Washington Irving was America’s first man of letters to be known internation

Washington Irving was America’s first man of letters to be known internationally. His works ware received enthusiastically both in England and in the United States. He was, in fact, one of the most successful writers of his time in either country, delighting a large general public and at the same time winning the admiration of fellow writers in the United States. The respect in which he was held was partly owing to the man himself, with his warm friendliness, his good sense, his gay spirits, his artistic integrity, his love of both the Old World and the New. One writer once described Irving as "a gentleman, who, though himself born in no very high sphere, was most finished, polished, witty; socially the equal of the most refined Europeans". In England he was granted an honorary degree from Oxford—an unusual honor for a citizen of a young, uncultured nation—and he received the medal of the Royal Society of Literature; America made him ambassador to Spain. Irving’s background provided little to explain his literary achievements. A gifted but deliberate child, he had little schooling. He studied law, but without warmth, and never did practise seriously. He was immune to his strict religious family environment, attending frequently both social gatherings and the theatre.