Returning to England, he was received with honors, the Royal Society of Literature awarding him in 1830 one of the two annual medals and the University of Oxford making him an honorary D.C.L. In 1831 he resigned and the next year returned to America. America greeted him with enthusiasm. After an extended tour of the South and West he settled at Tarrytown, on the Hudson, a few miles north of New York, to enjoy the domestic life afforded by numerous relatives, and to do the writing which was more than ever necessary for the support of the relatives who had become dependent on him. At Sunnyside, as his place was named, he resolutely devoted himself to literary work, after declining several offers of public office. He was a regular contributor to _The Knickerbocker Magazine_ at an annual salary, and he wrote several volumes, not now much read, while working on more ambitious literary projects. In 1842 he received the unexpected and unsolicited honor of appointment as Minister to Spain. For four years he continued in office, performing his duties with tact and discretion. In 1846 he returned finally to his home, where he devoted his last days to a long-contemplated "Life of Washington," a task almost beyond his powers. On the 28th of November, 1850, he died, honored as no American man of letters had ever been. REFERENCES BIOGRAPHY: WARNER: Washington Irving. BOYNTON: Washington Irving. CRITISCM: HOWELLS: My Literary Passions. THACKERAY: Nil Nisi Bonum (Roundabout Papers). RICHARDSON: American Literature. NOTES TO "RIP VAN WINKLE" This story appeared with four other papers in the first number of "The Sketch-Book," which was published in America in May, 1819, as the work of one Geoffrey Crayon. PAGE 1. DIEDRICH KNICKERBOCKER: the supposed author of "The Knickerbocker History of New York." All this prefatory matter is merely to carry out the pretence, as do the Note and Postscript at the end. 2. PETER STUYVESANT: last Dutch governor of New York, born in Holland in 1592, died in New York in 1672. A man of short temper and with a wooden leg from the knee. FORT CHRISTINA: built by the Swedes on the Delaware River near the present city of Wilmington. There was no fighting. 15. FEDERAL OR DEMOCRAT: the two political parties after the close of the Revolutionary War. TORY: name applied to all followers of the king during the war. 16. STONY POINT: this promontory on the west bank of the Hudson was captured by the British, and later recaptured by the Americans under General Anthony Wayne. ANTONY'S NOSE: a bold cliff, in the shape of a nose, on the east bank of the river. The name is now usually spelled with an _h_. 18. HENDRICK HUDSON: really Henry Hudson, an Englishman in the employ of the Dutch East India Company. He was on a voyage to discover a north-east passage, when he explored the river which bears his name. The _Half Moon_ was the name of his boat. EDGAR ALLAN POE