for his future.

It may be conceded that nothing is more worth mention in
American fiction of the past generation than the extraordinary
cultivation of the short-story, which Mr. Brander Matthews
dignifies and unifies by a hyphen, in order to express his
conviction that it is an essentially new art form, to study
which is a fascinating quest, but aside from our main intention.

II

Having due regard then for perspective, and trying not to
confuse historical importance with the more vital interest which
implies permanent claims, it seems pretty safe to come back to
Irving and Poe, to Cooper and Hawthorne. Even as in the sketch
and tale Irving stands alone with such a masterpiece as "The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow"; and Poe equally by himself with his
tales of psychological horror and mystery, so in longer fiction,
Cooper and Hawthorne have made as distinct contributions in the
domain of Romance. Their service is as definite for the day of
the Romantic spirit, as is that of Howells and James for the
modern day of realism so-called. It is not hard to see that
Irving even in his fiction is essentially an essayist; that with
him story was not the main thing, but that atmosphere, character
and style were,--the personal comment upon life. One reads a
sketch like "The Stout Gentleman," in every way a typical work,
for anything but incident or plot. The Hudson River idyls, it
may be granted, have somewhat more of story interest, but Irving
seized them, ready-made for his use, because of their value for
the picturesque evocation of the Past. He always showed a keen
sense of the pictorial and dramatic in legend and history, as
the "Alhambra" witnesses quite as truly as the sketches.
"Bracebridge Hall" and "The Sketch Book," whatever of the
fictional they may contain, are the work of the essayist
primarily, and Washington Irving will always, in a critical
view, be described as a master of the English essay. No other
maker of American literature affords so good an example of the
inter-colation of essay and fiction: he recalls the organic
relation between the Sir Roger de Coverley Papers and the
eighteenth century Novel proper of a generation later.

His service to all later writers of fiction was large in that he
taught them the use of promising native material that awaited
the story-maker. His own use of it, the Hudson, the environs of
Manhattan, was of course romantic, in the main. When in an
occasional story he is unpleas