Washington Irving and the Storrows : Letters from England and the Continent, 1821-1828

PREFACE I HAVE heard that biographers of far greater men than Washington Irving have sometimes regretted, as they neared the end of their long tasks, abandoning to final oblivion letters which, however negligible to their major aims as biographers, recreated subtly, if read entire, the backgrounds of their subjects. Indeed, this may be true even of the essayist and historian Irving, whose formal writings offer inadequate explanation of his contemporary fame. Certainly some of that elusive grace which captivated Aaron Burr, Walter Scott, or Spanish scholars entered into his full letters to intimate friends or children, letters that in a biography must be clipped for a sentence or a phrase. At any rate, I confess that this motive has actuated the separate publication of the letters of Irving to the Storrows. These letters and the companion volume, recently printed, The Journal of Washington Irving, 1823-1824, 1 tell in his own words better than can his biographer some of his intimate hopes and fears between 1821 and 1828. Possibly, too, if the 1. Harvard University Press, 1931. Irving's intimacy with the Storrows forms the background of this Journal. See Index.vi PREFACE biography prove acceptable, these elaborations of the events to be chronicled there may not eventually be unwelcome. This sheaf of manuscripts, which, unknown to students of Irving, remained in the family of Mr. Edward C. Storrow, of Boston, until his generous gift of them in 1928 to Harvard University, is the largest collection of letters extant written by Irving to any one individual or family, with the exception of the Irving-Brevoort letters in the New York Public Library, and his correspondence with Mrs. Sarah Paris Storrow in the possession of Yale University. The collection consists of fifty-five separate letters and seven notes. 1 Of these, forty-eight letters are printed in this volume as a progressive, if sketchy, narrative of Irving's interests from the time of the appearance of Bracebridge Hall to that of The Conquest of Granada. These are reproduced exactly as Irving wrote them, with all his idiosyncrasies of diction and spelling, and, for the reader's guidance, a few explanatory notes. Detailed analysis and critical interpretation of the events described in the letters, such as Irving's poverty and his experiences in writing the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, will appear in the forthcoming biography. They are offered here merely as the first record of an important 1. These seven notes, undated, were written during the years 1823 and 1824, and are concerned with Irving's engagements, household affairs, and other unimportant matters. Seven letters, addressed to the older and younger Storrows and reflecting Irving's interests during the last eight years of his life, are not included in this volume. They are dated: In the decade prior to Washington Irving’s return to America in 1832 to receive his public welcome as his country’s first man of letters, he travelled widely in England, France, Germany, Austria, and Spain. During these wanderings he regarded the Paris fireside of the Storrow family, next to his sister’s house in Birmingham, as his European home. To the Storrow children he wrote of the legends of Germany; to Mrs. Storrow, of his travels; to Thomas Wentworth Storrow, his capable and cultivated friend, of his disappointments and of his literary projects, notably The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. This group of personal letters, no one of which has previously been published, gives a singularly illuminating record of Irving’s discouragements as he attempted to sustain his fame as the author of The Sketch Book. PREFACE WASHINGTON IRVING AND THE STORROWS Letters 1821 Letters 1822 Letters 1824 Letters 1825 Letters 1826 Letters 1827 Letters 1828