COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE, an American novelist, was b. at Burlington, N. J., U. S., Sept. 15, 1789. Having received his early education from a private tutor, he, at the age of 13, passed to Yale college, and after three years' study there, entered the American navy as a midshipman. Ile remained six years at sea, gathering the experience of which lie was afterwards to make such good use m his novels. On his retirement from the sea in 1811, be married; and the next ten years of his life were 'spent in a quiet, domestic fashion. In 1821, appeared his first work, Precaution, a novel that afforded no indica tion whatever of the talent lie subsequently exhibited. In the following year, however, he published The Spy, a tale which at once secured for him a place in the first rank of novelists. By not a few critics he was even elevated to a higher pedestal than that which Scott occupied; but time sobered their judgment, while it still left hint a deserv edly high position as a writer of fiction. In quick succession followed The P:oneers; The Pilot; The Last of the Mohicans; The Red Rover; and the Prairie; with which C.'s genius
culminated; for though between this date (1827) and 1850 he wrote about 2G different works, none of them equaled in merit those we have mentioned. The secret of C.'s success as a novelist lies in his graphic descriptive powers, and his thorough knowledge of the matters he describes—whether it be the boundless ocean or the broad prairie— together with an attentive study of character. Not a little of his popularity in America, however, must be attributed to his nationality; and in Europe a good deal of it was owino. to the freshness of the scenes in which his stories were laid. About 1827, C. visited Europe, where lie remained several years; the fruits of his sojourn, besides novels, being some ten volmnes of skstches of European society, which added nothing to his reputation. Many of his works have been translated into most modern languages, and one—The Spy—can he read in Persian. C. died at Cooperstown, in the state of New York, 14th Sept., 1851.