Letter from Dimitri Ivanovich Dolgorouki (Dolgorukov), Madrid, to Washington Irving, 1829 July 31 : autograph manuscript signed.

Dolgorouki congratulates Irving on his being named Secretary of the American Legation in London and wishes him much success and happiness. Dolgorouki is happy that they'll both be diplomats now. (Alexander Hill) Everett is returning to the U.S. He's very happy with Irving's work (Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada) from the point of view of style but less enthusiastic about the way the work was conceived. Everett criticized Irving for ridiculing and exaggerating the religious ideas of the century. He feels that it is precisely this spirit of religious fanaticism that led men to undertake such grand and heroic enterprises. Fray Antonio Agapida should have spoken for himself with no interference from other people's opinions or prejudices about the conquest of Granada during the time when he lived. Dolgorouki finds Everett's criticism to be pedantic. Irving's Life of Columbus is being translated into Spanish. Dolgorouki thinks that Everett's personal secretary is going to translate the part about the war of Granada. Navarrete has left for the area around Madrid for a few weeks and is working on a work about the life of Admiral Santa-Cruz, in the time of Philip II.