LENVOY.*

THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW 作者：华盛顿·欧文投票推荐加入书签留言反馈

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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 corre any part or all.

 CHAUCERS Belle Dame sans Mercie.

 IN cluding a sed volume of the Sketch Book the Author ot but express his deep sense of the indulgeh which his ?rst has been received, and of the liberal disposition that has been evio 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 nation of his work; but then he has been soled by that what one has part９9lｉｂ.icularly sured another has as particularly praised; and thus, the ens bei off against the objes, he ?nds his work, upon the whole, ended far beyond its deserts.

 * Closing the sed volume of the Londoion.

 He is aware that he runs a risk of forfeiting much of this kind favor by not following the sel that has been liberally bestowed upon him; for where abundance of valuable advice is given gratis it may seem a mans own fault if he should go astray. He only say in his vindication that he faithfully determined for a time to govern himself in his sed volume by the opinions passed upon his ?rst; but he was soht to a stand by the trariety of excellent sel. One kindly advised him to avoid the ludicrous; ao shuhetic; 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 eaining when in a peive mood, but was grievously mistaken if he imagined himself to possess a spirit of humor.

 Thus perplexed by the advice of his friends, who ea turn closed some particular path, but left him all the world beside te in, he found that to follow all their sels would, in fact, be to stand still. He remained for a time sadly embarrassed, when all at ohe 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 tain something to suit each reader, his end would be pletely answered. Few guests sit down to a varied t.?able with an equal appetite for every dish. One has a horror of a roasted pig; another holds a curry or a devil in utter abomination; a third ot tolerate the a ?avor of venison and wild-fowl; and a fourth, of truly mase stomach, looks with sn pt on those kniacks here and there dished up for the ladies. Thus each article is in ned in its turn, a 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 siderations he veo serve up this sed volume in the same heterogeneous way with his ?rst; simply requesting the reader, if he should ?nd here and there something to please him, to rest assured that it was written expressly for intelligent readers like himself; but eing him, should he ?nd anything to dislike, to tolerate it, as one of those articles which the author has been obliged to write for readers of a less re?aste.

 To be serious: The author is scious of the numerous faults and imperfes of his work, and well aware how little he is disciplined and aplished is of authorship. His de?cies are also increased by a <q></q>dif?dence arising from his peculiar situation. He ?nds himself writing in a strange land, and appearing before a public which he has been aced from childhood tard with the highest feelings of awe and reverence. He is full of solicitude to deserve their approbatio ?nds that very solicitude tinually embarrassing his powers and depriving him of that case and ?dence which are necessary to successful exertion. Still, the kindness with which he is treated ences 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 w at his own temerity.

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