Project Gutenberg's Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists, by Washington Irving

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Title: Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists

Author: Washington Irving

Release Date: September 23, 2004 [EBook #13515]

Language: English

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BRACEBRIDGE HALL

OR

THE HUMORISTS

BY

WASHINGTON IRVING

"Under this cloud I walk, gentlemen; pardon my rude assault. I am a traveller, who, having surveyed most of the terrestrial angles of this globe, am hither arrived, to peruse this little spot."

—CHRISTMAS ORDINARY.

CONTENTS.

VOLUME ONE.

THE HALL

THE BUSY MAN

FAMILY SERVANTS

THE WIDOW

THE LOVERS

FAMILY RELIQUES

AN OLD SOLDIER

THE WIDOW'S RETINUE

READY-MONEY JACK

BACHELORS

WIVES

STORY-TELLING

STOUT GENTLEMAN

FOREST TREES

LITERARY ANTIQUARY

THE FARM-HOUSE

HORSEMANSHIP

LOVE SYMPTOMS

FALCONRY

HAWKING

SAINT MARK'S EVE

GENTILITY

FORTUNE-TELLING

LOVE-CHARMS

THE LIBRARY

STUDENT OF SALAMANCA

VOLUME TWO.

ENGLISH COUNTRY GENTLEMEN

BACHELOR'S CONFESSIONS

ENGLISH GRAVITY

GYPSIES

MAY-DAY CUSTOMS

VILLAGE WORTHIES

THE SCHOOLMASTER

THE SCHOOL

VILLAGE POLITICIAN

THE ROOKERY

MAY-DAY

THE MANUSCRIPT

ANNETTE DELARBRE

TRAVELLING

THE CULPRIT

FAMILY MISFORTUNES

LOVER'S TROUBLES

THE HISTORIAN

THE HAUNTED HOUSE

DOLPH HEYLIGER

THE STORM-SHIP

THE WEDDING

THE AUTHOR'S FAREWELL

BRACEBRIDGE HALL;

OR,

THE HUMOURISTS.

A MEDLEY.

BY GEOFFREY CRAYON, GENT.

Under this cloud I walk, Gentlemen; pardon my rude assault. I am a traveller who, having surveyed most of the terrestrial angles of this globe, am hither arrived, to peruse this little spot.

—CHRISTMAS ORDINARY.

THE AUTHOR.

WORTHY READER!

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, to my European readers, 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 bear the scrutiny of sterner criticism, and to be measured by the same standard with contemporary writers; and the very favor 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 having been over-praised. On this head, therefore, I wish to forestall the censoriousness of the reader; and I entreat he will not think the worse of me for the many injudicious things that may have been said in my commendation.

I am aware that I often travel over beaten ground, and treat of subjects that have already been discussed by abler pens. Indeed, various authors have been mentioned as my models, to whom I should feel flattered if I thought I bore the slightest resemblance; but in truth I write after no model that I am conscious of, and I write with no idea of imitation or competition. In venturing occasionally on topics that have already been almost exhausted by English authors, I do it, not with the presumption of challenging a comparison, but with the hope that some new interest may be given to such topics, when discussed by the pen of a stranger.

If, therefore, I should sometimes be found dwelling with fondness on subjects that are trite and commonplace with the reader, I beg that the circumstances under which I write may be kept in recollection. Having been born and brought up in a new country, yet educated from infancy in the literature of an old one, my mind was early filled with historical and poetical associations, connected with places, and manners, and customs of Europe; but which could rarely be applied to those of my own country. To a mind thus peculiarly prepared, the most ordinary objects and scenes, on arriving in Europe, are full of strange matter and interesting novelty. England is as classic ground to an American as Italy is to an Englishman; and old London teems with as much historical association as mighty Rome.

Indeed, it is difficult to describe the whimsical medley of ideas that throng upon his mind, on landing among English scenes. He, for the first time, sees a world about which he has been reading and thinking in every stage of his existence. The recollected ideas of infancy, youth, and manhood; of the nursery, the school, and the study, come swarming at once upon him; and his attention is distracted between great and little objects; each of which, perhaps, awakens an equally delightful train of remembrances.

But what more especially attracts his notice, are those peculiarities which distinguish an old country and an old state of society from a new one. I have never yet grown familiar enough with the crumbling monuments of past ages, to blunt the intense interest with which I at first beheld them. Accustomed always to scenes where history was, in a manner, in anticipation; where every thing in art was new and progressive, and pointed to the future rather than to the past; where, in short, the works of man gave no ideas but those of young existence, and