Miss Hoffman's death occurred in 1809, when she was but eighteen years old and he twentysix. From that time till, in 1859, his own dust was laid to rest in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, he w^as never knowm to mention her name, even to his most intimate friends; but, after his death, his literary executor found a paper relating the story of his passion and lifelong attachment to her memory, together with her miniature and a braid of her hair. The fidelit\' of half a century is not less an evidence of his worth than a tribute to hers. At Kinderhook, at the historic home of Judge William P. Van Ness, where Martin Van Buren afterw^ards lived, Irving spent the tw^o months immediatelv succeeding his bereavement. It has been shown by a gentleman to whom Kinderhook owes much for the presentation of matters of local interest, that there is a strong probability at least, that the original of the immortal character of Ichabod Crane was met and studied by Irving while at the Van Ness house. A tragic interest is connected with the name of Irving 's host at Kinderhook. It will be remembered that he was Aaron Burr's second in the duel that resulted in Alexander Hamilton's death, though he

250 The Hudson River

apparently did not share the odium that attached to his principal's name. Another of Irving 's early hamits on the Hudson was the Philipse house in the Highlands. There Paulding, Renwick, and the Kembles -- Peter and Gouverneur -- met, along with Henry Brevoort, whose acquaintance Irving had made while travelling on the St. Lawrence with Mr. Hoffman. The two young men soon formed a friendship which was destined to be lifelong. Of a visit to the Highlands during the year 18 12, just before the commencement of hostiUties between America and Great Britain, Irving wrote to Brevoort as follows: