der about the pier-heads in fine weather, and watch the parting ships bound to distant climes--with what longing eyes would I gaze after their lessening sails, and waft myself in imagination to the ends of the earth!.
             4. As far as formal education went, Irving attended elementary school until he was 16, without graduating. He read law, and he passed the bar in 1807. Law quickly board him, however. Even so, he worked in it in various offices until 1804. During this time he also wrote articles for The Morning Chronicle and The Corrector, two newspapers edited by his brother Peter. From 1802-1803 he wrote a series of youthful satires of New York City for the Chronicle, called the Letters of Jonathon Oldstyle, Gent.
             5. Washington Irving was engaged to marry Matilda Hoffmann, who
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