Editing Washington Irving (section)

==Biography==

===Early years===
Washington Irving's parents were William Irving Sr., originally of [[Quholm]], [[Shapinsay]], [[Orkney]], Scotland, and Sarah (née Saunders), originally of [[Falmouth, Cornwall]], England. They married in 1761 while William was serving as a petty officer in the British Navy. They had eleven children, eight of whom survived to adulthood. Their first two sons died in infancy, both named William, as did their fourth child John. Their surviving children were [[William Irving (New York)|William Jr.]] (1766), Ann (1770), [[Peter Irving|Peter]] (1771), Catherine (1774), Ebenezer (1776), John Treat (1778), Sarah (1780), and Washington.<ref name=Burstein7>Burstein, 7.</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=Historic Hudson Valley |title=Home of the Legend: Washington Irving's Sunnyside |date=October 28, 2017 |author=Docent Tour}}</ref>

[[File:Washington Irving's Encounter with George Washington.jpg|thumb|Watercolor of Washington Irving's encounter with George Washington, painted in 1854 by [[George Bernard Butler]] Jr.]]

The Irving family settled in Manhattan, and were part of the city's merchant class. Washington was born on April 3, 1783,<ref name=Burstein7/> the same week that New York City residents learned of the British ceasefire which ended the [[American Revolution]]. Irving's mother named him after George Washington.<ref>Irving, Pierre M. (1862) [https://archive.org/stream/lifelettersofwas01irvi2/lifelettersofwas01irvi2_djvu.txt "The life and letters of Washington Irving"] (Cited herein as PMI), vol. 1:26.</ref> Irving met his namesake at age 6 when George Washington came to New York just before his inauguration as President in 1789. The President blessed young Irving,<ref>PMI, 1:27.</ref> an encounter that Irving had commemorated in a small watercolor painting which continues to hang in his home.<ref>Jones, 5.</ref>

The Irvings lived at 131 William Street at the time of Washington's birth, but they later moved across the street to 128 William Street.<ref>PMI, 1:27</ref>  Several of Irving's brothers became active New York merchants; they encouraged his literary aspirations, often supporting him financially as he pursued his writing career.

Irving was an uninterested student who preferred adventure stories and drama, and he regularly sneaked out of class in the evenings to attend the theater by the time he was 14.<ref>Warner, 27; PMI, 1:36.</ref> An outbreak of [[yellow fever]] in Manhattan in 1798 prompted his family to send him upriver, where he stayed with his friend [[James Kirke Paulding]] in [[Tarrytown, New York]]. It was in Tarrytown where he became familiar with the bucolic beauty of the region with its Dutch customs and local ghost stories.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mancuso |first=Anne |date=September 28, 2016 |title=Sleepy Hollow: Surrounded by History, and Legends |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/realestate/sleepy-hollow-surrounded-by-history-and-legends.html |access-date=November 24, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Though the town of Sleepy Hollow did not exist in Irving's time (North Tarrytown changed its name to Sleepy Hollow in 1996), the area had been known as Slapershaven or "Sleeper's Haven" by the Dutch.<ref>{{cite book | last=Newton-Matza | first=M. | title=Historic Sites and Landmarks That Shaped America [2 volumes]: From Acoma Pueblo to Ground Zero | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-61069-750-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h6fOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA519 | page=519}}</ref> Irving made several other trips up the Hudson as a teenager, including an extended visit to [[Johnstown (city), New York|Johnstown, New York]], where he passed through the [[Catskill Mountains]] region, the setting for "[[Rip Van Winkle]]". "Of all the scenery of the Hudson", Irving wrote, "the Kaatskill Mountains had the most witching effect on my boyish imagination".<ref>PMI, 1:39.</ref>

Irving began writing letters to the New York ''Morning Chronicle'' in 1802 when he was 19, submitting commentaries on the city's social and theater scene under the pseudonym [[Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent.|Jonathan Oldstyle]]. The name evoked his [[Federalist Party (United States)|Federalist]] leanings<ref>Burstein, 19.</ref> and was the first of many pseudonyms he employed throughout his career. The letters brought Irving some early fame and moderate notoriety. [[Aaron Burr]] was a co-publisher of the ''Chronicle'', and was impressed enough to send clippings of the Oldstyle pieces to his daughter [[Theodosia Burr Alston|Theodosia]]. [[Charles Brockden Brown]] made a trip to New York to try to recruit Oldstyle for a literary magazine he was editing in Philadelphia.<ref>Jones, 36.</ref>

