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 No. 9. Five cents. 
 
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 Xlttic 3ourne^0 \^ y ^ 
 
 SERIES FOR 1896 
 
 Xtttlc 5ournei26 to tbe Ibomea ot 
 :american Butbors 
 
 The papers below specified, were, with the 
 exception of that contributed by the editor, 
 Mr. Hubbard, originally issued by the late 
 G. P. Putnam, in 1853, in a series entitled 
 Homes of American Authors . It is now 
 nearly half a century since this series (which 
 won for itself at the time a very noteworthy 
 prestige) was brought before the public ; and 
 the present publishers feel that no apology is 
 needed in presenting to a new generation of 
 American readers papers of such distinctive 
 biographical interest and literary value. 
 
 No. 1, Emerson, by Geo. W. Curtis. 
 
 *' 2, Bryant, by Caroline M. Kirkland. 
 
 '* 3, Prescott, by Geo. S. Hillard. 
 
 *• 4, Lowell, by Charles F. Briggs. 
 
 *• 5, Simms, by Wm. Cullen Bryant. 
 
 " 6, Walt Whitman, by Elbert Hubbard. 
 
 •* 7, Hawthorne, by Geo. ^Vm. Curtis. 
 
 ** 8, Audubon, by Parke Godwin. 
 
 ** 9, Irving, by H. T. Tuckerman. 
 
 ** 10, Longfellow by Geo. Wm. Curtis. 
 
 •• II, Everett, by Geo. S. Hillard. 
 
 *' 12, Bancroft, by^eo. W, Greene. 
 
 The above papers, which will form the 
 series of Little Journeys for the year 1896, 
 will be issued monthly, beginning January, 
 in the same general style as the series of 
 1895, at 50cts. a year. Single copies, 5 cts., 
 postage paid. 
 
 Entered at the Post Office, New Rochelle, N. Y., 
 as second class matter 
 
 Copyright, 1896, by 
 
 G. P. Putnam's sons 
 
 27 A 29 West 23D Street, New York 
 24 Bedford Street, Strand, London • 
 
 The Knickerbocker Press, New Rochelle, N. Y. 
 
IRVING 
 
 265 
 
I swear to thee, worthy reader, if report belie 
 not this warrior, I would give all the money in 
 my pocket to have seen him accoutred cap-a-pie, 
 in martial array— booted to the middle— sashed 
 to the chin— collared to the ears— whiskered to 
 the teeth — crowned with an overshadowing 
 cocked hat, and girded with a leathern belt ten 
 inches broad, from which trailed a falchion, of a 
 length that I dare not mention. 
 
 A History of New York. 
 
 266 
 
IRVING. 
 
 BY H. T. TUCKKRMAN.* 
 
 THE) similarity of the landscape in 
 different portions of the country, 
 is often mentioned as a defect in 
 our scenery ; but it has the advantage of 
 constantly affording an epitome of nature 
 and an identity of suggestion favorable 
 to national associations. Without the 
 -wild beauty of the Ohio or the luxuriant 
 vegetation of the Mississippi, the Hudson 
 thus preserves a certain verisimilitude in 
 the form of its banks, the windings of its 
 channel, and the hills and trees along its 
 shores, essentially American. The re- 
 
 * Written in 1853 for Putnam's Homes ofAmeri^ 
 can Authors, 
 
 267 
 
Htving 
 
 flective observer can easily find in these 
 characteristic features, and in the details 
 of the panorama that meets his eye, even 
 during a rapid transit, tokens of all that 
 is peculiar and endeared in the condition 
 and history of his native land ; and it is 
 therefore not less gratifying to his sense 
 of the appropriate than his feeling for the 
 beautiful, that the home of our favorite 
 author should consecrate the scene. 
 
