nd French horn."

The favorable reception of the "Sketch Book" not only failed to remove
his diffidence, but left him oppressed by a new sense of obligation to
the public which had lauded his work. This feeling is expressed in a
letter to Leslie, the painter, with whom he had become very intimate:
"I am glad to find the second number pleases more than the first. The
sale is very rapid, and, altogether, the success exceeds my most
sanguine expectation. Now you suppose I am all on the alert, full of
spirit and excitement. No such thing. I am just as good for nothing as
ever I was; and indeed I have been flurried and put out of my way by
these puffings. I feel something as I suppose you did when your
picture met with success--anxious to do something better, and at a
loss what to do."

Murray, who a little later was eager to publish anything from Irving's
hand, declined to undertake the first English edition of the "Sketch
Book." Irving was afraid of some incomplete pirated edition, and
finally published the first number entirely at his own expense. Murray
was glad enough to change his mind and bring out the later numbers.
Among the many friends whom the young American had made in England was
Walter Scott. A few days spent by Irving at Abbotsford had been enough
to attach them strongly to each other. Scott had by no means outgrown
his interest in the author of the "Knickerbocker History," and Irving
found nothing that was not delightful in the great romancer's
character and way of life. "As to Scott," he wrote, "I cannot express
my delight at his character and manners. He is a sterling,
golden-hearted old worthy, full of the joyousness of youth, with an
imagination continually furnishing forth pictures, and a charming
simplicity of manner that puts you at ease with him in a moment. It
has been a constant source of pleasure to me to remark his deportment
towards his family, his neighbors, his domestics, his very dogs and
cats; everything that comes within his influence seems to catch a beam
of that sunshine that plays round his heart." Now, while the prospects
of the "Sketch Book" were still dubious, Scott offered him the
editorship of an Anti-Jacobin magazine. Irving declined it, first on
the ground of his dislike for politics, and second on account of his
irregular habits of mind. "My whole course of life has been desultory,
and I am unfitted for any periodically recurring task, or any
stipulated labor of body or mind. I