his brother Ebenezer, "I have
concluded to decline it for various reasons.... The principal one is,
that I do not wish to undertake any situation that must involve me in
such a routine of duties as to prevent my attending to literary
pursuits." His determination was sturdy enough, but he was not then
nor afterward the master of his moods. "I have heard him say," notes
Pierre Irving, "that he was so disturbed by the responsibility he had
taken in refusing such an offer and trusting to the uncertain chances
of literary success, that for two months he could scarcely write a
line." His elder brothers were heartily disappointed by the decision.
They could not suppose that he would prove greatly more busy or
fruitful in the future than he had in the past, and up to this time,
he had done little enough. The youthful "Salmagundi" sketches, the
broad satire of the Knickerbocker History were not much for a man of
leisure to boast of at thirty-five. But they did not reckon justly
with the new seriousness which had come into his purposes. Washington
Irving was always fitful in his manner of working, often uncertain of
himself and of his work. But from this time on he had no doubt of his
calling; he had ceased to be a man about town, and become a man of
letters.

III

MAN OF LETTERS--FIRST PERIOD

The appearance of the "Sketch Book," in 1819, marks the beginning of
Irving's professional life as a literary man. It was, moreover, the
first original literary work of moment by an American. Two years later
Bryant's first volume of poems was published, and Cooper's novels had
begun to appear; at this time Irving had the field to himself. Firm as
his determination was to depend upon writing for support, he was by no
means satisfied with what he was able to do. Even after the complete
"Sketch Book" had appeared, and had been met with hearty applause in
England and America, he continued to be doubtful of its merits, and
embarrassed by its reception. In sending the manuscript of the first
number to America, he wrote to his brother Ebenezer: "I have sent the
first number of a work which I hope to continue from time to time. I
send it more for the purpose of showing you what I am about, as I find
my declining the situation at Washington has given you chagrin. The
fact is, that situation would have given me barely a genteel
subsistence. It would have led to no higher situations, for I am quite
unfitted for political life. My talents