Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1860-06-02
TFor the Vermont PhTnix
WASHINGTON IRVING,

WASdlN6ION Inv lNt
"sleep sound Though the world be weary with fears,
Aid eyes that love thee be sad with tears,
Yet never q sorrow break thy rest,
And never pang shoot through thy breast;
No shadow pass DER thy closed eyes,
But their union be visions OF Pnradiso."
The Arabian idea that the soul of the de-
ceased becomes star in the sky of heaven was
indeed beautiful thought; and it would not
be inapproprately applied to the fame of the
author which is left to glow like bright light
in the literary sky after hts DEATH As in the
celestial sphere there are stars of the first mag
nitude which are the brightest Of all others of
the second which are less so, and others still of
the third, fourth, fifth and sixth magnitude in
a descending scale, until the sixth may not he
seen except through telescope; so in the lite
rary sphere, we have the poet historian, legal,
religious, scientific and literary writers arranged
according to their respective consultations i'll
magnitude and brightness. Every nation has
its stars of the first magnitude. If it be asked
which of these is the brightest, it will be an
swered-Ancient Greece had her Homer, Rome
her Virgil, England her Shakespere, France her
Voltaire, Spain her Ceryantes, Italy her Dante,
Germany her Goethe, and last, though not least,
Prussia her Humboldt. Amidst this brilliant
galaxy of names America proudly points to
IRVING as her brightest luminary.
1t seems but a short time since that the seeds
of learning first fell on the then barren soil of
this western world. Planted in the American
brain, enriched by an all -pervading intelligence
and cultivated by diligent study, they have
burst their encascments and expanded into a
genial air. Warmed by the rays Of ambition,
and bedewed, as it were by industry, they have
sprung up into the tender, though healthy
shoot, quickly grown to be vigorous sapling,
and now stand broad bearing tree, richly laden
with fruit. And truly by its fruit has this tree
been known. In thrift it equals the most luXu-
RANT growth of Europe. Its fruits, we may
proudly say, have been Irving, Prescott, Ban
croft, Cooper, Longfellow, Halleck.
Is it strange that young nation like ours
should wish to place its men of ability on an
equal footing with those of other nations? 1t
is but short while since our literary men were
first admitted to equal honors among the ranks
of those OF the old world. And to whose in
strumentality is it that we are chiefly indebted
for this exalted glory? Who is it that first
made naughty England weave a laurel wreath
for the stranger and sojourner in her land P
who but he whose name is doubly sweet to the
American heart and car. since his christian
name was that .. .e father Of our country,
while his surname has been rendered iusirious
to all nations and to all time? 1t is WASHING
TON IRVING he who has so recently been
called away from among US that, as Mr. Bryant
SAID IN his Vi, .i.-i-. ...'-o. eur assembly is
rather an expression Of sorrow for his death
than that such man WINS born
Yes, WASHINGTON IRVING, thou art gone
Yet still thou livest amongs, us in thy works.
In these we see thee still for not like others
didst thou bedeck thy pen with a drapery not
thine own. 1t was with the simple styles that
thou hast charmed the world mot by clothing
poor thoughts with fluent language, but by ex-
pressing beauteous imagery with plainnesS and
simplicity. We love thy thoughts for them
selves, as well as for their beautiful language.
Truly hast thou left us a legacy of flowers that
shall bloom sempiternally in the gardens OF
! literature.
Bryant, in speaking of the style of Irving,
says that "the humor in the lighter parts is OF
peculiar original cast, wholly unlike that OF
any author who ever wrote" Dana speaks OF
his style as "a fanciful playing with common
things and here and there beautiful touches till
the ludicrous becomes half picturesque" Bry-
ant again speaks of him as "thc evening star
of the armament of literature;" and farther on
says;-"lf | am not greatly mistaken, the pop
ular novelists of the day have learned from his
pattern the skill with which they have wrought
up some Of their most striking passages both
grand and gay"
II is NOT lOnS sluCt We HpuIu tilc Cuut
of Iryington toling its farewell knell to the
departed soul and, as the solemn notes were
cast forth upon the still autumn air, they were
echoed back from the hills surrounding Sleep,
Hollow. We may say that
"The curfew toll'd the knell of parting day
to one of our fellow men. Aye, DER the crest
of yonder hill appears the sable pail borne by
some loved friends. On they come, with down,
cast looks and slow and solemn tread. On the,
come, with the last one who perhaps but few
hours before was in as gay and lusty life as an,
one of us, but now soon to be laid
"Where heaves the turf in many moulding heap"
On, still on the procession comes, and it seems
as if that sad, hard tongued bell at each tol
counts a step towards the gaping earth, where
old mortality waits to do his office. Is it per
haps the funeral train of some rustic swair
borne to his last resting place on earth, one tC
whom at birth a swadling cloth, and at the enc
piece of ground six feet by two, were all hi
worldly possessions here below But sue
cessive couples mount the crest, successive cou
pies follow them; who can it be that calls fortl
so large and goodly a company? Let us wal
and see. Still onward slowly they advance
At length they reach the church; tread SLOWLY
up the aisle and place the coffin down. Let VI
look upon the lid. At glance the engraved
words send sorrow to the heart; and then it i,
seen why clouds rest on the brow of the sky
why the hills of Sleepy Hollow murmur back
the solemn notes, why Sunnysde is sunnysidt
no more, why the noble Hudson blends sac
tones with the ripple of his waves, and why ma
ture seems to mourn, and sadness to rest Oh
every thing. The name upon the lid is WASH
INGToN IRVING, in whose death America los
her greatest novelist and biographer. But le
us take glance at his past life.
WASHINGTON IRVING was born in New Yorl
April Sd, 1888, only q few days after the recep
Of the news from England acknowledging oul
independence; and he died November 2Sth
1859. William Irving his father was Scotch
man. 1t is related that when General Wash
ington was at one time in New York, while
Irving was yet child, his nurse, Scotchwo.
man, seeing Washington enter a store, went tc
him with the child and said, General, here's
BARN that's named after ye." Washington
turned, and with smile placed his hands or
lrvings head and blessed him--him who was
destined to be his biographer. Irving men
toning this subject shortly before his deatl
said that this blessing had been present witt