1850-1851.
Cooper, at the time he published his last novel, was more than sixty
years of age; but as yet he showed no traces of physical or intellectual
decay. His literary activity remained unabated, though he was now
purposing to direct it to other fields than that of fiction. A decided
change was likewise taking place in the estimation in which he was held
by the public. He had not become popular, to be sure; but he had become
less unpopular. There was, moreover, a feeling pretty generally
prevalent that he had been hardly used; that in many respects he had
been a wronged and persecuted man. The ranks of those who had remained
faithful to him during all these years of obloquy were beginning to be
largely swelled from the newer generation which had neither part in, nor
knowledge of, the bitter controversies in which he had been concerned.
His friends were purposing to give a public dinner in his honor in order
to show their regard for him as a man, and their appreciation of the
credit his writings had brought to his country. Before this project
could be carried into effect, the illness had overtaken him which ended
in death.
On the other hand time had, in some respect, mollified his own feelings.
Many things had occurred to make him more gentle and forbearing. Much of
this was certainly due to the increasing strength of his (p. 266)
religious convictions, which as has been noticed, steadily deepened
during his last years. It is clear from much that appears in his later
novels that these had, to some extent, been perverted from their
legitimate effect, and had made him at intervals illiberal and even
bitter. But they had brought calm to an excitable nature, and healing to
a spirit which had been sometimes sorely wounded. In 1851 he carried out
a plan long before determined upon. In March of that year he became a
communicant in the Episcopal church, and in the following July was
confirmed by his brother-in-law, Bishop DeLancey.
In the summer of 1850 he was in New York city. "At this time," says
Bryant, "his personal appearance was remarkable. He seemed in perfect
health, and in the highest energy and activity of his faculties. I have
scarcely seen any man at that period of life on whom his years sat more
lightly." But even then the disease which was to destroy him was lurking
in his system. In the beginning of April, 1851, he came again to New
York partly for medical advice, and his changed appearance struck all
his friends with surprise and sorrow. The digestive organs were
impaired, the liver was torpid, and a general feebleness had taken the
place of the vigor for which he had previously been distinguished.
He remained several weeks in the city and then returned to Cooperstown.
That place he never left again. The disease made rapid advances, and at
last became a confirmed dropsy. In the latter part of August his old and
intimate friend, Dr. Francis, of New York, went up to Cooper's country
home to make a full examination of his condition. He found him worse, if
anything, than he expected. There was, in fact, little hope of (p. 267)
recovery. The physician told him frankly of the danger he was in, and of
the possibilities of restoration to health that still existed. Though
his own perception of his condition was too clear to make the
announcement a shock, it could not have been other than a
disappointment. He had many projects still unfulfilled. Plans of new
works were in his mind; and one of them on the "Towns of Manhattan,"
partly written, was at that very time in press. But he met the news as
bravely as he had the various troubles of his eventful life. After Dr.
Francis' departure the malady steadily increased, and it soon became
evident that expectation of recovery must be given up. During all these
days he was quiet and cheerful, and his last hours were full of peace
and hope. On Sunday, the 14th of September, 1851, at half-past one in
the afternoon, he died. Had he lived one day longer he would have been
sixty-two years old. In a little more than four months his wife followed
him to the grave. They lie side by side in the grounds of Christ's
Church at Cooperstown.
His property was found, at his death, to be much impaired in value.
Enough was left to insure the family a competency, but it became
necessary to give up the mansion where so many years of his life had
been passed. The dwelling went, accordingly, into other hands, and it
was not a long while after that it burned down. Part of the grounds have
since become public property, and that which is not so employed is
little better than a waste.
The death of men of letters did not excite at that time the attention
which interest or fashion pays to it now. Cooper's relations, too, with
many, had been of so strained a nature that it was hardly to be (p. 268)
expected that his loss should arouse universal regret. Yet it was
felt on all hands that a great man had fallen. On the 25th of September,
a few days after his death, a meeting was held in the City Hall, New
York, with the intent to make a suitable demonstration of respect to his
memory. Washington Irving presided, and a committee of prominent men of
letters was appointed to carry into effect the measures for which the
gathering had been called. A discourse on the life, genius, and writings
of the dead author was fixed upon to be given by his intimate friend,
William Cullen Bryant. On the 25th of February, 1852, this address was
delivered at Metropolitan Hall before the most cultivated audience the
city could boast. With a singular ineptitude, not generally appreciated
at the time, Daniel Webster was selected to preside. He had nothing to
say, and he said it wretchedly. It was doubtful if he had ever read a
single work of the novelist. That, at least, is a natural inference from
his speech, which, furthermore, is little else than a collection of
dreary platitudes. It was after this fashion that he paid his respects
to the man whose memory they had come together to honor. "As far as I am
acquainted," he remarked, "with the writings of Mr. Cooper, they uphold
good sentiments, sustain good morals, and maintain just taste; and after
saying this I have next to add, that all his writings are truly
patriotic and American throughout and throughout." This did not even
reach the respectability of commonplace, and the commonplaces to which
Webster soared in other parts of his speech did not have the poor merit
of being sonorous. Still he looked so majestic and imposing that most of
his audience were profoundly impressed by the justness and value (p. 269)
of his observations. Any failure, however, on his part in the matter of
what he said, was more than made up by the address delivered by Byrant.
It is not very long; it contains a few errors of fact, especially in the
dates; but it is not only the most eloquent tribute that has been paid
to the dead author, it has also remained during all these years the
fullest account of the life he lived, and the work he did.
* * * * *
More than sixty years have gone by since Cooper began to write; more
than thirty since he ceased to live. If his reputation has not
advanced during the period that has passed since his death, it has
certainly not receded. Nor does it seem likely to undergo much change
in the future. The world has pretty well made up its mind as to the
value of his work. The estimate in which it is held will not be
materially raised or lowered by anything which criticism can now
utter. This will itself be criticised for being too obvious; for it
can do little but repeat, with variation of phrase, what has been
constantly said and often better said before. There is, however, now a
chance of its meeting with fairer consideration. The cloud of
depreciation which seems to settle upon the achievement of every man
of letters soon after death, it was Cooper's fortune to encounter
during life. This was partly due to the literary reaction which had
taken place against the form of fiction he adopted, but far more to
the personal animosities he aroused. We are now far enough removed
from the prejudices and passions of his time to take an impartial view
of the man, and to state, without bias for or against him, the
conclusions to which the world has very generally come as to his
merits and defects as a writer.
At the outset it is to be said that Cooper is one of the people's (p. 270)
novelists as opposed to the novelists of highly-cultivated men. This
does not imply that he has not been, and is not still, a favorite with
many of the latter. The names of those, indeed, who have expressed
excessive admiration for his writings far surpass in reputation and even
critical ability those who have spoken of him depreciatingly. Still the
general statement is true that it is with the masses he has found favor
chiefly. The sale of his works has known no abatement since his death.
It goes on constantly to an extent that will surprise any one who has
not made an examination of this particular point. His tales continue to
be read or rather devoured by the uncultivated many. They are often
contemptuously criticised by the cultivated few, who sometimes affect to
look upon any admiration they may have once had for them as belonging
exclusively to the undisciplined taste of childhood.
This state of things may be thought decisive against the permanent
reputation of the novelist. The opinion of the cultivated few, it is
said, must prevail over that of the uncultivated many. True as this is
in certain cases, it is just as untrue in others. It is, in fact, often
absurdly false when the general reading public represents the
uncultivated many. On matters which come legitimately within the scope
of their judgment the verdict of the great mass of men is infinitely
more trustworthy than that of any small body of men, no matter how
cultivated. Of plenty of that narrow judgment of select circles which
mistakes the cackle of its little coterie for the voice of the world,
Cooper was made the subject, and sometimes the victim, during his
lifetime. There were any number of writers, now never heard of, who
were going to outlive him, according to literary prophecies then (p. 271)
current, which had everything oracular in their utterance except
ambiguity. Especially is this true of the notices of his stories of the
sea. As I have turned over the pages of defunct criticism, I have come
across the names of several authors whose tales descriptive of ocean
life were, according to many contemporary estimates, immensely superior
to anything of the kind Cooper had produced or could produce. Some of
these writers enjoyed for a time high reputation. Most of them are now
as utterly forgotten as the men who celebrated their praises.
But however unfair as a whole may be the estimate of cultivated men in
any particular case, their adverse opinion is pretty certain to have a
foundation of justice in its details. This is unquestionably true in the
present instance. Characteristics there are of Cooper's writings which
would and do repel many. Defects exist both in manner and matter. Part
of the unfavorable judgment he has received is due to the prevalence of
minor faults, disagreeable rather than positively bad. These, in many
cases, sprang from the quantity of what he did and the rapidity with
which he did it. The amount that Cooper wrote is something that in
fairness must always be taken into consideration. He who has crowded
into a single volume the experience of a life must concede that he
stands at great advantage as regards matters of detail, and especially
as regards perfection of form, with him who has manifested incessant
literary activity in countless ways. It was the immense quantity that
Cooper wrote and the haste and inevitable carelessness which wait upon
great production, that are responsible for many of his minor faults.
