rchives, and where he became as familiar with the life of the
people as it was possible for a stranger to become. After seventeen
years' absence Irving returned to America, where he was welcomed as one
who won for his country great honors. He was the first writer to make
American literature respected abroad, and his return was made the
occasion of numerous fetes given in his honor in New York and other
cities.

[Illustration: SUNNYSIDE.]

He now built Sunnyside on the Hudson, the home that he loved so dearly,
and which will ever be famous as the abode of America's first great
writer.

His principal works following the Spanish histories were _Astoria_, the
history of the fur-trading company in Oregon, founded by the head of the
Astor family; _Captain Bonneville_, the adventures of a hunter in the
far West; the _Life of Goldsmith_; and the lives of _Mohammed and his
Successors_. He returned to Spain as ambassador in 1842, and remained
four years.

In the _Legends of the Conquest of Spain_ Irving tells the story of the
conquest of Spain by the Moors, as related in the old Spanish and
Moorish chronicles. The whole story is a brilliant, living picture of
that romantic age. The Spanish king goes to battle wearing robes of gold
brocade, sandals embroidered with gold and diamonds, and a crown studded
with the costliest jewels of Spain. He rides in a chariot of ivory, and
a thousand cavaliers knighted by his own hand surround him, while tens
of thousands of his brave soldiers follow him, guarding the sacred
banners emblazoned with the cross. The Moorish vanguard, riding the
famous horses of Arabia, advance to the sound of trumpet and cymbal,
their gay robes and snowy turbans, and their arms of burnished gold and
steel glittering in the sunshine which reflects in every direction the
sacred crescent, the symbol of their faith. The surroundings are equally
picturesque and romantic. The famous plain of Granada, adorned with
groves and gardens and winding streams, and guarded by the famous
Mountains of the Sun and Air, forms the foreground to the picture, while
in the distance we see the gloomy mountain passes, the fortified rocks
and castles, and the great walled cities, through which the Moors
passed, always victorious, and never pausing until their banners floated
from every cliff and tower.

Irving remained some months in the Alhambra, living over again the
scenes of Moorish story, and so catching the spirit of the lost gra