Cooper was not wholly without humor; it is sometimes found lurking in the
dialogue of Harvey Birch, and of Leatherstocking but it forms no
considerable element in his works; and if it did, it would have stood in
the way of his universal popularity; since of all qualities, it is the
most difficult to transfuse into a foreign language. Nor did the effect he
produced upon the reader depend on any grace of style which would escape a
translator of ordinary skill. With his style, it is true, he took great
pains, and in his earlier works, I am told, sometimes altered the proofs
sent from the printer so largely that they might be said to be written
over Yet he attained no special felicity, variety, or compass of
expression. His style, however, answered his purpose; it has defects, but
it is manly and clear, and stamps on the mind of the reader the impression
he desired to convey. I am not sure that some of the very defects of
Cooper's novels do not add, by a certain force of contrast, to their power
over the mind. He is long in getting at the interest of his narrative. The
progress of the plot, at first, is like that of one of his own vessels of
war, slowly, heavily, and even awkwardly working out of a harbor. We are
impatient and weary, but when the vessel is once in the open sea, and
feels the free breath of heaven in her full sheets, our delight and
admiration is all the greater at the grace, the majesty, and power with
which she divides and bears down the waves, and pursues her course, at
will, over the great waste of waters.

Such are the works so widely read, and so universally admired, in all the
zones of the globe, and by men of every kindred and every tongue; works
which have made of those who dwell in remote latitudes, wanderers in our
forests, and observers of our manners, and have inspired them with an
interest in our history. A gentleman who had returned from Europe just
before the death of Cooper, was asked what he found the people of the