Incongruities in the conception of his tales, as well as in their (p. 272)
execution, often make their appearance. Singular blunders can be found
which escaped even his own notice in the final revision he gave his works.
In "Mercedes of Castile," for instance, the heroine presents her lover
on his outward passage with a cross framed of sapphire stones. These,
she tells him, are emblems of fidelity. When she comes to inquire about
them after his return she speaks of them as turquoise. Again, in "The
Deerslayer" three castles of a curious set of chessmen are given in one
part of the story to the Indians. Later on, two other castles of the
same set make their appearance. This is a singular mistake for Cooper to
overlook, for chess was a game of which he was very fond.
In the matter of language this rapidity and carelessness often
degenerated into downright slovenliness. It was bad enough to resort to
the same expedients and to repeat the same scenes. Still from this
charge few prolific novelists can be freed. But in Cooper there were
often words and phrases which he worked to death. In "The Wept of
Wish-ton-Wish" there is so perpetual a reference to the quiet way in
which the younger Heathcote talks and acts that it has finally anything
but a quieting effect upon the reader's feelings. In "The Headsman of
Berne," "warm" in the sense of "well-to-do," a disagreeable usage at
best, occurs again and again, until the feeling of disagreeableness it
inspires at first becomes at last positive disgust. This trick of
repetition reaches the climax of meaninglessness in "The Ways of the
Hour." During the trial scene the judge repeats on every pretext and as
a part of almost every speech, the sentence "time is precious;" and it
is about the only point on which he is represented as taking a clear and
decided stand.
There were other faults in the matter of language that to some (p. 273)
will seem far worse. I confess to feeling little admiration for that
grammar-school training which consists in teaching the pupil how much
more he knows about our tongue than the great masters who have moulded
it; which practically sets up the claim that the only men who are able
to write English properly are the men who have never shown any capacity
to write it at all; and which seeks, in a feeble way, to cramp usage by
setting up distinctions that never existed, and laying down rules which
it requires uncommon ignorance of the language to make or to heed. Still
there are lengths to which the most strenuous stickler for freedom of
speech does not venture to go. There are prejudices in favor of the
exclusive legitimacy of certain constructions that he feels bound to
respect. He recognizes, as a general rule, for instance, that when the
subject is in the singular it is desirable that the verb should be in
the same number. For conventionalities of syntax of this kind Cooper was
very apt to exhibit disregard, not to say disdain. He too often passed
the bounds that divide liberty from license. It scarcely needs to be
asserted that in most of these cases the violation of idiom arose from
haste or carelessness. But there were some blunders which can only be
imputed to pure unadulterated ignorance. He occasionally used words in
senses unknown to past or present use. He sometimes employed grammatical
forms that belong to no period in the history of the English language. A
curious illustration of a word combining in itself both these errors is
_wists_, a verb, in the third person, singular. If this be anything it
should be _wist_, the preterite of _wot_, and should have accordingly
the meaning "knew." Cooper uses it in fact as a present with the (p. 274)
sense of "wishes." Far worse than occasional errors in the use of words
are errors of construction. His sentences are sometimes involved in the
most hopeless way, and the efforts of grammar to untie the knot by any
means known to it serve only to make conspicuous its own helplessness.
All this is, in itself, of slight importance when set off against
positive merits. But it is constantly forced upon the reader's attention
by the fact that Cooper himself was exceedingly critical on points of
speech. He was perpetually going out of his way to impart bits of
information about words and their uses, and it is rare that he blunders
into correct statement or right inference. He often, indeed, in these
matters carried ignorance of what he was talking about, and confidence
in his own knowledge of it to the extremest verge of the possible. He
sometimes mistook dialectic or antiquated English for classical, and
laboriously corrected the latter by putting the former in parentheses by
its side. In orthography and pronunciation he had never got beyond that
puerile conception which fancies it a most creditable feature in a word
that its sound shall not be suggested by anything in its spelling. In
the case of proper names this was more than creditable; it was
aristocratic. So in "The Crater" great care is taken to tell us that the
hero's name, though written Woolston, was pronounced Wooster; and that
he so continued to sound it in spite of a miserable Yankee pedagogue who
tried hard to persuade him to follow the spelling. So, again, in "The
Ways of the Hour" we are sedulously informed that Wilmeter is to be
pronounced Wilmington. But absurdities like these belonged not so much
to Cooper as to the good old times of gentlemanly ignorance in (p. 275)
which he lived. In his etymological vagaries, however, he sometimes left
his age far behind. In "The Oak Openings" he enters upon the discussion
of the word "shanty." He finds the best explanation of its origin is to
suppose it a corruption of _chiènté_, a word which he again supposed
might exist in Canadian French, and provided it existed there, he
further supposed that in that dialect it might mean "dog-kennel." The
student of language, much hardened to this sort of work on the part of
men of letters, can read with resignation "this plausible derivation,"
as it is styled. Cooper, however, not content with the simple glory of
originating it, actually uses throughout the whole work _chiènté_
instead of "shanty." This rivals, if it does not outdo, the linguistic
excesses of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
There are imperfections far more serious than these mistakes in
language. He rarely attained to beauty of style. The rapidity with which
he wrote forbids the idea that he ever strove earnestly for it. Even the
essential but minor grace of clearness is sometimes denied him. He had
not, in truth, the instincts of the born literary artist. Satisfied with
producing the main effect, he was apt to be careless in the consistent
working out of details. Plot, in any genuine sense of the word "plot,"
is to be found in very few of his stories. He seems rarely to have
planned all the events beforehand; or, if he did, anything was likely to
divert him from his original intention. The incidents often appear to
have been suggested as the tale was in process of composition. Hence the
constant presence of incongruities with the frequent result of bringing
about a bungling and incomplete development. The introduction of certain
characters is sometimes so heralded as to lead us to expect from (p. 276)
them far more than they actually perform. Thus, in "The Two Admirals,"
Mr. Thomas Wychecombe is brought in with a fullness of description that
justifies the reader in entertaining a rational expectation of finding
in him a satisfactory scoundrel, capable, desperate, full of resources,
needing the highest display of energy and ability to be overcome. This
reasonable anticipation is disappointed. At the very moment when
respectable determined villainy is in request, he fades away into a
poltroon of the most insignificant type who is not able to hold his own
against an ordinary house-steward.
The prolixity of Cooper's introductions is a fault so obvious to every
one that it needs here reference merely and not discussion. A similar
remark may be made as to his moralizing, which was apt to be cheap and
commonplace. He was much disposed to waste his own time and to exhaust
the patience of his reader by establishing with great fullness of
demonstration and great positiveness of assertion the truth of
principles which most of the human race are humbly content to regard as
axioms. A greater because even a more constantly recurring fault is the
gross improbability to be found in the details of his stories. There is
too much fiction in his fiction. We are continually exasperated by the
inadequacy of the motive assigned; we are irritated by the unnatural if
not ridiculous conduct of the characters. These are perpetually doing
unreasonable things, or doing reasonable things at unsuitable times.
They take the very path that must lead them into the danger they are
seeking to shun. They engage in making love when they ought to be flying
for their lives. His heroes, in particular, exhibit a capacity for going
to sleep in critical situations, which may not transcend (p. 277)
extraordinary human experience, but does ordinary human belief. Nor is
improbability always confined to details. It pervades sometimes the
central idea of the story. In "The Bravo," for instance, the hero is the
most pious of sons, the most faithful of friends, the most devoted of
lovers. The part he has to play in the tale is to appear to be a
cutthroat of the worst type, without doing a single thing to merit his
reputation. It is asking too much of human credulity to believe that a
really good man could long sustain the character of a remorseless
desperado by merely making faces. This improbability, moreover, is most
marked in the tales which are designed to teach a lesson. A double
disadvantage is the result. The story is spoiled for the sake of the
moral; and the moral is lost by the grossly improbable nature of the
story. In the last novel Cooper wrote this is strikingly seen. He who
can credit the possibility of the events occurring that are told in "The
Ways of the Hour" must give up at the same time his belief in the maxim
that truth is stranger than fiction.
