Nathaniel Hawthorne

by George Edward Woodberry

At the end of March he started south with Ticknor, in hopes of some improvement by the change of air and scene; his companion, who was expected rather to have the care of Hawthorne, was himself taken ill and suddenly died in Philadelphia. The shock to Hawthorne in his state of health was a great one, and he returned home excited and nervous. He failed rapidly, and his family and friends became anxious about him, though they did not anticipate the suddenness of the end. In the middle of May Frank Pierce proposed that they should go to the New Hampshire lakes and up the Pemigewasset, by carriage, and Hawthorne consented. He bade his wife and children good-by, and was perhaps convinced that he would never return; whatever thoughts were in his mind, he kept silence concerning them. The narrative of the journey, with its end, is given by Pierce in a letter to Bridge:—

"I met H. at Boston, Wednesday (11th), came to this place by rail Thursday morning, and went to Concord, N. H., by evening train. The weather was unfavorable, and H. feeble; and we remained at C. until the following Monday. We then went slowly on our journey, stopping at Franklin, Laconia, and Centre Harbor, and reaching Plymouth Wednesday evening (18th). We talked of you, Tuesday, between Franklin and Laconia, when H. said—among other things—'We have, neither of us, met a more reliable friend.' The conviction was impressed upon me, the day we left Boston, that the seat of the disease from which H. was suffering was in the brain or spine, or both; H. walked with difficulty, and the use of his hands was impaired. In fact, on the 17th I saw that he was becoming quite helpless, although he was able to ride, and, I thought, more comfortable in the carriage with gentle motion than anywhere else; for whether in bed or up, he was very restless. I had decided, however, not to pursue our journey beyond Plymouth, which is a beautiful place, and thought, during our ride Wednesday, that I would the next day send for Mrs. Hawthorne and Una to join us there. Alas! there was no next day for our friend.

"We arrived at Plymouth about six o'clock. After taking a little tea and toast in his room, and sleeping for nearly an hour upon the sofa, he retired. A door opened from my room to his, and our beds were not more than five or six feet apart. I remained up an hour or two after he fell asleep. He was apparently less restless than the night before. The light was left burning in my room—the door open—and I could see him without moving from my bed. I went, however, between one and two o'clock to his bedside, and supposed him to be in a profound slumber. His eyes were closed, his position and face perfectly natural. His face was towards my bed. I awoke again between three and four o'clock, and was surprised—as he had generally been restless—to notice that his position was unchanged,—exactly the same that it was two hours before. I went to his bedside, placed my hand upon his forehead and temple, and found that he was dead. He evidently had passed from natural sleep to that sleep from which there is no waking, without suffering, and without the slightest movement."

The funeral took place at Concord on May 24, 1864, and he was buried in Sleepy Hollow; on his coffin lay his unfinished romance, and his friends stood about the open grave, for he was almost the first of the distinguished group to which he belonged to lay down the pen. Emerson and others whose names have been frequent in this record now lie with him in that secluded spot, which is a place of long memory for our literature. His wife survived him a few years and died in London in 1871; perhaps even more than his genius the sweetness of his home life with her, as it is so abundantly shown in his children's memories, lingers in the mind that has dwelt long on the story of his life.

INDEX

Advertisement, the tenth Muse.
∆sthetic Papers, Hawthorne's contributions to.
Alcott, Amos Bronson.
Aliston, Washington.
American Magazine of Useful and
Entertaining Knowledge, The, Hawthorne edits.
American Monthly Magazine, The;
Hawthorne's contributions to;
Benjamin writes of Hawthorne in.
Andrews, Ferdinand, a Salem printer.
Androscoggin Loo Club.
Annuals, contemporary opinion of.
Arbella, the ship.
Athenśum Society at Bowdoin College.
Athenśum, The London, favorable
notice of Hawthorne in.
Atherton, Senator Charles G., meets Hawthorne.
Atlantic Monthly, The, Hawthorne's contributions to.
Atlantic Souvenir, The, Philadelphia.
Augusta, Maine, Hawthorne visits Bridge at.
Austin, William, so-called "American predecessor"
of Hawthorne.

Bacon, Delia, Hawthorne's kindness to.
Bancroft, George, appoints Hawthorne
weigher and ganger in Boston Custom House;
offers Hawthorne a clerkship in Charlestown
Navy Yard.
Benjamin, Park, recognizes Hawthorne's genius;
coolness of Hawthorne toward.
Bewick Company, The, Boston.
Blithedale Romance, The, estimate of;
external realism of.
Blodgett, Mrs., with whom Hawthorne
boarded at Liverpool.
Boston American Stationers' Company.
Boston Athenśum.
Boston Miscellany, The, "A Virtuoso's
Collection" published in.
Bowditch family, the.
Bowdoin College;
simplicity of;
Hawthorne's distinguished classmates in.
Boys' and Girls' Magazine, The,
Hawthorne's contributions to.
Bradford, George P.
Bradley, Rev. Caleb, Hawthorne tutored by.
Bremer, Fredrika.
Bridge, Horatio, Hawthorne's early confidant;
Hawthorne's letters to, quoted;
his friendship for;
guarantees publication of "Twice-Told Tales";
again aids Hawthorne;
Hawthorne assists in revising
"Journal of an African Cruiser";
his "naval picnic," note;
visits Hawthorne in Berkshire;
"a reliable friend,".
Bright, Henry,
his "Song of Consul Hawthorne,"
Brook Farm;
Hawthorne at;
broken up.
Brown, Charles Brockden, so-called
"American predecessor"
of Hawthorne.
Brownings, the, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett.
Bryant, William Cullen.
Buchanan, James.
Buckingham, Joseph Tinker.
Barley, Miss Susan,
of Salem.

Canterbury,
Shaker Community in.
Carlyle, Thomas,
wherein Hawthorne resembled.
Casa Bella,
Hawthorne's residence in Florence.
Chamber under the Eaves, the.
Charming, Ellery.
Channing, William Ellery.
Choate, Rufus.
Chorley, Henry F.
Cilley, Jonathan,
classmate of Hawthorne;
elected to Congress;
shot in a duel.
Clark, S. Gaylord,
editor Knickerbocker Magazine.
Concord, Mass.,
Hawthorne moves to Old Manse in;
literary work in;
hard conditions of Hawthorne's life in;
Hawthorne settles at The Wayside in.
Cooper, James Fenimore.
Custom House, Boston.
Custom House, Salem,
Hawthorne appointed surveyor;
his sketch of;
an antidote to Transcendentalism.

Democratic Review, The, Hawthorne's contributions to.
Dewey, Rev. Orville.
Dial, The, transcendental publication.
Diary, Hawthorne's first, note.
Dickens, Charles,
his manner suggested in "House of the Seven Gables".
Dike, Mrs. Priscilla Manning.
Duyckinck, Evert Augustus.
Dwight, Mrs. William (Eliza White).

Emerson, Ralph Waldo,
his visit to Sophia Peabody;
relations with Hawthorne.
Everett, Edward.