He is full of solicitude to secure their approbation, yet finds that
very solicitude continually embarrassing his powers, and depriving
him of that ease and confidence which are necessary to successful
exertion. Still the kindness with which he is treated encourages 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 wondering at his own temerity."
The success of the Sketch-Book was followed by the almost equal
fortune of "Bracebridge Hall, or the Humorists;" a series of scenes
of Old English life, as displayed in one of those venerable halls,
that rise, here and there, in a British landscape, as monuments
of the hospitality of our ancestors, and better times. In the
autobiographical chapter of this work, the writer thus pleasantly
refers to his previous success, as "a matter of marvel, that a
man, from the wilds of America, should express himself in tolerable
English. I was looked upon as something new and strange in
literature,--a kind of demi-savage, with a leather in his hand,
instead of his head; and there was a curiosity to hear what such
a being had to say about civilized society." In referring the
circumstances under which he writes his second work on English
manners, he says: "Having been born and brought up in a new country,
yet educated from infancy in the literature of an old one, my mind
was filled with historical and poetical associations, connected with
places, and manners, and customs of Europe; but which could rarely
be applied to those of my own country.
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