The Portland daily press., 1883-06-13
lLondon Times.]
An English View of Irving.

An EngllSh view or irving.
Although the Americans claim him as
one Of the patriarchs of their literature, he
Washington Ifying wrote rather for the
English-speaking world than for his nation.
American by birth, he was English in feel
ing and thoroughly cosmopolitan in his
literary tastes and choice of subjects He
enthusiastically admired the great lights of
English literature, and he modelled his style
upon them, although it is characterized by
occasional Americanisms. We cannot say
it is "disfgured," because in his more dis
tinctly American books the phrases that are
suggestive of the free transatlantic speech
stand out as so many sharp touches of local
coloring In painting the adventures of the
wild pioneering heroes of the far West he
was the historian of the events of which
Cooper became the novelist. And his pages
are stepped in a graphic realism which
makes them to this day most seductive read
ing. He show ed to scarcely less advantage
when he let his imagination have free play
in conjuring up the half extinct types of the
steady old Dutch burghers, as in his day
dreams among the romantic scenery of his
favorite Hudson and the picturesque lakes
of the many islands. But to an Englishman
he is never more enjoyable or more lovable
than when he came to record his impress
sions of old English manners. The some
what sentimental and emotional American
had thoroughly conservative mind, and he
abandoned himself with infinite self-satis.
faction 10 English memories and associations.
Coming from a bustling, brand-new, and
fast-.iving country, where the venerable,
ephemeral antiquities had taken the shape
OF stockaded forts and wooden shanties, his
poetic genius revelled in the shadows of ca
thedral closes, and he peoped the ruins of
the feudal castles with the stately pageantrY
of the past. He made delighted pilgrimages
to the shrines of genius at Abbotsford and
Newstead and never, perhaps, did he forget
the present so completely as when musing
under the lime trees in the church ard of
Stratford-on Avon. The homelike yet aris-
tocratic luxury Of the old English halls had
an inexpressible charm for him; the rustic
rites of May-Day or the festivities of an
old fashioned Christmastide came to him as
revelation. In the hangers-on of the hall,
in the notOrieties and oddities Of the country
parish, be found something in the world of
facts like the population of his own Sleepy
Hollow.
The most original, and that which shows
his quaint and dry and characteristic humor
at its brightest, is unquestionably the second
book he ever wrote-his 'Knickerbocker'
That it is terribly prolix in parts there is no
denying, though that, by the by, was an es-
sential part of its humor; and, indeed, Irv-
ing felt constrained to apologize and ex-
plain. But in fact, he was writing the com
ic history of race supposed to be slow be-
yond all ordinary patience; and in his admi-
rably droll caricature of these Dutch worth
les by one Of themselves he evoked new
type of originality in fiction. The keynote
to the history and to the inVariable unreadi-
ness Of its heroes is struck in the reminis-
cence of the mythical historians ancestor,
Who being charged to erect the great church
at Rotterdam, consumed many months and
several hundred-weight Of tobacco in matur
ing his plans and making the preliminary
surveys. And after all, the stupsndous de
sign fell infinitely short Of its magnificent
promise. If we read Knickerbocker for the
''bistory," we should be inclined to hang
ourselves, as johnson remarked of Richard
sons Sir Charles Grandson. But if we had
to choose one Of IrVing's volumes for our
companion in journey beyond the range Of
libraries and bookstalls, it is upon Knicker-
booker we should unhesitatingly pitch. 1t is
full Of drollery, often dexterously concealed,
and to appreciate it duly it must be read de-
liberately in Dutch fashion.
Irving's choice of Subjects changes alto
gether when his Imagination has been fired
by residence in Spain. Regarded from
the modern and philosophical point of view,
he cannot claim high rank as a historian.
He is as far removed from Carlyle as light
from darkness; but then his readableness is
in the inverse ratio to his profundity. He
POUNDS his narrative on his research among
recognized authorities; but he represents all
its events In their most dramatic aspects.
In his life Of Columbus how powerfully he
paints the aspiring dreams Of discovery Of
the great-minded adyenturer-the study Of
the silent evidence which changed presump-
tions 10 assured convictons; the heart
breaking disappoiDtments and delays which
had almost wearied out his iron constancy
Of purpose; the revival of hope from the
depths of dependency when he had turned
his back on the Court of their most Catho-
lie Maiestesl What can be more thrilling
than the story of the night watch, when the
carayel sighted the fires that were blazing
on the shores Of Hispaniola; strange in
stance, by the way, of the irony of destiny,
when the chance flame kindled by some In
dian savage may have precipitated by cen
fury or more the colonization of continent! |
And that existing chapter Is no unworthy !
prelude to the story of the conquests Of the |
great admiral and his companions. Nor did |
Irving turn with less enthusiasm to the |
chronicles of the conquest Of Grenada. His |
heroic sympathes are pretty equally divided |
between the cbivary of the Cross and the |
champions of the Crescent The conse- |
qnence is well balanced impartiality, |
which perhaps slightly inclines to the weak !
er of the combatants and to the gay and gal |
liant Moors, whose discussions doomed them |
to defeat, But in his descriptions OF the |
fears Of gallantry on either side, still more |
Of the frequent disasters in that mountain |
warfare, he American writer repeatedly re- |
minds us Of Froissart. He throws himself |
into the spirit Of the fighting of the times, |
into the stories Of sieges, ambushes, and |
surprises, as if he had been the contempt
rary Of the heroes whose deeds he immor-
tazes. The lighter and gayer side of that |
Moorish life is given in the charming Tales
OF the Alhambra.' How much may be leg
end embroidered at second hand, how much
is purely original and imaginative, it is hard
10 say. We can imagine The author gossip
ing with garrulous guides; dreaming away |
lang days In the Court Of the Lions, the |
gardens Of the Generalife, or the corner tow |