In one respect this is the more inexcusable, because Washington Irving
confesses, in his preface, to have "profited by recent lights thrown on
the subject by different writers, and particularly by Dr. Gustav Weil, to
whose industrious researches and able disquisitions he acknowledges himself
greatly indebted." From such authorities he has, indeed, enriched his
pages with many facts hitherto new to the English reader, and with many a
story delightfully told. But he has not used them invariably as he might. Had
he studied with diligence the invaluable work of Dr. Weil, he would have
avoided many of the mistakes and imperfections which must seriously detract
from the value of his biography. Another objection, and one that runs
throughout the book, is, that the author writes too much for effect. The style
is beautiful. A charm of romance is thrown around the topics so poetically
portrayed. But truth is sometimes sacrificed to effect. And thus the very
essence and only worth of an historical treatise is, in great measure, lost.
It is true that very often, if not always, this may be owing to the
indistinctness or imperfection of the author's knowledge. But the fault itself
is not the less to be regretted.