ly the
head and the heart.

_The Red Rover_ followed The Prairie. Its success surpassed that of any
of its predecessors. It was written and printed in Paris, and all in a
few months. Its merits and its reception prove the accuracy of those
gentlemen who allege that "Mr. Cooper never wrote a successful book
after he left the United States." It is certainly a stronger work than
The Pilot, though not without considerable faults.

_The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish_ was the next novel. The author I believe
regards this and Lionel Lincoln as the poorest of his works. It met with
no great success.

_The Water Witch_ succeeded, but is inferior to any of the other
nautical tales. It was the first attempt by Mr. Cooper--the first by any
author--to lay the scene of a tale of witchcraft on the coast of
America. It has more imagination than any other of Mr. Cooper's works,
but the blending of the real with the ideal was in some parts a little
incongruous. The Water Witch was written in Italy and first printed in
Germany.

Of all Americans who ever visited Europe, Mr. Cooper contributed most to
our country's good reputation. His high character made him every where
welcome; there was no circle, however aristocratic or distinguished, in
which, if he appeared in it, he was not observed of all observers; and
he had the somewhat singular merit of _never forgetting that he was an
American_. Halleck, in his admirable poem of Red Jacket, says well of
him:

COOPER, whose name is with his country's woven,
First in her fields, her pioneer of mind,
_A wanderer now in other lands, has proven_
_His love for the young land he left behind._

After having been in Europe about two years he published his _Notions of
the Americans_, in which he "endeavored to repel some of the hostile
opinions of the other hemisphere, and to turn the tables on those who at
that time most derided and calumniated us." It contained some
unimportant errors, from having been written at a distance from
necessary documentary materials, but was altogether as just as it was
eloquent in vindication of our institutions, manners, and history. It
shows how warm was his patriotism; how fondly, while receiving from
strangers an homage withheld from him at home, he remembered the scenes
of his first trials and triumphs, and how ready he was to sacrifice
personal popularity and profit in defence of his country.

He was not only the first to defend and to praise Am