Concerned for his health, Irving's brothers financed an extended tour of Europe from 1804 to 1806. He bypassed most of the sites and locations considered essential for the social development of a young man, to the dismay of his brother William who wrote that he was pleased that his brother's health was improving, but he did not like the choice to "''gallop through Italy''… leaving Florence on your left and Venice on your right".<ref name=Burstein43>Burstein, 43.</ref> Instead, Irving honed the social and conversational skills that eventually made him one of the world's most in-demand guests.<ref>See Jones, 44–70</ref> "I endeavor to take things as they come with cheerfulness", Irving wrote, "and when I cannot get a dinner to suit my taste, I endeavor to get a taste to suit my dinner".<ref>Washington Irving to William Irving Jr., September 20, 1804, ''Works'' 23:90.</ref> While visiting Rome in 1805, Irving struck up a friendship with painter [[Washington Allston]]<ref name=Burstein43/> and was almost persuaded into a career as a painter. "My lot in life, however, was differently cast".<ref>Irving, Washington. "Memoir of Washington Allston", ''Works'' 2:175.</ref>

===First major writings===
[[File:Matilda Hoffman (1791 - 1809) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Matilda Hoffman, portrait by [[Anson Dickinson]]]]
Irving returned from Europe to study law with his legal mentor Judge [[Josiah Ogden Hoffman]] in New York City. By his own admission, he was not a good student and barely passed the bar examination in 1806.<ref>Washington Irving to Mrs. Amelia Foster, [April–May 1823], ''Works'', 23:740-41. See also PMI, 1:173, Williams, 1:77, ''et al''.</ref> He began socializing with a group of literate young men whom he dubbed "The Lads of Kilkenny",<ref>Burstein, 47.</ref> and he created the literary magazine ''[[Salmagundi (periodical)|Salmagundi]]'' in January 1807 with his brother William and his friend James Kirke Paulding, writing under various pseudonyms, such as William Wizard and Launcelot Langstaff. Irving lampooned New York culture and politics in a manner similar to the 20th century [[Mad (magazine)|''Mad'']] magazine.<ref>Jones, 82.</ref> ''Salmagundi'' was a moderate success, spreading Irving's name and reputation beyond New York. He gave New York City the nickname "Gotham" in its 17th issue dated November 11, 1807, an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "Goat's Town".<ref>Burrows, Edwin G. and Mike Wallace. ''Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898''. (Oxford University Press, 1999), 417. See Jones, 74–75.</ref>

[[File:Diedrich Knickerbocker.jpg|thumb|right|The fictional "Diedrich Knickerbocker" from the frontispiece of ''[[A History of New York]]'', a wash drawing by [[F.O.C. Darley|Felix O. C. Darley]]]]
[[File:Portrait of Washington Irving by John Wesley Jarvis in 1809.jpg|thumb|right|Portrait of Washington Irving by [[John Wesley Jarvis]] from 1809]]

{{anchor|A History of New York}}
Irving completed ''[[A History of New York|A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker]]'' (1809) while mourning the death of his 17-year-old fiancée Matilda Hoffman. It was his first major book and a satire on self-important local history and contemporary politics. Before its publication, Irving started a hoax by placing a series of missing person advertisements in the [[New York Evening Post]] seeking information on [[Diedrich Knickerbocker]], a crusty Dutch historian who had allegedly gone missing from his hotel in New York City. As part of the ruse, he placed a notice from the hotel's proprietor informing readers that, if Mr. Knickerbocker failed to return to the hotel to pay his bill, he would publish a manuscript that Knickerbocker had left behind.<ref>Jones, 118-27.</ref>

