Manse had never been "profaned by a lay occupant," he says, until that memorable summer afternoon when I entered it as my home. A priest had built it, a priest had succeeded to it, other priestly men from time to time had dwelt in it, and children born in its chambers had grown up to assume the priestly character. 'It was awful to reflect how many sermons must have been written

there. There was in the rear of the house the most delightful little nook of a study that ever offered its snug seclusion to a scholar. It was here that Emerson wrote Nature'; for he was then an inhabitant of the Manse, and used to watch the Assyrian dawn and the Paphian sunset and moonrise from the summit of our eastern hill. When I first saw the room, its walls were blackened

with the smoke of unnumbered years, and made still blacker by the grim prints of Puritan ministers that hung around. These worthies looked strangely like bad angels — or, at least, like men who had wrestled so continually and so sternly with the devil that somewhat of his sooty fierceness had been imparted to their own visages."

410. Opinion of his Native Town. Hawthorne lived at Concord four years, a period of ripened manhood and deepened character. He was then appointed surveyor in the custom-house at Salem, where he went to live in 1846. He was not very partial to his native town; and in one of his letters of an earlier date he gives humorous expression to his dislike: "Methinks, all enormous sinners should be sent on pilgrimage to Salem, and compelled to spend a length of time there, proportioned to the enormity of their offences. Such punishment would be suited to crimes that do not quite deserve hanging, yet are too aggravated for the State's prison." He discharged the duties of his office with exemplary fidelity. He did but little literary work; but he was not so entirely absorbed in his prosaic duties as not to make his customary but silent and unsuspected observations upon the characters of those about him.

411. Portraits from the Custom-House. - In the introduction to "The Scarlet Letter," which was published in 1850, he gives an account of his custom-house experiences, and furnishes us a delightful series of portraits of his subordinates. Take, for example, a single trait in the character of the patriarch of the custom-house: "His gormandism was a highly agreeable trait; and to hear him talk of roast meat was as appetizing as a pickle or an oyster. As he possessed no higher attribute, and neither sacrificed nor vitiated any spiritual endowment by devoting all his energies and ingenuities to subserve the delight and profit of his maw, it always pleased and satisfied me to hear him expatiate on fish, poultry, and butcher's meat, and the most eligible methods of preparing them for the table. His reminiscences of good cheer, however ancient the date of the actual banquet, seemed to bring

the savor of pig or turkey under one's very nostrils. There were flavors on his palate that had lingered there not less than sixty or seventy years, and were still apparently as fresh as the muttonchop which he had just devoured for his breakfast. I have heard him smack his lips over dinners, every guest at which, except himself, had long been food for worms. The chief tragic event of the old man's life, so far as I could judge, was his mishap with a certain goose which lived and died some twenty or forty. years ago; a goose of most promising figure, but which at table proved so inveterately tough that the carving-knife would make no impression on its carcass, and it could only be divided with an ax and handsaw."

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412. The Scarlet Letter.' After three years a change of administration again led to Hawthorne's retirement. Now you will have leisure to write your book," cheerfully exclaimed his wife, when he told her of his removal. When he asked what they would live on meanwhile, she led him to a desk, and proudly pointed to a heap of gold that she had saved out of her weekly allowance for household expenses. He set to work at once upon "The Scarlet Letter," perhaps the best known of his writings, and one of the most subtile and powerful pieces of fiction produced in this country. It is a tragedy of sin and remorse, in which thoughts are acts. Its extraordinary merits were at once recognized, and at a single bound Hawthorne attained the literary eminence that his genius deserved. His day of obscurity was past; the praises of "The Scarlet Letter" in America were reechoed in England. This enthusiastic reception of his work, which his frequent disappointments had not prepared him for, brought him satisfaction and encouragement. It seems to have acted upon him as a stimulus to renewed effort; and the years immediately following were the most productive of his life. Even the greatest genius needs the encouragement of appreciation.

413. "" The House of the Seven Gables." In 1850, the year in which "The Scarlet Letter" appeared, Hawthorne moved to Lenox in western Massachusetts. He occupied a small red cot

tage, which, but for its commanding view of mountain, lake, and valley, could not have been considered in keeping with his gifts and fame. His limited means still enforced simplicity of living. Here he wrote The House of the Seven Gables," one of his four great romances, which was published in 1851. It was written, as were most of his works, to set forth a spiritual truth. The story was never with Hawthorne the principal thing. It was simply the skeleton, which he clothed with the flesh of thought and vitalized with the breath of truth. The House of the Seven Gables" illustrates the great truth "that the wrong-doing of one generation lives into the succeeding ones, and, divesting itself of every temporary advantage, becomes a pure and uncontrollable mischief."

414. Various Literary Labors. While at Lenox, Hawthorne wrote also his "Wonder-Book," for boys and girls, a beautifully modernized version of ancient classic myths. Though intended for children, it is not without interest for older people. With his growing popularity his financial condition improved; and in 1852 he purchased a house at Concord, formerly owned by Alcott, to which he gave the name of the Wayside. Here he took up his abode, and completed his "Tanglewood Tales," another admirable volume intended for young people. Upon the nomination of his friend Franklin Pierce for the presidency, he consented, not without urgent solicitation, to prepare a campaign biography. It is characterized by good taste and sobriety of judgment. After the election of Pierce, he received the appointment of consul to Liverpool, and sailed for Europe in 1853.

415. Irksome Consular Duties. This opportunity to spend some time abroad came to the Hawthornes as the realization of a long-cherished dream. Few Americans have been better fitted in culture to appreciate and enjoy the society, historic associations, and art treasures of the Old World. Though Hawthorne discharged the duties of his position with conscientious fidelity, its emoluments, which were considerable, constituted its principal charm. "I disliked my office from the first," he says, "and

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never came into any good accordance with it. Its dignity, so far as it had any, was an incumbrance; the attentions it drew upon me (such as invitations to mayors' banquets and public celebrations of all kinds, where, to my horror, I found myself expected to stand up and speak) were as I may say without incivility or ingratitude, because there is nothing personal in that sort of hospitality-a bore. The official business was irksome, and often painful. There was nothing pleasant about the whole affair, except the emoluments."

416. Our Old Home. As at Salem, Hawthorne kept his eyes open to his surroundings, and filled his note-books with many charming incidents and descriptions. At intervals he made brief excursions to the most noted parts of England. His literary fame caused him to be much sought after, and he saw the most distinguished men of the time. Like Irving, he entertained a friendly feeling toward the mother-country, which he fondly calls, in a work recording his experience and impressions, "Our Old Home." But he had no disposition, as he said, to besmear our self-conscious English cousins with butter and honey. "These people," he says, "think so loftily of themselves, and so contemptuously of everybody else, that it requires more generosity than I possess to keep always in perfectly good humor with them."

417. Travel and Observation. After five years Hawthorne resigned the consulate at Liverpool, and then devoted two years to travel, chiefly in France and Italy. It was a period of rest, observation, and reflection. The art treasures of Rome, as well as its historic associations, were a source of exquisite pleasure. His Italian impressions he embodied in the last of his great romances, "The Marble Faun." It was sketched out in Italy, rewritten in England, and published in 1860. It abounds in art criticism and descriptions of Italian scenery. But through it all there runs a deathless story, with the profound moral that a perfect culture is unattainable in a state of innocence, and that the noblest character can be developed only through spiritual conflict. 418. Deep Sense of Sin. Hawthorne had a deep sense of