James Fenimore Cooper
by
Mary E. Phillips
Part 1 out of 4
Produced by The Million Book Project and the Online Distributed
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[Illustration: JAMES FENIMORE COOPER.]
JAMES
FENIMORE COOPER
by
MARY E. PHILLIPS
[Illustration: LEATHERSTOCKING.]
New York: John Lane Company
London: John Lane: The Bodley Head
Toronto: Bell and Cockburn
MCMXIII
Copyright, 1912
By Mary E. Phillips
The University Press, Cambridge, U.S.A.
Dedicated To The Young Of
All Ages From The Years Of Ten
To Ten Times Ten
PREFACE
The intention of this simply told _personal_ life of James Fenimore
Cooper, the creator of American romance, is to have all material
_authentic_. The pictures of men, women, places and things are, as
nearly as possible, of Cooper's association with them to reproduce a
background of his time and to make the _man_--not the author--its
central foreground figure. From every available source since the
earliest mention of the author's name, both in print and out, material
for these pages has been collected. In this wide gleaning in the field
of letters--a rich harvest from able and brilliant pens--the gleaner
hereby expresses grateful appreciation of these transplanted values.
Much, precious in worth and attractive in interest, comes into these
pages from the generous and good among the relatives, friends, and
admirers of Fenimore Cooper. And more than all others, the author's
grand-nephew, the late Mr. George Pomeroy Keese, of Cooperstown, New
York, has paid rich and rare tribute to the memory of his uncle, with
whom when a boy he came in living touch. Appeals to Cooper's grandson,
James Fenimore Cooper, Esq., of Albany, New York, and also to his
publishers have been met in a spirit so gracious and their giving has
been so generous as to command the grateful service of the writer.
For rare values, in service and material, special credits are due to Mr.
George Pomeroy Keese, Cooperstown, N.Y.; James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.,
Albany, N.Y.; Mr. Francis Whiting Halsey, New York City; Mr. Edwin
Tenney Stiger, Watertown, Mass.; General James Grant Wilson, New York
City; Mr. Horace G. Wadlin, Librarian, Messrs. Otto Fleischner,
Assistant Librarian, O.A. Bierstadt, F.C. Blaisdell, and others, of the
Boston Public Library; Miss Alice Bailey Keese, Cooperstown, N.Y.; Mrs.
T. Henry Dewey, Paris, France; Mrs. Edward Emerson Waters, New York
City; and Miss Mary C. Sheridan, Boston, Mass.
Mary E. Phillips.
INTRODUCTION
A life of Cooper, written with some particular reference to the
picturesque village among the Otsego hills, where he so long lived and
in whose soil he, for some sixty years or more, has slept, has long been
needed. That such a book should have become a labor of love in the hands
of Miss Phillips is not more interesting than it is fortunate that the
task should have been accomplished so conspicuously well. Miss Phillips
has borne testimony to the resourcefulness and rare devotion with which
the late Mr. Keese assisted her in researches extending over many years.
None knew so well as he the personal side of Cooper's whole life story;
none so assiduously and so lovingly, during a long life spent in
Cooperstown, gathered and tried to preserve in their integrity every
significant and interesting detail of it.
The turning point in Cooper's life was reached when he went to
Cooperstown, although he was little more than a child in arms. Most
curious is it that his going should have resulted from the foreclosure
of a mortgage. This mortgage had been given in the late Colonial period
by George Croghan, and covered a vast tract of native forest lands in
Otsego. In these lands, through the foreclosure, Cooper's father, soon
after the Revolution, acquired a large interest, which led him to
abandon his home of ease and refinement in Burlington, New Jersey, and
found a new, and, as it proved to be, a permanent one in the unpeopled
wilderness at the foot of Otsego Lake. Except for this accident of
fortune, Leatherstocking and his companions of the forest never could
have been created by the pen of Cooper.
[Illustration: signature 'Francis W. Italsey']
ILLUSTRATIONS
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. From Appleton portrait. By permission of owner,
James Fenimore Cooper, Esq., of Albany, N.Y. _Frontispiece_
THE ENGLISH FYNAMORE COUNTRY AND FAMILY ARMS.
COOPER'S BIRTHPLACE. Burlington, N.J. From a photograph by George W.
Tichnor
THE FENIMORE BOX. (Of light and dark woods, size 12-1/2 X 6-3/4 inches.)
From photograph by permission of owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.,
Albany, N.Y.
THE SUSQUEHANNA. By W.H. Bartlett
CHINGACHGOOK ON COUNCIL ROCK. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
COUNCIL ROCK. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
THE MANOR. From outline on _first_ map of Cooperstown, 1788-1790. By
permission of owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
ORIGINAL OTSEGO HALL. From outline on 1800-1808 map of Cooperstown. By
permission of owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
JUDGE WILLIAM COOPER. By Gilbert Stuart. By permission of owner, James
Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. From a portrait by Woods, 1812
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 1800. From "St. Memim's Gallery of Portraits"
TALLEYRAND. From a portrait by F. Gerard
POINT JUDITH. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
"EDGEWATER." By courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
MR. AND MRS. GEORGE POMEROY. By the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
THE OLD STONE HOUSE. By the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
COOPERSTOWN PRIOR TO 1835. From _The Family Magazine_, 1836-1837
DR. THOMAS ELLISON. By the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
ST. PETER'S CHURCH, ALBANY, N.Y. By the courtesy of Dr. Joseph Hooper,
Durham, Conn.
STATE STREET, ALBANY, N.Y., 1802. By the courtesy of Dr. Joseph Hooper
"NEAR SHORES" OF NEW HAVEN. From an old print
DR. TIMOTHY DWIGHT. From an old print
YALE COLLEGE, 1806. By the courtesy of Professor John C. Schwab, Ph.D.,
Librarian, Yale University
WILLIAM JAY IN YOUTH. By Vanderlyn. From Bayard Tuckerman's "William
Jay," etc. By courtesy of author and publishers, Dodd, Mead & Co., N.Y.
JUDGE WILLIAM JAY. From a crayon by Martin. Dodd, Mead & Co., N.Y.
SILHOUETTE OF JAMES COOPER WHEN A STUDENT AT YALE. By the courtesy of
Professor John C. Schwab, Ph.D.
OUTWARD BOUND.
GIBRALTAR. From "_Le Monde Illustre_"
SAILOR'S SNUG HARBOR. From _Frank Leslie's Weekly_, Vol. I
OTSEGO HALL GATES. By courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
BUFFALO BURNT. From an old woodcut in Spear's "United States Navy"
THE "VESUVIUS." From "Life of Fulton," by J.F. Reigart, 1856
ONTARIO FORESTS. By W.H. Bartlett
THE THOUSAND ISLANDS. By W.H. Bartlett
THE PORT OF BUFFALO. From an old print
CAPTAIN M.T. WOOLSEY. From Spear's "United States Navy"
THE PATHFINDER. By F.O.C. Darley
A BUBBLE OF A BOAT. By F.O.C. Darley
CAPTAIN LAWRENCE. From a portrait by Chappel
THE "WASP." From an old print
FRAUNCES TAVERN. By the courtesy of Dr. Joseph Hooper, Durham, Conn.
LIEUT. GOV. JAMES DE LANCEY'S SEAL. From Vol. I, M.J. Lamb's "History of
New York City"
HEATHCOTE ARMS. From an old print
HON. CALEB HEATHCOTE. From print by V. Belch
FRAUNCES TAVERN LONG-ROOM. From "History of New York," by Mary L. Booth,
1857 BURN'S COFFEE HOUSE. From an old print
HEATHCOTE HILL. By the courtesy of J.W. Clapp, editor _Richbell Press_,
Mamaroneck, N.Y.
TANDEM. From a rare old color-print. By the courtesy of George Samuel
Tucker, Peterboro, N.H.
COOPER'S FENIMORE FARM HOUSE. By the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy
Keese
ELIZABETH FENIMORE COOPER IN THE OLD HALL HOME. By the courtesy of
Elizabeth Cooper Keese
COOPER'S ANGEVINE FARM HOME. From "Homes of American Authors." G.L.
Putnam Sons, 1853
MAMARONECK CREEK SLOOPS. From Bryant's "History of the United States"
JUDGE JOHN JAY. From print of Trumbull portrait
BEDFORD HOUSE. From an old print
BEDFORD HOUSE LIBRARY. From Vol. II, Lamb's "History of New York City"
HARVEY BIRCH'S CAVE. By courtesy of Arthur B. Maurice, author of "New
York in Fiction"
THE LOCUSTS OF COOPER'S TIME. From Lossing's "Field-Book of the War of
1812"
THE LOCUSTS OF TO-DAY. By courtesy of the owner, Lawrence Durham, Esq.
TITLE-PAGE OF THE FIRST EDITION OF "THE SPY."
ENOCH CROSBY. From "History of Westchester County, N.Y." By Spooner and
Shenard
LAFAYETTE THEATRE. From _New York Mirror_, Vol. V.
COOPER'S HEROINES. By courtesy of Rev. Ralph Birdsall and Miss Catherine
N. Duyckinck
WINDHURST'S NOOK, UNDER THE PARK THEATRE. From "History of New York
City," by Mary L. Booth, 1859
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER, 1822. From a photograph of the J.W. Jarvis
portrait. By permission of the owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.,
Albany, N.Y.
FITZ-GREENE HALLECK. From print of Inman portrait. By permission of
owner, Gen. James Grant Wilson
JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE, From "Poems"
CRO' NEST. From "Poems," by Joseph Rodman Drake
SAMUEL WOODWORTH. From a rare lithograph
THE OLD OAKEN BUCKET. By F.S. Agate
CITY HOTEL AND WASHINGTON HALL. From Vol. II, "History of New York
City," by M.J. Lamb, and from "Valentine's Manual"
EARLY BROADWAY. Old prints
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. By B. Whitechurch
COOPER'S NEW YORK CITY HOME IN BEACH STREET. By the courtesy of General
James Grant Wilson
ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL. From _The York Mirror_
OLD LEATHERSTOCKING. From "The Pioneers"
NATTY'S CAVE. From an old print
GENERAL JAMES CLINTON. From an old print
CLINTON DAM. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
"TALES FOR FIFTEEN, OR IMAGINATION AND HEART." By permission of the
owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
CHARLES WILKES. From portrait by Thos. Sully
JOHN PAUL JONES. From portrait by C.W. Peale
LONG TOM COFFIN. F.O.C. Darley
BRYANT, WEBSTER AND IRVING. From sketch by Daniel Huntington by the
courtesy of owner, Mr. Day, Boston
THE LANDING OF LAFAYETTE, 1824. From "Complete History of Lafayette,"
1825 edition
LAFAYETTE. Portrait by Sully
LAFAYETTE'S BRANDYWINE VASE. From an old print
JOB PRAY. By F.O.C. Darley
THE BURNING OF CHARLESTOWN. From an old print
WHIPPLE HOUSE, AT PROVIDENCE, R.I. From an old print
MRS. JAMES MONROE. By the courtesy of General James Grant Wilson
PRESIDENT'S HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D.C., 1825. From an old print
SUNRISE AT SOUTH MOUNTAIN. Drawn by Harry Fenn for D. Appleton and Co.,
N.Y.
