continued through twenty numbers, receiving favorable criticism, and was reprinted in London in 1811. After his father's death, Oct. 25, 1807, he resided with his mother until 1811, when he took up his lodgings with his friend, Henry Brevoort. Irving devoted himself more and more to literary work, and in conjunction with his brother William began the "History of New York" in 1807. In 1809, in the death of his fiancée, Matilda Hoffman, daughter of Josiah Ogden Hoffman, Washington Irving received a blow from the effects of which he never recovered. Her Bible and prayer book were always with him, and her picture, a lock of her hair, and a letter written to some woman friend, in which he told of his love for Miss Hoffman and of his hopes of making her his wife, were found among his private papers after his death. He published "Diedrich Knickerbocker's History of New York" in 1809, which gave offence to some New Yorkers, but was read and praised by Americans and Englishmen. Before its appearance its publication was advertised in a unique manner by three notices in the New York Evening Post, the first asking for information about an old gentleman by the name of Knickerbocker who had disappeared from the Columbia hotel in Mulberry street, the second purporting to come from some one who had seen a man answering the description, resting by the wayside in Kingsbridge, N.Y., and the third was a letter signed by the proprietor of the hotel, acknowledging the aid the Evening Post had given him in his five days' search for the old gentleman about which nothing satisfactory had yet been heard. He also advertised in this notice that a MS. had been found in the room, in Knickerbocker's handwriting, and that the proprietor intended to dispose of it to pay for the board and lodging of the missing man. The work was a great success, eliciting a letter of appreciation from Sir Walter Scott, and netted Irving the sum of $3000. He retired from the law in 1810, and became a silent partner in the firm of P. & E. Irving, merchants. By the terms of the partnership the profits were divided into fifths, the two active partners receiving each two-fifths and Washington one-fifth. In the event of his marriage, however, the profits were to be divided into thirds. He served as an agent for the firm in Washington, D.C., in 181011. In 1811-12 he arranged for a new edition of his "History of New York," and became editor of a periodical published in Philadelphia, Pa., called The Select Reviews, changing the name to The Analectic Magazine. He also contributed to the magazines throughout the years 1810-14, book reviews and biographical articles on leading military and naval men. He offered his services to Governor Tompkins of New York, after the cap

ture of Washington, D.C., by the British, and was made his aide and secretary with the rank of colonel in 1814, serving four months. He was sent to Sacket Harbor to consult with General Brown, commanding the regulars and militia, and with powers if necessary to order out more militia. He then returned to New York and decided to go to Washington and apply for a position in the regular army. He was, however, detained in Philadelphia attending to the affairs of The Analectic Magazine until news came of the victory at New Orleans and of the treaty of peace. In May, 1815, he sailed for Europe, intending only a short sojourn, but he remained abroad seventeen years. He visited his brother Peter, at Liverpool, and then went to Birmingham, where his sister, Mrs. Van Wart, had a pleasant home, and a number of young children. He also made the acquaintance of Thomas Campbell, Kean, the actor, Sir Walter Scott, the elder Disraeli, John Murray and Mr. Jeffrey. Soon after his arrival in England, the business of the Irving brothers absorbed all his time and attention. Peter, who managed the business in Liverpool, was ill, and the firm's financial standing was in a precarious condition. The death of his mother in 1817 determined him to remain another year abroad, and when the firm of P. Irving & Co. went into bankruptcy, Jan. 27, 1818, he decided to devote himself to literature in London. The failure of the firm was a great blow to him, and during the investigation of the affairs by the commissioners, he sought relief in studying the German language. In August, 1818, he settled in London, determined to earn a living with his pen, and in October, 1818, he refused the office of chief clerk in the U.S. navy department at Washington, which had been secured for him by Commodore Decatur. His literary work enabled him to be the mainstay of the family. He declined the editorship of a periodical in Edinburgh, and one in London, in 1818; refused to contribute to the London Quarterly, an anti-American review, and in May, 1819, published in America the first number of "The Sketch Book," by "Geoffrey Crayon, Gent." The appearance of the first number, which contained the prospectus, the author's account of himself, and "The Voyage," Roscoe," "The Wife," and "Rip Van Winkle," created a sensation in literary circles in America, which soon spread to England. In September, 1820, the series were completed. Irving found it difficult to procure a publisher in England, and at last, at his own expense, made arrangements for its publication with an obscure printer, John Miller, who failed at about the time the book was ready for sale. This hindered the sale and left him with a large number of copies on his hands. Sir Walter Scott soon after visited London, and

