er.

Libertines, a comedy; David Everett published (1800) Daranzel; C. J. Ingersoll, now an eminent lawyer, published (1801) Edwy and Elgiva, and (1831) Julian, a tragedy; W. Jones (1801), Independence; W. C. White (1810), two pieces, the Clergyman's Daughter, and the Poor LodgJames N. Baker (between 1807 and 1817) wrote often for the stage; and his Marmion and Superstition are much praised for poetical talent. Some others have occasionally furnished pieces to the acting theatre, which have received a share of transient applause. In general, however, the American theatre has been supplied with plays from the English theatre.

8. Romantic Fiction. Compared with the other departments of elegant literature, romantic fiction is of recent origin. It is the only form of the belles-lettres which is absolutely due to modern invention, and has reached or approached its perfection only in our time. At the period when our forefathers landed in this country, the domestic form of romancethat which rests on private manners and character for success-was unknown in the world; nor, excepting Don Quixote, had a single work of romantic fiction been produced which is still read, except from curiosity. It is not, therefore, reinarkable, that works of prose fiction should have been the last that appeared among us; for there was certainly nothing in the severe theology of the Eastern States, or in the anxiety and wants that were every where encountered by the early settlers, to give birth to those light and fanciful forms of literature, which had not yet taken their final character even amidst the refinements of the English and French courts. Up to the period of the American revolution, therefore, no symptom of it appeared on this side of the Atlantic. The first work of prose fiction which appeared in the U. States seems to have been the Foresters, which was originally published in the Columbian Magazine at Philadelphia, in 1787-88, but was printed separately in 1792, and again in 1796. It was written by doctor Belknap, of Boston, author of a History of New Hampshire, and was an imitation, and, in some respects, a continuation, of Arbuthnot's John Bull, giving, with much humorous solemnity, an account of the first settlement of the country, the war of the revolution, and, in part, of the French revolution. The next work of fiction published in the U. States seems to have been the Algerine Captive (1797), written by the late Royall Tyler, then a

lawyer in Walpole, and since chief justice of Vermont: the first volume contains sketches of manners in the interior of New England, which have much freshness, spirit and truth; but the second, in which the hero becomes a captive in Algiers, is dull and common-place. This was the first genuine novel published in the U. States. The first author, however, who can be considered a regular writer of novels in America, was Charles Brockden Brown. (q. v.) Between 1798 and 1801, he published six novels-Wieland, Ormond, Arthur Mervyn, Edgar Huntley, Clara Howard, and Jane Talbot. He was a writer of high gifts. His manner sometimes resembles that of Godwin, who was then in great reputation; and his sketches of the sleep-walker, in Edgar Huntley, are among the most vivid in the language. His writings have often been published separately in England and the U. States, and, in 1827, an edition of his novels was printed at Boston (7 vols.). In some respects, he is still the principal novelist whom the country has produced; but the more dramatic form of romance writing, since become common under the influence of sir W. Scott's example, has changed the public taste; and Brown's novels are less interesting and less read than they otherwise would be. In 1810, Washington Irving published his Knickerbocker's History of New York (2 vols.), an imitation, in many respects, of Swift's Tale of a Tub, and containing, under a similar allegory, though with a more strict adherence to fact, a history of the Dutch government of the province of New York. It is a work of much genuine humor, and contains descriptions of natural scenery of great beauty and power, so that, though much of it is local, it has been often reprinted both in England and this country, and has been translated into French and German. It is hardly necessary to enumerate the other works of this accomplished writer. Jonathan Oldstyle's Letters, first published in the New York Morning Chronicle (1802); Salma gundi, or the Whim Whams of Launcelot Langstaff and others (1807); and, at a later period, the Sketch Book, Bracebridge Hall, Tales of a Traveller, &c., have all been translated into German. Under this head should also be mentioned the Old Bachelor (1812), and the British Spy, of Mr. Wirt (late attorney-general of the U. States), of which the tenth edition, published in 1832, contains a biographical sketch of the author. A few other persons, in the period just passed

