Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent. by Washington Irving - Delphi Classics (Illu(txt+pdf+epub+mobi电子书下载)

作者：Washington Irving

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Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent. by Washington Irving - Delphi Classics (Illu试读：

Washington Irving: Parts Edition (in 20 parts)

First published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by Delphi Classics.

© Delphi Classics, 2017.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 78877 542 7

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www.delphiclassics.comWashington Irving: Parts Edition

This eBook is Part 7 of the Delphi Classics edition of Washington Irving in 20 Parts. It features the unabridged text of Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent. from the bestselling edition of the author’s Complete Works. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. Our Parts Editions feature original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of Washington Irving, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

Visit here to buy the entire Parts Edition of Washington Irving or the Complete Works of Washington Irving in a single eBook.

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WASHINGTON IRVING

IN 20 VOLUMESParts Edition Contents

The Short Story Collections

1, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

2, Bracebridge Hall

3, Tales of a Traveller

4, Tales of the Alhambra

5, The Crayon Miscellany

6, Wolfert’s Roost

The Satires

7, Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent.

8, A History of New York

The Plays

9, Abu Hassan

10, The Wild Huntsman

The Poetry

11, The Complete Poetry

The Non-Fiction

12, A Tour on the Praries

13, Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada

14, Astoria

15, The Adventures of Captain Bonneville. the Rocky Mountains

16, Life of Oliver Goldsmith

17, Life of George Washington: Volume I

The Criticism

18, The Criticism

The Biographies

19, Washington Irving by Henry W. Boynton

20, Washington Irving by Charles Dudley Warner

www.delphiclassics.com

 Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent.Irving’s first published book is a collection of nine observational letters that first appeared in 1802 in the New York Morning Chronicle, a political-leaning newspaper, edited by the author’s brother. The letters were printed at irregular intervals until April 23, 1803, and they satirically discuss such themes as marriage, manners, dress, and culture of early 19th century New York. The genre of observational letters dates as far back as the 1720s, when Benjamin Franklin wrote similar letters to the New-England Courant under the name of Silence Dogood. These works were to become a staple feature of colonial newspapers, usually involving a bachelor observer, who comments his opinions on public truths and follies typical of the time.Irving’s first letter appeared in the November 15, 1802, mocking the current trends in dress and fashion, particularly criticising young men and their “most studied carelessness, and almost slovenliness of dress,” who are more interested in themselves than in the unfortunate “belle who has to undergo the fatigue of dragging along this sluggish animal.”The letters were well-received in New York, with the public enjoying them so much that the Chronicle co-publisher Aaron Burr was impressed enough to send copies of the first five letters to his daughter Theodosia — a rare occurrence for this fastidious publisher. However, Irving would later look back on the letters as “crude and boyish” and he was greatly alarmed when they were reprinted in London, following his great success The Sketch Book. For many years after this, Irving refused to reprint the letters. Nevertheless, they are an amusing and light-hearted read, providing entertaining sketches of old New York life and the vanities of its citizens.Irving as a young manCONTENTSBIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.LETTER I.LETTER II.LETTER III.LETTER IV.LETTER V.LETTER VI.LETTER VII.LETTER VIII. Aaron Burr, Jr. (1756–1836) was the third Vice President of the United States under President Thomas Jefferson, as well as Irving’s first publisher.An early edition of the New York Morning ChronicleBIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.WHEN a writer has acquired great renown by his productions, and has established his reputation as a man of genius, we naturally feel a curiosity to become acquainted not only with his personal but his intellectual history. We like to trace up the current of his mind to its first tricklings, as it were, and to listen to its prattlings among the pebbles, as it is hurrying along to its broader and bolder channel.The author of the Sketch Book has become more distinguished than perhaps any other American writer; and even England has been constrained to acknowledge that his productions are among the most elegant specimens of English composition.In the year 