"Of Mr. Hawthorne's tales we would say emphatically that they belong to the highest region of art,--an art subservient to genius of a very lofty order. We had supposed, with good reason for so supposing, that he had been thrust into his present position by one of the impudent _cliques_ who beset our literature; ... but we have been most agreeably mistaken.... Mr. Hawthorne's distinctive trait is invention, creation, imagination, originality,--a trait which, in the literature of fiction, is positively worth all the rest. But the nature of the originality ... is but imperfectly understood.... The inventive or original mind as frequently displays itself in novelty of _tone_ as in novelty of matter. Mr. Hawthorne is original in _all_ points." This, certainly, is making generous amends; but before he leaves the subject, the assertion is repeated, that "he is peculiar, and _not_ original." Though an extravagant instance, this tourney of Poe's represents pretty well the want of understanding with which Hawthorne was still received by many readers. His point of view once seized upon, nothing could be more clear and simple than his own exposition of refined and evasive truths; but the keen edge of his perception remained quite invisible to some. Of the "Twice-Told Tales" Hawthorne himself wrote:-- "The sketches are not, it is hardly necessary to say, profound; but it is rather more remarkable that they so seldom, if ever, show any design on the writer's part to make them so.... Every sentence, so far as it embodies thought or sensibility, may be understood and felt by anybody who will give himself the trouble to read it, and will take up the book in a proper mood." But it was hard for people to find that mood, because in fact the Tales _were_ profound. Their language was clear as crystal; but all the more dazzlingly shone through the crystal that new light of Hawthorne's gaze.