Letter from Dimitri Ivanovich Dolgorouki (Dolgorukov), Constantinople [i.e. Istanbul], to Washington Irving, 1844 August 12 : autograph manuscript signed.

Apologizes for not having written for so long. He has been named ambassador to Constantinople. He has also married a poor woman, of low birth but of a noble and loyal character that makes up for it. He had a daughter with her who is now 12 years old. It has taken him many years to make up his mind to marry the mother and to tell anyone about it, but he's very happy. He has heard that Irving visited Barcelona and would like to know if it was for political reasons or because of a desire to visit the city archives, from which Dolgorouki once brought him the curious manuscript of Don Pedro el Ceremonioso (Peter IV of Aragon). Dolgorouki has heard that Irving is in Spain to write a general history of the Iberian Peninsula. He has found traces of Wilkie in Constantinople--a few sketches. In Constantinople, people talk about nothing but politics--not art or literature. He feels that the Ottoman Empire that is about to change completely. The Comte de Pourtalès will be arriving in a few days after a voyage of almost a year in Syria and Egypt.