The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-02-26
AMERICAN LITERATURE.
S~~~c~~N>o~O~~~~~>~~~~1~
THE DISCOURSE OF MIR. BRYANT
ON THE
LIFE AND GENIUS
JAMES FENlM0RE COOPER.
Delivered Last Night at Metropolitan Hall.
&c. &c. &c.

1t now somewhat more than year ence the friends
OF James FenmoIe Cooper in this city, planning
to give public dinner in his honor 1t intended
expression both Of the regard they bore him person
ally, and Of the pride they took In the glory his writ
ings had reflected on the American name We thought
of what We should say in his hearing in what terms
worthy Of him and of should speak Of the esee
in which held him, and of the interest felt in
fame which had already to the remotest
Of the earth inhabited by civilized man.
To day assemble for ssdder purpose to pay tothe
dead part Of the honers then intended for the v
ing We bring our Offering, but he is not here who
ehould receive 1T in his stead scsncy and silence
there eye to brighten at words and voice to
answer !" 1t is an empty office that We perform" said
Virgil In his melodous when commemorating the
virtues of the young Marcelus and bidding flowers be
strewn, with full hands, his early grave We might
apply the expression to tho present occason but would
be true In part only We longer do any thing for
him who is departed; but may do what will not BIS
without fruit to those who remain It is good occupy
thoughts with the example Of great talents in
junction with great virtues His genius has
with bin but we may learn from the history Of his life,
to employ the faculties possess with useful activity
and noble aims We may copy his msgnanimous frank
his dsdain Of ryhing which the fantest
.embance Of deceit his refusal to comply with current
abuses and the courage with which, all eccasons he
asserted what he deemed truth and combatted what he
| thought error.
bly, suited to confirm the natural hardwood and man
of his character and to call forth and gercie that
the material; afterwards WELDED and shaped by his "a
Mus His father, while an inhabtant of Burlington, in
New jersey on the pleasant banks of the Delaware
the of large possessions the borders of the
Otsego lake. in State and here, in tho newly
cleared fields, be built in 1855, the first house in
Cooperstown. To this home Cooper, who was born In
Burlington, in the year 1880 conveyed in his infancy
and here he informs US in his preface to the Pho
neer his frat impressions Of the external world were
Hrr h0 chi wit fha Sak
forest around him. stretching up the mountains that
overlook tie lake. and far beyond In region the
Indisn yet roamd and the white hunter half Indian 10
his dress and mode Of lfe sought his game region in
which the bear and the wolf yet hunted and the
panther, formidable than either lurked in the
thicketr tales Of wanderngs wilderness and
encounters with these fierce animals begued the length
the s s1 housh
sional resident Throughout his life, and here his last
years were wholly passed.
AT the age Of thirteen he was sent to Yale College
where, notwithstanding his extreme youth-for, with
the exception of the poet Hhouse he youngest
in his class ispd Hihouse afterwards withdrawn
his progress in his studies said to have been honorable
to his talents He left the college after residence Of
three yesrs, and became mdshipman In the United
yet wanderr, smopg those who fond Of literary
dote story Of the young sailor who 10 the streets of
crowd by explaining to his companions latin motto in
some public place; That during this period he made
he after wards employed to much advantage his
mances Of the sea, the finest written is common
and obvious remark but it has not been far know,
observed that from the discipline Of a reGmans life he
may have derived much Of his readiness fertility Of
invention, much Of his skill in surrounding the person
ages Of his novels with imaginary psrs and rescung
them BY probable expedients OF ali pur,uits the Ifs
Ct sailor is that which fsmiarzes to danger in
most fearful shapes most cutivates presence OF mind
and most eectuay calls forth the resources Of prompt
and fearless dexterty by which imminent evil avoided
In 1871, Cooper having resigned bis post midhip-
Of the present B.hop Of the doce.s Of western New
York and entered upon domestic life happily passed
county Of Westchester, and while here, he wrote aud
published the first OF his novels entitled "Precauioa
the ocGasn OF writing tn. Work It Is r.
