nd better done before. The old woman who is constantly
misusing nautical terms is the most palpable imitation of the admiral's
widow in "The Red Rover." It is a cheap expedient at best, and must at
any time be used with extreme moderation. Above all, it is a device
which is abused the very moment it is repeated. As displayed in "Jack
Tier," it is simply unendurable. Cooper's silly people, in facts are apt
to be silly not only beyond human experience but almost beyond human
conception. The tragedy, moreover, with which this novel ends is
intended to be terrible, while as a matter of fact it is merely
grotesque and absurd. The tale reaches a sudden but necessary conclusion
because nearly all the characters are disposed of at once by (p. 256)
drowning or killing. There is scarcely any one left to carry on the
action of the story.

"The Crater," which in one sense followed and in another preceded "Jack
Tier," has a very special interest to the student of Cooper's character.
He had now lived for so long a time a life remote from the real clash of
conflicting views that he had finally reached that satisfied state of
opinion which thinks the little circle in which it moves is the proper
orbit for the revolution of thought of the whole race. As he advanced in
years he narrowed instead of broadening. The intensity of his faith
coupled with his energy of expression makes this fact very conspicuous;
and in "The Crater" the reader is alternately attracted by the shrewd
and keen remarks of the writer, and repelled by his illiberality. The
novel tells the tale of a shipwrecked mariner cast away on a reef not
laid down in any chart and unknown to navigators. This barren spot he
makes bud and blossom as the rose. To the new Utopia he has created in
the bosom of the Pacific he brings a body of emigrants. Their
proceedings are entertainingly told. But the history of the decline of
the colony from its primitive state of happiness and perfection, which
is designed to furnish a warning, tends instead to fill the irreverent
with amusement. While under the control of its founder and governor, who
combined all the virtues, it is represented as enjoying peace and
prosperity. Demagogism had no control. The reign of gossip had not
begun. The great discovery had not been made that men were merely
incidents of newspapers. Care was taken that the children should not
imbibe any false principles, that is, any principles which the (p. 257)
ru