COOPER IN GERMANY 



77 



as 'The Prairie' in May, 1827. (hooper's popularity in P^urojx' 

 made it possible for five editions of this novel to appeal- simul- 

 taneously, one of whieh appeared in Berlin. 'The Water-Witch' 

 was written in Italy. It was Cooper's intention to have it pub- 

 lished in Rome, but the censor found ('ooj)er's Airiericanism too 

 assertive and asked the author to alter the manuscript. Cooper 

 in conse(iuence took it with him to Germany and had it pul)lishe(l 

 in Dresd(^n. 'The Water-Witch' was for some time the last novel 

 to deal with America. During the remainder of his stay in 

 Europe he turned to other fields for his material and with no 

 great success. We have mentioned Cooper's hasty return from 

 Dresden to Paris upon the outbreak of the July Revolution in 

 1833. His interest in European politics led him to write three 

 novels, each of which lias Europe for its scene of action. Louns- 

 bury has pointed out that the weakness in these novels lay, not in 

 the fact thait Cooper was dealing with foreign matei-ial, but that 

 he was writing with the purpose of enforcing political opinions. 

 They are 'The Bravo' (1831), 'The Heidenmauer' (1832), and 

 'The Headsman' (1833). Only the second interests us here. 



The subject for 'The Heidenmauer' was suggested to Cooper 

 upon his journey in the valley of the Rhine. In the introduction 

 to the third volume of his 'Sketches in Switzerland' (1836), he 

 gives the time of the trip as 1832, but intimates several times in 

 the course of the Sketches that he had previously made a Rhine 

 journey. However, the outline of the journey as given in the 

 Introduction to 'The Heidenmauer' is almost identical with that 

 in the Sketches. In the Sketches the journey is continued from 

 Heidelberg to Stuttgart, and then through a part of the Black 

 Forest to Zurich. In the Introduction to 'The Heidenmauer' the 

 party of four drive in a light caleche from Heidelberg to Mann- 

 heim. Thence it is their intention to travel on by way of Kaisers- 

 lautern and the great Napoleon road to Paris. They had already 

 crossed the plain of the Palatinate when the illness of one of the 

 party caused them to halt in the town of Duerckheim which had 

 once been the residence of the Princes of Leiningen. The party 

 lodged at the sign of the Ox. On asking his host about the 

 ruins on the near mountains, the novelist was informed they were 

 those of the Abbey of Limburg and of the castle of Hartenburg. 

 "What! a ruined abbey, and a ruined castle, too! Here is suf- 

 ficient occupation for the rest of the day. An abbey and a cas- 

 tle!" "And the Heidenmauer, and the Tenfelstein. " "How! 

 a Pagan's Wall, and a Devil's Stone! You are rich in curiosi- 



