ; i., ii., iii., N. Amer. Rev., July, 1856 ; iv., Athen., Aug. 
 15, 1857 ; v., N. Amer. Rev., 1858. 
 
 As every thing concerning Washington Irving may be pre- 
 sumed to be interesting to the reader, we quote the following 
 genealogical scrap from Dennistoun's Memoirs of Sir Robert 
 Strange : 
 
 " John of Irwyn had landed possessions in the parish of 
 3* 
 
58 SKETCH OF IKVING'S WOEKS. 
 
 Holm, in Orkney, in 1438, when the county was still an appa- 
 nage of the crown of Denmark and Norway. The Irvines of Se- 
 bay are very frequently mentioned in the times of Robert and 
 Patrick Stewart, Earls of Orkney, and suffered very severely 
 from the outrages of these rapacious nobles. They became ex 
 tinct in the direct male line tempore Charles I. ; but one collateral 
 branch had immediately before settled in the island of Sanday, 
 and another, the Irvines of Gairstay, in the island of Shapinshay. 
 They lost the estate of Gairstay several generations back, and 
 sank down into the condition of mere peasants, tenants of 
 Quhome, where some of them reside at this day. I was there 
 lately with Mr. Balfour, the proprietor of Shapinshay, who pointed 
 out the old and modest house at Quhome where was born William 
 Irvine, father of Washington Irving. Is it not somewhat singu- 
 lar that Sir Robert Strange and the author of Bracebridge Hall 
 can be almost demonstrated of the same blood 1 I guess if Irving 
 knew his pedigree could be traced step by step up to John Erwyn 
 of 1438, he would readily claim and vindicate his Orcadian de- 
 scent." 
 
 In addition to the authorities quoted in the course of this 
 article, see also Homes of American Authors ; Griswold's Prose 
 Writers of America ; Duyckinck's Cyc. of Amer. Lit. ; Sketch 
 of Irving, by H. T. Tuckerman ; Miss Bremer's Impressions of 
 America ; Madden's Life of the Countess of Blessington ; H. B. 
 Wallace's Literary Criticisms ; Edin. Rev., Ixi. 23 ; Blackw. 
 Mag., xiv. 564 ; Eraser's Mag., iv. 435, xii. 409 ; South. Quar. 
 Rev., viii. 69 ; South. Lit. Mess., viii. 275 ; Amer. Whig Rev., 
 xii. 602, (by J. B. Cobb ;) Democratic Rev., ix. 573 ; Ibid., xxi. 
 488, (by P. H. Mayer;) United States Lit. Gaz., i. 177 ; N. York 
 Eclec. Mag., xv. 412; Bost. Chris. Rev., xv. 203 ; Bost. Liv. 
 Age, xliv. 723, (from Lon. Spectator.) We have already referred 
 to Lord Byron's enthusiastic attachment to the writings and 
 
SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 59 
 
 character of Irving, (Life of Lord Byron in this Dictionary.) In 
 a letter to Tom Moore, (Eavenna, July 5, 1821,) he remarks : 
 
 " I have had a friend of your Mr. Irving' s, . . . and talked 
 with him much of Irving, whose writings are my delight." 
 
 Again, under date of Sept. 24, 1821, he proposes to Murray, 
 as one of the articles of their future correspondence, that he 
 should not send him " any modern, or (as they are called) new, 
 publications, in English, whatsoever, save and excepting any of 
 Walter Scott, Crabbe, . . . Irving, (the American,)" &c. 
 
 " The names of Cooper, Channing, and Washington Irving," 
 remarks the historian of Modern Europe, "amply demonstrate 
 that the American soil is not wanting in genius of the most ele- 
 vated and fascinating character." SIR ARCHIBALD ALISON : Hist, 
 of Europe, 1789-1815, chap. Ixxvi. 
 
 Mr. Stewart, of the American Navy, a friend of the present 
 Emperor of France, tells us that, when in New York, Louis Na- 
 poleon declined to " appear in society," but adds : 
 
 " ' There are, however,' remarked the prince, * individuals 
 resident in New York whose acquaintance I should be happy to 
 make. Mr. Washington Irving is one. I have read his works, 
 and admire him both as a writer and a man, and would take 
 great pleasure in meeting him. Chancellor Kent is another. I 
 have studied his Commentaries, think highly of them, and regard 
 him as the first of your jurists. I would be happy to know him 
 personally."' 
 