It has now become a conventional criticism of Cooper that his characters
are conventional. Such a charge can be admitted without seriously
disparaging the value of his work. In the kind of fiction to which his
writings belong, the persons are necessarily so subordinate to the
events that nearly all novelists of this class have been subjected to
this same criticism. So regularly is it made, indeed, that Scott when he
wrote a review of some of his own tales for the "Quarterly" felt obliged
to adopt it in speaking of himself. He describes his heroes as amiable,
insipid young men, the sort of pattern people that nobody cares a
farthing about. Untrue as this is of many of Scott's creations, (p. 278)
it is unquestionably true of the higher characters that Cooper
introduces. They are often described in the most laudatory terms; but it
is little they do that makes them worthy of the epithets with which they
are honored. Their talk is often of a kind not known to human society.
One peculiarity is especially noticeable. A stiffness, not to say an
appearance of affectation is often given to the conversation by the use
of _thou_ and _thee_. This was probably a survival in Cooper of the
Quakerism of his ancestors; for he sometimes used it in his private
letters. But since the action of his stories was in nearly all cases
laid in a period in which the second person singular had become obsolete
in ordinary speech, an unnatural character is given to the dialogue,
which removes it still farther from the language of real life.
His failure in characterization was undoubtedly greatest in the women he
drew. Cooper's ardent admirers have always resented this charge. Each
one of them points to some single heroine that fulfills the highest
requirements that criticism could demand. It seems to me that close
study of his writings must confirm the opinion generally entertained.
All his utterances show that the theoretical view he had of the rights,
the duties, and the abilities of women, were of the most narrow and
conventional type. Unhappily it was a limitation of his nature that he
could not invest with charm characters with whom he was not in moral and
intellectual sympathy. There was, in his eyes, but one praiseworthy type
of womanly excellence. It did not lie in his power to represent any
other; on one occasion he unconsciously satirized his inability even to
conceive of any other. In "Mercedes of Castile" the heroine is (p. 279)
thus described by her aunt: "Her very nature," she says, "is made up of
religion and female decorum." It is evident that the author fancied that
in this commendation he was exhausting praise. These are the sentiments
of a man with whom devoutness and deportment have become the culminating
conception of the possibilities that lie in the female character. His
heroines naturally conformed to his belief. They are usually spoken of
as spotless beings. They are made up of retiring sweetness, artlessness,
and simplicity. They are timid, shrinking, helpless. They shudder with
terror on any decent pretext. But if they fail in higher qualities, they
embody in themselves all conceivable combinations of the proprieties and
minor morals. They always give utterance to the most unexceptionable
sentiments. They always do the extremely correct thing. The dead
perfection of their virtues has not the alloy of a single redeeming
fault. The reader naturally wearies of these uninterestingly discreet
and admirable creatures in fiction as he would in real life. He feels
that they would be a good deal more attractive if they were a good deal
less angelic. With all their faultlessness, moreover, they do not attain
an ideal which is constantly realized by their living, but faulty sisters.
They do not show the faith, the devotion, the self-forgetfulness, and
self-sacrifice which women exhibit daily without being conscious that
they have done anything especially creditable. They experience, so far
as their own words and acts furnish evidence of their feelings, a sort
of lukewarm emotion which they dignify with the name of love. But they
not merely suspect without the slightest provocation, they give up the
men to whom they have pledged the devotion of their lives, for reasons
for which no one would think of abandoning an ordinary (p. 280)
acquaintance. In "The Spy" the heroine distrusts her lover's integrity
because another woman does not conceal her fondness for him. In "The
Heidenmauer" one of the female characters resigns the man she loves
because on one occasion, when heated by wine and maddened by passion, he
had done violence to the sacred elements. There was never a woman in
real life, whose heart and brain were sound, that conformed her conduct
to a model so contemptible. It is just to say of Cooper that as he
advanced in years he improved upon this feeble conception. The female
characters of his earlier tales are never able to do anything
successfully but to faint. In his later ones they are given more
strength of mind as well as nobility of character. But at best, the
height they reach is little loftier than that of the pattern woman of
the regular religious novel. The reader cannot help picturing for all of
them the same dreary and rather inane future. He is as sure, as if their
career had been actually unrolled before his eyes, of the part they will
perform in life. They will all become leading members of Dorcas
societies; they will find perpetual delight in carrying to the poor
bundles of tracts and packages of tea; they will scour the highways and
by-ways for dirty, ragged, hatless, shoeless, and godless children, whom
they will hale into the Sunday-school; they will shine with unsurpassed
skill in the manufacture of slippers for the rector; they will exhibit a
fiery enthusiasm in the decoration and adornment of the church at
Christmas and Easter festivals. Far be the thought that would deny
praise to the mild raptures and delicate aspirations of gentle natures
such as Cooper drew. But in novels, at least, one longs for a (p. 281)
ruddier life than flows in the veins of these pale, bleached-out
personifications of the proprieties. Women like them may be far more
useful members of society than the stormier characters of fiction that
are dear to the carnal-minded. They may very possibly be far more
agreeable to live with; but they are not usually the women for whom men
are willing or anxious to die.
These are imperfections that have led to the undue depreciation of
Cooper among many highly cultivated men. Taken by themselves they might
seem enough to ruin his reputation beyond redemption. It is a proof of
his real greatness that he triumphs over defects which would utterly
destroy the fame of a writer of inferior power. It is with novels as
with men. There are those with great faults which please us and impress
us far more than those in which the component parts are better balanced.
Whatever its other demerits, Cooper's best work never sins against the
first law of fictitious composition, that the story shall be full of
sustained interest. It has power, and power always fascinates, even
though accompanied with much that would naturally excite repulsion or
dislike. Moreover, poorly as he sometimes told his story, he had a story
to tell. The permanence and universality of his reputation are largely
due to this fact. In many modern creations full of subtle charm and
beauty, the narrative, the material framework of the fiction, has been
made so subordinate to the delineation of character and motive, that the
reader ceases to feel much interest in what men do in the study which is
furnished him of why they do it. In this highly-rarefied air of
philosophic analysis, incident and event wither and die. Work of this
kind is apt to have within its sphere an unbounded popularity; but its
sphere is limited, and can never include a tithe of that vast (p. 282)
public for which Cooper wrote and which has always cherished and kept
alive his memory, while that of men of perhaps far finer mould has quite
faded away.
It is only fair, also, to judge him by his successes and not by his
failures; by the work he did best, and not by what he did moderately
well. His strength lies in the description of scenes, in the narration
of events. In the best of these he has had no superior, and very few
equals. The reader will look in vain for the revelation of sentiment, or
for the exhibition of passion. The love-story is rarely well done; but
the love-story plays a subordinate part in the composition. The moment
his imagination is set on fire with the conception of adventure,
vividness and power come unbidden to his pen. The pictures he then draws
are as real to the mind as if they were actually seen by the eye. It is
doubtless due to the fact that these fits of inspiration came to him
only in certain kinds of composition, that the excellence of many of his
stories lies largely in detached scenes. Still his best works are a
moving panorama, in which the mind is no sooner sated with one picture
than its place is taken by another equally fitted to fix the attention
and to stir the heart. The genuineness of his power, in such cases, is
shown by the perfect simplicity of the agencies employed. There is no
pomp of words; there is an entire lack of even the attempt at
meretricious adornment; there is not the slightest appearance of effort
to impress the reader. In his portrayal of these scenes Cooper is like
nature, in that lie accomplishes his greatest effects with the fewest
means. If, as we are sometimes told, these things are easily done, the
pertinent question always remains, why are they not done.
Moreover, while in his higher characters he has almost (p. 283)
absolutely failed, he has succeeded in drawing a whole group of
strongly-marked lower ones. Birch, in "The Spy," Long Tom Coffin and
Boltrope in "The Pilot," the squatter in "The Prairie," Cap in "The
Pathfinder," and several others there are, any one of which would be
enough of itself to furnish a respectable reputation to many a novelist
who fancies himself far superior to Cooper as a delineator of character.
He had neither the skill nor power to draw the varied figures with which
Scott, with all the reckless prodigality of genius, crowded his canvas.
Yet in the gorgeous gallery of the great master of romantic fiction,
alive with men and women of every rank in life and of every variety of
nature, there is, perhaps, no one person who so profoundly impresses the
imagination as Cooper's crowning creation, the man of the forests. It is
not that Scott could not have done what his follower did, had he so
chosen; only that as a matter of fact he did not. Leather-Stocking is
one of the few original characters, perhaps the only great original
character, that American fiction has added to the literature of the
world.
The more uniform excellence of Cooper, however, lies in the pictures he
gives of the life of nature. Forest, ocean, and stream are the things
for which he really cares; and men and women are the accessories,
inconvenient and often uncomfortable, that must be endured. Of the
former he speaks with a loving particularity that lets nothing escape
the attention. Yet minute as are often his descriptions, he did not fall
into that too easily besetting sin of the novelist, of overloading his
picture with details. To advance the greater he sacrificed the less.
Cooper looked at nature with the eye of a painter and not of a (p. 284)
photographer. He fills the imagination even more than he does the sight.
Hence the permanence of the impression which he leaves upon the mind.
