[18] That this was already realized may be seen from the review in The North American Review, 15:250.
[19] Portifolio 15 (1823) 230: “Natty Bumppo, ... we think, has been modelled from the effigies of old Daniel Boone, who abandoned the society of his kindred and built a hut among the Indians; and persisted in moving further into the interior as civilization invaded his wild domains.... It might indeed be called historical; for the historian can scarcely find a more just and vivid delineation of the first settlements of our wilderness.”
[20] See Chapter V.
[21] Not only did he write five sea novels, a History of the Navy, and articles about the navy, but even in his land novels sailors were frequently introduced, and The Prairie, for example, is viewed as a sea of sand upon which the prairie schooners sail. The Pathfinder makes use of his experiences upon Lake Ontario.
[22] Introduction to The Pilot, xv.
[23] Atlantic Monthly, 100:337.
[24] Conrad, Joseph. Notes on Life and Letters (1921), p. 78. The entire article, “Tales of the Sea,” should be read for its tribute to Cooper’s insight into the poetry of the sea.
[25] North American Review, 1824:314, “By implicating the tale with our naval history, the author possesses himself of one of the few positions from which our national enthusiasm is accessible.”
[26] Introduction, xxii.
[27] Erskine, op. cit., p. 71. As early as 1800 there had appeared The Life and History of Paul Jones, the English Corsair. See Seitz, Don C. Paul Jones, a complete bibliography. New York (1917).