him both as a writer and as a man." It is indeed true, to borrow the words of an eminent American poet,

"Amiableness is so strongly marked in all Mr. Irving's writings, as never to let you forget the man; and the pleasure is doubled in the same manner as it is in lively conversation with one for whom you have a deep attachment and esteem. There is in it also the gayety and airiness of a light, pure spirit,—a fanciful playing with common things, and here and there beautiful touches, till the ludicrous becomes half-picturesque."-RICHARD H. DANA, SR.: N. Amer. Rev., ix. 336, Sept. 1819.

If Mr. Dana were called upon to reaffirm the above, after forty years, and over the large pile of volumes which Mr. Irving has since given to the world, we are satisfied that he would do it without a moment's hesitation.

Many years ago, Edward Everett advised the young aspirant after literary distinction,

"If he wishes to study a style which possesses the characteristic beauties of Addison's, its ease, simplicity, and elegance, with greater accuracy, point, and spirit, let him give his days and nights to the volumes of Irving."-N. Amer. Rev., xli. 4, July,

1835.

Young men have followed this advice most sedulously; and, indeed, a number of years before this counsel was penned, Mr. Irving's example had produced wonders:

"The great effect which it has produced is sufficiently evident already, in the number of good writers, in various forms of elegant literature, who have sprung up among us within the few years which have elapsed since the appearance of Mr. Irving, and who justify our preceding remark, that he may fairly be considered as the founder of a school."-ALEXANDER H. EVERETT: N. Amer. Rev., xxviii. 11, Jan. 1829.

"Heretofore the essays of Washington Irving have offered a solitary specimen of the lighter literature of America, but we can now only regard Geoffrey Crayon as the founder of a class of writers, who follow closely in his footsteps."-Court Journal: Notice of Stories of American Life, edited by Mary Russell Mitford.

These remarks apply to both sides of the water. If an English reviewer desires to pay an especially handsome compliment to an author,-presuming that the case admits of a likeness being instituted at all, he is very likely to be strongly reminded of the style of the author of The Sketch-Book. Let us cite some instances. The author of the article on George Colman and Bonnel Thornton's Connoisseur, in Chambers's Cyclopædia of English Literature, quotes a passage from an essay on Country Churches, "which," says the critic, "seems like a leaf from the note-book of Washington Irving." The reviewer in the London New Times remarks, of the author of Tales of a Voyager, that his "humor is of the spirit and quality of Washington Irving." The London Gentleman's Magazine says that in the perusal of The Journal of an Exile ". we have frequently been reminded of the style and manner of The Sketch-Book,—the same pathos, the same originality of thought, the same felicity of expression." The London Monthly Review is so delighted with The Lucubrations of Major Humphrey Ravelin, that it declares that "many of the practised writers must fall into the rear, in competition with Major Ravelin, who must stand muster with Geoffrey Crayon." The London Spectator, in a notice of the Autobiography of Hugh Miller, remarks that "his style has a purity and elegance which reminds one of Irving and Goldsmith." One of the most distinguished of American authors is not disposed to think that any of Irving's imitators have equalled their master; at

least, this was his opinion at the time he penned the article from which we are about to quote:

"The candor with which the English have recognized Mr. Irving's literary merits is equally honorable to both parties, while his genius has experienced a still more unequivocal homage, in the countless imitations to which he has given rise; imitations whose uniform failure, notwithstanding all the appliances of accomplishment and talent, proves their model to be inimitable.". WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT: N. Amer. Rev., xxxv. 191-192, July, 1832.

It is only proper to remark that Mr. Prescott has no reference, so far as we are aware, to either of the comparisons cited above. They were collected by ourselves, in the course of desultory reading. Washington Irving, indeed, can never be confounded with the host of his imitators, abroad or at home. His literary reputation rests upon sure foundations,-broad, deep, well settled, and immutable. As regards his own country,

"Other writers may no doubt arise in the course of time, who will exhibit in verse or prose a more commanding talent, and soar a still loftier flight in the empyrean sky of glory. Some western Homer, Shakspeare, Milton, Corneille, or Calderon, may irradiate our literary world with a flood of splendor that shall throw all other greatness into the shade. This, or something like it, may or may not happen; but, even if it should, it can never be disputed that the mild and beautiful genius of Mr. Irving was the Morning Star that led up the march of our heavenly host; and that he has a fair right, much fairer certainly than the great Mantuan, to assume the proud device, Primus ego in Patriam.". -ALEXANDER H. EVERETT: N. Amer. Rev., xxviii. 110, Jan. 1829.

As respects Mr. Irving's fame abroad, it is certainly true, as

Mr. Prescott remarks, that his merits have been-from the first, we will add-warmly acknowledged by British critics, and cordially appreciated by British readers. The circulation of his delightful volumes is by no means confined to the literary circles of the critics:

"To my poor cottage, rich only in printed paper," remarks an accomplished lady, "people all come to borrow books for themselves or for their children. Sometimes they make their own selections; sometimes, much against my will, they leave the choice to me; and in either case I know no books that are oftener lent than those that bear the pseudonym of Geoffrey Crayon. Few, very few, can show a long succession of volumes so pure, so graceful, and so varied as Mr. Irving."-Mary Russell Mitford's Recollections of a Literary Life.

Such a tribute as this must be peculiarly grateful to Mr. Irving. "It is excellent," says Isabella to the haughty duke, "to have a giant's strength; " but there is a rarer and more precious gift. To have the power, by the magic of the inspiration of genius, to elevate the mind, and to improve the heart,to cause the rich to forget their covetousness and the poor their poverty, to while away the tedious hours of declining age, of bodily pain, or mental disquietude,-this is indeed a gift more excellent than the giant's strength, the victor's laurel, or the conqueror's crown; and this honor has WASHINGTON IRVING,—the author of THE SKETCH-BOOK, and THE ALHAMBRA, the biographer of COLUMBUS and of WASHINGTON.

SUNNYSIDE AND ITS PROPRIETOR.

[From an article by H. T. TUCKERMAN, in "Homes of American Authors."]

* * * THIS Outline [of Irving's Life and Works] should be filled by the reader's imagination with the accessories and coloring incident to so varied, honorable and congenial a life. In all his wanderings, his eye was busied with the scenes of nature, and cognizant of their every feature, his memory brooded over the traditions of the past, and his heart caught and reflected every phase of humanity. With the feelings of a poet and the habitudes of an artist, he thus wandered over the rural districts of merry England, the melancholy hills of romantic Spain, and the exuberant wilderness of his native land, gathering up their most picturesque aspects and their most affecting legends, and transferring them, with the pure and vivid colors of his genial expression, into permanent memorials. Every quaint outline, every mellowed tint, the aërial perspective that leads the sight into the mazes of antiquity, the amusing still-life or characteristic human attributes, all that excites wonder, sympathy and merriment, he thus recognized and preserved, and shed over all the sunny atmosphere of a kindly heart and the freshness of a natural zest, and the attraction of a modest character,—a combina