GLENS FALL'S CAVERNS. From "The Hudson," by Lossing
HONORABLE MR. STANLEY. Portrait by G. Harlow, 1833
GLENS FALL. By W.H. Bartlett
LAKE GEORGE, OR "THE HORICAN." By W.H. Bartlett
THE WAGER SEAL (1 X 1-1/8 inches). By permission of the owner, James
Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
BRYANT. Portrait by Barrett
"NATTY, THE TRAPPER." By F.O.C. Darley
HENRY CLAY. From a daguerreotype, engraved by Buttre
CHANCELLOR KENT. Portrait by Chappel
THE U.S.S. "HUDSON." By W.J. Bennett
WHITEHALL WHARF, 1826. From "Valentine's Manual"
KEEP OF CARISBROOK. By J. and F. Harwood, London, 1841
HAVRE, BY NIGHT. From "Meyer's Universum"
WINDMILLS OF MONTMARTRE. From an old French print
THE CONVENT ST. MAUR.
HOTEL DE JUMIEGES. Found, verified and photographed for this Life of
Cooper by kindness of Mrs. T. Henry Dewey of Paris, France
SIR WALTER SCOTT. Portrait by G.S. Newton, 1824
MISS ANNE SCOTT. Portrait by W. Nicholson
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. After portrait by Madame de Mirbel, 1830
PIERRE JEAN DAVID D'ANGERS. Portrait by D'Aubrey. By courtesy of General
George T. Cruft
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. From a photograph of the bust by David d'Angers,
Paris, 1828. By permission of the owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
MRS. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. From a photograph of a drawing made at
Paris, 1890. By permission of James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. From a photograph of a drawing made at Paris,
1827. By permission of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
PROF. GEORGE WASHINGTON GREEN. By special permission of Mr. William Dean
Howells and Harper & Brothers
P.T. DE BERANGER. From a rare old print
TALLEYRAND. From an old engraving
DUCHESSE DE BERRI. From Soule photograph
CHARLES X of FRANCE. From Soule photograph
COOPER'S SUMMER HOME, ST. OUEN, 1827. Found, verified and photographed
by the kindness of Mrs. T. Henry Dewey, Paris, France
COOPER'S ST. OUEN TERRACE STUDY. Found, verified and photographed by the
kindness of Mrs. T. Henry Dewey, Paris, France
OLD MILL AT NEWPORT. From an old print
THE STRUGGLE. By F.O.C. Darley
THE NEWPORT BOX. By permission of the owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART. By Pickersgill
NATTY'S LAST CALL. From an old print
THE PRINCESS BARBARA VASSILIEWNA GALITZIN From print of portrait by Hein
Friedr. Fueger
LA GRANGE, COUNTRY HOME OF LAFAYETTE. From an old print
LA GRANGE ARCHWAY ENTRANCE. From "Complete History of Lafayette"
HOTEL DESSEIN, CALAIS, FRANCE. From a rare old print
CLIFFS OF DOVER. By C. Stanfield
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL CHOIR. From Soule photograph
GREEN GATE, CANTERBURY. From _Port Folio_, 1814
ST. JAMES PLACE, LONDON. From Thornbury's "Old and New London"
SIR FRANCIS CHANTREY. From _European Magazine_, 1822
SAMUEL ROGERS. Portrait by Thomas Lawrence
ROGERS' LONDON HOME. From "Bohn's Handbook of London"
ROGERS' BREAKFAST-ROOM. From _Illustrated London News_, 1857
CHARLES ROBERT LESLIE. From an old print
SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH. Portrait by Thomas Lawrence
HOLLAND HOUSE. By Stockdale
LIBRARY OF HOLLAND HOUSE. By Charles R. Leslie. Used by permission of
the British Museum. From left to right, portrait of Addison, Lord
Holland, Lady Holland, Dr. John Allen, Librarian Doggett
GILT CHAMBER OF HOLLAND HOUSE. From lithograph by Richardson
ROGERS' SEAT. From Leichenstein's "Holland House"
LORD GREY. From a portrait by Thomas Lawrence
MRS. JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART. From a portrait by W. Nicholson
JOANNA BAILLIE. From "Life and Works of J. Baillie"
SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE. From the Academy sketch, 1829
HOUSE OF THE GILLMAN'S, HIGHGATE, LONDON. From Hall's "Book of Memories"
BOOM KEY AT ROTTERDAM. From an old etching
MT. BLANC. By J.M.W. Turner
LA LORRAINE VIEW OF BERNESE ALPS. From Swiss print
NAHL'S MEMORIAL TO MADAME LANGHAN. From _European Magazine_, 1786
NARRA-MATTAH. By F.O.C. Darley
CONNECTICUT EMIGRANTS. From an old print
FALL OF THE STAUBBACH. From an old water color
THE DEVIL'S BRIDGE. By W.H. Bartlett, 1836
FERNEY, VOLTAIRE'S LAKE LEMAN HOME. From _European Magazine_, 1786
THE SIMPLON PASS. By Lory
FLORENCE, ITALY. From an old print
PALAZZO RICASOLI, FLORENCE, ITALY. From special drawing by G. Amightti.
By courtesy of Signor Agusto Ticci, Florence
HORATIO GREENOUGH. From portrait in Boston Athenaeum. By courtesy of Mr.
Charles K. Bolton, Librarian
BUST OF JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. By Horatio Greenough, in Boston Public
Library. By courtesy of the Librarian, Mr. Horace G. Wadlin, and
photographed by Arthur Pierce Truette
CHANTING CHERUBS. Detail from Raphael's Madonna del Trono
LEOPOLD II, GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY. From Ballou's "Pictorial," Vol. XVII
PITTI PALACE, FLORENCE, 1828. From water color, 1830
COUNT ST. LEU. From "_La Jeunesse de Napoleon III_" by Stefane-Pol
LETIZIA BOUNAPARTE. From color print by de Delpech
MADAME MERE. From print of drawing by Princess Charlotte, in Vol. XX,
_L'lllustration_
CHURCH OF ST. ILLARIO AND NARROW LANE. From photograph obtained by Sig.
Agusto Ticci, Florence, Italy
VILLA, ST. ILLARIO. From special photograph obtained by Mrs. T. Henry
Dewey, Paris, France
CHARIOT RACES, FLORENCE. From an old print
GENOA. By Vocher
LEGHORN. From an old etching
NAPLES. From an old water color
CASA TASSO AT SORRENTO. From _"Vita di Torquato Tasso_" by Angelo
Solerti
CASA TASSO TERRACE-STUDY. From _"Vita di Torquato Tasso_," by Angelo
Solerti
ST. PETER'S, EXTERIOR, ROME. From an old print
ST. PETER'S, INTERIOR. From an old print
ADAM MICKIEOWICZ. From the "Life of the Poet"
PORTA RIPETTA. From an old etching
ROMAN FORUM. By Sargent
PORTA DEL POPOLO. From an old print
FALLS OF MARMORA AT TERNI. From an old print
ANCONA. By S. Prout
LORETO. From an old print
SCALLA MINELLI, VENICE. From an old print
VENICE. By J.B. Pyne
PIAZZA SAN MARCO. By Chilone
PALACE OF THE DOGE. From an old print
TASSO'S WELL. Special photograph by Marjorie Elizabeth Parks
THE BRAVO. By F.O.C. Darley
GLORY OF THE ASSUMPTION. By Titian
ABSOLUTION OF ANTONIO. By F.O.C. Darley
ALT MARKET, DRESDEN. From 1830 print by permission of owner, Mayor of
Dresden, and courtesy of Herr Rudolf Drescher, Hanau-on-Main, Germany
LAFAYETTE'S PARIS HOME, RUE D'ANJOU. From special photograph obtained by
Mrs. T. Henry Dewey, Paris, France
LAFAYETTE'S BED-ROOM. From "Complete History of Lafayette"
LOUIS PHILIPPE. From "_Galerie Napoleon_"
GENERAL LAFAYETTE. From lithograph by Delpech
QUEEN MARIE AMELIE. From an old print
S.F.B. MORSE. From _L'Illustration,_ Vols. XXXI and XXXII
N.P. WILLIS. By S. Lawrence
TUILERIES GARDENS. From an old print
TENIER'S WIFE. Portrait by Tenier. From photograph of original by
permission of the owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
MRS. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER AND HER SON PAUL. From a photograph of a
painting done at Paris, 1831. By permission of owner, James Fenimore
Cooper, Esq.
THE CHILDREN OF MR. AND MRS. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. From a photograph
(given by Mr. George Pomeroy Keese) of a drawing made in Paris by Miss
Susan Cooper. By permission of owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq. From
left to right, Caroline Martha (Mrs. H.F. Phinney), Susan [unreadable]
Fenimore, Anne Charlotte, Maria Frances [unreadable] Cooper
THE ANGELUS. By J.F. Millet
EUGENE-JOSEPH VERBOECKHOVEN. From a print
PETER PAUL RUBENS. Portrait by the artist
RUBENS' COLOGNE HOME. From Fairholt's "Homes and Haunts of Artists"
CONVENT OF NUNNENWORTH. By Tombleson
WATCH TOWER ON THE RHINE. From _The Art Journal_, 1880
HEIDELBERG AND CASTLE. From 1840 print
VEVAY SHORES OF LAKE LEMAN. From _New England Magazine_
FETE DES VIGNERONS. By courtesy of Mrs. Rufus A. Kingman
NOAH'S ARK VEVAY. 1833 By courtesy of Mrs. Rufus A. Kingman
HOSPICE ST. BERNARD. By Major Cockburn
BAY OF NAPLES. By James Hakywill
NEW YORK HARBOR. By W.H. Bartlett
COOPER'S OTSEGO HALL HOME. By courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
COPY OF COOPER'S GARDEN SEAT. From photograph by A.J. Telfer
COOPER'S LIBRARY AT OTSEGO HALL. From drawing by Mr. George Pomeroy
Keese
JUDGE NELSON. From photograph by A.J. Telfer
WILD ROSE POINT OR THREE MILE POINT. From a photograph by the courtesy
of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
COOPER'S NEW YORK CITY HOME, ST. MARK'S PLACE. From a print by the
courtesy of owner, General James Grant Wilson
HORACE GREELEY. From a portrait by J.C. Buttre
PARK BENJAMIN. From a portrait by J.C. Buttre
THURLOW WEED. From a portrait by C.B. Hall
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. From a daguerreotype by Brady. By permission of
owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
COLONEL JOHN TRUMBULL. From portrait by Waldo and Jewett.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. From a Paris print
COLUMBUS' FLEET. From an old print
THE GLIMMERGLASS. From photograph by courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
OTSEGO LAKE. Inset, Leatherstocking Falls and Natty Bumppo's Cave, from
photographs by A.J. Telfer, Cooperstown, N.Y.
JESSE D. ELLIOTT'S LAKE ERIE MEDAL. From Spear's "History of the United
States Navy"
MEDAL GIVEN TO JAMES FENIMORE COOPER BY JESSE D. ELLIOTT. From
photograph by the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
ISLAND OF ELBA. From an old print
ELBA HOME OF NAPOLEON. From Abbott's "Napoleon"
BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE. From painting by W.H. Powell
COOPER'S DIAGRAM OF THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE.
COOPER'S DIAGRAM OF THE BATTLE OF "BON HOMME RICHARD" AND THE "SERAPIS."
