art of the business which
was carried on in Liverpool. Though he was a loyal American, he found
England so much to his liking that there is no telling how long after
his brother's recovery he would have kept on living in his half-idle way
in his pleasant surroundings, had not the business in which he was
interested failed in 1818. Thus roused to effort, he began publishing in
1819 the highly popular _Sketch Book_, by Geoffrey Crayon, a series of
stories and essays in the first number of which appeared, with others,
_Rip Van Winkle. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow_ was contained in a later
issue. _Bracebridge Hall_ and _Tales of a_ _Traveller_, of the same
nature as the _Sketch Book_, followed soon afterward, all three being
sent to America and being published also in England.

A new and more serious kind of work opened before Irving in 1826 when he
was invited to Madrid by the United States minister, to make a
translation of Navarrete's _Voyages of Columbus_. Instead of
translating, however, he wrote a valuable original work entitled the
_Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus_. Thus was awakened his deep
interest in the romantic history and legends of Spain. He traveled about
the country, staying for several weeks in the celebrated palace of the
Alhambra, studied rare old books, and as a result produced several other
works upon Spanish subjects. Of these _The Conquest of Granada_ was
written before he left Spain and _The Alhambra_ was completed in England
after his return in 1829 to fill the office of secretary of legation.

In 1824 Irving had written to a friend in America concerning New York:
"There is a charm about that little spot of earth; that beautiful city
and its environs, that has a perfect spell over my imagination. The bay,
the rivers and their wild and woody shores, the haunts of my boyhood,
both on land and water, absolutely have a witchery over my mind. I thank
God for my having been born in so beautiful a place among such beautiful
scenery; I am convinced I owe a vast deal of what is good and pleasant
in my nature to the circumstance." It was not, however, until 1832 that
he was able to return to his much-loved birthplace. Then, after
seventeen years' absence, during which he had become a very famous
writer, he was welcomed with the warmest greetings and the highest
honors of his townspeople.

It was not long before he made a tour through the far West,--through the
wilds of Missouri and Arkansas. From a