The Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne

n as an authority in literature, and which in most instances deserved the confidence that was placed in it, for its reviews were written by men of dist

d says so little to the purpose.} but he goes to the main point with the single-mindness of the true poet. "A new star," he says, "has appeared in the skies"-a veritable prediction

ympathies extend to all things living, and even to the inanimates. Another characteristic is the exceeding beauty of his style. It is as clear as running waters are.

n he

ess stealing over its features. Sometimes, though not often, it glares wildly at you, with a strange and painful expres

calm thoughtful face there is that mysterious unknown quantity which puzzles Longfellow here, a

osite extreme,-to that scepticism of evil which, as George Brandes says, is greatly to the advantage of hypocrites and sharpers. This was justifiable in Doctor Channing, but among his followers it has often degenerated into an inverted or homoeopathic kind of Puritanism,-a habit of excusing the faults of others, or of themselves, on the score of good intentions-a habit of self-justification, and even to the perverse belief that, as everything is for the best, whatever we do in this world must be for good.

ined the most independent stand-point of any American writer of his time; and if this alienated him from the various humanitarian movements that were go

he Bulgarians in obtaining their independence; but this was no consolation to the twenty or thirty thousand human beings who were ground to powder there. To them there was no comfort, no hope,-only the terrible reality. Neither can we cast the responsibility of such events on the mysterious ways of Providence. The ways of Providence are not so mysterious to those who have eyes to read with. Take for instance one of the most notable cases of depravity, that of Nero. If we consider the conditions under

position of authority. He may serve as a warning to the general public, but in the domestic circle he is an unmitigated evil,-he or she, though it is not so likely to be a woman. When a crime is committed within the precincts of good society, we are greatly shocked; bu

Hawthorne found the material which was

nd," but reaches a climax in "The Ambitious Guest" and "Lady Eleanor's Mantle." There are others, like "Lights from a Steeple," and "Little Annie's Ramble," that are of a more cheerful cast, but are also much less serious in their composition. "The Min

ust be the work of his sister, and others supposed them to have been written by a Quaker. They resemble Dürer's wood-cuts,-gentle and tender in line, but unswerving in their fidelity. We sometimes wish that they were not so quiet and evenly composed,

pany parading below, and they remind him from that elevation of the toy soldiers in a shop-window,-which they turned out to be, pretty much, at Bull Run. A fashionable young man comes along the street escorting two young ladies, and suddenly at a crossing encounters their father, who takes them away from him; but one of them gives him a sweet parting look, which amply compensates him in its presage of future opportunities. How plainly that consolatory look appears between our eyes and the printed page! Then Hawthorne describes the grand march of a thunder-storm,-as in Rembrandt's "Three Trees,"-wi

foundation; and "The Minister's Black Veil" is an equally awful symbolism for that barrier between man and man, which we construct through suspicion and our

ains, and stops overnight at the house of the ill-fated Willey family. He talks freely on the subject of his vain expectations, when Destiny, in the shape of an avalanche, suddenly overtakes him, and buries him so deeply that neither his body nor his

, the journey from Salem to Niagara in those days being fully equal to going from New York to the cataracts of the Nile in our own time. "The Ambitious Guest" was published in the same volume with it, and

thorne drew from this source the two finest of his alle

a mountain, which looks at a distance like a burning coal; an appearance only visible in the White Mountains during the winter, and there is no reason why Hawthorne should not have seen it at that season from Lake Sebago. At a distance of twe

gem; a scientific experimenter who wishes to grind it up for the benefit of his crucible; a cynical sceptic who has come to disprove the existence of the great gem; a greedy speculator who seeks the carbuncle as he would prospect for a silver-mine; an English lord who wishes to add it

le vein of irony, and would have delighted old Socrates himself. Meanwhile the young bride weav

ey now feel instinctively that it is too great a prize for their possession. The man of one idea also sees it, and his life goes out in the exultation over his final success. The skeptic appears, but cannot discover it, although his face is illumined by its light, until he takes off his large spectacles; whereupon, he instantly becomes blind. The English nobleman and the American speculator fai