 " He did make the acquaintance both of Mr. Irving and the 
 Chancellor," continues Mr. Stewart, " and enjoyed the hospitality 
 of the one at Sunnyside, and of the other at his residence in 
 town." Letter of Rev. C. S. Stewart, N. York, April 4, 1856, 
 to the National Intelligencer. 
 
 How many can echo this remark of Napoleon! "I admire 
 
60 SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 
 
 him both as a writer and as a man." It is indeed true, to bor- 
 row the words of an eminent American poet, 
 
 " Amiableness is so strongly marked in all Mr. Irving's writ- 
 ings, as never to let you forget the man ; and the pleasure is 
 doubled in the same manner as it is in lively conversation with 
 one for whom you have a deep attachment and esteem. There is 
 in it also the gayety and airiness of a light, pure spirit, a fanci- 
 ful playing with common things, and here and there beautiful 
 touches, till the ludicrous becomes half-picturesque." EICHARD 
 H. DANA, SB. : N. Amer. Rev., ix. 336, Sept. 1819. 
 
 If Mr. Dana were called upon to reaffirm the above, after 
 forty years, and over the large pile of volumes which Mr. Irving 
 has since given to the world, we are satisfied that he would do it 
 without a moment's hesitation. 
 
 Many years ago, Edward Everett advised the young aspirant 
 after literary distinction, 
 
 "If he wishes to study a style which possesses the character- 
 istic beauties of Addison's, its ease, simplicity, and elegance, 
 with greater accuracy, point, and spirit, let him give his days and 
 nights to the volumes of Irving." N. Amer. Rev., xli. 4, July, 
 1835. 
 
 Young men have followed this advice most sedulously ; and, 
 indeed, a number of years before this counsel was penned, Mr. 
 Irving's example had produced wonders : 
 
 " The great effect which it has produced is sufficiently evident 
 already, in the number of good writers, in various forms of ele- 
 gant literature, who have sprung up among us within the few 
 years which have elapsed since the appearance of Mr. Irving, and 
 who justify our preceding remark, that he may fairly be consid- 
 ered as the founder of a school." ALEXANDER H. EVERETT : N 
 Amer. Rev., xxviii. 11, Jan. 1829. 
 
SKETCH OP IRVING'S WORKS. 61 
 
 " Heretofore the essays of Washington Irving have offered a 
 solitary specimen of the lighter literature of America, but we can 
 now only regard Geoffrey Crayon as the founder of a class of 
 writers, who follow closely in his footsteps." Court Journal : No- 
 tice of Stories of American Life, edited ly Mary Russell Mitford. 
 
 These remarks apply to both sides of the water. If an Eng- 
 lish reviewer desires to pay an especially handsome compliment 
 to an author, presuming that the case admits of a likeness 
 being instituted at all, he is very likely to be strongly reminded 
 of the style of the author of The Sketch-Book. Let us cite some 
 instances. The author of the article on George Colman and 
 Bonnel Thornton's Connoisseur, in Chambers's Cyclopaedia of 
 English Literature, quotes a passage from an essay on Country 
 Churches, " which," says the critic, " seems like a leaf from the 
 note-book of Washington Irving." The reviewer in the London 
 New Times remarks, of the author of Tales of a Voyager, that 
 his " humor is of the spirit and quality of Washington Irving." 
 The London Gentleman's Magazine says that in the perusal of 
 The Journal of an Exile " we have frequently been reminded of 
 the style and manner of The Sketch-Book, the same pathos, the 
 same originality of thought, the same felicity of expression." 
 The London Monthly Keview is so delighted with The Lucubra- 
 tions of Major Humphrey Kavelin, that it declares that " many 
 of the practised writers must fall into the rear, in competition 
 with Major Kavelin, who must stand muster with Geoffrey Cray- 
 on." The London Spectator, in a notice of the Autobiography 
 of Hugh Miller, remarks that " his style has a purity and ele- 
 gance which reminds one of Irving and Goldsmith." One of the 
 most distinguished of American authors is not disposed to think 
 that any of Irving's imitators have equalled their master; at 
 
62 SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 
 
 least, this was his opinion at the time he penned the article from 
 which we are about to quote : 
 
 " The candor with which the English have recognized Mr. 
 Irving's literary merits is equally honorable to both parties, while 
 his genius has experienced a still more unequivocal homage, in 
 the countless imitations to which he has given rise ; imitations 
 whose uniform failure, notwithstanding all the appliances of ac- 
 complishment and talent, proves their model to be inimitable." 
 WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT : N. Amer. Rev., xxxv. 191-192, July, 
 1832. 
 
