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Connecticut (Connecticut, United States) (search for this): chapter 5
Chapter 4: the New York period A New centre. During the course of the Revolution, as we have seen, Philadelphia's position of authority in literary matters became gradually less firm. The best verse of the period had come from Connecticut and New Jersey, and the best prose from New York and Virginia. The removal of the first Congress to New York in 1783 was a sign of waning political prestige; and when six years later New York was chosen as the scene of the final organization of the American Republic, in April, 1789, the transfer of authority, political, social, and literary, was made sure. Social conditions. At this date what is commonly called the National Period of American literature begins; but it will be seen that from this time political belief or practice had very little to do with the substance or quality of the best literature which was produced. Social conditions, on the other hand, had much to do with the character of this work; and it is quite necessary
Waterloo, Va. (Virginia, United States) (search for this): chapter 5
score, all men of note, some good and some bad — and most of whom certainly thought that they attracted more attention than they did — Volney and Cobbett and Tom Moore, and the two Michaux, and the Abbe Correa, and Jeffrey, and others: the muster roll of whose names I might call over, if I had the memory of Baron Trenck, and my readers the taste of a catalogue-making librarian. Have we not jostled ex-kings and ex-empresses and ex-nobles in Broadway; trod on the toes of exotic naturalists, Waterloo marshals, and great foreign academicians, at the parties of young ladies; and seen more heroes and generals all over town than would fill a new Iliad? Griswold's Republican Court, p. 448. It is worth while to lay so much stress upon the composite character of this new society because it helps to account for the sort of literature New York was to produce. These French exiles could not help imparting an additional lightness and vivacity and polish to the manners of their American hosts;
Broadway (Virginia, United States) (search for this): chapter 5
bbe Correa, and Jeffrey, and others: the muster roll of whose names I might call over, if I had the memory of Baron Trenck, and my readers the taste of a catalogue-making librarian. Have we not jostled ex-kings and ex-empresses and ex-nobles in Broadway; trod on the toes of exotic naturalists, Waterloo marshals, and great foreign academicians, at the parties of young ladies; and seen more heroes and generals all over town than would fill a new Iliad? Griswold's Republican Court, p. 448. Itpecific gravity, but specific levity which often serves to keep a reputation afloat. When Irving came back to New York he might be seen, as George Curtis describes him, about 1850, on an autumnal afternoon, tripping with an elastic step along Broadway, with low-quartered shoes neatly tied, and a Talma cloak — a short garment that hung from the shoulders like the cape of a coat. There was a chirping, cheery, oldschool air in his appearance which was undeniably Dutch, and most harmonious with
Providence, R. I. (Rhode Island, United States) (search for this): chapter 5
ion would at first be attributed. Quiet, prim, grave, reticent, slender, he seemed more like an old-fashioned lawyer or conveyancer, than one through whom a new world of song should come into being. In his actual pursuits, moreover, even as an editor, he was among the more formal and staid of his class, held all his assistants to the greatest accuracy and hung lists of correct spellings in his counting room, whereas most newspaper editors are chiefly anxious to accumulate words and trust Providence with the spelling. This was his daily life, and it resulted in founding what must to this day be called, all things considered, the best newspaper in the United States, the New York evening post. But it is maintained by those who knew him best, that from beginning to end he loved to be known as a poet, rather than in any sense a business man. That was the impression made on me when I saw him occasionally, in his later years, in Newport; especially on one occasion where at some public re
France (France) (search for this): chapter 5
mself with gallantry too; but who does not know, or rather, who ever did know Talleyrand?--About the same time I met with Priestley — grave and placid in his manners, with a slight difficulty of utterance — dry, polite, learned and instructive in his conversation. At a period somewhat later, I saw here the deputy Billaud de Marennes, who had swayed the blood-thirsty mob of the Faubourg St. Antoine, turned the torrent of the multitude into the Hall of the Legislative Assembly, and reanimated France to a bolder and more vigorous resistance against her foreign enemies. I visited him in the garret of a poor tavern in the upper part of William Street, where he lived in obscurity. But why particularize further? We have had savants, litterateurs, and politicians by the score, all men of note, some good and some bad — and most of whom certainly thought that they attracted more attention than they did — Volney and Cobbett and Tom Moore, and the two Michaux, and the Abbe Correa, and Jeffrey
