ular. It was decidedly the best historical romance then
written by an American; not without faults, indeed, but with a fair
plot, clearly and strongly drawn characters, and exhibiting great
boldness and originality of conception. Its success was perhaps decisive
of Mr. Cooper's career, and it gave an extraordinary impulse to
literature in the country. More than any thing that had before occurred,
it roused the people from their feeling of intellectual dependence. The
popularity of _The Spy_ has been so universal, that there is scarcely a
written language into which it is not translated. In 1847 it appeared in
_Persian_ at Ispahan.

In 1823 appeared _The Pioneers_. This book has passages of masterly
description, and is as fresh as a landscape from another world; but it
seems to me that it has always had a reputation partly factitious. It is
the poorest of the Leather Stocking tales, nor was its success either
marked or spontaneous. Still, it was very well received, though it was
thought to be a proof that the author was written out. With this book
commenced the absurdity of saying Mr. Cooper introduced family traits
and family history into his novels. How little of truth there is in this
supposition Mr. Cooper has explained in his revised edition, published
the present year.

_The Pilot_ succeeded. The success of _The Pilot_ was at first a little
doubtful in this country; but England gave it a reputation which it
still maintains. It is due to Boston to say that its popularity in the
United States was first manifested there. I say _due_ to Boston, not
from considerations of merit in the book, but because, for some reason,
praise for Mr. Cooper, from New England, has been so rare. The _North
American Review_ took credit to itself for magnanimity in saying some of
his works had been rendered into French, when they were a part of every
literature of Europe. America, it is often said, has no original
literature. Where can the model of The Pilot be found? I know of nothing
which could have suggested it but the following fact, which was related
to me in a conversation with Mr. Cooper. The Pirate had been published a
short time before. Talking with the late Charles Wilkes, of New-York--a
man of taste and judgment--our author heard extolled the universal
knowledge of Scott, and the sea portions of The Pirate cited as a proof.
He laughed at the idea, as most seamen would, and the discussion ended
by his promising to write a sea s