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See also:IRVING, See also:WASHINGTON (1783-18J9) , See also:American See also:man of letters, was See also:born at New See also:York on the 3rd of See also:April 1783. See also:Roth his parents were immigrants from See also:Great See also:Britain, his See also:father, originally an officer in the See also:merchant service, but at the See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time of Irving's See also:birth a considerable merchant, having come from the Orkneys, and his See also:mother from See also:Falmouth. Irving was intended for the legal profession, but his studies were interrupted by an illness necessitating a voyage to See also:Europe, in the course of which he proceeded as far as See also:Rome, and made the acquaintance of Washington See also:Allston. He was called to the See also:bar upon his return, but made little effort to practise, preferring to amuse himself with See also:literary ventures. The first of these of any importance, a satirical See also:miscellany entitled Salmagundi, or the Whim-Whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff and others, written in See also:conjunction with his See also:brother See also:- WILLIAM
- WILLIAM (1143-1214)
- WILLIAM (1227-1256)
- WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
- WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
- WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
- WILLIAM, 13TH
William and J. K. See also:Paulding, gave ample See also:- PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)
proof of his talents as a humorist. These were still more conspicuously displayed in his next See also:attempt, A See also:History of New York from the Beginning of the See also:World to the End of the Dutch See also:Dynasty, by '` Diedrich See also:Knickerbocker " (2 vols., New York, 1809). The See also:satire of Salmagundi had been principally See also:local, and the See also:original See also:design of " Knickerbocker's " History was only to See also:burlesque a pretentious disquisition on the history of the See also:city in a See also:guide-See also:book by Dr See also:Samuel See also:Mitchell. The See also:idea See also:expanded as Irving proceeded, and See also:lie ended by not merely satirizing the pedantry of local antiquaries, but by creating a distinct literary type out of the solid Dutch burgher whose phlegm had See also:long been an See also:object of ridicule to the See also:mercurial Americans. Though far from the most finished of Irving's productions, " Knickerbocker "manifests the most original See also:power, and is the most genuinely See also:national in its quaintness and drollery. The very tardiness and prolixity of the See also:story are skilfully made to heighten the humorous effect.
Upon the See also:death of his father, Irving had become a sleeping partner in his brother's commercial See also:house, a See also:branch of which was established at See also:Liverpool. This, combined with the restoration of See also:peace, induced him to visit See also:England in 1815, when he found the stability of the See also:firm seriously compromised. After some years of ineffectual struggle it became bankrupt. This misfortune compelled Irving to resume his See also:pen as a means of subsistence. His reputation had preceded him to England, and the curiosity naturally excited by the then unwonted apparition of a successful American author procured him See also:admission into the highest literary circles, where his popularity was ensured by his amiable See also:temper and polished See also:manners. As an American, moreover, he stood aloof from the See also:political and literary disputes which then divided England. See also:- CAMPBELL, ALEXANDER (1788–1866)
- CAMPBELL, BEATRICE STELLA (Mrs PATRICK CAMPBELL) (1865– )
- CAMPBELL, GEORGE (1719–1796)
- CAMPBELL, JOHN
- CAMPBELL, JOHN (1708-1775)
- CAMPBELL, JOHN CAMPBELL, BARON (1779-1861)
- CAMPBELL, JOHN FRANCIS
- CAMPBELL, LEWIS (1830-1908)
- CAMPBELL, REGINALD JOHN (1867— )
- CAMPBELL, THOMAS (1777—1844)
Campbell, See also:Jeffrey, See also:Moore, See also:Scott, were counted among his See also:friends, and the last-named zealously recommended him to the publisher See also:- MURRAY
- MURRAY (or MORAY), EARLS OF
- MURRAY (or MORAY), JAMES STUART, EARL OF (c. 1531-1570)
- MURRAY (or MORAY), SIR ROBERT (c. 1600-1673)
- MURRAY, ALEXANDER STUART (1841-1904)
- MURRAY, DAVID (1849– )
- MURRAY, EUSTACE CLARE GRENVILLE (1824–1881)
- MURRAY, JAMES (c. 1719-1794)
- MURRAY, JOHN
- MURRAY, JOHN (1778–1820)
- MURRAY, LINDLEY (1745–1826)
- MURRAY, LORD GEORGE (1694–1760)
- MURRAY, SIR JAMES AUGUSTUS HENRY (1837– )
- MURRAY, SIR JOHN (1841– )
Murray, who, after at first refusing, consented (182o) to bring out The See also:Sketch Book of See also:Geoffrey See also:Crayon, Gent. (7 pts., New York, 1819–182o). The most interesting See also:part of this See also:work is the description of an See also:English See also:Christmas, which displays a delicate See also:humour not unworthy of the writer's evident See also:model See also:Addison. Some stories and sketches on American themes contribute to give it variety; of these Rip See also:van Winkle is the most remarkable. It speedily obtained the greatest success on both sides of the See also:Atlantic. Bracebridge See also:- HALL
- HALL (generally known as SCHWABISCH-HALL, tc distinguish it from the small town of Hall in Tirol and Bad-Hall, a health resort in Upper Austria)
- HALL (O.E. heall, a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. Halle)
- HALL, BASIL (1788-1844)
- HALL, CARL CHRISTIAN (1812–1888)
- HALL, CHARLES FRANCIS (1821-1871)
- HALL, CHRISTOPHER NEWMAN (1816—19oz)
- HALL, EDWARD (c. 1498-1547)
- HALL, FITZEDWARD (1825-1901)
- HALL, ISAAC HOLLISTER (1837-1896)
- HALL, JAMES (1793–1868)
- HALL, JAMES (1811–1898)
- HALL, JOSEPH (1574-1656)
- HALL, MARSHALL (1790-1857)
- HALL, ROBERT (1764-1831)
- HALL, SAMUEL CARTER (5800-5889)
- HALL, SIR JAMES (1761-1832)
- HALL, WILLIAM EDWARD (1835-1894)
Hall, or the Humourists (2 vols., New York), a work purely English in subject, followed in 1822, and showed to what See also:account the American observer had turned his experience of English See also:country See also:life. The humour is, nevertheless, much more English than American. Tales of a Traveller (4 pts.) appeared in 1824 at See also:Philadelphia, and Irving, now in comfortable circumstances, determined to enlarge his See also:sphere of observation by a See also:journey on the See also:continent. After a long course of travel he settled down at See also:Madrid in the house of the American See also:consul See also:Rich. His intention at the time was to translate the Coleccion de los Viajes y Descubrimientos (Madrid, 1825–1837) of See also:- MARTIN (Martinus)
- MARTIN, BON LOUIS HENRI (1810-1883)
- MARTIN, CLAUD (1735-1800)
- MARTIN, FRANCOIS XAVIER (1762-1846)
- MARTIN, HOMER DODGE (1836-1897)
- MARTIN, JOHN (1789-1854)
- MARTIN, LUTHER (1748-1826)
- MARTIN, SIR THEODORE (1816-1909)
- MARTIN, SIR WILLIAM FANSHAWE (1801–1895)
- MARTIN, ST (c. 316-400)
- MARTIN, WILLIAM (1767-1810)
Martin See also:Fernandez de See also:Navarrete; finding, however, that this was rather a collection of valuable materials than a systematic See also:biography, he 'determined to compose a biography of his own by its assistance, supplemented by See also:independent researches in the See also:Spanish archives. His History of the Life and Voyages of See also:Christopher See also:Columbus (See also:London, 4 vols.) appeared in 1828, and obtained a merited success. The Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus (Philadelphia, 1831) followed; and a prolonged See also:residence in the See also:south of See also:Spain gave Irving materials for two highly picturesque books, A See also:Chronicle of the See also:Conquest of See also:Granada from the See also:MSS. of [an imaginary] Fray See also:Antonio Agapida (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1829), and The See also:Alhambra: a See also:series of tales and sketches of the See also:Moors and Spaniards (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1832). Previous to their See also:appearance he had been appointed secretary to the See also:embassy at London, an See also:- OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")
office as purely complimentary to his literary ability as the legal degree which he about the same time received from the university of See also:- OXFORD
- OXFORD, EARLS OF
- OXFORD, EDWARD DE VERE, 17TH EARL
- OXFORD, JOHN DE VERE, 13TH EARL OF (1443-1513)
- OXFORD, PROVISIONS OF
- OXFORD, ROBERT DE VERE, 9TH EARL OF (1362-1392)
- OXFORD, ROBERT HARLEY, 1ST
Oxford.