Unsuspecting readers followed the story of Knickerbocker and his manuscript with interest, and some New York city officials were concerned enough about the missing historian to offer a reward for his safe return. Irving then published ''A History of New York'' on December 6, 1809, under the Knickerbocker pseudonym, with immediate critical and popular success.<ref>Burstein, 72.</ref> "It took with the public", Irving remarked, "and gave me celebrity, as an original work was something remarkable and uncommon in America".<ref>Washington Irving to Mrs. Amelia Foster, [April–May 1823], ''Works'', 23:741.</ref> The name Diedrich Knickerbocker became a nickname for Manhattan residents in general and was adopted by the [[New York Knicks|New York Knickerbockers]] basketball team.<ref>{{cite news|work=Oxford English Dictionary|title=Knickerbocker}}</ref>

After the success of ''A History of New York'', Irving searched for a job and eventually became an editor of ''[[Analectic Magazine]]'', where he wrote biographies of naval heroes such as [[James Lawrence]] and [[Oliver Hazard Perry]].<ref>Hellman, 82.</ref> He was also among the first magazine editors to reprint [[Francis Scott Key]]'s poem "Defense of [[Fort McHenry]]", which was immortalized as "[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]".<ref>Jones, 121–22.</ref> Irving initially opposed the [[War of 1812]] like many other merchants, but the [[Burning of Washington|British attack on Washington, D.C.]], in 1814 convinced him to enlist.<ref>Jones, 121.</ref> He served on the staff of [[Daniel Tompkins]], governor of New York and commander of the New York State Militia, but he saw no real action apart from a reconnaissance mission in the Great Lakes region.<ref>Jones, 122.</ref> The war was disastrous for many American merchants, including Irving's family, and he left for England in mid-1815 to salvage the family trading company.  He remained in Europe for the next 17 years.<ref>Hellman, 87.</ref>

===Life in Europe===

====''The Sketch Book''====
[[File:TheSketchbookTitlePage.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The front page of ''The Sketch Book'' (1819)]]

Irving spent the next two years trying to bail out the family firm financially but eventually had to declare bankruptcy.<ref>Hellman, 97.</ref> With no job prospects, he continued writing throughout 1817 and 1818. In the summer of 1817, he visited [[Walter Scott]], beginning a lifelong personal and professional friendship.<ref>Jones, 154-60.</ref>

Irving composed the short story "Rip Van Winkle" overnight while staying with his sister Sarah and her husband, [[Henry van Wart]], in [[Birmingham|Birmingham, England]], a place that inspired other works as well.<ref>Jones, 169.</ref> In October 1818, Irving's brother William secured for Irving a post as chief clerk to the United States Navy and urged him to return home.<ref>William Irving Jr. to Washington Irving, New York, October 14, 1818, Williams, 1:170-71.</ref> Irving turned the offer down, opting to stay in England to pursue a writing career.<ref>Washington Irving to Ebenezer Irving, [London, late November 1818], ''Works'', 23:536.</ref>

In the spring of 1819, Irving sent to his brother Ebenezer in New York a set of short prose pieces that he asked be published as ''[[The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.]]'' The first installment, containing "Rip Van Winkle", was an enormous success, and the rest of the work was equally successful; it was issued in 1819–1820 in seven installments in New York and in two volumes in London ("The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" appeared in the sixth issue of the New York edition and the second volume of the London edition).<ref>See reviews from ''Quarterly Review'' and others, in ''The Sketch Book'', xxv–xxviii; PMI 1:418–19.</ref>

Like many successful authors of this era, Irving struggled against literary bootleggers.<ref>Burstein, 114</ref> In England, some of his sketches were reprinted in periodicals without his permission, a legal practice as there was no international copyright law at the time. To prevent further piracy in Britain, Irving paid to have the first four American installments published as a single volume by John Miller in London.

