him during his absence. In 1830 Mr. Henry Hallam and him self were honored by the gift of the two fifty-guinea gold medals, ordered by George IV. to be presented to the two authors who should be adjudged to have attained the greatest excellence in historical composition. This high compliment to Mr. Irving was a well-deserved tribute to the merits of his History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. In the next year the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon Mr. Irving by the University of Oxford, a testimonial which that august body is not in the habit of bestowing upon slight foundations. After an absence protracted through seventeen years, Mr. Irving at length sailed for home, and arrived in New York on the 21st day of May, 1832. To one who had conferred such imperishable renown upon the American name-even had there been nothing in the man to elicit that enthusiastic affection with which Washington Irving is regarded by his countrymen-no common honors were accorded. A public dinner was immediately tendered to him in New York, and the friends of early days, together with those who had grown into civic eminence and social consideration during his absence, united in paying homage to him who had conferred honor upon all. The citizens of other States also claimed their right to entertain their illustrious countryman, and nothing but that modesty which has always been a distinguishing trait of his character, prevented a series of ovations and a triumphal march through the American Republic from Boston to St. Louis and Philadelphia to New Orleans.

"We cannot refuse ourselves the pleasure," remarks one of the most eminent of his countrymen, "of bearing our humble part in the cordial welcome with which the unanimous voice of the country is now greeting the distinguished pilgrim on his re

turn from abroad. . . . The open and hearty welcome which his fellow-citizens have given him, shows that he is best appreciated where he is best known. His reception at New York was the fairest triumph that has yet been accorded to literary desert in the New World."-EDWARD EVERETT: Review of the Alhambra, in N. Amer. Rev., xxxv. 265–282.

Shortly after his return to the United States, Mr. Irving visited some of the most interesting portions of the Great West, and gratified the world with the fruits of his researches among the Indians, in the Tour on the Prairies, published in the Crayon Miscellany in 1835. Those more fond of studying the phenomena of life under another phase, found in the Recollections of Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey, and The Legends of the Conquest of Spain,-comprising the second and third volumes of the Crayon Miscellany,-sufficient to charm the imagination and delight the taste. To this collection succeeded Astoria; or, Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains, published in 1836, (in which the author was assisted by his nephew, Pierre M. Irving ;) and the Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U. S. A., in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West, (based upon the MSS. of Capt. B. and other materials,) which was given to the world in 1837. In the years 1839 and '40, Mr. Irving contributed a number of papers to The Knickerbocker Magazine, a portion of which, with other fugitive articles, were collected in 1855, and published in a volume under the title of Wolfert's Roost. From 1842 to '46, Mr. Irving resided at Madrid as United States Minister to Spain, and, returning home in the latter year, sought a quiet retreat for his remaining years in Wolfert's Roost,-an earthly paradise which we shall not attempt to describe after the portraiture which the owner himself has given to the world.

The "Stronghold of old Baltus Van Tassel on the Banks of the Hulson," so graphically sketched in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, has now acquired a double share of renown and undying honors by the occupancy of its eloquent topographer. A welldrawn picture of Wolfert's Roost and its present lord (by Henry T. Tuckerman), will be found in The Homes of American Authors, N. York, 1853. Here, in his bachelor-home,-for Geoffrey Crayon has been content to eulogize the blessings of matrimony whilst denying himself their indulgence,-in the company of his surviving brother and affectionate nieces, who are to him as daughters, the author of the Sketch-Book passes his tranquil days in calm anticipation of that change which, we trust, for the sake of his many friends, is yet at a long distance.

