Fanshawe

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Description

In 1828, three years after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hawthorne published his first romance, "Fanshawe." It was issued at Boston by Marsh and Capen, but made little or no impression on the public. The motto on the title-page of the original was from Southey: "Wilt thou go on with me?

Informations

• Publié par: Pub One Info
• Date de parution: 27 septembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9782819922414
• Langue: English

Extrait

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
FANSHAWE.
In 1828, three years after graduating from Bowdoin College,Hawthorne published his first romance, "Fanshawe." It was issued atBoston by Marsh & Capen, but made little or no impression onthe public. The motto on the title–page of the original was fromSouthey: "Wilt thou go on with me?"
Afterwards, when he had struck into the vein of fiction thatcame to be known as distinctively his own, he attempted to suppressthis youthful work, and was so successful that he obtained anddestroyed all but a few of the copies then extant.
Some twelve years after his death it was resolved, in view ofthe interest manifested in tracing the growth of his genius fromthe beginning of his activity as an author, to revive this youthfulromance; and the reissue of "Fanshawe" was then made.
Little biographical interest attaches to it, beyond the factthat Mr. Longfellow found in the descriptions and generalatmosphere of the book a decided suggestion of the situation ofBowdoin College, at Brunswick, Maine, and the life there at thetime when he and Hawthorne were both undergraduates of thatinstitution.
Professor Packard, of Bowdoin College, who was then in charge ofthe study of English literature, and has survived both of hisillustrious pupils, recalls Hawthorne’s exceptional excellence inthe composition of English, even at that date (1821–1825); and itis not impossible that Hawthorne intended, through the character ofFanshawe, to present some faint projection of what he then thoughtmight be his own obscure history. Even while he was in college,however, and meditating perhaps the slender elements of this firstromance, his fellow–student Horatio Bridge, whose "Journal of anAfrican Cruiser" he afterwards edited, recognized in him thepossibilities of a writer of fiction—a fact to which Hawthornealludes in the dedicatory Preface to "The Snow–Image."
G. P. L.
CHAPTER I.
"Our court shall be a little Academe."—SHAKESPEARE.
In an ancient though not very populous settlement, in a retiredcorner of one of the New England States, arise the walls of aseminary of learning, which, for the convenience of a name, shallbe entitled "Harley College." This institution, though the numberof its years is inconsiderable compared with the hoar antiquity ofits European sisters, is not without some claims to reverence onthe score of age; for an almost countless multitude of rivals, bymany of which its reputation has been eclipsed, have sprung upsince its foundation. At no time, indeed, during an existence ofnearly a century, has it acquired a very extensive fame; andcircumstances, which need not be particularized, have, of lateyears, involved it in a deeper obscurity. There are now fewcandidates for the degrees that the college is authorized tobestow. On two of its annual "Commencement Days," there has been atotal deficiency of baccalaureates; and the lawyers and divines, onwhom doctorates in their respective professions are gratuitouslyinflicted, are not accustomed to consider the distinction as anhonor. Yet the sons of this seminary have always maintained theirfull share of reputation, in whatever paths of life they trod. Fewof them, perhaps, have been deep and finished scholars; but thecollege has supplied—what the emergencies of the country demanded—aset of men more useful in its present state, and whose deficiencyin theoretical knowledge has not been found to imply a want ofpractical ability.
The local situation of the college, so far secluded from thesight and sound of the busy world, is peculiarly favorable to themoral, if not to the literary, habits of its students; and thisadvantage probably caused the founders to overlook theinconveniences that were inseparably connected with it. The humbleedifices rear themselves almost at the farthest extremity of anarrow vale, which, winding through a long extent of hill–country,is wellnigh as inaccessible, except at one point, as the HappyValley of Abyssinia. A stream, that farther on becomes aconsiderable river, takes its rise at, a short distance above thecollege, and affords, along its wood–fringed banks, many shadyretreats, where even study is pleasant, and idleness delicious. Theneighborhood of the institution is not quite a solitude, though thefew habitations scarcely constitute a village. These consistprincipally of farm–houses, of rather an ancient date (for thesettlement is much older than the college), and of a little inn,which even in that secluded spot does not fail of a moderatesupport. Other dwellings are scattered up and down the valley; butthe difficulties of the soil will long avert the evils of a toodense population. The character of the inhabitants does not seem—asthere was, perhaps, room to anticipate—to be in any degreeinfluenced by the atmosphere of Harley College. They are a set ofrough and hardy yeomen, much inferior, as respects refinement, tothe corresponding classes in most other parts of our country. Thisis the more remarkable, as there is scarcely a family in thevicinity that has not provided, for at least one of its sons, theadvantages of a "liberal education."
