Wolferts Roost and Miscellanies

Roost and Miscellanies, by Washington Irving

Project Gutenberg's Wolfert's Roost and Miscellanies, by Washington Irving #10 in our series by Washington Irving
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Title: Wolfert's Roost and Miscellanies
Author: Washington Irving
Release Date: July, 2005 [EBook #8571] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on July 24, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOLFERT'S ROOST AND MISCELLANIES ***

Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, David Widger and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

WOLFERT'S ROOST
AND
MISCELLANIES
BY
WASHINGTON IRVING

CONTENTS.
CHRONICLE OF WOLFERT'S ROOST
SLEEPY HOLLOW
BIRDS OF SPRING
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE ALHAMBRA
ABENCERRAGE
ENCHANTED ISLAND
ADELANTADO OF THE SEVEN CITIES
NATIONAL NOMENCLATURE
DESULTORY THOUGHTS ON CRITICISM
SPANISH ROMANCE
LEGEND OF DON MUIO SANCHO DE HINOJOSA
COMMUNIPAW
CONSPIRACY OF THE COCKED HATS
LEGEND OF COMMUNIPAW
BERMUDAS, THE
PELATO AND THE MERCHANT'S DAUGHTER
KNIGHT OF MALTA
LEGEND OF THE ENGULPHED CONVENT

COUNT VAN HORN WOLFERT'S ROOST
AND
MISCELLANIES.
A CHRONICLE OF WOLFERT'S ROOST.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE KNICKERBOCKER.
Sir: I have observed that as a man advances in life, he is subject to a kind of plethora of the mind, doubtless occasioned by the vast accumulation of wisdom and experience upon the brain. Hence he is apt to become narrative and admonitory, that is to say, fond of telling long stories, and of doling out advice, to the small profit and great annoyance of his friends. As I have a great horror of becoming the oracle, or, more technically speaking, the "bore," of the domestic circle, and would much rather bestow my wisdom and tediousness upon the world at large, I have always sought to ease off this surcharge of the intellect by means of my pen, and hence have inflicted divers gossiping volumes upon the patience of the public. I am tired, however, of writing volumes; they do not afford exactly the relief I require; there is too much preparation, arrangement, and parade, in this set form of coming before the public. I am growing too indolent and unambitious for any thing that requires labor or display. I have thought, therefore, of securing to myself a snug corner in some periodical work where I might, as it were, loll at my ease in my elbow-chair, and chat sociably with the public, as with an old friend, on any chance subject that might pop into my brain.
In looking around, for this purpose, upon the various excellent periodicals with which our country abounds, my eye was struck by the title of your work--"THE KNICKERBOCKER." My heart leaped at the sight. DIEDRICH KNICKERBOCKER, Sir, was one of my earliest and most valued friends, and the recollection of him is associated with some of the pleasantest scenes of my youthful days. To explain this, and to show how I came into possession of sundry of his posthumous works, which I have from time to time given to the world, permit me to relate a few particulars of our early intercourse. I give them with the more confidence, as I know the interest you take in that departed worthy, whose name and effigy are stamped upon your title-page, and as they will be found important to the better understanding and relishing divers communications I may have to make to you.
My first acquaintance with that great and good man, for such I may venture to call him, now that the lapse of some thirty years has shrouded his name with venerable antiquity, and the popular voice has elevated him to the rank of the classic historians of yore, my first acquaintance with him was formed on the banks of the Hudson, not far from the wizard region of Sleepy Hollow. He had come there in the course of his researches among the Dutch neighborhoods for materials for his immortal history. For this purpose, he was ransacking the archives of one of the most ancient and historical mansions in the country. It was a lowly edifice, built in the time of the Dutch dynasty, and stood on a green bank, overshadowed by trees, from which it peeped forth upon the Great Tappan Zee, so famous among early Dutch navigators. A bright