With the tales of Irving, Cooper and Poe we have considered all the fiction of the period that seems destined to a permanent place in our literature. There were many other romancers, however, some with ten, others with fifty volumes to their credit. A few of their works, such as Miss Sedgwick's Redwood  (1824), were more widely read in Europe than were the works of Poe or Irving; many others were as dear to our grandmothers as are the romances of Crawford or Louisa Alcott to the present generation. Among these dust-covered books one may still find many suggestive pages. Susanna Rowson's Charlotte Temple  is a type of the early novel of "sensibility," once extremely popular but now forgotten. Catherine Sedgwick's Redwood , Hope Leslie  and The Linwoods  contain excellent pictures of American home life, and are notable as the beginning of the novel of character and manners, so finely developed in our time by Miss Jewett and Miss Wilkins. And here are the stirring Typee , White Jacket , Moby Dick  and other stories of the deep by Herman Melville, of whom a modern sea novelist, Clark Russell, writes enthusiastically:

"A famous man he was in those far days when every sea was bright with the American flag, when the cotton-white canvas shone star-like on the horizon. . . . Famous he was; now he is neglected; yet his name and his work will not die. He is a great figure in shadow; but the shadow is not that of oblivion."

Better known than Melville's work is a veritable classic of the sea written by R. H. Dana, Jr., and called Two Years before the Mast  (1840). This book, which deals with the author's experience in such a graphic way that it reads like a romance, was officially recognized abroad when the admiralty adopted it for use in the British navy. At home its great popularity has hardly yet waned; after more than half a century we can still recommend it as a virile, wholesome story, and as probably the best reflection of sailor life in the old days when American ships and seamen were known and honored the world over.

The two chief characteristics of all these story writers—Simms, Kennedy, Paulding, Ware, Judd, Dana, Sarah Hale, Lydia Child and many others—were their intense patriotism and their interest in national history which led them to seek literary material in the annals of Colonial and Revolutionary days. Among a hundred of their books, we would especially recommend the Swallow Barn  and Horse-Shoe Robinson  of John Pendleton Kennedy (1795–1870), who is personally interesting to us for two reasons: for having befriended Poe and given him a start in literature, and for furnishing Thackeray with some material for The Virginians . The Virginians  was appearing, in serial form, Kennedy is said to have written the fourth chapter of the second book, describing Warrington's escape in the region of the Cumberland. Kennedy knew this region well; but whether he actually wrote the chapter or merely furnished the material is undecided.") ?> His Swallow Barn  (1832) is a series of sketches rather than a connected story, describing country life in Virginia in the olden time. The idea is plainly borrowed from Sir Roger de Coverley , and the style suggests the influence of Irving, to whom the book is dedicated; but one must not conclude from this that Kennedy's work is merely imitative. Swallow Barn  is a kindly, human book, reflecting the fine personality of the author and the charm of old-fashioned plantation life, which was even then passing away. Of all the minor works of the period, it seems to us the best worth reading.

Horse-Shoe Robinson  (1835) is a romance dealing with the Revolution in South Carolina. It is somewhat crudely and hurriedly written, but its patriotic interest and stirring adventure made it instantly popular. It was speedily dramatized, and for years held an honored place on the American stage. It should be read, if possible, in connection with The Spy  of Cooper, as these are the only two romances of the Revolution that have ever won general recognition.