m, and when,
in 1808, he received his commission as midshipman, he entered the
service better equipped for his duties perhaps than many a graduate of
Annapolis to-day.

Cooper remained in the navy three years and a half, seeing no active
service. He finally resigned his commission, and passed several
succeeding years of his life partly in Westchester County, New York, and
partly in Cooperstown, and having no ambition beyond living the quiet
life of a country gentleman.

It was not until 1820, when he was in his thirty-first year, that he
produced his first book or novel of English life, which showed no
talent, and which even his most ardent admirers in after-years could not
read through. It was not until the next year, 1821, that a novel
appeared from the hand of Cooper which foreshadowed the greatness of his
fame, and struck a new note in American literature. American society was
at that time alive with the stirring memories of the Revolution. Men and
women were still active who could recall the victories of Bunker Hill
and Trenton, and who had shared in the disasters of Monmouth and Long
Island. It is natural that in choosing a subject for fiction he should
turn to the recent struggle for his inspiration, and American literature
owes a large debt to him who thus threw into literary form the spirit of
those thrilling times.

His first important novel, _The Spy_, was founded upon a story which
Cooper had heard many years before, and which had made a profound
impression upon him. It was the story of a veritable spy, who had been
in the service of one of the Revolutionary leaders, and whose daring and
heroic adventures were related to Cooper by the man who had employed
him.

Cooper took this old spy for his hero, kept the scene in Westchester,
where the man had really performed his wonderful feats, and from these
facts wove the most thrilling and vital piece of fiction that had
appeared in America.

The novel appeared in December, 1821, and in a few months it was
apparent that a new star had risen in the literary skies. The book made
Cooper famous both in America and Europe. It was published in England by
the same publisher who had brought out Irving's _Sketch-Book_, and it
met with a success that spoke highly for its merit, since the story was
one telling of English defeat and American triumph. It was put into
French by the translator of the Waverley novels, and before long
versions appeared in every tongue in Eur