COOPER, James Fenimore, the American novelist, son of Judge Cooper, was born at Burlington, New Jersey, Sept. 15, 1789. At the age of thirteen he became a student in Yale College, and speedily distinguished himself by his classical acquirements. In 1805 he entered the American navy as a midshipman, and continued in that service for six years. This was the school in which he obtained that nautical knowledge which is conspicuous in his works, and in which he laid the foundation of his spirited descriptions of naval life. In 1810 he quitted the service, and settled on his patrimonial estate at Cooper's Town. He then married, and thenceforward devoted himself to literary pursuits. He had previously published Precaution, a novel, which fell nearly still-born from the press. This, however, did not discourage him; and in the fifteen succeeding years he poured forth other creations of his fancy, with almost unprecedented exuberance, as in The Pioneer, The Pilot, Lionel Lincoln, The Last of the Mohicans, &c. In 1826 he first visited Europe, where he remained a considerable time; and there he produced some of his most popular novels, as The Bravo, The Red Rover, and The Prairie. Everywhere in Europe he was cordially received by men of letters and by the public.
On returning to his native country he continued his literary avocations, and among other works he produced The Pathfinder, The Destroyer, The Two Admirals, Wing and Wing, works that well sustained his reputation; but some of his later productions exhibited strong marks of decaying powers. It is creditable to Cooper that the moral of his tales is always good, and that he proved himself the friend of virtue; and if he wants the exquisite knowledge of human nature that we recognise in Scott, he exhibits the same admiration for purity and magnanimity. (T.S.T.)