over, also wrote novels which had a limited success. Mrs. Foster wrote the Boarding School, and the Coquette; Mr. Dennie wrote Female Quixotism; and Mrs. Rowson, Rebecca, Sarah, and some other stories. In general, however, this was not a popular form of writing, and very few attempted it. This state of things continued until sir W. Scott gave an impulse to the whole empire of romantic fiction, which has been felt through all the borders of Christendom, and no where with more force than in the U. States. The person who has shown the most power and disposition to imitate this form of romance is Mr. Cooper. He began, in 1820, with Precaution, a novel, the scene of which was laid in England; and its style is in the manner of Miss Burney; but the direction was wrong, and his success was small: it was only when he touched his native earth, that he gathered strength. In 1821, he published his Spy, the scene of which is laid amidst the American revolution; and from that time to the present, he has published no less than eight similar tales, all founded in American manners, and with a degree of success to which no American author has before attained in this department. In his last productions (the Bravo and the Heidenmauer) he has left America for the old continent. His romances have been read in the U. States almost as extensively as sir W. Scott's, and, besides being regularly reprinted in England, are no less regularly translated and published in French and German. Miss Sedgwick, the author of a New England Tale (1822), Redwood (1824), Hope Leslie (1827), and Clarence (1830), all on American subjects, should be distinguished among the popular writers of the time: her works have been reprinted with success in England. Miss Francis (more known as Mrs. Child), the author of several successful works in other departments, should be mentioned here on account of her Hobomok (1824), and her Rebels (1825). Paulding's novels (Dutchman's Fireside, Westward Ho, &c.) have found many readers on both sides of the Atlantic; and Flint's Francis Berrian shows much freshness and vigor. Since 1820, the whole course of things in relation to romantic fiction has been changed. Before that time, an American novel or romance was extremely rare: it is now the most common of all the forms of our literature, and every year produces several, which will not easily be forgotten. This change is mainly due to the circum

stance, that American subjects have furnished their materials. For the preceding account of literature in the U. States, we are indebted to manuscripts of professor Ticknor.

9. Arts and Sciences. The progress of the Americans has been greater in the useful arts than in the sciences, though their advances in the latter are respectable, considering the shortness of their career. Inventions and discoveries in the former have been promoted by means of the patent office, which secures, to persons who apply for it, the exclusive right to the fruits of their ingenuity. This office is attached to the department of state. Models and drawings of the machines of which the right is obtained, are deposited with the director, with a description of the invention, the name and residence of the patentee, and date of the patent. The whole number of patents issued, from the establishment of the patent office in 1790 to the first of January, 1832, is 6911. The Americans have, indeed, shown a particular aptitude for making discoveries and improvements in the mechanic arts. A great number of remarkable inventions, of which the cotton-gin, the steam-boat, the nail and card machines, and the machine for spinning hemp, are only the most prominent among a hundred others, with essential improvements upon many processes of manufacture, and upon many machines previously in use, have been made in the U. States. In ship. building, the Americans are decidedly superior to any other people, combining beauty of form, speed in sailing, and capacity of carriage, in their vessels. (See Ship.) In regard to the fine arts, though there is no such thing as an American school, yet the U. States have produced several eminent painters; and some works of sculpture of merit have been executed in the country. The names of West, Copley, Stewart (see the articles), Trumbull, Vanderlyn (who, in 1808, gained the French prize-medal for his Marius on the Ruins of Carthage), Jarvis, Wood, Allston, Leslie, Peale, Sully, Morse, Newton, Neagle, Doughty, Fisher, King, Inman, Cole, and others, are, some of them, well known in Europe. Academies for the cultivation of the fine arts have been established at Philadelphia and New York ; and a picture-gallery has been connected with the Athenæum in Boston, in which the annual exhibition of paintings is very respectable. Plaster casts of the principal antique statues have been obtained for

