GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.--Washington Irving is the earliest American whose
most popular works are read for pure pleasure and not for some historical
or educational significance. His most striking qualities are humor and
restrained sentiment. The work by which he will be longest known is his
creation of the "Knickerbocker Legend" in the _History of New York_ and his
two most famous short stories, _Rip Van Winkle_ and _The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow_. Although he is not the father of the modern short story, which
travels like an airship by the shortest line to its destination, he is yet
one of the great nineteenth-century story tellers. Some of his essays or
papers, like _Westminster Abbey_, _Stratford-on-Avon_, and _Christmas_ do
not suffer by comparison with Addison's writings.
Much of Irving's historical work and many of his essays do not show great
depth or striking originality. He did some hack writing, dealing with our
great West, but the work by which he is best known is so original that no
other American writers can for a moment compare with him in his special
field. He gave us our own Homeric age and peopled it with Knickerbockers,
who are as entertaining as Achilles, Priam, or Circe.
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