32 AMERICAN MEN OF LETTERS [32 



importance. This division made it possible to determine 

 whether the more prominent writers were born in circum- 

 stances different in kind or in degree from those in which 

 mediocre authors appeared.^ 



This division was made in accordance with the degree of 

 success which men of letters had achieved, measured, as 

 before, by the diffusion of their works in time and space.^ 



The more prominent authors formed the smaller of the 

 two groups. For convenience its members are hereafter 

 designated as men of talent. The minor literati who con- 

 stituted the other group are called men of merit.^ 



Men of talent were classified as follows: (i) authors 

 whose works had been translated into foreign languages ; * 

 (2) those writers whose works were very widely read in 

 other English-speaking countries during their lifetime; (3) 

 writers whose works were read extensively after their 

 'death ;'^ and (4) those literary patrons, librarians, actors, 

 and orators whose reputation endured after their decease. 



After the final roll had been determined, the desired facts 



1 Cf. Odin, op. cit., pp. 374 et seq. 



2 Cf. supra, p. 25. 



" In making this classification foreign works were consulted, espec- 

 ially Meyers Grosses Conversations-Lexicon (Leipzig and Vienna, 

 1906), and La Grand Encyclopedie (Paris, no date). This was done 

 in order to discover to what extent the works of the more important 

 American authors were read and esteemed abroad. 



* Exception was made of authors of works of missionary or tem- 

 perance propaganda, writers of text-books on non-literary subjects, 

 explorers who owed their success as authors chiefly to their sub- 

 jects, authors of works of special interest to a foreign people because 

 dealing with some phase of their national life or history, and authors 

 whose residence abroad apparently caused the translation of their 

 works. 



5 From this category were omitted those authors whose works were 

 valued chiefly as historical sources, and authors of posthumous works 

 which enjoyed only ordinary success. 



