The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1859-12-02
D..,A 81 wasAs.sso. rrv,.s.

DsasA q WasAsngton Irving.
The telegraph brings u the news Of the
| death Of Wsshing nJrving. He died q his
rssidsoss, Ssn1ysids, On the 2sth alk rall
| Of years and 81 hosor, enjoying the anfSnit-
ted sttsntious o. psrsona friends And the
undivided sksssion Of the American psopls,
tho Nsstor OF American literature has passed
away. fronamong the living.
A correspondent Oh Tho N. Y. Independent
gives the following acooontaof ! half honr'a
visit TO him recently:
Mn. IRvIE0's APPxAaANcE.-Mr. Irving il
not 90 old-looking ~ ono would expect Who
knew his age. lancied him ~ in the win
tor Of life; found him only IN Its Indian
summer. Hs came down stairs, and walked
through the hall into the back -parler, with :
firm and lively step that might we'll have
made one doubt whether hs had truly At
tanned his seventy-seventh year He was
suffering from asthma, and Wa nufled
agsinst the damp air with Scotch shawl,
wrapped like great loose scarf around HE
neck but - he took his seat in the old arm
chair, and, deapits his hoArsensss and troub
led chest, began N Unexpectedly vivacious
conversation, he made mo almost forget that
wss tho guest Of "a old man long past his
ssthrss-scofe years and ten.''
WHAT Hs Trunks OF ms WoHKs.-But what
should one talk about who had only half an
hour with Washington Irving2 venture
tho question.
Now that you have laid aside your pen,
which Of your books do you look back upon
with most plsesure2"
He immsdiately replied, 81 scarcely look
with full satisfaction upon any for they do
not seem what they might have been often
-~s"h .s1t could haYs yyeGrs more, to
take them down from the shelf, one by one,
and write them over"
HIS HASrrs or LIrHRARY LABoa.-He spoke
OF his daily habits of writing, bsfore hs had
made the resolution 10 write no more. His
usual hours for literary work were from
morning to noon. Bus, although be had
generally found his mind most vigorous in
the early part Of the day, be had always been
subject TO moods and caprisss, aud could
never tell, whom he took up the pen, how ma
ny hours would pass before hs would lay il
down.
eBat," said he, ssthsse espficious periods,
Of the heat end elow OF competition, have
been the happiest hours Of my life. have
never found, in anything outside of tho four
walls Of my etudy, any enjoyment equal TO
sitting at my writing desk witha clean page,
new theme, and . mind awake
His literary employmenss, he remarked,
had always been moro like entertainments
| than tasks.
sSoms writsrs,' said be, sappsar to have
bssn independent Of moods. Sir Waiter
SCOTT, for instsnoe, had great power Of wri-
ting, and could work almost at any time 20
could Crabbe-but with this difference: Scott
slways, and Crahbs seldom, wrote we'll.
remember, = said be, stalking breakfast one
morning with Rogers, Moore and Orsbbs
the conversation turned on Byron's poetic
moods; Crabbe said that, howsvsrit might
be with Lord Byrsn, - for himself be could
write ~ we'll at ono time - ct another. Blu, =,
said Irving, with twinkle Of humor at re-
calling the incident, s46rabbe hes written :
great deal that nobody oan readi''
He mentioned that while living in Paris, be
went long period without being able to
write, 81 sat down repeatedly" said he,
with pom and ink, bat could invent nothing
worb putting on paper. At length, told
my friend, Tom Moore, Who dropped in one
morning, that now, after long waiting, had
SM0 U40oQs oUu WYNN uVtu 0u0 WOUt0 Wurk
it out 40 long ~ il would last, until had
wruug my brain dry. So began 10 write
shortly after breakfast; and continued. with
out noticing how the time Was passing, until
Moore came in again ct four in tho afternoon
with freshly written shssts. kept the mood
almost without intarrupsion for cir weeks. -
asked which OF his books was the result
Of this frenzy; he replied, " Bracebridge
Hail." -
ssNone Of your works., remarked, ssars
more charming than the biography Of Gold
Smith"
1Fst that VS. writssu,D ssid he. seven
more rapidly than the other" He then
added:
"Whsn have bssn engaged on eootin
uous work, hare often BEEN Obliged to rise
in the middle Of the night, light my lamp, and
write % hour or two, to relieve my mind !;
and now that write no more, am sometimes
compelled 10 get up in the same way TO
read.n
Sometimes, also, AZ The last Idlewild letter
mentions, he gets up to shavet
"When | Was in Spain,v he remarked,
"searching the old chronicles, and engaged
on the Life Of Colunbas, often wrote -four.
sccu VI uitucu uOuTb OUT OF the tWenyy-fOur.D
He said that whenever hs had forced his
mind nnwillipgly 70 work, the product was
worthless; and he invariably threw it away
and bsgan again; ssfor, - bs observed, San
essay or chapter that bar been only ham
mersd out, II seldom good for anything. An
authors right time to work u whom his mind
is aglow; when his imagination 10 kindled--
these are tho precious moments Lot him wait
until they come, but when they have como,
lot him make the most OF them. a
Hrs Lam WoRK.-I referred to his last and
greatest work, the Life Of Washington, and
asked il he felt, on finishing il, any such
sensation ~ Gibbon i said 70 hsse expo,
Fall. He replied that the whole work had
engrossed his mind to such degree, that be-
fore he Was aware, he hsd written himself
intn f0AhlA hAalth that ~ faa~a@ - 49,