of 1837, brought on by speculation and by the poor financial policy of Jackson's administration, checked for a time our industrial progThe Seeds ress. At the same time the tariff, the slave problem and of Division the unsettled question of state rights began to separate a united country into two hostile sections. In the midst of great peace came a sudden tremor, faint yet unmistakable as the rumble of distant cannon; and again the storm cloud, this time larger than a man's hand and black as the pit, appeared on our national horizon.

II. LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD

The half century which witnessed the Declaration of Independence, the French Revolution and the English Reform Bill is one of universal interest. It is generally called the age of revolution, and is remarkable for two things: for the establishment of democracy in government, and for the triumph of romanticism in literature. Just as our political independence was the beginning of a world-wide struggle for human liberty, so our first national literature was part and parcel of the great romantic movement which swept over England and the Continent. Its general romantic spirit is in marked contrast to the historical and theological bent of Colonial writers, who believed they were writing a new page in the world's history; and to the political genius of Revolutionary authors, whose chief concern was to establish a new nation on democratic foundations.

General Tendencies. It was Sydney Smith, a famous English wit, who voiced a general opinion of our early literature in the scornful question, "Who reads an American book?" We may understand his attitude, which was that of our own critics, if we remember that in this, as in every other period, there were two literary movements, a major and a minor; and that it was the work of minor writers which first received notice in English newspapers and magazines. Here, for instance, is our poetry as exemplified in the popular "Annuals" of that day, The Talisman, The Token, Friendship's Offering, and many other favorites, — dear old collections, full of new-made graves, urns, weeping

willows, tears and sentimentality. Here are the fifty-odd volumes of Lydia Sigourney and a few romances of Catherine Sedgwick, such as Hope Leslie and Redwood,—— sentimental stories which were republished in England and translated into various European languages. The common people on both sides of the Atlantic read these stories gladly, but the critics saw in them only weak copies of English originals. In this country Noah Webster anticipated foreign criticism when he declared (1792) that "a hundred volumes of modern novels may be read without acquiring a new idea.”

When the work of our major writers appeared, a multitude of delighted English readers stood up to answer the irritating question. Critics more thoughtful than Smith, knowOriginality ing that national enthusiasm finds voice in a national literature, had expected something pristine and vigorous from the new nation,2 and when Cooper's books began to be published abroad these critics found what they had expected. Here were good stories, a little crude perhaps, but fresh and genuine, stories with the breath of sea and forest in them, and with a rush of adventure that reminded Englishmen of Rob Roy and the Heart of Midlothian. So, having enjoyed the tales and being in a condescending humor, they christened Cooper 'the American Scott." A little earlier had appeared Irving, with a grace and charm that recalled the best productions of their beloved Spectator, and him they called "the American Addison." Then followed Bryant, with his natural refinement and his deep understanding of nature, and he became known to a few as "the American Wordsworth." Only Poe escaped, for the simple reason that England had no writer with whom to compare him.

1 In England, as in America, the poetry of the age reveals an abnormal interest in funereal subjects. Note the influence of this interest on Bryant and Poe, p. 201, and on Irving, p. 192.

2 The state of England's expectancy may be judged from the wonder produced by Irving's Sketch Book (1819). "It has been a matter of marvel to my European readers," he writes, "that a man from the wilds of America should express himself in tolerable English. I was looked upon as something new and strange in literature, a kind of demisavage with a feather in his hand instead of on his head."

Though the names thus given to our writers are pleasantly suggestive, the fact remains that the first quality of our national literature is its originality. Irving's first work, the Knickerbocker History, is a unique book; there are no other tales like The Spy, The Red Rover and The Last of the Mohicans; and if there be any other poem than "A Forest Hymn" which reflects the instinctive reverence of primitive man in the presence of nature, we have never found it.

A second characteristic of our literature in this period is its harmony with our natural environment. Nature had been sadly Harmony neglected in the greater part of the literature of the with Nature eighteenth century; when it was mentioned, for effect, every bird was apt to be a nightingale, every flower a primrose, and stock expressions such as "vernal winds" and "sylvan beauties" had been worn threadbare by repetition. Our first national writers changed all that, and the change was as welcome as rain to the parched grass. Bryant was by far our best observer, and his poetry reflects the spirit of nature and of the man who stands silent and reverent before her revelation. Cooper, though inaccurate in details, reflects something of the charm and mystery of the great wilderness, and he is the first in modern literature to use the ocean as the scene of romance and adventure. Irving has less love of nature than either Bryant

or Cooper; but in much of his work he remembers the influence of the hills and the Hudson, and is at his best in "Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle," where he puts himself in harmony with the American landscape.

A third noticeable quality of our first national literature is its intense patriotism. This appears in many forms: in the national songs of Pinkney, Patriotism Halleck, Drake

and Percival; in the restrained passion of patriotism, cold as a star but clear and steadfast, which shines in Bryant's verse; in numerous popular lyrics, like "Adams and Liberty," "Warren's Address," "The American Flag," "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "Home, Sweet Home"; in dramas like "Eutaw Springs," "Marion," Siege of Boston," "Washington at Valley Forge," and many others of the same kind. In these early melodramas, which quickened American patriotism by recalling the heroic age of the Revolution, we have a parallel to the popular chronicle plays which voiced the pride and the national enthusiasm of the early Elizabethans. Even more significant are the legendary and historical tales which appeared in this period. Crude as they are, we are interested in them as a reflection of the first national consciousness. As a result of the long struggle of the pioneers, of the faith and

the work of colonizers and state builders, America had become a nation; she felt reverence for the past, confidence in the future, the thrill of national unity, all of which are essential to national literature. She had, moreover, a history of two hundred years, a history of brave men and epic achievement; and our writers, like those of the older nations, could now look backward to a golden age of heroism. Irving created an old world of legend, the first to appear in American letters. Cooper glorified the old frontiersman and the soldier and sailor of past conflicts. Other writers heard the sursum corda, and a host of historical romances reflected the joy of the young nation in its old heroes. Kennedy's Horse-Shoe Robinson, Simms's trilogy of Revolutionary novels beginning with The Partisan, Paulding's The Dutchman's Fireside, Lydia Child's Hobomok and The Rebels, Bird's Nick of the Woods, — these are but a suggestion to the reader who would learn for himself what kind of tales delighted American readers of a century ago, when the nation was young, when art seemed of less, and enthusiasm of more, consequence than they do now.

We must note also the emphasis laid on moral and religious sentiments by practically all the writers of this period, and the first appearance of literary criticism, a very significant detail, since criticism cannot begin until critics are assured of a considerable body of native literature to work upon.1 There are doubtless other general characteristics,2 but we emphasize only these three: the originality of the new writers, their rare harmony with nature, and their ardent patriotism born of reverence and faith, — that reverence for the past and faith in the future which ennobles a man's love of his home and country.

1 American criticism was greatly encouraged by the new literary magazines. The North American Review (1815), the New England Magazine (1831), the Knickerbocker Magazine (1832) and the Southern Literary Messenger (1834) are a few of the best. The critical work of Poe and of the so-called " Knickerbocker School" will be considered later.

2 The general romantic tendency of our first national literature should not be overlooked. For this tendency our writers were, indirectly, more influenced by Germany than by England.