The sketch book

Front matter

■Mk

*W

1 BEING'S SKETCH BOOK

Contents

PAGK.

Appreciations . . ix

Selected Critical and Biographical References . xii

Preface to the Revised Edition 3

The Author's Account of Himself 9

Roscoe 19

English Writers on America 53

The Country Church 97

—The Widow and Her Son 103

A Sunday in London Ill

_- The Inn Kitchen 148

—'Christmas 179

vii viii Contents.

PAGE.

London Antiques 233

The Pride of the Tillage 314

L'Envoy 365

Appendix 368

APPRECIATIONS.

" Every reader has his first book. I mean to say, one book among all others, which in early youth first fascinates his imagination, 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 reverie, nay, even by its gray-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 fiction, most of which illustrate his native land, and some of which illumine 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." — Heniiy W. Longfellow, Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Bee. 15, 1S59.

"Others will speak of his literary fame — of his style — as graceful and delicate as that of Charles jSTodier — and of the chords of ever-sensitive feeling he has touched — which cause the Sketch-Book to be more widely read, in its original tongue, than any book in our language except the Vicar of Wakefield. I would fain, if present, speak of his genial and constant friendship—of his faith in man — arid of his readiness to find good in everything." — George Sumner, Letter of Bee. 15, 1859.

"He wrote with such a charm and grace of expression, that the mere fascination of his style would often prove powerful x Appreciations.

enough to keep the reader intent upon his pages, when the subjcet itself might not happen to interest him. His humor was of a peculiar quality, always delicate in character, and yet enriched with a certain quaint poetic coloring, which added greatly to its effect. His graver writings have no less beauty, and several of them prove that, as is often the case with men who possess a large share of humor, he was no less a master in the pathetic, and knew how to touch the heart." — New York Evening Post, Nov. 29, 1859.

" But how much real poetry and how much real pathos has he not written! We do not believe that there was ever such a description of the song of a bird, as his description of the soaring of a lark in Buckthorn; and the poor old widow in the Sketch- Book, who, the first Sunday after her son's burial, comes to church with a few bits of black silk and ribbon about her, the only external emblem of mourning which her poverty allowed her to make, is a picture that we can never look at through his simple and graphic periods without sobbing like a child. Poet he is, and that too of the best and noblest kind, for he stores our memories with lovely images and our hearts with human affections. If you would learn to be kinder and truer, if you would learn to bear life's burden manfully, and make for yourself sunshine where half your fellow-men see nothing but shadow and gloom, read and meditate Goldsmith and Irving." — George Washington Greene, Biographical Studies.

" He was the one man whom the whole country loved. There has been no character since Washington so symmetrical, and no career more rounded and complete. With Irving, the man and the author were one. The same twinkling humor, untouched by personal venom; the same sweetness, geniality, and grace; the same transparency and childlike simplicity, which endeared the writer to his readers, endeared the man to his friends. Gifted with a happy temperament, with that cheerful balance of thought and feeling which begets the sympathy which prevents bitter animosity, he lived through the sharpest struggles of our politics, not without interest, but without bitterness, and with the tenderest respect of every party." — George William Curtis, Harper's Weekly, Dec. 17, 1S59.

Appreciations. xi

" If to convey the peculiar grace that his presence inspired, be beyond the power of description, yet its influence upon others is less difficult to represent. In his household, affection seemed to pervade the very atmosphere. The kindliest, the tenderest language, to each and to all; the joyous welcome that awaited a distant relative visiting Sunnyside; the quiet, but constant care manifested for stranger guests; the happy, tranquil face of an elder brother; the cheerful, ' pleased alacrity' of the servants; all seemed the very reflex of such a man: — so good, so true, so modest, so eminent. 'It seems,' said a lady after a visit to Washington Irving's family, ' as though I had been in heaven for a little while.' " — Fkederick S. Cozzens, The New York Ledger, Dec. 17, 1859.

On Irving.

North American Review, Vol. 28, p. 103.

Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 13, p. 694 and Vol. 45, p. 396.

Blackwood's Magazine, Vol. 6, p. 556.

Edinburgh Beview, Vol. 37, p. 337.

Scribner's Monthly, Vol. 11, p. 799.

Harper's Magazine, Vol. 24, p. 349.

LittelVs Living Age, Vol. 37, p. 646 and Vol. 65, p. 298.

On the Sketch Book.

North American Beview, Vol. 9, p. 322. Edinburgh Monthly Beview, Vol. 4, p. 303. Edinburgh Beview, Vol. 34, p. 160.

Quarterly Beview, Vol. 25, p. 50.

Monthly Beview, Vol. 93, p. 198.

London Magazine, Vol. 10, p. 401.

Western Beview, Vol. 2, p. 244.

xii

IN THE CHURCHYARD AT TARRYTOWN.

A Sonnet on Washington Irving.

BY U. W. LONGFELLOW.

Here lies the gentle humorist, who died In the bright Indian summer of his fame! A simple stone, with but a elate and name,

Marks his secluded resting-place beside

The river that he loved and glorified. Here in the autumn of his days he came, But the dry leaves of life were all aflame

With tints that brightened and were multiplied.

How sweet a life was his; how sweet a death!

Living, to wing with mirth the weary hours,

Or with romantic tales the heart to cheer;

Dying, to leave a memory like the breath Of summers full of sunshine and of showers, A grief and gladness in the atmosphere.

xiii

7'

^o

ADVERTISEMENT

FIRST AMERICAN EDITION.

The following writings are published on experiment; should they please, they may be followed by others. The writer will have to contend with some disadvantages. He is unsettled in his abode, subject to interruptions, and has his share of cares and vicissitudes. He cannot, therefore, promise a regular plan, nor regular periods of publication. Should he be encouraged to proceed, much time may elapse between the appearance of his numbers; and their size will depend on the materials he may have on hand. His writings will partake of the fluctuations of his own thoughts and feelings ; sometimes treating of scenes before him, sometimes of others purely imaginary, and sometimes wandering back with his recollections to his native country. He will not be able to give them that tranquil attention necessary to finished composition; and as they must be transmitted across the Atlantic for publication, he will have to trust to others to correct the frequent errors of the press. Should his writings, however, with all their imperfections, be well received, he cannot conceal that it would be a source of the purest gratification; for though he does not aspire to those high honors which are the rewards of loftier intellects, yet it is the dearest wish of his heart to have a secure and cherished, though humble, corner in the good opinions and kind feelings of his countrymen.

London, 1819.

ADVERTISEMENT

FIRST ENGLISH EDITION.

The following desultory papers are part of a series written in this country but published in America. The author is aware of the austerity with which the writings of his countrymen have hitherto been treated by British critics; he is conscious, too, that much of the contents of his papers can be interesting only in the eyes of American readers. It was not his intention, therefore, to have them reprinted in this country. He has, however, observed several of them from time to time inserted in periodical works of merit, and has understood that it was probable that they would be published in a collective form. He has been induced, therefore, to revise and bring them forward himself, that they may at least come correctly before the public. Should they be deemed of sufficient importance to attract the attention of critics, he solicits for them that courtesy and candor which a stranger has some right to claim who presents himself at the threshold of a hospitable nation.

February, 1820.