JOHN NEAL'S BLACKWOOD CRITICISM. in Yorkshire. The characters of Master Simon, Jack Tibbetts, and General Harbottle do credit to the school of Goldsmith and Addison. The Stout Gentleman, the Village Choir, the delicate story of Annette Delarbre display the best powers of the author; while the episodes of the Dutch tales of Dolph Heyliger and the Storm Ship, among the happiest passages of his genius, relieve the monotony of the English description. The winter of 1822 was passed by Mr. Irving at Dresden. He returned to Paris in 1823, and in the December of the following year published his Tales of a Traveller, with the stories of the Nervous Gentleman, including that fine piece of animal spirits and picturesque description, the Bold Dragoon, the series of pictures of literary life in Buckthorne and his Friends-in which there is some of his most felicitous writing, blending humor, sentiment, and a kindly indulgence for the frailties of life, the romantic Italian Stories, and, as in the preceding work, a sequel of New World legends of Dutchmen and their companions, built up by the writer's invention in the expansion of the fertile theine of Captain Kidd, the well-known piratical and money-concealing adventurer. For this work Moore tells us that Murray gave Mr. Irving fifteen hundred pounds, and "he might have had two thousand."* These books were still published in the old form in numbers in New York, simultaneously with their English appearance. mentioned; in which case-odds bobs!-they are all able to recall something remarkable in his way of sitting, eating, or looking—though, like Oliver Goldsmith himself, he had never opened his mouth, while they were near; or sat, in a high chair-as far into it as he could get-with his toes just reaching the floor." Neal was the first, we believe, to point out the occasional high poetical qualities in Irving's style. He stickled for a passage in the "Life of Perry," in the Analectic Magazine, picturing the "apparition" of the sea-fight to the natives on Lake Erie: "The bosoms of peaceful lakes which, but a short time since, were scarcely navigated by man, except to be skimmed by the light canoe of the savage, have all at once been ploughed by hostile ships. The vast silence that had reigned for ages on those mighty waters, was broken by the thunder of artillery, and the affrighted savage stared with amazement from his covert, at the sudden apparition of a seafight amid the solitudes of the wilderness."* Again, after some fine compliments to The Sketch Book, we are told "The touches of poetry are everywhere; but never where one would look for them.** The dusty splendor of Westminster Abbey-the 'ship staggering' over the precipices of the ocean-the shark 'darting, like a spectre, through the blue waters,'—all these things are poetry. We could mention fifty more passages, epithets, words of power, which no mere prose writer would have dared, under any circumstances, to use. They are like the invincible locks' of Milton-revealing the god, in spite of every disguise. *** When we come upon the epithets of Geoffrey, we feel as if we had found accidentally, after we had given up all hope, some part or parcel which had always been missing (as everybody could see, though nobody knew where to look for it), of the very thoughts or words with which he has now coupled it forever. Let us give an illustration. It was about this time that John Neal, in a series of lively and egotistical papers in Blackwood, on "American Writers," published rather a detailed account of Irving and his writings. In the course of it we meet with this personal description of Geoffrey Crayon. It is freely sketched, but has the rough likeness of a good caricature:- He is, now, in his fortieth year; about five feet seven; agreeable countenance; black hair; manly complexion; fine hazel eyes, when lighted up, heavy in general; talks better than he writes, when worthily excited; but falls asleep-literally asleep in his chair-at a formal dinner-party, in high life; half the time in a revery; little impediment—a sort of uneasy, anxious, catching respiration of the voice, when talking zealously; writes a small, neat hand, like Montgomery, Allan Cunningham, or Shee (it is like that of each); indolent; nervous; ir--the fewer the better-to describe the appearritable; easily depressed; easily disheartened; very amiable; no appearance of especial refinement; nothing remarkable, nothing uncommon about him;-precisely such a man, to say all in a word, as people would continually overlook, pass by without notice, or forget, after dining with him, unless, peradventure, his name were * Diary, June 17, 1824. "Who has not felt, as he stood in the solemn, strange light of a great wilderness; of some old, awful ruin-a world of shafts and arches about him, like a druidical wood-illuminated by the sunset-a visible, bright atmosphere, coming through colored glass-who has not felt as if he would give his right hand for a few simple words ance of the air about him? Would he call it splendor?-it isn't splendor: dusty?—it would be ridiculous. But what if he say, like Irving, dusty splendor?