Chapter James Fenimore Cooper of Index by Simonds History of American Literature

Miles Wallingford (1844), Satanstoe (1845), The Chainbearer (1846), The Redskins (1846), The Crater (1847), Jack Tier (1848), The Oak Openings (1848), The Sea Lions (1849), and The Ways of the Hour (1850). In addition to these narratives, Cooper was also the author of a History of the United States Navy (1839), of a biography of one of his shipmates, Ned Myers (1843), of tales contributed to Graham's Magazine, and of ten volumes of travels.

Personal Traits.

Cooper's literary work was interrupted variously. Seven years he spent in foreign residence. Owing to an abnormal sensitiveness to criticism and lack of self-control in the vigorous expression of his opinions, he established a reputation, not wholly merited, for unreasonableness, intolerance, and pugnacity. His unfortunate irascibility of temper precipitated quarrels. His belligerent patriotism was aroused by European criticism of American institutions, and the manner in which he expressed his protest aroused resentment abroad. No less irritating were his own criticisms passed upon some of our national defects and crudities which he noticed after his return to the United States. Several of his novels were written in the spirit of satire solely as expressions of his censure; these are, naturally, his poorest works.¹ He was bitterly criticised in the public press. To maintain his contentions, he involved himself in lawsuits and, indeed, won most of the suits; but he also won a most unpleasant notoriety, becoming in the highest degree unpopular both in America and England. And yet, with it all, Cooper was at heart a sincere, earnest, pure-hearted, truth-loving man of honor, a fearless and devoted patriot.

The Leather Stocking Tales.

Of undisputed power are the novels which comprise the famous Leather Stocking group; and it is mainly upon the merits of this remarkable series that Cooper's claim to distinction rests both at home and abroad. The character of the hero, Natty Bumppo, or Leather Stocking, portrayed from youth to old age, is unique in literature. Professor Lounsbury, the biographer of Cooper, declares it to be "perhaps the only great original character that American fiction has added to the literature of the world." It is a fact worthy of note that these Indian tales have been translated into nearly all, if not all, the languages of the civilized globe. When The Prairie was completed in 1827, five editions were published at the same time: two appeared in Paris, one in French, and one in English; one in London; one in Berlin; and one in Philadelphia. But the most picturesque statement regarding the popularity of these novels abroad is found in a letter written in 1833 by Morse, the inventor of the electric telegraph. He says: --

"I have visited, in Europe, many countries, and what I have asserted of the fame of Mr. Cooper I assert from personal knowledge. In every city of Europe that I visited, the works of Cooper were conspicuously placed in the windows of every bookshop. They are published as soon as he produces them in thirty- four different places in Europe. They have been seen by American travellers in the languages of Turkey and Persia, in Constantinople, in Egypt, at Jerusalem, at Ispahan."¹

Death.

The later years of the novelist's life were passed mainly on his estate at Cooperstown. Here, with many uncompleted literary projects in mind, some of them already begun, death came upon him, September 14, 1851. The fifteenth of September would have been his sixty-second birthday; on the twenty-fifth, a public meeting was held in the City Hall, New York. Washington Irving presided, and a committee of prominent literary men was appointed to arrange for suitable memorial exercises. These exercises were held in Metropolitan Hall, February 25, 1852. The audience was representative of the culture of New York, Daniel Webster presided, and William Cullen Bryant delivered the memorial address, which was eloquent and just.

Merits as a Novelist.

No master of style in the large sense, Cooper did possess the one essential gift of a great novelist. He had a story to tell and told it in such fashion as to make it real. In narrative and description, he was