Washington Irving
Page 31
His primary mission accomplished, McLane vacationed in Paris, leaving Irving as chargé d'affairs for the next two months. Upon the minister's return in October, Irving dashed to Birmingham for ten days to work in earnest on his book on the Alhambra. For most of the autumn, he made massive revisions to Companions of Columbus even as the typeset pages rolled off Murray's presses. Murray seemed pleased with what he had seen so far; his good mood was probably due in part to the success of the abridged edition of Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, which was selling briskly.
Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus was published on December 30, 1830. Irving accepted his 500 guineas, and happily handed it over to Peter. Ebenezer had negotiated a generous agreement for the American edition with Carey, Lea & Carey, securing $1,500 for a print run of 3,000 copies to be sold within three years. Companions sold respectably in both England and the United States, though nowhere near the stellar numbers of the Columbus abridgment, which had sold well over 10,000 copies in the United States. Like Granada, Companions fared better with critics than readers. British reviewers appreciated the work and research that had gone into the volume, and as always, Irving's way with narrative impressed the most. American reviewers were equally as flattering, and believed Irving had cemented his literary reputation. According to the American Quarterly, Irving could “take his stand among those writers who have done more than amuse the fancy, or even gratify the heart. He is to be classed with historians of great events.”30
With Companions in print, Irving retired briefly to Birmingham to relax and sort through his other manuscripts. To his annoyance, he was in no mood to write. “I have been visited by one of the most inveterate fits of mental inertness that I have ever experienced,” he told Peter. He returned instead to his official duties in London, which were becoming increasingly hectic as well as banal. “As long as I remain in London I shall be worth nothing either to my friends or to myself,” he told Brevoort peevishly, “& this I fore-saw & foretold when I was advised to come here.”31
That same spring, a firestorm of petty politics and personalities brought about major changes in Andrew Jackson's Cabinet. When the dust settled, McLane was recalled to the United States to assume the post of secretary of the treasury, and Martin Van Buren was on his way to London, where he awaited confirmation as the new American minister to the Court of St. James's. Until Van Buren arrived, however, Irving was the de facto American minister, “though it is expressly stated that I remain on secretary's pay,” he complained to Peter.32
Irving grumbled about the salary, but he took the job seriously. To his surprise, he was good at it. A keen observer and people-watcher, Irving had better political instincts than he gave himself credit for. He wrote new secretary of state Edward Livingston chatty yet informative dispatches, and expertly managed the more mundane, day-to-day services of the embassy.
Monitoring his friend from Paris, Brevoort couldn't resist indulging in some good-natured ribbing. “So you are now left sole guardian of our nation's honor and welfare near his gracious Majesty's Court of St. James!” Still, he was sympathetic; he knew Irving wanted to return to his manuscripts. “I imagine you are not ambitious of being burdened with these mighty responsibilities & that you look forward impatiently for the time when you will be released from diplomatic bondage.”33
Washington Irving by John Vanderlyn, 1805
During his first visit to Europe in 1805, the twenty-two-year-old Irving paid Vanderlyn for this pencil drawing, the first known likeness of the aspiring writer. The hairstyle, it was later admitted, was “a peculiarity.”
Courtesy Historic Hudson Valley, Tarrytown, N.Y.
Washington Irving by Gilbert Stuart Newton, 1830
At age forty-seven, Irving had written four international best sellers, including a comprehensive biography of Christopher Columbus, and was serving with Minister Louis McLane in the American legation in London. Irving thought this portrait was “the most accurate likeness that has ever been taken of me.”
Courtesy Historic Hudson Valley, Tarrytown, N.Y.
Top: Washington Irving by Felix O.C. Darley, 1848
Darley captured a candid Irving, just returned from Madrid after his tenure as minister to Spain, lounging on the lawns of Sunnyside. That same summer, Irving was made an executor of the will of John Jacob Astor.
Courtesy Historic Hudson Valley, Tarrytown, N.Y.