 To realize how the Hudson thus iden- 
 tifies itself with national associations, 
 while scanning the details we must bear 
 in mind the general relations of the noble 
 river, — the great metropolis toward which 
 it speeds ; the isle-gemmed bay and ad- 
 jacent ocean ; and then, reverting to the 
 chain of inland seas with which it is 
 linked, and the junction of its grandest 
 elevations with the vast range of the 
 Alleghanies that intersect the boundless 
 West, recall the intricate network of iron 
 whereby the most distant village that 
 nestles at their feet is connected with its 
 picturesque shores. Thus regarded as a 
 268 
 
vital part of a sublime whole, the Hudson 
 fills the imagination with grandeur while 
 it fascinates the eye with loveliness. 
 A few miles from the shores, and in 
 many instances on the highest ranges of 
 hills, gleam isolated lakes, fringed with 
 woods and dotted with small islands, 
 whence azalea blossoms and feathery 
 shrubs overhang the water, which is pel- 
 lucid as crystal, in summer decked with 
 lilies, in winter afifording inexhaustible 
 quarries of ice, and, at all seasons, the 
 most romantic haunts for the lover of 
 nature. Nor is this comprehensive aspect 
 confined to the river's natural adjuncts. 
 The immediate localities are equally sig- 
 nificant. 
 
 On the Jersey shore, which meets 
 the gaze at the very commencement of 
 the upward voyage, are visible the grove 
 where Hamilton fell — the most affect- 
 ing incident in our political annals ; and 
 the heights of Weehawken, celebrated by 
 the muse of Halleck ; soon, on the op- 
 posite shore, we descry the evergreen foli- 
 269 
 
Htving 
 
 age of Trinity Church Cemetery, beneath 
 which lie the remains of that brave explor- 
 er of the forest and lover of the winged 
 tribes of the land — Audubon ; now rise the 
 Palisades — nearer landmarks of the bold 
 stand first taken by the colonists against 
 British oppression, where Fort Washing- 
 ton was captured by the Hessians in 
 1776 ; and whence the enemy's vessels 
 of war were so adroitly frightened away 
 by Talbot's fire-ship, and the most perse- 
 cuted martyrs of the Revolution were 
 borne to the infamous prison-ship at 
 I/ong Island. This wonderful range of 
 columnar rock, varying in height from 
 fifty to five hundred feet, and extending 
 along the river to the distance of twenty 
 miles, rises perpendicular from the water, 
 and the channel often runs immediately 
 at its base. The gray, indented sides of 
 this natural rampart, its summit tufted 
 with thickets and a few fishers' huts 
 nestled at its foot, resemble the ancient 
 walls of an impregnable fortress ; here 
 and there the traces of a wood-slide mark 
 270 
 
its weather-stained face ; and in the still- 
 ness of a winter day, when the frozen 
 water collected in its apertures expands 
 in the sunshine, from the outer side of 
 the river may be distinctly heard the 
 clang of the falling trap-rock dissevered 
 from the mass. Opposite are seen the 
 variegated hills and dales of Westchester 
 County. There let us pause, in the neigh- 
 borhood of our author's residence, to 
 view the familiar scene amid which he 
 lives. Gaze from beneath any of the 
 porticos that hospitably offer shelter on 
 the hillsides and at the river's marge, 
 breathe the pure air, and contemplate the 
 fresh tints of a June morning. In this 
 vicinity the river expands to the width of 
 two or three miles, forming what is called 
 Tappan Bay — which, seen from the sur- 
 rounding eminences, appears like an im- 
 mense lake ; picturesque undulations 
 limit the view, meadows covered with 
 luxuriant grain that waves gracefully in 
 the breeze, emerald with turf, dark with 
 copses, or alive with tasselled maize, al- 
 271 
 
tern ate with clumps of forest-trees or 
 cheerful orchards. Over this scene of 
 rural prosperity flit gorgeous clouds 
 through a firmament of pale azure, and 
 around it wind roads that seem to lure 
 the spectator into the beautiful glens of 
 the neighboring valleys. Nearer to his 
 eye are patches of woodland, overhang- 
 ing ravines where rock, foliage, and 
 stream combine to form a romantic and 
 sequestered retreat, invaded by no sound 
 but that of rustling leaf, chirping bird, 
 humming insect, or snapping chestnut- 
 burr ; parallel with these delicious nooks 
 that usually overhang the river, are fields 
 in the highest state of cultivation sur- 
 rounding elegant mansions ; but farther 
 inland stretch pastures where the mullein 
 grows undisturbed, stone walls and va- 
 grant fences divide fallow acres, the sweet- 
 briar clambering over their rugged 
 surface, clumps of elder-bushes or a few 
 willows clustered about the pond, and 
 the red cones of the sumac, dead leaves, 
 brown mushrooms, and downy thistles, 
 272 
 