His publications since his retirement have been the Biography and Poetical Remains of the late Margaret Miller Davidson, 1841; Oliver Goldsmith, a Biography, 1849, (enlarged from a sketch prefixed to the Works of the latter published in Paris, Galignani, 1825, 4 vols., Baudry, 1837, 4 vols. 8vo. ;) Mahomet and his Successors, 2 vols., 1849-50; The Life of George Washington, vol. i., 1855, ii. and iii., 1856, vol. iv., 1857. This work will be completed in another volume. Mr. Irving has also within the last few years superintended the publication of a revised edition of his works, urged thereto by the persuasions of the emi nent publisher, Mr. George P. Putnam, of New York. The new edition was issued by Mr. Putnam in 15 vols., 1848–50, and the sale so far (i. e. to Jan., 1857) has been 250,000 volumes, which, added to about as many disposed of the old editions, gives an aggregate sale in America alone of half a million volumes of the works of this popular author. This enumeration does not include the 98,000 volumes already printed of the unfinished Life

of Washington, nor the number of copies sold of Wolfert's Roost, which must be very large.

The Works of Washington Irving, in the new revised and uniform edition just referred to, are thus arranged: Vol. I. Knickerbocker's History of New York. II. The Sketch-Book. III., IV., V. Columbus and his Companions. VI. Bracebridge Hall. VII. Tales of a Traveller. VIII. Astoria. IX. The Crayon Miscellany. X. Capt. Bonneville's Adventures. XI. Oliver Goldsmith; a Biography. XII., XIII. Mahomet and his Successors. XIV. The Conquest of Granada. XV. The Alhambra. To these must be added Wolfert's Roost and The Life of Washington, which, with The Legends of the Conquest of Spain, will be included in a Second Series of uniform editions of Irving's Works. A collective London edition is published by Henry G. Bohn, uniform with his Standard Library. It is comprised in 10 thick 8vo. vols. (1851),—viz.: Vol. I. Salmagundi and Knickerbocker; with Portrait of Irving. II. Sketch-Book, and Life of Goldsmith. III. Bracebridge Hall, Abbotsford, and Newstead. IV. Tales of a Traveller, and the Alhambra. V. Conquest of Granada, and Conquest of Spain. VI., VII. Life of Columbus, and Companions of Columbus; with a New Index, and a fine Portrait. VIII. Astoria, and A Tour on the Prairies. IX. Mahomet and his Successors; with Portrait. X. Conquest of Florida, (by Theodore Irving,) and Adventures of Capt. Bonneville. Irving's Works are also published in London, from time to time, by Murray, Bentley, Routledge, W. Smith, Tegg, &c.

Some have been issued with illustrations, on both sides of the Atlantic; and Mr. Putnam publishes some of Irving's choice works, illustrated by Darley, in 4 vols. r. 8vo. This set, of which 10,000 vols. have been sold, is composed of—Vol. I. The

Sketch-Book. II. Knickerbocker. III. Tales of a Traveller. IV. The Alhambra. An edition of Bracebridge Hall, with engravings on steel from designs by Schmoltze, is now (1857) in preparation.

Nor must we omit to notice the Illustrated edition of Irving's Life of Washington, now (1857) in course of publication in semimonthly Parts, (14 to each vol.,) imp. 8vo.

One hundred and ten copies of the Life of Washington will be struck off on large paper, r. 4to. We believe that all of these are already engaged by amateurs.

now,

And in accordance with our promise in the preface to this work, a promise which the preceding pages will prove we have neither forgotten nor delayed to fulfil,—we shall proceed to adduce, as we have done in other instances, the verdicts which eminent critics have passed upon the literary characteristics of the subject of our notice. In many preceding cases we have been obliged to omit much more than we had space to quote of interesting and truly valuable criticism; but, when we commence the pleasing task of citing opinions respecting the productions of Washington Irving, we are literally oppressed by the embarras de richesses. As we glance around our library-shelves, and behold the mass of materials which we have been for years collecting on this theme, (as we have on the same scale, though not to the same extent, collected for the illustration of many thousands of other writers,) we feel it to be no exaggeration to say that we could readily fill a goodly octavo volume with the matter which our space will oblige us to reject. Be it our care, therefore, to make that judicious selection from the materials which invite our research, which shall truly represent the impression which this distinguished writer has made upon the present generation, and