 It is only proper to remark that Mr. Prescott has no refer- 
 ence, so far as we are aware, to either of the comparisons cited 
 above. They were collected by ourselves, in the course of desul- 
 tory reading. Washington Irving, indeed, can never be con- 
 founded with the host of his imitators, abroad or at home. His 
 literary reputation rests upon sure foundations, broad, deep, 
 well settled, and immutable. As regards his own country, 
 
 " Other writers may no doubt arise in the course of time, who 
 will exhibit in verse or prose a more commanding talent, and 
 soar a still loftier flight in the empyrean sky of glory. Some 
 western Homer, Shakspeare, Milton, Corneille, or Calderon, may 
 irradiate our literary world with a flood of splendor that shall 
 throw all other greatness into the shade. This, or something 
 like it, may or may not happen ; but, even if it should, it can 
 never be disputed that the mild and beautiful genius of Mr. 
 Irving was the Morning Star that led up the march of our heav- 
 enly host ; and that he has a fair right, much fairer certainly 
 than the great Mantuan, to assume the proud device, Primus ego 
 in Patriam" ALEXANDER H. EVERETT : N. Amer. Rev., xxviii. 
 110, Jan. 1829. 
 
 As respects Mr. Irving's fame abroad, it is certainly true, as 
 
SKETCH OF IRVING'S WORKS. 63 
 
 Mr. Prescott remarks, that his merits have been from the first, 
 we will add warmly acknowledged by British critics, and cor- 
 dially appreciated by British readers. The circulation of his de- 
 lightful volumes is by no means confined to the literary circles of 
 the critics : 
 
 " To my poor cottage, rich only in printed paper," remarks 
 an accomplished lady, " people all come to borrow books for 
 themselves or for their children. Sometimes they make their own 
 selections; sometimes, much against my will, they leave the 
 choice to me ; and in either case I know no books that are oftener 
 lent than those that bear the pseudonym of Geoffrey Crayon. 
 Few, very few, can show a long succession of volumes so pure, so 
 graceful, and so varied as Mr. Irving." Mary Russell Mitforffs 
 Recollections of a Literary Life. 
 
 Such a tribute as this must be peculiarly grateful to Mr. 
 Irving. "It is excellent," says Isabella to the haughty duke, 
 " to have a giant's strength ; " but there is a rarer and more 
 precious gift* To have the power, by the magic of the inspira- 
 tion of genius, to elevate the mind, and to improve the heart, 
 to cause the rich to forget their covetousness and the poor their 
 poverty, to while away the tedious hours of declining age, of 
 bodily pain, or mental disquietude, this is indeed a gift more 
 excellent than the giant's strength, the victor's laurel, or the 
 conqueror's crown ; and this honor has WASHINGTON IRVING, the 
 author of THE SKETCH-BOOK, and THE ALHAMBRA, the biogra- 
 pher of COLUMBUS and of WASHINGTON. 
 
RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 
 
 202 Main Library 
 
 LOAN PERIOD 1 
 HOME USE 
 
 2 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 6 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 
 1-mcwf* !ens may be r*fmw* tv calin 642-3405 
 t*mr ioins may be iechare* by bringing the books to the Circulation Desk 
 tenewals an* recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date 
 
 *U? DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 *j$j^x 
 
 
 
 SETB AW1 
 
 S84 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 , "^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY 
 FORM NO. DD6, 60m, 1/83 BERKELEY, CA 94720 
 
 @) S 
 
 r , P*- 
 
 Gneral Library . 
 LD 2lA-50m-8,'61 University of Calitorma 
 (C1795slO)476B Berkeley j 
 
U.C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 FY15TIM-H- 
 
 Ifc. 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY