He had won, deservedly, a great fame,
which he proceeded to imperil by his combativeness with his
neighbors and his harsh strictures upon the national character,
due mainly to his lofty conception of the ideal America. He
continued to spin yarns of sea and shore, and to write naval
history. The tide of fashion set against him in the
eighteen-forties when Bulwer and Dickens rode into favor, but the
stouthearted old pioneer could afford to bide his time. He died
in 1851, just as Mrs. Stowe was writing "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
Two generations have passed since then, and Cooper's place in our
literature remains secure. To have written our first historical
novel, "The Spy," our first sea-story, "The Pilot," and to have
created the Leather-Stocking series, is glory enough. In his
perception of masculine character, Cooper ranks with Fielding.
His sailors, his scouts and spies, his good and bad Indians, are
as veritable human figures as Squire Western. Long Tom Coffin,
Harvey Birch, Hawk-Eye, and Chingachgook are physically and
morally true to life itself.
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