ed the
book, a simple theme is dominant. Everybody felt that in these stories
Irving had come back to his own. The material was very different from
that of the "Sketch Book," yet it yielded to similar treatment. The
grace, romance, humor, of this "beautiful Spanish Sketch Book," as the
historian Prescott called it, appealed at once to an audience which
had listened somewhat coldly to the less spontaneous "Tales of a
Traveler," and had given a formal approbation to the "History of
Columbus," without finding very much Irving in it.

A visit to Washington to clear up various odds and ends of his
diplomatic experience resulted in an interview with President Jackson,
which he reported in a letter to Peter Irving, now living alone in
Paris: "I have been most kindly received by the old general, with whom
I am much pleased as well as amused. As his admirers say, he is truly
an _old Roman_--to which I could add, _with a little dash of the
Greek_; for I suspect he is as _knowing_ as I believe he is _honest_.
I took care to put myself promptly on a fair and independent footing
with him; for, in expressing warmly and sincerely how much I had been
gratified by the unsought but most seasonable mark of confidence he
had shown me, when he hinted something about a disposition to place me
elsewhere, I let him know emphatically that I wished for nothing
more--that my whole desire was to live among my countrymen, and to
follow my usual pursuits. In fact, I am persuaded that my true course
is to be master of myself and of my time. Official station cannot add
to my happiness or respectability, and certainly would stand in the
way of my literary career." This disinclination to take office he
never got over, although he was frequently approached with offers of
place. In 1834, he was offered a nomination for Congress by the
Jackson party; in 1838, he was offered the Tammany nomination as mayor
of New York, and the secretaryship of the navy by Van Buren. And when
three years later he was given a still more important post, it was
only the evident spontaneity of the choice, and the feeling that in
taking the office he should be representing country rather than party,
which led him to accept it.

Impatient as he was of political methods, he had opinions of his own
on specific questions, and a broad political platform which he once
stated in a letter to his old friend Kemble:--

"As far as I know my own mind, I am thoroughly a republican, and
at