ty thus to anatomize the chief illusions of li

half-dozen sketches of this sort, but they are more formally written than the others, and remind one of those portraits by Ti

poses his methods of study and betrays the

le round man and woman, witnessing their deeds, searching into their hearths, borrowing brightne

is motive was an elevated one, and without this close scrutiny of human nature we should have had neither a Hawthorne nor a Shakespeare. There is no quality more conspicuous in "Twi

or dawn of Hawtho

practicable for minds like Hawthorne's, surcharged with poetic images, and the attempt might have proved a disturbing influence for him. He had already contributed the substance to Longfellow of "Evangeline," and he now wrote a eulogium on the poem for a Salem newspaper, which it must be confessed did

rs may be said to have rather a slim chance for escaping from those strong ties which have grown up between them from childhood. Many a mother has prevented her son from getting married until it has become too late for him to change his bachelor habits. His mother and his sisters realize that he ought to be married, and that he has a right to a home of his own; but in their heart of hearts they combat the idea, and their opposition takes the form of an unsparing criticism of any young lady whom he follows with his eyes. This frequently happens a

rmittently until this time. The Graces had not been bountiful the Peabody family, so, to compensate for this, they all cultivated the Muses, in whose society they ascended no little distance on the way to Parnassus. Elizabeth Peabody was quite a feminine pundit. She learned French and German, and studied history and archaeology; she taught history on a large scale at Sanborn's Concord School and at many others; she had a method of painting dat

Mann and her public activity became merged in that of her husband, who was the first educator of his time. Sophia Peabody read poetry and other fine writings

Miss Elizabeth Hawthorne, whom she had known somewhat in earlier days, and she concluded to call upon her and offer her congratulations. When informed by Louisa Hawthorne, who came to her in the parlor, instead of the elder sister, that "The Gentle Boy" was written by Nathaniel, Miss P

acts without any consideration of internal causes or conditions. It gratifies the vanity of those who are fortunate and prosperous, to believe that all men have an equal chance in the race of life. Emerson

found a person who expressed a genuine and heartfelt appreciation of his work, and it was like the return of the sun to the Arctic explorer after his lon

al example. She was gentle, affectionate, refined, and amiable to a fault,-much too tender-hearted f

iven onward by an inexorable will. If Hamlet had possessed half of Hawthorne's determination, he might have broken through the network of evil conditions which

izabeth found it difficult to persuade her to come into the parlor and meet the handsomest man in Salem. When she did come she evidently attracted Nathaniel Hawthorne's attention, for, although she said little, he looked at her repeatedly while conversing with her sister. It may not have been an instance of love at first sight,-which may happen to any young man at a dancing part

his presence, from the very beginning, exercised so strong a magnetic attraction upon her, that instinctively, and in self-defence as it were, she drew

rce as Hawthorne, and it is no wonder that this first impression was recollected throughout her life. There are many who would have refused Hawthorne's suit, because they felt that he was too great

ich I lacked at an earlier period;" {Footnote: Conway, 75.} and this is all the information he has vouchsafed us on the subject. If there is anything more in his diary, it has not been given to the public,

is slender means of support, the delicate health of his betrothed, and the disturbance which it might create in the Hawthorne family. The last did not prove so serious

lacken. The happiness of love is thus the best of all stimulants and correctives for a torpid circulation, and it expands the whole being of a woman like the blossoming of a flower in the sunshine. From the time of her betrothal, Sophia Peabody's headaches became less and less frequent, until they ceased altogether. The true seat of the affections is in the mind. The first consideration proved to be a more serious matter. If Hawthorne had not succeeded in earning his own livelihood by literature so far, what prospect was there of supporting a wife and family in that manner? What should he do; whither should he turn? He continually turned the subject over in his mind, w

ntury, but he was also a caricaturist and a bohemian. He did not represent life as it is, but with a certain comical oddity. As an author he is to Hawthorne what a peony is to a rose, or a garnet is to a ruby; but ten, persons would purchase a novel of Dickens when one would select the "Twice Told Tales." Scott and Tennyson are exce