The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-06-27

IouQU{of. EnD
sufferer have the folly 70 ccmplain-rsmoval ffom 81
oce The "lntroduct0n' to the Scarlet Letter Il writ
tsn VIII marked ability, even for Mr.. Hawthorne il
i o. nomof, satire personalities, and that express
g nnd IN writings, Of which do not happen to be
The objects. Next to the odiuns Meologicum com.
Mend me to the literary mans hate. tits wholeheart-
%, and without qualification, and abounds with
what Mr.. Chawles Yelowplush, in his peculiar man.
per, calls " SIGH jolly malignity."
The Scarlet Letter e. success was deserved, and
was emphatic. IT attracted great attention in Eu-
rope and has been translated into the languages Of
Germany. Russia, and France. 1t ia not often that
An American can 30 w,.te as to be acceptable to
Inc censorship of st. Peterst,~nrg.
,r. "a Ihe spring OF 1851 third scton OF Twice
scarlet sstt was the q the
authors pgevious works. 1t differs not from he
sseeon4 edition, save that it has preface in which
the authors want Of popularity until then is frankly
admitted.
1.-THE House Of the Seven Gables" appeared in
April, 1861 and was not less popular than its inn
mediate predecessor, t, which 1t is almost, II not
quite equal As it is modern tale, and the ciarac-
ters mostly such a. we meet IN every DAY iiic, u
is the likely to be read extensively, rs DOCK
shat will bear repetition. than 1.-The Scarlet Letter.
TO which, as q whole, most critics CONSIDER IL IN
feri0r, and considered IRON an artistic point Of view
The characters are very strongly urawn pus WIN
scarce an exception they are not attractive people.
They all have their sehsibess decidedly pronounced,
from Judge Pyrcheou, with his shining face and
massive chops, to the little boy who devours ele-
phants and whales-of gingerbread The daguer-
reotypit is selfish and hard, with all his socialism.
Clifford il selfish to the lat degree, and find
selves almost wishing that the Judge had shut him
up in Bedlam. Helzlhan is selfish throughout. her
regard for Clifford being but peculiar form Of that
amiable feeling. Even Phebe Is no exception to
this rule. She is Yankee girl with the mathematical
faculty highly developed and admirably qualified to
preside at the multpicat on table. We may be sure
that Holgrave or Maule did not make way with the
Pynche0n property that he married with her One
would as soon think Of ialng in love with one OF
Cooper's icy heroines rs with such natterof-fact
slate and-penc r0lline-pln-lnhand, sort Of body in
petcoats. But she is pretty, neat, Intelligent, and
good humored and PROFESSIONALLY made very ex-
cellent wife to Hclgraye bearing him at least ten
children, OF the paternity Of which there could 20 no
reasonable doubt, anu Ill Of whom were duly kissed,
petted, scoded at, and spanked more ma1orun She
is New England young woman Of peculiar sort;
but not very good representation OF the sex rs you
will find it, taking 1t in the lump, from Salisbury
Marsh to NOman's Land, and from Perry,s Peak to
Cape TragabigZanda. 1t is rather curious, by the
way, that Mr.. Hawthorne j. not very successful in
HIS female portraitures. There is something hard
about all his herones, X such they can be called,
which renders them anything but agreeable. So
far as they have any character it is or the Rox
alana than of the Statira sort. They are sufficient
unto themselves and would get along very well II
they were cast out upon the world after the fashion
OF Eve 1t is impossible to sympathze with so much
practical petticOated sense. Some OF his women are
d fIerent Elinor, in The Prophetic Pictures"
tina, in 1.-THE Shaker Bridal" is very womanly-at
the close but most o. the ladies that he conjurcs
up through the ivory gate so lar as OF marked traits
are repulsive from the Rev Mr.. Harper's Eliza
beth" to the "Widow Wycherey." He draws old
women better than young, which shows he is more
Rembrandt than Q Railaelle-a comparison that
will apply to him throughout. OF the ordinary sort
of women whose pious exertions keep the world
rather Cyer-peopled-the rat, drOwsy and v0luptu-
GUS" DANES such as Rubcus loved to paint in coors
glowing themselvesthere is not solitary speci-
men in all his writings. When one OF his women
makesa slip-and he pretty broadly insinuates that
such occurrences are quite common with the sex
we wonder, first, that she ever should have been
tempted and secondly thai, being tempted she should
have fallen. He has given US more than one woman
who approaches to Miranda; not one who has even
the remotest resemblance to Calista.
