The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Wr - Washington Irving [3]
1790 Conservative English statesman Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France, in which he opposes the French Revolution.
1791 American political writer Thomas Paine publishes part 1 of his treatise in defense of the French Revolution, Rights of Man; part 2 will be published in 1792.
1798 Lyrical Ballads, by English poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, is published.
1799 Irving begins studying law in the offices of Henry Masterton and, two years later, Brockholst Livingston.
1802 Irving continues his law studies clerking for Judge Josiah Hoffman, a former attorney general of New York. In his spare time, Irving begins writing for newspapers and literary journals. His Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent., witty send-ups of Manhattan culture written in the voice of a disapproving elder, are published in the Morning Chronicle, which is edited by his brother Peter.
1804 Irving embarks on a two-year tour of Europe.
1806 He returns to the United States in 1806 and is admitted to the bar.
1807 Irving, his brother William, and his friend James Kirke Paulding collaborate to publish a series of satirical writings entitled Salmagundi; or, The Whim-Whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, Esq. & Others.
1809 Irving’s A History of New York is published under the pen name Diedrich Knickerbocker. The book, a wry and comedic mock-political history of New Amsterdam (the Dutch settlement that became New York) is a great success. Irving’s fiancée, Matilda (the daughter of Judge Hoffinan), dies, and Irving enters into a deep depression; he will never marry. American author Edgar Allan Poe is born.
1811 English novelist Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility is published.
1812 The War of 1812, between Great Britain and the United States, begins. Irving serves as military aide to New York Governor Daniel Tompkins. He travels to Washington, D.C., to seek relief from the trade embargoes that are crippling his family’s import business. Grimm’s Fairy Tales, a collection of German folk tales by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, is published.
1814 American poet Francis Scott Key writes “The Star-spangled Banner.”
1815 Irving travels to England intending to begin another tour of Europe. With the family business still foundering, however, he remains in Liverpool to help his brother Peter, who is director of the company’s British office. The Napoleonic Wars end with the defeat of Napoleon I at the Battle of Waterloo.
1817 Irving tours England and Scotland, and meets Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. Construction begins on the Erie Canal, an artificial waterway connecting New York City with the Great Lakes.
1818 When his family’s business collapses, Irving determines to make a living through his writing. Frankenstein, by English author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, is published.
1819 Serialization begins of The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., a collection of sketches and stories that includes Irving’s tales “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle.” The work is immensely popular in America, Britain, and Europe. Irving’s newfound celebrity makes him a popular guest in London’s most exclusive literary salons , where he counts such writers as Scott and Byron among his friends. Scott’s novel Ivanhoe and Byron’s satirical poem Don Juan are published.
1820 The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. is published in book form.
1822 Another collection of Irving’s sketches and stories, Bracebridge Hall, is published.
1823 The Monroe Doctrine is established to curtail European advancement into the Western Hemisphere.
1824 Irving publishes Tales of a Traveller, inspired by his visits to Europe.
1825 While in England, he becomes romantically involved with novelist Mary Shelley.
1826 Irving becomes a diplomatic attaché to the American embassy in Madrid. The Last of the Mohicans, by American novelist James Fenimore Cooper, is published.
1828 While in Spain, Irving publishes