IRVING
IRVING
induced Murray to publish the book, and this
friendly act secured Irviugs success and popu-
larity in Great Britain. He entered upon a
round of gayety. and he was a welcome guest in
the best Lomlon houses and a constant attendant
in Murray's ilrawing-rooni. He went to Paris in
August, isiO, where his social duties seriously in-
terfered with his w.^rk. There he made the ac-
quaintance of Thomas Moore, which ripened into
friendship. In the meantime " The Sketch Book "
was making a great name for him in England.
Un\\ Bvron admired the author, and once said to
an Anierican : " ' 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 182-1. 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 Amer-
ican 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 Gran-
ada" 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 api)ointed 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. He re-
c<'ived a gold medal from the Royal Society of
Literature of London in April, 1S30, was made
charge d'affaires at I^mdon in June. 1831, and re-
tired from the U.S. legation in Sojitember, 1831,
after three years' service. Ho visited liis friends
and relatives in Birmingham, SheflSeld, Hardwick
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 flat-
tering reception. Public dinners were tendered
him in his native ctity and in Philadelphia and
Baltimore, and were declined at the two latter
places. He visited Washington, the White Moun-
tains, 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 be settled
down to literary work. He published a series of
sketches under the title of " Crayon IVIiscellany,"
which appeared first in numbers like those of
" The Sketci) Book." The first article, " A Tour of
the Prairies," appeared in 1835, and was followed
in that year by " Abbotsford," " Newstead Ab-
bey" and " Legends of the Conquest of Spain."
In 183.5 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 sit-
uated in the neighborhood of Sleepy Hollow. This
became known as " Sunnyside." Irving called it
f- 'Su/y/MYSiDE.'
Iz iRVI/M<3'S HO/AE.,
"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 cot-
tage, where he assiduously applied himself to his
work. In 1838 Irving was unanimously nomi-
nated by the Democratic party, mayor of New
York city, and shortly after was invited by Pres-
ident Van Buren to a seat in his cabinet as secre-
tary of the navy. Both of these offices were
declined, as was a nomination for representa-
tive 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 Con-
quest of Mexico," which he abandoned to Wil-
liam 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