Hiving 
 
 mark one of those neglected yet wildly 
 rural spots which Crabbe loved to de- 
 scribe. Bven here at the sunset hour 
 we have but to turn towards the river, at 
 some elevated point, and a scene of inde- 
 scribable beauty is exhibited. The placid 
 water is tinted with amber, hues of trans- 
 cendent brightness glow along the west- 
 ern horizon, fleecy masses of vapor are 
 illumined with exquisite shades of color ; 
 deep scintillations of rose or purple kin- 
 dle the edges of the clouds ; the zenith 
 wears a crystalline tone ; the vesper star 
 twinkles with a bright though softened 
 ray ; and the peace of heaven seems to 
 descend upon the transparent wave and 
 the balmy air. And if we observe the 
 immediate scene around one of the hum- 
 ble red-roofed homesteads or superior 
 dwellings, which are scattered over the 
 hillsides and valleys of this region, and 
 call back the vision from its widest to the 
 most narrow range, the eye is not less gra- 
 tified, nor the heart less moved, by images 
 of rustic comfort and beauty. Perhaps a 
 .273 
 
•ffrving 
 
 large tulip- tree, with its broad expanse of 
 verdure and waving chalices, or a superb 
 chestnut, plumed with feathery blossoms, 
 lends its graceful shade, while we follow 
 the darting swallow, watch the contented 
 kine, or curiously note the humming- 
 bird poised, like a fragment of the rain- 
 bow, over a woodbine wreathed about the 
 porch, and mark the downy bee clinging 
 to the mealy stamen of the hollyhock, or 
 murmuring on the pink globe of the 
 clover. The odor of the hay-field, the 
 glancing of coimtless white sails far be- 
 low, the flitting of shadows, and the re- 
 freshing breeze — all unite to form a picture 
 of tranquil delight. 
 
 Resuming our course, after such an 
 interlude, we pass the scene of the gal- 
 lant and unfortunate Andre's capture 
 and execution. Stony Point, where 
 another fierce struggle for our liberties 
 occurred, the site of the fortification 
 being marked by a lighthouse, the tower- 
 ing Dunderberg mountain, and that 
 lofty promontory called Anthony's Nose, 
 274 
 
where a sudden turn of the river in a 
 western direction all at once ushers us 
 into the glorious Highlands. The house 
 once occupied by the traitor Arnold is 
 soon forgotten in the thought of Kos- 
 ciusko, whose monument rises on the 
 precipitous bank at West Point ; and here 
 the wild umbrage that covers Cro'nest 
 recalls Drake's fanciful poem ; and old 
 Fort Putnam, crowning the highest of 
 the majestic hills, seems waiting for 
 the moonbeams to clothe its ruins with 
 enchantment ; Buttermilk Fall glimmers 
 on one side, while the proud summit of 
 the Grand Sachem towers on the other. 
 Then opens the bay of Newburgh, a 
 town memorable as the spot where the 
 mutinous letters of the Revolution were 
 dated, and where the headquarters and 
 parting scene of Washington and his 
 officers are consecrated to endeared re- 
 membrance. Beyond appear the most 
 beautiful domains in the land, where 
 broad ranges of meadow and groups of 
 noble trees, in the highest state of order 
 275 
 
and fertility, transport us in fancy to the 
 rural life of Kngland. The last great fea- 
 ture of this matchless panorama is the 
 Kaatskill Mountains rising in their misty 
 shrouds, or, in a clear atmosphere, stretch- 
 ing away in magnificent proportions, 
 whence the eye may wander for sixty 
 miles over a country mapped by prolific 
 acres, with every shade of verdure — sub- 
 limated, as it were, by interminable 
 ranges of mountain, and animated by the 
 silvery windings of the Hudson, whose 
 gleaming tide lends brilliancy to the 
 more dense hues of tree, field, and um- 
 brageous headland. 
 