His descriptions, too, produce a greater effect at the time and cling
longer to the memory because they fall naturally into the narrative, and
form a real part in the development of the story; they are not merely
dragged in to let the reader know what the writer can do. "If Cooper,"
said Balzac, "had succeeded in the painting of character to the same
extent that he did in the painting of the phenomena of nature, he would
have uttered the last word of our art." This author I have quoted
several times, because far better even than George Sand, or indeed any
who have criticised the American novelist, he seems to me to have seen
clearly wherein the latter succeeded and wherein he failed.
To this it is just to add one word which Cooper himself would have
regarded as the highest tribute that could be paid to what he did.
Whatever else we may say of his writings, their influence is always a
healthy influence. Narrow and prejudiced he sometimes was in his
opinions; but he hated whatever was mean and low in character. It is
with beautiful things and with noble things that he teaches us to
sympathize. Here are no incitements to passion, no prurient suggestions
of sensual delights. The air which breathes through all his fictions is
as pure as that which sweeps the streets of his mountain home. It is as
healthy as nature itself. To read one of his best works after many of
the novels of the day, is like passing from the heated and stifling
atmosphere of crowded rooms to the purity, the freedom, and the
boundlessness of the forest.
In these foregoing pages I have attempted to portray an author (p. 285)
who was something more than an author, who in any community would have
been a marked man had he never written a word. I have not sought to hide
his foibles and his faults, his intolerance and his dogmatism, the
irascibility of his temperament, the pugnacity of his nature, the
illiberality and injustice of many of his opinions, the unreasonableness
as well as the imprudence of the course he often pursued. To his friends
and admirers these points will seem to have been insisted upon too
strongly. Their feelings may, to a certain extent, be just. Cooper is,
indeed, a striking instance of how much more a man loses in the
estimation of the world by the exhibition of foibles, than he will by
that of vices. In this work one side of the life he lived--the side he
presented to the public--is the only one that, owing to circumstances,
could be depicted. It does not present the most attractive features of
his character. That exclusiveness of temperament which made him
misjudged by the many, endeared him only the more to the few who were in
a position to see how different he was from what he seemed. In nothing
is the essential sweetness of Cooper's nature more clearly shown than in
the intense affection he inspired in the immediate circle which
surrounded him or that was dependent upon him. He could not fail to feel
keenly at times how utterly his character and motives were
misapprehended and belied. "As for myself," says the hero of "Miles
Wallingford," "I can safely say that in scarce a circumstance of my
life, that has brought me the least under the cognizance of the public,
have I ever been judged justly. In various instances have I been praised
for acts that were either totally without any merit, or at least the
particular merit imputed to them; while I have been even (p. 286)
persecuted for deeds that deserved praise."
His faults, in fact, were faults of temper rather than of character.
Like the defects of his writings, too, they lay upon the surface, and
were seen and read of all men. But granting everything that can be urged
against him, impartial consideration must award him an ample excess of
the higher virtues. His failings were the failings of a man who
possessed in the fullest measure vigor of mind, intensity of conviction,
and capability of passion. Disagree with him one could hardly help; one
could never fail to respect him. Many of the common charges against him
are due to pure ignorance. Of these, perhaps, the most common and the
most absolutely baseless is the one which imputes to him excessive
literary vanity. Pride, even up to the point of arrogance, he had; but
even this was only in a small degree connected with his reputation as an
author. In the nearly one hundred volumes he wrote, not a single line
can be found which implies that he had an undue opinion of his own
powers. On the contrary, there are many that would lead to the
conclusion that his appreciation of himself and of his achievement was
far lower than even the coldest estimate would form. The prevalent
misconception on this point was in part due to his excessive
sensitiveness to criticism and his resentment of it when hostile. It was
partly due, also, to a certain outspokenness of nature which led him to
talk of himself as freely as he would talk of a stranger. But his whole
conduct showed the falseness of any such impression. From all the petty
tricks to which literary vanity resorts, he was absolutely free. He
utterly disdained anything that savored of manoeuvring for reputation.
He indulged in no devices to revive the decaying attention of the (p. 287)
public. He sought no favors from those who were in a position to confer
the notoriety which so many mistake for fame. He went, in fact, to the
other extreme, and refused an aid that he might with perfect propriety
have received. In the early period of his literary career he wrote a
good deal for the "New York Patriot," a newspaper edited by his intimate
friend, Colonel Gardiner. He objected to the publication in it of a
favorable notice, which had been prepared of "The Pioneers," because by
the fact of being an occasional contributor he was indirectly connected
with the journal. Accordingly the criticism was not inserted. It would
not have been possible for him to offer to review his own works, as
Scott both offered to do and did of the "Tales of My Landlord," in the
"Quarterly." Nor would he have acceded to a request to furnish a review
of any production of his own, as Irving did, in the same periodical, of
his "Conquest of Granada." No publisher who knew him, even slightly,
would have ventured to make him a proposition of the kind. I am
expressing no opinion as to the propriety of these particular acts; only
that Cooper, constituted as he was, could not for a moment have
entertained the thought of doing them.
The fearlessness and the truthfulness of his nature are conspicuous in
almost every incident of his career. He fought for a principle as
desperately as other men fight for life. The storm of detraction through
which he went never once shook the almost haughty independence of his
conduct, or swerved him in the slightest from the course he had chosen.
The only thing to which he unquestioningly submitted was the truth. His
loyalty to that was of a kind almost Quixotic. He was in later (p. 288)
years dissatisfied with himself, because, in his novel of "The Pilot,"
he had put the character of Paul Jones too high. He thought that the
hero had been credited in that work with loftier motives than those by
which he was actually animated. Feelings such as these formed the
groundwork of his character, and made him intolerant of the devious ways
of many who were satisfied with conforming to a lower code of morality.
There was a royalty in his nature that disdained even the semblance of
deceit. With other authors one feels that the man is inferior to his
work. With him it is the very reverse. High qualities, such as these, so
different from the easy-going virtues of common men, are more than an
offset to infirmities of temper, to unfairness of judgment, or to
unwisdom of conduct. His life was the best answer to many of the charges
brought against his country and his countrymen; for whatever he may have
fancied, the hostility he encountered was due far less to the matter of
his criticisms than to their manner. Against the common cant, that in
republican governments the tyranny of public sentiment will always bring
conduct to the same monotonous level, and opinion to the same
subservient uniformity, Democracy can point to this dauntless son who
never flinched from any course because it brought odium, who never
flattered popular prejudices, and who never truckled to a popular cry.
America has had among her representatives of the irritable race of
writers many who have shown far more ability to get on pleasantly with
their fellows than Cooper. She has had several gifted with higher
spiritual insight than he, with broader and juster views of life, (p. 289)
with finer ideals of literary art, and, above all, with far greater
delicacy of taste. But she counts on the scanty roll of her men of
letters the name of no one who acted from purer patriotism or loftier
principle. She finds among them all no manlier nature, and no more
heroic soul.
APPENDIX. (p. 290)
PARTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COOPER'S WRITINGS.
The following list embraces the first editions of Cooper's works;
articles contributed to magazines; and two or three of the most
important communications sent to the newspapers. The titles of his
works, as published in England, were sometimes different from the titles
used in the United States; and whenever this is the case the former are
subjoined. It is also to be remarked that Cooper's works were sometimes
published earlier in Europe than they were in America; but the dates
given in this biography belong exclusively to the publication of his
works in this country. With the exception of No. 45 and of No. 67, all
his tales were originally published in two volumes in America; with the
exception of No. 45 they were originally published in three volumes in
England. First editions of many of his novels are now rarely to be found
in libraries; and the titles given have in several cases, in
consequence, been taken from contemporary book notices and not from
personal examination. The titles are given in the order of publication
of the writings.
1. Precaution; a Novel. 2 vols. New York: A. T. Goodrich & Co., 1820.
The English edition appeared in March, 1821.
2. The Spy; a Tale of the Neutral Ground. By the Author of Precaution.
2 vols. New York: Wiley & Halsted, 1821.
The English edition appeared in March, 1822.
3. The Pioneers; or the Sources of the Susquehanna. A Descriptive (p. 291)
Tale. By the Author of Precaution. 2 vols. New York: Charles Wiley,
1823.
The English edition appeared in March, 1823.
4. The Pilot; A Tale of the Sea. By the Author of The Pioneers, etc.
2 vols. New York: Charles Wiley, 1823.
The first edition bears the imprint of 1823, but was not actually
published until early in January, 1824.
5. Lionel Lincoln; or the Leaguer of Boston. By the Author of The
Pioneers, Pilot, etc. 2 vols. New York: Charles Wiley, 1825.
6. The Last of the Mohicans. A Narrative of 1757. By the Author of
The Pioneers. 2 vols. Philadelphia: H. C. Carey & I. Lea, 1826.