these institutions, which have been liberally patronised. A statue of Washington has been executed by Canova for the state of North Carolina; another, by Chantrey, for a number of citizens of Boston; and Greenough, a native artist, favorably known by his Chanting Cherubs, and some busts of distinguished Americans, has been employed by congress to execute a colossal statue of the same great man for the capitol at Washington. Augur, a self-taught artist, has executed a group, Jephthah's Daughter, and some single statues. It was a long time before any attention was paid to the natural sciences in the colonies; for, although the early inhabitants of the U. States found themselves literally in a new world, surrounded with objects, in the vegetable, animal and mineral kingdoms, which had never been accurately described, yet the imperfect state of education, the want of collections and apparatuses, could only be slowly overcome. In 1725, a professorship of mathematics and experimental philosophy was founded in Harvard college, by Mr. Hollis, a friend of the institution, in England; but New England, at least, could not furnish a man capable of discharging the duties of the office. Mr. Greenwood went out to England, and, after studying a short time under Desaguliers, returned to America, and was appointed professor. There was also a professorship of natural philosophy and mathematics at William and Mary's at an early period, but there was none at Yale college until 1770. Logan, Godfrey (inventor of the quadrant), Rittenhouse (inventor of the orrery), Franklin, Rumford, &c. (see the articles), were selftaught men. During the last twenty years, scientific studies have been pursued in a more systematic and thorough manner, and valuable treatises upon almost all subjects of natural science and natural history, so far as relates to the U. States, have been produced. Mineralogy has been studied with much zeal; and Cleaveland's Treatise on Mineralogy and Geology (2d edition, 2 vols, 8vo., 1822), and Maclure's Geology of the U. States (1817), deserve to be mentioned. Among the botanical works, Elliot's Botany of South Carolina and Georgia; Bigelow's American Medical Botany (3 vols., 8vo., Boston, 1817-20), and Florula Bostoniensis; Barton's Flora of North America (3 vols., 4to., 106 colored engravings, Philadelphia, 1821-23), and Medical Botany of the U. States (2 vols., 4to., 50 colored plates, 1825); Nuttall's Genera of North

American Plants, a good sequel to Pursh's Flora, &c., are valuable. Say's American Entomology (with colored plates, 3 vols., 8vo., 1824-25); Godman's American Natural History (3 vols., 8vo., 1826-28); Wilson's American Ornithology (9 vols., folio, Philadelphia, 1808-1814); Bonaparte's American Ornithology (3 vols., 4to., Philadelphia, 1825); Nuttall's American Ornithology (2d vol., Boston, 1832), are works of great merit. The splendid work of Audubon is executing in London (with colored engravings); that of Michaux, a foreigner (the North American Sylva, or a Description of North American Forest Trees, with 150 colored engravings), though published in Philadelphia (3 vols., 8vo., 1817), was executed in Paris. In addition to these works, we must mention Conrad's Fossil Shells (with colored plates); Shepard's Fossil Remains; Say's Conchology (with colored plates), &c. The principal mathematical work which has been produced in the U. States is Bowditch's translation of the Mécanique Celeste of Laplace, with a commentary (2d vol., 4to., Boston, 1832). Silliman's Journal of Science and Arts (since 1818) has reached the 22d volume.

10. Poetry. The first book published in the U. States (8vo., 1640), was an original version of the Psalms, in metre, "for the use, edification and comfort of the saints," made by Eliot, Welde, and Mather, three clergymen appointed for this purpose. This version was afterwards improved by Dunster, president of Harvard college, and Mr. Lyon, with additions, of which the twentieth edition was published in 1722: it was often, also, reprinted in Scotland and England, and used by many of the dissenting congregations. Mrs. Anne Bradstreet published a volume of poems in 1642, which contains some good descriptions. P. Folger, of Nantucket, grandfather of Franklin, wrote a Looking-Glass for the Times (1676). These works, with Michael Wigglesworth's Day of Doom, a Poetical Description of the Last Judgment, which went through many editions, and was republished in London, and a few elegies, stanzas, &c., without taste or spirit, appear to constitute the colonial Parnassus of the seventeenth century. Nor does the first half of the eighteenth century present a more attractive prospect. A volume of poems by John Adams (Boston, 1745); another by Thomas Godfrey (Philadelphia, 1765), including the Prince of Parthia, a tragedy, and the Court of

