AMERICAN AUTHORS IN ENGLAND.

-Through the growing present
Westward the starry path of poesy lies;

Her glorious spirit, like the evening crescent,
Comes rounding up the skies.

T. BUCHANAN READ.

In the preceding paper, I have spoken of one distinguished writer of our country, whose name and popularity I found well established in England. I will now refer to some others.

Of our standard authors, Cooper is certainly more universally read than any other as is the case, indeed, not only in England, but on the continent of Europe, and in fact, throughout the world. His works are found in almost every village-library, as well as in those of the large towns. I remember, once, being struck with finding them in a small miners' library, among the Newcastle coal mines. The tales, being published each in a single volume at a very low price, have had a very wide circulation. And it is no wonder they are so popular, for Cooper's are certainly the most attractive of all novels. How fresh and delightful it must be, to an inhabitant of these old worn-out countries of Europe, to rove with the great novelist through the wild forests of the Western world, to wander

over its vast and flowery prairies, and look upon the face of virgin nature in its primitive loveliness. The "Last of the Mohicans," and the other "Leatherstocking Tales" of Cooper, combine the attractions of romance with a charm of incident and adventure equal to that of Robinson Crusoe. What an original and admirable portraiture is "HawkEye!" On the sea, too—a field of description as open, as its highways are common, to all nationswho is there comparable to Cooper? Here, equally as in the wild woods, his genius reigns without a rival. His "Long Tom Coffin" not only clings to your fancy by his singularity and picturesqueness of manner and appearance, but he winds himself round your heart by the simplicity, uprightness, and sterling worth of his character. And there is one feature in which, I think, Cooper far surpasses Scott and all other novelists-namely, in the moral sublime. What a touching loftiness is there in the death-scene of "Long Tom Coffin!" And in the Prairie," there is a like moral sublimity in the description of the old trapper's last hour-his sudden rising to his feet and saying in prompt military tone, "Here!" as if he had just heard his name called on the roll of the dead for judgment.

Washington Irving—the other of the two pioneers, as they may justly be termed, in American literature-I was a little surprised to find not quite so universally known in Great Britain as I had expected, considering that he was a little in advance of Cooper as to time, and that he published his works in this country himself. To all, indeed, who have any pretensions to literary taste, he is

well known; but his works have not that widespread popularity among the masses, that Cooper's possess: I was not as sure of finding the "SketchBook" and "Bracebridge Hall" in every country library, as I was of finding "The Pilot," and "The Spy." A little reflection, however, made the matter sufficiently plain. In the first place, the difference in character of the two classes of writings was a sufficient reason for their different degrees of popularity, the one class consisting of tales, a species of writing ever the most widely popular. Then, too, the beauties of Cooper are of a kind obvious and attractive to all, cultivated and uncultivated; but the graceful style and exquisite touches of Irving are of a more delicate nature, and demand some degree of taste and refinement for their appreciation. Another reason, doubtless, is to be found in the fact, that Irving's works (at least, the earlier ones) having been originally published in England, are copyright, while Cooper's are not. The consequence is, that the latter being sent forth by numerous different publishers, and in cheaper forms, have had a much wider circulation. Irving's later works, such as his Life of Goldsmith, and also the history of Mahomet and his Successors, and the Life of Washington, not being copyright, have had a very extensive sale in shilling editions, and thus have made the writer more widely known.

Wherever Irving is read, however, in this country, he is most highly prized, and his praises are uttered, too, in a way to show that he has reached the heart, as well as pleased the fancy. In notices of the

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Sketch-Book, for instance, the epithet "delightful" is almost always used-" Irving's delightful SketchBook." And it is delightful: what compositions in the language are more charming? The delicate strain of sentiment everywhere pervading those Sketches, their alternate humor and pathos, the pleasing description of English rural scenes, as in the "Pride of the Village," and again, the introduction of picturesque American ones, as in "Rip Van Winkle," and "Sleepy Hollow,"--and all expressed in the most graceful diction, in euphonious and polished sentences,-what work in the language is there, so thoroughly agreeable and beautiful?

the time of its publication it took the English by surprise, and no wonder! As Irving himself says, in his own elegant and playful manner, in his preface to the succeeding work, "Bracebridge Hall," "people here were surprised to find a native from the wilds of America expressing himself in tolerable English, and appearing with a feather in his hand instead of on his head."

The writer, who, next to Cooper and Irving, has done the most to elevate American literature in English estimation, and, indeed, in that of all Europe, is, unquestionably, the historian, Prescott. No works that America has produced, were so immediately successful, taking at the same time so high a stand in literature, as those of this author. His "Ferdinand and Isabella" has already reached the seventh edition, and his "Conquest of Mexico" and "Peru," a third and fourth. In travelling over the kingdom, through Scotland and Ireland as well as England, I took pains to inquire for these and

other American works-not only in the large cities, but in the libraries of the smaller towns and out-ofthe-way places,-in order to discover for myself the extent of their popularity. Prescott's histories I almost uniformly found: they seemed to be regarded as a necessarily component part of every respectable library. In Dundee and Aberdeen in Scotland, in Cork and Limerick in Ireland, and in towns of still inferior note, I observed them: I remember, also, finding them at Geneva, in Switzerland,―as, no doubt, they are to be met with in all the principal libraries on the Continent.

Bancroft's History, also, I often inquired for, but not with the same uniform success: I found the work in some of the principal libraries, but it was not always to be met with. I remember, however, a somewhat singular exception: Bancroft's work I found in a second-class library in Dublin, where I had no expectation of seeing it, and where, if I remember rightly, Prescott's histories were wanting. But the case was commonly as I have stated. I was at first surprised to find the distinguished author of the "History of the United States" thus seemingly neglected. But manifest reasons may be assigned for the difference between Prescott's and Bancroft's popularity in this country. In the first place, Prescott's opening history was on a European subject, "Ferdinand and Isabella," of Spain. This circumstance would naturally draw the attention of European literati at once to the work; and when, on examination, its intrinsic merits were found so great, general approbation and applause followed all the Reviews noticed and commended