Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/517

 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).