Fancy; W. Livingston's Philosophic Solitude (1747), hardly deserve to be mentioned. The excitement of the revolution produced several satirical poems of considerable merit. Trumbull's McFingal, written in 1775, to ridicule the British and the tories, passed through more than thirty editions, and was often republished in England. Philip Freneau, author of a number of poems, began to write just before the revolution, but continued till a comparatively recent period. He is distinguished for ease, humor and sprightliness. Timothy Dwight was the author of the Conquest of Canaan, an epic poem, in eleven books (1785); Greenfield Hill, a descriptive and didactic poem; and the Triumph of Infidelity, a satirical poem. Joel Barlow (q. v.) published his Vision of Columbus in 1787, and cast anew under the title of the Columbiad, in 1808; the Conspiracy of Kings in 1793, and his Hasty Pudding in 1799. More recently, the poems of Allston, Pierpont, Paulding, Sands, Hillhouse, Percival, Halleck, Wilcox, Brainard, Bryant, Dana, Sprague, Willis, and others, have enjoyed different degrees of popularity in their own country. Independently of other circumstances, which operated more powerfully, indeed, at an earlier period, but which still continue to operate with great force, the superior popularity of some of the forms of prose fiction at the present day may partly account for the poverty of the Americans in the poetical department.

11. History and Biography. It is a peculiarity in the history of the U. States, that, from the beginning of the first European settlements of their territory, we have accounts of the events which have occurred in them, of the chief actors in those events, and, even farther back, that the written charters which described their objects, and defined their privileges, are yet in our hands. We know the family names, the condition in life, the local origin, even the features of the first settlers; and, from the period of the first emigrations downward, we have contemporaneous narratives and documents, with few interruptions. It is true, that the first 150 years of colonial history, or rather the public history of that period, presents little variety of incidents, and has none of the grandeur and brilliancy which gives a charm to the story of great empires. It is also true, that the Americans have produced no historical works which can lay claim to high literary merit, or which attract notice merely

from the excellence of their execution. But, though most of the works which we shall enumerate in this department are local in their nature, many of them are of general interest to those who would trace the developement of seminal principles into life, watch the cradle of a recent people, and witness the growth of families and villages into populous communities and powerful states. Among the earlier works on colonial history are Morton's New England Memorial (Čambridge, 1669), of which the fifth edition (Boston, 1826) contains notes by the editor, J. Davis; Winthrop's Journal (first complete edition, with notes, by J. Savage, Boston, 1825); Hubbard's History of New England (Boston, 1815); Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana (folio, London, 1702;) Beverly's History of Virginia, from 1587 to 1700 (London, 1705); Stith's History of Virginia (Williamsburg, 1747); W. Smith's History of New York (London, 1757); Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts (2 vols., 1764; 3d vol., London, 1828); Franklin's Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania (London, 1759); Proud's History of Pennsylvania (1745); Smith's History of New Jersey, to 1721 (1765). Many of these works were written at a much earlier period than the date of their publication, and, though several were published in England, were from the pens of colonists. Of a more recent date are Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, Burk's History of Virginia (3 vols., 8vo., 1803); Ramsay's History of the Revolution in South Carolina (2 vols., 1785), and History of South Carolina (2 vols., 1809); Moultrie's Memoirs of the Revolution in North and South Carolina and Georgia (2 vols., 1802); Drayton's View of South Carolina (1802), and Memoirs of the Revolution in South Carolina (2 vols., 1821); Lee's Memoirs of the War in the South (2 vols., 8vo., 1812); Williamson's History of North Carolina (1812); Minot's History of Massachusetts (2 vols., 8vo., 1789); Bradford's History of Massachusetts, from 1764 (3 vols.); Belknap's History of New Hampshire (3 vols., 1792); Williams's History of Vermont (2 vols., 1809); Sullivan's History of Maine (1795); Williamson's History of Maine (2 vols., 1832); Yates and Moulton's History of New York (1825); Trumbull's History of Connecticut (2 vols., 1818); Flint's History and Geography of the Western States (2d edition, 2 vols., 1832); Stoddard's Sketches of Louisiana (1812); McCall's History of

