The freshness of his subjects, the beauty of his style, and the vast difficulties he bravely surmounted, gained for William H. Prescott* not only an extensive but a remarkably speedy reputation, after the appearance of his first history. Many years of study, travel, and occasional practice in writing, preceded the long-cherished design of achieving an historical fame. Although greatly impeded, at the outset, by a vision so imperfect as to threaten absolute blindness, in other respects he was singularly fortunate. Unlike the majority of intellectual aspirants, he had at his command the means to procure the needful but expensive materials for illustrating a subject more prolific, at once, of romantic charms and great elements of human destiny, than any unappropriated theme offered by the whole range of history. It included the momentous voyage of Columbus, the fall of the Moorish empire in Spain, and the many and eventful consequences thence resulting. Aided by the researches of our minister at Madrid,† himself an enthusiast in letters, Mr. Prescott soon possessed himself of ample documents and printed authorities. These he caused to be read to him, and during the process dictated notes, which were afterwards so frequently repeated orally that his mind gradually possessed itself of all the important details; and these he clothed in his own language, arranged them with discrimination, and made out a consecutive and harmonious narrative. Tedious as such a course must be, and laborious in the highest degree as it proved, I am disposed to attribute to it, in a measure at least, some of Mr. Prescott's greatest charms as an historian the remarkable evenness and sustained harmony, the unity of conception and ease of manner, as rare as it is delightful. The History of Ferdinand and Isabella is a work that unites the fascination of romantic fiction with the grave interest of authentic events. Its author makes no pretension to analytical power, except in the arrangement of his materials; he is content to describe, and his talents are more artistic than philosophical; neither is any cherished theory or principle obvious; his ambition is apparently limited to skilful narration. Indefatigable in research, sagacious in the choice and comparison of authorities, serene in temper, graceful in style, and pleasing in sentiment, he possesses all the requisites for an agreeable writer; while his subjects have yielded so much of picturesque material and romantic interest, as to atone for the lack of any more original or brilliant qualities in the author. Ferdinand and Isabella was followed by The Conquest of

* William H. Prescott was the grandson of Colonel William Prescott, who commanded the Americans at the battle of Bunker Hill. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on the 4th of May, 1796. Educated in boyhood by Dr. Gardiner, a fine classical teacher, he entered Harvard College in 1814. He studied law, and passed two years in Europe. In 1838 was published his History of Ferdinand and Isabella, which met with almost immediate and unprecedented success. It was soon translated into all the modern European languages. He died in Boston, January 23, 1859.

† Alexander H. Everett.

Mexico, and The Conquest of Peru. The scenic descriptions and the portraits of the Spanish leaders, and of Montezuma and Guatimozin, in the former work, give to it all the charm of an effective romance. Few works of imagination have more power to win the fancy and touch the heart. The insight afforded into Aztec civilization is another source of interest. The moral qualities of considerate reflection and frankness are memorable characteristics of Prescott. He has added to the standard literature of the age, and to the literary fame of his country, by his graceful, judicious, and attractive labors in a field comparatively new, and abounding in artistic material.

Prescott at the time of his death was engaged on a history of Philip II. of Spain. In his previous efforts, he had the advantage of subjects not identified with the prejudices and passions of the present age, and not demanding for their just display any great reach of thought. His well-balanced periods, quiet and sustained tone, and agreeable manner, therefore, had their full effect. Perhaps, had he thus discussed historical themes nearer the sympathies of the hour, this absence of earnestness and reflection would have been more consciously felt by his many delighted readers.

Another of the few standard works in this department, of native origin, is the Life and Voyages of Columbus, by Washington Irving. Ostensibly a biography, it partakes largely of the historical character. As in the case of Prescott, the friendly suggestions of our minister at Madrid greatly promoted the enterprise. The work is based on the researches of Navarette; and it is a highly fortunate circumstance that the crude though invaluable data thus gathered was first put in shape and adorned with the elegances of a polished diction, by an American writer at once so popular and so capable as Irving. The result is a Life of Columbus, authentic, clear, and animated in narration, graphic in its descriptive episodes, and sustained and finished in style. It is a permanent contribution to English as well as American literature, one which was greatly needed, and most appropriately supplied.

Henry Wheaton, long our minister at Berlin, is chiefly known to literary fame by his able Treatise on International Law; but, while charge d'affaires in Denmark, he engaged with zeal in historical studies, and published in London, in 1831, a History of the Northmen, a most curious, valuable, and suggestive, though limited work.

James Fenimore Cooper's Naval History of the United States, although not so complete as is desirable, is a most interesting work, abounding in scenes of generous valor and rare excitement, recounted with the tact and spirit which the author's taste and practice so admirably fitted him to exhibit on such a theme. Some of the descriptions of naval warfare are picturesque and thrilling in the highest degree. The work, too, is an eloquent appeal to patriotic sentiment and national pride. It is one of the most characteristic histories, both in regard to subject and style, yet produced in America.

One of the most satisfactory of recent historical works is The Con

During a tour

spiracy of Pontiac, by Francis Parkman, of Boston. in the Far West, where he hunted the buffalo and fraternized with the Indians, the author gained that practical knowledge of aboriginal habits and character which enabled him to delineate the subject chosen with singular truth and effect. Having faithfully explored the annals of the French and Indian war, he applied to its elucidation the vivid impressions derived from his sojourn in forest and prairie, his observation of Indian life, and his thorough knowledge of the history of the Red Men. The result is not only a reliable and admirably planned narrative, but one of the most picturesque and romantic yet produced in America. Few subjects are more dramatic and rich in local associations; and the previous discipline and excellent style of the author have imparted to it a permanent attraction. Pioneers of France in the New World, is a charming historical narrative from the same pen.