BATTLE OF THE "BON HOMME RICHARD" AND THE "SERAPIS" By J. Rogers
STUMP EXTRACTOR. From "The Hudson," by B.J. Lossing
THE CHALET FARM. From photograph by the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy
Keese
THE ESCAPE. From "Wyandotte." By F.O.C. Darley
MISS CAROLINE ADRIANCE FOOTE, AGE 13. From a daguerreotype by the
courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
MISS ALICE TRUMBULL WORTHINGTON. From a daguerreotype by the courtesy of
owner, Mrs. Alice Worthington Synnott
LIEUT. ALEXANDER SLIDELL MACKENZIE. From Duyckwick's "Cyclopedia of
American Literature"
HELL GATE. From "Pages and Pictures," by Susan Augusta Cooper
NIAGARA FALLS. By W.H. Bartlett
JUDGE BAZIL HARRISON OF KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN. From _Hearth and Home_,
1870
HON. GERRIT SMITH. From an old print
WILLIAM BRANDFORD SHUBRICK. From Lossing's "Field-Book of the War of
1812"
CHARLES MATHEWS. From "Memorials of Charles Mathew" by Mrs. Mathews
JAMES H. HACKETT. From "Modern Standard Drama"
STEWART'S MARBLE PALACE. From an old print
MISS SUSAN AUGUSTA COOPER, ABOUT 1850. From a daguerreotype. By
permission of the owner, James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
OTSEGO LAKE PARTY IN 1840. By J.L. Pease
JOE TOM. From a photograph by the courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
NATTY'S CAVE. From an old print
OTSEGO HALL--BACK VIEW. From "Pages and Pictures," by Susan Augusta
Cooper
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. From a daguerrotype by Brady. By permission of
the owner, [unreadable] Cooper, Esq., Albany, N.Y.
THE SWEDISH NIGHTINGALE (JENNY LIND). Portrait by J.W. Orr From Soule
photograph
JENNY LIND AT CASTLE GARDEN, NEW YORK CITY, 1850. From an old print
DR. JOHN WAKEFIELD FRANCIS. From portrait by J. Goldbruam
DR. FRANCIS' HOME IN NEW YORK CITY. By Richardson
CHRIST'S CHURCH, COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
FENIMORE COOPER'S SCREEN GIFT. From a print by courtesy of Miss Alice
Bailey Keese
BISHOP WILLIAM HEATHCOTE DE LANCEY. From Scharf's "History of
Westchester County, NY"
DE LANCEY COAT OF ARMS. From "A God-Child of Washington," by Katherine
Schuyler Baxter
THE NEW HOME AND THE OLD HOME.
INDIAN HUNTER. By J.Q.A. Ward
COOPER GROUNDS. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
THE CHILDREN'S TRIBUTE. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
LAKE OTSEGO. From a photograph by A.J. Telfer
LEATHERSTOCKING FIGURE OF COOPER MEMORIAL. From a photograph by A.J.
Telfer
LEATHERSTOCKING MONUMENT. By R.E. Launitz, N.A. From a photograph by
A.J. Telfer
GEORGE POMEROY KEESE. From a photograph by permission of Mrs. George
Pomeroy Keese
BERRY POMEROY CASTLE. By courtesy of Mr. George Pomeroy Keese
Acknowledgment is due The F.A. Ringler Company of New York City and
Messrs. John Andrew and Son of Boston, Mass., for the care and interest
they have shown in making the cuts used in this volume.
[Illustration: THE ENGLISH FYNAMORE COUNTRY AND FAMILY ARMS.]
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
[Illustration: COOPER'S BIRTHPLACE, Burlington, N.J.]
The light of this world fell on James Fenimore Cooper September 15,
1789. The founder of American romance was born in a quaint, two-storied
house of stuccoed brick which now numbers 457 Main St., Burlington, New
Jersey. It was then "the last house but one as you go into the country"
and among the best of the town. In a like house next door lived the
father of the naval hero, Capt. James Lawrence. These two houses opened
directly on the street and their slanting roofs were shaded by tall
trees rooted at the curbstones. This outline of Fenimore Cooper's
birthplace is from the text-picture in "Literary Rambles," by Theodore
F. Wolfe, M.D., Ph.D. The first of his father's family in this new
country was James Cooper, who came from Stratford-on-Avon, England, in
1679. He and his wife were Quakers, and with Quaker thrift bought wide
tracts of land in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Seventy-five years after
James Cooper stepped on American soil his great-grandson William was
born, December 2, 1754, in Byberry township, Pennsylvania.
On December 12, 1775, at Burlington, New Jersey, William Cooper married
Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Fenimore, whose family came from
Oxfordshire of Old England, and, at intervals, held office in her
provinces. James, the future author and named for his grandfather
Cooper, was the eleventh of twelve children. About 1807 Cooper, by
request of his mother, said he would adopt the name of Fenimore as there
were no men of her family to continue it. The change was delayed by the
untimely death of Judge Cooper, and also to make less difficult the
settlement of his large estate. But in 1826 James Cooper applied to the
legislature for his change of name to James Cooper _Fenimore_. This
request was not granted, but the change to "James Fenimore Cooper" was
made. Cooper's comment on this outcome is a graphic record and
"suggests," says an authority, that "the legislature would do well to
assume that a petitioner, in such a case, knew better than they did what
he wanted." The hyphen, at first used, was soon dropped. And so it was
for his mother's sake that he made world-wide his fame by the name of
James _Fenimore_ Cooper.
[Illustration: THE FENIMORE BOX.]
"The Fenimore Box" is an "English measure box, curious, and centuries
old, brought over by the first of the name." It descended to Cooper from
his mother, Elizabeth Fenimore, and is now treasured as a family
heirloom by his grandson, James Fenimore Cooper of Albany, New York.
[Illustration: THE SUSQUEHANNA.]
As the first James Cooper and his wife were Quakers, perchance the same
Quaker thrift influenced William Cooper to follow the lead of George
Washington, who, two years before, in order to find out the inland
waterways of our country, came from the Mohawk Valley to the headwaters
of the Susquehanna--this stream which Fenimore Cooper called "the
crooked river to which the Atlantic herself extended an arm of welcome."
Lake Otsego--the "Glimmerglass"--William Cooper saw first in the autumn
of 1785. "Mt. Vision" was covered with a forest growth so dense that he
had to "climb a tree in order to get a view of the lake, and while up
the tree" he saw a deer come down "from the thickets and quietly drink
of its waters near Otsego Rock." "Just where the Susquehanna leaves the
Lake on its long journey to the sea" this famous Council Rock "still
shows its chin above the water and marks the spot where Deerslayer met
Chingachgook the Great Serpent of the Delawares." Now "its lake margin
belongs to a grandson of the author, who also bears his name," is a
record found in Dr. Wolfe's "Literary Haunts and Homes." In the red
man's tongue Otsego means "a place of friendly meeting" of Indian
warriors. The author of "Deerslayer" has immortalized that
lake-country in the opening chapter of this book.
[Illustration: CHINGACHGOOK ON THE COUNCIL ROCK.]
Of this visit to his future home and lands William Cooper has written:
"In 1785 I visited the rough and hilly country of Otsego. I was alone,
three hundred miles from home, without food of any kind. I caught trout
in the brook and roasted them in the ashes. My horse fed on the grass
that grew by the edge of the waters. I laid me down to sleep in my
watch-coat, nothing but the wilderness about me. In this way I explored
the country and formed my plans of future settlement. May, 1786, I
opened a sale of forty thousand acres of land, which in sixteen days
were all taken up by the poorest order of men." Here William Cooper laid
out the site of Cooperstown, which, until 1791, when it became the
county-town, was at times also called "Foot-of-the-Lake." He built a
store for his sturdy pioneers, giving credit for their simple needs of
life, and traded settlement products for them. His tenants put up log
houses, and paid rent in butter, wheat, corn, oats, maple-sugar, and
finally in pork;--so much that rentals known as "pork leases" were sold
like farms. Money was scarce in those days,--when one John Miller, and
his father, coming to the Lakeland's point of the river, felled a pine,
over which they crossed to the Cooperstown site. Its stump was marked
with white paint and called the "bridge-tree" by Fenimore Cooper. His
sister Nancy's grandson, Mr. George Pomeroy Keese, from whom much will
appear in these pages, has all there is left of that stump.
[Illustration: COUNCIL ROCK.]
In a few years the town's growth gave such promise that William Cooper
began to build his own home. It was generally known as "The Manor," but
the patent of Cooperstown was not according to law a manor. It was
finished in 1788, when a few streets were laid out and the town's first
map was made. And October 10, 1790, he brought his family and servants,
some fifteen persons, and their belongings, from Burlington New Jersey,
to this early pioneer home. Mr. Keese says that "The Manor" was of wood
with outside boarding, unplaned; that it was two stories high, had two
wings and a back building added in 1791. It first stood facing Main St.
and Otsego Lake and directly in front of the later Otsego Hall, now
marked by the Indian Hunter. In 1799 it was moved down the street, and
was burned down in 1812. In its time it was the most stately private
house for miles around. The second home, Otsego Hall, built in 1798, was
of bricks which were made at the outlet of the lake. It had seventy feet
of frontage by fifty-six of depth, and had two stories with attic and
basement. The main hall measured twenty-four by forty-eight feet and the
rooms on either side were twenty feet wide. Otsego Hall is said to have
been of the exact, generous proportions of the Van Rensselaer Manor
House at Albany, New York, where Judge Cooper was a frequent visitor.
His own Hall home on Otsego's southern shore ever had "the air and
capacity of a mansion and a history of hospitality well deserved."
[Illustration: THE MANOR.]
[Illustration: ORIGINAL OTSEGO HALL.]
[Illustration: JUDGE WILLIAM COOPER.]
To a friend William Cooper wrote: "I began life with a small capital
and a large family, and yet I have already settled more acres than any
man in America; and I trust no one can justly impute to me any act of
oppression. Your good sense and knowledge will excuse this seeming
boast." He elsewhere said that he owed his success to "a steady mind, a
sober judgment, fortitude, perseverance, and above all, common sense."
And here he lived as a wise and kind landlord among his people. For nine
years he was First Judge of the County Court of Common Pleas, and he
served two terms in Congress. Of Judge William Cooper there are three
portraits,--Gilbert Stuart's of 1797-98, Trumbull's of 1806, and one by
an unknown artist. His kindly gray eye, robust figure, and firm
expression bear out the story of his life as told by these portraits.
James Fenimore Cooper, in a letter to his wife, dated Canajoharie, 1834,
wrote of his father: "I have been up to the ravine to the old Frey
house. It recalled my noble-looking, warmhearted, witty father, with his
deep laugh, sweet voice, and fine, rich eye, as he used to light the way
with his anecdotes and fun. Old Frey, with his little black peepers,
pipe, hearty laugh, broken English, and warm welcome, was in the
background. I went to the very spot where one of the old man's slaves
amused Sam and myself with an imitation of a turkey that no artist has
ever yet been able to supplant in my memory." This Heindrick Frey was a
noted character of the Mohawk Valley over one hundred years ago.
It was, however, to the first home on Otsego's shore that the future
creator of American romance was brought when a babe some thirteen months
old. Here, in the heart of the wilderness, his infancy was passed.
