POUGHK**PSIE CASK=T:

SEMI-MONTHLY LITERARY JOURNAL,

DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO THE DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF POLITE LITERATURE.

EDITED BY E. B. KILLEY & B. J. LOSSING.

No one, I'm sure, can fail to find
In such a medly, something to his mind.

OVID.

Sometimes fair Truth in fiction we disguise,
Sometimes present her naked to men's eyes.

HESIOD.

VOLUME II.

POUGHKEEPSIE:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY KILLEY & LOSSING, TELEGRAPH OFFICE, MAIN-STREET.

1838-39.

RESIDENCE OF WASHINGTON IRVING, ESQ.

Drawn and Engraved for the Poughkeepsie Casket, from a Painting by G. HARVEY, Esq., A. N. A., ; . J. LOSSING.

Reader, hast thou ever perused the Sketch Book, by Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.' and laughed thyself to weeping while following the fortunes of poor Ichabod Crane, the hero of Sleepy Hollow? If not, get it quickly, laugh and add another day to thy mortal existence.

I was yet a lad when mirth and sympathy drew tears from my eyes as I read the adventures of the renowned Ichabod, the school-master and psalm singer of that dreamy vale called Sleepy Hollow. When I read of his school discipline, his unrivalled psalmody, his unrequited love for the beautiful Katrina Van Tassel, and his horrible midnight race with the Headless Horseman, alias, Brom Bones and an illuminated pumpkin, I believed every word to be as true as the witch stories of Cotton Mather. And when in after years I passed the residence of the good old Baltus Van Tassel, its projecting eves covered with green moss, and the spacious 'stoop,' still festooned with woodbine and honeysuckle as in days lang syne,' I almost imagined I saw the blooming face of Katrina peering through the seven-by-nine glasses of a primitive window, and I involuntarily listened as I passed along the margin of the vale, to catch the distant nasal strains of Ichabod.

But the hand of modern improvement has changed that primitive scene. In 1835, WASHINGTON IRVING, Esq., purchased this relic of the days of the Knickerbockers, whose vicinity he has immortalized in story, and converted the

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just praise; and a celebrated magazine writer pronounced him the Goldsmith of the age.' Attention was then turned to the budding genius of America, and its talented repre. sentative was received as an honored guest into the highest literary circles of the British metropolis.

old low-roofed mansion where Ichabod eat
minced pies, and ogled with his green glassy
eyes' the fair Katrina, into the elegant and pic.
turesque Anglo-Dutch edifice portrayed in the
above picture. The grounds about it have been
cleared, the thick copse that concealed the
Taappan Zee' from view has been levelled,
and Mr. Irving has rendered it one of the most
delightful summer residences in this country.
To the traveller, the scholar, the man of taste,
and indeed to every American, a new interesting and elegant writer. That work gives a
is added to the locale of one of Irving's best
sketches. The genius of the Pioneer of Amer-
can Literature sheds its lustre around this rural
retreat, and many a child of genius, as he ap-
proaches the delightful spot, will feel that he is
treading upon holy ground.

The constellation of American literature is now bright with many luminaries; but Mr. Irving's fame beams in splendor not yet equalled by his successors, in the eyes, not only of his countrymen, but of transatlantic admirers. He has established a fame in England as per. manent as that of her best writers.

High as Mr. Irving stood in the literary world, the appearance of "Bracebridge Hall, or the Humorist," increased his reputation as a pleas

faithful picture of English feelings and manners, their old popular customs, May-day sports, and Christmas revelries. The Alhambra' and Astoria' are among his subsequent standard productions. His writings are few when com. pared with many of his cotemporaries, but they all have that elegance of finish so necessary to establish an enduring fame, which few of the

more voluminous authors exhibit.

Mr. Irving is now about fifty-six years of age, and a bachelor. Unlike his cotemporary, Cooper, he has the esteem of all men. His amenity of manners and amiable modesty, the unerring characteristics of true genius, have disarmed criticism of its keenest weapon, destroyed the seeds of jealousy, wherever rivalry had implant

Previous to the appearance of the Sketch Book' scarcely a single work from an American pen had been deemed worthy of republication by the London publishers. But no sooner dided them, and now, near the home of his child. the English public become acquainted with Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.' than they sought to know him better. The first authors of that country bestowed upon Mr. Irving the meed of

hood, in peaceful and happy retirement, with two charming neices, he enjoys a reciprocal feeling of friendship co-extensive with his fame.

B. J. L.