Preface (3)
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The Wife by Washington Irving
New York Jan’y 1839
AS THE VINE WHICH HAS
long twined its graceful
foliage about the oak and
been lifted by it in sunshine will when
THE HARDY PLANT IS RIFTED
By the thunderbolt cling round it with its caressing tendrils and bind up its shattered boughs so
BEAUTIFULLY so it is ORDERED BY
PROVIDENCE
THAT WOMAN who is the mere DEPENDENT
And ornament of man in his happier hours should be his stay and solace when
SMITTEN WITH SUDDEN
calamity WINDING herself INTO the rugged
recesses of his nature tenderly
supporting the drooping head
and binding up
THE BROKEN HEART
This elaborate and intricately calligraphed entry by African American engraver Patrick Henry Reason has been made his own by transforming the excerpt from Washington Irving’s “The Wife” into a picture. The calligraphy reminiscent of multiple typefaces makes this page appear as a title page from a book. The elaborate nature of his entry implies a close friendship between Reason and Cassey. Was she the kind of strong woman the piece describes who “[supports] the drooping head and [binds] up the Broken heart” of a man?
Page 25: Selected from Washington Irving, “The Wife” in The Sketch Book of Geoffery Crayon, Gent. First published in 1816.