Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

A SKETCH OF IRVING'S LIFE

xiii

he was called to serve his country as Secretary of the Legation at London, and was constrained to accept it. But he was growing restive to visit his home and native land.

During all these years, spent in England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, Irving was through and through an American. It is true that certain criticisms had been made upon him at home because of his long foreign residence, but it is safe to say they were not made by those who knew him. In 1832, after seventeen years abroad, the longing to see America became too strong to be resisted. He reached New York in May and received a welcome far beyond that ever given before to a returning American. He was astonished at the changes in his native city and was overwhelmed by the attentions that he received on all sides. A notable public dinner was given to him in New York, and his name was honored in every village of the land.

After travelling extensively through the West and South that he might know more of his own country, he bought a few acres of land on the shores of the Hudson at Tarrytown. Here he built a small but substantial house and made a home for several nieces and other members of his family. Sunnyside, as he called this quaint but beautiful place, was visited during the next twenty years by hundreds of foreigners as well as Americans. Irving was most hospitable, not only to his immediate friends, but also to the large number of admirers who were attracted thither by his kindness and greatness of character. Here in the quiet of his own charming home he wrote several books, among them A Tour on the Prairies, Wolfert's Roost (a collection of essays), Mahomet and his Successors, The Life of Goldsmith, and The Life of Washington. The last mentioned he regarded his greatest work. He spent many years gathering his materials, and by his accuracy and faithfulness in detail justified the world in ranking him high as a historian.

While he was in the midst of this his greatest work he was astonished one morning to receive through the mail the announcement of his nomination by the President to the position of Minister to Spain. It cost him a struggle to give up his home and private life for four years of public life in a foreign land, but he was extremely gratified by the appointment, which he regarded an honor, not merely to himself, but also to the

76

profession of literature. Political affairs in Spain were in a very unsettled state, but though his position was a delicate one he acquitted himself so well that he was deservedly popular and respected both at home and in Spain. The experiment of appointing a literary man to a diplomatic position has since been several times repeated, and we can point with pride to Hawthorne, Lowell, Bancroft, Howells, and to Hardy, our present minister to Spain.

In 1846 he joyfully returned to America and Sunnyside, to spend the remaining thirteen years of his life in the place that he loved best, surrounded by his friends, honored by his country, and working happily and successfully to the end. He had time to revise his works and had the satisfaction of seeing the new edition sell beyond his fondest expectations. Late in the autumn of 1859, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, he died suddenly, and was buried in the little cemetery overlooking the "Sleepy Hollow" that he had made famous. His home and his grave are still visited yearly by thousands, many of them schoolboys and schoolgirls, who have learned to love the creator of Ichabod Crane and Rip Van Winkle.

IRVING THE AUTHOR

For more than forty years, as we have seen, Irving held a large place among English-speaking people. He has been called the "Father of American Literature." In the words of Thackeray, he was "The first ambassador whom the new world of letters sent to the old." But what we are interested to know, is what position he now holds among the large number of American authors who have made themselves known both at home and abroad, and what qualities give him the rank that he is conceded to have.

It is, of course, not to be expected that all of his fifteen or more volumes will continue to be read. It is enough that several of them are read and loved by each new generation. It is more than forty years since Irving died, but he is a living presence in American literature. He had not the creative

power of Hawthorne, nor the intellectual grasp of Emerson, but in his own domain he has never been excelled. And what was his domain? It was the short story or sketch representing real life, truth in the realm of fiction, humor, pathos. The vivid representations of Dutch life in The Knickerbocker History of New York, of English life in The Sketch-Book and Bracebridge Hall, of Spanish life in The Alhambra, and of American life in many books are vivid and are the source of perennial enjoy

ment.

His several biographies are probably the most careful work that he did. The Life of Columbus gave him rank as a man of learning; it was prepared with great care and at great expense of time and labor. The Life of Washington was undertaken by the author in the hope that it would be the greatest of his works, and into it he put the best thought of a mature manhood. While neither of these may be put into the rank of the greatest biographies, they may both be regarded as entirely worthy of a great author. The Life of Goldsmith, while not a great work, is one of the most delightful of biographies. Irving was by nature well fitted to appreciate and sympathize with the checkered life of this remarkable genius. This book, too, illustrates well what I think is the delight of Irving's biographies, it is full of stories. What should an interesting biography be, to be sure, but the stories of a man's life carefully chosen and forcefully told? As in the sketches, so in the biographies, the charm lies in the stories, vividly, clearly told.

It is then as a story-teller and a descriptive writer that we must regard Irving; it is to his sketches and stories that we must look to find his art. But what gives him his power? Is it his command of language? Is it his easy flow of sentences? His words are certainly well chosen; they are simple and forceful; they seem to be the words just fitted for their places; they are so concrete that the pictures stand out clearly, so suggestive that they bring a full as well as a clear meaning. And yet all this excellence of diction will not account for the magic of his style. We look in vain to his sentences, clear, easy, logical though they are, and to his orderly paragraphs, the charm is not here. We must look back of the words, the sentences, the paragraphs, to the personality, the character of the man.

profession of literature. Political affairs in Spain were in a very unsettled state, but though his position was a delicate one he acquitted himself so well that he was deservedly popular and respected both at home and in Spain. The experiment of appointing a literary man to a diplomatic position has since been several times repeated, and we can point with pride to Hawthorne, Lowell, Bancroft, Howells, and to Hardy, our present minister to Spain.

In 1846 he joyfully returned to America and Sunnyside, to spend the remaining thirteen years of his life in the place that he loved best, surrounded by his friends, honored by his country, and working happily and successfully to the end. He had time to revise his works and had the satisfaction of seeing the new edition sell beyond his fondest expectations. Late in the autumn of 1859, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, he died suddenly, and was buried in the little cemetery overlooking the "Sleepy Hollow" that he had made famous. His home and his grave are still visited yearly by thousands, many of them schoolboys and schoolgirls, who have learned to love the creator of Ichabod Crane and Rip Van Winkle.

IRVING THE AUTHOR

For more than forty years, as we have seen, Irving held a large place among English-speaking people. He has been called the "Father of American Literature." In the words of Thackeray, he was "The first ambassador whom the new world of letters sent to the old." But what we are interested to know, is what position he now holds among the large number of American authors who have made themselves known both at home and abroad, and what qualities give him the rank that he is conceded to have.

It is, of course, not to be expected that all of his fifteen or more volumes will continue to be read. It is enough that several of them are read and loved by each new generation. It is more than forty years since Irving died, but he is a living presence in American literature. He had not the creative

[graphic]
[ocr errors]

men, a kindly sympathy ency to the highest; he chivalrous actions, and nical suspicion; he was 1. His books are wholeamor without any sting, heir more solid qualities tension."

Boyhood of Irving. with that of Irving and

Compare with Irving's lon.

(Compare with that of other literary

e them as writers, as as men of genius, as

distinct classes did he have the higher, why

ar of Wakefield.

« VorigeDoorgaan »