Georgia (2 vols., 1816). Of works of a more general nature may be mentioned Ramsay's History of the U. States (3 vols., 1816), and his Universal History (12 vols., 8vo., 1819); Holmes's Annals of America, from 1492 to 1826 (2d edition, 1829, 2 vols., 8vo.); Marshall's History of the Colonies (2d edition, 1824); Pitkin's Political and Civil History of the U. States, from 1763 to 1797 (2 vols., 8vo., 1828); Douglass's Summary, Historical and Political, of the British Settlements in North America (2 vols., 1749); Trumbull's General History of the U. States to 1765; Thomas's History of Printing in America (2 vols., 8vo., 1810); Millar's Retrospect of the Eighteenth Century (2 vols., 8vo., New York, 1803); Wheaton's History of the Normans (Philadelphia, 1831); Lyman's History of the Diplomacy of the U. States (2 vols., Boston, 1828). In biography, we may mention Marshall's Life of Washington (2d edition, 2 vols., 1832); Ramsay's and Bancroft's Lives of the same; Tudor's Life of Otis; Wirt's Life of Henry; Lee's Lives of the Lees; Quincy's Life of Quincy; Wheaton's Life of Pinkney; Kirkland's Life of Ames; Franklin's and Jefferson's Autobiographies; Johnson's Life and Correspondence of Greene; Austin's Life of Gerry; Sparks's Life of Morris; Sanderson's Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (by different hands, 12 vols., Philadelphia, 1823-27); Belknap's American Biography; Sparks's Life of Ledyard; Irving's Life of Columbus; Biddle's Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, &c. -We have given this long list of works, not, certainly, on account of their literary value, but in general as the most authentic sources of information in regard to the U. States.

12. Miscellaneous. Some political works of merit have issued from the American press. Passing by those of earlier date, we shall mention here only the Federalist; Adams's Defence of the American Constitutions (London, 1787); Everett's Europe (1822), and America 1827), and Walsh's Letters on the Genius and Spirit of the French Government. The results of the expeditions sent out by government, at different times, to explore the interior of the continent, are given in Lewis and Clarke's Expedition to the Sources of the Missouri (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1814); Pike's Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi (8vo., atlas, 4to., 1810); Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains (2 vols., 8vo., and atlas, 4to 1823); Keating's Narrative of

Long's Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River, &c. (2 vols., 8vo., 1824). Noah, Silliman, Griscom, Slidell, Dwight, Anderson, Bigelow, and others, have published their travels in different countries of Europe; Silliman, Dwight, Flint, Brackenridge, Schoolcraft, Schultz, &c., their travels in the U. States. Cooper's Notions of the Americans (1828) also belongs to this class of works. Dr. Cooper Cardozo, Raymond, Everett and Phillips have published works on political economy. In geography, Morse's Universal Geography, which has passed through many editions, and Worcester's Universal Gazetteer (2 vols., 8vo., 2d edition, 1823), deserve mention. In lexicography, Webster's Dictionary (2 vols., 4to., New York, 1828) is complete in respect to its vocabulary. Murray's English Grammar (1795) is the first considerable attempt of the kind in the English language: it has gone through numerous editions, and has been translated into German. John Quincy Adams, since president of the U. States, is the author of two volumes of Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory (8vo., 1810). The most complete of the English encyclopædias, Rees's Cyclopædia, and Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopædia, have been republished in the U. States, with large additions. UNITED STATES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. (See Central America.)

UNITY of a work is the correspondence of its parts in one harmonious whole. It is indispensable in every work of art. (For the unities in the drama, see Drama.)

UNIVERSALISTS; those Christians who believe in the final salvation of all men, in opposition to the doctrine of eternal punishment. There is, however, a great difference of opinion, in regard to the future state, among those who are called Universalists: some believe in a remedial punishment of limited duration, which will end in a universal restoration to goodness and happiness; others believe that all men will be happy after the dissolution of the body, but in different degrees, until the resurrection; and yet others hold that the future state of all will be alike perfect and happy immediately after death. (See Sects.)-Universalists is also an appellation given to those who teach, in opposition to the doctrine of absolute predestination, that Christ died for all, and not for an elect number, and that all men, therefore, may partake of salvation through belief in Jesus Christ. They are also called hypothetical Universalists, be