. Backgrounds of literature. the brotherhood of man. Andit was still in the cosmopolitan temper that Ir-ving wrote to a friend: I have preferred ad-dressing myself to the feelings and fancy of thereader more than to his judgment. My writingsmay appear, therefore, light and trifling in ourcountry of philosophers and politicians. Butif they possess merit in the class of literatureto which they belong, it is all to which I aspirein the work. There was something of this breadth of hu-mor, this love of literature for itself and notas a tool for the preacher and the reformer, thisold-fashioned, kind
. Backgrounds of literature. the brotherhood of man. Andit was still in the cosmopolitan temper that Ir-ving wrote to a friend: I have preferred ad-dressing myself to the feelings and fancy of thereader more than to his judgment. My writingsmay appear, therefore, light and trifling in ourcountry of philosophers and politicians. Butif they possess merit in the class of literatureto which they belong, it is all to which I aspirein the work. There was something of this breadth of hu-mor, this love of literature for itself and notas a tool for the preacher and the reformer, thisold-fashioned, kindly, easy-going metropolitantemper, in the aspect and bearing of the man. Forty years ago, writes Mr. Curtis, upona pleasant afternoon, you might have seen trip-ping with an elastic step along Broadway, inNew York, a figure which even then would havebeen called quaint. It was a man of about sixty-six or sixty-seven years old, of a rather solidframe, wearing a Talma, as a short coat of the 114 -^^s Old Millows near Tarry town. WASHINGTON IRVING COUNTRY time was called, that hung from the shoulders,and low shoes, neatly tied, which were observableat a time when boots were generally worn. Thehead was slightly inclined to one side, the facewas smoothly shaven, and the eyes twinkledwith kindly humor and shrewdness. There wasa chirping, cheery, old-school air in the wholeappearance, an undeniable Dutch aspect, which,in the streets of New Amsteidam, irresistiblyrecalled Diedrich Knickerbocker. . Thismodest and kindly man was the creator of Died-rich Knickerbocker and Rip Van Winkle. Hewas the father of our literature and at that timeits patriarch. New York was a little city of about twenty-five thousand inhabitants, living well below thesite of the present City Hall, when Irving wasborn in a house on William Street, betweenFulton and John, and christened in St. GeorgesChapel in Beekman Street. He went to schoolin Ann and Fulton streets, but he was givenmore to wandering about the pier-
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