Otsego Hall sheltered his budding boyhood and young manhood. Grace and
refinement dwelt within the household; without, voices of the forest
awakened and nurtured his naturally active mind, which later on was not
less influenced by the mysteries of the sea. The Six Nations were yet a
power in the Mohawk Valley, then the highway to the land of the setting
sun beyond. And they are now remembered in the names of the principal
lakes and streams of the country that once was theirs. The boy was
face-to-face with the "grim warriors, braves, and chieftains that the
man, Fenimore Cooper, translated into his pages, with a touch true to
the red man's life," his instinct in trading, his friendly and hostile
intent. Here Nature was his first and unforgettable teacher. From "Pages
and Pictures," by his daughter, Susan Fenimore Cooper, much will be
given in this book. Miss Cooper has drawn some pretty pen-pictures of
her father's child-life. She writes: "From the first bow and arrow, kite
and ball, to later feats in fishing, riding, shooting, and skating, all
were connected with his highland home." He was "healthy and active; a
brave, blithe-hearted, impetuous, most generous and upright boy." Of his
childhood another record is: "A gray-eyed, light-haired, ruddy boy,
nimble as a deer and gay as a bird; on the lake, plying his oar lustily
or trimming his sail to the mountain breeze; and whenever he found a
wave high enough to lift his little boat, his veins would thrill with a
strange delight, and he would ask himself whether this was like those
ocean waves of which he had heard such wonders." The little lad's next
step in learning was taken under the gentle rule of his elder sister,
Hannah, who had her schooling in New York City, and afterwards improved
her leisure by extensive reading. She was a model of domestic virtues
and was greatly beloved, especially by the poor, to whom she was ever an
angel of mercy. She often went with her father on his official visits to
the seat of government, and when, in 1800, at the age of twenty-three
years, she lost her life by a fall from her horse, her early death was
widely and deeply mourned. Her memory was always cherished with peculiar
tenderness by her brother James, the special charge of her loving care.
[Illustration: GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.]
A letter, written by him in 1841 to his old "messmate," Commodore
Shubrick, reveals no wane of Cooper's love for and pride in this sister,
and his letter's "political discovery" reveals that Miss Cooper's
attractions were as fully appreciated by the eminent of her own country
as by those of foreign shores. So comes into these pages a youthful,
slender romance of the later hero of Tippecanoe and still later
President of the United States.
[Illustration: WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 1800.]
OTSEGO HALL, COOPERSTOWN, February, 28, 1841.
I have made a great political discovery lately, which must not go
any further than Mrs. Shubrick and Mary. In 1799, when Congress sat
in Philadelphia, my father was a member, as was also General
Harrison. You know I had a sister killed by a fall from a horse in
1800. This sister passed the Winter in Philadelphia with my
father. Miss Anne Cooper [the author's daughter] was lately in
Philadelphia, where she met Mr. Thomas Biddle, who asked if our
family were not Harrison men. The reason of so singular a question
was asked, and Mr. Biddle answered that in 1799 Mr. Harrison was
dying with love for Miss Cooper, that he (Mr. Biddle) was his
confidant, and that he _thinks_ but does not _know_ that he was
refused. If not refused it was because he was not encouraged to
propose, so you see I stand on high grounds and am ready to serve
you on occasion. Don't let this go any further, however. I confess
to think all the better of the General for this discovery, for it
shows that he had forty years ago both taste and judgment in a
matter in which men so often fail. Mary will open her eyes at this
somewhat wider than ever, but she must not open her mouth until she
gives her allegiance to him who will know all her thoughts. With
best regards
_Yours as ever_,
J. FENIMORE COOPER.
NOTE.--Later light on the subject reveals Mr. Harrison's "dying of
love" as a hearty admiration and esteem for the rare grace and
charm of character, mind, and person possessed by Judge Cooper's
young daughter.
[Illustration: TALLEYRAND.]
During 1795 many distinguished exiles came to this new-country home, and
among those who found their way to Otsego Hall was the Marquis de
Talleyrand, who was pleased to write an acrostic on Miss Cooper, then
seventeen. The famous Frenchman's record, in part, of this visit was
"_Otsego n'est pas gai_." Compared to the France of Talleyrand's day
this record was true. The _Otsego Herald's_ motto of that time was
Historic truth our _Herald_ shall proclaim, The Law our guide, the
public good our aim.
In its issue of October 2, 1795, appeared the celebrated diplomat's
Acrostic.
Aimable philosophe au printemps de son age,
Ni les temps, ni les lieus n'alterent son esprit;
Ne cedent qu' a ses gouts simples et son etalage,
Au milieu des deserts, elle lit, pense, ecrit.
Cultivez, belle Anna, votre gout pour l'etude;
On ne saurait ici mieux employer son temps;
Otsego n'est pas gai--mais, tout est habitude;
Paris vous deplairait fort au premier moment;
Et qui jouit de soi dans une solitude,
Rentrant au monde, est sur d'en faire I'ornement.
In affectionate remembrance of Miss Cooper the hill just northwest of
Cooperstown was named for her, and "Hannah's Hill" commands one of the
town's finest views. In the quiet shades of Christ's Church yard "belle
Anna" rests beneath a slab bearing some lines by her father, but not her
name.
The August before this sad event Judge Cooper gave the first of the many
"lake parties" that floated over Otsego--"which no waters can rival." In
the fairness of her youth Miss Hannah was there with her little sister,
later Mrs. Pomeroy; and also, among the gay "five and twenty friends
from Philadelphia," were their brothers. Indian canoes and flat-bottomed
skiffs conveyed them to the eastern shore, where, at Two-Mile Point, a
frightened fawn, startled from its forest home by the dogs of Shipman
the hunter,--who later outlined "Leatherstocking,"--darted from the
leafy thicket and plunged into the lake. At once all were in motion to
rescue the little creature now swimming for life. It was successfully
brought to land and became a great pet with Judge Cooper's children; but
one day, frightened by strange, fierce dogs, it bounded into the forest
depths for refuge, and never returned.
The centennial anniversary of this first picnic was celebrated by the
third and fourth generation of Judge Cooper's descendants, who met at
Point Judith to honor the occasion. Of the verses written by Mr. George
Pomeroy Keese concerning this event two are:
[Illustration: POINT JUDITH.]
And one hundred years have come and gone
Since our country then was new,
And now we keep in memory dear
Our love for the good and true.
To one who came to his forest home
And gave to our village its name;
To the son, the touch of whose magic pen
Has lifted to world-wide fame.
In this summer of 1800 Richard, Judge Cooper's eldest son, built his
house of frame on "Apple Hill." It was the second villa-like home in the
village. Its site, now known as "Fernleigh," is the country-seat of
Stephen Clark, Esq. "Edgewater," overlooking Lake Otsego, is the land
that, after Judge Cooper's death in 1809, fell to his son Isaac. Here,
the following year, Isaac Cooper built his home of brick. Later, it
changed in form, use, and ownership, but again became a family
possession through the marriage of Mr. Theodore Keese with the daughter
of George Pomeroy and Ann Cooper. Renewing in all ways the charm and
grace of its early days, "Edgewater," as the home of Mr. George Pomeroy
Keese, the grandson of Fenimore Cooper's youngest sister Ann, commands
at the foot of the lake its length, breadth, beauty, and inspiration.
[Illustration: "EDGEWATER."]
The old stone house, known as the "Deacon Pomeroy's place," that stood
at the corner of Main and River streets, gives--in a quaint gable--an
enduring record of romance in this sister Ann's young-life. It was
built of stone in the peculiar herring-bone style by Judge William
Cooper for a wedding gift to his only living daughter, Ann, when she
married George Pomeroy, grandson of Gen. Seth Pomeroy and lineal
descendant of that Sir Ralph de Pomeroy who came to England with William
the Conqueror. In this quaint gable appear the intertwined letters
G.A.P.C.--the initials of the bridegroom and bride,--with the date 1804
beneath.
[Illustration: MR. AND MRS. GEORGE POMEROY.]
The Cooper room of this old stone house, now the home of Mrs. Benedict,
a granddaughter, shelters family portraits from William Cooper's time
down to the present day--five generations. What stories might it not
tell of the attractive originals? Many were the letters that Fenimore
Cooper wrote from Europe to this sister, Mrs. George Pomeroy, of the
old stone house.
Mrs. Benedict has also placed there many souvenirs of her sister,
Constance Fenimore Woolson, gathered during-her long residence in
Europe, including the author's writing-table and her chair.
[Illustration: THE OLD STONE HOUSE.]
"Master Oliver Cory kept the village school" in those child-days of
Fenimore Cooper, and long after. "He was well qualified for that post;
laborious, upright, firm, yet patient and kindly by nature. His
training of the boys was excellent. Saturdays were given to religious
lessons, and he paid careful but quiet attention to their morals and
manners." From his sister Hannah's teaching Judge Cooper's youngest son
went to Master Cory's school. It was kept in "one of those tasteless
buildings that afflict all new countries," and here was called the
"Academy." It served Cooperstown in timely ways for religious and
political meetings; public courts were held here, and a ball was given
now and then under its roof. As to the school, time and incident brought
out a taste for music in the pupils of Master Cory. It seems that Judge
Cooper had brought from Philadelphia a large upright organ of imposing
appearance and power, which he placed in his manor-house hall. Its
arrival in the village made a summer's sensation. When put up and
adjusted, a rehearsal of country dances, reels, and more serious music
came floating through the broad door and ample windows of Otsego Hall
into Master Cory's domain, the Academy, which stood in the adjoining
street. As, with magic effect the strains of "Hail Columbia" poured into
the schoolroom, Master Cory skilfully met a moment of open rebellion
with these words: "Boys, that organ is a remarkable instrument. You
never heard the like of it before. I give you half an hour's
intermission. Go into the street and listen to the music!"
[Illustration: COOPERSTOWN PRIOR TO 1835.]
These "Academy boys" were ambitious; each annual exhibition was crowded,
to listen to the speeches "of Coriolanus, Iago, Brutus, and Cassius" by
"raw lads from the village and adjoining farms," in all the bravery of
local militia uniform--blue coats "faced with red, matross swords, and
hats of '76." On such an occasion James Cooper, then a child of eight
years, became the pride and admiration of Master Cory for his moving
recitation of the "Beggar's Petition"--acting the part of an old man
wrapped in a faded cloak and leaning over his staff. It is recorded that
James had the fine, healthy pie-appetite usual to his age, for, says the
record, when his eldest brother "was showing the sights of New York to
the youngest, he took him to a pasty-shop, and, after watching the boy
eat pasty after pasty, said to him: 'Jim, eat all you want, but remember
that each one costs the old man a lot.'" Pasty then outbalanced property
for "Jim."
In due time the lad outgrew the Academy's instruction, but from boy
to-man he never outgrew Master Cory's affection, nor his own for the
dear home scenes on the shores of the "Haunted Lake," which he was so
soon to leave for his first important schooling. The books he wrote
later tell how he never forgot the howl of the wolf across the icy field
of Otsego on cold winter nights, the peculiar wail of the sharp-toothed
panther in the quiet wood roads, nor the familiar springs where the deer
lingered latest. One autumn day, while still a pupil under Master Cory's
charge, the future author of "The Pioneers" was at play in his father's
garden, when suddenly he was surprised by a deer which came leaping over
the fence from the street, almost brushing his face as it bounded away
into the pine woods at the back of the house. This incident he often
related to his children.
