By a young Scotchman now no more.
_Boston, 1832_.
DEAR HENRY,--You have requested me to give you some information
concerning the science and literature of the United States, which have
been so often the subjects of ridicule and derision in the critical
reviews and other literary journals of our country. I take great
pleasure in complying with this request, as far as my limited
opportunities have enabled me to judge of their condition. I have read
almost every American work of any merit I could obtain, and mingled
with some of their men of science and letters, for the purpose of
being directed in my researches, and of acquiring from personal
observation, a better knowledge of their living authors.
In science, perhaps, for so young and growing a nation, its progress
has been as steady and rapid as could reasonably have been expected.
In the exact and physical sciences, there are some who, though they
have not greatly enlarged their circle, are nevertheless profoundly
versed in them, and who would not be ranked below the best in Europe.
In chemistry, mineralogy, and botany, several have acquired great
distinction, and these sciences are becoming daily more popular and
more generally cultivated. Many of the young of both sexes attend
occasional and regular lectures on each, but especially on the first
and last, and it is not rare to meet with females conversant to a
certain degree with both. In the northern cities, public lectures are
delivered on various branches of science, which are attended by both
sexes. There are at present several scientific journals published in
the United States, which are said to be pretty generally patronized,
and two or three scientific associations, whose transactions have been
given to the public. Of the former, the most meritorious
are--Silliman's Journal of Science, the Franklin Quarterly Journal,
Chapman's and some other medical journals, and two or three law
journals. Of the philosophical transactions I can say but little. I
have merely glanced over those of the American Philosophical Society,
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Literary and
Philosophical Society of New York, but that glance has not impressed
me very favorably with the genius or learning of their members. Some
few papers are indeed valuable, and exhibit considerable research and
erudition, but they appear to be deficient in originality, depth and
lucidness. I have, however, never been very partial to these
associations. The amount of their contributions to science or
literature has never been so great as to render their formation
desirable in my eye, and certainly they are not to be compared with
the individual labors of those great luminaries who have shed such
radiance over the paths of science. Scientific men here have published
from time to time the result of their labors in the different physical
sciences, to the cultivation of which they have devoted a large
portion of their lives. The botanical works of Bigelow, Nutall,
Barton, Eaton and Elliott, the works on American birds by Wilson,
Bonaparte and Audubon, that on mineralogy by Cleveland--on entomology
by Say, and on natural history by Goodman, are highly creditable to
the country in which they were produced. Law and medical lectures are
frequently published, and law reports are numerous. I believe every
State has its reporter, and every year brings forth a volume or two of
decisions. Jurisprudence appears to be in this country a more
complicated science than in Europe. The student has not only to make
himself acquainted with the elements and principles of English law,
maritime, civil and criminal, but he has to acquire a knowledge of the
laws of the particular state in which he practices, and to know what
the courts of the different states have decided, where he does not
practice. Law is a favorite science, if indeed it can be called a
science, among the Americans. There is scarcely a youth who has
received the most ordinary education, that does not undertake to study
and practice, or attempt to practice it. In a government of laws like
this, law will be a desirable object of attainment, and hence almost
every citizen is more or less conversant with the laws by which he is
governed. The medical science too, is very extensively cultivated, and
this profession has produced several distinguished men, of whom the
nation has reason to feel proud. But metaphysical science is almost
entirely neglected, which is a matter of surprise when we consider the
very inquisitive and refining character of the American mind. Men
here, however, have no time for mere abstract speculation; and though
many of them refine and subtilize, and split hairs on constitutional
questions, they are not very anxious to analyze or investigate mere
abstractions, or to attempt to elicit light from the darkness of
metaphysical obscurity.--One of the most extensively informed
scientific men this country has produced, was Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell
of New York, who died during the summer of 1831. He had devoted his
life to the cultivation of science, especially the physical sciences,
in all of which he was well skilled; but, in consequence of that
vanity which sometimes accompanies great attainments, he often became
an object of ridicule to his countrymen, who seemed more inclined to
depreciate than to exalt his real merits.
Of the literature of America you are almost as well informed as
myself. I have looked into most of the native productions of this
country with an impartial eye, and am sorry to say that its literature
does not rank so high as one might be led to suppose from the
intelligence of its people and the nature of its political
institutions. Literature does not receive that encouragement and
patronage under this Republic, which are calculated to give it a
vigorous growth or a permanent and healthy existence. There is not
much individual wealth, and few can afford, if they had the
inclination, to purchase the productions of native authors. There is,
however, another cause which operates to the disadvantage of American
literature, and will continue to do so, until some measure be adopted
to remedy the evil; it is the cheapness and facility with which the
productions of the British press can be republished is this country.