1802, Mr. Irving first attracted public notice by publishing in the Morning Chronicle a series of sportive pieces under the signature of Jonathan Oldstyle. To the new generation of readers produced by the lapse of twenty-two years, we trust that their republication will be peculiarly acceptable.It is in these specimens that we may perceive the germ of that genius which soon after blossomed in Salmagundi, shot forth in wild luxuriance in Knickerbocker, and finally displayed its rich fruit in the Sketch Book, and Bracebridge Hall.A brief account of the life and writings o! Mr. Irving will, perhaps, not be deemed superfluous by the readers of this little publication.The city of New York has the honour of being the birth-place of this distinguished author, who has given such eclat to the literary reputation of our country. He was a student in Columbia College, in the year 1800, but by reason of his infirm health, was under the necessity of relinquishing his classical studies, and of devoting his attention to pursuits less compulsory and severe. By way of recreation, he was advised to take lessons in drawing; and for this purpose he put himself under the tuition of a gentleman, whose Drawing Academy still maintains a high reputation in our city. What proficiency he made in this art, we have not the means of ascertaining. It is presumable, however, that this kind of sketching was not that which best accorded with his genius, nor probably consisted with his health; for he soon afterwards began to turn his thoughts to travel, and a voyage across the Atlantic was recommended by his physician, and encouraged by his kindred and friends. In the interim, however, and indeed before this determination had been taken, his elder brother, now in England, was editing a newspaper in this city; and although a political paper, and devoted to the views and interests of a party, yet some portions of its columns were occasionally embellished “by hands unseen,” with the flowers of poetry and literature, and sometimes enlivened by flashes of wit and humour. An inviting opportunity here presented itself, for trying the scarcely fledged wings of our juvenile author: and a two-fold benefit could be conferred — credit to himself, and relief to the care-worn and harassed editor, whose political conflicts did not allow him leisure to woo the muses to his aid; and he knew, that without some contributions from the Pierian district, his paper, even in this “bank-note-world,” would soon decline, for the want of contributions of a more substantial quality.It was at this period, that the light pieces now republished, first made their appearance. They attracted a good deal of notice, and the Morning Chronicle was eagerly sought for by the lovers of genuine native humour. Mr. Irving then embarked for France, from whence he proceeded to Italy, and went as far as Rome and Naples. His travels and residence abroad enabled him to entertain his friends at home with the most amusing accounts of his various adventures, and the most picturesque descriptions of every thing that presented itself to his ready and lively apprehension. His letters are, no doubt, yet to be found within the circle of his relatives and correspondents, and the hope may be indulged, that they will not suffer them to be lost.Our author returned to America, we believe, some time in the year 1805 or 1806; and his health being much improved, he commenced the study of the law, in the office of an eminent counsellor in New York. Coke, however, “delighted him not — nor Blackstone neither.” What progress he made in his juridical pursuits, we know not; but that he read more than he understood, and understood more than he remembered, there can be but little doubt.In the year 1807, he amused the town with his Salmagundi, which was published in numbers, commencing in January, and continuing till the beginning of the next year. Several of the numbers are ascribed to a gentleman who has since distinguished himself both in poetry and prose, and whose copious, chaste, and vigorous style, as well as his satirical wit, sarcastic humour, and biting irony, render all his attempts at concealment unavailing. The poetical pieces which embellish Salmagundi, are well known to be the production of the eldest brother of our author, and who is since deceased.  