7. The Prairie; a Tale. By the Author of The Pioneers and The Last of
the Mohicans. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey, 1827.
8. The Red Rover; a Tale. By the Author of The Pilot, etc., etc.
2 vols. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey, 1828.
9. Notions of the Americans; Picked up by a Travelling Bachelor.
2 vols. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey, 1828.
10. The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish; a Tale. By the Author of The Pioneers,
Prairie, etc., etc. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey, 1829.
In England this was published under the title of "The Borderers;
or the Wept of Wish-ton-Wish." It has also been published with the
title of "The Heathcotes."
11. The Water-Witch; or the Skimmer of the Seas. A Tale. By the Author
of The Pilot, Red Rover, etc., etc., etc. 2 vols.
Philadelphia: Carey & Lea, 1830.
12. The Bravo; a Tale. By the Author of The Spy, The Red Rover, The
Water Witch, etc., etc., etc. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Carey & Lea, 1831.
13. Letter of J. Fenimore Cooper to Gen. Lafayette on the Expenditure
of the United States of America. 50 pp. (p. 292)
Paris: Baudry's Foreign Library, 1831.
14. The Heidenmauer; or the Benedictines. A Legend of the Rhine.
By the Author of The Prairie, Red Rover, Bravo, etc., etc. 2 vols.
Philadelphia: Carey & Lea, 1832.
15. Letter to the American Public.
Dated Vevay, Canton de Vaud, Oct. 1, 1832; first published in
Philadelphia National Gazette, Dec. 6. The subject is the
Expenses' Controversy. It occupies about two columns.
16. The Headsman; or the Abbaye des Vignerons. A Tale. By the Author of
The Bravo, etc., etc. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard,
1833.
17. A Letter to His Countrymen. By J. Fenimore-Cooper. 116 pp.
New York: John Wiley, 1834.
18. The Monikins; edited by the Author of The Spy. 2 vols.
Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1835.
19. Comparative Resources of the American Navy.
In Naval Magazine, vol. i, No. 1, January, 1836, pp. 19-33.
20. Hints on Manning the Navy, etc., etc.
In Naval Magazine, vol. i., No. 2, March, 1836, pp. 176-191.
This was published the following May in pamphlet form by the
"Committee of Publication for the Naval Magazine."
21. Sketches of Switzerland. By an American. 2 vols.
Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1836.
The English title was "Excursions in Switzerland."
22. Sketches of Switzerland. By an American. Part Second. 2 vols.
Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1836.
The English title was "A Residence in France; with an Excursion up
the Rhine, and a Second Visit to Switzerland."
23. Gleanings in Europe. By an American. 2 vols. Philadelphia:
Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1837.
This work is devoted to France. Its English title is (p. 293)
"Recollections of Europe."
24. Gleanings in Europe. England; by an American. 2 vols.
Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1837.
This was published in England under the title of "England; with
Sketches of Society in the Metropolis."
25. Letter to the Editors of the Knickerbocker. (On the relations
between himself and Sir Walter Scott, etc.)
In Knickerbocker Magazine, vol. xi., April, 1838, pp. 380-386.
26. Gleanings in Europe. Italy; by an American. 2 vols.
Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1838.
Published in England under the title of "Excursions in Italy."
27. The American Democrat; or Hints on the Social and Civic Relations
of the United States of America. By J. Fenimore Cooper. Pp. 192.
Cooperstown: H. & E. Phinney, 1838.
28. The Chronicles of Cooperstown. Pp. 100. Cooperstown: H. & E. Phinney,
1838.
Published anonymously. Republished at Albany in 1862 with additional
notes and details bringing the events down to that year. The
republication is entitled "A Condensed History of Cooperstown; with
a Biographical Sketch of J. Fenimore Cooper. By Rev. T. S. Livermore,
A. M." It is a volume of 276 pages, and contains Bryant's funeral
discourse on Cooper, with much other matter. The "Chronicles of
Cooperstown" extend from page 9 to page 86 inclusive.
29. Homeward Bound; or the Chase. A Tale of the Sea. By the Author of
The Pilot, The Spy, etc. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea &
Blanchard, 1838.
30. Review of the "Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
By J. G. Lockhart."
In Knickerbocker Magazine, October, 1838, vol. xii., pp.
349-366.
31. Home as Found. By the Author of Homeward Bound, The Pioneers, (p. 294)
etc., etc. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1838.
In England published under the title of "Eve Effingham; or Home."
32. The History of the Navy of the United States of America.
By J. Fenimore Cooper. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1839.
33. Letters in "Cooperstown Freeman's Journal," July 1st and July 8th,
1839.
A reply to the criticism upon his Naval History, or rather upon his
account of the battle of Lake Erie, which had appeared in the
New York Commercial Advertiser in June, 1839. The first letter
occupies two columns, the second more than three.
34. The Pathfinder; or the Inland Sea. By the Author of The Pioneers,
Last of the Mohicans, etc. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard,
1840.
35. Mercedes of Castile; or the Voyage to Cathay. By the Author of The
Bravo, The Last of the Mohicans, etc. 2 vols.
Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1840.
The English title was "Mercedes of Castile. A Romance of the
Days of Columbus."
36. History of the Navy of the United States of America. Abridged in
one volume. Pp. 447. Philadelphia: Thomas Cowperthwait & Co., 1841.
37. The Deerslayer; or the First War Path. A Tale. By the Author of The
Last of the Mohicans, The Pioneers, etc. 2 vols.
Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1841.
38. "Home as Found. Lost Chapter." Preceded by a "Preface," and a
"Letter to the Editor." In the "Brother Jonathan" newspaper of
January 1, 1842.--Followed by a Letter to the Editor, from Cooper,
on "The Effingham Matter," in same paper for February 12, 1842,
and by two articles on "The Effingham Controversy," in the numbers
for March 26, 1842, and April 9, 1842.
39. The Two Admirals; a Tale. By the Author of The Pilot, Red (p. 295)
Rover, Water Witch, Homeward Bound, etc., etc. 2 vols.
Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1842.
40. Edinburgh Review on James' Naval Occurrences and Cooper's Naval
History.
In the United States Magazine and Democratic Review, vol. x.,
for May and June, 1842. First article, pp. 409-435; second
article, pp. 515-541.
41. Richard Somers.
In Graham's Magazine for October, 1842.
42. William Bainbridge.
In Graham's Magazine for November, 1842.
43. The Wing-and-Wing; or Le Feu-Follet. A Tale. By the Author of
The Pilot, Red Rover, Two Admirals, Homeward Bound, etc., etc.
2 vols. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1842.
In England this was published under the title "The Jack
o' Lantern (Le Feu-Follet); or the Privateer."
44. Richard Dale.
In Graham's Magazine for December, 1842.
45. Autobiography of a Pocket Handkerchief.
In Graham's Magazine for January, February, March, and April, 1843.
It came out in March among the publications of the "Brother
Jonathan" newspaper office, and was then entitled "Le Mouchoir;
an Autobiographical Romance." The English title was "The French
Governess; or the Embroidered Handkerchief."
46. Oliver Hazard Perry.
In Graham's Magazine for May and June, 1843.
47. John Paul Jones.
In Graham's Magazine for July and August, 1843.
48. The Battle of Lake Erie; or Answers to Messrs. Burges, Duer, and
Mackenzie. By J. Fenimore Cooper. Pp. 118. Cooperstown: H. & E.
Phinney, 1843.
49. Wyandotte; or the Hutted Knoll. A Tale. By the Author of The
Pathfinder, Deerslayer, Last of the Mohicans, Pioneers, (p. 296)
Prairie, etc., etc. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1843.
50. Ned Myers; or a Life before the Mast. Edited by J. Fenimore Cooper.
Pp. 232. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1843.
51. John Shaw.
In Graham's Magazine for March, 1844.
52. John Barry.
In Graham's Magazine for June, 1844.
53. Afloat and Ashore; or the Adventures of Miles Wallingford. By the
Author of The Pilot, Red Rover, The Two Admirals, etc. 2 vols.
Philadelphia: Published by the Author, 1844.
54. Proceedings of the Naval Court Martial in the Case of Alexander
Slidell Mackenzie, a Commander in the Navy of the United States,
etc., including the Charges and Specifications of Charges, preferred
against him by the Secretary of the Navy. To which is annexed an
Elaborate Review. By James Fennimore Cooper. Pp. 344. New York:
Henry G. Langley, 1844. (Cooper's review extends from page 263 to
page 344 inclusive. The spelling of the name was due to the
publisher.)
55. Afloat and Ashore; or the Adventures of Miles Wallingford. By the
Author of The Pilot, Red Rover, etc. Vols. 3 & 4. Published for the
Author. New York: Burgess, Stringer & Co., 1844.
