strolling about the face of the earth."

The business of the Irving brothers soon absorbed all Washington's time
and attention. Peter was an invalid, and the whole weight of the
perplexing affairs of the failing firm fell upon the one who detested
business, and counted every hour lost that he gave to it. His letters
for two years are burdened with harassments in uncongenial details and
unsuccessful struggles. Liverpool, where he was compelled to pass most
of his time, had few attractions for him, and his low spirits did not
permit him to avail himself of such social advantages as were offered.
It seems that our enterprising countrymen flocked abroad, on the
conclusion of peace. "This place [writes Irving] swarms with Americans.
You never saw a more motley race of beings. Some seem as if just from
the woods, and yet stalk about the streets and public places with all the
easy nonchalance that they would about their own villages. Nothing can
surpass the dauntless independence of all form, ceremony, fashion, or
reputation of a downright, unsophisticated American. Since the war, too,
particularly, our lads seem to think they are 'the salt of the earth' and
the legitimate lords of creation. It would delight you to see some of
them playing Indian when surrounded by the wonders and improvements of
the Old World. It is impossible to match these fellows by anything this
side the water. Let an Englishman talk of the battle of Waterloo, and
they will immediately bring up New Orleans and Plattsburg.

"A thoroughbred, thoroughly appointed soldier is nothing to a Kentucky
rifleman," etc., etc. In contrast to this sort of American was Charles
King, who was then abroad: "Charles is exactly what an American should be
abroad: frank, manly, and unaffected in his habits and manners, liberal
and independent in his opinions, generous and unprejudiced in his
sentiments towards other nations, but most loyally attached to his own."
There was a provincial narrowness at that date and long after in America,
which deprecated the open-minded patriotism of King and of Irving as it
did the clear-sighted loyalty of Fenimore Cooper.

The most anxious time of Irving's life was the winter of 1815-16.
The business worry increased. He was too jaded with the din of pounds,
shillings, and pence to permit his pen to invent facts or to adorn
realities. Nevertheless, he occasionally escapes from the treadmill.
In December he is in London, and entranced with the