Editor?s Note: THE essays in this edition of ?The Sketch-Book? have been selected and arranged with reference to their usefulness in the secondary school. Irving claims our attention as the first American to win distinction in the field of letters; this, too, in a day when no critic looked for elegance or refinement in the writings of our countrymen. He represents, also, a distinct period in the history of American letters, and his writings had marked influence in the gr...