IRVING
IRVING
was induced to accept the appointment of U.S.
minister to Spain, made in February, 1842, by
President Tyler at the suggestion of Daniel Web-
ster 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
sliort 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 him-
self 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 him-
self with honor, he did not distinguish himself.
He went to France for three mouths in Septem-
ber, 1843, for the purpose of procuring medical
attendance, but was obliged to return without
having received any benefit. He resided at Bar-
celona, 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 No-
vember, 1844, made another visit to Paris and
London in the fall of 1845, and in December re-
signed 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 him-
self 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 member-
ship with the Protestant Episcopal church, in
which he had been confirmed in early boyhood,
unknown to his parents. In 1848-49 he was oc-
cupied, as executor of the will of Jolm 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, espe-
cially 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, Brook-
lyn, 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 honorarj- 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 Har-
vard that of LL.D. in 1832. In selecting names
for the Hall of Fame, New York university, in
October, 1900, twenty-three names were sug-
gested as eligible for a place in " Class A,
Authors and Editors," and the ninety-seven elec-
tors gave Emerson eighty-seven votes, Longfel-
low eighty-five votes, Irving eighty-three votes
and Hawthorne seventy-thi-ee 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 Gal-
lery (edited, 1808); Salmagundi; or. the Whim-
Whavis and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff,
Esq., and Of /lers (with J. K. Paulding and Wil-
liam Irving, 2 vols., 1807-08); A History of Neio
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 Jona-
than Oldstyle, Gent. (1824); Tales of a Traveller
(4 parts, 1824); History of the Life and Voyages
of Columbus (3 vols., 1828); The Life and Voy-
ages 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 Neir-
stead Abbey (1830); Tour on the Prairies (1835);
I^egends of the Conquest of Spain (1835); Astoria
(2 vols., 1836); The Rocky Mountains; or, Scenes,
Incidents and Adventures in the Far West. Di-
gested from the Journal of Cajitain B. L. E.
Bonneville (2 vols., 1837), afterward published as
Tlie Adventures of Captain Bonneville. U.S.A.;
Biography and Poetical Remains of Margaret
Miller Davidson (1841); The Life of Oliver Gold-
smith (2 vols. , 1840); Legend of Rip Van Winkle
(1848); Oliver Goldsmith: A Biography (1849):
Legend of Sleepy Eollou' (1849); A Book of the
Hudson, collected from the Various Works of
Diedrich Knickerbocker (1849); Mahomet and his
Successors (2 vols., 1849); Doljih Heyliger (1851);
Wolfert's Roost (1855); Life of Washington (Vol.
I., 1S55; Vols. II. and III.". 1856: Vol. IV., 1857;
Vol. v.. 1859). His Spanish Pajyers and other
Miscelhinies hitherto Unjmblished or Uncollected
were edited by Pierre M. Irving (2 vols., 1866).