West Point (Georgia, United States) (search for this): chapter 5
aw him occasionally, in his later years, in Newport; especially on one occasion where at some public reception I saw him and General Sherman meet. General Sherman, the antipode of General Grant, was the heartiest and most outspoken among noted men, and he stretched out his hand to Mr. Bryant with the most exuberant cordiality. What, said he, Mr. Bryant? Why, I have heard of him all my life. He is one of the regular old stagers. Why, he edited a paper as long ago as when I was a boy at West Point, and shook his hand violently. Mr. Bryant drew away his hand quietly with a rather wounded expression, I fancied, as if the pioneer American poet might perhaps have enjoyed some other recognition. Perhaps it was this life-long and rather prosaic atmosphere which left him less personally impressed upon the public as a poet than those who came just after him. But I, who grew up on his poetry as a boy, just before Longfellow stepped into his tracks, can testify that the diet he afforded, t
Dutch (West Virginia, United States) (search for this): chapter 5
ed. The Knickerbocker history of New York, published two years later, brought Irving his first real fame. He employed his theme, a burlesque history of the three Dutch governors of New York, as a stalking-horse for purposes of light satire. Everybody in New York enjoyed it except a few descendants of the old Dutch worthies with Dutch worthies with whose names he had made free; and it won high praise abroad, notably from Walter Scott. The book was a real success. Irving had proved himself master of a fluent humorous style which might have been employed indefinitely in the treatment of similar themes. But for many years he was, according to the New York standard, a man of f cloak — a short garment that hung from the shoulders like the cape of a coat. There was a chirping, cheery, oldschool air in his appearance which was undeniably Dutch, and most harmonious with the associations of his writings. My only personal observation of Washington Irving was too much like his description of his only glimps
United States (United States) (search for this): chapter 5
f song should come into being. In his actual pursuits, moreover, even as an editor, he was among the more formal and staid of his class, held all his assistants to the greatest accuracy and hung lists of correct spellings in his counting room, whereas most newspaper editors are chiefly anxious to accumulate words and trust Providence with the spelling. This was his daily life, and it resulted in founding what must to this day be called, all things considered, the best newspaper in the United States, the New York evening post. But it is maintained by those who knew him best, that from beginning to end he loved to be known as a poet, rather than in any sense a business man. That was the impression made on me when I saw him occasionally, in his later years, in Newport; especially on one occasion where at some public reception I saw him and General Sherman meet. General Sherman, the antipode of General Grant, was the heartiest and most outspoken among noted men, and he stretched out
Europe (search for this): chapter 5
h the history of all nations is to be revised and rewritten and the judgment of past ages to be corrected or confirmed. Motley's Correspondence, i. 203. This was written on July 17, 1857, before the Civil War, and this was the opinion of a man the greater part of whose working life, like Motley's, had been passed in Europe; and who had thus a right to hazard a guess as to which tribunal was likely to be the tribunal of the future. Some popular novels. As marked in its triumph over European criticism, though as stormy as Irving's was peaceful, was the career of James Fenimore Cooper. He was not, of course, our earliest novelist, inasmuch as Charles Brockden Brown had preceded him and a series of minor works of fiction had intervened; novels commonly of small size but of wide circulation and written usually by women. First of these was The coquette, or the history of Eliza Wharton, a novel founded on fact by a lady of Massachusetts, this being published in Boston in 1797. It
Massachusetts (Massachusetts, United States) (search for this): chapter 5
pular novels. As marked in its triumph over European criticism, though as stormy as Irving's was peaceful, was the career of James Fenimore Cooper. He was not, of course, our earliest novelist, inasmuch as Charles Brockden Brown had preceded him and a series of minor works of fiction had intervened; novels commonly of small size but of wide circulation and written usually by women. First of these was The coquette, or the history of Eliza Wharton, a novel founded on fact by a lady of Massachusetts, this being published in Boston in 1797. It was the work of Hannah Webster of Boston, who married the Rev. John Foster, D. D., and who also wrote The Lessons of a Preceptress in 1]798, perhaps to excuse herself for the daring deed of writing fiction about a coquette. Many editions of her novel were published, the thirteenth appearing so lately as 1833, in Boston. Another book of similar popularity was Charlotte Temple, a tale of truth, by Mrs. Rowson of the New Theatre, Philadelphia
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