364 



character of him who has been, not unjustly, styled the Father of 

 American Literature. It is in this view that I regard the appoint- 

 ment; it is upon this inipress^ion I shall act. I shall attempt, with 

 all humility, to present to you a few philosophical criticisms upon his 

 works ; I shall endeavor to indicate the characteristics of his genius; 

 to mark his place in the grand Historic array of English Literature, 

 of which American Literature, — he being its most prominent figure, 

 — is destined to form a very brilliant part. 



Nor should I be doing justice to the eminent Society before which 

 I appear, did I shrink from pointing out what seem to me the few 

 defects and irregularities, which, like necessary exceptions, give 

 point to his greatness, his power, and the immortality of his fame. 



I am well aware of the difficulties I encounter. I can advance 

 little that is not already generally known. Irving's life has been 

 for a long period known and read of all men; his every literary 

 movement has been watched with eager interest. Nor shall we be 

 wanting in more complete records of his career. His life-long friend 

 and compeer, Mr. Bryant, has pronounced his eulogy, not without a 

 somewhat critical analysis of his literary career; his nephew, Mr. 

 P. M. L'ving, will soon present to the world the history of his life, 

 which will become an invaluable introduction to his beautiful works. 



Washington Irving was born in the city of New York, on the 

 third day of April, 1783, the year which closed the war of American 

 independence. The locality of his birth is still pointed out. It is 

 now covered with stores, and is the scene of busy commerce. His 

 father was a Scotchman, his mother an English woman : strong 

 and good reasons for that partiality which he is said to have always 

 manifested towards the Old Country. 



He entered early upon the career of an author, without having 

 amassed those riches of classical scholarship which, up to that period, 

 had been regarded in England and America as essential pre-requi- 

 sites: but which, in this practical modern age, seem to be no longer 

 of necessary importance. 



In 1802, when he was nineteen years old, he was a regular con- 

 tributor to the Monuiifj Chronicle, a Democratic newspaper, edited 

 by his elder brother. His assumed name was in keeping, as we 

 shall see, with the character and style of his productions : it was 

 '' Jonathan Oldstyle." These seem to have been the first fugitive 

 efi"orts of an imaginative mind, by way of variety to the exact and 

 solid realities of his special study, which, at that time, was the law. 



During this period he was a great walker, and wandered around 

 New York in every direction, but particularly upon the banks of that 