Salmagundi is now publishing in London, as Knickerbocker’s History has already been; for such is Mr. Irving’s reputation and popularity in England, that John Bull is now quite willing to ask for, and to read, an American book; though, according to a learned coxcomb, (critic, we meant to say,) in the Edinburgh Review a few years ago, such a thing was then never thought of.In the year 1810, an edition of Campbell s Poems being about to be published in Philadelphia, Mr. Irving was applied to for a biographical sketch of that sweet and sublime bard. This task he executed in a most masterly manner; and the forty pages of which it consists, form, in our humble opinion, the most beautiful and finished piece of serious composition that ever came from his pen. In point of style, refined sentiment, and generous and spirited effusion, we venture to assert, that it is not surpassed by any piece of prose in the English language.The History of New York, by Deidrich Knickerbocker, was his next production; and in this he seems to have exerted all his powers of good-natured burlesque, playful wit, and facetious fancy. He prepared himself for this work by a course of diligent research into the antiquities of New Amsterdam; and the libraries of New York and Philadelphia were ransacked for materials, or rather subjects, for his wizard pencil. It is a broad caricature from beginning to end; and, like a magic lantern, exhibits the most fantastic combinations, the most ludicrous distortions, and unlicensed exaggerations, that a mirthful fancy can create. Though sport to many, it was not so to all; and some of the descendants of our Dutch aborigines were not a little offended at the liberty which the author has taken with the names and manners of those whom they had been accustomed to remember with reverence and respect. A gentleman whose name bespeaks his Dutch lineage, and whose talents entitle his observations to very high regard, in his Discourse before the New York Historical Society in 1818, makes the following animadversions on the subject, with peculiar elegance and feeling: —“It is more ‘in sorrow than in anger,’ that I feel myself compelled to add to these gross instances of national injustice, a recent work of a writer of our own, who is justly considered one of the brightest ornaments of American literature. I allude to the burlesque history of New York, in which it is painful to see a mind, as admirable for its exquisite perception of the beautiful, as it is for its quick sense of the ridiculous, wasting the riches of its fancy on au ungrateful theme, and its exuberant humour in a coarse caricature.“This writer has not yet fulfilled all the promise he has given to his country. It is his duty, because it is in his power, to brush away the pretenders who may at any time infest her society, her science, or her politics; or if he aspires, as I trust that he does, to strains of a higher mood, the deeds of his countrymen, and the undescribed beauties of his native land, afford him many a rich subject, and he may deck the altar of his country’s glory with the garlands of his taste and fancy — .“How dangerous a gift is the power of ridicule! It is potent to unmask the pretender, and to brand the hypocrite; yet how often has it dissipated those gay illusions which beguile the rough path of life — how often has it chilled the glow of genius and invention — how often, at its dread presence,  have the honest boasts of patriotism, the warm expression of piety, the generous purpose of beneficence, faltered on the lips, and died away in the heart.” —About the year 1812, Mr. Irving went to England, and became a partner in a commercial concern, of which two of his brothers were also partners, and one of whom remained in this country. The correspondence department, which was extensive, was allotted to the literary member of the house; and the business of the establishment had become so profitable, that each one, soon after the peace of 1815, had a prospect of sharing a handsome dividend. Our author enjoyed the expectation of retiring from the irksome drudgery of the counting-house to the sweets of literary leisure, with a competence for life, when the failure of a commercial adventure, in a moment convinced him of the vanity and delusiveness of human anticipations, and reduced him to a state of almost life-loathing despondency. What a trial for a sensitive mind — and yet for his credit and his fame what a fortunate reverse! His pen and his ledger are exchanged for his pencil and his sketch-book; and Geoffrey’s drafts are more highly honoured, than those of any merchant in the land.LETTER I.SIR,NOTHING is more intolerable to an old person than innovation on old habits. The customs that prevailed in our youth become dear to us as we advance in years; and we can no more bear to see them abolished, than we can to behold the trees cut down under which we have sported in the happy days of infancy.Even I myself, who have floated down the stream of life with the tide — who have humoured it in all its turnings — who have conformed in a great measure to all its fashions, — cannot but feel sensible of this prejudice. I often sigh when I draw a comparison between the present and the past; and though I cannot but be sensible that, in general, times are altered for the better, yet there is something even in the imperfections of the manners which prevailed in my youthful days, that is inexpressibly endearing. There is nothing that seems more strange and preposterous to me, than the manner in which modern marriages are conducted. The parties keep the matter as secret as if there was something disgraceful in the connexion. The lady positively denies that any thing of the kind