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Show IRVING OFFENDED SOCIETY But Author of "Knickerbocker's History" His-tory" Became So Famous He Couldn't Bs Ignored. Society's hauteur and pride In ancestry ances-try Inspired Washington Irving to write his "Knickerbocker's History," which lacerated the sensibilities of the anceBtor-worshlDinff New Yorkpra. writes Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer, In the Ladles' Home Journal. Eventually Eventu-ally Irvlng's fame became so great that the social system waa obliged to accept the man who had affronted It. Society's association with Irving did little to make It think more kindly of the professional writer. He was a moody man, subject to fits of sullen depression caused, the romantic said, by the death of his betrothed, Matilda Hoffman. He never married, and her picture always stood at his bedside. It Is now In the New York Historical society. English authors cnrrled on the work of making their profession sociully unpopular. un-popular. One of the first of these to come to New York was Thomas Moore, then at the height of his fame. He was a lofty and superior little man, patronising patron-ising In his pleasant moments and at other times surprisingly rude. Ho snubbed New York society, which had welcomed him. Dickens and Thackeray did nothing during their Amerlcun tours to re-es-tnbllsh literary men In the good graces of society. They were scornful and caustic toward American Institutions, even American aristocracy. |