1819-20
THE SKETCH BOOK
L'ENVOY *
by Washington Irving
* Closing the second volume of the London edition.
Electronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R)
L'ENVOY *
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Go, little booke, God send thee good passage,
And specially let this be thy prayere,
Unto them all that thee will read or hear,
Where thou art wrong, after their help to call,
Thee to correct in any part or all.
CHAUCER'S Belle Dame sans Mercie.
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IN concluding a second volume of the Sketch Book, the Author
cannot but express his deep sense of the indulgence with which his
first has been received, and of the liberal disposition that has
been evinced to treat him with kindness as a stranger. Even the
critics, whatever may be said of them by others, he has found to be
a singularly gentle and good-natured race; it is true that each has in
turn objected to some one or two articles, and that these individual
exceptions, taken in the aggregate, would amount almost to a total
condemnation of his work; but then he has been consoled by
observing, that what one has particularly censured, another has as
particularly praised; and thus, the encomiums being set off against
the objections, he finds his work, upon the whole, commended far
beyond its deserts.
He is aware that he runs a risk of forfeiting much of this kind
favor by not following the counsel that has been liberally bestowed
upon him; for where abundance of valuable advice is given gratis, it
may seem a man's own fault if he should go astray. He can only say, in
his vindication, that he faithfully determined, for a time, to
govern himself in his second volume by the opinions passed upon his
first; but he was soon brought to a stand by the contrariety of
excellent counsel. One kindly advised him to avoid the ludicrous;
another to shun the pathetic; a third assured him that he was
tolerable at description, but cautioned him to leave narrative
alone; while a fourth declared that he had a very pretty knack at
turning a story, and was really entertaining when in a pensive mood,
but was grievously mistaken if he imagined himself to possess a spirit
of humor.
Thus perplexed by the advice of his friends, who each in turn closed
some particular path, but left him all the world beside to range in,
he found that to follow all their counsels would, in fact, be to stand
still. He remained for a time sadly embarrassed; when, all at once,
the thought struck him to ramble on as he had begun; that his work
being miscellaneous, and written for different humors, it could not be
expected that any one would be pleased with the whole; but that if
it should contain something to suit each reader, his end would be
completely answered. Few guests sit down to a varied table with an
equal appetite for every dish. One has an elegant horror of a
roasted pig; another holds a curry or a devil in utter abomination;
a third cannot tolerate the ancient flavor of venison and wild-fowl;
and a fourth, of truly masculine stomach, looks with sovereign
contempt on those knick-knacks, here and there dished up for the
ladies. Thus each article is condemned in its turn; and yet, amidst
this variety of appetites, seldom does a dish go away from the table
without being tasted and relished by some one or other of the guests.
With these considerations he ventures to serve up this second volume
in the same heterogeneous way with his first; simply requesting the
reader, if he should find here and there something to please him, to
rest assured that it was written expressly for intelligent readers
like himself; but entreating him, should he find any thing to dislike,
to tolerate it, as one of those articles which the author has been
obliged to write for readers of a less refined taste.
To be serious.- The Author is conscious of the numerous faults and
imperfections of his work; and well aware how little he is disciplined
and accomplished in the arts of authorship. His deficiencies are
also increased by a diffidence arising from his peculiar situation. He
finds himself writing in a strange land, and appearing before a public
which he has been accustomed, from childhood, to regard with the
highest feelings of awe and reverence. He is full of solicitude to
deserve their approbation, yet finds that very solicitude
continually embarrassing his powers, and depriving him of that ease
and confidence which are to successful exertion. Still the kindness
with which he is treated encourages him to go on, hoping that in
time he may acquire a steadier footing; and thus he proceeds, half
venturing, half shrinking, surprised at his own good fortune, and
wondering at his own temerity.
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THE END
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