CHAPTER II.

Belles Lettres. Influence of British Essayists. FRANKLIN. DENNIE. Signs of Literary Improvement. JONATHAN OLDSTYLE. WASHINGTON IRVING. His Knickerbocker. Sketch-Book. His other WORKS. Popularity. Tour on the Prairies. Character as an Author. DANA. WILDE. HUDSON. GRISWOLD. LOWELL. WHIPPLE. TICKNOR. WALKER. WAYLAND. JAMES. EMERSON. Transcendentalists. MADAME OSSOLI. Emerson's Essays. ORVILLE DEWEY. Humorous Writers. Belles Lettres. TUDOR. WIRT. SANDS. FAY. WALSH. MITCHELL. KIMBALL. American Travellers. Causes of their Success as Writers. Fiction. CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN. His Novels. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. His Novels their Popularity and Characteristics. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. His Works and Genius. Other American Writers of Fiction.

THE Colloquial and observant character given to English literature by the wits, politicians, and essayists of Queen Anne's time - the social and agreeable phase which the art of writing exhibited in the form of the Spectator, Guardian, Tatler, and other popular works of the kind, naturally found imitators in the American colonies. The earliest indication of a taste for belles lettres is the republication, in the newspapers of New England, of some of the fresh lucubrations of Steele and Addison. The Lay Preacher, by Dennie, was the first successful imitation of this fashionable species of literature: more characteristic, however, of the sound common sense and utilitarian instincts of the people, were the essays of Franklin, commenced in his brother's journal, then newly established at Boston. Taste for the amenities of intellectual life, however, at this period, was chiefly gratified by recourse to the emanations of the British press; and it is some years after that we perceive signs of that native impulse in this sphere which proved the germ of American literature. "If we are not mistaken in the signs of the times," says Buckminster (in an oration delivered at Cambridge, and published in the Anthology, a Boston magazine, which, with the Port Folio, issued at Philadelphia, were the first literary journals of high aims in America) - "the genius of our literature begins to show symptoms of vigor, and to meditate a bolder flight. The spirit of criticism begins to plume itself, and education, as it assumes a more learned form, will take a higher aim. If we are not misled by our hopes, the dream of ignorance is at least broken, and there are signs that the period is approaching when we may say of our country, Tuus jam regnat Apollo." This prophecy had received some confirmation in the grace and local observation manifest in a series of letters which appeared in the New York Chronicle, signed Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent.

the first productions of Washington Irving, the Goldsmith of America, who was born in New York, April 6, 1783. Symptoms of alarming

disease soon after induced a voyage to Europe; and he returned to the Island of Manhattan, the scene of his boyish rambles and youthful reveries, with a mind expanded by new scenes, and his natural love of travel and elegant literature deepened. Although ostensibly a law student in the office of Judge Hoffman, his time was devoted to social intercourse with his kindred, who were established in business in New York, and a few genial companions, to meditative loiterings in the vicinity of the picturesque river so dear to his heart, and to writing magazine papers. The happy idea of a humorous description of his native town, under the old Dutch governors, was no sooner conceived than executed with inimitable wit and originality. Not then contemplating the profession of letters, he did not take advantage of the remarkable success that attended this work, of which Sir Walter Scott thus speaks in one of his letters to an American friend: "I beg you to accept my best thanks for the uncommon degree of entertainment which I have received from the most excellently jocose history of New York. I am sensible that as a stranger to American parties and politics, I must lose much of the concealed satire of the piece; but I must own that, looking at the simple and obvious meaning only, I have never read anything so closely resembling the style of Dean Swift as the annals of Diedrich Knickerbocker. I have been employed these few evenings in reading them aloud to Mrs. S. and two ladies who are our guests, and our sides have been absolutely sore with laughing. I think, too, there are passages which indicate that the author possesses power of a different kind, and has some touches which remind me much of Sterne." Salmagundi, which Mr. Irving had previously undertaken, in conjunction with Paulding, proved a hit, and established the fame of its authors; it was in form and method of publication imitated from the Spectator, but in details, spirit, and aim, so exquisitely adapted to the latitude of New York, that its appearance was hailed with a delight hitherto unknown; it was, in fact, a complete triumph of local genius. From these pursuits, the author turned to commercial toil, in connection with which he embarked for England in 1815; and while there, a reverse of fortune led to his resuming the pen as a means of subsistence. In his next work, the Sketch-Book, Sir Walter's opinion of his pathetic vein was fully realized; The Wife, The Pride of the Village, and The Broken Heart, at once took their places as gems of English sentiment and description. Nor were the associations of home inoperative; and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow first gave a "local_habitation,” in our fresh land, to native fancy. His impressions of domestic life in Great Britain were soon after given to the public in Bracebridge Hall, and some of his continental experiences embodied in the Tales of a Traveller. Soon after, Mr. Irving visited Spain to write the Life of Columbus, to which we have before alluded. His sojourn at the Alhambra, and at Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey, are the subjects of other graceful and charming volumes; while Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains, and the Life of Mohammed, proved solid as well as elegant contributions to our standard literature; and the Life of Washington, a standard national biography.