CONTENTS. I. MEMORANDA OF THE LITERARY CAREER OF WASHINGTON IRVING. Original Letter from Mr. Irving concerning his Birth-place-Reminiscences of Allston- Knickerbocker and its Reception-Life of Campbell-Passages from Moore's Diary -John Neal's Blackwood Criticism-"Columbus" and the Spanish Books-Mr. Brevoort's Notes-Preface to Mr. Bryant's Poems-Letter to "The Plaindealer"— Speech at the Irving Dinner-History of "Astoria"-Life of Washington-Copy- rights-Artist Friends-A Traveller's Visit to the Alhambra-Characteristics. II. THE FUNERAL OF WASHINGTON IRVING. BY W. FRANCIS WILLIAMS.... 22 IV. RESOLUTIONS OF THE ATHENÆUM CLUB... SPEECH OF THE REV. DR. OSGOOD. 28 VII. SUNNYSIDE. A POEM. BY HENRY THEODORE TUCKERMAN. 40 X. MR. IRVING'S RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. BY THE REV. DR. CREIGHTON..... 42 43 44 .... CONTENTS. XIV. GOLDSMITH AND IRVING. BY GEORGE WASHINGTON GREENE... XV. IRVING DESCRIBED IN VERSE. BY JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.. XVI. VISITS TO SUNNYSIDE. BY N. P. WILLIS... Sunnyside in the Summer of 1857-A Drive through Sleepy Hollow-A Later Visit, in 1859-A Memorandum or Two made after attending Mr. Irving's Funeral. XX. WASHINGTON IRVING. BY GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.... XXI. WASHINGTON IRVING. BY FREDERICK S. COZZENS... XXII. TABLE-TALK. BY JAMES GRANT WILSON ..... ... 58 ILLUSTRATIONS. I. ORIGINAL PORTRAIT SKETCH OF WASHINGTON IRVING AT SUNNYSIDE, IN II. FAC SIMILE PAGE OF THE MANUSCRIPT OF THE SKETCH BOOK. A LEAF ERRATA.-P. xiii, in lines at bottom dele "And;" for "foeman," read "soldier;" for "heard," read "told." IRVINGIANA: A MEMORIAL OF WASHINGTON IRVING. MEMORANDA OF THE LITERARY CAREER OF WASHINGTON IRVING.* BY EVERT A. DUYOKINOK. WASHINGTON IRVING was born April 3, 1783, in the city of New York. As there has been some little discussion as to the particular spot of his birth, it may not be amiss, writing for an historical magazine, to produce the following decisive testimony on the subject. In a letter, the original of which is before us, to Mr. Henry Panton, dated Sunnyside, Feb. 15, 1850, Mr. Irving states precisely the place of his birth. "The house in which I was born was No. 131 William-street, about half-way between John and Fulton streets. Within a very few weeks after my birth the family moved into a house nearly opposite, which my father had recently purchased; it was No. 128, and has recently been pulled down and a large edifice built on its site. It had been occupied by a British commissary during the war; the broad arrow was on the street door, and the garden was full of choice fruit-trees, apricots, greengages, nectarines, &c. It is the first home of which I have any recollection, and there I passed my infancy and boyhood.” Mr. Irving was the youngest son of a merchant of the city, William Irving, a native of Scotland, of an ancient knightly stock, who had married Sarah Sanders, an English lady, and been settled in his new country some twenty years. A newspaper correspondent a few years since narrated an anecdote of this early period, of a pleasing character, which, unlike many things of the kind, has, we believe, the merit of truth in its favor. The story, as related, is given from the lips of Mr. Irving at a breakfast-table in Washington City. "Mr. Irving said that he remembered General Washington perfectly. There was some celebration, some public affair going on in New York, and the General was there to participate in the ceremony. My nurse,' said Mr. Irving, ‘a good old Scotchwoman, was very A portion of this paper is made up from a previous sketch, published in "The Cyclopedia of American Literature." | anxious for me to see him, and held me up in her arms as he rode past. This, however, did not satisfy her; so the next day, when walking with me in Broadway, she espied him in a shop, she seized my hand and darting in, exclaimed in her bland Scotch :-"Please, your Excellency, here's a bairn that's called after ye!" General Washington then turned his benevolent face full upon me, smiled, laid his hand upon my head, and gave me his blessing, which,' added Mr. Irving earnestly, 'I have reason to believe, has attended me through life. I was but five years old, yet I can feel that hand upon my head even now.'"* The early direction of the mind of the boy upon whose infant head the hand of Washington had thus been laid, was much influenced by the tastes of his brothers who had occupied themselves with literature. Of these, William, who subsequently became united with him in the joint authorship of Salmagundi, was seventeen years his elder, while Peter, the editor of a later day, was also considerably his senior. With the guidance of these cultivated minds and sound family influences, the youth had the good fortune to fall in with a stock of the best old English authors of the Elizabethan as well as of the Augustan period, the study of which generously unfolded his happy natural disposition. Chaucer and Spenser were his early favorites; and a better training cannot be imagined for a youth of genius. His school education was the best the times afforded. Though something may be said of the defects of the city academies of those days in comparison with the present, we are forced to remember that however prodigally the opportunities of learning may be increased, the receptive faculties of a boy are limited. There may be more cramming in these times at the feast of the sciences; but we question whether the digestion is very materially improved. Few men, at any rate, have ever shown themselves better trained in the pursuit of literature than Washington Irving. The education which bore such early and mature fruit must have been of the right kind. This anecdote appeared in the Buffalo Courier, in the winter of 1853. EARLY VISIT TO EUROPE.