Irving appealed to Walter Scott for help procuring a more reputable publisher for the remainder of the book. Scott referred Irving to his own publisher, London powerhouse [[John Murray (publisher, born 1778)|John Murray]], who agreed to take on ''The Sketch Book''.<ref>Irving, Washington. "Preface to the Revised Edition", ''The Sketch Book'', ''Works'', 8:7; Jones, 188-89.</ref> From then on, Irving would publish concurrently in the United States and Britain to protect his copyright, with Murray as his English publisher of choice.<ref>McClary, Ben Harris, ed.  ''Washington Irving and the House of Murray''. (University of Tennessee Press, 1969).</ref>

Irving's reputation soared, and for the next two years, he led an active social life in Paris and Great Britain, where he was often feted as an anomaly of literature: an upstart American who dared to write English well.<ref>See comments of William Godwin, cited in PMI, 1:422; Lady Littleton, cited in PMI 2:20.</ref>

====''Bracebridge Hall'' and ''Tales of a Traveller''====
[[File:Portrait of Washington Irving attr. to Charles Robert Leslie.jpg|thumb|right|Portrait of Irving in about 1820, attributed to [[Charles Robert Leslie]]]]

With both Irving and publisher John Murray eager to follow up on the success of ''The Sketch Book'', Irving spent much of 1821 traveling in Europe in search of new material, reading widely in Dutch and German folk tales.  Hampered by writer's block—and depressed by the death of his brother William—Irving worked slowly, finally delivering a completed manuscript to Murray in March 1822.  The book, [[Bracebridge Hall|''Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists, A Medley'']] (the location was based loosely on [[Aston Hall]], occupied by members of the Bracebridge family, near his sister's home in Birmingham) was published in June 1822.

The format of ''Bracebridge'' was similar to that of ''The Sketch Book'', with Irving, as Crayon, narrating a series of more than 50 loosely connected short stories and essays.  While some reviewers thought ''Bracebridge'' to be a lesser imitation of ''The Sketch Book'', the book was well received by readers and critics.<ref>Aderman, Ralph M., ed. ''Critical Essays on Washington Irving''. (G. K. Hall, 1990), 55–57; STW 1:209.</ref> "We have received so much pleasure from this book", wrote critic Francis Jeffrey in the ''Edinburgh Review'', "that we think ourselves bound in gratitude... to make a public acknowledgement of it".<ref>Aderman, 58–62.</ref> Irving was relieved at its reception, which did much to cement his reputation with European readers.

Still struggling with writer's block, Irving traveled to Germany, settling in [[Dresden]] in the winter of 1822. Here he dazzled the royal family and attached himself to Amelia Foster, an American living in Dresden with her five children.<ref>See Reichart, Walter A. ''Washington Irving and Germany''. (University of Michigan Press, 1957).</ref> The 39-year-old Irving was particularly attracted to Foster's 18-year-old daughter Emily and vied in frustration for her hand. Emily finally refused his offer of marriage in the spring of 1823.<ref>Jones, 207-14.</ref>

He returned to Paris and began collaborating with playwright [[John Howard Payne]] on translations of French plays for the English stage, with little success. He also learned through Payne that the novelist [[Mary Shelley|Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley]] was romantically interested in him, though Irving never pursued the relationship.<ref>See Sanborn, F.B., ed. ''The Romance of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, John Howard Payne and Washington Irving''. Boston: Bibliophile Society, 1907.</ref>

In August 1824, Irving published the collection of essays ''[[Tales of a Traveller]]''—including the short story "[[The Devil and Tom Walker]]"—under his Geoffrey Crayon persona. "I think there are in it some of the best things I have ever written", Irving told his sister.<ref>Irving to Catharine Paris, Paris, September 20, 1824, ''Works'' 24:76</ref> But while the book sold respectably, ''Traveller'' was dismissed by critics, who panned both ''Traveller'' and its author. "The public have been led to expect better things", wrote the ''United States Literary Gazette'', while the ''New-York Mirror'' pronounced Irving "overrated".<ref>See reviews in ''Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine'', ''Westminster Review'', et al., 1824. Cited in Jones, 222.</ref> Hurt and depressed by the book's reception, Irving retreated to Paris where he spent the next year worrying about finances and scribbling down ideas for projects that never materialized.<ref>Hellman, 170–89.</ref>

====Spanish books====
While in Paris, Irving received a letter from [[Alexander Hill Everett]] on January 30, 1826. Everett, recently the American Minister to Spain, urged Irving to join him in Madrid,<ref>Burstein, 191.</ref> noting that a number of manuscripts dealing with the Spanish conquest of the Americas had recently been made public. Irving left for Madrid and enthusiastically began scouring the Spanish archives for colorful material.<ref>Bowers, 22–48.</ref>

