A token of friendship immortal
    With Washington Irving returns:—­
  Scott’s ivy entwined o’er his portal
    By the Blue-eyed Lassie of Burns.

Scott’s cordial greeting at Abbotsford, and his persistence in getting Murray to reconsider the publication of the “Sketch Book,” which he had previously declined, were never forgotten by Irving.  It was during a critical period of his literary career, and the kindness of the Great Magician, in directing early attention to his genius, is still cherished by every reader of the “Sketch Book” from Manhattan to San Francisco.  The hearty grasp of the Minstrel at the gateway of Abbotsford was in reality a warm handshake to a wider brotherhood beyond the sea.

* * *

  In purple tints woven together
    The Hudson shakes hands with the Tweed,
  Commingling with Abbotsford’s heather
    The clover of Sunnyside’s mead.

  Wallace Bruce.

* * *

=Washington Irving.=—­While he was building “Sunnyside,” a letter came from Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, appointing him minister to Spain.  It was unexpected and unsolicited, and Webster remarked that day to a friend:  “Washington Irving to-day will be the most surprised man in America.”  Irving had already shown diplomatic ability in London in promoting the settlement of the “North Western Boundary,” and his appointment was received with universal favor.  Then as now Sunnyside was already a Mecca for travelers, and, among many well-known to fame, was a young man, afterwards Napoleon the Third.  Referring to his visit, Irving wrote in 1853:  “Napoleon and Eugenie, Emperor and Empress!  The one I have had as a guest at my cottage, the other I have held as a pet child upon my knee in Granada.  The last I saw of Eugenie Montijo, she was one of the reigning belles of Madrid; now, she is upon the throne, launched from a returnless shore, upon a dangerous sea, infamous for its tremendous shipwrecks.  Am I to live to see the catastrophe of her career, and the end of this suddenly conjured up empire, which seems to be of such stuff as dreams are made of?  I confess my personal acquaintance with the individuals in this historical romance gives me uncommon interest in it; but I consider it stamped with danger and instability, and as liable to extravagant vicissitudes as one of Dumas’ novels.”  A wonderful prophecy completely fulfilled in the short space of seventeen years.

* * *

    How many such men as Washington Irving are there
    in America.  God don’t send many such spirits into this
    world.

    Lord Byron.

* * *