 The navigable extent of the river, and 
 the fresh tints of its water, banks, and 
 sky, are in remarkable contrast with 
 those celebrated transatlantic streams 
 endeared to our imagination. To an 
 American the first view of the Tiber and 
 the Seine, their turbid waters and flat 
 shores, occasions peculiar disappoint- 
 ment ; and it is the associations of the 
 Rhine and Lake Como, and those feat- 
 276 
 
ures they derived from art, which chiefly 
 gave them superiority. The mellow 
 light of the past and the charm of an. 
 historical name, invest the ruined castles 
 and famed localities of their shores with 
 an enduring interest. 
 
 In the spirit of hearty enthusiasm, not 
 less than local attachment, does Irving 
 thank God he was born on the banks of the 
 Hudson ; for it possesses all the elements 
 requisite to inspire the fancy and attach 
 the heart. The blue waving line of its 
 distant hills in the twilight of the early 
 dawn ; the splendid hues of its surround- 
 ing foliage in autumn ; the glassy expanse 
 of its broad surface, and the ermin^ 
 drapery of its majestic promontories in 
 winter; the scene of verdant luxury it 
 presents in summer ; its sheltered nooks, 
 pebbly coves and rocky bluffs ; the echoes 
 of the lofty Highlands, and the balmy 
 hush of evening, when the saffron-tinted 
 water reflects each passing sail, and the 
 cry of the whippoorwill or monotone 
 of the katydid, are the only sounds of 
 277 
 
life — all utter a mysterious appeal to the 
 senses and imagination. 
 
 Washington Irving, although so obvi- 
 ously adapted by natural endowments 
 for the career in which he has acquired 
 such eminence, was educated, like many 
 other men of letters, for the legal profes- 
 sion ; he, however, early abandoned the 
 idea of practice at the bar for the more 
 lucrative vocation of a merchant. His 
 brothers were established in business in 
 the city of New York, and invited him 
 to take an interest in their house, with 
 the understanding that his literary tastes 
 should be gratified by abundant leisure, 
 iJQie unfortunate crisis in mercantile af- 
 fairs that followed the peace of 1815, in- 
 volved his family, and threw him upon 
 his own resources for subsistence. To 
 this apparent disaster is owing his subse- 
 quent devotion to literature. The strong 
 bias of his own nature, however, had 
 already indicated this destiny ; his inapti- 
 tude for affairs, his sensibility to the 
 beautiful, his native humor, and the love 
 278 
 
he early exhibited for wandering, observ- 
 ing, and indulging in day-dreams, would 
 infallibly have led him to record his fan- 
 cies and feelings. Indeed, he had already 
 done so with effect, in a series of letters 
 which appeared in a newspaper of which 
 his brother was editor. His tendency to 
 a free, meditative, and adventurous life, 
 was confirmed by a visit to Europe in his 
 early youth. 
 
 Bom in the city of New York, on the 
 3d of April, 1783, he pursued his studies, 
 his rambles, and his occasional pen-craft 
 there, until 1804, when ill health made 
 it expedient for him to go abroad. He 
 sailed for Bordeaux, and thence roamed 
 over the most beautiful portions of 
 Southern Europe ; visited Switzerland 
 and Holland, sojourned in Paris, and 
 returned home in 1806. During his ab- 
 sence he seriously entertained the idea 
 of becoming a painter ; but subsequently 
 resumed his law studies, and was ad- 
 mitted to the bar. Soon after, however, 
 the first number of Salmagundi ap- 
 279 
 
peared, an era in our literary annals ; 
 and in December, 1809, was published 
 Knickerbocker's History of New York, 
 He afterwards edited the Analectic 
 Magazine, In the autumn of 1814 he 
 joined the military staff of the Governor 
 of New York, as aide-de-camp and sec- 
 retary, with the title of Colonel. At the 
 close of the war he embarked for Liver- 
 pool, with a view of making a second 
 tour in Europe ; but the financial trou- 
 bles intervening, and the remarkable 
 success which had attended his literary 
 enterprises, being an encouragement to 
 pursue a vocation which necessity, not 
 less than taste, now urged him to follow, 
 he embarked in the career of authorship. 
 |The papers which were published under 
 the title of The Sketch-Book^ at once 
 gained him the sympathy and admiration 
 of his contemporaries. They originally 
 appeared in New York, but attracted im- 
 mediate attention in England, and were 
 republished there in 1820. After residing 
 there five years, Mr. Irving again visited 
 280 
 
