so proud to earn. And with
everything you have written upon my shelves, and in my thoughts, and
in my heart of hearts, I may honestly and truly say so.... I wish I
could find in your welcome letter some hint of an intention to visit
England. I can't. I have held it at arm's length, and taken a bird's
eye view of it, after reading it a great many times, but there is no
greater encouragement in it this way than on a microscopic
inspection. I should love to go with you--as I have gone, God knows
how often--into Little Britain, and Eastcheap, and Green Arbor Court,
and Westminster Abbey. I should like to travel with you, outside the
last of the coaches, down to Bracebridge Hall. It would make my heart
glad to compare notes with you about that shabby gentleman in the
oilcloth hat and red nose, who sat in the nine-cornered back parlor of
the Masons' Arms; and about Robert Preston, and the tallow chandler's
widow, whose sitting-room is second nature to me; and about all those
delightful places and people that I used to walk about and dream of in
the daytime, when a very small and not over-particularly-taken-care-of
boy. I have a good deal to say, too, about that dashing Alonzo de
Ojeda, that you can't help being fonder of than you ought to be; and
much to hear concerning Moorish legend and poor, unhappy Boabdil.
Diedrich Knickerbocker I have worn to death in my pocket, and yet I
should show you his mutilated carcass with a joy past all
expression."

Not long afterward Dickens visited America. Irving and he saw much of
each other, though they did not meet many times. Irving presided at a
great dinner given to Boz in New York, broke down in his introductory
speech, and otherwise endeared himself to his brother author. When
presently Dickens went back, he wrote, "I did not come to see you, for
I really have not the heart to say 'good-by' again, and felt more than
I can tell you when we shook hands last Wednesday."

Pretty soon Irving himself was leaving America. In February, 1842, he
was startled from the home quiet of Sunnyside by a summons which he
could not disregard. Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, had
secured his appointment as Minister to Spain. The Senate confirmed it
almost by acclamation, and letters came from various quarters urging
him to accept it. He could not doubt that the wish was general. But it
was very hard for him to leave home and America again. For some time
after accepting the post he was plunged