_To Rev. R. W. Griswold._
February 20,1852.
Dear Sir:--I greatly regret that circumstances render it impossible for
me to be present on the occasion of Mr. Bryant's discourse in honor of
James Fenimore Cooper. No man has a better right to be present than
myself, if many years of most sincere and unwavering admiration of Mr.
Cooper's writings can establish a claim. It is gratifying to observe the
earnestness with which the literary men of our country unite in paying
honor to the deceased; and it may not be too much to hope that, in the
eyes of the public at large, American literature may henceforth acquire
a weight and value which have not heretofore been conceded to it: time
and death have begun to hallow it.
Very respectfully yours,
Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Early in the summer of 1852 he went to Concord again, where he had
bought a small house, there to establish his permanent home. Mr. Curtis
was at this time writing some chapters for a book on "The Homes of
American Authors," among which was to be included the new abode of
Hawthorne. The project called forth from the romancer this letter:--
CONCORD, July 14, 1852.
MY HEAR HOWADJI:--I think (and am glad to think) that you will find it
necessary to come hither in order to write your Concord Sketches; and as
for my old house, you will understand it better after spending a day or
two in it. Before Mr. Alcott took it in hand, it was a mean-looking
affair, with two peaked gables; no suggestiveness about it and no
venerableness, although from the style of its construction it seems to
have survived beyond its first century.
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