[[File:Alhambra view.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|right|The [[Alhambra]] palace in [[Granada, Spain|Granada]], southern Spain, where Irving briefly resided in 1829, inspired one of his most colorful books.]]With full access to the American consul's massive library of Spanish history, Irving began working on several books at once. The first offspring of this hard work, ''[[A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus]]'', was published in January 1828. The book was popular in the United States and in Europe and would have 175 editions published before the end of the century.<ref>Burstein, 196.</ref> It was also the first project of Irving's to be published with his own name, instead of a pseudonym, on the title page.<ref>Jones, 248.</ref> Irving was invited to stay at the palace of the [[Duke of Gor]], who gave him unfettered access to his library containing many medieval manuscripts.<ref>Jones, 207.</ref>''[[A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada]]'' was published a year later,<ref>Burstein, 212.</ref> followed by ''Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus'' in 1831.<ref>Burstein, 225.</ref>

Irving's writings on Columbus are a mixture of history and fiction, a genre now called romantic history. Irving based them on extensive research in the Spanish archives, but also added imaginative elements aimed at sharpening the story. The first of these works is the source of the durable myth that medieval Europeans [[Myth of the flat Earth|believed the Earth was flat]].<ref>Russell, Jeffrey Burton. ''Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians''.  Praeger Paperback, 1997. {{ISBN|0-275-95904-X}}</ref> According to the popular book, Columbus proved the Earth was round.<ref>Loewen, James W. ''Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong''. New York: The New Press, 1999: 59.</ref>

In 1829, Irving was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?year=1829;year-max=1829;smode=advanced;f1-date=1829|access-date=April 7, 2021|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> That same year, he moved into Granada's ancient palace Alhambra, "determined to linger here", he said, "until I get some writings under way connected with the place".<ref>Washington Irving to Peter Irving, Alhambra, June 13, 1829. ''Works'', 23:436</ref> Before he could get any significant writing underway, however, he was notified of his appointment as Secretary to the American Legation in London. Worried he would disappoint friends and family if he refused the position, Irving left Spain for England in July 1829.<ref>Hellman, 208.</ref>

====Secretary to the American legation in London====
Arriving in London, Irving joined the staff of American Minister [[Louis McLane]]. McLane immediately assigned the daily secretary work to another man and tapped Irving to fill the role of aide-de-camp.  The two worked over the next year to negotiate a trade agreement between the United States and the [[British West Indies]], finally reaching a deal in August 1830. That same year, Irving was awarded a medal by the Royal Society of Literature, followed by an honorary doctorate of civil law from Oxford in 1831.<ref>PMI, 2:429, 430, 431–32</ref>

Following McLane's recall to the United States in 1831 to serve as Secretary of Treasury, Irving stayed on as the legation's chargé d'affaires until the arrival of [[Martin Van Buren]], President [[Andrew Jackson]]'s nominee for British Minister. With Van Buren in place, Irving resigned his post to concentrate on writing, eventually completing ''[[Tales of the Alhambra]]'', which would be published concurrently in the United States and England in 1832.<ref>PMI, 3:17–21.</ref>

Irving was still in London when Van Buren received word that the United States Senate had refused to confirm him as the new Minister. Consoling Van Buren, Irving predicted that the Senate's partisan move would backfire. "I should not be surprised", Irving said, "if this vote of the Senate goes far toward elevating him to the presidential chair".<ref>Washington Irving to Peter Irving, London, March 6, 1832, ''Works'', 23:696</ref>

