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moved by the Revolution. That such was the case in a few instances is quite apparent; but the mass of the people did not participate in the movement. Still they were prepared for it in some degree, and a small number of authors, who early had hopes of building up a national literature, took advantage of the auspicious moment, and, by creating a style of thought entirely American, although they acted individually, succeeded in laying the foundation of a structure destined to become, at no distant period, a beautiful temple of mental delights. At first these pioneers had immense difficulties to encounter, from a want of appreciation at home and from ridicule abroad; but they accomplished their commendable and laborious undertaking, and had fairly launched American literature upon its national career at the dawn of the year 1820. By that time they had dispelled the clouds of doubt as to the capability of the American mind for achievements in literature, and to some extent diverted public thought from Europe as an exclusive source of mental supplies. Subsequent writers have taken up authorship as a profession, and in our next chapter we purpose to examine and state the progress of American literature from that time to the present.

CHAPTER IV.

SECOND AMERICAN PERIOD.

BRIEF as is our survey of American literature as set forth in the preceding chapters, enough, we conceive, has been said to exhibit the gradual advancement of Americans in this important science during the period from 1620 to 1820, or from the earliest settlements made by Englishmen in America down to the end of what we consider the first period of American national literature. The decided progress from 1770 to the last-named date, raised hopes of further achievements already fulfilled, and the era we are now about to consider will be found prolific in works of worth designed to enrich, instruct, or amuse the mind of man.

From the above date until now, American literature has made wonderful advances towards excellence, forcing itself into notice and challenging respect throughout the world. In the thirty-seven years constituting this period the expansion of mind has been commensurate with the political, social, and commercial progress of the nation; and American literature may now be regarded as having a permanent existence. No subject of human knowledge has been overlooked. Many European works have been elucidated by the fresh light of American mind. A new style of thought has been developed, new scenes have been opened to the world, and Europe is receiving compensation in kind for the intellectual treasures she heretofore sent to America.

An examination of the works of American authors who have written since 1820, shows an exemption from puerility not to be expected by those who are in the habit of forming their opinions of American literature from the criticisms which embellish most Reviews.

Great have been the achievements of American historical writers in the period under consideration. Prescott and Bancroft at once attained rank among the ablest historians of the age. Their works are among the most captivating compositions of the present century, and have added to the

character and permanency of their country's literature.

Several local histories of more or less value appeared between 1820 and 1830, together with one or more historical works of a national character. In the decade under consideration Washington Irving first essayed history; and, in 1828, published his pleasing narrative of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. The elegance with which the story of the great navigator is told, procured it immediate popularity, and encouraged the author to further exertions of the kind. Soon after he produced The Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus, written in the same delightful style; and so widely was this work read in England, that its author received three thousand guineas for it from his London publishers, who, it may be remarked, a few years before declined the Sketch Book, on the ground that it did not possess sufficient merit to insure its success as a publication.

Another work, not so meritorious however in a literary point, but historically valuable, was published in 1832. Samuel G. Drake, of New Hampshire, who had edited, in 1824, an edition of Captain Church's History of King Philip's War, produced at the period named a comprehensive Indian Biography. This was followed, in 1833, by his Book of the Indians of North America—a work exhibiting vast research as well as great familiarity with the subject. As it was the first attempt to give an impartial account of the North American Indians, without respect to any one tribe, it rises to the dignity of history; and, having passed through eleven editions, it has just claims to be ranked among standard works, notwithstanding the unambitious style in which it is written.

As early as 1826, Jared Sparks, whose name is honourably connected with American literature, began to collect the Writings of Washington, which were subsequently published, and are now so valuable as a contribution to American history; and in 1828, he published the Life of John Ledyard, the American traveller, that being the first of his American Biographies. It soon passed through several editions, was translated into German, and published both in England and Germany. Mr. Sparks by these works became a pioneer in American literature of this description; and it is to his credit, as a narrator of history, that his Biographies are mainly drawn from the writings of the persons whose lives he has written. Since he turned his attention to this branch of letters he has enriched American literature by the publication of the Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution, the Biographies (written by himself) of Gouverneur Morris, Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold, Father Marquette, De la Salle, Count Pulaski, John Ribault, and Charles Lee. And to many undertakings of great worth, may be added the Life and Works of Benjamin Franklin, published in 1840; and, in 1854, the Correspondence of the American Revolution, edited from the original manuscripts. His writings are distinguished by clearness and force, and exemption from extravagance of fancy and redundancy of words.