Htving 
 
 Paris, and returned to bring out Brace- 
 bridge Hall in London, in May, 1822. 
 The next winter he passed in Dresden, 
 and in the following spring put Tales of 
 a Traveller to press. He soon after went 
 to Madrid and wrote the Life of Colum- 
 bus y which appeared in 1828. In the 
 spring of that year he visited the South 
 of Spain, and the result was the Chroni- 
 cles of the Conquest of Granada^ which 
 was published in 1829. The same year 
 he revisited that region, and collected 
 the materials for his Alhambra, He was 
 soon after appointed Secretary of Lega- 
 tion to the American Embassy in London, 
 which office he held until the return 
 of Mr. McLane in 1831. 
 
 While in England he received one 
 of the fifty-guinea gold medals, pro- 
 vided by George IV., for eminence in 
 historical composition, and the degree 
 of LL.D. from the University of Oxford. 
 His return to New York in 1832 was 
 greeted by a festival, at which were 
 gathered his surviving friends and all the 
 281 
 
Htving 
 
 characterized by Lowell in the Fable for 
 
 Critics : 
 
 What ! Irving ? Thrice welcome, warm heart 
 and fine brain, 
 
 You bring back the happiest spirit from Spain, 
 
 And the gravest sweet humor, that ever were 
 there 
 
 Since Cervantes met death in his gentle de- 
 spair ; 
 
 Nay, don't be embarrassed, nor look so be- 
 seeching, 
 
 I shan't run directly against my own preach- 
 ing, 
 
 And having just laughed at their Raphaels and 
 Dantes, 
 
 Go to setting you up beside matchless Cer- 
 vantes ; 
 
 But allow me to speak what I honestly feel, 
 
 To a true poet-heart add the fun of Dick Steele, 
 
 Throw in all of Addison, minus the chill, 
 
 "With the whole of that partnership's stock and 
 good-will. 
 
 Mix well, and while stirring, hum o'er as a 
 spell. 
 
 The *fine old English Gentleman,' simmer it 
 well, 
 
 Sweeten just to your own private liking, then 
 strain. 
 
 That only the finest and clearest remain. 
 
 I/Ct it stand out of doors till a soul it receives 
 
 From the warm lazy sun loitering down 
 through gfreen leaves, 
 
 And you *11 find a choice nature not wholly 
 deserving 
 
 A name either English or Yankee— just Ir- 
 ving. 
 
 284 
 
The eminent success which has at- 
 tended the late republication of Irving' s 
 works, teaches a lesson that we hope will 
 not be lost on the cultivators of litera- 
 ture. It proves a truth which all men of 
 enlightened taste intuitively feel, but 
 which is constantly forgotten by perverse 
 aspirants for literary fame ; and that is 
 — ^the permanent value of a direct, simple 
 and natural style. It is not only the 
 genial philosophy, the humane spirit, the 
 humor and pathos of Irving, which en- 
 dear his writings and secure for them 
 an habitual interest, but it is the refresh- 
 ment afforded by a recurrence to the 
 unalloyed, unaffected, clear, and flowing 
 style in which he invariably expresses 
 himself. 
 
 The place which our author holds in 
 national affection can never be super- 
 seded. His name is indissolubly asso- 
 ciated with the dawn of our recognized 
 literary culture. We have always re- 
 garded his popularity in England as one 
 of the most charming traits of his reputa- 
 285 
 
ntvim 
 
 tion, and that, too, for the very reasons 
 which narrow critics once assigned as de- 
 rogatory to his national spirit. His treat- 
 ment of Bnglish subjects ; the felicitous 
 manner in which he revealed the life of 
 our ancestral land to us, her prosperous 
 offspring, mingled as it was with vivid 
 pictures of our own scenery, touched a 
 cord in the heart which responds to all 
 that is generous in sympathy and noble 
 in association. If we regard Irving with 
 national pride and affection, it is partly 
 on account of his cosmopolitan tone of 
 mind — a quality, among others, in which 
 he greatly resembles Goldsmith. It is, 
 indeed, worthy of a true American writer 
 that, with his own country and a partic- 
 ular region thereof as a nucleus of his 
 sentiment, he can see and feel the char- 
 acteristic and the beautiful, not only in 
 old Bngland, but in romantic Spain ; 
 that the phlegmatic Dutchman and the 
 mercurial southern Buropean find an 
 equal place in his comprehensive glance. 
 To range from the local wit of Salma- 
 286 
 
Hrving 
 
 gundi to the grand and serious historical 
 enterprise which achieved a classic Life 
 of Columbus y and from the simple grief 
 embalmed in the '* Widow's Son '* to the 
 observant humor of ^* The Stout Gentle- 
 man/' bespeaks not only an artist of 
 exquisite and versatile skill, but a man 
 of the most liberal heart and catholic 
 taste. 
 
