After an absence of seventeen yeai*s he returned to America, in May, 1832. His arrival was commemorated by a public dinner in New York City, at which Chancellor Kent presided. A few months later he made a journey west of the Mississippi, which he described in his " Tour of the Prairies." In 183(3 he published "Astoria "and subsequently the "Adventures of Captain Bonnevill." From 1839 for two years he contributed a series of papers to the Kiiickcrbocher MiKjaziiie. A number of these papers, together with others, were published in 1855, in a volume which received the title " Woolfert's Roost."

In 1842 Irving was appointed Minister to Spain, an oflice which he retained for the next four years. He then returned home and for the rest of his life resided at his cottage residence "Sunnyside," near Tarrytown, the spot wliich he had described years before in the " Legend of Sleepy Hollow " as the castle of the Herr Van Tassel, and of which he wrote -- " If ever I should wish for a retreat whither I might steal from the world and its distractions, and dream quietly away the remainder of a troubled life, I know of none' more promising than this little valley." Here in this retreat he lived in the midst of a family circle composed of his brother and his nieces, hospitably entertaining his friends and engaged in writing his biographies of Goldsmith and Mahomet and his " Life of Washington."

His life at "Sunnyside" was simple, kindly and affectionate. He was a good friend and neighbor and a devout communicant at Christ Episcopal Church in Tarrytown. For many years he was a vestryman and warden, and it was his i)ractice during the greater part of this time to take up the collection at the Sunday services.