is
devotion was not of the quality that consumes. He soon strayed into
pleasanter paths. In January, 1807, appeared the first number of
_Salmagundi_, a humorous periodical which caused a great deal of
curiosity as to the authors, whose witty articles appeared
anonymously. Two years later came the droll _History of New York by
Diedrich Knickerbocker_, a book in which according to Scott were to be
seen traces of the wit of Swift. Scott said that he used to read it
aloud to his wife and guests until "our sides were absolutely sore
with laughing."

Before this work had appeared, Irving lost in three consecutive years
three persons who would have rejoiced the most in his success,--his
father, "the tenderest and best of sisters, a woman of whom a brother
might be proud," and his sweetheart, Matilda Hoffman. She was a rare
and beautiful maiden who had kindled in the heart of Irving a passion
which survived her death until he himself passed away an old man. When
he died his friends found her miniature and a lock of fair hair,
together with the part of a manuscript written for a lady who had
asked Irving why he had never married. Describing Miss Hoffman he
says:

"The more I saw her, the more I had reason to admire her. Her mind
seemed to unfold itself leaf by leaf, and every time to discover new
sweetness. Nobody knew her so well as I, for she was generally
silent.... Never did I meet with more intuitive rectitude of mind,
more delicacy, more exquisite propriety in word, thought, and action
than in this young creature. Her brilliant little sister used to say
that 'people began by admiring her, but ended by loving Matilda.' For
my part I idolized her." Irving then continues by giving a long
account of his efforts to succeed in his literary and legal work with
a view of earning a place in life so as to enable him to marry. "In
the midst of this struggle and anxiety she fell into a consumption. I
cannot tell you what I suffered.... I saw her fade rapidly away,
beautiful, and more beautiful, and more angelic to the very last. I
was often by her bedside, and when her mind wandered she would talk to
me with a sweet, natural, and affecting eloquence that was
overpowering. I saw more of the beauty of her mind in that delirious
state than I ever had before.... I was by her when she died, and was
the last she ever looked upon.... She was but seventeen."

So poignant was the grief of Irving that for thirty years after her
death he di