-will he not have said all that can be said? Who ever saw those two words associated before? who would ever wish to see them separated again ?” * Analectic Magazine, Dec., 1813. COLUMBUS AND THE SPANISH BOOKS. ter than the poet Collins) "fairies, genii, giants, and monsters; he delighted to rove through the meanders of enchantment, to gaze on the magnificence of golden palaces, to repose by the waterfalls of elysian gardens.' The following anecdotes of the preparation of the Columbus, and of these Spanish studies, have been communicated to us by Mr. J. Carson Brevoort, the son of Mr. Irving's old friend, who had served him with Scott, and in the publication of the Sketch Book. Mr. Brevoort, the younger, subsequently accompanied him to Madrid as sec "Lieut. A. Slidell McKenzie (author of a Year in Spain and Spain Revisited) was in Madrid about the time when the MS. of Mr. Irving's Columbus was nearly completed, and, confiding in his taste, Mr. Irving begged him to read it with a critic's eye. Mr. McKenzie, or rather Slidell, as he was then called, did so, and returned it, remarking that it was quite perfect which he thought of unequal excellence. Mr. Irving was impressed by the remark, and rewrote the whole narrative in order to make it uniform in style throughout. Mr. Irving afterwards thought that its style was not improved by the labor thus bestowed on it. The winter of 1825 was passed by Mr. Irving in the South of France;* and early in the following year he went to Madrid, at the suggestion of Alexander H. Everett, then minister to Spain, for the purpose of translating the important series of new documents relating to the voyage of Columbus, just collected by Navarrete. For a translation was substituted the History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, to which the Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus were afterwards added. The Columbus was published in 1828; and the English edition brought its author, with an ex-retary in his Spanish mission: pansion of his fame, a substantial return in three thousand guineas. It also gained him a high honor in the receipt of one of the fifty-guinea gold medals, provided by George IV. for eminence in historical writing, its companion being assigned to Hallam. A tour to the South of Spain in this and the following year provided the materials for A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, and The Alhambra, or the New Sketch-in his judgment, with the exception of the style, Book. The latter is dedicated, May, 1832, to Wilkie, the artist, who was a companion with the author in some of his excursions. Mr. Irving spent three months in the old Moorish palace. He some time after, in America, published his Legends of the Conquest of Spain (in 1835); which, with his Mahomet and his Successors (1849-50), complete a series of Spanish and Moorish subjects, marked by the same genial and poetic treatinent; the fancy of the writer evidently luxuriating in the personal freedom of movement of his heroes, their humor of individual character, and the warm oriental coloring of the whole. If the author had any preferences for his writings, they were for these fascinating themes. He abandoned himself to the mystical charm of the East-that fertile pleasure-ground of the imagination, about which still hangs something of the childhood of the world; a land of idle ease and magical incantations, where new generations are constantly entertained with the unexhausted fable. "He loved" (perhaps bet . * An idle story of Irving in Italy appears at this time to have been circulated among the literary triflers in London. It found its way into Blackwood's Magazine for August, 1826, in the following paragraph: "While engaged on his Columbus he had such frequent occasion to examine into the period of history covering the war with Granada, that his interest in the chivalric deeds of the Spanish and Moorish knights often tempted him away from his work in hand, to peruse the narratives of those sturdy warriors' deeds. He at last threw Columbus aside for a few weeks, and took up the materials which had so interested him, preparing the heads of chapters and making notes of the sources from which he might glean additional facts. After the Columbus was finished, he took them up, and in a very short time completed his Conquest of Granada, which many consider a masterpiece of romantic narrative. "Soine other materials, relating to the period of Spanish history anterior to the conquest of Granada, were never published. He was always deeply interested in these matters, and had for a long while been making collections, with a view "Apropos of extraordinary juxtapositions. The last news from Italy is that Washington Irving is on the point of being to writing a series of works, beginning with a married to the Empress Maria Louisa; the Cyclops, General History of the Caliphs, following this up by the Caracambaza, having been dismissed her presence, and the whole nobility of Parma having united in a petition that her Domination of the Moors in Spain, and ending majesty would leave them no longer without a Sovereign. with the Conquest of Granada. He also wished Political reasons possibly prevented her from fixing on a Euto write the history of Charles and Philip, and ropean and the American author having been highly introduced at her court, and really having the mild and graceful even had thought of the Conquest of Mexico. manners and exterior that naturally please women, the an- The materials collected for these last works he nouncement of his good fortune was made to him by her chan-handed over to Mr. Prescott." cellor, Count Cicognara; and it is stated that the alliance may be expected to take place immediately. So much for America. With Mrs. Jerome Napoleon, the Marchioness Wellesley, and Archduke Irving of Parnia and Lucca, the Trans-Atlantics may hope to have some future share of European civilization." At a convivial meeting in London of the literati, it was once suggested to Mr. Irving that he should undertake a translation of the minor EDITS MR. BRYANT'S POEMS IN LONDON. tales of the author of Don Quixote. If he had acted upon the hint, he would have added a few more volumes to the stock of English literature: for his style would, in a measure, have made them his own.