Washington Irving 
Wolfert’s Roost 

Several papers were written by Irving in 1839 and the following year, for the ‘ Knickerbocker, ‘ a monthly periodical conducted by his friend, Lewis Gaylord Clark, all of them such as he only could write. They were afterward collected into a volume, entitled ‘ Wolfert’s Roost, ‘ from the ancient name of that beautiful residence of his on the banks of the Hudson, in which they were mostly written. They were, perhaps, read with more interest in the volume than in the magazine, just as some paintings of the highest merit are seen with more pleasure in the artist’s room than on the walls of an exhibition.