This second series of Afloat and Ashore goes in this country under
the name of "Miles Wallingford." In England it was published as
"Lucy Hardinge."
56. John Templer Shubrick.
In Graham's Magazine for December, 1844.
57. Melancthon Taylor Woolsey.
In Graham's Magazine for January, 1845.
58. Edward Preble.
In Graham's Magazine for May and June, 1845.
59. Satanstoe; or the Littlepage Manuscripts. A Tale of the (p. 297)
Colony. 2 vols. New York: Burgess, Stringer & Co., 1845.
60. The Chainbearer; or the Littlepage Manuscripts. Edited by the Author
of Satanstoe, Spy, Pathfinder, Two Admirals, etc. 2 vols.
New York: Burgess, Stringer & Co, 1846.
61. Lives of Distinguished American Naval Officers. By J. Fenimore Cooper.
Author of The Spy, The Pilot, etc. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Carey & Hart,
1846. Also, 2 vols. Auburn: Derby & Jackson, 1846.
Volume I. contains, in the following order: Bainbridge (No. 42),
Somers (No. 41), Shaw (No. 51), Shubrick (No. 56), Preble (No. 58).
Volume II. contains: Jones (No. 47), Woolsey (No. 57), Perry
(No. 46), and Dale (No. 44); Barry (No. 52) was not included.
62. The Redskins; or Indian and Injin. Being the conclusion of the
Littlepage Manuscripts. By the Author of The Pathfinder, Deerslayer,
Two Admirals, etc. 2 vols. New York: Burgess & Stringer, 1846.
In England the title of this work was "Ravensnest; or the Redskins."
63. The Islets of the Gulf; or Rose Budd.
Begun in Graham's Magazine for November, 1846, and continued through
every succeeding number until March, 1848, in which month it was
concluded. It was published in book form March 21, 1848, by Burgess,
Stringer & Co., as "Jack Tier; or the Florida Reefs." In England
the title was "Captain Spike; or the Islets of the Gulf."
64. The Crater; or Vulcan's Peak. A Tale of the Pacific. By the Author
of Miles Wallingford, The Red Rover, The Pilot, etc., etc. 2 vols.
New York: Burgess, Stringer & Co., 1847.
The English title was "Mark's Reef; or the Crater." Jack Tier; or
the Florida Reefs, 1848. See No. 63.
65. The Oak Openings; or the Bee Hunter. By the Author of The (p. 298)
Pioneers, Last of the Mohicans, Pathfinder, Deerslayer, etc., etc.
2 vols. New York: Burgess, Stringer & Co., 1848.
The English title was "The Bee Hunter; or the Oak Openings."
66. The Sea Lions; or the Lost Sealers. By the Author of The Crater, etc.
2 vols. New York: Stringer & Townsend, 1849.
67. The Ways of the Hour; a Tale. By the Author of The Spy, The Red Rover,
etc., etc. 1 vol. New York: G. P. Putnam, 1850.
POSTHUMOUS PUBLICATIONS.
68. Old Ironsides.
In Putnam's Magazine, vol. i., No. v., May, 1853, pp. 473-487; and
in No. vi., June, 1853, pp. 593-607.
This is a history of the United States frigate Constitution.
69. Fragments from a Diary of James Fenimore Cooper.
In Putnam's Magazine, new series, vol. i., February, 1868, pp.
167-172; and June, 1868, pp. 730-737.
70. The Battle of Plattsburgh Bay.
In January, 1869, of Putnam's Magazine, vol. iii., new series,
pp. 49-59.
A note to this article says that it was prepared as a lecture to
be delivered before the New York Historical Society. The records
of that Society, however, contain no reference to any lecture
delivered by Cooper.
71. The Eclipse.
In Putnam's Magazine, new series, vol. iv., for September, 1869,
pp. 352-359. Written about 1831, and gives an account of the
eclipse of the sun in June, 1806.
Besides these there are numerous letters written to the newspapers, and
in particular the letters written to the Paris journal, the "National,"
in 1833. During Cooper's life it was frequently said that he was engaged
in preparing a work on the Middle States of the Union; but no (p. 299)
trace of such a production was found among his papers. A work of his on
"The Towns of Manhattan" was partly finished and in press at the time of
his death; but the portion printed was entirely destroyed by fire. Part
of the manuscript, however, was recovered. On the 4th of August, 1841,
Cooper also delivered an address before the Literary Societies of Hobart
College, Geneva, N. Y.; but this he himself burned on the day it was
delivered.
A few works have been wrongly attributed to him. One of these is "The
Cruise of the Somers; illustrative of the Despotism of the Quarter Deck;
and of the Unmanly Conduct of Commander Mackenzie." New York: 1844.
Another is "Elinor Wyllys; or the Young Folk of Longbridge."
Philadelphia: 1846. Of this novel Cooper was the nominal editor, and to
it he contributed a short preface. A third work, which has been falsely
attributed to him, is entitled "The Republic of the United States; its
Duties to Itself, and its Responsible Relations to other Countries." New
York: 1848.
INDEX. (p. 300)
Adams, John, 113.
Adams, John Quincy, 224-226.
"Afloat and Ashore," 232, 249-253, 263, 296.
Albany, N. Y., 6, 15.
"Albany Argus," 182.
"Albany Evening Journal," Cooper's libel suits with, 187, 190-196.
America, intellectual dependence of,
on England in 1820 and later, 18-21, 34, 35, 62, 92;
literary state of, in 1820, 30-32.
"American Scott, The," Cooper so termed, 58, 106;
his feelings about it, 59, 161.
"American Democrat, The," 177-179, 293.
Angevine, 14-16, 63.
Anti-Rent Novels, The, 251-254.
Ashburton Treaty, 237.
"Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung," 107.
"Autobiography of a Pocket Handkerchief," 249, 293.
Bainbridge, Commodore William, 295, 297.
Balzac, Honoré de, Criticisms of Cooper, 204, 240, 284.
Barry Cornwall. See _Procter_.
Barry, John, 296, 297.
Benjamin, Park, 159; Cooper's libel suit with, 187.
Bentley, London publisher of Cooper's later works, 262.
"Blackwood's Magazine," 58;
abuse of Cooper, 174.
Berne, Cooper's residence near, 68.
Boone, Daniel, 72.
"Borderers, The" (English title), 291.
Boston, Cooper's criticism of, 171, 172.
Bostonians practice "gouging," 97.
"Bravo, The," 108-111, 115, 128, 130, 277, 291.
Bread and Cheese Club, founded by Cooper, 63;
its members, 63;
gives dinner to Cooper, 127.
Brenton's, Captain Edward Pelham, "Naval History of Great Britain," 202.
British press, Cooper's opinion of, 106, 136, 137;
its attacks upon Cooper, 138, 173-176, 199, 236.
"Brother Jonathan, The," newspaper, 262, 294, 295.
Brown, Charles Brockden, 30.
Bryant, William Cullen, 17, 63, 80, 266;
delivers funeral oration on Cooper, 268.
Bulwer, Sir Edward Lytton, 124, 125.
Burges, Tristam, 213, 221, 224, 226, 233, 295.
Burlington, N. J., 2, 12.
Burton's Theatre, Cooper's comedy acted at, 263.
Campbell, Judge William W., 216.
Canning, George, 68.
"Captain Spike" (English title), 297.
Carey and Lea, publishers, 66.
"Chainbearer, The," 252-254, 297.
Châlet, The, Cooper's farm, near Cooperstown, 263.
Champlain, Lake, 12.
Chauncey, Commodore Isaac, 127.
Chesapeake, American man-of-war, 202.
"Chronicles of Cooperstown, The," 293.
Clay, Henry, 67.
Clinton, DeWitt, 127.
"Coelebs," Hannah More's, 21.
Colburn, London publisher, 28, 94.
"Comparative Resources of the American Navy," 292.
Constitution, ship-of-war, 210, 298.
Cooper, Fenimore, 15, 63.
