534 



HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



then a preceptor in the family of the late Judge Van Ness, of this 

 town. 



Both were engaged in congenial pursuits, and 

 their residences being only a short distance apart, 

 the author of the " Sketch Book " frequently visited 

 the " Old School House," in which " Squire Mer- 

 win " was employed in teaching the young idea 

 how to shoot, and subsequently immortalized his 

 name by making him the hero of one of his 

 inimitable tales — " The Legend of Sleepy Hol- 

 low." 



Every one who has read that inimitable legend 

 — and what lover of genuine humor has not ? — 

 will remember that hapless wight, Ichabod Crane, 

 and his terrible adventure with the " Headless 

 Horseman." Mr. Merwin was the original of 

 that character, in the portrayal of which Irving's 

 matchless fancy glows and sparkles as brilliantly 

 as in almost anything he ever penned. 



The following letter will show how intimate Irv- 

 ing was with Merwin, the teacher of the " Old School House." 



Ichabod (Jraue.a 



ONE OF IRVING'S LETTERS. 



(Kinderlwok Coi'respondence of the Albany Express.) 



While seated last evening in the library of the friends whose guest I 

 had the fortune to be, looking over some famous autograph letters, I 

 came across one written thirty years ago by Washington Irving to Jesse 

 Merwin, of this village. Irving was a great admirer of Kinderhook in 

 the long ago, and used to spend months enjoying its moral and social 

 delights. Merwin was the village pedagogue, and was the original 

 Ichabod Crane in Irving's " Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The letter to 

 which I allude is so charming and flowing, so rich in that eloquent de- 

 scription which was a graceful characteristic of the purest writer in 

 American literature, that I obtained a copy of it by kind permission, and 

 here it is : 



Sunnyside, Feb. 12, 1851- 



You must excuse me, my good friend Merwin, for suffering your letter to re- 

 main so long unanswered ; you can have no idea how many letters I have to 

 answer, besides fagging with my pen at my own literary tasks, so that it is im- 

 possible for me to avoid being behind-hand in my correspondence. Your letter 

 was indeed most welcome, calling up, as it did, recollections of pleasant scenes 



a This sketch is probably the only authentic one of the original and genuine Ichabod Crane 

 now in existence. It, is supposed to represent the gentleman whose quaint flgure and pecu- 

 liar style first suggested to Washington Irving the outlines of his hero of Sleepy Hollow. 



