Transcription
Barcelona July 11th 1844
My dear Kate
I have been a long time your debtor for a / most affectionate and acceptable letter; but I know you / will not take my long delay unkindly; knowing how / many I have to write to. [Beside?] I consider th? [^ my] long letters / to your Aunt as [??ing] bulletins to the Cottage to keep / you all informed of my movements.
Sarah Storrow has just forwarded to me a letter which / she had received from her brother written about the 11th of / June, shortly after her arrival at the Cottage. It is written / with her usual freshness of feeling and gives a delightful / picture of dear little Sunnyside. It is most gratifying / to see how your Aunt retains her [??ibility] to every / thing that is beautiful and agreeable in nature; / and what pleasure she derives from the rural objects / which surround the cottage. She speaks too with much / feeling of the affectionate reception she experienced in / arriving at the cottage, and of the kind attention she received / from you all. But I was sure it would be so, I know your / affectionate natures; and that you will do everything / in your power to make her residence among you comfortable / and cheerful; that you will be, in fact, daughters to
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Her now that it her own daughter is far away. One great / object that I had in building Sunnyside was, that it should / afford her a pleasant summer retreat, instead of being / obliged to seek one about the country; at and it is a great / source of gratification to me to find she continues to delight / in it. I consider her my representative among you, and / as such, independent of her own claims, I recommend / her to that loving kindness which I hope, at some future / day, to receive [^ in my own person] at your hands.
I cannot conceive any more pleasant [addition] to the / advantages of the Cottage than that of having Julia Grinnell / and her family at Mr Jones’ house. It gives you the variety / of social visiting, with the ease and privacy of the domestic / circle. When Mr [Hamiltons?] family moves up your little / neighborhood will be complete. I can fancy now how those / paths which I laid out will be well worn by constant / [inter-??], and will be padded by the little feet of / the magnanimous [Bubb] and his sisters. _ Well _ well _ / I hope one of these days to be over [there] among you all / in my sweet, quiet little home with two or three genera- / tions of neives and nephews swarming around me.
In a long letter written a few days since to your Aunt, I / gave an account of my arrival at Barcelona; and of the / first few days of my residence in this beautiful city. I continue / to be greatly pleased with it The City is for the most part
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Old and [genial?] and [p—?]; but there is a large / part of it new and spacious and elegant, built in the / Italian style. Indeed the place often reminds me of Italy _ / It has the same pure atmosphere, bright sunshine and / delightful climate. The harbor is like an Italian harbor / with its long shore with a light house at the end; inclo- / sing and sheltering the picturesque [^ ?latine? Rigged] shipping of the / Mediterranean. And then beyond is the broad, blue / sea, with white sails just gleaming on the horizon. /
July 13. Since writing the foregoing I have received letters from / your Aunt and from [??] Pierre, giving me more news from / blessed little Sunnyside; and of the stirring time which you / all had in preparing Julia Grinnell's house for her reception / I have also received a dispatch from government by which / find the President has granted me a leave of absence from my / post for two months. I shall profit by it to postpone my / return to Madrid until after the summer heats are over, / and shall make an [inroads?] into France and visit Sarah / at Versailles. I count upon this tour for my complete / reestablishment in my usual state of health; and think / by next autumn I shall be in first rate condition.
I have to conclude this letter of a sudden, / not “because the carriage is at the door” as you once / plead in excuse; but because I have to hurry it into / a parcel with others, to go off by the French consulate [??] / courier. So fare well my dear Kate, give
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My love to all at Sunnyside; and to the Grinnell / house at the [??] your affacetionate uncle
Washington Irving
[ADDRESS]
Eben’r Irving Esq’r
Tarrytown
Westchester County
New York
For Miss C. IrvingTranscriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
