377 



" The rude peasant sits 

 At evening in his smoky cot, and draws 

 "With charcoal, uncouth figures on the wall. 

 The son of genius comes, footsore with travel, 



^ T\? ^ T^ T? TV 



He takes the charcoal from the peasant's hand. 

 And by the magic of his touch at once 

 Transfigured, all its hidden virtues shine, 

 And, in the eyes of the astonished clown, 

 It gleams a diamond ! Even thus transformed. 

 Rude popular traditions and old tales - 

 Shine as immortal poems, " * * 



Longfellow's Spanish Student. 



Such is the magic of Irving in the Sketch Book, the Crayon Miscel- 

 lany, the Tales of a Traveller, and many of his minor works. 



The life of Irving is remarkable for its unity and completeness; 

 he was an author and nothing else. He did not divide the admira- 

 tion of his countrymen by a variety of professions. Bancroft was a 

 teacher, a politician, a diplomat, as well as a historian ; Bryant is 

 an editor as well as a true poet; Everett, a divine, a statesman, and 

 a scholar; Webster, a lawyer, a senator, a jurisconsult, and an emi- 

 nent orator; Holmes is a doctor, a professor, and a comic poet and 

 satirist; but Irving occupied a single ground: he was a literary 

 man, to whom we might point as of that profession and no other. 



Connected with this unity of life is the remarkable symmetry of 

 his literary career. It had most eminently the Aristotelian requi- 

 sites of discourse — a beginning, a middle, and an ending. 



Tracing with Columbus, in the early aspirations of his genius, the 

 relaxing bounds of ocean, he may be called the Columbus of Ameri- 

 can letters; and he who, in his dignity, his purity, his self-respect, 

 and his eminence, may most properly be called the Washington of 

 our literature, crowns his glory by becoming the historian of Wash- 

 ington. 



In conclusion, I beg you to look for a moment at Mr. Irving's 

 sagacity in the choice of themes. A part of his success is due to his 

 great subjects : they attract attention before perusal ; but woe to the 

 tyro who shall attempt them; his failure must render him ridicu- 

 lous. On the other hand, assured fame to him who can master and 

 control them as did Mr. Irving; who lives to complete his great 

 design ; and who, receiving the summons to a nobler immortality, 

 when he is emphatically ready to die, verifies in the best manner the 

 postulate of Solon. He was happier than Croesus in his most fortu- 

 nate days. 



VOL. VII. — 2 Y 



