WASHINGTON IRVING was born in New York, April 3, 1783, and died of heart disease, at Sunnyside, his country-seat on the banks of the Hudson, on November 28, 1859.
Both his parents came from Great Britain. His father had intended Washington for the legal profession, but sickness interfered with his studies, and caused him to take a voyage to Europe, proceeding as far as Rome. Returning to the United States, he was admitted to the bar; but preferring literature, he gave but little attention to the practice of law.
His first literary effort appeared in the form of a satirical miscellany, entitled "Salmagundi," published jointly with his brother, William Irving, and J. K. Paulding, in 1807-8. …