It was not long before this youngest son was sent from home. The
eventful journey to Albany was made in the care of a near and worthy
farmer, "who was carrying toward the Hudson a load of wheat from the
fields of Otsego." They went over the fine turnpike,--the great highway
of that day,--"just finished from the Hudson to Cherry Valley." The
child had heard much of this wonder of roads from the gentlemen at his
father's table who were interested in it, and he was eager to see its
toll-gates and stone bridges. After leaving "the corduroy tracks"
leading to it from Cooperstown, the famous turnpike burst upon the
gratified schoolboy's vision. As they trotted slowly along the farmer
pointed out, among-other marvels of the way, "a tavern for every mile"
of the sixty between Albany and Lake Otsego. A long-train of farmers'
wagons, filled with the precious wheat, was slowly rolling eastward,
passing-emigrant wagons of "growing families" and household gear moving
westward to the great lake countries. All this delighted the boy of
nine, who was finally set down at the door of St. Peter's Rectory at
Albany, New York. Here for four years he became one of the four young
pupils of the Rev. Thomas Ellison, rector of the church. Dr. Ellison was
an Englishman and a graduate of Oxford--a rare scholar and a king's man.
From him came Cooper's strong preference for English church government
and equally strong feeling against the Puritans of Old and New England.
While the Puritan's character was not pleasing to Cooper, he himself
was called a "Puritan of Puritans," and it was to them he referred in
the following: "Whatever else I may think of the Yankees,--a calmer,
firmer, braver people do not walk this earth." Of this sentiment "The
Wept of Wish-ton-Wish," published in 1829, gives ample proof.
[Illustration: DR. THOMAS ELLISON.]
The Rev. Joseph Hooper, author of the "History of St. Peter's Church,
Albany, N.Y.," related an incident of Cooper's old Rectory school days
there. The story came to Dr. Hooper from Mr. Edward Floyd de Lancy, son
of Bishop de Lancy of Western New York, and is as follows:
It was the custom of the Rev. Thomas Ellison when he became too feeble
to personally direct his workmen, to sit upon the stoop of the Rectory
and watch the removal of the sandbank which covered the chosen site for
the new church, corner of State and Lodge streets. Hundreds of loads had
to be carted away before the foundation could be laid, and some of the
carter's pay tickets on quartered playing-cards are preserved in St.
Peter's archives. But the great hole in the ground had a great
attraction for the boys of Albany, and they would leap into it to play
tag and leap-frog until the stern voice of the Dominie called them to
order, when they would scamper away or hide in some corner out of sight
of the piercing eyes of Dr. Ellison. Sometimes they would answer him
mockingly, to his great annoyance. He could not pursue them, but he
could, when his own pupils joined with the other boys, as they often
did, give them stern and severe lectures upon their conduct, for they
were playing on ground to be used for a sacred purpose. Even the rod of
correction was used without curing them of this habit. Young Cooper was
often a ringleader, and their pranks would often continue until darkness
concealed them from the watchful and angry Rector, to whom,
nevertheless, they gave due honor and respect.
[Illustration: ST. PETER'S CHURCH, ALBANY, N.Y.]
[Illustration: STATE STREET, ALBANY, N.Y., 1802.]
From one of his "Sketches of England," written to William, Judge John
Jay's second son, comes, in part, Cooper's graphic description of Dr.
Ellison: "Thirty-six years ago you and I were school fellows and
classmates in the home of a clergyman of the true English school. This
man entertained a most profound reverence for the King and the nobility;
was not backward in expressing his contempt for all classes of
dissenters and all ungentlemanly sects; was particularly severe on the
immoralities of the French Revolution, and, though eating our bread, was
not especially lenient to our own; compelled you and me to begin Virgil
with the eclogues, and Cicero with the knotty phrases that open the
oration in favor of the poet Archias, because these writers would not
have placed them first in the books if they did not intend people to
read them first; spent his money freely and sometimes that of other
people; was particularly tenacious of the ritual and of all decencies of
the Church; detested a democrat as he did the devil; cracked his jokes
daily about Mr. Jefferson, never failing to place his libertinism in
strong relief against the approved morals of George III., of several
passages in whose history it is charitable to suppose he was ignorant;
prayed fervently on Sunday; decried all morals, institutions, churches,
manners but those of England from Monday to Saturday."
The lad from Otsego soon became a prime favorite with his tutor, who
took pleasure in teaching him. The old-fashioned, heroic romances were a
rare delight to him,--a taste which was thought to come from his mother,
who was very fond of such reading. One vacation, at about the age of
eleven, he and a playmate lost themselves in the exciting interest of
such a tale; "Don Belianus of Greece" made so deep an impression on
Cooper that after reading it he said seriously to his playfellow that he
would write a book himself, and would "begin it at once." And, like "Don
Belianus of Greece," this story was to have "knights, and squires, and
horses, and ladies, and castles and banners." With the glory of his
story in mind, the boy had utterly forgotten his hearty dislike of
pen-work at school. But his active brain soon put to flight this
hobgoblin; he thought of the bit of a blue newspaper--the _Otsego
Herald_--printed in Cooperstown by the father of his comrade. So they
planned to use the resting-time of the press for the printing of this
new book, of which, however, only a few chapters were put in type. The
new author soon wearied of his work; but none the less it was the first
step in his future literary career.
During 1801 a man near fifty, cleanly clad in sailor's gear but without
stockings or neckcloth, appeared before Judge Cooper and asked if the
lot between Fenimore and the village was for sale. The answer was, "Yes,
but the price is high," and naming it, the stranger requested that a
deed be made out at once; he counted down the amount in gold, and gave
his name as Esaias Hausman. He had built for himself a small rude house
on this lot and lived alone in it for years. The secrets of his former
life, his wide learning (once found teaching a college president
Hebrew), and disappearance at times, were never solved. Only his death
revealed a purse of gold worn between his shoulder-blades. There was no
will, so to public sale went the little hut and its lake-shore lot. This
man of mystery made a deep impression on Cooper's boy-mind, and later,
in 1838, was the subject of several pages of the author's "Chronicles of
Cooperstown." Then there was James Allen,--a Scotch master-mason,--who
came his way from the "Land o' Cakes" in 1801, and found, as an
employee of Judge Cooper, an opening for his trade, and soon became a
great favorite with the Cooper boys. This master-mason took great pride
in exact work, with which no trifling was permitted. No stone could be
moved but his true eye would detect it in a flash, and wild was the fury
with which his fiery trowel flew for the culprit, and with such
convincing force that it was wise to avoid further meddling with the
"gude mon's" work. Of "Jamie Allen," master-mason and staunch _auld
kirke mon_, many an amusing story is told in Fenimore Cooper's
"Wyandotte, or the Hutted Knoll," written in 1843. These men among
others marked the unusual in Cooper's vacations from Dr. Ellison's
school-rule at Albany. Later in life he wrote a lively memory-sketch of
his tutor, the rector of St. Peter's Church. But the death in 1802 of
this accomplished gentleman sent his pupil--then a stripling of
thirteen--to Yale. He entered the freshman 1802-3 January-term class,
and, "excepting the poet Hillhouse, two weeks his junior, James Cooper
was the youngest student in college." There "his progress in his studies
is said to have been honorable to his talents." And "in the ancient
languages he had no superior in his class."
[Illustration: "NEAR SHORES" OF NEW HAVEN.]
Cooper owned to having learned little at college. When left to his own
bent, his early love for out-of-door life drew him to roam the hills and
explore near shores, and to his first view of the grand old ocean, which
later claimed his tribute of service. For a boyish frolic in his junior
year the lad left Yale, and this incident ended his college career. It
is of record that Judge Cooper took the boy's part against the faculty
version and brought his son home. Yet something from his books James
Cooper must have gleaned, for there is a story of a young sailor who, in
some public place in the streets of an English port, attracted the
curiosity of the crowd by explaining to his companions the meaning of a
Latin motto.
[Illustration: DR. TIMOTHY DWIGHT.]
[Illustration: YALE COLLEGE, 1806.]
[Illustration: WILLIAM JAY IN YOUTH.]
The Albany, school-boy days of William Jay and James Cooper were renewed
at Yale where was welded their strong life-friendship. On the college
roll of their time appear amongst other names that of John C. Calhoun of
South Carolina, and the scholarly poet Hillhouse of New Haven. In the
Dodd, Mead & Company's 1892 issue of "William Jay and the Constitutional
Movement for the Abolition of Slavery," by Bayard Tuckerman, with a
preface, by John Jay, appears a letter dating 1852, written by Judge
William Jay to his grandson. This letter gives graphic glimpses of
Yale College life during the student days there of its writer and James
Cooper: "The resident graduates were denominated 'Sirs'; their place in
Chapel was called 'the Sirs pew'; and when spoken of in college 'Sir'
was always placed before their names. At that time the freshmen
occupied, in part, the place of sizers in the English universities, and
they were required to run errands for the seniors. My room-mate was Sir
Holly (Dr. Horace Holly). As a mere freshman, I looked up to my
room-mate with great respect, and treated him accordingly. About half
past five in winter, the bell summoned us from our beds,--I rose,
generally, before six,--made the fire, and then went, pitcher in hand,
often wading through snow, for water for Sir Holly and myself. Of the
college bell," the letter continues: "at six it called us to prayers in
the chapel. We next repaired to the recitation-rooms and recited, by
candlelight, the lessons we had studied the preceding evening. At eight
we had breakfast,--our meals were taken in a large hall with a kitchen
opening into it. The students were arranged at tables according to their
classes. All sat on wooden benches, not excepting the tutors; the
latter had a table to themselves on an elevated platform whence they
had a view of the whole company. But it was rather difficult for them to
attend to their plates and to watch two hundred boys at the same time.
Salt beef once a day, and dry cod were perhaps the most usual dishes. On
Sunday mornings, during the winter, our breakfast-tables were graced
with large tin milk-cans filled with stewed oysters; at the proper
season we were occasionally treated with green peas. As you may suppose,
a goodly number of waiters were needed in the hall. These were all
students, and many of them among the best and most esteemed scholars. At
nine the bell warned us to our rooms. At twelve it called us to a
recitation or a lecture. After dinner we recommenced our studies for the
third time, at four o'clock. During study hours the tutors would
frequently go the rounds, looking into our rooms to see that we were not
playing truant. Before supper, we all attended prayers in the chapel."
[Illustration: SILHOUETTE OF JAMES COOPER WHEN A STUDENT AT YALE.]
Although, from the necessity of his times, Chief-Justice John Jay was a
slave owner, his son, William--refined, benevolent, pleasing in manner,
but with a temper easily aroused by injustice--became an early, alert,
and strong advocate of the anti-slavery cause. This eminent jurist who
built his life upon the plan of his words, "Duties are ours and
consequences are God's" (as did also Cooper), was graphically addressed
and described by Cooper as "Thou most pugnacious man of peace."
[Illustration: OUTWARD BOUND.]
