ng of consumption
led to his going, in 1804, on a European tour in search of health. On his
return in 1806 he was admitted to the Bar. He did not, however, prosecute
law, but joined his brothers in business as a sleeping partner, while he
devoted himself to literature. In 1807 he conducted _Salmagundi_, an
amusing miscellany, and in 1809 appeared _A History of New York by
Diedrich Knickerbocker_, a burlesque upon the old Dutch settlers, which
has become a classic in America. He made in 1815 a second visit to
Europe, from which he did not return for 17 years. In England he was
welcomed by Thomas Campbell, the poet, who introduced him to Scott, whom
he visited at Abbotsford in 1817. The following year the firm with which
he was connected failed, and he had to look to literature for a
livelihood. He produced _The Sketch-Book_ (1819), which was, through the
influence of Scott, accepted by Murray, and had a great success on both
sides of the Atlantic. In 1822 he went to Paris, where he began
_Bracebridge Hall_, followed in 1824 by _Tales of a Traveller_. In 1826
Everett, the American minister at Madrid, invited him to come and assist
him by making translations relative to Columbus, which opened up to him a
new field hitherto little cultivated. The result was a series of
fascinating historical and romantic works, beginning with _History of the
Life and Voyages of Columbus_ (1828), and including _The Conquest of
Granada_ (1829), _Voyages of the Companions of Columbus_ (1831), _The
Alhambra_ (1832), _Legends of the Conquest of Spain_ (1835), and _Mahomet
and his Successors_ (1849). Meanwhile he had returned to England in 1829,
and to America in 1832. In 1842 he was appointed Minister to Spain, and
in 1846 he finally returned to America. In the same year he _pub._ a
_Life of Goldsmith_, and his great work, the _Life of Washington_, came
out 1855-59, _Wolfert's Roost_, a collection of tales and essays,
appeared in 1855. I. was never _m._: in his youth he had been engaged to
a girl who _d._, and whose memory he faithfully cherished. His last years
were spent at Sunnyside, an old Dutch house near his "sleepy hollow," and
there he _d._ suddenly on Nov. 28, 1859. Though not, perhaps, a writer of
commanding power or originality, I., especially in his earlier works,
imparted by his style and treatment a singular charm to every subject he
touched, and holds a high place among American men of letters, among whom
he is the first who has pro