* In July, 1829, Mr. Irving left Spain for England, having been appointed Secretary of Legation to the American Embassy at London, when Mr. M'Lane was minister. He retired on the arrival of Mr. Van Buren. The University of Oxford conferred on him, in 1831, the degree LL.D. in the works of our national novelist, Cooper. The same keen eye and fresh feeling for nature, the same indigenous style of thinking and local peculiarity of imagery, which give such novelty and interest to the pages of that gifted writer, will be found to characterize this volume, condensed into a narrower compass and sublimated into poetry. "The descriptive writings of Mr. Bryant are essentially American. They transport us into the depths of the solemn primeval forest-to the shores of the lonely lake-the banks of the wild Before leaving England on his return to nameless stream, or the brow of the rocky upAmerica, he edited for a London publisher, in land, rising like a promontory from amidst a the beginning of 1832, an edition, the first in wide ocean of foliage; while they shed around England, of the Poems of William Cullen Bryant. us the glories of a climate, fierce in its extremes, Though unacquainted with Mr. Bryant at the but splendid in all its vicissitudes. His close time, he was a warm admirer of his writings; observation of the phenomena of nature, and the and when a friend sent him a copy from home, graphic felicity of his details, prevent his descripwith a desire that he might find a publisher in tions from ever becoming general and commonEngland, he cheerfully undertook the task. A place; while he has the gift of shedding over publisher was found, who, however, made it a them a pensive grace, that blends them all into condition that Mr. Irving should "write some-harmony, and of clothing them with moral assothing that might call public attention to it." In compliance with this demand for a gratuitous service, Mr. Irving prefixed the following dedicatory letter addressed to the poet Rogers: TO SAMUEL ROGERS, ESQ. "My dear Sir,-During an intimacy of some years' standing, I have uniformly remarked a liberal interest on your part in the rising character and fortunes of my country, and a kind disposition to promote the success of American talent, whethier engaged in literature or the arts. I am induced, therefore, as a tribute of gratitude, as well as a general testimonial of respect and friendship, to lay before you the present volume, in which, for the first time, are collected together the fugitive productions of one of our living poets, whose writings are deservedly popular throughout the United States. "Many of these poems have appeared at various times in periodical publications; and some of them, I am aware, have met your eye and received the stamp of your approbation. They could scarcely fail to do so, characterized as they are by a purity of moral, an elevation and refinement of thought, and a terseness and elegance of diction, congenial to the bent of your own genius and to your cultivated taste. They appear to me to belong to the best school of English poetry, and to be entitled to rank among the highest of their class. "The British public has already expressed its delight at the graphic descriptions of American scenery and wild woodland characters contained * Biographical Notice of Irving, in the European Magazine, March, 1825. ciations that make them speak to the heart. Neither, I am convinced, will it be the least of his merits in your eyes, that his writings are imbued with the independent spirit and the buoyant aspirations incident to a youthful, a free, and a rising country. "It is not my intention, however, to enter into any critical comments on these poems, but merely to introduce them, through your sanction, to the British public. They must then depend for success on their own merits; though I cannot help flattering myself that they will be received as pure gems, which, though produced in a foreign clime, are worthy of being carefully preserved in the common treasury of the language. I am, my dear sir, ever most faithfully yours, WASHINGTON IRVING. 66 London, March, 1832." It is needless to say that the Poems met at once with a most cordial reception. Several of them had been much admired in England already; but the entire collection established at once the claims of the American poet. A few years after this the late Mr. Leggett, in his journal, The Plaindealer, made an incident connected with this publication the subject of an unmannerly attack. It seems that while the Poems were going through the press in London, the publisher strenuously objected to a line in the poem entitled "Marion's Men," as peculiarly offensive to English ears. It reads And the British foeman trembles and where the integrity of authorship is con- LETTER TO THE PLAINDEALER. cerned, should be firmly denied. Mr. Irving, we wel think unnecessarily and forgetful of an important literary principle, and that he had no authority in the matter, yielded to the publisher, conceding to an objection urged with a show of kindness, what he probably would not have granted under other circumstances. The obnoxious word "British" was removed, and the line was made to read The foeman trembles in his camp. Mr. Irving was roughly handled in consequence by Mr. Leggett, who took occasion also, at the same time, to charge him with "preparing, in a book of his own, one preface for his countrymen full of amor patria and professions of American feeling, and another for the London market in which all such professions are studiously omitted." Mr. Irving sent to The Plaindealer a prompt reply. The change in the poem was seen to have grown out of a motive of kindness; while the malign charge in the matter of the prefaces was easily put out of the way. The indignant rebuke shows that the gentle pen of Geoffrey Crayon, when roused by insult, could cope even with the well-practised and somewhat reckless energy of The Plaindealer. We present this portion of Mr. Irving's letter entire: "Another part of your animadversions is of a much graver nature, for it implies a charge of hypocrisy and double dealing which I indignantly repel as incompatible with my nature. You intimate that 'in publishing a book of my own, I prepare one preface for my countrymen full of amor patriæ and professions of home feeling, and another for the London market in which such professions are studiously omitted.' Your inference is that these professions are hollow, and intended to gain favor with my countrymen, and that they are omitted in the London edition through fear of offending English readers. Were I indeed chargeable with such baseness, I should well merit the contempt you invoke upon my head. As I give you credit, sir, for probity, I was at a loss to think on what you could ground such an imputation, until it occurred to me that some circumstances attending the publication of my Tour on the Prairies, might have given rise to a misconception in your mind. "It may seem strange to those intimately acquainted with my character, that I should think it necessary to defend myself from a charge of duplicity; but as many of your readers may know me as little as you appear to do, I must again be excused in a detail of facts. first appearance before the American public since my return, I was induced, while the work was printing, to modify the introduction so as to express my sense of the unexpected warmth with which I had been welcomed to my native place, and my general feelings on finding myself_once more at home, and among my friends. These feelings, sir, were genuine, and were not expressed with half the warmth with which they were entertained. Circumstances alluded to in that introduction had made the reception I met with from my countrymen, doubly dear and touching to me, and had filled my heart with affectionate gratitude for their unlooked-for kindness. In fact, misconstructions of my conduct and misconceptions of my character, somewhat similar to those I am at present endeavoring to rebut, had appeared in the public press, and, as I erroneously supposed, had prejudiced the mind of my countrymen against me. professions therefore to which you have alluded, were uttered, not to obviate such prejudices, or to win my way to the good will of my countrymen, but to express my feelings after their good will had been unequivocally manifested. While I thought they doubted me, I remained silent; when I found they believed in me, I spoke. I have never been in the habit of beguiling them by fulsome professions of patriotism, those cheap passports to public favor; and I think I might for once have been indulged in briefly touching a chord, on which others have harped to so much advantage. The Now, sir, even granting I had 'studiously omitted' all those professions in the introduction intended for the London market, instead of giving utterance to them after that article had been sent off, where, I would ask, would have been the impropriety of the act? What had the British public to do with those home greetings and those assurances of gratitude and affection which related exclusively to my countrymen, and grew out of my actual position with regard to them? There was nothing in them at which the British reader could possibly take offence; the omitting of them, therefore, could not have argued 'timidity,' but would have been merely a matter of good taste; for they would have been as much out of place repeated to English readers, as would have been my greetings and salutations to my family circle, if repeated out of the window for the benefit of the passers-by in the street. 