Cooper, J. F.: born at Burlington, 2;
removed to Cooperstown, 2;
early education, 6;
at Albany, 6;
at Yale College, 7;
dismissed from college, 8;
serves before the mast, 9, 10;
enters navy as midshipman, 11;
his service, 11;
marries, 12;
resigns position in the navy, 14;
residences from 1811 to 1822, 14, 15;
his children, 15;
begins literary life, 16;
moves into New York city, 63;
founds the Bread and Cheese club, 63;
has family name changed to Fenimore-Cooper, 3;
is given a public dinner, 127;
sails for Europe, 67;
made consul at Lyons, 67;
residences in France, England, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany, 67, 68;
cordial reception in Paris, 68, 69;
wide extent of his reputation, 56-58, 77;
returns to America, 117;
refuses a public dinner, 128;
resides in New York city, 117;
buys his father's house in Cooperstown and makes it his permanent
home, 117;
has a controversy with citizens of Cooperstown, 142-148;
brings a number of newspaper libel suits, 180-197;
engages unsuccessfully in business operations, 261;
his farm, 263, 264;
becomes a communicant in the Episcopal Church, 266;
his death, 267;
funeral oration over, delivered by Bryant, 268;
happiness of his home life, 13, 14, 233, 234, 285;
wide circulation of his works, 37, 56, 76, 270;
pecuniary profits from their sale, 64-66, 261-263;
his success as a lawyer, 182, 189, 216-218, 220;
his sensitiveness to criticism, 41-44, 286;
defects of his literary art, 50, 51;
failure in characterization, 152, 155, 277, 278;
female characters, 26-28, 153, 154, 278-281;
success in characters from low life, 53-55, 72, 73, 152, 283;
fondness for commonplace, 84, 242, 276;
prolixity of his introductions, 75, 134, 242, 276;
improbability and carelessness in the details of his
stories, 51, 53, 276, 277;
carelessness in the development of the plot, 28, 271, 272, 275, 276;
criticism on language and carelessness in use of it, 130, 272-275;
his humor, 119, 239, 240;
his fondness for natural scenery, and success in
description, 8, 69, 134, 168, 169, 240, 241, 264, 282-284;
his political opinions, 82-84, 108, 109;
his imperiousness of manner, 79, 80, 286;
his pugnacity, 24, 75, 80, 81, 146, 147, 285;
his generosity, 81, 82;
his patriotism, 49, 85, 86, 94, 110, 115, 128, 231, 237, 238, 243;
depth and narrowness of religious feeling, 22-26, 75, 243, 256,
258-261, 266;
high sense of honor, 82, 286;
love of truth, 202, 203, 222, 232, 287, 288.
Cooper, Paul, 15, 63.
Cooper, Richard, 182, 185, 220.
Cooper, Susan Fenimore, 15.
Cooper, William, Cooper's father, 2, 3, 9, 142-145, 188, 192.
Cooperstown, situation of, 1, 3, 4;
when founded, 2;
original population of, 5;
Cooper's residences in, 2, 3, 14, 117;
his controversy with citizens of, 142-148;
farm near, 263, 264;
his death at, 266, 267;
the Chronicles of, 293.
"Cooperstown Freeman's Journal," democratic newspaper, 143, 144;
Cooper's letters to, 147, 148, 294.
Copyright, international, Cooper's feelings in regard to, 166;
pecuniary loss sustained by the lack of one, 261.
Copyright law, English, of, 1838, 66, 261.
Courier, Paul, liberal sentiments about America, 87.
Court of Errors, The, of New York, 228, 229.
"Crater, The," 255-258, 274, 297.
Cushing, Caleb, replies to Cooper, 132.
Dale, Richard, 295, 297.
Davis, Admiral Charles H., 213.
"Deerslayer, The," 239-242, 272, 294.
DeKay, James E., 63.
DeLancey family, 12, 13.
DeLancey, Susan Augusta, 12-14, 16, 70, 233, 234;
married to Cooper, 12;
her death, 267.
DeLancey, William H., bishop of Western New York, 266.
Democratic party, Cooper nominally belonging to, 133, 171.
"Democratic Review," 207, 208, 295.
Derby, Lord, 52.
"Diary of James Fenimore Cooper, Fragments from," 298.
Dresden, Saxony, Cooper's residence at, 68, 107, 123.
Duer, William Alexander, Cooper's controversy with, 212, 221-223, 233, 295.
Durand, Asher B., the engraver, 63.
"Eclipse, The," 298.
Edgeworth, Maria, 57.
"Edinburgh Review, The," 205-208, 295.
Elliott, Commodore Jesse, 208-213, 222;
has a medal struck in honor of Cooper, 224-226.
"Encyclopedia Britannica," notice of Cooper's life in, 175.
England, Cooper's residence in, 68, 96;
feeling of, towards America, 87-98;
criticism of, by Cooper, 105, 130, 137;
his work on, 135, 293;
hostility expressed for Cooper in, 92, 106, 138, 173-176.
Effingham, name applied to Cooper, 156, 158, 183, 191, 294.
Episcopal Church, Cooper's attachment to, 23, 245, 249, 254, 257, 259,
260, 266.
Erie Lake, Battle of, controversy in regard to, 208-227, 294.
European ignorance of America, 86-88, 100, 101.
"Eve Effingham" (English title), 294.
"Excursions in Italy" (English title), 293.
"Excursions in Switzerland" (English title), 292.
Expenses' Controversy, The, 76, 111-115, 292.
Fay, Theodore S., 132.
Federalist Party, 9, 171;
Cooper brought up in, 92;
feeling of, towards England, 92, 93.
Fenimore family, 3, 188.
Fenimore, near Cooperstown, Cooper's residence at, 14.
Fenimore-Cooper, family name changed to, 3.
Florence, Cooper's residence at, 68, 74, 120.
Foot, Samuel A., 215-221.
France, Cooper's work on, 135, 292, 293.
Francis, Dr. John W., 266, 267.
"Fraser's Magazine," its attack on Cooper, 174-175.
Free trade, Cooper's hostility to, 133, 171.
"French Governess, The" (English title), 295.
French opinion of Cooper, 36, 204.
French social life, Cooper's opinion of, 69.
Galitzin, Princess, 69.
Gardner, Colonel Charles K., 287.
Gifford, William, editor of "The Quarterly," 35.
Gisquet, French prefect of police, 37.
"Gleanings in Europe," 135-140, 204, 292, 293.
Glens Falls, 52.
"Glory and Shame of England," attack on Cooper in, 234, 235.
"Gotham and the Gothamites," 60.
Gouging, prevalence of, in America, 97;
practiced by Bostonians, 97.
"Graham's Magazine," 229, 245, _note_, 248, 255, 295-297.
Greeley, Horace, 159, 180, 181, 187;
Cooper's libel suits with, 197, 198.
Greenough, Horatio, 81, 115-116, 155.
Grose's "Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 97.
Halleck, Fitzgreene, 63, 246, _note_.
Harris, Leavitt, 113, 114.
Haydon, Benjamin Robert, 58.
Hazlitt, William, 106.
Headley, Rev. J. T., 235.
"Headsman, The," 108, 109, 272, 292.
"Heathcotes, The" (English title), 291.
"Heidenmauer, The," 108, 109, 280, 292.
Heine, 107.
Hillard, George S., 160.
Hillhouse, James A., 7.
"Hints on Manning the Navy," 292.
Hobart College, Cooper's address at, 299.
"Home as Found," 149, 150-159, 294.
"Home as Found, Lost Chapter of," 294.
"Homeward Bound," 149, 150, 152, 155, 293.
Impressment of American seamen, 93.
Indian character, Cooper's view of, 54, 55.
Ingram's, John H., "Life of Poe," 246, _note_.
Irving, Washington, 3, 35, 56, 268, 287.
"Islets of the Gulf, The." See "_Jack Tier_."
Italy, Cooper's work on, 135, 293;
attachment of Cooper to, 69-71.
"Jack o' Lantern, The" (English title), 295.
Jackson, President Andrew, 131, 210.
"Jack Tier," 255, 256, 263, 297.
James's, William, "Naval History of Great Britain," 205-207, 295;
Cooper's opinion of, 206, 207.
Jarvis, John Wesley, 63.
Jay, John, 29.
Jefferson, Thomas, 67.
Jones, John Paul, 48, 57, 288, 295, 297.
Jordan, Ambrose C., 190.
Judah, Samuel B. H., 60.
Jury, trial by, 260.
Kent, Chancellor James, 63, 127.
King, Charles, 127.
"Knickerbocker Magazine," 160, 161, 293.
Lafayette, 111, 112.
"Last of the Mohicans, The," 52-55, 56, 58, 66, 71, 72, 239, 291.
Lawrence, Captain James, 12.
"Leather-Stocking Tales, The," 40, 55, 239;
Cooper's opinion of, 241.
Leghorn, 120.
Lester, C. Edwards, 235, 236.
"Letter to General Lafayette," 112, 291.
"Letter to his Countrymen," 129-132, 292.
"Letter to the American Public," 114, 292.
Libel suits, Cooper's, with the Otsego "Republican," 185, 186;
with the Norwich "Telegraph," 184, 186;
with the Oneida "Whig," 187;
with the New York "Evening Signal," 187;
with the New York "Courier and Enquirer," 187-190;
with the Albany "Evening Journal," 187, 190, 196;
with the New York "Tribune," 187, 197;
with the New York "Commercial Advertiser," 187, 197, 212, 214-221,
223-224.
"Lionel Lincoln," 49-52, 291.
Livermore, Rev. T. S., 293.
Livingston, Edward, 114.
