565 



IRVING, WASHINGTON. 



ISABEL II. 



660 



mental peculiarities. He has learnt since to apply with more steadiness 

 to literary labour, but it baa been in the line and in the manner be 

 thus early pointed out ; and his success in almost everything he has 

 undertaken baa to a great extent unquestionably arisen from his 

 having always taken this unexaggerated estimate of his intellectual 

 capacity. 



As regarded the 'Sketch Book,' Irving eventually resolved to 

 publish it at his own risk, and the first volume was eo issued ; but 

 before a month had elapsed the publisher to whom it was entrusted 

 failed, and the sale was stopped. Scott came now effectually to the 

 rescue : at his instance Murray undertook the publication, and thence- 

 forward Irving never was in need of help. The success of the ' Sketch 

 Book ' was beyond that of any previous volume of disconnected essays. 

 The book became a universal favourite. Its genial wit, quaint grace, 

 gentle pathos, and quiet Addisonian style, were generally appreciated. 

 The story of Rip Van Winkle acquired unbounded popularity ; the 

 other legends were hardly lees admired, and the sketches of English 

 scenery and English manners were as much relished in England as in 

 America. Irving became at once famous in both countries. The 

 second volume of the 'Sketch Book' appeared in 1820. His next 

 work, written chiefly in Paris, was ' Bracebridge Hall," published in 

 1822, a work which amply sustained his reputation. In 1824 appeared 

 the ' Tales of a Traveller,' chiefly the result of his travels on the conti- 

 nent, but also, it may be noticed, containing the last of hu sketches 

 descriptive of English life. 



Mr. Irving was still in France when he was informed by Mr. Everett, 

 the United States minister at Madrid, of important discoveries having 

 been made in Madrid by S. Navarette respecting Columbus ; and 

 invited to proceed to that city with a view to examining, and, if he 

 deemed it advisable, translating these documents. Irving accordingly 

 went there, but he soon became convinced that the best application 

 of these new materials, would be to use them as the ground-work of a 

 life of the great admiral. He accordingly applied himself diligently to 

 the task, and as the Spanish archives were liberally opened to him he 

 was enabled to embody in his work a great deal of new matter. The 

 ' History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus ' was pub- 

 lished in 1828, and was succeeded in 1831 by a supplementary work 

 on the ' Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus.' 



Mr. Irvine's residence in Spain and his researches connected with its 

 early history had excited in him considerable interest in the Moorish 

 conquerors of Granada ; and the result of further studies was a kind 

 of historical romance, entitled 'A Chronicle of the Conquest of 

 Uranada, by Fray Antonio Agapida,' 2 vols. 1829. His Moorish 

 studies, a residence of some months in the ancient palace of that 

 remarkable people, and rambles about the old cities of Spain, led him 

 to write in his old manner a series of sketches which he published in 

 1832 under tha title of the ' Alharabra.' 



lu the summer of 1829 Mr. Irving received the appointment ol 

 secretary of legation at London. Whilst in England he mingled freely 

 in the best society, and was the lion of at least one season. He received, 

 iu 1830, one of the two gold medals of the Koyal Society of Literature, 

 the other being given to Mr. Hallam, and the University of Oxford 

 bestowed on him the degree of LL.1). It was not till 1832, " after an 

 absence of seventeen years," that he " saw again the blue line of hi 

 native land." His reception in New York, as indeed in every part ol 

 America which he subsequently visited, was of the most enthusiastic 

 kind. But he did not stay long in his native city ; an opportunity 

 offering, he the same autumn accompanied Mr. Ellsworthy the Indian 

 commissioner, and Mr. Latrobe the author of ' Rambles in Nortl 

 A Tin rica,' in a journey to the far west, and, as of yore, "writing o: 

 what was suggested by objects before him," his journey produced a 

 ' Tour ou the Prairies.' This work was not however published til 



1835. He had meanwhile purchased an estate by the spot he hac 

 described as Sleepy Hollow, and the fitting up after his own fancy the 

 old mansion of the Van Tassels, which he named Woolfert's Roost 

 had occupied no small amount of time. The ' Tour ' was followed it 

 the lame year by his recollections of 'Abbotsford and Newstead 

 Abbey,' and by his ' Legends of the Conquest of Spam.' To these, in 



1836, succeeded ' Astoria, or Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains ; 

 and in the next year the 'Adventures of Captain Bonneville; or 

 Scenes beyond the Rocky Mountain! of the Far West.' 



This was the most prolific period in Mr. Irving's literary career 

 For some years following no separate work was published from his 

 pen. During 1839 and 1840 he supplied under an engagement a series 

 of papers to ' Knickerbocker's Magazine.' In 1841 he received the 

 appointment of minister plenipotentiary to the court of Spain. The 

 appointment was a popular one in Madrid, where his previous residence 

 and his ' Life of Columbus ' had gained him numerous friends. He 

 remained there above four years, having only been recalled, at his own 

 request, on Mr. Folk's election to the presidency in 1846. 



On his return to America, Mr. Irving retired to his beautifu 

 residence on the Hudson, and renewed his literary avocations : his firs 

 employment being the publication of a carefully revised edition of hie 

 iete works. But ho had for some years been pondering a worl 

 on the rUe and progress of Mohammedanism, and it eventually tool 

 the form of a biography of the prophet, with sketches of his immediate 

 successors: it appeared in 1849-50 under the title of 'Mahomet anc 

 his Successors.' He also about this time published a pleasantly 



written biography of Oliver Goldsmith ostensibly an expansion of a 

 >rief sketch he had some years previously drawn up for an American 

 sdition of Goldsmith's works, but really a recasting of Mr. Forster's 

 newly published life of Goldsmith. He did not again appear before 

 ,he world as an author till 1855, when he published a volume of 

 iketches, some of which had appeared iu the New York magazines, 

 entitled 'Chronicles of Woolfert's Roost and other Papers,' which were 

 marked by all the old polish and elegance, and very much of the humour 

 and vigour which had rendered the ' Sketch Book" so general a favourite. 