'I have no intention, sir, of imputing to you any malevolent feeling in the unlooked-for attack you have made upon me: I can see no motive "When my Tour on the Prairies was ready you have for such hostility. I rather think you for the press, I sent a manuscript copy to Eng-have acted from honest feelings, hastily excited land for publication, and at the same time, put a by a misapprehension of facts; and that you copy in the press at New York. As this was my have been a little too eager to give an instance THE IRVING DINNER. of that 'plaindealing' which you have recently never found a heartier eulogist. The venerable adopted as your war-cry. Plaindealing, sir, is a great merit, when accompanied by magnanimity, and exercised with a just and generous spirit; but if pushed too far, and made the excuse for indulging every impulse of passion or prejudice, it may render a man, especially in your situation, a very offensive, if not a very mischievous member of the community. Such I sincerely hope and trust may not be your case; but this hint, given in a spirit of caution, not of accusation, may not be of disservice to you. "In the present instance I have only to ask that you will give this article an insertion in your paper, being intended not so much for yourself, as for those of your readers who may have been prejudiced against me by your animadversions. Your editorial position of course gives you an opportunity of commenting upon it according to the current of your feelings; and, whatever may be your comments, it is not probable that they will draw any further reply from Recrimination is a miserable kind of redress in which I never indulge, and I have no relish for the warfare of the pen." me. Chancellor compared it with Rabelais and Swift, and brought it off creditably; admiring its laughter, its pointed satire, its wit and humor, and, above all, its good-nature. Mr. Irving replied with a touching allusion to rumors and suggestions which had reached him abroad, to the effect that absence had impaired the kind feelings of his countrymen, and that they had considered him alienated in heart from his native land. He had, he said, been fully disabused of this impression, by the universal kindness which greeted him on his arrival. He then turned to the prosperity of the city. Never, certainly," said he, "did a man return to his native place after so long an absence, under happier auspices. As to my native city, from the time I approached the coast I had indications of its growing greatness. We had scarce descried the land, when a thousand sails of all descriptions gleaming along the horizon, and all standing to or from one point, showed that we were in the neighborhood of a vast commercial emporium. As I sailed up our beautiful bay, with a heart swelling with old recollections and delightful associations, I was astonished to see its once wild features brightening with populous villages and noble piles, and a seeming city extending itself over heights I had left covered with green forests.* But how shall I describe my emotions when our city rose to sight, seated in the midst of its watery domain, stretching away to a vast extent; when I beheld a glorious sunshine lighting up the spires and domes, some familiar to memory, others new and unknown, and beaming upon a forest of masts of every nation, exIt took place at the City Hotel on the 30th tending as far as the eye could reach? I have May. Mr. Irving had his old friend and literary gazed with admiration upon many a fair city and associate, Mr. Paulding, on one side, and Chan- stately harbor, but my admiration was cold and cellor Kent on the other. Bishop Onderdonk | ineffectual, for I was a stranger, and had no said grace, and Dr. Wainwright returned thanks. property in the soil. Here, however, my heart Mr. Gallatin was present, with many foreign throbbed with pride and joy as I admired. I and native celebrities.* Mr. Verplanck was ab-had a birthright in the brilliant scene before me: sent at the session of Congress. The President of the meeting, Chancellor Kent, welcomed the illustrious guest to his native land, in a speech of good taste and feeling. His appreciation of Irving's early American productions, and not less, of his later, was warm and enthusiastic. The History of Diedrich Knickerbocker has With all the gentleness of Geoffrey Crayon, Mr. Irving was a high-spirited man where honor, duty, or the proprieties were at stake. We have anticipated, however, the course of our narrative; for this correspondence took place | in 1837. Mr. Irving arrived in America, at New York, on his return, May 21, 1832, after an absence of seventeen years. A public dinner was at once projected by his friends and the most eminent persons of the city. *We may add the names of others present at this dinner, who offered toasts: Philip Hone, William Turner, Charles King, Judge Irving, General Santander, Lt.-Gov. Livingston, Chancellor Walworth, General Scott, Commodore Chauncey, William A. Duer, M. M. Noah, Prosper M. Wetmore, James Lawson, Charles De Behr, Jesse Hoyt, Henry Wheaton, Judge Hoffman, Le Ray de Chaumont, Vice Chancellor M'Coun, Ogden Hoffman, J. W. Francis, Mr. Gener, C. W. Sanford, W. A. Mercein, W. P. Hawes, Captain De Peyster, William Leggett, William H. Maxwell, J. Watson Webb, Professor Renwick, Samuel Swartwout, John Duer. This was my own, my native land!' "It has been asked can I be content to live in this country? Whoever asks that question must have but an inadequate idea of its blessings and delights. What sacrifice of enjoyments have I to reconcile myself to? I come from gloomier climes to one of brilliant sunshine and inspiring purity. I come from countries lowering with doubt and danger, where the rich man trembles, and the poor man frowns-where all repine at the present, and dread the future. I come from these to a country where all is life and animation; where I hear on every side the sound of exultation; where every one speaks of the past *The allusion probably was to Brooklyn. |