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Indiana University Studies 



The sincerity of Irving's emotions has been repeatedly noticed. 

 "In the Sketch-book," says M. Haussaire, "we find pages vibrating 

 with an emotion that makes no attempt at concealment." In his 

 introduction to Vie et Voyages de Christof Colombe (1876), M. Sedley 

 speaks of the ''quiet, profound, and genuine emotion of the Sketch- 

 book". And he adds, a little farther on: ''The pathos comes more 

 directly from the heart than that of Sterne, in whose writings truth is 

 often rendered less beautiful by affectation." Another quality fre- 

 quently ascribed to Irving's emotions is gentleness, or mildness 

 (douceur). Commenting on Bracebridge Hall, M. Fievet says: "The 

 reader would find in it that exquisite gentleness of feeling, etc." 

 This quality has been noted both in his sadness and in his mirth. 

 "His works are marked by grace and gentleness," writes M. QuesneP^; 

 while another critic, M. Mezieres,^^ asserts that his writings are "full 

 of gentle, kindly mirth". His kindness of heart has been frequently 

 mentioned. "He is kind-hearted," says M. Milne,^^ "that is the secret 

 of our liking for him." M. Fontaney calls him an "amiable soul" and 

 speaks of his habit of "sympathetic observation"; M. Ollife^^ says 

 that in the History of New York "we frequently light upon pages full 

 of the tender and the pathetic"; while in the estimation of M. Fievet, 

 "tenderness of emotion" is one of his master qualities (p. ix). Several 

 critics have spoken of his love of nature. "Do you like the simple 

 sweet emotions that the study of nature brings?" asks M. Sachot. 

 "Then read in the 'Birds of Spring' [in Wolferfs Roost] the delightful 

 pages devoted to the story of the bobolink" (p. 385). "He has a 

 genuine love for nature, a feeling for it, one may say the sensation of 

 it," says M. Haussaire (p. 11); while M. Fievet, as we have seen, 

 attributes much of the charm of his writings to this personal charac- 

 teristic. Irving's religious nature has not been dwelt upon. One 

 critic, however, M. Rosenzweig, has noted it in "The Broken Heart" 

 and in "The Widow and Her Son", which bear witness, he says, to 

 the novelist's "sensitive and religious imagination" (p. viii). 



The dreamy character of his imagination, exhibited in his capacity 

 for prolonged and fruitful revery, has been pointed out by M. Fievet. 

 Its tendency toward the fantastic was noticed by M. Sachot, who 

 wrote: "But if you enjoy fantastic tales, oh! you will be served ac- 

 cording to your desire: choose among 'The Adalantado of the Seven 

 Cities', 'The Engulphed Convent', 'The Grand Prior of Minorca', and 

 a dozen other legends or reminiscences of history" (p. viii). The 



10 Nouvelle revue, May 1, 1882, p. 125. 



11 Memoires de VAcademie de Metz, 1856. 



12 Introduction to Life and Voyages of Columbus, 1886, p. 7. 



13 Preface to Extracts from Washington Irving, 1843, p. 104. 



