The author
brought suit for libel, and won his case in a famous trial in which he was
his own lawyer. These unfortunate incidents, which would have been avoided
by a man like Benjamin Franklin, diminished the circulation of Cooper's
books in America during the rest of his life.
[Illustration: STATUE OF LEATHERSTOCKING OVERLOOKING OTSEGO LAKE]
Even on his deathbed he thought of the unjust criticism from which he had
suffered, and asked his family not to aid in the preparation of any account
of his life. He died in 1851 at the age of sixty-two, and was buried at
Cooperstown. Lounsbury thus concludes an excellent biography of this great
writer of romance:--
"America has had among her representatives of the irritable race of
writers many who have shown far more ability to get on pleasantly with
their fellows than Cooper.... But she counts on the scanty roll of her
men of letters the name of no one who acted from purer patriotism or
loftier principle. She finds among them all no manlier nature and no more
heroic soul."
GREATEST ROMANCES.--Cooper's greatest achievement is the series known as
_The Leatherstocking Tales_. These all have as their hero Leatherstocking,
a pioneer variously known as Hawkeye, _La Longue Carabine_ (The Long
Rifle), and Natty Bumppo.
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