Returning to the See also:United States.in 1832, after seventeen years' See also:absence, he found his name a See also:household word, and himself universally honoured as the first American who had won for his country recognition on equal terms in the literary See also:republic. After the See also:rush of fetes and public compliments had subsided; he undertook a tour in the western prairies, and returning to the neighbourhood of New York built for himself a delightful See also:retreat on the See also:Hudson, to which he gave the name of " Sunnyside." His acquaintance with the New York millionaire See also:John See also:Jacob See also:Astor prompted his next important work—See also:Astoria (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1836), a history of the See also:fur-trading See also:settlement founded by Astor in See also:Oregon, deduced with singular literary ability from dry commercial records, and, without laboured attempts at word-See also:painting, evincing a remarkable See also:faculty for bringing scenes and incidents vividly before the See also:eye. The
Adventures of See also:Captain See also:Bonneville (London and Philadelphia, 1837), based upon the unpublished See also:memoirs of a See also:veteran explorer, was another work of the same class. In 1842 Irving was appointed See also:ambassador to Spain. He spent four years in the country, without this time turning his residence to literary account; and it was not until two years after his return that See also:Forster's life of See also:Goldsmith, by reminding him of a slight See also:essay of hi'7 own which he now thought too imperfect by comparison to be included among his collected writings, stimulated him to the See also:production of his Life of See also:Oliver Goldsmith, with Selections from his Writings (2 vols., New York, 1849).
Without pretensions to original See also:research, the book displays an admirable See also:- TALENT (Lat. talentum, adaptation of Gr. TaXavrov, balance, ! Recollections of a First Visit to the Alps (1841); Vacation Rambles weight, from root raX-, to lift, as in rXi vac, to bear, 1-aXas, and Thoughts, comprising recollections of three Continental
talent for employing existing material to the best effect. The same may be said of The Lives of See also:Mahomet and his Successors (New York, 2 vols., 1849-185o). Here as elsewhere Irving correctly discriminated the biographer's See also:province from the historian's, and leaving the philosophical investigation of cause and effect to writers of See also:Gibbon's calibre, applied himself to represent the picturesque features of the See also:age as embodied in the actions and utterances of its most characteristic representatives. His last days were devoted to his Life of See also:George Washington (5 vols., 1855-185Q, New York and London), undertaken in an enthusiastic spirit, but which the author found exhausting and his readers tame. His See also:genius required a more poetical theme, and indeed the biographer of Washington must be at least a potential soldier and statesman. Irving just lived to See also:complete this work, dying of See also:heart disease at Sunnyside, on the 28th of See also:November 18J9.
Although one of the See also:chief ornaments of American literature, Irving is not characteristically American. But he is one of the few authors of his See also:period who really See also:manifest traces of a vein of national peculiarity which might under other circumstances have been productive. " Knickerbocker's" History of New York, although the See also:air of See also:mock solemnity which constitutes the See also:staple of its humour is See also:peculiar to no literature, manifests nevertheless a power of reproducing a distinct national type. Had circumstances taken Irving to the See also:West, and placed him amid a society teeming with See also:quaint and genial eccentricity, he might possibly have been the first Western humorist, and his humour might have gained in See also:depth and richness. In England, on the other See also:hand, everything encouraged his natural fastidiousness; he became a refined writer, but by no means a robust one. His See also:biographies See also:bear the See also:stamp of genuine See also:artistic intelligence, equally remote from compilation and disquisition. In See also:execution they are almost faultless; the narrative is easy, the See also:style pellucid, and the writer's See also:judgment nearly always in accordance with the See also:general See also:verdict of history. Without ostentation or affectation, he was exquisite in all things, a See also:mirror of See also:loyalty, See also:courtesy and See also:good See also:taste in all his literary connexions, and exemplary in all the relations of domestic life. He never married, remaining true to the memory of an See also:early See also:attachment blighted by death.
The See also:principal edition of Irving's See also:works is the "Geoffrey Crayon," published at New York in 188o in 26 vols. His Life and Letters was published by his See also:nephew See also:Pierre M. Irving (London. 1862--1864, 4 vols. ; See also:German abridgment by Adolf Latin, See also:Berlin, 187o, 2 vols.) There is a good See also:deal of See also:miscellaneous See also:information in a compilation entitled Irvingiana (New York, 186o); and W. C. See also:Bryant's memorial oration, though somewhat too uniformly laudatory, may be consulted with See also:advantage. It was republished in Studies of Irving (188o) along with C. See also:Dudley See also:Warner's introduction to the " Geoffrey Crayon " edition, and Mr G. P. See also:Putnam's See also:personal reminiscences of Irving, which originally appeared in the :atlantic Monthly. See also Washington Irving (1881), by C. D. Warner, in the " American Men of Letters " series; H. R. See also:Haweis, American Humourists (London, 1883). (R. G.)farms here. See also:Irvington was settled near the See also:close of the 17th See also:century, and was called Camptown until 1852, when the See also:present name was adopted in See also:honour of Washington Irving. It was incorporated as a See also:village in 1874, and as a See also:town in 1898.
End of Article: IRVING, WASHINGTON (1783-18J9)
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