Four Famous American Writers: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, - James Russell Lowell, Bayard Taylor - A Book for Young Americans by Sherwin Cody
page 7 of 172 (04%)
page 7 of 172 (04%)
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CHAPTER II IRVING'S FIRST VOYAGE UP THE HUDSON RIVER Irving's first literary composition seems to have been a play written when he was thirteen. It was performed at the house of a friend, in the presence of a famous actress of that day; but in after years Irving had forgotten even the title. His schooling was finished when he was sixteen. His elder brothers had attended college, and he never knew exactly why he did not. But he was not fond of hard study or hard work. He lived in a sort of dreamy leisure, which seemed particularly suited to his light, airy genius, so full of humor, sunshine, and loving-kindness. After leaving school, he began to study law in the office of a certain Henry Masterton. This was in the year 1800. He was admitted to the bar six years later; but he spent a great deal more of the intervening time in traveling and scribbling than in the study of law. His first published writing was a series of letters signed "Jonathan Oldstyle," printed in his brother's daily paper, "The Morning Chronicle," when the writer was nineteen years old. Irving's first journey was made the very year after he left school. It was a voyage in a sailing boat up the Hudson river to Albany; and a |
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