 3ut his countrymen were watching for a more important work. It was 

 well known that he had been engaged even before his mission to Spain 

 n collecting materials for a new biography of the great founder of 

 American independence, and that it was the task he had selected as 

 lis crowning literary labour. It was accordingly looked forward to 

 with much eagerness, and the first volume of the ' Life of Washing- 

 ion" (1855), met with a warm welcome. A second and third have 

 since followed, and a fourth is announced to complete the work. 

 Like Mr. Irving's other historical works, it is marked by an excel- 

 lent style of narrative, without making any pretension to philosophy 

 or profundity. Carrying with it evidence of very considerable, 

 though not much original, research, it also is distinguished by strict 

 impartiality; while it displays a just appreciation of the moral 

 and mental character and conduct of the hero, and a warm sym- 

 pathy with his grand enterprise : and above all, it has the great 

 merit of being a thoroughly readable book. Still it may fairly be 

 doubted whether to succeeding generations, as to his contemporaries, 

 the name of Washington Irving will not recall rather the author of 

 the ' Sketch Book,' and the narrator of Rip Van Winkle, than the 

 historian of the Conquest of Granada, or the biographer of Mahomet 

 and Washington. 



ISAAC. [JACOB.] 



* ISABEL II. (MAMi ISABEL LUISA), Queen of Spain, was born 

 on the 10th of October 1830, iu the city of Madrid. She is the elder 

 of the two daughters of Ferdinand VII., king of Spain, by his fourth 

 wife, Maria-Christina, now the wife of Don Fernando Munoz, duke of 

 Rianzares. Isabel II. is the eighth in lineal descent from Henry IV., 

 king of France, through her father, and is likewise the eighth in des- 

 cent from him through her mother. She succeeded to the crown of 

 Spain on the death of her father, September 29, 1833, according to 

 the order of succession established by a decree, March 29, 1830, 

 confirmed by the cortes, which set aside the Salic law, by which females 

 were excluded from the throne of Spain. She was proclaimed Queen 

 of Spain, October 2, 1833, at Madrid, and was placet under the guardian- 

 ship of her mother, who, by the will of Ferdinand VII., became queen- 

 regent (reina gobernadora) during the minority of her daughter. 



On the 20th of June 1833, while Ferdinand VII. was lying ill, the 

 eortes, in accordance with a requisition from the prime-minister, Zea 

 Bennudez, met at Madrid, and took the oath of allegiance to the Infanta 

 Dona Maria Isabel, as rightful successor to the crown of Spain, iu 

 default of a male heir. Don Carlos however, the king's brother, who 

 had the right of succession according to the Salic law, having been 

 also required to take the oath of allegiance, refused, and wrote a letter 

 to the king, in which he said, " God gave me that right when it was 

 his will that I should come into the world, and God alone can deprive 

 me of it by giving thee a male heir." Don Carlos persisted in the 

 assertion of his claim to the crown of Spain, and the consequence was 

 a civil war, which lasted till September 1840, when the adherents of 

 Don Carlos were finally defeated, and he was obliged to quit the king- 

 dom. The queen-regent, iu consequence of a successful conspiracy, 

 August 13, 1836, was for a time deprived of her power, but having 

 taken an oath, June 18, 1837, to observe the liberal constitution, she 

 regained her authority, and continued in power till another insurrec- 

 tion occurred, in consequence of her interference with the popular 

 rights of election of the town-councils (ayuntamiontos), when she was 

 compelled to abdicate, October 12, 1840, and retired to France. 

 Espartero was then placed at the head of affairs, and by a decree of 

 the cortes, May 8, 1841, was appointed regent of the kingdom during 

 the remainder of the queen's minority. He continued iu power till 

 July 1843, when a combination of parties compelled him to resign 

 and quit the kingdom. The termination of the queen's minority had 

 been fixed for the 10th of October 1844, but, by a decree of the cortes, 

 she was declared to have reached her majority on the 8th of November 

 1843, and she took the oath to observe the constitution on the 10th of 

 the same month. On the 10th of October 1846, Queen Isabel II. waa 

 married to her cousin, Don Francisco de Assis (born May 13, 1822), the 

 elder son of her maternal uncle. The queen's younger sister, Maria 

 Luisa Fernanda (born January 80, 1832), was married on the same day 

 to the Due de Montpensier (born July 21, 1824), the youngest son of 

 the late Louis-Philippe, king of France. The queen's husband received 

 the honorary title of king (rey). On the 20th of December 1851 the 

 queen gave birth to a daughter, the present Princess of Asturias, and 

 Infanta of Spain. Another insurrection compelled the queen-mother 

 again to quit the kingdom, July 17, 1854. Espartero was recalled to 

 power, and continued to be the prime-minister till July 14, 1856, when, 

 in consequence of a ministerial crisis, he tendered his resignation, and 

 was succeeded by General O'Donnell. An insurrection ensued, which 

 was peedily suppressed, and O'Donnell remained in power till he was 

 superseded by Narvaez, October 11, 1856. 