Leaving Yale to the more studious, no doubt the young man enjoyed this
brief period of home-life and the distinguished guests drawn by its
hospitality to Otsego Hall. Yet even this could not for long hold him
there. Perhaps he was influenced by what he heard from them of the great
outside world, and he, too, wished to see what it was like. As a
stepping-stone to a commission in the navy, Judge Cooper secured a berth
for his son, who shipped as a sailor before-the-mast in the _Stirling_,
of Wiscasset, Maine, John Johnston master and part owner. In the care of
a merchant, young Cooper went down to the docks to look about the ship
and sign the articles, and the next day he returned in his sailor's
garb. The _Stirling_ was taken into the stream, and his new comrades, a
mixture of nations,--four Americans, a Portuguese, a Spaniard, a
Prussian, a Dane, an Englishman, a Scotch boy, and a Canadian,--tumbled
aboard, not quite themselves; but by night they were in working trim.
The young commander was described as "kind and considerate of all
hands," and the ship as "carrying a motley crew." When "all hands" were
called to get the _Stirling_ under way, Cooper, with another boy, was
sent aloft to loose the foretopsail. With eager will he tugged stoutly
at "the robbins," when the second mate appeared just in time to prevent
him from dropping his part of the sail into the top. The good-hearted
mate had a kindly mind for the "new hand," and the men were too busy to
notice small failures aloft. Young Cooper soon found an old salt who
taught him to knot and splice with the best of them, and old Barnstable
was repaid for these lessons by the merry times they had together when
they got ashore. However, with her cargo of flour, the _Stirling_ sailed
from New York in the autumn of 1806 for the English market at Cowes, and
therefore when Cooper should have been taking his class degree at Yale,
he was outward bound on the sea's highway. Being to the manor born did
not admit the sailor before-the-mast to the captain's cabin, but no
doubt the long, rough voyage of forty stormy days did make of the young
man a jolly tar. Through her usual veil of fog came Cooper's first view
of Old England when threatened with Napoleon's invasion. Forty-odd sail
of warships were sighted by the night-watch when the _Stirling_ passed
the straits of Dover at daybreak. They gave the young man an
object-lesson that he never forgot, in the watchfulness and naval power
of Great Britain. The _Stirling_ had but dropped anchor in English
waters when she was boarded by a British man-of-war's boat-crew, and one
of her best hands was forced into the English navy service, and another
sailor barely escaped, he having satisfactory papers. At London a third
hand was lost, and Captain Johnston himself was seized by a press-gang.
[Illustration: GIBRALTAR.]
Finally, in round-jacket and tarpaulin, the future guest of Samuel
Rogers and Holland House, planted his feet on British soil. At London he
saw about everything a gay young fellow of seventeen in sailor's gear
could, of that wonderful city,--or so thought Ned Myers, one of his
shipmates, who was with him most of the time. Concerning these jaunts
Myers says: "I had one or two cruises of a Sunday in the tow of Cooper,
who soon became a branch pilot in those waters about the parks and the
West End, the Monument, St. Paul's and the lions; Cooper took a look at
the arsenal, jewels, and armory [Tower of London]. He had a rum time of
it in his sailor's rig; hoisted in a wonderful lot of gibberish." And
with his fine stories of each day's sights in old London town, the young
sailor would make merry evenings for his forecastle comrades, of whom
it is recorded his strength could lay flat on their backs in two
minutes.
In January the _Stirling_ spread her sails for another stormy
passage,--to the straits of Gibraltar. On running out, the ship was
boarded by a gun-boat officer, who tried to press a Swede; whereupon,
young Cooper thinking it an insult to our flag, began high words with
the Englishman, but was soon silenced by Captain Johnston. The
_Stirling_ met with various stirring adventures, being chased by a
Bay-of-Biscay pirate and rescued by the timely appearance of a British
cruiser. It was thick westerly weather when they ran into the straits,
and as the English fleet was off Cape Trafalgar, Captain Johnston
realized the danger of being run down in the night, and came on deck
during the middle watch for a sharp lookout on the forecastle. Night
orders were given when came the warning, "Sail ho!" and through the
mists and shadows was seen dimly a two-decker bearing directly clown
upon them. The Captain ordered the helm "hard up!" and called Cooper to
"bring a light." With a leap he rushed to the cabin, seized the light,
and in half a minute it was swinging from the mizzen rigging, his
promptness saving the ship. So near were the two vessels that the deck
officer's voice was distinctly heard calling his quarter-master to "port
the helm." As the great mass swept by them she seemed about to crush
their railing with the muzzle of her guns.
While the _Stirling_ was lying off the old Moorish town of Almaria,
Cooper and others were sent ashore in a jolly-boat to boil pitch. To
return to the ship they put off in a heavy sea, knowing it would be
difficult to work through the surf; but orders were orders, and delay
would not help. So off they plunged, when suddenly a breaker "took the
bow of the boat, and lifting her almost on end, turned her keel
uppermost." All hands got safely ashore--how, none could tell. A second
launching resulted as the first, but with a third they succeeded in
forging their way out, and boarded the ship. Later they ran short of
provisions. But the _Stirling's_ return cargo was brought back safely to
London, where the ship lay at anchor for two months or more, and then
sailed in July for America. After a voyage of fifty-two days she dropped
anchor at Philadelphia, September 18, 1807. So much for this good ship
named for Stirling Castle of Bonnie Scotland.
Such were the lessons young Cooper learned in this rough but manly
school. A brother officer who knew him well said, "He was active,
prompt, and efficient, a pleasant shipmate, always ready to do his duty,
and rigorous too in exacting it of others." Of Cooper's "Naval History"
was added, "It is the noblest tribute ever paid to a noble profession."
Aboard the _Stirling_ on these several cruises Cooper learned much that
afterwards appeared in his sea tales. It was of this sea-service that he
wrote, "I have been myself one of eleven hands, officers included, to
navigate a ship of three hundred tons across the Atlantic Ocean; and,
what is more, we often reefed topsails with the watch." Of the
_Stirling_ he wrote, "The ship was on a bow-line most of the time"; and
he thought her "one of the wettest ships that ever floated when heading
tip against the sea." A lively account of this eleven months' service is
found in Cooper's story of "Ned Myers." This life of his shipmate aboard
the _Stirling_ was written in 1843. The old salt was a battered hulk in
the "Sailor's Snug Harbor" when Cooper was on the crest of the wave of
his literary fame, and the old sailor, wondering if this Cooper could be
the comrade of his youth in the _Stirling_ days of yore, wrote, after
the twenty-five years of separation, to inquire. The answer was, "I am
your old shipmate, Ned." Later, "Ned" was invited to visit the Hall.
Many remember the interesting two in 1843. "Hardly a day passed that
they were not seen, as the heavy Hall gates swung open at eleven
o'clock, coming out for a morning walk or a sail on the lake;--Cooper's
portly form, and by his side a shriveled figure with halting step,
leaning heavily on a crooked stick which served for a cane. They were as
strong in contrast as it was possible for men to be." It was during this
visit that the old sailor spun his life-yarn in his own way and Cooper
wove it into his book, "Ned Myers."
[Illustration: SAILOR'S SNUG HARBOR.]
Perhaps the following interesting Cooperstown story of Cooper's youth
is of the time of his return from his _Stirling_ voyage. One day a merry
group of young men proposed a footrace, the course to be around the
square--a distance of about one hundred yards. James Cooper was named as
one of the runners, and his rival was soon chosen. According to custom,
the village boys, girls, men, and women were spectators. Like a
mettlesome steed in curb young Cooper looked at the wager,--a basket of
fruit,--then at his race-mate, and accepted the challenge, but not on
even terms. It was not enough for a sailor simply to outrun a landsman;
he could do more. A little girl stood near, her bright face eager with
watching for the fray. Cooper turned quickly and caught her up in his
arms, and with the pride and muscle of an athlete exclaimed, "I'll carry
her with me and beat you!" Away they flew, Cooper with his laughing
burden upon his shoulders; one corner was turned, and the excited crowd
saw with surprise James Cooper with his small rider keeping pace with
the other flying youth. Another, and the other corners were soon passed;
both sprang like race-horses near the end of the course, but Cooper,
with his little black-eyed girl aloft and the perspiration pouring down
his manly brow and cheeks, was the first to reach the mark, and amidst
such cheers and hurrahs as only pioneers can freely give, and as freely
enjoy. The fruit he had won, but soon it was shared by all around. That
little girl, later the wife of Captain William Wilson, often told the
story of her ride on pleasant James Cooper's shoulders.
[Illustration: OTSEGO HALL GATES.]
While never a rhymester, Cooper, in his early manhood and at rare times
after, did write occasional sentimental and comic verses that betokened
both clever imagination and other merit. Into the _Otsego Herald_
printing-office a poor epileptic ballad-singer came one day to ask help
from a group of gentlemen A purse was made up for him, but he, looking
among them, said if one of them would write for him "a few
verses--something new"--they would be worth more than the silver given
him. Young Cooper offered to try, and asked on what subject he should
write "There's nothing sells like ballads," was the reply. So the ballad
was promised; and some thirty or more pathetic verses were written at
once, about the small frontier village recently burnt by troops under
Colonel Murray during the close of the last war with England. This
ballad bore the high-sounding title of "Buffalo Burnt, or the Dreadful
Conflagration." It won such success among the farm-house gentry that
the singer returned for another ballad and obtained it. Some years later
Mr. Cooper was invited to a tea-party in a near village, when a young
lady, led to the piano for music, began to sing, much to the author's
disturbing amazement, "Buffalo Burnt, or the Dreadful Conflagration."
[Illustration: BUFFALO BURNT.]
So passed the pleasant vacation days of our young sailor, whose training
before-the-mast enabled his father to obtain for him a midshipman's
commission in the United States Navy, for which James Cooper reported
for duty at New York City, January 12, 1808. At the age of nineteen he
first served aboard the _Vesuvius._ Thence he was ordered to Oswego, New
York, to build the brig _Oneida_ for Lake Ontario service, and which the
spring of 1809 saw launched.
[Illustration: THE "VESUVIUS."]
[Illustration: ONTARIO FORESTS.]
While the war flurries which called for the building of the vessel were
tethered, Cooper had learned his lesson in ship-building, ship-yard
duties, and water-border life; and these served him more than thirty
years later in his matchless Indian story, "The Pathfinder." Miss Susan
Cooper has left some interesting pages of this period of her father's
naval service; in part they read: "In 1808 several young officers under
Lieutenant Woolsey were ordered to the shores of Lake Ontario for
building a small vessel of war. Among them was Mr. Cooper, then a
midshipman in the service. Their road lay for many a mile through the
forest to the mouth of the Oswego River,--their destination,--where the
_Oneida_, a brig mounting sixteen guns, was built and launched. They
enjoyed the wild coloring of frontier life They roamed the forests and
explored the shores in leisure hours. Cruises among the Thousand Islands
were frequent; many were the fine fish caught and good chowders eaten.
The picturesque beauties of the region, the countless islands, were
greatly enjoyed and never forgotten by the young midshipman." The
youthful officers were ordered to Buffalo, and stopping for the night at
a rude frontier inn, it was Cooper's duty to inquire what they might
have for supper. "Mine host shook his head ruefully; he could promise
very little. 'Give us what you eat yourself; you must have food of some
kind,' said Cooper. Mine host looked melancholy; on his honor he assured
the young officers he had absolutely nothing to set before them but
game, steak, and brook-trout; and, maybe his wife could find cranberries
for a tart! A month earlier they should have had a dish of fried pork
fit for the President, with a pumpkin pie after it. 'Game's plenty, but
nothin' else!' added the publican with a sigh. Mine host was pining for
pork! On this expedition Mr. Cooper saw Niagara for the first time. He
was struck with the grandeur of the cataract, but felt its sublime
character far more deeply on a later visit--after his return from
Europe."