 Reputations, in their degree and kind, 
 are as legitimate subjects of taste as less 
 abstract things, — and in that of Wash- 
 ington Irving there is a completeness and 
 unity seldom realized. It accords, in its 
 unchallenged purity, with the harmoni- 
 ous character of the author and the se- 
 rene attractions of his home. By temper- 
 ament and cast of mind he was ordained 
 to be a gentle minister at the altar of lit- 
 erature, an interpreter of the latent music 
 of nature and the redeeming affections of 
 humanity ; and, with a consistency not 
 less dictated by good sense than true 
 feeling, he has distinctively adhered to 
 the sphere he was especially gifted to 
 287 
 
adorn. Since his advent as a writer, an 
 intense style has come into vogue ; glow- 
 ing rhetoric, bold verbal tactics, and a 
 more powerful exercise of thought charac- 
 terize many of the popular authors of the 
 day. But in literature as in life, there 
 are various provinces both of utility and 
 taste ; and in this country and age a 
 conservative tone, a reliance on the 
 kindly emotions, and the refined percep- 
 tions, are qualities eminently desirable. 
 Therefore as we look forth upon the calm 
 and picturesque landscape that environs 
 him, we are content that no fierce po- 
 lemic, visionary philanthropist, or mor- 
 bid sentimentalist has thus linked his 
 name with the tranquil beauties of the 
 scene ; but that it is the home of an au- 
 thor who, with graceful diction and an 
 afiectionate heart, celebrates the scenic 
 charms of the outward world and the 
 harmless eccentricities and natural senti- 
 ment of the race. The true bias of Ir- 
 ving^s genius is artistic. The lights and 
 shadows of English life, the legendary 
 288 
 
litving 
 
 romance of Spain, the novelties of a tour 
 on the Prairies of the West, and of adven- 
 tures in the Rocky Mountains, the poetic 
 beauty of the Alhambra, the memories 
 of Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey, the 
 quaint and comfortable philosophy of 
 the Dutch colonists, and the scenery of 
 the Hudson, are themes upon which he 
 expatiates with the grace and zest of a 
 master. His affinity of style with the 
 classic British essayists, served not only 
 as an invaluable precedent in view of the 
 crude mode of expression prevalent half 
 a century ago among us, but also proved 
 a bond in letters between our own coun- 
 try and England, by recalling the iden- 
 tity of language and domestic life, at a 
 time when great asperity of feeling divi- 
 ded the two countries. 
 
 The circumstances of our daily life and 
 the impulse of our national destiny, am- 
 ply insure the circulation of progressive 
 and practical ideas ; but there is little in 
 either to sustain a wholesome attachment 
 to the past, or inspire disinterested feel- 
 289 
 
ings and imaginative recreation. Ac- 
 cordingly we rejoice that our literary 
 pioneer is not only an artist of the beau- 
 tiful, but one whose pencil is dipped in 
 the mellow tints of legendary lore, who 
 infuses the element of repose and the 
 sportiveness of fancy into his creations, 
 and thus yields genuine refreshment and 
 a needed lesson to the fevered minds of 
 his countrymen. Of all his immortal 
 pictures, however, the most precious to 
 his countrymen is that which contains 
 the house of old Baltus Van Tassel, 
 especially since it has been refitted and 
 ornamented by Geoffrey Crayon ; and 
 pleasant as it is to their imagination as 
 Wolfert's Roost, it is far more dear to 
 their hearts as Sunnyside. 
 
