a history itself, and that he had access in Madrid libraries to great collections of Spanish colonial history, he changed his plan, and determined to write a Life of Columbus.  His studies for this led him deep into the old chronicles and legends of Spain, and out of these, with his own travel and observation, came those books of mingled fables, sentiment, fact, and humor which are after all the most enduring fruits of his residence in Spain.

Notwithstanding his absorption in literary pursuits, Irving was not denied the charm of domestic society, which was all his life his chief delight.  The house he most frequented in Madrid was that of Mr. D’Oubril, the Russian Minister.  In his charming household were Madame D’Oubril and her niece, Mademoiselle Antoinette Bollviller, and Prince Dolgorouki, a young attache of the legation.  His letters to Prince Dolgorouki and to Mademoiselle Antoinette give a most lively and entertaining picture of his residence and travels in Spain.  In one of them to the prince, who was temporarily absent from the city, we have glimpses of the happy hours, the happiest of all hours, passed in this refined family circle.  Here is one that exhibits the still fresh romance in the heart of forty-four years:—­

“Last evening, at your house, we had one of the most lovely tableaux I ever beheld.  It was the conception of Murillo, represented by Madame A——.  Mademoiselle Antoinette arranged the tableau with her usual good taste, and the effect was enchanting.  It was more like a vision of something spiritual and celestial than a representation of anything merely mortal; or rather it was woman as in my romantic days I have been apt to imagine her, approaching to the angelic nature.  I have frequently admired Madame A——­as a mere beautiful woman, when I have seen her dressed up in the fantastic attire of the mode; but here I beheld her elevated into a representative of the divine purity and grace, exceeding even the beau ideal of the painter, for she even surpassed in beauty the picture of Murillo.  I felt as if I could have knelt down and worshiped her.  Heavens! what power women would have over us, if they knew how to sustain the attractions which nature has bestowed upon them, and which we are so ready to assist by our imaginations!  For my part, I am superstitious in my admiration of them, and like to walk in a perpetual delusion, decking them out as divinities.  I thank no one to undeceive me, and to prove that they are mere mortals.”

And he continues in another strain:—­

How full of interest everything is connected with the old times in Spain!  I am more and more delighted with the old literature of the country, its chronicles, plays, and romances.  It has the wild vigor and luxuriance of the forests of my native country, which, however savage and entangled, are more captivating to my imagination than the finest parks and cultivated woodlands.