The Life and Letters of Washington Irving Volume 2 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1862 Excerpt: ...his lodgings some time since. Nothing satisfactory has been heard of the old gentleman since; but a very curious kind of a written book has been found in his room in VOL. I. 0 his own handwriting. Now I wish you to notice him, if he is still alive, that if he does not return and pay off his bill, for board and lodging, I shall have to dispose of his Book, to satisfy me for the same. This device to call attention to the appearance of the forthcoming work was sufficiently ingenious and original, and it is an amusing incident, in this connection, that one of the city authorities found his sympathies so much enlisted by the appeal, as to call on the author's brother, John T. Irving, and consult him on the propriety of offering a reward for the discovery of the missing Diedrich. Though the author had carried the manuscript in a complete state to Philadelphia, yet he afterwards made some additions, as was not unusual with him, as the work was going through the press. It was here that he wrote the voyage of Peter Stuyvesant up the Hudson, and the enumeration of the army. Coming home late one night, and finding himself locked out of his lodgings, he repaired to the quarters of a bachelor friend, but could not sleep after obtaining admittance. It was then that the idea of that journey flashed through his mind; and so rapidly did the images crowd upon him, that he rose from the bed to strike a light, and write them down--but he could not find the candle, and after stumbling about for awhile, to the annoyance of his sleepy but wondering companion, he managed to get hold of a piece of paper, and jot down some of his impressions in pencil in the dark. The next morning he stopped the press, until he had finished his picture and secured its admission. On the 6th of Decemb...