Above Left: Washington Irving by Charles Martin, 1851
Pronounced the “patriarch of American letters” by Harper's New Monthly, the sixty-eight-year-old Irving was sketched by Martin at Sunnyside in December 1851. While Irving claimed “great repugnance to having a daguerreotype taken,” he declared this idealized portrait “excellent.”
Courtesy Library of Congress.
Above Right: Washington Irving by Mathew Brady, 1850s
Retired from public life, Irving still actively maintained reams of correspondence and was well into his seventies when he completed his five-volume Life of George Washington.
Courtesy Library of Congress.
Washington Allston
The gifted and charismatic artist nearly convinced the young Irving to become a painter in Rome. “There was something, to me, inexpressibly engaging in the appearance and manner of Allston,” Irving remembered. “I do not think I have ever been more completely captivated on a first acquaintance.”
Courtesy Library of Congress.
Matilda Hoffman
A miniature portrait of Irving's doomed, consumptive seventeen-year-old fiancee. Irving's finest burlesque, A History of New York, was written in the months following her death in 1809.
Courtesy Historic Hudson Valley, Tarrytown, N.Y.
Emily and Flora Foster
Smart, outgoing, and beautiful, sisters Emily and Flora Foster made Irving's winter in Dresden one of the happiest of his life. Smitten, the forty-year-old Irving asked for eighteen-year-old Emily's hand in marriage—an offer that was refused.
Charles Leslie, self-portrait
Leslie was in the tight circle of artistic young men surrounding Irving as he completed The Sketch Book in London in 1819. The painter regularly encouraged Irving as he dallied over incomplete manuscripts like Bracebridge Hall.
Courtesy Historic Hudson Valley, Tarrytown, N.Y.
James Kirke Padding
Paulding served as Irving's primary collaborator on Salmagundi and, with Henry Brevoort, helped craft the newspaper hoax that launched A History of New York.
Courtesy U.S. Navy Art Collection.
Gouverneur Kemble
A lifelong friend and fellow bachelor, Kemble was a founding member of the fun-loving “Lads of Kilkenny.” His family mansion, which Irving dubbed “Cockloft Hall,” served as headquarters for the group.
Walter Scott
Irving's idol and literary father, Sir Walter Scott was an early admirer of A History of New York and pronounced The Sketch Book”positively beautiful.” Scott actively promoted The Sketch Book and referred Irving to his own publisher, John Murray II.
Courtesy Library of Congress.
John Murray I1
Irving's patient and long-suffering English publisher, presided over an enviable stable of talent that included Walter Scott, Lord Byron, and Jane Austen. He and Irving feuded regularly over terms and profits, but maintained a grudging mutual admiration for thirty years.
Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, London.
Martin Van Buren
Fellow New Yorker Martin Van Buren met Irving in the American legation in London in the fall of 1831. Learning that Van Buren's nomination as minister had been rejected by the U.S. Senate, Irving predicted the move would propel Van Buren to the presidency. Despite evolving political views and a brief falling-out, the two remained friends.
Courtesy Library of Congress.
Louis McLane
The American minister was Irving's boss in the legation at the Court of St. James, and deftly leveraged Irving's charm and liter
ary reputation to broker an agreement on the West Indies trade dispute. A decade later, the two negotiated the boundary of the Oregon Territory on behalf of the American government.
Courtesy U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Ebenezer Irving
Older brother Ebenezer was a steadying influence on Washington, negotiated his literary contracts, and helped secure his American copyrights. Ebenezer's daughters served as Sunnyside's official hostesses.
Courtesy Historic Hudson Valley, Tarrytown, N.Y.
Sarah Irving Van Wart
Sarah was Washington's favorite sister. He came regard the house she with her husband, Henry Van Wart, in Birmingham, England, as his secon and penned the first draft of “Rip Van Winkle” there.
Courtesy Historic Hudsc Valley Tarrytown, N.Y.
Above: Sunnyside, Citrrier & Iues print
Irving's picturesque residence in Tarrytown, New York, attracted tourists from all walks of life and was a popular subject for magazine illustrations, sheet music covers, and even postcards.
