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was a spontaneous optimist; he declined to look upon the gloomy and sinister side of life. His intellectual ship was not a vessel of deep draft; but her lines were graceful, her sails white, her movement lightsome and she sailed on summer seas; the hand upon her helm ever steered her towards the Happy Isles. His success as a writer surprised and almost intimidated him; he could not believe that his work was so excellent as the public declared it to be. This, no doubt, was because the work was the genuine and unforced product of his temperament, which was normally literary; he could not gauge a quality so intimate to himself. Humor ranging from playful to broad was a prominent feature of his writings; and allied with it was a sincere and refined vein of pathos. His observation was accurate and graphic, his perception of character picturesque and sympathetic, his judgment sane and serene. His mind was creative, though not on a profound scale; he was wanting in the constructive faculty; and there were regions of human nature which he made no attempt to explore. But in his own gentle and charming sphere he was altogether admirable.

VI

Lowell's estimate in his "Fable for Critics" is all that Irving's friends could desire. To a true poet-heart add the fun of Dick Steele, Throw in all of Addison, minus the chill,

With the whole of that partnership's stock and good will,

His Romances of the Hudson

93

Mix well, and while stirring, hum o'er as a spell, The fine old English Gentleman, simmer it well, Sweeten just to your own private liking, then strain, That only the finest and clearest remain,

Let it stand out of doors till a soul it receives

From the warm, lazy sun loitering down through green leaves,

And you'll find a choice nature, not wholly deserving

A name either English or Yankee-just Irving.

VII

New York owes him especial recognition and gratitude in that he was the first to clothe the beautiful region of the lower Hudson with a mantle of legend. His residence, "Sunnyside", on the site of Katrina Van Tassel's home, two or three miles south of Tarrytown, is a shrine of literary pilgrims; and the old Dutch church so familiar to readers of "The Sketch Book" is still in good preservation though erected in 1699. We reproduce as the best example of Irving's work his "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" entire, with the illustrations by Felix 0. C. Darley, published by The American Art Union in 1849.

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