-INTIMACY WITH ALLSTON. His first literary productions known to the public, bear date at the early age of nineteen. They were a series of essays on the theatrical performances and manners of the town, and kindred topics, with the signature, "Jonathan Oldstyle," and were written for a newspaper, the Morning Chronicle, just then commenced, in 1802, by his brother, Dr. Peter Irving. A surreptitious edition of these papers was published twenty years later, when the Sketch-Book had made the author famous; but they have not | been included in his collected works. We have read them with pleasure. They present a quaint picture of the life of New York half a century ago, and are noticeable for the early formation of the writer's happy style. 66 reside among these delightful scenes, surrounded by masterpieces of art, by classic and historic monuments, by men of congenial minds and tastes, engaged like him in the constant study of the sublime and beautiful. I was to return home to the dry study of the law, for which I had no relish, and, as I feared, but little talent. Suddenly the thought presented itself, 'Why might I not remain here, and turn painter?' I had taken lessons in drawing before leaving America, and had been thought to have some aptness, as I certainly had a strong inclination for it. I mentioned the idea to Allston, and he caught at it with eagerness. Nothing could be more feasible. We would take an apartment together. He would give me all the instruction and assistance in his power, and was sure I would succeed. A year or two after this time, in 1804, Mr. Irving, induced by some symptoms of ill-health, apparently of a pulmonary nature, visited the "For two or three days the idea took full posSouth of Europe. Embarking at New York for session of my mind; but I believe it owed its Bordeaux in May, he travelled, on his arrival in main force to the lovely evening ramble in which France, by Nice to Genoa, where he passed two I first conceived it, and to the romantic friendmonths; thence to Messina, in Sicily, making a ship I had formed with Allston. Whenever it tour of that island, and crossing from Palermo recurred to mind, it was always connected with to Naples. He continued his journey through beautiful Italian scenery, palaces, and statues, Italy and Switzerland to France; resided several and fountains, and terraced gardens, and Allston months in Paris, and finally reached England as the companion of my studio. I promised mythrough Flanders and Holland, having accumu- self a world of enjoyment in his society, and in lated, by the way, an abiding stock of impres- the society of several artists with whom he had sions, which lingered in his mind, and furnished made me acquainted, and pictured forth a scheme ever fresh material for his subsequent writings. of life, all tinted with the rainbow hues of youthIt was while at Rome, on this journey, that he ful promise. became acquainted with Washington Allston, and so far participated in his studies as to meditate for a time the profession of a painter, a pursuit for which he had naturally a taste, and in which he had been somewhat instructed. His own reminiscence of this period, in his happy tribute to the memory of Allston,* is a delightful picture, softly touched in an Italian atmosphere. "My lot in life, however, was differently cast. Doubts and fears gradually clouded over my prospects; the rainbow tints faded away; I began to apprehend a sterile reality, so I gave up the transient but delightful prospect of remaining in Rome with Allston, and turning painter." After an absence of two years, Mr. Irving returned to New York, in March, 1806. He resumed the study of the law, which he had abandoned for his journey, and was admitted at the close of the year attorney-at-law. He, however, never practised the profession. "We had delightful rambles together," he writes, "about Rome and its environs, one of which came near changing my whole course of life. We had been visiting a stately villa, with its Salmagundi; or, the Whim- Whams and gallery of paintings, its marble halls, its terraced Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, Esq., and gardens set out with statues and fountains, and others—an undertaking much more to his taste were returning to Rome about sunset. The -was at that time projected, and the publication blandness of the air, the serenity of the sky, the was commenced in a series of small eighteenmo transparent purity of the atmosphere, and that numbers, appearing about once a fortnight from nameless charm which hangs about an Italian the Shakspeare Gallery of Longworth. The first landscape, had derived additional effect from be- is dated January 24, 1807. It was continued ing enjoyed in company with Allston, and point- for a year through twenty numbers. Paulding ed out by him with the enthusiasm of an artist. wrote a good portion of this work, William As I listened to him, and gazed upon the land- Irving the poetry, and Washington Irving the scape, I drew in my mind a contrast between remainder. The humors of the day are hit off, in our different pursuits and prospects. He was to this genial collection of essays, in so agreeable a *Kindly contributed to "The Cyclopedia of American Lit-style, that the work is still read with interestwhat was piquant gossip then being amusing erature." THE RECEPTION OF KNICKERBOCKER. 