American Authorship—Hawthorne [pp. 486-508]

504 American Autltorsltzp. [April,
what quaint of style, fanciful in costume, and with a dash of humour having the flavour of Isaac Walton. His tales were followed
by a series of novels of psychologial character:-The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance-no
vellettes rather than novels, and of a narrative and descriptive, rather than a dramatic form. In all these productions, Hawthorne
has distinguished himself by certain traits of delicacy, discrimination, a pleasing social philosophy, and a striking, though morbid
characterization. This morbid element works, at times, injuriously
in all his portraits. It disarms them, and takes from their truthfulness as well as symmetry. It is the "brown horror" in his landscape. It impairs the charm, even if it increases the occasional power
of -his story. In the joiflery of his story, indeed, Hawthorne does
not show any surprising skill. Invention is not his quality, which
lies rather in the latent and the unobtrusive-the didactic, rather
than the dramatic parts of his labours-and appeals to us much more
by the profound, yet unstudied metaphysics in his moral musings,
descriptive and dialogue, than in the action of his piece. Bis style
is very happy, very correct, easy, graceful, frequently forcible, and
always marked by a singular propriety. The word is always in the
right place, just where the thought and sentiment equally require
it. His manner declares for a superior refinement, for great delicacy
of mood, for timid sensibilities, and an exquisite capacity for blending into harmonious tone all the conflicting hues of passion and society. While he reminds us of the writers of an early period of
British literature, by his quaintnesses of fancy and manner, there is
nothing servile, nothing imitative merely, in his writings. Hawthorne is one of those whom we can refer to as writing for, and from,
himself. It is his good fortune that the people have so soon risen
from themselves to his appreciation. Possibly, this might not so
soon have been the case, but for the expression~of British approbation, which very certainly anticipated our own. Hawthorne, like
Irving, is a writer to conciliate European criticism. His style is good
and pure, his manner pleasing and persuasive, his polish beyond
question, and he offends by no Americanisms. He assails no national
prejudices, like Cooper, and, challenging regard only to his story,
put forth with no pretension; and in as good English as that of
any of his foreign critics, the auspices were all favourable and