Courtesy Library of Congress.
Below: Sunnyside today
Irving's beloved riverside home, as it appears today, still welcoming guests.
Courtesy Historic Hudon Valley, Tarrytown, N.Y.
His position as chargé d'affairs didn't just consume all Irving's spare time; it also devoured all his spare money. As the primary representative of the American government, he was expected to hire carriages and servants for ceremonies, levees, and dinners—all at his own expense. Submitting the embassy's statement of accounts to the U.S. Department of Treasury in July, he made clear to the auditor that performing the duties of a chargé d'affairs on a secretary's salary was an inexcusable hardship. “Neither my taste and inclination, nor my general ideas of becoming economy,” he lectured, “will permit me to incur any unnecessary expenditures in this, or in any other particular.”34 He expected to be reimbursed.
By the end of the summer Irving had had enough. His duties with the legation had clearly become more than he had bargained for. He had practically no time to write, and the out-of-pocket expenses, especially those he had shouldered for the king's coronation ceremonies in early September, were slowly eating away at his literary profits. He had made up his mind that he was going to resign. Van Buren couldn't arrive fast enough. “I shall then turn my attention to my own private affairs,” Irving told McLane, “and make preparations for my return to the United States.”35
Van Buren arrived in London on September 13. Irving accompanied the new minister to present his credentials to Lord Palmer-ston on September 19, and to the king on September 21. Now all that remained for Van Buren to officially assume his duties was his confirmation by the United States Senate, which would return to session on December 5.
Irving took to Van Buren immediately. “I… do not wonder you should all be so fond of him,” Irving told McLane. “His manners are most amiable and ingratiating, and I have no doubt he will become a favorite at this court, and will continue those amicable relations you have so advantageously established.” Despite his feelings for Van Buren, Irving submitted his resignation to Secretary of State Livingston. His decision, he told the secretary, had nothing to do with politics or personalities; he simply wanted to get back to writing. “I was anxious for an enterval of entire leisure, requisite to arrange my affairs for a return to my native country. I pray you Sir to communicate these things to the President, and to assure him of my continued sense of the confidence with which he originally honoured me.”36
Following his resignation from the legation, Irving moved out of Argyll Street and in with Van Buren at 7 Stratford Place, where the two New Yorkers—who were only four months apart in age—developed a genuinely warm rapport. Apart from his personal fondness for Irving, Van Buren quickly recognized what a loss Irving's resignation was for the legation. “An intimate acquaintance with him [Irving] has satisfied me that I was mistaken in supposing that his literary occupation had given his mind a turn unfavourable to practical business pursuits,” Van Buren confided to President Jackson. “So far from it, I have been both disappointed, and pleased, to find in him, not only great capacity, but an active and untiring disposition for the prompt, and successful charge of business.”37
Putting his affairs in order for his return to the United States would take Irving some time, and he still hoped to sell his life of Muhammad or his collection of Alhambra stories—or both—to Murray before he left. There was also a critical bit of personal business to attend to. In late September Irving had accepted an invitation from John Lockhart to dine with him at home. Lockhart's wife, Sophia, was there, as was her sister Anne.
So was Sophia and Anne's father, Sir Walter Scott.
At sixty years old, Walter Scott was a crippled, withered husk. He had suffered a stroke—his second—at the beginning of 1831. His remaining good leg had been hobbled by rheumatism, and he barely shuffled along by leaning on a heavy stick. But his mind was sharp, and his physical deterioration depressed him badly. “I have sufferd terribly,” Scott confessed in his journal. “I often wish I could lie down and sleep without waking.” His wife had died in 1826, leaving him alone in cavernous Abbotsford, where he still worked, even after his stroke, on his latest Waverly novel. Concerned for both his mental and physical health, Scott's family had arranged for him to make a tour of Italy. On his way, Scott had insisted on stopping in London, and Lockhart emphasized to Irving that Scott had expressly asked that Irving be invited to dinner.38
On the evening of September 28 Washington Irving sat at Lockhart's table beside a creaky Sir Walter Scott. It had been a long time since that memorable August of 1817, when Irving and Scott had shared their first dinner together at Abbotsford. Back then, Irving had been the young, aspiring writer, and Scott the older, famous, established author. Now Irving's own literary fame rivaled, and in some places exceeded, Scott's own. But this never changed Irving's feelings for the man. Scott was his literary father, the savior who had rescued The Sketch Book from a failed publisher, and Irving's devotion to the Scotsman remained complete.
