Gleanings In Europe France Author:James Fenimore Cooper GLEANINGS IN EUROPE - FRANCE By JAMES FENIMORE COOPER Edited by ROBERT E. SPILLER, . November i, 1926 MY DEAR PROFESSOR SPILLER I inclose two impressions of Fenimore-Coopers seal as I promised you last summer. I want to tell you how much we are gratified at the re publication of Fenimore-Coopers France and Eng land, and at the possible publicati... more »on in the future of others of his books of travel. The first, and only edition, has even disappeared from the shelves of the old book dealers. Very sincerely yours, JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. KANSAS CITY MO. PUBLIC LIBRARY CONTENTS INTRODUCTION AUTHORS PREFACE LETTER I A SAILING PACKET LETTER II THE ISLE OF WIGHT .... LETTER III THE LONDON ROAD .... LETTER IV STEAM-BOAT AND HIGHWAY . LETTER V PARIS LETTER VI A DIPLOMATIC DINNER . . . LETTER VII JUSTICE LETTER VIII THE ARMY OF THE BOURBONS LETTER IX ROYALTY ON DISPLAY . . . LETTER X PALACES AND PARKS .... LETTER XI ETIQUETTE LETTER XII A VISIT FROM SCOTT .... LETTER XIII INDUSTRIAL ARTS LETTER XIV NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS . LETTER XV LEARNING AND LITERATURE . LETTER XVI SUMMER AT ST. OUEN . . . LETTER XVII CAPTAIN WOOLSEY . . . . LETTER XVIII SOCIAL USAGES AND SCANDALS LETTER XIX PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE . LETTER XX LAFAYETTE AT LA GRANGE . LETTER XXI THE PEOPLE WILL RULE LETTER XXII ANIMAL MAGNETISM .... LETTER XXIII EN ROUTE INDEX Vll xxxiif I 20 38 60 88 102 132 I4O I 5 8 176 I9O 2O4 223 237 245 264 275 292 318 331 346 3 6l 375 385 INTRODUCTION IEN James Fenimore Cooper wrote his five books of travels in Europe almost a century ago, they were published simultaneously in England, France, Ger many, and the United States, and they were reviewed in the leading journals of two continents. Since that time they have never been reprinted. No complete set of Cooper in English contains them, and even the larger libraries of Coopers own country are lacking this or that volume. They are perhaps the rarest of all his works. Yet these five books were written at the turning point in their authors career. They are the protestations of a great romanticist who has suddenly been faced with facts too solid for the dissolving magic of his art. They are the record of a journey among some of the worlds most impressive scenes and then - most distinguished characters by a man who has always been esteemed for his powers of observation and description. And they are a penetrating and fearless analysis of European aristocracy and of American democracy at a time when the former was far into its second and the latter was still not far enough into its first childhood. It is not too soon to recognize Cooper as a vigorous commentator on his times. He has been judged for too long as a great romancer whose art was seriously damaged by his concern for the life about him. If the reason for this neglect is to be discovered in the books themselves, their worst fault would seem to be a viii Introduction lack of tact on the part of their author. Something of this sort was said of him by his contemporaries, who resented certain of his blunt and unpleasantly true remarks about themselves and their countries and his critics, from the most profound to the most superficial, have been echoing this judgment ever since. Tact would seem a strange criterion to apply to literary work. The lack of it might lead to the dismissal of Shelley from Oxford, but surely not to the repudiation of his poems. If Carlyle had been tactful, many of his most striking thoughts would have remained unspoken and if Johnson had had more of this quality, Boswell would have found little to note. On the other hand, if lack of tact may be renamed fearlessness, it is this very quality which should lend permanence to Coopers controversial writings...« less