===Return to the United States===
[[File:Christian Schussele - Washington Irving and his Literary Friends at Sunnyside - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Irving and his friends at [[Sunnyside (Tarrytown, New York)|Sunnyside]]]]
Irving arrived in New York on May 21, 1832, after 17 years abroad. That September, he accompanied Commissioner on Indian Affairs [[Henry Leavitt Ellsworth]] on a surveying mission, along with companions [[Charles La Trobe]]<ref>{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |id=A020077b |title=La Trobe, Charles Joseph (1801–1875)  |access-date=July 13, 2007 |author=Jill Eastwood  |volume=2 |year=1967 |pages=89–93}}</ref> and Count Albert-Alexandre de Pourtales, and they traveled deep into [[Indian Territory]] (now the state of Oklahoma).<ref>See Irving, "A Tour on the Prairies", ''Works'' 22.</ref>  At the completion of his western tour, Irving traveled through Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, where he became acquainted with politician and novelist [[John Pendleton Kennedy]].<ref>Williams, 2:48–49</ref>

Irving was frustrated by bad investments, so he turned to writing to generate additional income, beginning with ''A Tour on the Prairies'' which related his recent travels on the frontier. The book was another popular success and also the first book written and published by Irving in the United States since ''A History of New York'' in 1809.<ref>Jones, 318.</ref>  In 1834, he was approached by fur magnate [[John Jacob Astor]], who convinced him to write a history of his fur trading colony in [[Astoria, Oregon]]. Irving made quick work of Astor's project, shipping the fawning biographical account ''[[Astoria (book)|Astoria]]'' in February 1836.<ref>Jones, 324.</ref> In 1835, Irving, Astor, and a few others founded the [[Saint Nicholas Society in the City of New York]].

During an extended stay at Astor's home, Irving met explorer [[Benjamin Bonneville]] and was intrigued with his maps and stories of the territories beyond the [[Rocky Mountains]].<ref>Williams, 2:76–77.</ref> The two men met in Washington, D.C., several months later, and Bonneville sold his maps and rough notes to Irving for $1,000.<ref>Jones, 323.</ref> Irving used these materials as the basis for his 1837 book ''The Adventures of Captain Bonneville''.<ref>Burstein, 288.</ref> These three works made up Irving's "western" series of books and were written partly as a response to criticism that his time in England and Spain had made him more European than American.<ref>Williams, 2:36.</ref> Critics such as James Fenimore Cooper and [[Philip Freneau]] felt that he had turned his back on his American heritage in favor of English aristocracy.<ref>Jones, 316.</ref> Irving's western books were well received in the United States, particularly ''A Tour on the Prairies'',<ref>Jones, 318-28.</ref> though British critics accused him of "book-making".<ref>''Monthly Review, New and Improved'', ser. 2 (June 1837): 279–90. See Aderman, Ralph M., ed. ''Critical Essays on Washington Irving''. (G. K. Hall, 1990), 110–11.</ref>

[[File:Sunnyside, Tarrytown, New York.JPG|thumb|right|Irving acquired his famous home in Tarrytown, New York, known as Sunnyside, in 1835.]]
In 1835, Irving purchased a "neglected cottage" and its surrounding riverfront property in Tarrytown, New York, which he named [[Sunnyside (Tarrytown, New York)|Sunnyside]] in 1841.<ref>Burstein, 295.</ref> It required constant repair and renovation over the next 20 years, with costs continually escalating, so he reluctantly agreed to become a regular contributor to ''[[The Knickerbocker]]'' magazine in 1839, writing new essays and short stories under the Knickerbocker and Crayon pseudonyms.<ref>Jones, 333.</ref> He was regularly approached by aspiring young authors for advice or endorsement, including Edgar Allan Poe, who sought Irving's comments on "[[William Wilson (short story)|William Wilson]]" and "[[The Fall of the House of Usher]]".<ref>Edgar Allan Poe to N. C. Brooks, Philadelphia, September 4, 1838. Cited in Williams, 2:101-02.</ref>

In 1837, a lady of [[Charleston, South Carolina]] brought to the attention of [[William Clancy]], newly appointed bishop to [[Demerara]], a passage in ''The Crayon Miscellany'', and questioned whether it accurately reflected Catholic teaching or practice. The passage under "Newstead Abbey" read:<blockquote>One of the parchment scrolls thus discovered, throws rather an awkward light upon the kind of life led by the friars of Newstead. It is an indulgence granted to them for a certain number of months, in which a plenary pardon is assured in advance for all kinds of crimes, among which, several of the most gross and sensual are specifically mentioned, and the weaknesses of the flesh to which they were prone.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A3URAAAAYAAJ&q=crayon+miscellany+by+washington+irving|title=The Crayon Miscellany|first=Washington|last=Irving|date=January 1, 1849|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons|via=Google Books}}</ref></blockquote>

