HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL, an American author of distinction,was b. at Salem in the state of Massachusetts, on July 4, 1804. He was educated at Bowdoin college, and after graduating there, he obtained a post in the custom-house at Boston, which he soon, however, threw up, and betook himself to literary work for a subsistence. He wrote a number of stories for the journals, which he afterwards collected in 1837, and published under the title of Tales; a second volume of which appeared in 1851. In 1843 lie took up his residence at the charming village of Concord, in a manse which had for merly been the dwelling of Emerson. and which suggested the title of his next work, _Posses from an Old Manse (Boston, 1846). This sketch, in which he gives some inter esting recollections of his boyhood, first made his name known in Europe. In 1842 he published The Liberty Tree; and in 1845, The journal of an African Cruiser. After a three years' residence at Concord, he again accepted a situation in the custom-house at Boston, and removed to that town. This, however, did not stop his literary work. The Scarlet Letter appeared in 1851, and was received with universal approbation, as was likewise The House of the Seven Gables, published in the same year; and their author was at once recognized, both in Europe and America, as a man possessing a true poetic spirit, combining fine feeling with a charming style, and displaying a deep knowledge of human nature accompanied by genuine humor. His Blithedale Romance (Boston,
1852) may be regarded as a kind of autobiography, so far as it goes, being founded on passages in his own life. In 1853 he received the appointment of consul at Liverpool, from his friend, president Pierce, who had been a fellow-student of his, and whose life lie had written (Life of Franklin Pierce, Boston, 1852). He resided in Liverpool dis charging the duties of his office for four years, and afterwards went to Italy to recruit his impaired health; a journey which furnished him with material for his fantastic romance, Transformation (London, 1860), which is regarded by sonic as the best of his works. After his return to America he published Our Old Home (1863), a sketch of England and the English. He died suddenly at Plymouth in Massachusetts, May 19, 1864. After his death appeared Septimius, a Romance of Immortality; American Note Books; English J.Vote-Books; and French and Italian Note-Books (1872).