James Fenimore Cooper

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER - 1900 - PREFACE. It is sixty years since Irving closed L Th e P. th nder with the gracious tuords They may my what they will of Cooper d e man, who wrote this book is not only a great man, but a good man. There is not a doubt of it. 8tudy of his life teach that evil tonggues need not Mig71, t fair fanza. Bryant, in, the naewaorial address delivered Jive mont78s after Coopers decith, told sim ple truth which the world now accepts. Professor Lounsbury tliirty years later den-onstrated, by critical syting of all the published evidence, t7zat in agreeing with irviltg and Bryant t7ie world is riglit. 8hortly statijhg the naost signifleant facts, yet omitting so nzuc7h relevant matter as at times to endhnger narrative contint ity, I have follozued, with the incidental aid of literary histories and the like, and with some personal help from friends, the able gzcidance of the only biographer of Cooper. My indebtedness to him is interlhed on a ntost every page of this tiny volume, for which no clail12 is made except tlhat certain hitherto unpublislhed letters, placed in my hands by icind fortune, here altd there endle Cooper to speak for hintself. W. B. S. C. BOSTON Ju, ne 23, 1900. CHRONOLOGY. 1789 September 15. James Fenimore Cooper was born at Burlington, New Jersey. 1790 October 10. His father brought his family to Cooperstown, on Otsego Lake, in the State of New York, where he built, between 1796 and 1799, Otsego Hall. 1799 Became a private pupil of the rector of St. Peters Church in Albany. 1802 Entered the freshman class at Yale College. Was dismissed from college. 1806-1807 Served for eleven months before the mast aboard the Sterliltg. 1808 Janua y 1. Receivedcommission as midshipman in the United States navy. xii CHRONOLOGY 1808 continued Served on board the Vesuvius. Was one of a party sent to Oswego, on Lake Ontario, to build the brig Oneida during the winter of 1808-1800. 1809 Was attached to the Wasp, Captain James Lawrence. December. His father died. 1810 May 9. Was granted a furlough of twelve months. 1811 January 1. Was married at Mamaroneck, Westchester County, New York, to Susan Augusta de Lancey. Dlay 6. Resigned from the navy on the expiration of his furlough. Lived with his wifes family at 3Iamaroneck. 1813-181 7 Lived for a short time at Cooperstom, afterward at Feninlore.