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induced Murray to publish the book, and this friendly act secured Irving's success and popularity in Great Britain. He entered upon a round of gayety, and he was a welcome guest in the best London houses and a constant attendant in Murray's drawing-room. He went to Paris in August, 1820, where his social duties seriously interfered with his work. There he made the acquaintance of Thomas Moore, which ripened into friendship. In the meantime "The Sketch Book" was making a great name for him in England. Lord Byron admired the author, and once said to an American: "The Sketch Book,' I know it by heart," and to Moore: "His writings are my delight." Irving returned to England in 1821, and being something of an invalid that year, saw little of London society. He published Bracebridge Hall," in London, in 1822, and in July of that year started on a tour of Germany. At Dresden he was cordially received, not only by the foreign residents, but at the court of King Frederick Augustus and Queen Amalia. He there became intimate with an English family named Foster, and conceived for their daughter, Miss Emily, something more than friendship. It is believed that had Miss Foster been fancy free Irving would have offered himself as a suitor, but because his case was hopeless he left Dresden in July, 1823, and made his way to Paris. The "Tales of a Traveller" appeared in London in 1824. In February, 1826, he went to Spain and settled at Madrid, where Longfellow visited him, and where Irving wrote or gathered the material for the "Life of Columbus," which was published in London in 1828, and in that year he visited Granada, Seville and Palos. He then settled in Seville, and on learning that an American abridgment of his "Life of Columbus " was soon to be issued, he resolutely set to work to defeat the plans of the American publishers, and in nineteen days completed a condensation of the work into about five hundred pages. This appeared in New York in 1829. He published the "Conquest of Granada" in London in 1829, and received a diploma from the Royal Academy of History at Madrid the same year. He intended to return to New York in that year, but was appointed U.S. secretary of legation to the court of St. James, London, by President Jackson in July, 1829, while he was still a resident of the Alhambra. He took up his diplomatic duties in London and resumed his social intercourse. ceived a gold medal from the Royal Society of Literature of London in April, 1830, was made chargé d'affaires at London in June, 1831, and retired from the U.S. legation in September, 1831, after three years' service. He visited his friends and relatives in Birmingham, Sheffield, Hardwick

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Hall and Newstead Abbey; obtained a publisher for and edited the English edition of Bryant's "Poems," and set sail for America, arriving in New York in May, 1832, where he received a flattering reception. Public dinners were tendered him in his native city and in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and were declined at the two latter places. He visited Washington, the White Mountains, Springfield, Saratoga and Trenton Falls during the summer, and made a journey to the far west in the fall of 1832. He then returned to New York, but it was two years before he settled down to literary work. He published a series of sketches under the title of "Crayon Miscellany," which appeared first in numbers like those of "The Sketch Book." The first article, "A Tour of the Prairies," appeared in 1835, and was followed in that year by "Abbotsford," "Newstead Abbey" and "Legends of the Conquest of Spain." In 1835 he purchased a home two miles south of Tarrytown, on the east bank of the Hudson, the site of the castle of the Van Tassels, and situated in the neighborhood of Sleepy Hollow. This became known as "Sunnyside." Irving called it

"Wolfert's Roost" (or Rest), and transformed the Dutch cottage into a summer residence for his relatives and a home for his old age. In 1836, with his brother Peter, he moved into this cottage, where he assiduously applied himself to his work. In 1838 Irving was unanimously nominated by the Democratic party, mayor of New York city, and shortly after was invited by President Van Buren to a seat in his cabinet as secretary of the navy. Both of these offices were declined, as was a nomination for representative in congress by the Jackson party in 1834. After the death of his brothers John and Pete! in 1838, he engaged on "The History of the Conquest of Mexico," which he abandoned to William H. Prescott on learning that he had started on the subject. In March, 1839, he became a contributor to the Knickerbocker Magazine, from which he received the sum of $2000 a year for monthly contributions. He had decided upon writing "The Life of Washington," when he