Mrs. Cooper-who has within 9 short time past, be
laid in the grave beside her inustrous husband
whom we may now ray that her goodness less
eminent than his genius-he suddenly laid do the
book and .aid II believe could write better myself
Almost imme diateIy he composed a chapter Of pre-.
ectsd work OF fiction and read 1t to the friendly
judge who encouraged him to finish it, aud whsn
completed suggested its publication OF this he had,
at the time iniention but he a. length induced
to submit the manuscript to the examination Of the late
Charles Wilkes of this city In whose literary opinion,
shoud be published; and to these circumstances We
eve 1t that Cooper became an author
experiment WAS made with the first edion dsormed BY
strange punctuationa pre- fusion Of commas aud other
rauses, which puzzled and rspsled It's author many
years afterwards revised and repubhed it, correcting
this fault, and some faults OF style also, that to
casual Inspection 1t appeared amost another work. 1t
was protested delineation of English manners, though
author had then seen nothing Of English society 1t
had however the honor Of being adopted by the country
whose described and being early published
in Great Britain, passed from the first for English
novel, am not unwilling to believe what is said Of it,
that 1t contained promise Of the powers which it,
author Afterwards put forth.
Thirty years ago in the year 1891 and ia the thirty
second Of his life Cooper published the first of the works
By which b: he viii be known to =
was acknowledged by rapid sale; the public read with
eagerness, and tho critics wondered. Many withheld
their account Of defects in the plot
blemifhes in the competition arising from Of
ce and waited till they could hesr the judgment
Of European readers Yet there not wanting crit
les in this country Of whose good opinion any author in
any part OF the world be proud who spoke Of 1t in
the terms it deserved. "Are you not delighted wrote
literary friend to who has eince risen to high dis
tinction writer-both in and prcss-" you
not delighted with the spy work Of infinite spirit
ofths hold which the work had taken on the minds
| Of men. What it had Of excellence wa, peculiar
and unborowsd; Its pictures Of life, whesh, al, IN
and shadows, Immediately from living originals in
nature in his own Imagination To him, whatever he
described was true 1t made reality TO him by the
strength with which he conceived It, His power in the
deneation Of character was shown in the principal
perse mage Of his story, Harvey Birch, whom though
he has chosen to employ him in the ignebe ofiss OF
rps ard endowed him with the qualities necessary to his
profession extreme crcumspsction fertility In stra-
t8gem and the art Of coRcealipg his real char acter
Quslities which, In conjunction with seltshness and
greedines, make the scoundrei he has bestowed tic
vrtues Of geneIoeity amin ty and Intense love
Of country ld,n mot to be corrupted and disnter
estednefs beyond temptation. Out CT this combination
CT qualities he has wrought character which favor
ite in sl pko US AZ With all classes OF mankind.
raid that II You cast pesSle isto the ocean, at
the nout. Of hsrbor the vibration u AIDE in the
ter passes gradually tin 1t STRIKES the 10y barriers of
The deep at the south pole The spread Of cooper's
reputation is not confined within u!ts. The
HsIy is read 10 all the writer dialects Of Europe, and
in ste Ct these Of Asia The French immediately after
it fret appearance gave to the nultitudes Who read
their tar du,ed lar scsge aud placed 1t ong the first
works OF its cless 1t rendered into Castnn and
peeeed into lie lands Of those VINO dwell uldeI ths
btsrs OF the souihcrs Gross at length 1t passed the
eastern frontier o. Europe; and s latest record have
OF It's progress toways ABSOLUTE universally Is
tanned in ttateren. ec he 'International Megsziaeu
derived presume rom its author thst In lS7 1t
published In a Persian TRANSLATION at Ispahan Before
this time doubt not they reading it in of the
languages OF ndostan and II the Chinese trans.
lated nything it would De in the hands Of tie many
millions Who inhabt the far Cathay.
have spoken If the hesitation which Am rican cyiti
have felt In admitting the merits OF the "5pyn
count Of cru3ites in the plst the composition SONS
OF which doubt really existed An exception must
be made In favor u the Pozt Folion which notice