Washington Irving
LETTERS OF JONATHAN OLDSTYLE, GENT
9 Humorous Essays on the Fashions of the Time and the New York Theatre Scene
Published by
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2017 OK Publishing
ISBN 978-80-272-0277-5
Table of Contents
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.
WHEN a writer has acquired great renown by his productions, and has established his reputation as a man of genius, we naturally feel a curiosity to become acquainted not only with his personal but his intellectual history. We like to trace up the current of his mind to its first tricklings, as it were, and to listen to its prattlings among the pebbles, as it is hurrying along to its broader and bolder channel.
The author of the Sketch Book has become more distinguished than perhaps any other American writer; and even England has been constrained to acknowledge that his productions are among the most elegant specimens of English composition.
In the year 1802, Mr. Irving first attracted public notice by publishing in the Morning Chronicle a series of sportive pieces under the signature of Jonathan Oldstyle. To the new generation of readers produced by the lapse of twenty-two years, we trust that their republication will be peculiarly acceptable.
It is in these specimens that we may perceive the germ of that genius which soon after blossomed in Salmagundi, shot forth in wild luxuriance in Knickerbocker, and finally displayed its rich fruit in the Sketch Book, and Bracebridge Hall.
A brief account of the life and writings o! Mr. Irving will, perhaps, not be deemed superfluous by the readers of this little publication.
The city of New York has the honour of being the birthplace of this distinguished author, who has given such eclat to the literary reputation of our country. He was a student in Columbia College, in the year 1800, but by reason of his infirm health, was under the necessity of relinquishing his classical studies, and of devoting his attention to pursuits less compulsory and severe. By way of recreation, he was advised to take lessons in drawing; and for this purpose he put himself under the tuition of a gentleman, whose Drawing Academy still maintains a high reputation in our city. What proficiency he made in this art, we have not the means of ascertaining. It is presumable, however, that this kind of sketching was not that which best accorded with his genius, nor probably consisted with his health; for he soon afterwards began to turn his thoughts to travel, and a voyage across the Atlantic was recommended by his physician, and encouraged by his kindred and friends. In the interim, however, and indeed before this determination had been taken, his elder brother, now in England, was editing a newspaper in this city; and although a political paper, and devoted to the views and interests of a party, yet some portions of its columns were occasionally embellished “by hands unseen,” with the flowers of poetry and literature, and sometimes enlivened by flashes of wit and humour. An inviting opportunity here presented itself, for trying the scarcely fledged wings of our juvenile author: and a twofold benefit could be conferred — credit to himself, and relief to the careworn and harassed editor, whose political conflicts did not allow him leisure to woo the muses to his aid; and he knew, that without some contributions from the Pierian district, his paper, even in this “banknote-world,” would soon decline, for the want of contributions of a more substantial quality.
It was at this period, that the light pieces now republished, first made their appearance. They attracted a good deal of notice, and the Morning Chronicle was eagerly sought for by the lovers of genuine native humour. Mr. Irving then embarked for France, from whence he proceeded to Italy, and went as far as Rome and Naples. His travels and residence abroad enabled him to entertain his friends at home with the most amusing accounts of his various adventures, and the most picturesque descriptions of every thing that presented itself to his ready and lively apprehension. His letters are, no doubt, yet to be found within the circle of his relatives and correspondents, and the hope may be indulged, that they will not suffer them to be lost.
Our author returned to America, we believe, some time in the year 1805 or 1806; and his health being much improved, he commenced the study of the law, in the office of an eminent counsellor in New York. Coke, however, “delighted him not — nor Blackstone neither.” What progress he made in his juridical pursuits, we know not; but that he read more than he understood, and understood more than he remembered, there can be but little doubt.
In the year 1807, he amused the town with his Salmagundi, which was published in numbers, commencing in January, and continuing till the beginning of the next year. Several of the numbers are ascribed to a gentleman who has since distinguished himself both in poetry and prose, and whose copious, chaste, and vigorous style, as well as his satirical wit, sarcastic humour, and biting irony, render all his attempts at concealment unavailing. The poetical pieces which embellish Salmagundi, are well known to be the production of the eldest brother of our author, and who is since deceased. Salmagundi is now publishing in London, as Knickerbocker’s History has already been; for such is Mr. Irving’s reputation and popularity in England, that John Bull is now quite willing to ask for, and to read, an American book; though, according to a learned coxcomb, (critic, we meant to say,) in the Edinburgh Review a few years ago, such a thing was then never thought of.
In the year 1810, an edition of Campbell s Poems being about to be published in Philadelphia, Mr. Irving was applied to for a biographical sketch of that sweet and sublime bard. This task he executed in a most masterly manner; and the forty pages of which it consists, form, in our humble opinion, the most beautiful and finished piece of serious composition that ever came from his pen. In point of style, refined sentiment, and generous and spirited effusion, we venture to assert, that it is not surpassed by any piece of prose in the English language.
The History of New York, by Deidrich Knickerbocker, was his next production; and in this he seems to have exerted all his powers of good-natured burlesque, playful wit, and facetious fancy. He prepared himself for this work by a course of diligent research into the antiquities of New Amsterdam; and the libraries of New York and Philadelphia were ransacked for materials, or rather subjects, for his wizard pencil. It is a broad caricature from beginning to end; and, like a magic lantern, exhibits the most fantastic combinations, the