The rest of Irving's long life was a continued triumph. Amazed at first, and then a little stunned by the growth, the hurry, the onward surge of his country, he settled back into the restful past, and was heard with the more pleasure by his countrymen because he seemed to speak to them from a vanished age. Once, inspired by the tide of life weeping into the West, he journeyed beyond the Mississippi and found material for his pioneering books; but an active life was far from his taste, and presently he built his house "Sunnyside" (appropriate name) at Tarrytown on the Hudson. There he spent the remainder of his days, with the exception of four years in which he served the nation as ambassador to Spain. This honor, urged upon him by Webster and President Tyler, was accepted with characteristic modesty not as a personal reward but as a tribute which America had been wont to offer to the profession of letters. CHIEF WORKS OF IRVING. A good way to form a general impression of Irving's works is to arrange them chronologically in five main groups. The first, consisting of the _Salmagundi_ essays, the _Knickerbocker History_ and a few other trifles, we may call the Oldstyle group, after the pseudonym assumed by the author. [Footnote: Ever since Revolutionary days it had been the fashion for young American writers to use an assumed name. Irving appeared at different times as "Jonathan Oldstyle," "Diedrich Knickerbocker" and "Geoffrey Crayon, Gent."] The second or Sketch-Book group includes the _Sketch Book_, _Bracebridge Hall_ and _Tales of a Traveller_. The third or Alhambra group, devoted to Spanish and Moorish themes, includes _The Conquest of Granada_, _Spanish Voyages of Discovery_, _The Alhambra_ and certain similar works of a later period, such as _Moorish Chronicles_ and _Legends of the Conquest of Spain_. The fourth or Western group contains _A Tour on the Prairies_, _Astoria_ and _Adventures of Captain Bonneville_. The fifth or Sunnyside group is made up chiefly of biographies, _Oliver Goldsmith_, _Mahomet and his Successors_ and _The Life of Washington_. Besides these are some essays and stories assembled under the titles of _Spanish Papers_ and _Wolfert's Roost_. The _Salmagundi_ papers and others of the Oldstyle group would have been forgotten long ago if anybody else had written them. In other words, our interest in them is due not to their intrinsic value (for they are all "small potatoes") but to the fact that their author became a famous literary man. Most candid readers would probably apply this criticism also to the _Knickerbocker History_, had not that grotesque joke won an undeserved reputation as a work of humor. [Sidenote: KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY]