The moral and emotional elements are quite wanting in Irving; they
are characteristic of Longfellow. But the sweetness of soul, the freedom
from cynicism or stinging satire, which is most unusual in American, or
in any humorous or descriptive literature, is remarkable in both. "I
have no wife, nor children, good or bad, to provide for," begins
Geoffrey Crayon, quoting from old Burton. But neither had he an enemy
against whom to defend himself. It was true of Geoffrey Crayon, down to
the soft autumn day on which he died, leaving a people to mourn for him.
It is true of the Pilgrim of Outre-Mer, in all the thirty years since
first he launched forth "into the uncertain current of public favor."
In this earliest book of Longfellow's the notable points are not power
of invention, or vigorous creation, or profound thought, but a
mellowness of observation, instinctively selecting the picturesque and
characteristic details, a copious and rich scholarship, and that
indefinable grace of the imagination which announces genius. The work,
like the "Sketch-Book," was originally issued in parts, and it was
hardly possible for any observer thirty years ago not to see that its
peculiar character revealed a new strain in our literature.
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