—— We are such stuff
As dreams are made of; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep
Tempest.
NEW YORK
SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG, AND COMPANY
1876.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by
Charles Scribner & Co.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York
RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:
STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY
H.O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY
Twelve years ago, this autumn, when I had finished the concludingchapters of this little book, I wrote a letter of Dedication toWashington Irving, and, forwarding it by mail to Sunnyside, begged hispermission to print it. I think I shall gratify a rational curiosity ofmy readers (however much they may condemn my vanity) if I give his replyin full.
"My dear Sir,—
"Though I have a great disinclination in general to be the objectof literary oblations and compliments, yet in the present instanceI have enjoyed your writings with such peculiar relish, and been sodrawn toward the author by the qualities of head and heart evincedin them, that I confess I feel gratified by a dedication,over-flattering as I may deem it, which may serve as an outwardsign that we are cordially linked together in sympathies andfriendship.
"I would only suggest that in your dedication you would omit theLL.D., a learned dignity urged upon me very much 'against thestomach of my sense,' and to which I have never laid claim.
"Ever, my dear sir,
"Yours, very truly,
"Washington Irving
"Sunnyside, Nov. 1851."
I had been personally presented to Mr. Irving for the first time, only ayear before, under the introduction of my good friend, Mr. Clark (theveteran Editor of the old Knickerbocker in its palmy days). Thereafter Ihad met him from time to time, and had paid a charming visit to hisdelightful home of Sunnyside. But it was after the date of thepublication of this book and during the summer of 1852, that I saw Mr.Irving more familiarly, and came to appreciate more fully that charmingbonhomie and geniality in his character which we all recognize soconstantly in his writings. And if I set down here a few recollectionsof that pleasant intercourse, they will, I am sure, more than make goodthe place of the old letter of Dedication, and will serve to keep alivethe association I wish to cherish between my little book and the name ofthe distinguished author who so kindly showed me his favor.
For the first time, after many years, Mr. Irving made a stay of a fewweeks at Saratoga, in the summer of 1852. By good fortune, I chanced tooccupy a room upon the same corridor of the hotel, within a few doors ofhis, and shared very many of his early morning walks to the "Spring."What at once struck me very forcibly in the course of these walks, wasthe rare alertness and minuteness of his observation: not a fair youngface could dash past us in its drapery of muslin, but the eye of the oldgentleman drank in all its freshness and beauty with the keen appetiteand the grateful admiration of a boy; not a do