[Illustration: THE THOUSAND ISLANDS.]
[Illustration: THE PORT OF BUFFALO.]
When the _Oneida_ was launched the gallant young officers resolved to
celebrate the event by giving a ball. "This was an enterprise of a
desperate character;--building a brig hundreds of miles from a ship-yard
was a trifle to giving a ball in the wilderness. True, one fiddle and
half a dozen officers were something; refreshments and a military
ball-room might be hoped for; but where, pray, were the ladies to come
from?" They would not think of dancing with each other, and ladies must
be found. Vigorous efforts were made by sending boats in some directions
and carts miles in others, to invite the ladies; and they accepted. As
the hour drew near a very delicate point came up for decision--the
honors due different fair claimants. After a council of war, Lieutenant
Woolsey gave to his master-of-ceremonies these orders: "All ladies, sir,
provided with shoes and stockings are to be led to the head of the
Virginia reel; ladies with shoes, and without stockings, are considered
in the second rank; ladies without shoes or stockings you will lead,
gentlemen, to the foot of the country dance!" Such was a grand military
ball in Oswego County in 1808-9.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN M.T. WOOLSEY.]
About this time occurred an amusing incident of their raw young
mess-servant, fresh from Ireland: "A table-cloth had taken fire and was
in full blaze; Paddy was at the moment filling a teapot from an ample
kettle in his hand. 'Pour the water on the table!' called out one of the
officers. 'Sure, the wather is _hot_, your honor!' exclaimed Paddy, in
great dismay, holding the kettle at a very safe distance from the
blazing cloth, and his face such a picture of helpless despair as to
make Mr. Cooper heartily laugh at every after-thought of it."
The passing of thirty or more years made of this light-hearted young
midshipman a well-known writer, with the purpose that his next book
should tell of this unforgettable region of the great lakes. He wished
to-bring into it the sailors and Indians as, by coming in close contact
with them, "he knew their personalities and characteristics." Then,
forest scenes without "Natty Bumppo" could scarce come from his pen
after the drawings of old "Leatherstocking" of "The Pioneers," "Hawkeye"
of "The Mohicans," and the "aged trapper" of "The Prairie." So it came
about that "Natty, the lover," stepped into these pages--Natty, "so
simple, so tender, so noble and true--what shall be said of him? We must
all needs love him; it is not with words but with tears that we wring
his hand and part from him on the lake shore" as "The Pathfinder."
Glowing and brave proved his Mabel, as "the bubble of a boat floated on
the very crest of a foaming breaker,"--yet not for him. But the ripple
of the lake's waves and rustling of forest leaves are as unforgettable
as the low, sweet tones of "Dew-of-June." Of "The Pathfinder" and Cooper
Balzac wrote: "Its interest is tremendous. He surely owed us this
masterpiece after the last two or three raphsodies he has given us."
[Illustration: THE PATHFINDER.]
[Illustration: A BUBBLE OF A BOAT.]
In the year 1809 Cooper was attached to a gun-boat serving on Lake
Champlain, and on November 13 following, he was ordered to the _Wasp_,
under Capt. James Lawrence, of Burlington--a personal friend, and also
the heroic commander of the _Chesapeake_ in her action with the
_Shannon_, in which his last words were, "Don't give up the ship!" It
was aboard the _Wasp_ that Cooper's lifelong friendship with Commodore
Shubrick of South Carolina began, who, like himself, and a year younger,
was a midshipman. To this friend the author dedicated "The Pilot," "Red
Rover," and other stories.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN LAWRENCE.]
[Illustration: THE "WASP."]
Political feeling ran high in those early days of 1809, and prominent
persons did not escape from their opponents with hitter feeling only. So
it came about that in December of that year, Judge Cooper, on leaving a
hot convention, met his death,--the result of a blow on the head, as he
was coming down the steps of the State capitol at Albany, New York. No
one of his day who was engaged in the work of large buying and selling
of land made so deep an impression as did Judge Cooper on his times, and
on his author son, whose land books disclose to posterity with historic
exactness the hardships and values of the pioneers of our country.
After Judge Cooper's death Richard Fenimore, his eldest son, became the
head of the family, and it was to him that James wrote from
New York, May 18th, 1810
I wrote you yesterday, a letter in a great hurry, as its contents
are of some importance. I employ the leisure time offered today, to
inform you more fully of my views.
When you were in the City, I hinted to you, my intention of
resigning at the end of this session of Congress, should nothing be
done for the Navy--my only reason at that time was the blasted
prospects of the service. I accordingly wrote my resignation and as
usual offer'd it to Capt. Lawrence, for his inspection--he very
warmly recommended to me to give the service the trial of another
year or two--at the same time offering to procure me a furlough
which would leave me perfect master of my actions in the
interval--I thought it wisest to accept this proposition--at the
end of this year I have it in my power to resign, should the
situation of the Country warrant it.
Like all the rest of the sons of Adam, I have bowed to the
influence of the claims of a fair damsel of eighteen. I loved her
like a man and told her of it like a sailor. The peculiarity of my
situation occasion'd me to act with something like precipitancy. I
am perfectly confident, however, I shall never have cause to repent
of it--. As you are _cooly_ to decide, I will as _cooly_ give you
the qualities of my mistress. Susan De Lancey is the daughter of a
man of very respectable connections and a handsome
fortune--amiable, sweet-tempered and happy in her disposition.--She
has been educated in the country, occasionally trying the
temperature of the City--to rub off the rust--but hold a moment, it
is enough she pleases _me_ in the qualities of her _person_ and
_mind_--. Like a true quixotic lover, I made proposals to her
father--he has answered them in the most gentlemanly manner--. You
have my consent to address my daughter if you will gain the
approbation of your mother--He also informs me that his daughter
has an estate in the County of Westchester in reversion, secured to
her by a deed in trust to him--. I write all this for _you_--you
know _I_ am indifferent to anything of this nature. Now I have to
request--you will take your hat and go to mother, the boys, girls,
and say to them have you any objection that James Cooper shall
marry at a future day, Susan De Lancey. If any of them forbid the
bans may the Lord have forgiven them--for I never will--. Then take
your pen and write to Mr. De Lancey stating the _happiness_ and
_pleasure_ it will give all the family to have this connection
completed--all this I wish you to do immediately, as I am deprived
of the pleasure of visiting my flame until this is done, by that
confounded _bore_, delicacy--be so good as to inclose the letter in
one to me, at the same time don't forget to inclose a handsome sum
to square the yards here and bring me to Cooperstown.
I wish not to interrupt you in your attempt to clear the estate--my
expenditure shall be as small as possible.
_Your brother,_ James Cooper.
The de Lanceys were Huguenots and their loyalty to England during the
Revolution made several of them British officers. Although Cooper was
ever a staunch American, this incident, with several others in his
later life, seemed unfavorable to some few who were only too willing to
question his loyalty.
[Illustration: FRAUNCES TAVERN.]
[Illustration: GOV. JAMES DE LANCEY'S SEAL.]
[Illustration: HEATHCOTE ARMS.]
Miss de Lancey's great grandfather, Stephen, was the first of this
aristocratic Westchester-County family on American soil. He fled
from Normandy on the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and in
1686 came to New York. Here his son James became chief-justice and
lieutenant-governor, and married Ann, eldest daughter of the Hon. Caleb
Heathcote, lord of the manor of Scarsdale, Westchester, and whose manor
house was Heathcote Hill, which their fourth son, John Peter de Lancey,
Cooper's father-in-law, inherited from his mother. One of a number of
services the old-world Derbyshire Heathcote-Hill family rendered to its
country was giving to the Bank of England its first president. The de
Lancey name still clings to the new-world history in Fraunces Tavern,
built by Stephen de Lancey in 1700, for his home. Sixty-two years later
it became the tavern of Samuel Fraunces. In 1776 and 1783 it was the
headquarters of General Washington, and in its famous _Long Room_ "The
Father of his Country" made his farewell address, and bid adieu to his
generals. Number 130 Broadway was the de Lancey home of 1730, and here
was given the first inauguration ball of our nation. On this site was
built "Burn's Coffee House," which teemed with interesting events. The
City Hotel took its place in 1806. John Peter de Lancey married
Elizabeth, daughter of Col. Richard Floyd, and in 1789 came to
Heathcote Hill, Westchester County, which he rebuilt on the site of the
old manor house, burned down. In this home he lived out his days. Here
his son, William Heathcote, Bishop of Western New York, was born; and
also his lovely daughter, Susan Augusta; here she was wooed and won by
the handsome young naval officer, and on New Year's day, 1811, became
Mrs. James Cooper. In 1899 Dr. Theodore F. Wolfe writes of Cooper and
Heathcote Hill--that some of the great trees which waved their green
leafage above him lingering here with sweetheart or bride yet shade the
grounds, but the household that welcomed him and gave him a beloved
daughter lie in a little grass-grown cemetery near to this old home.
Mrs. Cooper had a sweet, gracious way of guiding by affection her
husband, and he gave her his heart's devotion through the forty years
of their happily mated life. Cooper and his young bride began life by
playing a game of chess between the ceremony and supper. Then, he
driving two horses tandem, they made their wedding journey to
Cooperstown in a gig. His furlough ended a few months later, and to
please his wife, he resigned in May from the navy. Long afterwards he
wrote, "She confesses she would never have done for Lady Collingwood."
For a year or more Cooper and his wife lived with her father at
Heathcote Hill, Mamaroneck, New York, and afterwards in a near-by
cottage on the "Neck," which Cooper named "Closet Hall" because it was
so small, and he described it as the home of the Littlepage family in
"Satanstoe." Only two old willows remain of the group that almost
concealed Cooper's wee house, now entirely rebuilt, and they named the
place as the home of Alice B. Havens, who wrote here some of her poems
and stories--so Dr. Wolfe writes of Closet Hall. After some brief
housekeeping in this "wee home," the young people again made a part of
the family at Heathcote Hill, where they lived until 1814. Then, with
the two little girls born to them, they went for a short time to
Cooperstown, and thence to their Fenimore farm of some one hundred and
fifty acres along Otsego's southwestern shores. "On a rising knoll
overlooking lake and village a handsome stone house was begun for their
life home." The near-by hill, called Mount Ovis, pastured the Merino
sheep which he brought into the country. He loved his gardening, and
was active for the public good, serving as secretary of the county
Agricultural Society, and also of the Otsego County Bible Society. In
the full flush of youth and its pleasures there were the pleasant
diversions of driving, riding, and rowing. So lived flute-playing
Cooper, brave and handsome, at twenty-five.
[Illustration: HON. CALEB HEATHCOTE.]
[Illustration: FRAUNCES TAVERN.]
[Illustration: BURN'S COFFEE HOUSE.]
[Illustration: HEATHCOTE HILL.]
[Illustration: TANDEM.]
[Illustration: COOPER'S FENIMORE FARM HOUSE.]
