Editing Washington Irving (section)

====''Bracebridge Hall'' and ''Tales of a Traveller''====
[[File:Portrait of Washington Irving attr. to Charles Robert Leslie.jpg|thumb|right|Portrait of Irving in about 1820, attributed to [[Charles Robert Leslie]]]]

With both Irving and publisher John Murray eager to follow up on the success of ''The Sketch Book'', Irving spent much of 1821 traveling in Europe in search of new material, reading widely in Dutch and German folk tales.  Hampered by writer's block—and depressed by the death of his brother William—Irving worked slowly, finally delivering a completed manuscript to Murray in March 1822.  The book, [[Bracebridge Hall|''Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists, A Medley'']] (the location was based loosely on [[Aston Hall]], occupied by members of the Bracebridge family, near his sister's home in Birmingham) was published in June 1822.

The format of ''Bracebridge'' was similar to that of ''The Sketch Book'', with Irving, as Crayon, narrating a series of more than 50 loosely connected short stories and essays.  While some reviewers thought ''Bracebridge'' to be a lesser imitation of ''The Sketch Book'', the book was well received by readers and critics.<ref>Aderman, Ralph M., ed. ''Critical Essays on Washington Irving''. (G. K. Hall, 1990), 55–57; STW 1:209.</ref> "We have received so much pleasure from this book", wrote critic Francis Jeffrey in the ''Edinburgh Review'', "that we think ourselves bound in gratitude... to make a public acknowledgement of it".<ref>Aderman, 58–62.</ref> Irving was relieved at its reception, which did much to cement his reputation with European readers.

Still struggling with writer's block, Irving traveled to Germany, settling in [[Dresden]] in the winter of 1822. Here he dazzled the royal family and attached himself to Amelia Foster, an American living in Dresden with her five children.<ref>See Reichart, Walter A. ''Washington Irving and Germany''. (University of Michigan Press, 1957).</ref> The 39-year-old Irving was particularly attracted to Foster's 18-year-old daughter Emily and vied in frustration for her hand. Emily finally refused his offer of marriage in the spring of 1823.<ref>Jones, 207-14.</ref>

He returned to Paris and began collaborating with playwright [[John Howard Payne]] on translations of French plays for the English stage, with little success. He also learned through Payne that the novelist [[Mary Shelley|Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley]] was romantically interested in him, though Irving never pursued the relationship.<ref>See Sanborn, F.B., ed. ''The Romance of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, John Howard Payne and Washington Irving''. Boston: Bibliophile Society, 1907.</ref>

In August 1824, Irving published the collection of essays ''[[Tales of a Traveller]]''—including the short story "[[The Devil and Tom Walker]]"—under his Geoffrey Crayon persona. "I think there are in it some of the best things I have ever written", Irving told his sister.<ref>Irving to Catharine Paris, Paris, September 20, 1824, ''Works'' 24:76</ref> But while the book sold respectably, ''Traveller'' was dismissed by critics, who panned both ''Traveller'' and its author. "The public have been led to expect better things", wrote the ''United States Literary Gazette'', while the ''New-York Mirror'' pronounced Irving "overrated".<ref>See reviews in ''Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine'', ''Westminster Review'', et al., 1824. Cited in Jones, 222.</ref> Hurt and depressed by the book's reception, Irving retreated to Paris where he spent the next year worrying about finances and scribbling down ideas for projects that never materialized.<ref>Hellman, 170–89.</ref>