* * * * *

NOTICES

OF

WASHINGTON IRVING, ESQ.

AND HIS WORKS.

* * * * *

Washington Irving was born, in the State of New York, in the year
1782, and is, consequently, in his fifty-first year. His early life
cannot better be told than in his own graceful language, prefixed
to the most celebrated of his writings as "the author's account of
himself."

"I was always fond of visiting new scenes, and observing strange
characters and manners. Even when a mere child I began my travels, and
made many tours of discovery into foreign parts and unknown regions of
my native city, to the frequent alarm of my parents, and the emolument
of the town-crier. As I grew into boyhood I extended the range of my
observations. My holiday afternoons were spent in rambles about the
surrounding country. I made myself familiar with all its places famous
in history or fable. I knew every spot where a murder or robbery had
been committed, or a ghost seen. I visited the neighbouring villages,
and added greatly to my stock of knowledge, by noting their habits
and customs, and conversing with their sages and great men. I even