Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1862-04-17

Married.
The New York correspondent Of the Bos-
ton Post writes as follows:
much mystery has attached to the celib- |
acy OF Washington Irving, While upon
every other point Of peculiarly Of the great
writer's character aud career his familiar
/ friends have taken pains TO inform the wide
circle Of his admirers, an aggravatiBg reti
ceDce has always met the questionings of
those who were curious as to why matrimony
maden no part of his experience. There were
occasional and very vague references made to
lang syne love-so dimly distant in the
past az to have the air Of trajition-and the
manner of mentioning which made Irving
appear the model OF constancy, If not the
herots a romance. But the circumstances
Of his bachelorhood remained simple, un-
explained fact the theme of many wonder
ings, the warp and woof of much imagining
-iiay more, the substructure of thousand
sweet sympathies outgushlng from other
hearts whose loves had not been lost but
gone before. 1t il doubtful il a secret Of
the sort--all things considered ever
before so carefully and completely kept. For
once the impertinent we're held at bay, the
prying were banked, and the sympathetic,
even, discouraged. The set time for its dis
closure had not come, and surely, when his
; intimates and relatives were debarred from
The remotest reference to the subject in the
hallowed home circle of the literary bachelor,
it was but proper that the truth should burst
forth upon the world, if at all, in Irving s
own selected time and in his own pathetic
language.
ut was while engaged in writing his his
tory Of New York, that Irving, then young
man Of twenty-six, was called to mourn the
somewhat sudden death of Matilda Hoffman,
whom he had hoped to call his wife This
young lady was the second daughter of Jo-
siah Ogden Hoffman, and the sister of those
two talented men, Charles Fenno Hoffman,,
jurist In her fathers office Washington
every prospect, if industrious and studious,
of partnership, with Mr. Hoffman as well
as matrimonial alliance with Matilda
These high hopes were disappointed by the
y decease OF the young lady on the 26th of
April, 1908, in the eighteenth year of her
age;
There is a pathos about Grving's recital
Of the circumstances of her death, and of his
own feelings, that is truly painful and tear
impellipg. He says: She was taken i'll
with cold. Nothing was thought of it at
first but she grew rapidly worse and fell in
to consumption. | cannot tell you what
+, suffered. " saw her fade rap.
Q idly away-beautiful, and more beautiful
: and lAore angelical to the very last. l was
often by her bedside, and in her wandering
: state of mind she would talk to ma With
Q efsweet, natural and affecting eloquence tina
It was overpowering. / saw more of the beau
vt ty of her mind in that delirious state than
6 had ever known before. Her malady wa
rapid in its career, and hurried her off il
two months Her dying struggles were pain
ful and protracted. For three days anc
g nights I did not leave the house, and scarce
ly slept l was by her side when she died
0 all the family were assembled around her
some g1Say1Hg Others a weeping for she wa
q tell you what horrid state of mind wa
d nothing; the world was blank to me.
y abandoned all thoughts of law. l went in
/ to the country, but could not bear solitude
a yet could not enjoy society There was
e dismal horror continually in my mind, tha
n made me fear to be alone. had often Il
e get up in the night and seek the bedroom
II Of my brother, as if the having a human be
ing by me would relieve me Of the frightfu
g gloom of my own thoughts. Months elapce,
r before my mind would resume any tone
o but the despondency had suffered for
v long time in the course of this attachment
% and the anguish that attended its catastro
20 phe, seemed to give turn to my Who'll
, character, and throw some clouds into m
a disposition, which have ever since hun
at about it. Iseemed to drift abou
u without aim or object, at the mercy of ever
& breeze my heart wanted anchorage. wa
, naturally susceptible, and tried to form 9th
! er attachments, but my heart would no
{, hold on; it would continually recur to wha
OF it had lost; and whenever there was paus
D; in the hurry of novelty and excitement,
N would sink into dismal detection. For year
Mt | could not talk on this hopeful regret
he could not even mention her name; but he
s. image was continually before me, and
= dreamt Of her necessarily.
le 'Such was the language in which Irwin
e. poured forth his sorrows and sad memories
!, in letter written many years ago to lady VIII
! wondered at his celibacy and expressed tn
e wish to know why he had never got married
or Can words more graphically describe th
" shipwreck Of hope, or more tenderly depiC
m the ehiValric devotion of faithful lover
e. How sweetly, too, does Irving portray wit
so his artist pen the lineaments of his love
y one. He says in letter. The more l sa
ny of her the more had reason to admire he
re Her mind seemed to unfold itself leaf by lea
and every time to discover new sweetness
Ks Nobody knew hor so we'll as |, for she W,
ad generally timid and silent; but / in mann'
g, studied her excellence. Never did me,
ak with more intuitive rectitude of mind, MOI
ar native delicacy, more exquisite propriety
!, word, thought and action, than this your
ed creature am not exaggerating; what
OF say was acknowledged by all that knew he
a. Her brilliant little sister used to say tn
people began BY admiring her, but end'
by loving Matilda. For my part idolizt
her. felt at times rebuked by her sup
ell rior delicacy and purity, and as i'll was
I coarse, unworthy being in comparison.
cs Irving seldom or never alluded to th
ii, sad event, nor was the name of Matil'
''y ever spoken in his presence, Thirty yea
md afterher death Irving was visiting Mr.. Ho
lag man, and granddaughter in drawing o
M some sheets Of music to be performed up
g. the piano, accidentally brought with the
r' piece Of embroidery which dropped up
ne the floor. Washington, said Mr. Hoffma
es- this is a piece OF Matilda's workmanship
# a His biographer describes the effect as el.
-, tric.- He had been conversing in the sprigl
~" liast mood before.' saws Pierre nj. IryiI