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Rh came more calm and collected, I applied myself, by way of occupation, to the finishing of my work. I brought it to a close as well as I could, and pub- lished it ; but the time and circumstances in which it was produced rendered me always unable to look upon it with satisfaction." The work alluded to was the " History of New York by Diedrich Knickerbocker " (1809), a work which in his latter years Irving was able to look upon with more complacency. It had great success ; it established his early fame ; even its pecuniary returns, $3,000, were notable in that day. There are traces in it of his love of Sterne and of Rabelais; there are broader sallies in it than he would have ventured upon in his maturity ; but there is a breezy and boisterous fun that is all his own, and that has brought the echoes of its rollicking humor dis- tinctly down to our times. There is some coquetting with the law after this ; he even appeared at the trial of Aaron Burr (Richmond, 1807) in a quasi- legal capacity ; but he was more apt in the social junketings he encountered and enlivened in Philadelphia and Baltimore.

In 1810 he became a partner, with one-fifth in- terest, in a commercial house that was established by his brothers — Peter, in England, and Ebenezer, in New York. This promised, and for a time gave, a fair revenue, which allowed such easy dalliance with literature as his humors permitted ; there followed, indeed, certain editorial relations with the old " Analectic Magazine " in Philadel- phia in 1813-'14, in which appeared one or two papers that were afterward incorporated in the " Sketch-Book." Yet his literary methods were scarcely more business-like than his law. In 1815 he sailed for Europe, old recollections hiring him ; besides which, his brother Peter was in England ; a married sister had a charming home, gay with young voices, near Birmingham; scores of old friends were ready to welcome him in London, and Napoleon was just started on a new career, after Elba. But, on Irving's arrival in Liverpool, Water- loo had befallen, his brother Peter was ill, and the affairs of the house of P. and E. Irving were shaky. As a consequence much commercial task-work fell to his hands ; there was relief, however, in the trips to London, and to the charming home near Bir- mingham ; in the meeting with Allston and Leslie, who contributed to an illustrated edition of the Knickerbocker history ; ip the theatre-going, where Kean and the O'Neil were shining ; in quiet saun- terings about Warwickshire ; in encounters with Campbell and Disraeli, and with Scott at Abbots- ford. The " Knickerbocker " fame opened doors to him everywhere, and his delightful humor, bon- homie, and courtesy kept them open. There were two or three years of such pleasures, dampened by commercial forebodings, till at last, in 1818, the house went into bankruptcy. William Irving meantime had used influences at Washington, through which a secretaryship in the navy depart- ment, with $2,500 per annum, was offered to the author ; but it was peremptorily declined. He was feeling his power to do somewhat with his pen of better worth ; yet for a long time the very exal- tation of his purpose palsied his writing faculty. It was not until 1819 that he transmitted to this country, for publication in New York and Phila- delphia, the first number of the "Sketch-Book." It appeared in June, ninety-two pages, octavo, " large type and copious margins," and sold for sev- enty-five cents. Among the papers in this first number was the story of Rip Van Winkle, the tatterdemalion of the Kaatskills, who is still living a lusty youthhood. Other numbers quickly succeed- ed, and were approved and hugely enjoyed in New York and Philadelphia, before yet British applause of them had sounded. But this came in its time, and with a fervor that had never before been kin- dled by work from an American hand. John Murray became eventually (1820) the publisher of the " Sketch - Book," as also of the succeeding works of '• Bracebridge Hall" (2 vols., London, 1822), and " Tales of a Traveller " (1824). For the first he paid $2,400, for the second $5,250, and for the third $7,875 — sums which most readers will regard as bearing inverse ratio to their merits, but which marked Irving's growing popularity. The " Sketch - Book " was approved by the best critical judgment of those days, for its graces of language, its delicate fancies, its touches of pathos, and its quiet humor ; and, although there may be modern question of this judgment at some points, there is a leaven of charm in it for the average mind which has kept it in favor and made it the most popular of the Irving books.

Meantime the author was enjoying himself in travelling. In 1826 he found himself in Madrid, going thither at the instance of U. S. minister Alexander H. Everett, who made him attache of the legation, and advised his translation of Navar- rete's " Voyages of Columbus," which was then in course of publication. This work he entered upon with zeal; but soon, inspired by the picturesque aspects of the subject, gave over the project of translation and determined to make his own " Life of Columbus." Upon this he worked with a will, and as early as July, 1827, advised Murray of its completion. It was published (3 vols., 1828) by Murray in London and Carvill in New York, their joint payments reaching the sum of $18,000. The sale did "not equal the expectations of Mr. Murray; an abridgment, however, without honorarium to the author, had large success. The research requi- site to this work gave Irving a footing with serious readers, who had ignored him as a romancer : its accuracy, its clearness of style, and its safe judg- ments have given it place in all historic libraries. Two succeeding books, of a more popular cast, which grew out of Irving's study of Spanish chron- icles, were the " Conquest of Granada " (1829) and the " Alhambra " tales (1832). This last was the re- sult of the author's enjoyable occupancy, by favor of the governor, of a suite of rooms in the old Moor- ish palace in the summer of 1829. There is in it pleasant description of his surroundings there — the towers, the courts, the dusky-eyed attendants — with a fantastic dressing up of old Moorish legends. The " Granada " chronicle is a romantic narrative of the actual struggles which belonged to the Moorish subjugation in Spain. It was while a resident of the Alhambra, in 1829, that Irving re- ceived news of his appointment to the post of sec- retary of legation in London. With some hesi- tancy he accepted, bade adieu to his Spanish friends, and went to a pleasant renewal of his old alliances in England. He passed three years there, taking to diplomatic lines of life not ungraciously, and making new friendships ; and with a medal of the Royal society of literature (1830), a doctorate from Oxford (1831), and other enviable honors, he sailed for New York in 1832. after seventeen years of absence. The greeting that met him was most marked and sincere ; even the stammering hesi- tancy with which he met it, at a public dinner, provoked new cheers of hearty welcome. Neither diplomacy nor great literary successes had spoiled his modesty.

It was at this period that he purchased and put in shape the stone cottage that formed his