op until she is a woman outright. I would give
all the money in my pocket to be with those dear little women at
the round table in the saloon, or on the grass-plot in the garden,
to tell them some marvelous tales."

And again:--

"Give my love to all my dear little friends of the round table,
from the discreet princess down to the little blue-eyed boy. Tell
_la petite Marie_ that I still remain true to her, though
surrounded by all the beauties of Seville; and that I swear (but
this she must keep between ourselves) that there is not a little
woman to compare with her in all Andalusia."

The publication of "The Life of Columbus," which had been delayed by
Irving's anxiety to secure historical accuracy in every detail, did not
take place till February, 1828. For the English copyright Mr. Murray
paid him L3,150. He wrote an abridgment of it, which he presented to his
generous publisher, and which was a very profitable book (the first
edition of ten thousand copies sold immediately). This was followed by
the "Companions," and by "The Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada," for
which he received two thousand guineas. "The Alhambra" was not published
till just before Irving's return to America, in 1832, and was brought
out by Mr. Bentley, who bought it for one thousand guineas.

"The Conquest of Granada," which I am told Irving in his latter years
regarded as the best of all his works, was declared by Coleridge "a
_chef-d'oeuvre_ of its kind." I think it bears re-reading as well as any
of the Spanish books. Of the reception of the "Columbus" the author was
very doubtful. Before it was finished he wrote:--

"I have lost confidence in the favorable disposition of my
countrymen, and look forward to cold scrutiny and stern criticism,
and this is a line of writing in which I have not hitherto
ascertained my own powers. Could I afford it, I should like to
write, and to lay my writings aside when finished. There is an
independent delight in study and in the creative exercise of the
pen; we live in a world of dreams, but publication lets in the
noisy rabble of the world, and there is an end of our dreaming."

In a letter to Brevoort, February 23, 1828, he fears that he can never
regain

"That delightful confidence which I once enjoyed of not the good
opinion, but the good will, of my countrymen. To me it is always
ten times more