Page:Mosses from an old manse.djvu/10

 IT INTRODUCTORT NOTE. tween the willow braDches, down into the opchtod/** are several informal inscriptions, written there with a diamond. Among them are the following : — Man's accidents are God's purposes. Sophia A. Hawthorne 1843 Nathl Hawthorne This is his study 1843 And, lower down : — Inscribed by my husband at sunset April 3d 1843 In the gold light S. A. H. The entire wall opposite these windows, except where it is broken by two small doors, is faced with wooden paneling from floor to ceiling, concealed, however, un> der a coat of paint. It is probable that the material for some of these tales had been matured in his mind previous to his- going to Concord; and they may have been in part committed to paper. A former acquaintance of his, at the date of this memorandum, still living in Salem, re- calls Hawthorne's being occupied with the " Virtuoso's Collection " while still a bachelor and living in Salem ;: yet that sketch was not incorporated in a volume until the ** Mosses " were issued. It now forms the closing member of the second series. This "Virtuoso's Col- lection " illustrates a taste which prevailed Iforty years ago or more, for imagining impossible curiosities of the kind described in it. The newspapers abounded in ingenuities ministering to this fancy, and Hawthorne amused himself by trying to outdo them and by after- wards bringing his inventions together in an artistia