The superiority OF the "Scarlet Letter. to the
House OF the Seven Cables Is that whish tragedy
must ever have over comedy, or what more resembles
the latter than the former. It Is the superiority OF
"Hamlet" to "Measure for Measure, Of The Bride
OF Lammermoor" to Guy Mannering." In "The
Scarlet Letter. there j. abundance of humor, and
most tragic works of Scott and Shakespeare; but
OF what we in mtderu days understand by the
comic element, there Is none whatever;
The chapter entitled 1.-The Minister In a Maze"
written by Fonblanque, or Sydney Smith; but
there is nothing more truly sombre in the whole
book-not in the hard resolution Of Hester Prynne,
not in the revenge OF the husband not even IN tne
throughout this remarkable volume. With =" The
House of the Seven Gables it isvery different As
general rule something of remoteness is necessary
to the perfection Of tale OF terror or tragedy and
the work last referred to is Of our own day For
Mr.. Hawthorne it is very cheerful production.
There is as much good writing in 1t az in its imme.
diate predecessor. What could be more beautiful
than the sound Of the following sentences ?" The
Judge followed his cousin from the shop, where the
foregoing conversation had passed, into the parlor.
and flung himself heavily into the great ancestral
chair. MaDy.a former Pyrcheon had found repose
in its capacious arms-rosy children, after their
sports; young men, dreamy with love grown men,
weary with cares old men, burtnened with winters
they had unused, and slumbered, and departed to
a yet profounder Sleep" Chapter XVIII, entitled
Governor Pyncheon, is perhaps, the most pow
erful OF its authors writings The only passage that
/ should hesitate about ranking beneath it is the
deathbed scene of Father Hooper, which closes
open to criticism at all, it Ia in the dispoS-
ton that is finally made of the characters, sorre
of whom are killed off little too melodra-
matically, in order that others may be as melodra-
maticay married, not only to one another, but also
to the dead peoples money. But this is fault that
1t Is not difficult to pardon. There is 30 little happi-
in the world that authors con be better employ
ed than In evoking characters from the shad0wy
realms of the imagination, only for the final purpose
of sending them TO the devil or the poor house.
The Blithedale Romance" being the last Of his
productions was published by Mr.. Hawthorne in the
summer of 1862, less than year since. 1t would
have made reputation for any other man. or even
for its author had it been his first work. but Scott
was always said to be the decline after his first
six eight novels had appeared, they being very
excellent s0~dOes our subject labor under the msfor-
tune Of having produced chcf donrye. by which all
his after writings are TO be judged. The romance
Is supposed to give the results Of Mr.. HAWTHORNE
experience at the Brook Farm, where collection Of
wise and learned FOOLS once undertook the creation
OF sort q Utopia-but didn't exactly succeed. The
characters said to be from the life but it IL hard
" necessary to say that such is assertion. Mr.
Hawthorne denies that any one Of the characters
drawn is from among his associates ut Brook Farm,
but people will insist that Zenobia ismeant for Marga-
ret Fuller Osso, and each was quite unamiable
enough to be mistaken for the other The work itself
aarger production than any other from the pen
and the Characteristic all us dsagreeable and
women can be, and that is saying much-indeed
everything. "Blithedale" is soft reading for Bed
lam, and there is person in it, except Mr..
Silas Foster who is not ms mad as disappointment,
excited hopes and morbid vanity, can render human
henna IL afinrds fhis sinGuar honk the best mic.