W ashington Irving was born just as the news reached New York City: The war with England was over. To celebrate, his mother named him after the victorious American general. When he was a boy of 6, Irving was out for a walk with a Scottish maidservant, who spotted George Washington, now the nation’s first president, on a Manhattan street. The enterprising maidservant followed him into a shop. (Apparently, presidents once ran their own errands.) “Please, Your Honor,” she said. “Here’s a bairn was