While, therefore, in the study of this remarkable character, whose description is but a succession of paradoxes, we see everywhere falsehood leading up to truth and truth to falsehood; while we see spring out of the ideal the real, results the most substantial and success the most signal come from conceptions the most fantastical, we can but observe, not only that penetrative vision which in the mind of genius sees through the symbol the divine significance, but that they have not been always or altogether fruitless of good, those spectral fancies which riot in absurdities, building celestial cities, and peopling pandemoniums, even in the absence of genius, symbol, or significance.[IV-26] [Sidenote: BIBLIOGRAPHY.] Probably not one of the many accounts of Columbus which have been published is presented with such fulness of detail, commanding vivid interest from first to last, as that of Mr Washington Irving, _The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus; to which are added those of His Companions_, 3 vols., New York, 1869. The first editions, one in London, in 4 vols., and one in New York, appeared in 1828; since which time there have been many issues, in English and other languages. The author was born in New York, in 1783, and died at Sunnyside, near Tarrytown, on the Hudson River, in 1859. A strong literary taste was early displayed, specially manifested in 1802 in a series of articles contributed to the _Morning Chronicle_. In 1804 he visited Europe for his health, returning in 1807. Then appeared the serial _Salmagundi_, and in 1809 _A History of New York_. Again in 1815 he went to Europe, and after engaging for a time in mercantile pursuits, abandoned them and gave himself up to letters. The publication of the _Sketch Book_ was begun in numbers in 1818, and was followed by _Bracebridge Hall_ in 1822, and _Tales of a Traveller_ in 1824. Then came _Columbus_, the material for which he obtained from Navarrete in Spain. See chapter iii. note 9, this volume. After serving as secretary of the American Legation in London from 1829 to 1832, he returned to New York and published _The Alhambra_; then _Crayon Miscellany_ in 1835; _Astoria_ in 1836; _Captain Bonneville_ in 1837; and _Wolfert's Roost_ in 1855. From 1842 to 1846 he was American Minister to Spain. His later works were _Goldsmith_, 1849; _Mahomet_, 1850; and _Washington_, 1855-9. Mr Irving has been most praised for his genial manner, his gentleness of thought, and his charming style, which carries the reader almost unconsciously along over details in other hands dry and profitless. Among these is found his highest merit; and yet one would sometimes wish the author not quite so meritorious. Elegance and grace eternal tire by their very faultlessness. In handling the rough realities of life one relishes now and then a rough thought roughly expressed. Neither is Irving remarkable for historical accuracy, or exact thinking. An early criticism on _Columbus_ complains of that