was induced to accept the appointment of U.S. minister to Spain, made in February, 1842, by President Tyler at the suggestion of Daniel Webster and with the recommendation of Henry Clay. He presided at the dinner given to Charles Dickens in New York in February, 1842, and on April 10, 1842, embarked for Spain. He made a short stay in London, where he was presented to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and made a flying visit to France. He reached Madrid in July, 1842, and at once prepared to devote himself to his "Life of Washington," but diplomatic affairs and his own illness interrupted his plans. The early Carlist revolution made his position peculiarly difficult, and while he acquitted himself with honor, he did not distinguish himself. He went to France for three months in September, 1843, for the purpose of procuring medical attendance, but was obliged to return without having received any benefit. He resided at Barcelona, to where the court of Spain adjourned for the summer, in June, 1844, and in July again went to France. He returned to Madrid in November, 1844, made another visit to Paris and London in the fall of 1845, and in December resigned his office. He was obliged to fulfil the duties, however, until the arrival of Romulus M. Saunders, of North Carolina, the newly-appointed minister, in July, 1846. He returned to the United States, and reached Sunnyside in September, 1846, where he spent the remainder of his days, save for brief visits to Washington, D.C., and to Virginia, and occasional visits to New York city. The quietness and leisure of his home life were favorable to literary work, and he devoted himself to a revision of a complete edition of his works, published in 1848 by G. P. Putnam, of New York. In 1848 he announced his membership with the Protestant Episcopal church, in which he had been confirmed in early boyhood, unknown to his parents. In 1848-49 he was occupied, as executor of the will of John Jacob Astor, with the settlement of the Astor estate, and he took a prominent part in organizing the Astor library. He was in character genial, modest, humorous and extremely sensitive, especially to the criticisms of his own countrymen. He was of medium height and somewhat stout; his eyes were dark gray, with delicate eyebrows, and his head was handsome and shapely. He was called the father of American letters. He was a regent of the University of the State of New York, 1835-42; a member of the American Philosophical society; a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; corresponding member of the Massachusetts Historical society and of the Real Academy of History at Madrid, and an honorary member of the Institute of History and Geography at Brazil.

Busts were erected to his memory in Central park, New York city, and Prospect park, Brooklyn, N.Y.; the Washington Irving association was formed in his honor at Tarrytown in 1883, and "Irvingiana, a Memorial of Washington Irving," was published in 1860. He received from Columbia the honorary degree of A.M. in 1821, and that of LL.D. in 1829; from Oxford, England that of D.C.L. in 1831, and from Harvard that of LL.D. in 1832. In selecting names for the Hall of Fame, New York university, in October, 1900, twenty-three names were suggested as eligible for a place in "Class A, Authors and Editors," and the ninety-seven electors gave Emerson eighty-seven votes, Longfellow eighty-five votes, Irving eighty-three votes and Hawthorne seventy-three votes, none of the other names in the class receiving the necessary fifty-one votes. Following is a complete list of his published books: The Literary Picture Gallery (edited, 1808); Salmagundi; or, the WhimWhams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, Esq., and Others (with J. K. Paulding and William Irving, 2 vols., 1807-08); A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker (2 vols., 1809); Biographical Sketch of Campbell the Poet (1810); Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (7 parts, 1819–20); Bracebridge Hall; or, the Humourists (2 vols., 1822); Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent. (1824); Tales of a Traveller (4 parts, 1824); History of the Life and Voyages of Columbus (3 vols., 1828); The Life and Voyages of Columbus (abridged, 1829); A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, from the MSS. of Fray Antonio Agapida (2 vols., 1829); Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus (1831); The Alhambra (2 vols., 1832); Crayon Miscellanies (3 vols., 1835); Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey (1835); Tour on the Prairies (1835); Legends of the Conquest of Spain (1835); Astoria (2 vols., 1836); The Rocky Mountains; or, Scenes, Incidents and Adventures in the Far West. Digested from the Journal of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville (2 vols., 1837), afterward published as The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U.S.A.; Biography and Poetical Remains of Margaret Miller Davidson (1841); The Life of Oliver Goldsmith (2 vols., 1840); Legend of Rip Van Winkle (1848); Oliver Goldsmith: A Biography (1849); Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1849); A Book of the Hudson, collected from the Various Works of Diedrich Knickerbocker (1849); Mahomet and his Successors (2 vols., 1849); Dolph Heyliger (1851); Wolfert's Roost (1855); Life of Washington (Vol. I., 1855; Vols. II. and III., 1856; Vol. IV., 1857; Vol. V., 1859). His Spanish Papers and other Miscellanies hitherto Unpublished or Uncollected were edited by Pierre M. Irving (2 vols., 1866).