The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1860-03-09
For the Jeffeisoninn Democrat.
Washington Irving.

Who shall write his life ? He who has so
admirably portrayed tho virtues of Washing.
ton, of Columbus, of Goldsmith, who mas
ter pen shall give to tho world of readers
the memoirs of his own tranquil and happy
life t.? Whether among our own countrymen
he shall find Observation-Disclosures Emer.
son shall add another to his Representative
Men" and thus give him a name among the
Shakespeares of biographical, descriptive
and sentimental literature; or whether
among a host of admirers and constant
companions abroad, there shall bo one to
tell the simple tales OF his life, little time
will determine. But, whether there be such
biographer or not, it matters little, since
we have his own penciIngs in the AIham
bra--his own "foot-prints in the sands OF
time" ir the vega of Granada and among the
Alpurarras of Spain. His life is revealed in
his writings. We want no secondhand
painting to exhibit tho beauties of his style
or of his character. The one cuptivatcs
while we read, the other elovatcs whilo we
mediate. He was a capital joker, mild
satirist and an effective, though not an
avowed moralst. Who that has road
"Kuickerbocker." will question for a moment
his ability to porpetrate joke: What
sarcasm What burlesqne on all ancient
histories What inevitable conclusions. and
manifest rcoU'ts of saas~a and oAee.a 40,
instance, tho capture of the Swedish fortress
on the Delaware by that old Dutch governor
with the wooden leg,"Potor the Hcadstropg,
tho glories of which victory produced a
Washington, who was tho lifu of tho Amori.
can Revolution, which remarkable occur
renee engendercd a revolutionary spirit in
France. thus showing by string of facts that
events hang on circumstances.
His sympathy for tho afflicted, for the un
fortunate, is every where manifested. Hi
researches in the lifo of tho "unlucky Boab
dill" boar ample testimony to this Wher
in tho Alhambra, the constant rovilings anC
[ aspersions which he heard against this un
fortunate monarch, touched this strong core
in his soul, and nothing but the record of hi
deeds would satisfy tho charitable Irving
The momentoes which he gathers from vari
Gus sources all hear evidence that the i'll
fated Moor was simply "unlucky," and no
the traitor he was thought to have been
Even his own mother, whom tho little banC
of royal cxi!ss on the summit of rock. tool
their last look at Granada, rcproached hin
| for weakness because no wept. Tho mis-
| fortunes of his whole life came crowdnl
into his mind, and forced at last to leav,
that beautiful home, why should ho no
weep: With what bitterness, then, mus
the heartless jeer of his mother have fallel
upon his heart "You do WE'LL" says she
$50 weep as a woman over that which yo
could not defend as a man" "a speech,
observes Mr.. Irving, "savoring more of tn
pride of the princess than tho Tenderness q
a mother" 1t was from this "IlIl of Tears
that the sorrowing monarch gavo expresso
to the woful lamentations of a broken hear
and Mr. Irving, full of pity, asks, "who ca
wonder at his anguish, at being expolle
from such kingdom and such an abode
"-nevor more in that brgh. land,
With all his chivalry at hand,
Now doad, or far departed; RS
And from the hillside moves tho band /;
The bravest, broken hearted"
His writings are so full of pleasantries thu
one would scarcely think it possible he coul
indulge such sentiment rs resontmen
!. But in his Goldsmith he often becomes higI
ly indignant at the moddesomo, pryn
jcalouses of Boswell, whom he calls a
sorts of hard namos--such as "Literal
magpie." eternal mcddler and busy body. ct
No doubt Johnson's puppy deserved ther
ZERO.
u CLARION, Feb. 18th, 1860!