"It has met with extraordinary success from that portion of the public
to whose judgment it has been submitted, viz. from my wife. I likewise
prefer it to 'The Scarlet Letter'; but an author's opinion of his book
just after completing it is worth little or nothing, he being then in
the hot or cold fit of a fever, and certain to rate it too high or too
low.
"It has undoubtedly one disadvantage, in being brought so close to the
present time; whereby its romantic improbabilities become more glaring."
He also wrote to Bridge, in July, after listening to the critics, and
giving his own opinion time to mature:--
"I think it a work more characteristic of my mind, and more proper and
natural for me to write, than 'The Scarlet Letter,'--but, for that very
reason, less likely to interest the public. Nevertheless, it appears to
have sold better than the former, and I think is move sure of retaining
the ground that it acquires. Mrs. Kemble writes that both works are
popular in England, and advises me to take out my copyright there."
His opinion of the superiority of the fresh production to his first
great romance is no doubt one that critics will coincide with as regards
artistic completeness; though his fear that it would not succeed so well
was not confirmed, because, as I have suggested, he had begun to acquire
that momentum of public favor which sets in after its first immense
inertia has once been overcome. Acting on the reports from England, he
made a suggestion to his publisher; and though this at first met with
discouragement, ten months later L200 were received from a London house
for "The Blithedale Romance.
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