COOPERS Sketches of Switzerland contains the best work he has done as an essay writer. As a rule the sketches are descriptive and discursive, but a number of them show something of the quality which gives an enduring charm to Irvings sketches of rural England. Besides his immortal novels, Cooper wrote Notions of the Americans, 1828; a History of the Navy of the United States, 1839; The Battle of Lake Erie, 1843; and Lives of American Naval Officers. His fondness for the sea is explained by his education as a midshipman in active service (180811). He was born at Burlington, New Jersey, September 15th, 1789, and educated at Yale College. After three years service in the navy he married and resigned. His first novel, Precaution, was published anonymously, and the reception given it encouraged him to publish The Spy, 1821. Its unprecedented popularity decided his career. The Pioneers and The Pilot appeared in 1823; The Last of the Mohicans in 1826; The Prairie in 1827; The Pathfinder in 1840; and The Deerslayer in 1841. He died at Cooperstown, New York, September 14th, 1851.