The National cyclopædia of American biography : being the history of the United States as illustrated in the lives of the founders, builders, and defenders of the republic, and of the men and women who are doing the work and moulding the thought of the present time, edited by distinguished biographers, selected from each state, revised and approved by the most eminent historians, scholars, and statesmen of the day . the sad blow of the loss of his betrothed,he returned to his work upon this book, and com ?pleted it for publication in 1809. It had an imme-diate and remarkable success, and at on
The National cyclopædia of American biography : being the history of the United States as illustrated in the lives of the founders, builders, and defenders of the republic, and of the men and women who are doing the work and moulding the thought of the present time, edited by distinguished biographers, selected from each state, revised and approved by the most eminent historians, scholars, and statesmen of the day . the sad blow of the loss of his betrothed,he returned to his work upon this book, and com ?pleted it for publication in 1809. It had an imme-diate and remarkable success, and at once placed himin rank with the best writers of his day. It is saidthat he received for it the sum of $3,000, which atthat time was considered a very large amount to ob-tain from a literary venture. After this he still in-terested himself to a certain limited degree in lawpractice, until 1810, when his brothers, Peter andEbenezer, having established a commercial businesswith a branch iu London, he obtained a one-fifthinterest in the house, and for several years was en-gaged in mercantile transactions, which returned tohim a fair income. During the next three or fouryears he wrote brief sketches and essays, some ofwhich appeared in the Analectic Magazine, pub-lished in Philadelphia. In 1815 he visited Europeagain, where he met the brilliant lights iu literatureand tlie drama, making the acquaintance of Camp-. bell, Disraeli, and Scott, and for the first time ex-periencing the joys of a literary reputation in a ^reatliterary centre. Mr. Irving remained abroad until1818, when the firm conducted by his brothers andhimself unfortunately went into bankruptcy. Hewas at once offered a position in the navy depart-ment in Washington, which, however, he declined,preferring to devote himself to authorship. He wasalready engaged on the Sketch Book, which ap-peared in numbers, and at once established itself inthe favor both of his American and his Englishreaders. In 1820 the completed book wa
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