Transcription
Madrid, Jan’y 19th 1844
My dear Sarah
I have to thank you for your letter of Nov: 25: which / had all the flavor of dear little Sunnysude about it. It gives / me great satisfaction to find that all things go on smoothly / and pleasantly at the homestead; but they could hardly do otherwise / under such excellent management. I am looking for account / of the Christmas holy days, and trust to hear if the cottage / being duly dressed with evergreens, and that you all danced / to your hearts content; though it grieves me that I could not / be there to have my annual waltz. The account of Mary / the cooks marriage to Michael the gardener is certainly a very / eventful chapter in the chronicles of the cottage; I now / shall look forward with confidence for [^ to] that match which / Helen Pierre used to predict for [m-??-y]; but which that / very mention of which excited [^ ??] [^ used to excite] much [??-]-ination in Charlie / I hope you all will make your contemplated visits to Julia Grinnell / in the course of the winter; it will serve to break up the monotony / of the season _ though, for my part, if I could only be in my / little cottage, looking out from its snug warm shelter upon the / broad expanse of the Tappan Sea, all brilliant with snow / and ice and [??] -[lines?], I think I should be [loth?] to leave it / for the city _ but then what would suit a philosophic old / gentleman, who has seen enough of the world and grown too / wise for this gayities, would worldly be to the taste of a / bevy of young ladies for whom the world has still some novelty.
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As you and I always talk over household affairs I must tell / you how I passed my Christmas. My diplomatic family now / consists of Mr Hamilton, and Mr Jasper Livingston attached to / the Legation. The latter is a son of the late Brockholst Livingston / of New York : in whose office I once read law. He is an extremely / genteel young man; highly prepossessing in his appearance and / manners, and politely accomplished. There happened to be / two Americans in Madrid Mr Dela[plaine?] of New yOrk and / Mr Partridge of Baltimore. These formed my dinner party / [bill?] for Christmas and New Year day. We had no ladies / to grace and [?illegible] the table, or to dance with us in / the evening; but it had something of a home feeling / that we were all Americans. Had I been well enough I / should have asked Madame Albuquerque and Madam Calde- / -ron, the latter being half an American; but I was still too much / of an invalid to pay the gallant host. I must not omit to / tell you that, under the directions of Mr Hamilton my cook / succeeded in getting up some capital mince pies on these / festive occasions, and served them up with a sauce [--t?] of / brandy sauce, in blue [blazes?], that would have horrified the / temperance society.
Since these little social repasts I have had to give a / diplomatic dinner in consequence of the accession of the French / Ambassador and the ministers of Great Britain and by [Naples?] to a diplomatic corps. This was an arduous undertaking for / one in my half disabled condition; but I have a kind friend in Madam Albequerque; who acts the part of a niece toward / me, and who came and superintended the whole arrangement / of my table, and my apartments. You must know that / by her advice, and under the suggestions of her good taste,
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I had made quite a change this winter, in the management of my / rooms; if you look to the place I once furnished Charlie you will / understand it. The pink saloon, which used to be ?? half / sitting room, half study, and furnished in an ordinary style / is now my saloon of reception; being newly papered, ?? with / [??] yellow paper, and [^ decked out with] the blue silken furniture and / curtains that used to figure in the first (or yellow) saloon. / It makes a delightful [neater?] salo room; the large folding / windows which descend to the floor, opening into the great glazed / verandah: which is like a conservatory. In the bright sunny / winter days we need no fire in this room excepting / [^ early] in the mornings, and after sun set; and the thermometer / often rises to 70 . This arrangement has given an air and a / reality to comfort to my establishment which it wanted before / in the winter season : and the furniture which appeared to / but little advantage before, in the first saloon, which was a / mere passage room, now gives my reception room a decided / a-[page torn] elegance.
[page torn]-ng diplomatic [dream] I had the Count de Bresson, am- / : bassador of France . Mr [Butera] the British Minister : the / Prince of [Carini], minister from Naples; the Duke de / Glucksburg the Prince [de] [Pr-??lie] and others of the Diplomatic / Corps with the Duke de [Gor?] + others of the Spanish nobility. / The dinner went off better than I had anticipated, and I felt / greatly relieved in mind when it was done, but so fatigued / fatigued in body; or rather so wearied in my limbs from / having to be so much on my legs; that I had to was almost / knocked up for a day or two. I have now, however, got / over the effects; and, as I decline all invitations and shall / give no more big dinners, I shall be able to remain quiet / and attend to my slow, but gradually advancing recovery.
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I cannot at present take exercise on foot, but I daily drive / out in the carriage. I have a pair of excellent young horses; / coal black. I wish you had as good and handsome a pair / at the cottage. My [d–master?] concerns are under the / management of Lorenzo, the best and most skillful of / servants, under whose superintendence every thing goes / on regularly, and at much less expense than formerly.
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Thus my dear Sarah, I have given you a detail of my house / -keeping, knowing it to be so much in your line; and only ask in / return that you will give me further accounts of the internal affairs / of the cottage; which I regard as peculiarly under your charge.
Give my love to all this dear inmates and believe me ever, / my excellent little girl, your affectionate uncle
Washington Irving
[ADDRESS]
Miss Sarah Irving
Care of E. Irving Esq.
Tarrytown
New York
Westchester Co
N.Y.
[POSTAGE STAMP 1 - red ink, circle]
[?BOSTON]
FEB
[1 ??]
[POSTAGE STAMP 2 - red ink, circle]
[NEW] York
FEB
21
[POSTAL MARK - ink]
??Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
