n, and for a month or so
after getting rid of "Bracebridge Hall," he gave himself up to the
engagements of a London season. But his ankles soon began to trouble
him again, and in July, 1822, he set out for Aix-la-Chapelle, where
he hoped to get permanent relief from his distressing complaint. He
found nothing to keep him long at Aix. The baths and waters were well
enough, but he was too dependent upon cheerful companionship to endure
life among a company of invalids. He began a leisurely round of the
Continental watering-places, staying a few weeks here and a few days
there, and gradually improving in condition. Toward the close of the
year he brought up at Dresden.

The only touch of mystery which belongs to the story of Irving is
connected with this six months' stay at Dresden. He made many friends
there, and grew especially intimate with an English family named
Foster, a mother and two daughters. It is said--and denied--that he
would have liked to marry the youngest daughter, Emily. His biographer
insists that there was nothing in the affair but friendship. To Mrs.
Foster he wrote the only account he ever gave of his early love and
loss; and his nephew quotes the closing passage as proof that he had
no thought of marrying Emily Foster, however fond of her he may have
been: "You wonder why I am not married. I have shown you why I was not
long since. When I had sufficiently recovered from that loss, I became
involved in ruin. It was not for a man broken down in the world, to
drag down any woman to his paltry circumstances. I was too proud to
tolerate the idea of ever mending my circumstances by matrimony. My
time has now gone by; and I have growing claims upon my thoughts and
upon my means, slender and precarious as they are. I feel as if I had
already a family to think and provide for."

But this might be the modest speech of a middle-aged lover. Years
later the written reminiscences of the two daughters unmistakably
impute the attentions of the brilliant American to something more than
friendliness. It is certain that he had a very warm feeling for
somebody or something in Dresden, which led to a temporary return of
his youthful delight in society. For his time was by no means given up
to the Fosters. He was received into the life of the little German
court, and evidently derived such pleasure as is proper to a
Republican from dancing with princesses, and acting in private
theatricals with Highnesses and Excellenci