But none can ever be said to know Hawthorne
who do not leave large allowances for the unknowable.
XII.
POE, IRVING, HAWTHORNE.
The names of Poe, Irving, and Hawthorne have been so often connected
without due discrimination, that it is imperative to consider here the
actual relation between the three men. Inquiry might naturally be roused
by the circumstance that, although Hawthorne has freely been likened to
Irving in some quarters, and in others to Poe, the latter two are never
supposed to hold anything in common. Indeed, they might aptly be cited
in illustration of the widely opposed tendencies already developed in
our brief national literature. Two things equal to the same thing are
equal to each other; and if Poe and Irving were each equal to Hawthorne,
there would be some similarity between them. But it is evident that they
are not like quantities; and we must conclude that they have been
unconsciously used by critics, in trying to find a unit of measure to
gauge the greatest of the triad with.
Undoubtedly there are resemblances in Hawthorne to both Poe and Irving.
Hawthorne and Irving represent a dignity and roundedness of diction
which is one of the old-fashioned merits in English writing; and because
they especially, among eminent authors of the century, have stood for
this quality, they have been supposed to stand close together. But
Irving's speech is not so much an organic part of his genius as a
preconceived method of expression which has a considerable share in
modifying his thought.
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