itten to the contrary, are
no more inferior in fidelity than they are in poetical interest to those
of his most successful imitators or rivals. His hunters and trappers
have the same vividness and freshness, and in the whole realm of fiction
there is nothing more actual, harmonious, and sustained. They evince not
only the first order of inventive power, but a profoundly philosophical
study of the influences of situation upon human character. He treads the
deck with the conscious pride of home and dominion: the aspects of the
sea and sky, the terrors of the tornado, the excitement of the chase,
the tumult of battle, fire, and wreck, are presented by him with a
freedom and breadth of outline, a glow and strength of coloring and
contrast, and a distinctness and truth of general and particular
conception, that place him far in advance of all the other artists who
have attempted with pen or pencil to paint the ocean. The same vigorous
originality is stamped upon his nautical characters. The sailors of
Smollett are as different in every respect as those of Eugene Sue and
Marryat are inferior. He goes on board his ship with his own creations,
disdaining all society and assistance but that with which he is thus
surrounded. Long Tom Coffin, Tom Tiller, Trysail, Bob Yarn, the
boisterous Nightingale, the mutinous Nighthead, the fierce but honest
Boltrope, and others who crowd upon our memories, as familiar as if we
had ourselves been afloat with them, attest the triumph of this
self-reliance. And when, as if to rebuke the charge of envy that he owed
his successes to the novelty of his scenes and persons, he entered upon
fields which for centuries had been illustrated by the first geniuses of
Europe, his abounding power and inspiration were vindicated by that
series of political novels ending with The Bravo, which have the same
supremacy in their class that is held by The Pilot and The Red Rover
among stories of the sea. It has been urged that his leading characters
are essentially alike, having no difference but that which results from
situation. But this opinion will not bear investigation. It evidently
arose from the habit of clothing his heroes alike with an intense
individuality, which under all circumstances sustains the sympathy they
at first awaken, without the aid of those accessories to which artists
of less power are compelled to resort. Very few authors have added more
than one original and striking character to the world