Washington Irving was born in the city of New York, April 3, 1783, in
which place his father, William Irving, had been settled as a merchant
some twenty years. After receiving an ordinary school education, at
the age of sixteen, he commenced the study of the law. Three years
later he contributed, under the signature of Jonathan Oldstyle, a
series of letters to the ‘Morning Chronicle,’ a newspaper of which his
brother, Peter Irving, was editor. These juvenile essays attracted
much notice at the time, were extensively copied by other journals,
and in 1823 or 1824 were collected and published without the sanction
of the author. In 1804, in consequence of ill health, he sailed for
Bordeaux on a visit to Europe, and traveled through the south of
France to Nice, where he took a felucca to Genoa, in which city he
remained some two months. He then went by sea to Sicily, made the tour
of the island, crossed from Palermo to Naples, passed through Italy,
meeting Allston at Rome, who strongly recommended his devoting himself
to art, thence over the St. Gothard, through Switzerland to Paris,
where he remained several months. He then went to Holland, whence he
embarked for England, where he spent part of the autumn, and returned
to New York in March, 1806, completely restored to health. He again
resumed the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar in November
of that year, but never practiced. Shortly after he took the chief
part in ‘Salmagundi,’ the first number of which appeared in January,
1807, and the last in January, 1808. In December the following year,
he published his ‘Knickerbocker’s History of New York.’ In 1810, two
of his brothers, who were engaged in commercial business, one being at
the head of the establishment in New York, and the other in Liverpool,
gave him an interest in the concern, with the understanding that he
was not to enter into the duties and details of the business, but
pursue his literary avocations. During the war with Great Britain, in
1813-14, he edited the ‘Analectic Magazine,’ and in the fall of the
latter year, joined the military staff of the governor of the state of
New York, as aid-de-camp, and military secretary, with the title of
colonel. On the close of the war, May, 1815, he embarked for
Liverpool, with the intention of making a second tour of Europe, but
was prevented by the sudden and great reverses which followed the
return of peace, overwhelming, after a struggle of two or three years,
in which Mr. Irving took an active part to avert the catastrophe, the
house in which his brothers had given him an interest, and involving
him in its ruin. In 1818, he determined to try his pen as a means of
support, and commenced the papers of the ‘Sketch-Book,’ which were
transmitted piecemeal from London, where he resided, to New York for
publication. Three or four numbers were thus published, when, finding
that they attracted notice in England, he had them published in a
volume, February, 1820, by Mr. John Miller; but he failing shortly
after, the work was transferred to Mr. Murray, with a second volume,
published in July of that year. Mr. Murray had bought the copyright
for £200, but its success far surpassing his expectations, he sent Mr.
Irving, of his own accord, first £100, and the sale still increasing,
an additional £100. After a residence of five years in England, Mr.
Irving removed to Paris in August, 1820, and remained there till July
of the following year, when he returned to England and published his
‘Bracebridge Hall’ in London and New York in May, 1822. The following
winter he passed in Dresden, returned to Paris in 1823, and crossed to
London in May, 1824, to publish his ‘Tales of a Traveler,’ which
appeared in August of that year in two volumes, and in four parts in
New York. In August, he returned to Paris, and in the autumn of 1825,
visited the south of France, spending part of the winter in Bordeaux.
In February, 1826, he left that city for Madrid, where he remained two
years. Here he wrote the life of ‘Columbus,’ which appeared in 1828.
In the spring of 1828, he left Madrid on a tour to the south of Spain,
visiting Granada and the main points mentioned in the ‘Chronicles of
the Conquest of Granada, by Fray Agapida,’ of which he had made a
rough sketch. This he prepared for the press at Seville, and
transmitted to London and New York for publication; it appeared in
1829. In the spring of this year he again visited Granada, and resided
some three months in the Alhambra, where he collected materials for
the work published under that name in 1832. In July he went to
England, being appointed secretary of legation to the American embassy
in London, which office he held until the return of Mr. M’Lane in
1831, when, after remaining a few months as chargé, he resigned, on
the arrival of Mr. Van Buren. While in England, in 1830, Mr. Irving
received one of the fifty-guinea gold-medals, provided by George IV,
for eminence in historical composition; the other was awarded to Mr.
Hallam, the historian. In 1831, the university of Oxford conferred on
Mr. Irving the degree of LL.D. In the spring of 1832, he returned to
New York, after an absence of seventeen years. His return was greeted
on all hands with the warmest enthusiasm; a public dinner was given to
him, at which Chancellor Kent presided; and similar testimonials were
offered in other cities, but which he declined. In the summer of this
year he accompanied Mr. Ellsworth, one of the commissioners for
removing the Indian tribes west of the Mississippi, and whom he had
met on a tour to the west, on his expedition. The most interesting
portion of this journey has appeared in the ‘Tour on the Prairies,’
published in 1835. This was followed in the same year by ‘Abbotsford
and Newstead Abbey,’ and ‘Legends of the Conquest of Spain.’ In 1836
he published ‘Astoria,’ and in the following year he published ‘The
Adventures of Captain Bonneville.’ In 1839 he entered into an
engagement which lasted two years, with the proprietors of the
‘Knickerbocker Magazine,’ to furnish monthly articles for that
periodical. In February, 1842, he received, unsolicited, the
appointment of minister to Spain. He left for Madrid on the 10th of
April of that year. His official duties terminating in the summer of
1846, he returned to this country, and, in 1848, commenced the
publication of a revised edition of his works which had long been out
of print. In 1849 he published ‘Oliver Goldsmith, a Biography,’ and
‘Mahomet and his Successors,’ 1849-50. He has recently published a
life of Washington. Mr. Irving is essentially the man of his works,
genial, warm-hearted, and benevolent; so much so, that all who see him
would be apt to forget the author in the man. He has a countryseat,
‘Sunnyside,’ on the banks of the Hudson, twenty-five miles from the
city of New York, which is now his home.