Transcription
New York. April 11. / 73
140 Fifth Avenue
Henry B Lawson
Dear Sir
Your letter / of the 1st was delayed in reaching / me from having been directed to / Irvington on the Hudson which / has long ceased to be my addrfefs.
I discover no new matter in the / article. Why Washington Irving / was not married, copied into your / Magazine of November 1870 from / the Albany Argus, and to which / you refer me for some Sanction / of its accuracy, or otherwise. After / an ineffectual search of a few / days I found this number of the / Historical Magazine in the Astor / Library, and upon reading the article / I perceived that it was made up / mainly from the Biography, and / that I could not therefore well difsent /
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From its accuracy. See Chap. XIV. / Vol. 1 of the Life + Letters in four / volumes, or Chap. XII Vol 1 of the / lade later edition, “Revised and / Condensed,” in three vols. The sup- / posed letter of Mr Irving, quoted by / the write of the article, was not in / reality a letter, as I had originally / surmised, but extracts from some / eight leaves of manuscript, written / on both sides, and extending / from Page 3 to 18 - part of a / sketch of his early history which / he had drawn up and left for / perusal merely and not to be retained, / with Mrs Amelia Foster during their / long and intimate sojourn at / Dresden in 1823. It was submitted / to the perusal of this lady to satisfy / some curiosity exprefsed by her as / to the insidents of his early life, / (he was then 40) with a strict in=
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Junction that it should not be / shown, and should be given back / to him, which was done. The / first leaf was mifsing, and the clo= / sing page pr pages, when I found / it among his private papers, where / it had no doubt remained since / restored, but that part of the / narrative which touched upon / his relations with Mifs Hoffman / was complete. I repeat therefore / that I find in the article to / which you aks my attention no= / thing irreconcilable with the / Biography.
I return by this mail the January / number of 1873, as I am too unset= / tled in residence to subscribe to / any periodical, and I enclose a / dollar for which I will be obliged / to you to send me, 140 Fifth Avenue / the November number for 1870.
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Which I would like to pofsefs.
Yours very truly
Pierre M. Irving
P.S. I write this merely for your / own satisfaction + not for publication.Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
