narration, which render the impressions he produces so deep and
lasting. They were as widely read as any of his recent productions.

The extraordinary state of things which for several years has disgraced
a part of the state of New-York, where, with unblushing effrontery, the
tenants of several large proprietors have refused to pay rents, and
claimed, without a shadow of right, to be absolute possessors of the
soil, gave just occasion of alarm to the intelligent friends of our
institutions; and this alarm increased, when it was observed that the
ruffianism of the "anti-renters," as they are styled, was looked upon by
many persons of respectable social positions with undisguised approval.
Mr. Cooper addressed himself to the exposure and correction of the evil,
in a series of novels, purporting to be edited from the manuscripts of a
family named Littlepage; and in the preface to the first of these,
entitled _Satanstoe, a Tale of the Colony_, published in 1845, announces
his intention of treating it with the utmost freedom, and declares his
opinion, that the "existence of true liberty among us, the perpetuity of
our institutions, and the safety of public morals, are all dependent on
putting down, wholly, absolutely, and unqualifiedly, the false and
dishonest theories and statements that have been advanced in connection
with this subject." Satanstoe presents a vivid picture of the early
condition of colonial New-York. The time is from 1737 to the close of
the memorable campaign in which the British were so signally defeated at
Ticonderoga. _Chainbearer_, the second of the series, tracing the family
history through the Revolution, also appeared in 1845, and the last,
_The Red Skins_, story of the present day, in 1846. "This book," says
the author, in his preface, "closes the series of the Littlepage
manuscripts, which have been given to the world as containing a fair
account of the comparative sacrifices of time, money, and labor, made
respectively by the landlord and the tenants, on a New-York estate,
together with the manner in which usages and opinions are changing among
us, and the causes of these changes." These books, in which the most
important practical truths are stated, illustrated and enforced, in a
manner equally familiar and powerful, were received by the educated and
right-minded with a degree of favor that showed the soundness of the
common mind beyond the crime-infected districts, and their influence
will add