Having thus described the present state of Harley College, wemust proceed to speak of it as it existed about eighty years since,when its foundation was recent, and its prospects flattering. Atthe head of the institution, at this period, was a learned andOrthodox divine, whose fame was in all the churches. He was theauthor of several works which evinced much erudition and depth ofresearch; and the public, perhaps, thought the more highly of hisabilities from a singularity in the purposes to which he appliedthem, that added much to the curiosity of his labors, though littleto their usefulness. But, however fanciful might be his privatepursuits, Dr. Melmoth, it was universally allowed, wasdiligent and successful in the arts of instruction. The young menof his charge prospered beneath his eye, and regarded him with anaffection that was strengthened by the little foibles whichoccasionally excited their ridicule. The president was assisted inthe discharge of his duties by two inferior officers, chosen fromthe alumni of the college, who, while they imparted to others theknowledge they had already imbibed, pursued the study of divinityunder the direction of their principal. Under such auspices theinstitution grew and flourished. Having at that time but two rivalsin the country (neither of them within a considerable distance), itbecame the general resort of the youth of the Province in which itwas situated. For several years in succession, its studentsamounted to nearly fifty,—a number which, relatively to thecircumstances of the country, was very considerable.
From the exterior of the collegians, an accurate observer mightpretty safely judge how long they had been inmates of those classicwalls. The brown cheeks and the rustic dress of some would informhim that they had but recently left the plough to labor in a notless toilsome field; the grave look, and the intermingling ofgarments of a more classic cut, would distinguish those who hadbegun to acquire the polish of their new residence; and the air ofsuperiority, the paler cheek, the less robust form, the spectaclesof green, and the dress, in general of threadbare black, woulddesignate the highest class, who were understood to have acquirednearly all the science their Alma Mater could bestow, and to be onthe point of assuming their stations in the world. There were, itis true, exceptions to this general description. A few young menhad found their way hither from the distant seaports; and thesewere the models of fashion to their rustic companions, over whomthey asserted a superiority in exterior accomplishments, which thefresh though unpolished intellect of the sons of the forest deniedthem in their literary competitions. A third class, differingwidely from both the former, consisted of a few young descendantsof the aborigines, to whom an impracticable philanthropy wasendeavoring to impart the benefits of civilization.
If this institution did not offer all the advantages of elderand prouder seminaries, its deficiencies were compensated to itsstudents by the inculcation of regular habits, and of a deep andawful sense of religion, which seldom deserted them in their coursethrough life. The mild and gentle rule of Dr. Melmoth, likethat of a father over his children, was more destructive to vicethan a sterner sway; and though youth is never without its follies,they have seldom been more harmless than they were here. Thestudents, indeed, ignorant of their own bliss, sometimes wished tohasten the time of their entrance on the business of life; but theyfound, in after–years, that many of their happiest remembrances,many of the scenes which they would with least reluctance live overagain, referred to the seat of their early studies. The exceptionsto this remark were chiefly those whose vices had drawn down, evenfrom that paternal government, a weighty retribution.
Dr. Melmoth, at the time when he is to be introduced to thereader, had borne the matrimonial yoke (and in his case it was nolight burden) nearly twenty years. The blessing of children,however, had been denied him,—a circumstance which he wasaccustomed to consider as one of the sorest trials that checkeredhis pathway; for he was a man of a kind and affectionate heart,that was continually seeking objects to rest itself upon. He wasinclined to believe, also, that a common offspring would haveexerted a meliorating influence on the temper of Mrs. Melmoth,the character of whose domestic government often compelled him tocall to mind such portions of the wisdom of antiquity as relate tothe proper endurance of the shrewishness of woman. But domesticcomforts, as well as comforts of every other kind, have theirdrawbacks; and, so long as the balance is on the side of happiness,a wise man will not murmur. Such was the opinion ofDr. Melmoth; and with a little aid from philosophy, and morefrom religion, he journeye