| Title: | [Letter] 1838 January 10, [New York?] / Washington Irving. |
| Personal Author: | Irving, Washington, 1783-1859. |
| Date: | 1838 January 10. |
| Extent: | [5] leaves. |
| General Note: | See also additional letters in the collection from Irving. See also Van Buren's official White House biography (http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/mb8.html) and a guide to research collections of his papers (http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=V000009). |
| Abstract: | Irving makes arrangements for the payment on land, passing on suggestions about mortgages from his brother, a "wary man of business." He turns next to politics, explaining that he has not corresponded with Van Buren as he disagrees with some of his policies, but "if I had the arm of a Hercules I would lift him out of the mire in which I think others are plunging him and place him on firm ground." Irving declares himself a republican "without gall" who has "no bitterness in my creed." He contrasts the republic with ancient Greece, and goes on to discuss the cultivation of the country and the conversion of forests and seas into useful assets. He declines an invitation to visit Washington, explaining that the bustle is too much for him who has grown to love the tranquility of the country; he is in the city visiting "old Mr. Astor" and will soon return to his country retreat to play the hermit, without a touch of gloom, misanthropy, or spleen. Irving asks the recipient to convey his regards to Van Buren, explaining that when he leaves the presidential chair, he is welcome to the easiest chair in Irving's cottage. The youngest of 11 children, Irving grew up by the woods on the Hudson River, leaving his early career in law to write, travel, and fill diplomatic posts in Europe. He published a New York magazine Salmagundi (1807-1808) focusing on literature, drama, and politics, and then wrote the comic satire A History of New York (1809). While in Europe his The Sketch Book was published in New York in installments, including the popular tales of "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." He was attached to the US embassy in Madrid in 1826 and London in 1829; in 1832 he returned to New York to write about the western frontier, and accepted a diplomatic post in Spain in 1842, returning to New York in 1846. By 1859 he finished the fifth volume of his biography of Washington. |
| Personal Subject: | Irving, Washington, 1783-1859--Correspondence
Van Buren, Martin, 1782-1862. |
| Subject: | American literature--19th century
United States--Politics and government--19th century. |
| Geographical Subject: | Washington (D.C.). |
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