to be abandoned. The affair, however, widened the breech between the author and the public, and the newspapers were not slow to present his actions to their readers in the most objectionable light. The novel entitled “Home as Found” was an outgrowth of this experience — a sequel, nominally, to “Homeward Bound,” but as different as possible in most of the qualities that go to make a successful novel. Cooper's indignation appears to have dulled his literary discrimination, and he made the characters in his novels express unpardonably offensive ideas in the most disagreeable way imaginable. Two of these characters were identified as intended to personate the author himself — John and Edward Effingham in “Home as Found” — and none of the protests and denials put forth by Mr. Cooper had any appreciable effect in removing the impression. For writing this book he was never forgiven by his contemporaries, and the bitterness of popular indignation was intensified by the knowledge that the book, like his others, was sure to be translated into all the languages of Europe. On the other hand, the brutality of the newspaper attacks upon the author was inexcusable.
During the decade ending with 1843 Cooper explored almost every available avenue to unpopularity, not only in his own country, but in England. Even such professedly exemplary and fastidious publications as Blackwood's and Frazer's magazines invented epithets in worst taste, if possible, than those applied to him in his own country. Just at this crisis, when he was denounced in England for obtrusive republicanism, and pursued at home for aristocratic sympathies, he instituted libel suits against many of the leading whig editors in the state of New York. Among these was Thurlow Weed, of the Albany “Evening Journal,” James Watson Webb, of the “Courier and Enquirer,” Horace Greeley, of the “Tribune,” and William L. Stone, of the “ Commercial Advertiser,” the three last-named journals published in New York city. These suits at first caused much merriment among the defendants; but when jury after jury was obliged, in most cases, reluctantly to return a verdict for the plaintiff, there was a decided change in the tone of the press. The damages awarded were usually small, but the aggregate was considerable, and the restraining effect of verdicts was immediately apparent. The suit against Mr. Webb differed from the rest, in that it was a criminal proceeding, under an indictment from the grand jury of Otsego county. Probably Mr. Cooper failed to secure a verdict in this instance for the reason that, while the jury might probably have assessed damages, they could not agree to send the defendant to prison. Possibly, however, the reading aloud in open court by plaintiff's counsel of “Home as Found” had an unfortunate effect. In these suits Mr. Cooper acted as his own counsel, with regular professional assistance, and proved himself an able advocate and an excellent jury-lawyer. The most pertinacious of the accused journalists was Thurlow Weed, and against him numerous distinct and successful suits were brought. Repeated adverse verdicts, with costs, at last reduced even Mr. Weed to submission, and in 1842 he published a sweeping retraction of all that he had ever printed derogatory to Cooper's character. These successful prosecutions did not in the least help the author's general popularity. Indeed, he seemed to undertake them in a spirit of knight-errantry, and follow them to the end from a lofty conviction of the righteousness of his own cause. The effect of the controversy was to embitter the last years of a life that should
have ended serenely in the assurance of a well-earned and world-wide literary fame. Cooper died, in his home, Otsego Hall, and was buried in the Episcopal church-yard. A monument has been erected there, surmounted by a statue of “Leatherstocking,” and bearing as a sufficient inscription the author's name in full, with the dates of his birth and death. Six months after his death a public meeting was held, in honor of his memory, in the city of New York. Daniel Webster presided and addressed the assembly, as did also William Cullen Bryant. Washington Irving was also present, with a large representation of the most cultivated people in the city. A few years after the novelist's death Otsego Hall was burned, and the surrounding property was sold by the heirs. In concluding a sketch of Cooper's life, it should be said that when about to die, and apparently in the full possession of his faculties, he enjoined his family never to allow the publication of an authorized account of his life. This command has been faithfully obeyed, and none of the several biographers have had access to his papers. Mrs. Cooper survived her husband only a few months, and was buried by his side at Cooperstown.
An exhaustive history of Cooper's literary work would include more than seventy titles of books and other publications, and a long list of miscellaneous articles published in magazines and newspapers. Some of these have been casually referred to in the preceding narrative, when they seemed to mark important passages in his career. Such were “Precaution,” his first venture, “The Spy,” his first success, “The Last of the Mohicans,” marking the high tide of his popularity, and “Home as Found,” as the direct cause of the unhappy final controversies. The ten years following the publication of “The Spy” saw perhaps his chief successes. These included the five famous “Leatherstocking Tales,” beginning with the “Pioneers,” of which 3,500 copies were sold before noon on the day of publication. This period also included “The Pilot,” the production of which was suggested by the appearance of Scott's “Pirate,” which, in Cooper's estimation, was unmistakably a landsman's work. Cooper's sailor instincts told him that the most had not been made out of the available materials, and he was successful, in this and his other sea-stories, in proving his theory. “Lionel Lincoln,” too, was the first of a distinctive group intended to embrace, as the title-page to the first edition indicated, “Legends of the Thirteen Republics.” After the summit of fame had been reached, and his books were eagerly awaited in two continents, came the controversial period, extending to 1842, and overlapping by a year or more the last decade of his literary activity. It was inevitable that the disturbing influences preceding his later work should have their effect. An observer so keen as he could not fail to note the position in which he had been placed by the misunderstandings and disputes that had fallen to his lot. The younger generation of readers had almost insensibly imbibed the impression that he was the justly disliked and distrusted critic of everything American. That he was conscious of this feeling, and sensitive to it, is evident from passages in the later works, in which he alludes to love of country and popular injustice, and the like. This period also saw the production of his “History of the United States Navy,” a work for which it is said he had been collecting materials for as many as fourteen years. For its preparation he was peculiarly qualified, through his personal acquaintance with naval officers and his familiarity
