Though not published until after Irving’s return to America, _The Legends of the Conquest of Spain_ is a part of the harvest of this same period. The book describes the decline of the Gothic power under Witiza and Roderick, the treason of Count Julian, the coming of the Arabians under Taric and Muza, and the downfall of Christian supremacy in the Spanish peninsula. Irving was a magician in handling words, and this volume is rich in proof of it. Here may be found passages of the utmost brilliancy, such as the description of Roderick’s assault upon the necromantic tower of Hercules, and the opening of the golden casket. The _Legends_ serves a double purpose. As a book of entertainment pure and simple it is unsurpassed. It is also a spur to the reader to make his way into wider fields, and to learn yet more of that people whose history could give rise to these beautiful illustrations of chivalry and courage. VII AMERICAN HISTORY AND TRAVEL _A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES_, _ASTORIA_, _LIFE OF WASHINGTON_ The list of Irving’s writings between 1835 and 1855 comprises eight titles. Two of these books have been commented on. The others may be despatched in a paragraph, as the old reviewers used to say. _Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey_ is an aftermath of the English harvest of impressions and experiences. The _Life of Goldsmith_, based originally on Prior’s useful but heavy work, and rewritten when Forster’s book appeared, is accounted one of the most graceful of literary biographies. _Wolfert’s Roost_ is a medley of delightful papers on birds, Indians, old Dutch villages, and modern American adventurers, together with a handful of Spanish stories and legends. There is a group of three books dealing with American frontier life and western exploration. The first of these, _A Tour on the Prairies_, shows how readily the trained man of letters can turn his hand to any subject. Who would have thought that the prose poet of the Alhambra was also able to do justice to the trapper and the Pawnee? _Astoria_ (the first draft of which was made by Pierre M. Irving) is an account of John Jacob Astor’s commercial enterprise in the Northwest. Irving was amused when an English review pronounced the book his masterpiece. He had really taken a deeper interest in the work than he supposed possible when Astor urged it upon him. _Bonneville_ in a manner supplements _Astoria_, and was written from notes and journals furnished by the hardy explorer whose name the book bears.