Lockhart's, John Gibson, "Life of Scott," 160, 161, 293.
London, Cooper's residence in, 68, 96-98.
"London Times," its attack on Cooper, 175.
Lord, Daniel, Jr., 215-221.
Louis Philippe, 69, 107.
Lowell, James Russell, 156.
"Lucy Harding" (English title), 249, 296; 251.
Lyons, Cooper consul at, 67.
Mackenzie, Alexander Slidell, 212, 213, 216, 221, 222, 233, 295.
Mackintosh, Sir James, 97.
Mamaroneck, N. Y., 12, 13, 14.
Man, Isle of, Cooper reported birthplace in, 3.
"Mark's Reef" (English title), 297.
McHarg, Rev. C. W., 229.
"Mercedes of Castile," 232, 242, 272, 278.
Mickiewicz, Adam, 107.
Miller, London publisher, 35.
"Miles Wallingford," 93, 249, 285, 296.
Mitford, Mary Russell, 57.
"Monikins, The," 133-135.
Montagu, Mrs. Basil, 91.
Moore, Thomas, 88, 96.
More, Hannah, 21.
Morris, George P., 132.
Morse, S. F. B., 63, 76.
Murray, John, London publisher, 35.
Naples, Cooper's residence at, 68.
Naples, bay of, compared with that of New York, 164, 249, 254.
"National" (Paris), 113, 298.
"Naval Magazine," 201, 292.
"Naval History of the United States," 200-230, 232, 233, 294.
"Naval Officers, Lives of," 228, 229, 297.
Neal, John, 30.
Ned Myers, 247, 248, 263, 296.
New England, Cooper's dislike of, 245, 246, 247, 249, 250, 253, 257, 259;
Cooper's unpopularity in, 50, 247.
New Haven, 8.
"New Monthly Magazine, Colburn's," sketch of Cooper in, 94.
Newport, 74; stone tower at, 226.
"New World, The," newspaper, 262.
New York (city), Cooper's residences in, 15, 47, 63, 67, 117;
Cooper's criticism of society in, 150, 151, 158, 249;
social life in, 121;
Cooper's prophecy about, 102.
"New York American," 127, 128.
"New York Commercial Advertiser," 129;
Cooper's libel suits with, 187, 212, 214-221, 223, 224.
"New York Courier and Enquirer," 129, 130;
Cooper's libel suits with, 187-190.
"New York Evening Post," 182.
"New York Evening Signal," Cooper's libel suit with, 187.
New York Historical Society, 298.
"New York Home Journal," 13.
"New York Mirror," 132.
"New York Patriot," 287.
"New York Tribune," Cooper's libel suits with, 187, 192, 197.
"New Yorker, The," 158, 182.
Newspapers, Cooper's attacks on, 43, 176-180;
libel suits with, 180-199.
"North American Review, The," 60, 61, 212, 213.
"Norwich Telegraph," Cooper's libel suit with, 184, 185.
"Notions of the Americans," 101-106, 291.
Nugent, Lord, 96.
"Oak Openings, The," 255, 258, 263, 275, 297.
"Odofried the Outcast," 60.
Old Ironsides, 298.
"Oneida Whig, The," Cooper's libel suit with, 187.
Ontario, Lake, 11, 169, 240.
Otsego Hall, Cooper's residence, 2, 117, 267.
Otsego Lake, 1, 4, 117, 142, 240.
"Otsego Republican," Cooper's libel suit with, 185, 186.
Paris, Cooper's residence at, 67-69, 107.
Parsons, Usher, 227.
"Pathfinder, The," 11, 239-242, 283, 294.
Paulding, James Kirke, 30.
Paulding, Hiram, 216.
Peale, Rembrandt, 115.
Percival, James G., 60-62.
Perry, Captain Matthew, 210, 212.
Perry, Commodore Oliver H., 208-229, 295, 297.
"Philadelphia National Gazette," 114, 292.
"Pilot, The," 44-48, 57, 74, 95, 283-288, 291.
"Pioneers, The," 39-44, 61, 65, 72, 117, 156, 239, 287, 291.
Piracy of books, 261, 262.
Plattsburgh Bay, Battle of, 298.
Poe, Elgar A., 245, 246, _note_.
Poland, revolt of, 107;
Cooper's efforts to aid, 108.
"Prairie, The," 61, 71, 73, 76, 95, 239, 283, 291.
Preble, Edward, 296, 297.
"Precaution," 16-28, 243.
Price of Cooper's later novels, 262, 263.
Princeton College, 246.
Procter, Bryan Waller, 58, 161.
Provincialism of America, 138, 150, 164, 165, 168.
Puritanism, 23-29, 75, 243.
"Putnam's Magazine," 298.
"Quarterly Review, The," 35, 277, 287;
its attacks on America, 89;
its attack on Cooper, 205.
"Ravensnest" (English title), 297.
"Recollections of Europe" (English title), 293.
"Redskins, The," 253, 254, 263, 297.
"Red Rover, The," 65, 73, 99, 226, 227, 255, 291.
Reporters of newspapers, Cooper's attack on, 176.
"Residence in France" (English title), 292.
Revolution of 1830, French, 106, 107.
"Revue Britannique," 111-113.
Rhode Island Historical Society, 213;
refuses to accept the Cooper medal, 224-227.
Rives, William C., 114.
Rome, Cooper's residence at, 68, 75.
Russia, early cordial relations of, with the United States, 93.
Sand, George, 284.
"Satanstoe," 252, 253, 254, 263, 296.
Saulnier, M., 111, 112.
Scott, Sir Walter, 31, 33, 41, 44, 56-59, 91, 110, 124, 277, 278, 283, 287;
his mention of Cooper, 69, 160;
Lockhart's life of, 159-161.
Scott, General Winfield, 127.
"Sea Lions, The," 255, 258-260, 263, 298.
Sea novel, Cooper's creation of, 44-47, 57, 74.
Shannon, English ship-of-war, 12, 202.
Shanty, Cooper's derivation of, 275.
Shaw, John, 290, 297.
Shubrick, John Templer, 296, 297.
Silliman, Professor Benjamin, 8.
"Sketches of Switzerland," 135-140, 292.
Slavery, Cooper's feelings toward, 85, 104.
Smith, Sydney, 96.
Smollett, Tobias G., 45, 57.
Somers, American man-of-war, 228.
Somers, Richard, 295, 297.
Sorrento, Cooper's residence at, 68, 71, 75.
Sotheby, William, 97, 98.
Southey, Robert, 91.
Spencer, John C., 228.
Spencer, Joshua A., 186.
"Spy, The," 13, 30-38, 43, 49, 57, 65, 66, 280, 283, 290.
Squier, E. G., 37.
Steevens, Samuel, 215-221.
Sterling, merchant ship, 9, 10, 247, 248.
Stone, William Leet, Cooper's libel suits against, 187, 214-221, 223, 224.
Sumner, Charles, 91, 160.
Susquehanna River, 1, 2, 264.
Talleyrand visits Cooper's father, 5.
Three Mile Point Controversy, The, 142-148, 156.
Ticknor, George, 91.
Tories of American Revolution, Cooper's treatment of, 13.
"Towns of Manhattan, The," 266, 299.
Tuckerman, Henry T., his account of a trial scene, 217, 218.
"Two Admirals, The," 242, 243, 276, 295.
Tyler, John, President, 228.
"United Service Journal," its criticism of Cooper's Naval History, 204,
205.
"Upside Down," Cooper's comedy, 263.
Van Rensselaer, Stephen, the patroon, 251.
Verplanck, Gulian Crommelin, 63.
Vesuvius, American man-of-war, 11.
"Water Witch, The," 75, 76, 78, 106, 291;
refused publication in Rome, 123.
Waverley Novels, 31, 44.
"Ways of the Hour, The," 255, 260, 263, 272, 274, 277, 298.
Webster, Daniel, 268.
Weed, Thurlow, 122, 190;
Cooper's libel suits against, 187, 190-196;
admiration for Cooper's novels, 196.
"Wept of Wish-ton-Wish, The," 74, 99, 272, 291.
Westchester County, New York, 12, 14, 29.
Whig party, its hostility to Cooper 131.
Whig press, attacks on Cooper, 147, 148, 158, 159, 173, 177, 180, 184,
185, 199, 211, 235, 241.
Wiley, John, publisher, 63, 66.
Willis, N. P., 132.
Wilson, John, 58.
"Wing-and-Wing," 93, 243, 244, 247, 262, 295.
Woolsey, Melancthon Taylor, 11, 296, 297.
Wright, Fanny, 36.
"Wyandotte," 13, 244, 245, 263, 295.
Yale College, 246;
Cooper's connection with, 7-9.
End of Project Gutenberg's James Fenimore Cooper, by Thomas R. Lounsbury