As a worthy companion to the Biographies by Mr. Sparks, the Life of Elbridge Gerry, one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, by

James T. Austin, published in 1828, deserves special notice. It is a very excellent book, beautifully written, and exceedingly free from exaggeration.

Before the termination of this decade, a second edition of Holme's American Annals, enlarged, with a continuation, was published; and in the same period, Flint's valuable Geography and History of the Mississippi valley appeared.

Between 1830 and 1840, some of the best historical works yet produced in the United States were written, and issued to the public. Mr. Bancroft's first volume of the History of the Colonization of the United States was published in 1834, and met with immediate success. His second and third volumes were published respectively in 1837 and in 1840. Fennimore Cooper's able Naval History of the United States was published in 1839, and however much prejudice may impugn its accuracy, no candid mind will deny its literary worth.

These masterly contributions to American literature were followed by many minor works our space will not allow us to name; and in 1843, Mr. Prescott gave to the public his accurate and elegantly written History of the Conquest of Mexico, and in 1847, his Conquest of Peru. These works at once attracted attention in Europe, and are justly esteemed among the ablest historical productions of the age. His Ferdinand and Isabella, and Philip the Second of Spain, the last published in 1856, have given durability to his fame. In fulfilment of his original design, Mr. Bancroft has brought his narrative down to a recent period; thus giving it the character of a true and comprehensive History of the United States, from the colonization to the present time, and enriching his country with a work that would honour any literature.

Washington Irving has recently employed himself upon a Life of Washington, which bids fair to be the most popular work of its kind yet written; and Mr. Motley has produced a History of the Dutch Republic, not inferior to the writings of Prescott or Bancroft. This young author has qualifications which give promise of greater eminence than he has yet achieved. Mr. Hildreth has written a meritorious History of the United States, valuable for its statements of facts and its general accuracy.

The very best History of Spanish Literature yet written is that by Mr. Ticknor. As an intellectual achievement it ranks with the best productions of our time, and is everywhere regarded by scholars as a standard authority. It was published in England in 1849, since which it has passed through one or more editions, notwithstanding its special character, and has been translated into several continental tongues.

This hasty and rather imperfect notice of several of the historical works of this period, will satisfy the most sceptical, that among living historians those of America are not inferior to the best European writers in the same branch of literature, either in respect of style, accuracy, descriptive painting, or philosophical deductions.

We have elsewhere mentioned Charles Brockden Brown as not only the first American who devoted himself to literature as a profession, but as the first American novelist. The success of his works early prompted others to attempt the same difficult path of authorship, and with what result is shown in the popularity of the writings of Cooper, Bird, Kennedy, Irving, Hoffman, and others. Cooper may justly be termed the most successful novelist

America has yet produced, his works being considered essential to every wellselected library. His first purely national novel-The Spy, a Tale of the Neutral Ground, was published in 1821, and its patriotic tone, admirable descriptions, and well-sustained narratives, obtained for it a popularity rarely equalled by a work of fiction. This was followed by the Pioneers, the Pilot, the Last of the Mohicans, and the Prairie, works which have made the name of Cooper familiar throughout the civilized world. In the Pilot he painted sea-life with a force and truthfulness never before depicted, invested his vessels with an actuality truly miraculous, and opened the ocean to the adventurous in literature. His Pioneers and Last of the Mohicans are not less remarkable for originality. They form the pillars of the literature of the forest and the prairie, and must ever please by the interest attached to their heroes.

In the period now under consideration Miss Sedgwick published several forcible novels illustrative of American life, Hope Leslie, and the Linwoods, or Sixty Years since in America, still maintaining a respectable rank among the fictions of the day. The female novel writers who have followed her are numerous, and the majority of them are extensively known in Europe. Miss Maria McIntosh has not been heralded to the world in florid language; but her captivating novels of Praise and Principle, Conquest and Self Conquest, and Charms and Counter Charms, will be read when much of the popular froth of the hour is consigned to forgetfulness. Her sensible and graphic story of the Lofty and Lowly is a picture of the life of the slave and the master in the Southern States her education qualified her to draw, and has the merit of being more truthful than any slavery novel we remember to have read. It is exempt from the stage embellishments so peculiar to the staple of its class.

