Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Peter Barozzi and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net [Illustration] American Men of Letters. WASHINGTON IRVING. BY CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER. FIFTH THOUSAND. BOSTON: HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY. 11 EAST SEVENTEENTH STREET, NEW YORK. The Riverside Press, Cambridge. 1884. Copyright, 1881, BY CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER. _All rights reserved_. _The Riverside Press, Cambridge:_ Electrotyped and printed by H.O. Houghton & Co. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE PRELIMINARY 1 CHAPTER II. BOYHOOD 21 CHAPTER III. MANHOOD: FIRST VISIT TO EUROPE 31 CHAPTER IV. SOCIETY AND "SALMAGUNDI" 43 CHAPTER V. THE KNICKERBOCKER PERIOD 58 CHAPTER VI. LIFE IN EUROPE: LITERARY ACTIVITY 94 CHAPTER VII. IN SPAIN 141 CHAPTER VIII. RETURN TO AMERICA: SUNNYSIDE: THE MISSION TO MADRID 158 CHAPTER IX. THE CHARACTERISTIC WORKS 190 CHAPTER X. LAST YEARS: THE CHARACTER OF HIS LITERATURE 282 WASHINGTON IRVING. CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY.