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Death ol Washington Irvin?. .and produced his “C inquest of Granola,’* The telegraph brings us ’.he sad news o' and '‘The Alhambra,” which embody;much the decease of Washington Irving, at the wild legend and t-ue history, connected ripe age of seventy-six. The oldest. Amer s whh the Moorish conquest of Spain, icao writer of marked celebrity, and one of j In 1830. Irving was honored, at the same the foremost raen of letters of the nine- • time with the historian Hall am, by. the pre-teen th century has passed away. He will; sentation o? a gold medal from the Royal be sincerely mourned by millions in this j Society of Literature. In 1832 i e returned and in other lauds, wherever literature Is! tlt;» New York, alter a residence abroad of valued and the English tongue is read. ) seventeen vears, and svas rece: ved with on-Washington Irving was bmi April 3.1 thnsiastic honors, such as no man of letters 1783, in the city of New York. His father • had ever before received in America, was a native o' Scotland, who had married ; tour shortly after to the Western regions of an English lady, and had been settled in j the Missi- sippi gave birth to his “Tour on New York a bout twenty years. Washing-; the Prairies,” “Astoria,” and Capt. Bonne-ton, so named, iroru the newly risen “Pa- I ville's Adventures. In 1839-40, Irving therot his Country,” was of a delicate con-; contributed a series of Magazine papers to stitu'ion, and never received what are call the “Knickerbocker,” somrfof which were ed the advantages of a Uuivcrsity eduCa ] gathered in 1855, into the volume entitled tion. His early years were passed under! “WoKert’s Roost.”his father’s roo-, where he received a home ' He now purchased an estate in the vicin-edocatiou. chiefly under the care of his bro- ; ity of “Sleepy Hollow,” the part of Tarry-thers, who were possessed of fine literary 1 town which be bad himself rendered classi-nttainments. leal in his legends, and which, with theI the spare hours of his younger [ quaint old Dutch-roofed mansion house,days were passed in rambling about atnong the old Dutch settlers of Manhattan Island, whose picturesque haunts, quaint old houses and queer pa pulation seun to have made indellible impressions on the receptive mind of the future essayist and historian. At the age of twenty, his failing health ied to a sea voyage to the South of Europe, do ring which he visited Sicily. Naples and Rome, and returned through France and England, after a two years’ absence. He now commenced the study of the law, with Judge Hoffman, and was admitted to the Bar. Buc the ample pecuniary means of h’.s family’, together with the desultory habits he had formed, and his strong bent to ward the more pleasing pursuits of literature, prevented him from ever entering upon the practice of the law.In the year 1807, Irving projected, in conjunction with Paulding, a series of literary and poetical sketches, which they published in occasional numbers, under the title of *• Salmagundi; or the Whim Whams and opinions of Launcelot Langstaff,These light sketches had an immediate success. In them a ppeared the “Memoirs of the Cockloft Family,” including the “History of the Little Man in Black.”The first great work of our author projected jointly with his brother, Peter Irving, and was destined to ridicule the local parish records of New’ York, and describejin an amusing way the habits of the old Dutch settlers of the town. It soon grew in a loDg comic history, and was published in 1809 under the title of A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the end of the Dutch Dynasty; by Diedrich Knickerbocker.” This work at once established the fame.of its author, as the possessor of original humor and literary skill of the first order. The highest compliment that could be psid to the work, was the fact that it was believed hr some readers (like the Gulliver’s Travels of Swift) to be a veritable his tory.Irving was now taken into partnership id a large mercantile business established by his father; but this connexion appears to hove been nominal. At the breaking out of the war of 1812, he was appointed Aid* de-Camp to the Governor, with the rank of Colonel, and on the return of peace he was sent to Liverpool to superintend a branch of the houBQ of Irving Brothers. Iu the commercial disasters of 1816, the house was broken up, and Washington Irving, to use his own language, “turned naturally to his pen for solace and support.” In 1818. he commenced the “Sketch Book,” which was written in England, and transmitted toNaw York for publication in nambers. The 'London Literary Gazette reprinted some of : the papers with high commendation, and Irving offered the work to Murray, the great London publisher, for publication. It was declined, and the anthor was compelled to com uence on bis own account the issue of a work which was afterwards eagerly com -peted for by the first publishing houses in the world. Before it was printed, however, the bookseller failed, and Walter Scott, who had long recognized the extraordinary merits of his American friend, re opened negotiations for him with Murray,'who bought the copyright for two hundred pounds, which he iucre|sed to four hundre f bo the success of the work.The delicate fancy, subtle humor, and occasional vivid dscriptive talent displayed IB *he“Sketch Book,” sit once established the reputation of Irving on both sides of the water, and he never after lacked the e:e menta either of fameand the buildings which theta3te and fortune of the proprietor have since added to lt, has teen orten and recent ly described in our columns. In 1842 Irving was appointed Miti'sier to Spain, a post which he occupied four years, when he was recalled at his own request. He has since resided constantly at “Sunnyside,” the name he gave to his beautiful retreat at Tarrytown, on the banks of the Hudson. Here, in the midst of a genial family circle, composed of his brother and his nieces (for Washington Irving was never married,) he has passed the sunny hours of his declining years, invaded by no care save the infirmities of age.But neither the ease of an ample fortune, nor the alluring society of friends, nor the in rarities ol age, could induce IrviDg to lay down the pun. He projected, soon after his return from Spain, a new life of Mahomet, was published in 1850, in two volumes. He also gave to the world a new life of Goldsmith, founded mainly on the researches of Forster, whose elaborate and carefully writ ten work, entitled “Oliver Goldsmith, a Biography,” is the best account we have of that delightful master of English prose composition. The style of Irving has been frequently compared to that of Addison much more strikingly resembles that of Goldsmith. When*Charles|D:ckens was In this country, he said, at a public dinner in Bostou that he seldom went up stairs to bed without taking with him a volume of Washington IrviDg; and, added be, “when I don’t take Irving I take bisown brother, Oliver GoldsmithThe crowning work of Washington Irving’s life, the firi-t volume ot which was issued in 1855. was his “Life of Washington.” He lived to complete bis plau, aod with this finished monument e; his powers as a narrator and biographer, the record of his long and vn- 1 spent literary life fitly doses. lie is mibered to the tomb at a fortunate period iu his career, when the fullest desiies of an honorable ambition has been more than gratified. The tear that we drop over his bier must be tempered with the soothing thought of the noble work he has accomplished and the great duty be has done. To him is due the lasting gratitude of the multitudes who read the language which his works adorn.Washington Irving has done much to diffuse abroad the kindly sympathies and human charities which unite men in the bonds of brotherhood. Himseli full of the amenities of life, his charming style reflects the ■enial, kindly humorist, whose satire is five from the slightest taint of malignity, and whose full cup of w’t, there mingles not one drop of gall. While he did not possess, the creative genius which marks the great poet, philosopher, or novelist, he had that wonderful union of the perceptive and descriptive faculty, which makes the successful essayist and biographer. Hence his writings are more widely read by the mass of men, tbaD even the masterpieces of Eng lish literary genius.. They are alike the delight of yonth, and the solace of old age; he learned and the ignorant can enjoy their richness of matter and their felicities of style. The humor of Irving is of that.finer mooid, whsch never d egenerates into farce; bis pathos never runs into extravagance and his sentiment never sinks-.into sentimentalism.But he is gone . H^ pleasant face will no more look hospitably upon his countrymen, whom admiration 'Of his genius has drawn to his qoiet retreat. His noble'formwill no more be seen at literary assemblies, fortune. His land the ever teeming press will announce “Bracsbridga Hail, or the Humorists,” a 1 no more“new works” from the favoritp pen work only inferior to the ^Sketch Boob”! of Washington-Irving. Be is addecl to the} in its portraiture of English society awl noble army of-great author*, whom the jmanner*, was published in 1822. 91 This was followed, in 1824, by the“Tales of a Traveler,” some of whieh are among the author** fasppieet prodnctions, and arestiil read with abscrbiogtnteres tIn 1820, Irving took up his residence itf Paris, irbere tbe twdlasf-named wcrka were jEterryil Powers which lent them to n^'have reclaimed, and wbote names will l,ve in thlt;* Pantheon-of history. * ^Einlgravit be the inscription on the tomb-stone “ whereheliee.; Dead'iiriMtftt, But departed, dr the artistneVer '■ '• djes, • v .written: In ‘1828, be went Id- Madrid fori * Bonhdana' jfajSeriinr recur 1 i ng' 'thetb% purpose of investigating aomOmewly’die- fditlli':-'l^l^BM!Si'n'g%f two ^‘lilfilty *n^|^covered documents -mUting to Ghristopher ^moc;” says: •'Oolmnha*. - The result wse his ,,Hh^y ie, |‘/ ^fig %Tdctric Uaiff 7i *'•, cldfiTs seems Cohimbat. and WB eompankms,”-hia ho’ r^edfrV'o'r perwna, tiEebborerework, with••LSfemf Wtsbisgttii.** fcnshe jitfetf! Yc;«hmbrought its anthor three thousand guineas.: lead that ft wenld take tu hiow fa$s bgdasI’«vg u *er traveled h» thy -tedth.
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Vevay Weekly News
Vevay, Indiana, US
Wed, Dec 07, 1859
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