Clancy wrote to Irving, who "promptly aided the investigation into the truth, and promised to correct in future editions the misrepresentation complained of". Clancy traveled to his new posting by way of England, and bearing a letter of introduction from Irving, stopped at [[Newstead Abbey]] and was able to view the document to which Irving had alluded. Upon inspection, Clancy discovered that it was, in fact, not an indulgence issued to the friars from any ecclesiastical authority, but a pardon given by the king to some parties suspected of having broken "forest laws". Clancy requested the local pastor to forward his findings to Catholic periodicals in England, and upon publication, send a copy to Irving. Whether this was done is not clear as the disputed text remains in the 1849 edition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z79LiSQC8YEC&dq=William+Clarke&pg=PA264|title=Lives of the Deceased Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States|first=Richard Henry|last=Clarke|date=January 1, 1872|publisher=P. O'Shea|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Irving also championed America's maturing literature, advocating stronger [[copyright]] laws to protect writers from the kind of piracy that had initially plagued ''The Sketch Book''. Writing in the January 1840 issue of ''Knickerbocker'', he openly endorsed copyright legislation pending in Congress.  "We have a young literature", he wrote, "springing up and daily unfolding itself with wonderful energy and luxuriance, which … deserves all its fostering care". The legislation, however, did not pass at that time.<ref>Washington Irving to Lewis G. Clark, (before January 10, 1840), ''Works'', 25:32–33.</ref>

In 1841, Irving was elected to the [[National Academy of Design]] as an Honorary Academician.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalacademy.org/academy/national-academicians/?na=I|title=National Academicians|access-date=January 18, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116083431/http://www.nationalacademy.org/academy/national-academicians/?na=I|archive-date=January 16, 2014}}</ref> He also began a friendly correspondence with Charles Dickens and hosted Dickens and his wife at Sunnyside during Dickens's American tour in 1842.<ref>Jones, 341.</ref>

===Minister to Spain===
President [[John Tyler]] appointed Irving as Minister to Spain in February 1842, after an endorsement from Secretary of State [[Daniel Webster]].<ref>Hellman, 257.</ref> Irving wrote, "It will be a severe trial to absent myself for a time from my dear little Sunnyside, but I shall return to it better enabled to carry it on comfortably".<ref>Washington Irving to Ebenezer Irving, New York, February 10, 1842, ''Works'', 25:180.</ref> He hoped that his position as Minister would allow him plenty of time to write, but Spain was in a state of political upheaval during most of his tenure, with a number of warring factions vying for control of the 12-year-old [[Isabella II of Spain|Queen Isabella II]].<ref>Bowers, 127–275.</ref> Irving maintained good relations with the various generals and politicians, as control of Spain rotated through [[Baldomero Espartero|Espartero]], Bravo, then [[Ramón María Narváez y Campos, 1st Duke of Valencia|Narváez]]. Espartero was then locked in a power struggle with the Spanish Cortes. Irving's official reports on the ensuing civil war and revolution expressed his romantic fascination with the regent as young Queen Isabella's knight protector. He wrote with an anti-republican, undiplomatic bias. Though Espartero, ousted in July 1843, remained a fallen hero in his eyes, Irving began to view Spanish affairs more realistically.<ref>Mary  Duarte, and Ronald E. Coons, "Washington Irving, American Ambassador to Spain, 1842-1846". ''Consortium on Revolutionary Europe 1750-1850: Proceedings'' (1992), Vol. 21, pp, 350-360.</ref> However, the politics and warfare were exhausting, and Irving was both homesick and suffering from a crippling skin condition.

