there was no alloy of vindictiveness or love of money in the impulses
which moved him. Criticism the most severe and unsparing he accepted as
perfectly allowable, so long as it kept within the limits of literary
judgment; but any attack upon his personal character, especially any
imputation or insinuation involving a moral stain, he would not submit to.
He appealed to the laws of the land to vindicate his reputation and punish
his assailants. Long and gallant was the warfare he maintained,--a
friendless, solitary warfare,--and all the hydra-heads of the press
hissing and ejaculating their venom upon him,--with none to stand by his
side and wish him God-speed. But he persevered, and, what is more, he
succeeded: that, is to say, he secured all the substantial fruits of
success. He vindicated the principle for which he contended: he compelled
the newspapers to keep within the pale of literary criticism; he confirmed
the saying of President Jackson, that "desperate courage makes one a
majority."

Two of his novels, "Homeward Bound" and "Home as Found," bear a strong
infusion of the feelings which led to his contest with the press. After
the publication of these, he became much interested in the well-known
Anti-Rent agitation by which the State of New York was so long shaken; and
three of his novels, "Satanstoe," "The Chainbearer," and "The Redskins,"
forming one continuous narrative, were written with reference to this
subject. Many professed novel-readers are, we suspect, repelled from these
books, partly because of this continuity of the story, and partly because
they contain a moral; but we assure them, that, if on these grounds they
pass them by, they lose both pleasure and profit. They are written with
all the vigor and spirit of his prime; they have many powerful scenes and
admirably drawn characters; the pictures of colonial life and manners in
"Satanstoe" are animated and delightful; and in all the legal and ethical
points for which the author contends he is perfectly right. In his Preface