 And the legends which he has so grace- 
 fully woven around every striking point 
 in the scene, readily assimilate with its 
 character, whether they breathe gro- 
 tesque humor, harmless superstition, or 
 pensive sentiment. We smile habitually 
 and with the same zest, at the idea of the 
 290 
 
Trumpeter's rubicund proboscis, the val- 
 iant defence of Beam Island, and the 
 figure which the pedagogue cuts on the 
 dorsal ridge of old Gunpowder; and, 
 inhaling the magnetic atmosphere of 
 Sleepy Hollow, we easily give credit to 
 the apparition of the Headless Horse- 
 man, and have no desire to repudiate the 
 frisking imps of the DuyvePs Dans Ka- 
 mer. The buxom charms of Katrina 
 Van Tassel, and the substantial comforts 
 of her paternal farmhouse, are as tempt- 
 ing to us as they once were to the unfor- 
 tunate Ichabod and the successful Brom 
 Bones. 
 
 The mansion of this prosperous and 
 valiant family, so often celebrated in 
 his writings, is the residence of Wash- 
 ington Irving. It is approached by a se- 
 questered road, which enhances the effect 
 of its natural beauty. A more tranquil 
 and protected abode, nestled in the lap 
 of nature, never captivated a poet's eye. 
 Rising from the bank of the river, which 
 a strip of woodland alone intercepts, it 
 291 
 
Hvving 
 
 unites every rural charm to the most 
 complete seclusion. From this interest- 
 ing domain is visible the broad surface 
 of the Tappan Zee ; the grounds slope to 
 the water's edge, and are bordered by 
 wooded ravines ; a clear brook ripples 
 near, and several neat paths lead to shad- 
 owy walks or fine points of river scenery. 
 The house itself is a graceful combination 
 of the English cottage and the Dutch 
 farmhouse. The crow-stepped gables, 
 the tiles in the hall, and the weather- 
 cocks, partake of the latter character ; 
 while the white walls gleaming through 
 the trees, the smooth and verdant turf, 
 and the mantling vines of ivy and clam- 
 bering roses, suggest the former. In- 
 deed, in this delightful homestead are 
 tokens of all that is most characteristic 
 of its owner. The simplicity and rustic 
 grace of the abode indicate an unper- 
 verted taste, — ^its secluded position a love 
 of veiled pictures of English country-life ; 
 the weathercock that used to veer about 
 on the Stadthouse of Amsterdam, is a 
 292 
 
Hvving 
 
 symbol of the fatherland ; while the one 
 that adorned the grand dwellings in Al- 
 bany before the Revolution, is a signifi- 
 cant memorial of the old Dutch colonists ; 
 and they are thus both associated with 
 the fragrant memory of that famous and 
 unique historian, Diedrich Knicker- 
 bocker. The quaint and the beautiful 
 are thus blended, and the effect of the 
 whole is singularly harmonious. From 
 the quietude of this retreat are obtaina- 
 ble the most extensive prospects ; and 
 while its sheltered position breathes the 
 very air of domestic repose, the scenery 
 it commands is eloquent of broad and 
 generous sympathies. 
 
 Not less rare than beautiful is the lot of 
 the author to whom it is permitted to 
 gather up the memorials of his fame and 
 witness their permanent recognition, — 
 the first partial favor of his contemporaries 
 renewed by the mature appreciation of 
 another generation ; and equally gratify- 
 ing is the coincidence of such a noble 
 satisfaction with a return to the cher- 
 293 
 
ished and picturesque haunts of child- 
 hood and youth. It is a phase of life 
 scarcely less delightful to contemplate 
 than to enjoy ; and we agree with a na- 
 tive artist who declares that in his many 
 trips up and down the Hudson, he never 
 passed Sunnyside without a thrill of 
 pleasure. Nor, if thus interesting even 
 as an object in the landscape, is it diffi- 
 cult to imagine what moral attractions it 
 possesses to the kindred and friends who 
 there habitually enjoy such genial com- 
 panionship and frank hospitality. To 
 this favored spot, around which his 
 fondest reminiscences hovered during a 
 long absence, Mr. Irving returned a few 
 years since, crowned with the purest lit- 
 erary renown, and as much attached to 
 his native scenery as when he wandered 
 there in the holiday reveries of boyhood. 
 And here, in the midst of a landscape his 
 pen has made attractive in both hemi- 
 spheres, and of friends whose love sur- 
 passes the highest need of fame, he lives 
 in daily view of scenes thrice endeared — 
 294 
 