is to happen; will laugh at her intended husband, and even lay bets against the event, the very day before it is to take place. They sneak into matrimony as quietly as possible, and seem to pride themselves on the cunning and ingenuity they have displayed in their manœuvres.How different is this from the manners of former times! I recollect when my Aunt Barbara was addressed by ‘Squire Stylish; nothing was heard of during the whole courtship, but consultations and negotiations between her friends and relatives; the matter, was considered and re-considered, and at length the time set for a final answer. Never, Mr. Editor, shall l forget the awful solemnity of the scene. The whole family of the Oldstyles assembled in awful conclave: my aunt Barbara, dressed out as fine as hands could make her — high cushion, enormous cap, long waist, prodigious hoop, ruffles that reached to the end of her fingers, and a gown of flame-coloured brocade, figured with poppies, roses, and sun-flowers. Never did she look so sublimely handsome.  T he ‘Squire entered the room with a countenance suited to the solemnity of the occasion. He was arrayed in a full suit of scarlet velvet, his coat decorated with a profusion of large silk buttons, and the skirts stiffened with a yard or two of buckram: a long pig tailed wig, well powdered, adorned his head; and stockings of deep blue silk, rolled over the knees, graced his extremities; the flaps of his vest reached to his knee-buckles,  and the ends of his cravat, tied with the most precise neatness, twisted through every button-hole. Thus accoutred, he gravely walked into the room, with his ivory-headed ebony cane in one hand, and gently swaying his three-cornered beaver with the other. The gallant and fashionable appearance of t he ‘Squire, the grace fulness and dignity of his deportment, occasioned a general smile of complacency through the room; my aunt Barbara modestly veiled her countenance with her fan; but I observed her contemplating her admirer with great satisfaction through the sticks.The business was opened with the most formal solemnity, but was not long in agitation. The Oldstyles were moderate — their articles of capitulation few: t he ‘Squire was gallant, and acceded to them all. In short, the blushing Barbara was delivered up to his embraces with due ceremony. Then, Mr. Editor — then were the happy times: such oceans of arrack — such mountains of plum-cake — such feasting and congratulating — such fiddling and dancing: — ah me! who can think of those days, and not sigh when he sees the degeneracy of the present: no eating of cake nor throwing of stockings — not a single skin filled with wine on the joyful occasion — nor a single pocket edified by it but the parson’s.It is with the greatest pain I see those customs dying away, which served to awaken the hospitality and friendship of my ancient comrades — that strewed with flowers the path to the altar, and shed a ray of sunshine on the commencement of the matrimonial union.The deportment of my aunt Barbara and her husband was as decorous after marriage as before; her conduct was always regulated by his — her sentiments ever accorded with his opinions; she was always eager to tie on his neckcloth of a morning — to tuck a napkin under his chin at meal times — to wrap him up warm of a winter’s day, and to spruce him up as smart as possible of a Sunday. T he ‘Squire was the most attentive and polite husband in the world; would hand his wife in and out of church with the greatest ceremony — drink her health at dinner with particular emphasis, and ask her advice on every subject — though I must confess he invariably adopted his own: — nothing was heard from both sides, but dears, sweet loves, doves, &c. T he ‘Squire could never stir out of a winter’s day, without his wife calling after him from the window to button up his waistcoat carefully. Thus, all things went on smoothly; and my relations Stylish had the name, and, as far as I know, deserved it, of being the most happy and loving couple in the world.A modern married pair will, no doubt, laugh at all this; they are accustomed to treat one another with the utmost carelessness and neglect. No longer does the wife tuck the napkin under her husband’s chin, nor the husband attend to heaping her plate with dainties; no longer do I see those little amusing fooleries in company, where the lady would pat her husband’s cheek, and he chuck her under the chin; when dears and sweets were as plenty as cookies on a new-year s day. The wife now considers herself as totally independent — will advance her own opinions without hesitation, though directly opposite to his — will carry on accounts of her own, and will even have secrets of her own, with which she refuses to intrust him.Who can read these facts, and not lament with me the degeneracy of the present times; — what husband is there but will look back with regret to the happy days of female subjection.JONATHAN OLDSTYLE.

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