 | The works of Washington Irving |  |
THE AUTHOR.
On again taking pen in hand, I would
fain make a few observations at the outset,
by way of bespeaking a right understanding.
The volumes which I have
already published have met with a reception
far beyond my most sanguine
expectations. I would willingly attribute
this to their intrinsic merits; but, in
spite of the vanity of authorship, I cannot
but be sensible that their success has,
in a great measure, been owing to a less
flattering cause. It has been a matter
of marvel, that a man from the wilds of
America should express himself in tolerable
English. I was looked upon as
something new and strange in literature;
a kind of demi-savage, with a feather in
his hand, instead of on his head; and
there was a curiosity to hear what such
a being had to say about civilized society.
This novelty is now at an end, and of
course the feeling of indulgence which it
produced. I must now expect to hear
the scrutiny of sterner criticism, and to
be measured by the same standard with
contemporary writers; and the very favour
which has been shown to my previous
writings, will cause these to be
treated with the greater rigour; as there
is nothing for which the world is apt to
punish a man more severely, than for
ha