devotion. (p. 234)
Towards all women he exhibited deference almost to the point of
chivalry. But in the case of those of his own household there was
mingled with it a tenderness which called forth in return that ardent
attachment which strong natures alone seem capable of inspiring. This
deference and tenderness were the more conspicuous by contrast with his
opinions. These would fill with wrath unspeakable the advocates of
women's rights. Nor was he at all particular about mincing their
expression. He sometimes gave utterance to them in the most extreme
form. He even made his sentiments more emphatic by putting them into the
mouths of his female characters. "There is," says the governess in "The
Red Rover," "no peace for our feeble sex but in submission; no happiness
but in obedience." In his last novel he denounced furiously the law that
gave to the wife control over her own property, and predicted, as a
consequence, all sorts of disasters to the family that have never come
to pass. All this was eminently characteristic. But like many strong men
tenacious of acknowledged superiority he was content with the mere
concession. That granted, he would yield to submission infinitely more
than recognized equality could have a right to expect or could hope to
gain. We may think what we please of his views about women; there can be
but one opinion as to his conduct towards them.

A characteristic instance of the wantonness with which Cooper's acts and
motives were deliberately misrepresented during this period occurred in
1841. In that year came out a work, which had, in its day, some little
notoriety, but has long ago passed to the limbo of forgotten things. It
was called "The Glory and Shame of England." The very title shows that
this production was maliciously calculated to make the British (p. 235)
lion lash his tail with frenzy: and if we can trust its author, Mr. C.
Edwards Lester, it met with fierce opposition from British residents in
this country and their sympathizers. In an introductory letter addressed
to the Reverend J. T. Headley, he told the story of the experiences his
agents had undergone in securing subscriptions. In the course of it he
made the following allusion to Cooper. "Already," he wrote, "have
several educated and highly respectable young men engaged (with
unprecedented success) in procuring subscribers for this work been
rudely driven from the houses of Englishmen for crossing their threshold
wi