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
found