The seventeenth century boasted two or three authors, but none, we believe, native to the soil. Mrs. Anne Bradstreet, wife of a governor of Massachusetts, published in 1640, a poem on the Four Elements, smoothly versified. but of little poetical merit. Cotton Mather, born in 1663, is almost the only prose writer worthy of note. His " Magnalia" con tains some valuable historical matter. The last century produced some distin guished prose writers and some accom plished versifiers, though no poet in the true sense of the title. Franklin, born in 1706, was master of a singularly clear, compact, and vigorous style. Jonathan Edwards, who flourished during the last century, wrote a celebrated treatise on the Will, which is one of the first meta physical works in the language. The Revolutionary struggle, and the circum stances which preceded and succeeded it, produced a number of bold and brilliant writers and speakers, among whom were Jefferson, Hamilton, the Adamses, Rich ard henry Lee, and Patrick Henry. The diplomatic correspondence of the Revolu tion has rarely been surpassed. Philip Freneau, who has been called the first American poet, wrote many patriotic songs, which were sung during the strug gle, but none have retained their original vitality. Trumbull was the author of a Hudibrastie poem entitled MeFing,al, in which the Tories were held up to ridicule; the first part was published in 1775. Joel Barlow, who aspired to the rank of an epic poet, published in 1787, his "Vision of Columbus," which, in 1808, expanded into the " Columbiad," and printc.I in what was then a style of unusual magnificence.
Dana, Bryant, Washington Irving, Cooper, Paulding and Everett, all born towards the close of the last century, are still living. Dann, may be considered as the first genuine poet the United States has produced. his "Buccaneer" is a picturesque antl striking poem, founded on a legend of the pirates who formerly frequented the American coast.. Irving's " Knickerbocker's llistory of New York" appeared in 1809, and instantly gave him a position, as a writer of the purest style and of exquisite humor and fancy. Ills latest production, a Biography of Goldsmith, to whom he has been com pared, was published in 18-19. Many of his works—aniong them the "Sketch Book," "Bracebridge Hall," "The Al hambra," and the " Life of Columbus," were first published in England, where he lived many years. Cooper's first essay in literature was a novel of society enti tled "Precaution," but he subsequently confined himself to the two fields in which he has earned his best fame—the forest and the ocean. Nis most successful novels arc: "The Spy." the "Pioneers," the "Deerslayer," the "Pilot," and the "Pathfinder.'' Bryant, first attracted noticed by ltis poem of " Thanatopsis," written in his nineteenth year. Ills first volume, "The Ages," was published in 1825. The most distinguished authors who have died since the commencement of the century are Dr. Charming, whose
essays, criticisms, and moral, religious, and political writings have won him much celebrity as a prose writer ; William Wirt, author of tiro "British Spy," a collection of letters Written in a chaste and elegant style; Charles Brockden the earliest American novelist„ author of " Wieland :" Richard henry Wilde, author of a "Life of Tasso ;" Chief Justice Marshall, who compiled a voluminous "Life or ry ‘Vhcaton, author of standard works on law and political economy ; Judge Story, author of several celebrated legal works ; Edgar A. Poe, a most original and strongly marked character, who wrote the poem of "Tiro Raven," and a num ber of weird nail fantastic prose stories; Margaret Fuller, a lady of remarkable acquirements, who has left behind her much admirable descriptive anti criti cal writing-; and of poets of lesser note, Robert C. Sands, author of `• Yamoyden ;" J. G. C. Brainard; Pinckney, te very graceful songwriter; P. P. Cooke, au thor of the " Froissart Ballads ;" and Mrs. Osgood, a female writer, who gave evidence of possessing a brilliant ;old in exhaustible fancy. The most eminent living authors, many of are still young, and have scarcely reached the maturity of their powers, arc Irving, Cooper, Bryant, Dana, Paulding, author of a number of humorous stories ; Miss SetIgwick, who chose for tiro objects of her fictions the early history of New England ; N. 1'. Willis, whose poems, stories, am, -ecords of travels in Europe and the East, are unsurpassed in point and brilliancy; Longfellow, the most popular poet of the country ; Ralph Waldo Emerson, the essayist :Ind poet, and the founder of a new school of philosophy ; Nathaniel Ilawthorne, author of the Lc.'ter" and the "House of the Seven Cab' e8 ;" E. P. Whi au essay ist and critic; W. Cihnore Simms, J. P. Kennedy, and Dr. Bird, all or whom have written novels relating to the early his tory of the South ; Ilalleck, the a olhor of the magnificent poem of Marco Bozza ris; Prescott, the historian, author of the "Conquest of Mexico," "Conquest of Peru," and "Lives of Ferdinand and Isabella ;" Bancroft, who is now engaged in publishing a complete history of the Coiled States ; Melville, author of " Typee," "Onwo," and " Whitejack et ;" rs. Kirkland, arrd C. P. Hoffman, both whom have admirably sketched the wild life of the West,; Whittier. a fiery and earnest poet, who strikes un hesitatingly at what he deems oppres sion • Lowell, one or tiro youngest and mo.rd, encouraging of American poets; and Donald C. Mitchell. who has lately achieved an honorable reputation as a prose writer. It is unnecessary to carry the enumeration further, since all the remaining authors are young, on I every day adds something, to their intellectual stature and relative positions.