when the author “came beating out of the ‘Devil’s Grip,’” this old messmate jumped from his seat and paced the floor with strides, not letting a detail escape him.  Cooper was fully satisfied and accepted the criticism, and the tale, alive with spirited description of sea-action, won the day.  It was written with all the author’s power and accuracy of detail.  In “Mr. Gray” appeared John Paul Jones, while “Long Tom Coffin” was said to be Mr. Irish, the mate of the Stirling, in which the lad “Cooper made his voyage before-the-mast.”  Of this mate and the Yankees the author wrote:  “He too was from Nantucket, and was a prime fellow, and fit to command a ship.”  Prof.  Brander Matthews calls this simple-hearted cockswain and Natty Bumppo “co-heirs of time.”  The famous fifth chapter of “The Pilot” was the first fiction to show that “a master of the sea tale had come into the world, and it has never been surpassed in literature of the sea.”  This, the third of Cooper’s novels, won for him his greatest popularity.  It was dedicated to William Branford Shubrick, United States Navy—­the author’s loyal friend since their days together on the Wasp, in 1809.  Its inscription reads in part:  “My Dear Shubrick—­by your old Messmate, the Author.”  A few days after “The Pilot” was issued, January, 1824, Cooper wrote this friend:  “I found Wiley had the book in the hands of his five printers—­on my return—­for reprint.  So much for our joint efforts.”  Concerning “The Pilot” and its author, this appeared in the Edinburgh Review:  “The empire of the sea is conceded to him by acclamation.”

[Illustration:  “TALES FOR FIFTEEN, OR IMAGINATION AND HEART.”]

[Illustration:  CHARLES WILKES.]

[Illustration:  JOHN PAUL JONES.]

Meeting Cooper at dinner three months later, Bryant wrote his wife that “he seemed a little giddy with the great success his works have met.”  Another said:  “What wonder that the hearty, breezy author of ‘The Spy,’ ‘The Pioneers,’ and ‘The Pilot,’ should, by a certain ’emphatic frankness of manner,’ have somewhat startled the shy, retiring, country poet who had not yet found his place on The Evening Post!" Later, in 1824, to Richard Henry Dana’s newsy letter about Cooper’s foreign standing, Bryant replies:  “What you tell me of the success of our countryman, Cooper, in England, is an omen of good things.  I hope it is the breaking of a bright day for American literature.”  Bryant’s memorial address after Cooper’s death remains a splendid record of their unclouded friendship, based on mutual respect.  It was delivered at Metropolitan Hall, in New York City, February 25, 1852.  The occasion was honored by the presence of the most brilliant men of the time.  Daniel Webster presided, assisted by William Cullen Bryant, and Washington Irving.  At that time these three men were made the subjects of a pencil sketch by Daniel Huntington.

[Illustration:  LONG TOM COFFIN.]