{{blockquote|I am wearied and at times heartsick of the wretched politics of this country…. The last ten or twelve years of my life, passed among sordid speculators in the United States, and political adventurers in Spain, has shewn me so much of the dark side of human nature, that I begin to have painful doubts of my fellow man; and look back with regret to the confiding period of my literary career, when, poor as a rat, but rich in dreams, I beheld the world through the medium of my imagination and was apt to believe men as good as I wished them to be.<ref>Irving to Thomas Wentworth Storrow, Madrid, 18 May 1844, ''Works'', 25:751</ref>}}

With the political situation relatively settled in Spain, Irving continued to closely monitor the development of the new government and the fate of Isabella. His official duties as Spanish Minister also involved negotiating American trade interests with Cuba and following the Spanish parliament's debates over the slave trade. He was also pressed into service by Louis McLane, the American Minister to the [[Court of St. James's]] in London, to assist in negotiating the [[Oregon boundary dispute|Anglo-American disagreement over the Oregon border]] that newly elected president [[James K. Polk]] had vowed to resolve.<ref>Jones, 415-56.</ref>

===Final years and death===
[[File:Washington Irving's headstone Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.jpg|thumb|Washington Irving's headstone, [[Sleepy Hollow Cemetery]], [[Sleepy Hollow, New York]]]]
{{anchor|Wolfert's Roost}}Irving returned from Spain in September 1846, took up residence at Sunnyside, and began work on an "Author's Revised Edition" of his works for publisher [[George Palmer Putnam]]. For its publication, Irving had made a deal which guaranteed him 12 percent of the retail price of all copies sold, an agreement that was unprecedented at that time.<ref>Jones, 464.</ref> As he revised his older works for Putnam, he continued to write regularly, publishing biographies of [[Oliver Goldsmith]] in 1849 and Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]] in 1850. In 1855, he produced ''Wolfert's Roost'', a collection of stories and essays that he had written for ''The Knickerbocker'' and other publications,<ref name=Williams208209>Williams, 2:208–209.</ref> and he began publishing a biography of his namesake [[George Washington]] which he expected to be his masterpiece. Five volumes of the biography were published between 1855 and 1859.<ref>Bryan, William Alfred. ''George Washington in American Literature 1775–1865''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952: 103.</ref>

Irving traveled regularly to [[Mount Vernon]] and Washington, D.C., for his research, and struck up friendships with Presidents [[Millard Fillmore]] and [[Franklin Pierce]].<ref name=Williams208209/> He was elected an Associate Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1855.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter I|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterI.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=September 9, 2016}}</ref> He was hired as an executor of John Jacob Astor's estate in 1848 and appointed by Astor's will as first chairman of the [[Astor Library]], a forerunner to the [[New York Public Library]].<ref>Hellman, 235.</ref>

Irving continued to socialize and keep up with his correspondence well into his seventies, and his fame and popularity continued to soar. "I don't believe that any man, in any country, has ever had a more affectionate admiration for him than that given to you in America", wrote Senator [[William C. Preston]] in a letter to Irving. "I believe that we have had but one man who is so much in the popular heart".<ref>William C. Preston to Washington Irving, Charlottesville, May 11, 1859, PMI, 4:286.</ref> By 1859, author [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.]] noted that Sunnyside had become "next to Mount Vernon, the best known and most cherished of all the dwellings in our land".<ref>Kime, Wayne R. ''Pierre M. Irving and Washington Irving: A Collaboration in Life and Letters''. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1977: 151. {{ISBN|0-88920-056-4}}</ref>

Irving died of a heart attack in his bedroom at Sunnyside on November 28, 1859, age 76—only eight months after completing the final volume of his Washington biography. Legend has it that his last words were: "Well, I must arrange my pillows for another night. When will this end?"<ref>Nelson, Randy F. ''The Almanac of American Letters''. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 179. {{ISBN|0-86576-008-X}}</ref> He was buried under a simple headstone at Sleepy Hollow cemetery on December 1, 1859.<ref>PMI, 4:328.</ref> Irving and his grave were commemorated by [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] in his 1876 poem "In the Churchyard at Tarrytown", which concludes with:

{{poemquote|How sweet a life was his; how sweet a death!
Living, to wing with mirth the weary hours,
Or with romantic tales the heart to cheer;
Dying, to leave a memory like the breath
Of summers full of sunshine and of showers,
A grief and gladness in the atmosphere.<ref>Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "In The Churchyard at Tarrytown", quoted in Burstein, 330.</ref>}}