Transcriber's note
This text is an appendix to volume 12 of a 13-volume setof the complete works of Nathaniel Hawthorne entitled:
The Complete Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, with Introductory Notes by George Parsons Lathrop and illustrated with Etchings by Blum, Church, Dielman, Gifford, Shirlaw, and Turner in Thirteen Volumes, Volume XII.
Tales, Sketches, and other Papers by Nathaniel Hawthorne with a Biographical Sketch by George Parsons Lathrop.
BOSTON HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY New York: 11 East Seventeenth Street The Riverside Press, Cambridge 1883.
Some illustrations of this work have been moved from the originalsequence to enable the contents to continue without interruption. The original page numbering has been retained.Punctuation inconsistencies have been silently corrected. A list ofother corrections made can be found at the end of the book.
Riverside Edition
THE
COMPLETE WORKS OF NATHANIEL
HAWTHORNE, WITH INTRODUCTORY
NOTES BY GEORGE PARSONS
LATHROP
AND ILLUSTRATED WITH
Etchings by Blum, Church, Dielman, Gifford, Shirlaw,
and Turner
IN THIRTEEN VOLUMES
VOLUME XII.
TALES, SKETCHES, AND OTHER
PAPERS
BY
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
BY
GEORGE PARSONS LATHROP
BOSTON
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
New York: 11 East Seventeenth Street
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
1883
Copyright, 1850, 1852, 1862, 1864, and 1876,
By NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, TICKNOR & FIELDS, AND
JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO.
Copyright, 1878,
By ROSE HAWTHORNE LATHROP.
Copyright, 1883,
By HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
All rights reserved.
The Riverside Press, Cambridge:
Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.
I.
The lives of great men are written gradually. Itoften takes as long to construct a true biography as ittook the person who is the subject of it to completehis career; and when the work is done, it is found toconsist of many volumes, produced by a variety of authors.We receive views from different observers, andby putting them together are able to form our own estimate.What the man really was not even himselfcould know; much less can we. Hence all that weaccomplish, in any case, is to approximate to the reality.While we flatter ourselves that we have imprintedon our minds an exact image of the individual,we actually secure nothing but a typical likeness.This likeness, however, is amplified and strengthenedby successive efforts to paint a correct portra