is European
fame. They established it, but they did not originate it. "The Spy"
was a tale of a war, which in character was not essentially different
from any other war. So far as the story painted the incidents of a
struggle in which the English had been unsuccessful, it could have no
right to expect favor from the English public unless there was merit
in the execution of the work independent of the subject. The interest
with which it was read by a people who could not fail to find portions
of it disagreeable, who were moreover accustomed to look with contempt
upon everything of American origin, was the best proof that a novelist
had arisen whose reputation would stretch beyond the narrow limits of
nationality. This was even more strikingly seen, when it came to be
translated. If the English opinion was favorable, the French might
fairly be called enthusiastic. A version was made into that tongue in
the summer of 1822, by the translator of the Waverley Novels. In the
absolute ignorance that existed as to its authorship, the work was
ascribed by several of the Parisian papers to Fanny Wright, who
subsequently achieved a fame of her own as a champion of woman's
privileges and denouncer of woman's wrongs. In spite of its anonymous
character and of some extraordinary blunders in translation, it was
warmly received in France. From that country its reputation in no long
space of time spread in every direction; translations followed one
after another into all the cultivated tongues of modern Europe; and in
all it met the same degree of favor. Nor has lapse of time shaken
seriously its popularity. The career of success, which began sixty (p. 037)
years ago, has suffered vicissitudes, but never suspension; and to
this hour, whatever fault may be found with the work as a whole, the
name of Harvey Birch is still one of the best known in fiction. No
tale produced during the present century has probably had so extensive
a circulation; and the leading character in it has found admirers
everywhere and at times imitators. Of this latter statement a striking
illustration is given in the memoirs of Gisquet, a prefect of the French
police under Louis Philippe. In his chapter on the secret agents
employed by him during his administration, he tells the story of one
who by the information he imparted rendered important services in
preventing the outbreak of civil war. He thus describes the motives
which led the man to pursue the course he di