Two other types of work remain to be mentioned. The first is the literary essay, in which the chief interest arises from Irving's sympathetic appreciation of his English masters. From these essays--there are five of distinct importance--it appears that he was especially well-read in the writings of a much earlier period and that he took pleasure in dwelling on passages which were characterized, as his own work came to be, by "great purity and beauty of diction." The other group is the most famous in "The Sketch Book," the three stories of which "Rip Van Winkle" is the best known. This is extremely interesting for several reasons. The first is that it is a good story, which will long be read for its own sake, and as such it needs no comment, for it is familiar to everyone. But it is also a milestone in literary history. One reason for this is that it carries into practice a principle that American authors had long been talking and writing about--the principle of using native material. It is located in the Catskill Mountains and in the years before and after the Revolutionary War. It introduces real colonial and early American people. Although it is a far-fetched romance in its theme, it makes use of homely, realistic details. Jonathan Doolittle's hotel was just the sort of shabby boarding house that marred the countryside during the slipshod years after the Revolution and that survived into Irving's youth. "A large rickety wooden building ... with great gaping windows, some of them broken and mended with old hats and petticoats." The sign was strangely changed from pre-Revolution days. "The red coat was changed for one of blue and buff, a sword was held in the hand instead of a sceptre, the head was decorated with a cocked hat, and underneath was painted in large characters, GENERAL WASHINGTON." The fact that the folk story about Hendrick Hudson and his crew had some basis in a German superstition does not affect the fact that Irving completely localized it and gave it its enduring fame as an American tale.