. The great American book of biography . and en-courage him, thus laying the foun-dation of a lifelong friendship. In1843 Hawthorne took up his resi-dence at Concord, in the OldManse (see p. 640), which he hasmade so famous, and from whosewindows, it is said, the minister ofthe parish, on April 19th, 1775,looked out upon the memorablebattle between his fellow-townsmenand the British troops. In 1846 hepublished Mosses from an Old Manse, and in 1850 The Scarlet Letter,which immediately placed him at the head of American writers of fiction. In1852 President Pierce appointed him consul at Liverpoo
. The great American book of biography . and en-courage him, thus laying the foun-dation of a lifelong friendship. In1843 Hawthorne took up his resi-dence at Concord, in the OldManse (see p. 640), which he hasmade so famous, and from whosewindows, it is said, the minister ofthe parish, on April 19th, 1775,looked out upon the memorablebattle between his fellow-townsmenand the British troops. In 1846 hepublished Mosses from an Old Manse, and in 1850 The Scarlet Letter,which immediately placed him at the head of American writers of fiction. In1852 President Pierce appointed him consul at Liverpool, and most of theremainder of his life was spent in Europe. In general company, Hawthorne was silent and reserved. He was intenselyshy, so much so that he has been known to leave the road and take to the fieldsrather than encounter a group of passers-by. He loved to go on solitarywalks, seeking out secluded places where he could muse and dream withoutfear of disturbance. Once he brought Mr. Fields, his friend and publisher, to one 663. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. 664 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. of these haunts, and bade hun He down on the grass, and watch the clouds floatabove, and hear the birds sing. As we steeped ourselves in the delicious idle-ness, writes Mr. Fields, he began to murmur some half-forgotten lines fromThomsons Seasons, which he said had been favorites of his boyhood. While welay there, hidden in the grass, we heard approaching footstejjs, and Hawthornehurriedly whispered, Duck ! or we shall be interrupted by somebody. Thesolemnity of his manner, and the thought of the down-flat posiuon in which wehad both placed ourselves to avoid being seen, threw me into a foolish semi-hysterical fit of laughter, and when he nudged me, and again whispered more lugubriously than ever, Heaven help me, Mr. is close upon us ! I felt convinced that if the thing went further, suffocation, in my case at least, mustensue. Fortunately for Hawthorne, and for the world as well, he was mosthappily
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