Cooper's mother was then living with her older sons at Otsego Hall, and
it is recorded that "she took great delight in flowers, and the end of
the long hall was like a green-house, in her time"; that "she was a
great reader of romances; a marvelous housekeeper, and beautifully nice
and neat in her arrangements: her flower-garden at the south of the
house was considered something wonderful in variety of flowers." Between
her Old-Hall home and the families of her children,--Richard's on "Apple
Hill," Isaac's at "Edgewater," Nancy's at the "Old Stone House," and
James's at "Fenimore,"--these years were full of charm and interest for
them all, which later became sweet and enduring memories. Sadness crept
in, through the loss of James's daughter Elizabeth; but two more came to
lift this shadow in the Fenimore home.
In 1817 Cooper and his young family started for a few month's visit to
Heathcote Hill, and later in this year he lost his mother. As the stone
house, then building at Fenimore, burned down in 1823, the land was sold
later, and the few months' expected absence grew into seventeen years.
Perhaps it was this thread of loss added to his wife's wishes that led
Cooper to build a country home on the Scarsdale farm,--a portion of the
de Lancey estate, which came to Mrs. Cooper after her marriage. Here he
built the picturesque home in which his literary career began. "Nothing
that Cooper knew remains excepting the superb land and water view,"
which drew him to place this home of his there, and he has pictured
mile upon mile of the shimmering, sail-dotted Sound in scenes of his
"Water Witch." It is of record that the windows of the room in which he
wrote "Precaution," "The Spy," and "The Pioneers" overlooked this
enchanting vista which then and later claimed place in his books. It was
four miles from Mamaroneck and some twenty-five from New York City. The
height on which the new house stood was called Angevine, from a former
Huguenot tenant. It gave a glorious view over miles of fine wooded
country, with a broad reach of Long Island Sound beyond, over which were
moving white, glittering sails "a sailor's eye loves to follow." Of
active habits and vigorous health, Cooper threw himself with almost
boyish eagerness into the improvement and beautifying of this
homestead,--planning the barn, building the then new zigzag, ha-ha
fence, watching the growth of shrubs and trees that he had transplanted,
and with cheering talk lightening the labors of his workmen.
[Illustration: ELIZABETH FENIMORE COOPER IN THE OLD HALL HOME.]
[Illustration: COOPER'S ANGEVINE FARM HOME.]
[Illustration: MAMARONECK CREEK SLOOPS.]
"In 1818 Cooper was made paymaster, and in the next year quartermaster
in the Fourth Division of Infantry, New York State Militia. As Governor
Clinton's aid, in blue and buff uniform, cocked hat, and sword, and
title of colonel, he would go to reviews on his favorite horse,
'Bull-head.'"
At that time each village on the Sound had its sloop which carried the
farmer's produce thrice a week through the perils of Hell Gate to Fulton
market, and brought back tea, sugar, cloth, calicoes, and silks, and,
perchance, some volume fresh from the London press,--a bit of Byron's
brilliance, a romance from the unknown author of "Waverley," one of Miss
Edgeworth's charming tales, or the more serious religious work of
Wilberforce--which had "arrived by packet-ship from England"--the next
day's papers would announce. Lucky was thought the household that could
first cut the pages of the new print.
Reading, which always enters so naturally into country life, made
pleasant their evening hours and rainy days at Angevine. Mr. Cooper was
a fine reader. His voice was deep, clear, and expressive, and during
those quiet country evenings he often read aloud to one "who listened
with affectionate interest through a long life," and he read to her with
special pleasure. For Shakespeare he was always ready. Pope, Thompson,
and Gray were also in favor, but not more than a page or two at a time
of Milton. He thought that Shakespeare should have written "Paradise
Lost." "He took the greatest delight in the 'Waverley' novels, and never
doubted they were written by Walter Scott, the poet. On one occasion a
new novel chanced to lie on the table and he was asked to read it. The
title and look of the book were not to his taste; he opened it, however,
and began. Suddenly, after reading through a few pages, it was thrown
aside in disgust: 'I can write a better book than that myself!' was his
exclamation." Mrs. Cooper laughed at the absurd idea that he, who
disliked writing even a letter, should write a book, and playfully
challenged him to make good his word; and when urged to begin, he at
once outlined a tale of English high-life. As the story grew, the writer
became interested, and before long the first pages of Cooper's first
book, "Precaution, or Prevention is Better than Cure," were written.
When finished, much to his amazement, Mrs. Cooper further urged him to
publish it; so, with the manuscript, they set out in their gig to seek
counsel of the Jays at Bedford, and other friends, who approved. "One
lady, not in the secret, felt sure she had read it before." It was
published, without the author's name, August 25, 1820, and was credited
to an English woman. A.T. Goodrich, the publisher, surprised the public
by declaring it the work of an American gentleman of New York. It was
soon republished in England, and claimed the attention usually accorded
that style of book in its day. Whatever of its worth, the work had
awakened Cooper's powers; and its modest success in a field new to him
led his friends to urge him to write on subjects that were in near touch
with his daily life. None knew better than he the frontier and
sea-faring life of his own and earlier times. So, then, for
home-country subjects, and thinking it would be his last attempt, he
exclaimed, "I will write another book!" and soon decided on patriotism
as its _motif_. At this period many were the visits to Judge Jay's
Westchester home at Bedford. The house, part of wood and part of stone,
had a spacious, comfortable piazza along its front. The interior had
more of cheerfulness than of elegance, but a great air of abundance, and
was a peaceful shelter for the waning days of that eminent statesman and
patriot. Of this household Cooper wrote later: "I scarcely remember to
have mingled with any family where there was a more happy union of quiet
decorum and high courtesy than I met with beneath the roof of Mr. Jay."
To no place more fitting than his wistaria-covered library could Cooper
have gone for patriotic inspiration. The venerable Judge, as he smoked
his long clay pipe, used to delight in telling anecdotes of the
Revolution, "the truth of which," he said, "never had been and never
would be written."
[Illustration: JUDGE JOHN JAY.]
[Illustration: BEDFORD HOUSE.]
[Illustration: BEDFORD HOUSE LIBRARY.]
One summer afternoon, while sitting on his broad piazza under the
lindens, Cooper, with others, listened to the Judge's recital of the
story of a spy's great struggles and unselfish loyalty while serving his
country in the American Revolution, and the story gave Cooper an idea
for his "Harvey Birch." The fact that strolling peddlers, staff in hand
and pack on back, were common visitors then at country houses, became
another aid. "It was after such a visit of a Yankee peddler of the old
sort, to the cottage at Angevine, that Harvey's lot in life was
decided--he was to be a spy and a peddler." It was something to the
author's after regret that he drew the dignity of George Washington into
the "Harper" of this story.
[Illustration: HARVEY BIRCH'S CAVE.]
"The entire country between the Americans on the skirts of the Highlands
and the British on Manhattan--or 'the Neutral Ground'--suffered more in
harried skirmishes, pillage, violence, fire, and the taking of life
itself, than any of its extent during this strife." Scarsdale and
Mamaroneck were in this region, with White Plains close by. Fort
Washington was on a near height, and Dobb's Ferry a few miles off. "The
Coopers' daily drive from Angevine discovered a pretty thicket, some
swampy land, and a cave in which to hide the loyal, to be fed by
friendly hands at night until escape was possible. There were also at
hand the gloomy horrors of a haunted wood where gliding ghosts fought
midnight battles"--all of this the farmers _knew_ and could tell of,
too. One of them, "Uncle John," lived just below the home hill in a wee
cot of four walls, each of a different color--red, yellow, brown, and
white. He frequently came up the Angevine-home hill to tell, between his
apples, nuts, and glasses of cider, tales of what he, too, _knew_, to a
good listener,--the master of the house. Then there was "Major Brom B.,
a hero of the great war, with his twenty-seven martial spirits, all
uniformed in silver gray, his negro Bonny and his gun, 'the Bucanneer,'
had not its fellow on the continent." These were all aids, and sources
of unfailing interest about the many Westchester chimney firesides of
that day. In his "Literary Haunts and Homes," Dr. Theodore F. Wolfe
tells of a fine, old-time home, beyond the valley below Cooper's
Angevine farm, where he placed many an exciting scene of this coming
tale. In 1899 Dr. Wolfe notes the house as changed, only by a piazza
across its front, from the days when Cooper knew it well, and that it
was pleasantly shaded by many of the fine, tall trees that gave it the
name of "The Locusts," which it kept in his story as the home of the
Whartons. The descendants of the family he used to visit still live
there, and one of them showed Dr. Wolfe all that was left of "The Four
Corners," Betty Flanigan's hotel, whence Harvey Birch, Cooper's hero,
escaped in Betty's petticoats. Cooper made these familiar scenes of
southern New York the background of his second book, "The Spy, a Tale of
the Neutral Ground," which also was published, without the author's
name, December 22, 1821. Its success called for a new edition the
following March, and its translation into many foreign tongues. Of
Cooper's "Betty Flanigan" Miss Edgeworth declared, "An Irish pen could
not have drawn her better." Except Irving's "Sketch Book," his
"Knickerbocker's History of New York," and Bryant's thin volume of eight
poems, there were few books by native writers when "The Spy" appeared;
and "then it was that the new world awakened to the surprising discovery
of her first _American_ novelist. The glory that Cooper justly won was
reflected on his country, of whose literary independence he was the
pioneer. 'The Spy' had the charm of reality; it tasted of the soil."
While the American press was slow to admit the merit of "The Spy," a
cordial welcome was given the book in "The Port Folio." It was written
by Mrs. Sarah Hall, mother of the editor, and author of "Conversations
on the Bible." This act of timely kindness Cooper never forgot. June 30,
1822, Washington Irving, from London, wrote Mr. John E. Hall, the
editor: "'The Spy' is extremely well spoken of by the best circles,--not
a bit better than it deserves, for it does the author great credit."
[Illustration: THE LOCUSTS OF COOPER'S TIME.]
[Illustration: TITLE-PAGE OF THE FIRST EDITION OF "THE SPY."]
[Illustration: ENOCH CROSBY.]
In 1826, when "The Spy" was before the footlights in Lafayette Theatre,
on Broadway, near Canal Street, Enoch Crosby, the supposed original spy,
appeared in a box with friends, and "was given thunders of applause."
From "Portraits of Cooper's Heroines," by the Rev. Ralph Birdsall of
Cooperstown, is gleaned: On the walls of the Newport home of the Rev.
John Cornell hang two old portraits that have close connection with the
inner history of "The Spy." To their present owner they came from the
New York home of his mother, the late Mrs. Isaac Cornell, and to her
they came from the Somerville, New Jersey, home of her father, Mr.
Richard Bancker Duyckinck, who in his turn received them from his aunt,
Mrs. Peter Jay,--the subject of one of these portraits and at one time
mistress of the Jay mansion at Rye. Over one hundred years ago it was
that, from the walls of this rare old home at Rye, Westchester County,
the grace of these ladies on canvas caught James Cooper's thought to use
them, by description, in his coming book, "The Spy." Chapter XIII
describes closely the personal appearance and style of dress of these
portraits. "Jeanette Peyton," the maiden aunt of Cooper's story, owes
her mature charm to the portrait of Mary Duyckinck, wife of Peter Jay.
From the "cap of exquisite lawn and lace," her gown of rich silk, short
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