The American author has to struggle against many disadvantages,
especially when young, unknown and inexperienced. British works of
established reputation can be obtained at little or no expense, and
reprinted in this country, while the native writer is often obliged to
publish the productions of his mind at his own cost, or give them to
any one that will undertake to put them to the press. Few can afford
to write for mere fame, and no great inducement is offered to write
for any thing else. Hence there are but few, if any, professional
authors in the United States. For a long time too, the people of this
country were disposed to underrate their own literary powers, and many
believed that none but the works of the British press were worthy of
perusal or patronage. This prejudice is, however, now beginning to
wear away, especially since the critics of our country have been
forced to acknowledge the genius and literary excellence of some of
the native writers of America. But still when the extent, population,
age, and comparative refinement of the United States are considered,
it must be a matter of surprise that so few authors of distinction are
to be found within its widely extended limits. May not this very
extent be prejudicial to the cause of American letters? The expense of
transportation from one portion of the Union to the other is so
considerable, that the publisher finds it safer and more profitable to
confine his sales to a limited and convenient range, than to spread
his books over an almost boundless surface, from which but few
satisfactory returns are ever made. The Americans, though not a nation
of shop-keepers, as ours has been denominated, are nevertheless a
money making and thrifty people, and almost all are engaged in some
lucrative kind of business or occupation, which affords them but
little leisure for either literary pursuits, or the cultivation of a
taste for the fine arts; and though most of them are readers, their
reading is generally confined to newspapers, and the political
productions of the day. In the latter I do not think they have made
any very great progress since the period of the revolution. In force
and perspicuity of style, felicity of illustration and logical power,
the authors of the Federalist have not since been surpassed. This is a
work written in periodical numbers by Hamilton, Madison and Jay,
recommending and enforcing with great ability and eloquence, the
adoption of the constitution which now exists. It is a work which
every man should read who wishes to understand the principles of this
great charter of American liberty, and the motives, feelings and views
of its framers and supporters.
In the walks of romance the most distinguished writers of this country
are the late Charles B. Brown of Philadelphia, and J. Fenimore Cooper
of New York, both men of unquestionable genius. The novels or romances
of the former having been recently republished in England, you have no
doubt seen them, and those of the latter, but few who read at all have
not read. Miss Sedgewick has also written some popular novels and
ranks deservedly high among the few literati of her country; and Mr.
Paulding has lately published some tales which have been well received
and possess a good deal of merit. I can scarcely class Washington
Irving among the romance writers of this country. Most of his tales
were written abroad, and I do not think that novel writing is his
forte. He has excelled in the other walks of literature so greatly
that he need not covet the fame of a writer of fictitious history.
Brown unfortunately belonged to the _satanic_ school of our countryman
Godwin, and all his _dramatis personæ_, plots, incidents and pictures
partake of the gloom and ferocity of that school; but Brown was
unquestionably a man of genius, and capable of giving lustre to the
literary reputation of his country. Godwin was his model, as Scott
seems to be that of Cooper. Brown's picture of the yellow fever in
Philadelphia cannot be surpassed in accuracy of coloring and intensity
of interest, and it may very justly be classed with the description of
the plague at Athens by Thucydides, and that of the same terrible pest
at Florence by Boccacio. In detached scenes Brown is very powerful,
but he never appears inclined to complete what he begins, or to
present a perfect whole. He sometimes breaks off abruptly, or hastens
too precipitately to a close. He delights in gloom and the more
ferocious and uncontrollable workings of the human passions. His
object is to excite terror and not tenderness--to raise up storms and
tempests, and not to breathe over the scene a quietness and repose
calculated to soothe and tranquillize. His novels like those of his
model, are now but seldom read, and he is rapidly sinking into
oblivion.
The _dramatic_ romance of Scott and Cooper is now preferred to all
others, and has caused Brown's novels to be cast aside. Cooper's rise
to fame was as rapid as it was deserved. He had been for some years an
officer in the American Navy, where he acquired a knowledge of all the
minutiæ of nautical life, which was of great service to him in the
composition of some of his tales. These are justly considered as his
best. They display a perfect intimacy with sea life, and his
characters, incidents and sentiments are such as belong to the
"mountain wave," and are always in admirable keeping. His dialogues,
though sometimes tedious and unnecessarily prolonged are on the whole
dramatic, and serve not only to develope character but to excite the
interest of the reader. His descriptions, though at times graphic and
striking, are rather too minute for effect. The unities of time and
action are well preserved, and his plots, though very simple in their
construction, are usually wrought up with great power, and often
produce the most intense and thrilling interest. Of his female
characters, generally two in number, but little can be said; they are
Siamese twins, but with different dispositions and styles of beauty,
and play the respective parts assigned to them in the drama with
proper decency and effect. His sketches of American scenery and his
delineations of savage life and character are admirable. There is in
the former perhaps too much detail, and in the latter too high
coloring for nature; but they are unequalled, and display the vigor of
Cooper's genius and the strength of his conceptions. His style is
easy, perspicuous and fluent. In short, he is a writer of whom any
country might justly feel proud. Were I to attempt a parallel between
the American Novelist and the "Northern Magician," I should say that
Scott has more varied powers and a finer poetical mind, but in the
management of their plots, intensity of interest, and the description
of natural scenery, they are not very unequal. The Scotch romancer has
greater acquirements and a more minute and intimate acquaintance with
the history, manners and customs of past ages, but in all that
appertains to sea life Cooper is superior, and does not fall short of
his model in the ability with which he works up his incidents and
developes his plots. This, you will think, is saying a great deal for
a Scotchman, but such is my unbiassed opinion and the impression left
upon my mind, after a careful perusal of the productions of both of
these eminent writers of fictitious history.
For the Southern Literary Messenger.