During dinner, Scott could barely speak—and when he did, the stroke had so slurred his Scottish burr that he was difficult to understand. It was frustrating for Scott, and wrenching for Irving to watch. “How different from the time I last dined with him,” Irving said later, “when Scott was the life of the company, all hanging on his lips; every body making way for his anecdote or story.” As dinner wound down, Lockhart motioned for Irving to offer Scott his arm. Scott took it, hauled himself to his feet, and leaned heavily on his literary protégé. “Ah, the times are changed, my good fellow, since we went over the Eildon hills together,” he told Irving. “It is all nonsense to tell a man that his mind is not affected, when his body is in this state.” The two men stood arm-in-arm for a while, in quiet conversation. As Irving descended the steps of Lockhart's home into the London chill that evening, he was in a contemplative mood, perhaps understanding that he would never see Scott again. Sir Walter Scott died at Abbotsford the following September, a little more than a month after his sixty-first birthday.39
The afternoon following the dinner, Irving called on Murray to discuss his projects. Neither was close to finished; Irving had only the first twenty-one of a proposed seventy chapters of Muhammad sketched out, and the Alhambra was just a hodgepodge of short essays. In a colossal bluff, Irving assured his publisher that he was very close to completing Muhammad, and offered it to Murray for what Irving considered an economical 500 guineas. As for Alhambra—a “Spanish Sketch Book,” Irving called it, hoping those last two words resonated with Murray—he promised that the book would be ready within the year, and that Murray could have it for 1,000 guineas.
Irving believed Murray was deliberately and unfairly stingy with him, but the truth was that Murray was still wrestling with financial troubles. Even his usually steady Quarterly Review was losing money, and while Lockhart had recommended that Murray reduce costs on the magazine by lowe
ring salaries, Murray had refused to do so. Instead, he chose projects carefully and limited the number of new titles he acquired each year. Despite Irving's literary reputation, Murray could no longer afford to contract works he hadn't read. He asked to see Irving's manuscripts first.
If Irving believed his bluff had been called, he never blinked. He promised to send the completed chapters of Muhammad, and told his publisher, “I'll be anxious to get this matter settled.” Murray responded noncommittally, “Yes, I'll write you.”40
Murray likely believed he had only bought himself some time to review Irving's manuscripts, but Irving somehow believed that the Prince of Booksellers had committed to purchasing both his books. That evening, as Irving prepared to leave for Castle Van Tromp, he lost no time in notifying Aspinwall that he needed him to finalize the paperwork with Murray.
Writing to Aspinwall from Birmingham five days later, Irving forwarded the draft chapters of his life of Muhammad—or Mahomet, as Irving preferred to spell it—for Aspinwall to take to Murray. “Attend to this as soon as possible,” Irving told the colonel, “as I wish no time to be lost in getting the works through the press.”41 That same afternoon, he sent a similar note to Murray:
I had not time to make a written agreement for the works about which we bargained. I have therefore requested my friend & agent Col Aspinwall to call upon you and arrange in my name the terms of payment, and reduce the whole to writing. In our conversation you will recollect it was agreed that I should receive 500 Gs. For the Legendary life of Mahomet, and 100 Gs. For the Miscellaneous Volume [Alhambra]…. I will thank you to have the work [Mahomet] put to press as soon as possible…. I will commence sending MS: of the Miscellaneous volume shortly, so that both works may be out before Christmas.42