66 history now. It was the intention of Mr. Irving To the last revised edition of this work, in to have extended these papers by carrying out 1850, which contains some very pleasant adthe invention, and marrying Will Wizard to the ditions, the author prefixed an Apology," eldest Miss Cockloft-with, of course, a grand which, however, offered little satisfaction to the wedding at Cockloft Hall, the original of which irate families who had considered their honor mansion was a veritable edifice owned by Gou-aggrieved by the publication of this extravagant verneur Kemble, on the Passaic, a favorite resort burlesque-seeing that the incorrigible author inof Geoffrey Crayon in his youthful days. Among other originals of these sketches we have heard it mentioned that some of the peculiarities of Dennie, the author, were hit off in the character of Launcelot Langstaff. The well-defined picture of "My Uncle John" is understood to have been from the pen of Paulding; his, too, was the original sketch of the paper entitled "Autumnal Reflections," though extended and wrought up by Mr. Irving. sisted upon it that he had brought the old Dutch manners and times into notice, instancing the innumerable Knickerbocker hotels, steamboats, icecarts, and other appropriations of the name; and had added not only to the general hilarity but to the harmony of the city, by the popular traditions which he had set in vogue “forming a convivial currency; linking our whole community together in good humor and good fellowship; the rallying points of home feeling; the Knickerbocker's History of New York was pub-seasoning of civic festivities; the staple of local lished in December, 1809. It was commenced tales and local pleasantries."* We should atby Washington Irving, in company with his tach little importance to the subject had it not brother, Peter Irving, with the notion of paro- been made a matter of comment in the New York dying a handbook, which had just appeared, en- Historical Society, in an address before which titled "A Picture of New York." In emulation body it was gravely held up to reprehension. of an historical account in that production, it The truth of the matter is that the historians was to burlesque the local records, and describe should have occupied the ground earlier, if posin an amusing way the habits and statistics of sible, and not have given the first advantage to the town. Dr. Irving departing for Europe, left the humorist. We do not find, however, that the work solely with his brother, who confined the burlesque has at all damaged the subject in it to the historical part, which had grown in his the hands of Mr. Brodhead, who has at length hands into a long comic history. The humorous brought to bear a system of original investigacapabilities of the subject were turned to account tion and historical inquiry upon the worthy in the happiest way, the fun being broad enough Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam; or deterioto steer clear of the realities; though a venera- rated a whit the learned labors of O'Callaghan, ble clergyman, who was on the lookout for a who has illustrated the early Dutch annals history with that theme from a clerical brother, with faithful diligence. The style of Knickeris said to have begun the work in good faith, and bocker is of great felicity. There is just enough to have been only gradually warmed to a con- flavor of English classical reading to give the sciousness of the joke. The highest honor ever riant, original material, the highest gusto. The paid to the authentic history of Knickerbocker descriptions of nature and manners are occasionwas the quotation from it—in good Latin phrase ally very happy in a serious way, and the satire -by Goeller, German annotator of Thucydides, is, much of it, of that universal character which in illustration of a passage of the Greek author will bear transplantation to wider scenes and "Addo locum Washingtonis Irvingii Hist. Novi interests. The laughter-compelling humor is irEboraci," lib. vii., cap. 5. To humor the pleas-resistible, and we may readily believe the story antry, preliminary advertisements had been inserted before the publication in the Evening Post, calling for information of “a small elderly gentleman, dressed in an old black coat and cocked Has the reader ever noticed the beautiful, hat, by the name of Knickerbocker," etc., who pathetic close of this humorous book? had left his lodgings at the Columbian Hotel in ready," writes Diedrich Knickerbocker, "has Mulberry street; then a statement that the old withering age showered his sterile snows upon my gentleman had left "a very curious kind of a brow; in a little while, and this genial warmth, written book in his room," followed by the an- which still lingers around my heart, and throbs nouncement of the actual book, "in two volumes-worthy reader-throbs kindly towards thyself, duodecimo, price three dollars," from the pub- will be chilled forever. Haply this frail comlishers, Inskeep & Bradford-to pay the bill of pound of dust, which while alive may have given his landlord. * Classical Museum, Oct., 1849. of that arch wag himself, Judge Brackenridge, exploding over a copy of the work, which he had smuggled with him to the bench. "Al *The author's "Apology," preface to edition of Knickerbocker, 1848. |