The Museum CollectionWashington Irving Letter to John Randolph of Roanoke
Washington Irving's Signature
First Page
This page of the letter reads:
"My Dear Sir, I have just received a note from Miss White reminding me that she expects you and myself at the house Thursday evening. She wished also to ___ your company to dinner on Saturday next, but does not feel herself at liberty to [ask?] you, not having been [introduced?] to you. ____ had therefore applied to me to ___ ___ her. If you should be [disengaged?] on that ___ I think you will find her [table?] a ____ [with?]out me. The party will consist ____ eight, and her parties are always..." 
Pages Two and Three
In part, the text of these pages reads:
"...composed of intelligent & agreeable people. She is herself a very ____ person. The remains of a fine woman; a bel esprit; who has seen the gayest and most intelligent society of the age, and is now [sinking?] into the ____ with all the _____ of manners, her social feelings and _____ gracing her to the very last. Let me know if you are disengaged for Saturday, & inclined to accept Miss White’s invitation, that I may inform her. __________________ Get through my dinner [?] which is a ___ one, before you, it may perhaps be as well for me to call for you at the hour when you dine. Very truly yours, Washington Irving 35 Maddox Street Wednesday June 5" 
Description: Washington Irving (1783-1859) wrote this letter to the Virginia senator, diplomat, and orator John Randolph of Roanoke (1773-1833) while the two were in London in 1822. Irving was among the first American authors to enjoy popularity in Europe. He best known for his story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Although Irving would offer him encouragement and words of praise for his writing, Edgar Poe wrote in 1838, "Irving is much over-rated and a nice distinction might be drawn between his just and his surreptitious and adventitious reputation--between what is due to the pioneer solely, and what to the writer."Randolph served in both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. He was also appointed US Minister to Russia. A young Edgar Poe likely saw Randolph in Richmond and would later describe the character M. Valdemar in "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" as "particularly noticeable for the extreme spareness of his person --- his lower limbs much resembling those of John Randolph..." Randolph's appearance, as Poe's readers would have known, was considered unusual because his legs were underdeveloped. His voice was also noteworthy for being unusually high-pitched. Washington Irving, in a June 11, 1822 letter to Henry Brevoort, also calls attention to Randolph's unusual appearance and manners: "John Randolph is here, and has attracted much attention. He is sought after by people of the first distinction. I have met him repeatedly in company, and his eccentricity of appearance and manner makes him the more current and interesting; for in high life here, they are always eager for anything strange and peculiar. There is a vast deal, too, of the old school in Randolph?s manner, the turn of his thoughts, and the style of his conversation, which seems to please very much." The Poe Museum's letter to John Randolph was written six days before the above letter. In the June 5 letter, Irving invites Randolph to attend a dinner party. The letter was collected by Partick Henry's granddaughter, Lucy Dorothea Henry Laighton, and was pasted into her autograph album. Laighton's daughters gave the album, which also included some Edgar Allan Poe manuscripts in addition to the autographs of over 250 other celebrities, to the Poe Museum in 1928. Search CollectionCategories
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