A still more powerful female writer than Miss McIntosh, is Mrs. Lydia Maria Child. In the year 1824, she published a New England story, entitled Hobomok, which prompted her to further efforts in the same line, and she soon after produced a Revolutionary tale, called The Rebels. This introduces many prominent historical personages to the reader, and the nature of the work admitting of occasional speeches, the fair authoress produced one or more of great brilliancy. One of these, which she places in the mouth of the renowned James Otis, is so vigorous and ably sustained that it is often quoted as the actual production of that statesman; and, as such, has been incorporated into several popular American School Books.

Mrs. Stowe is well known to European readers. Her story of Uncle Tom's Cabin is probably the most popular fiction of the present century, and must ever mark an era in American literature. It has been so highly praised in Europe that we deem a quotation from a reviewer superfluous. Dred, her second slavery romance, did not meet with equal favour, but its literary merits probably surpass those of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Among the prominent female fiction writers of this period it is proper to mention Mrs. Kirkland, Mrs. Southworth, Miss Leslie, and the Misses Warner. The New Home and Western Clearings of the former are well known to English readers. Mrs. Southworth's Mark Sutherland has been republished in this country, Miss Leslie's Stories are familiar to many, and the Wide, Wide World, Queechy, and Dollars and Cents, by the Misses Warner, have a

popularity in Great Britain only inferior to that enjoyed by Mrs. Stowe's first successful romance.

The works of Hawthorne were slow to reach a wide-spread circulation; but their unusual merit has secured them at last a permanent place in modern literature. His Scarlet Letter, House of the Seven Gables, and Blithedale Romance, are among the most delightful compositions of the age; and so widely has this been acknowledged, that his works are as familiar now to continental readers through the medium of translations as they are to the people of Great Britain.

Among recent novels based upon foreign adventure, the Omoo, Typee, and Mardi, of Melville, possess irresistible powers of captivation. Poe's Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, evince a lofty genius, acuteness of observation and masterly skill in composition. These have a European reputation equa to Hawthorne's works. And, although Longfellow is better known in Europe as a poet than as a novelist, his Hyperion and Kavanagh fully establish his success as a writer of fiction.

W. Gilmore Simms, a southern gentleman, who has devoted himself exclusively to literature as a profession, has written several successful fictions; and it is apparent to all who may take the trouble to investigate the subject, that to his works Mrs. Stowe is largely indebted for the materials of her famous romance. His first contributions to American literature date as far back as 1825, since which period he has given to the world upwards of twenty volumes, mostly however of a miscellaneous character. His style is vigorous and flowing; and his narrative never descends to positive dulness. The Yemassee, a novel descriptive of early Carolina adventure and Indian life, is probably the best of his numerous romances, and must maintain a prominent place amongst American works of fiction.

In descriptions of domestic life among the ancients, William Ware has been eminently successful. In 1836 he published an elaborate and pleasing work of this description, entitled The Full of Palmyra, and in 1838, Probus, or Rome in the Third Century. These were soon reprinted in England, under the titles of Zenobia and Aurelian, respectively, changes indicating a dishonest motive in the publishers; but which, strangely enough, have since been adopted by Mr. Ware. As literary performances these books are not inferior to those of Mr. Lockhart of the same nature, and we believe nothing superior to them has been achieved since their publication.

Thomas S. Arthur, another writer of fiction, whose subjects are of a domestic nature, and peculiarly American, deserves mention for the moral influence his unpretending writings are now exercising among a class of readers, both on this and on the other side of the Atlantic. Many of his books have been reprinted in England, not for their extravagance of description, or appeals to passion, but on account of their moral value, and their truthfulness to nature. His Ten Nights in a Bar Room, Tired of House Keeping, and True Riches, or Wealth Without Wings, have all the beauty of Sandford and Merton, and inculcate lessons of the soundest philosophy.

Other Americans have produced excellent novels since 1820; but those mentioned are probably the representatives of their distinctive classes, and therefore further reference in detail is unnecessary.

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