Vvving 
 
 by taste, association, and habit — ^theold 
 locust that blossoms on the green bank 
 in spring, the brook that sparkles along 
 the grass, the peaked turret and vine- 
 covered wall of that modest yet tradi- 
 tional dwelling, the favorite valley 
 watered by the romantic Pocantico, and, 
 above all, the glorious river of his heart. 
 We are strongly tempted to record 
 some of the charming anecdotes which 
 fall from his lips in the hour of genial 
 companionship ; to revert to the details 
 of his personal career ; the remarkable 
 coincidences by which he became a spec- 
 tator of some of the most noted occur- 
 rences of the last half-century ; — his 
 personal intercourse with the gifted and 
 renowned of both hemispheres ; the fond 
 admiration manifested by his countrymen 
 in making his name familiar as a house- 
 hold word, on their ships and steamers, 
 their schools, hotels, and townships ; the 
 beautiful feattures of his domestic life ; the 
 affectionate reverence with which he is 
 regarded by his relatives and his immedi- 
 295 
 
ITrving 
 
 ate friends and neighbors ; the refined yet 
 joyous tone of his truly **Sunnyside" 
 hospitalities, so charmingly enlivened by 
 his humorous and historical reminis- 
 cences. But two considerations warn us 
 from these seductive topics — the one a 
 cherished hope that the reminiscences 
 thus briefly alluded to may yet be gath- 
 ered up in his own hand ; the other our 
 knowledge of his delicacy of feeling and 
 sensitive habit in regard to personalities. 
 In a letter to the editor of the Knicker- 
 bocker Magazine^ Mr. Irving, under the 
 character of Geofirey Crayon, gives an 
 account of his purchase of the Van Tas- 
 sel estate, now called ** Sunnyside," and 
 a characteristic description of the neigh- 
 borhood, which abounds in some of the 
 happiest touches of his style. This let- 
 ter was a commencement of a series of 
 articles published in the Knickerbocker^ 
 which, excepting his Life of Goldsmith^ 
 are the last of his published writings. 
 
 296 
 
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THE COMPLETE WORKS OF 
 
 JAMES FENIMORE COOPER 
 
 MOHAWK EDITION 
 
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 Last of the Mohicans 
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 The Pioneers 
 The Prairie 
 ^TheSpy 
 
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 Red Rover 
 Wing and Wing 
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 Precaution 
 Lionel Lincoln 
 Homeward Bound 
 Home as Found 
 Mercedes of Castile 
 The Redskins 
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 Satanstoe 
 The Crater 
 Wyandotte 
 
 Afloat and Ashore 
 
 Wept of Wish-ton- Wish 
 
 The Bravo 
 
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 The Headsman 
 
 The Monikins 
 
 Miles Wallingford 
 
 Jack Tier 
 
 Oak Openings 
 
 The Ways of the Hour 
 
 The two sections in brackets are now ready. 
 Other sections will follow at brief inter- 
 vals, until the set is completed. 
 
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HEROES OF THE NATIONS 
 
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 A series of biographical studies of the lives 
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 great traditions of the Nations to which they 
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 The volumes are sold separately. 
 
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 2. GustavUS AdolphuS. By C. R. L. Fletcher. 
 
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 5. Sir Philip Sidney. By H. R. Fox-Boume. 
 
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 8. Napoleon. By W. O'Connor Morris. 
 
 9- Henry of Navarre. By p. f. wiiiert. 
 
 10. Cicero. By J. L. Strachan Davidson. 
 
 11. Henry the Navigator. By c. r. Beaziey. 
 
 12. Abraham Lincoln. By Noah Brooks. 
 
 13- Julian the Philosopher. By Alice Gardner. 
 
 14. Louis XIV. By Arthur Hassall. 
 
 15. Charles XII. By R. Nisbet Bain. 
 
 16. LorenZOde' Medici. By Edward Armstrong. 
 
 17- Jeanne d'Arc, Her Life and Death. 
 
 By Mrs. M. O. W. Oliphant. 
 
 18. Christopher Columbus. By Washington 
 
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 A KING AND A FEW DUKES. 
 
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 A Romance of the Commune. By Robert W. 
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■ in 
 
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 Jiiiiiiiii ^ 
 
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