He would seem to have been a southerner by nature, fond of warm
weather and an inactive life.
His short stories are of equal value comparatively with those that are
longer and more complete. I remember in my youth being attracted by the
title of one of them. It was called "The Unpardonable Sin," and
described a man, who, having spent many years in search of this
iniquity, finds it too heavy a burden for his soul to carry, and
destroys himself one night in a limekiln. Next morning the lime-burner
discovered a marble heart floating on the surface of the seething lime.
This was the unpardonable sin,--to have a cold, unfeeling heart. Such
allegories make a more lasting impression than many sermons. His
note-books also are of great value, especially the American ones. He
makes dramatic situations out of the simplest incidents, and we read
between the lines sentences he never wrote. We remember them without in
the least intending to do so, and find ourselves reflecting upon them as
if they were important events. No writer since Fielding has given so
faithful a picture of the time in which he lived.
One can envy such a man the three years he spent in Italy. During that
time he resided chiefly in a villa on the height called Bellosguardo,
near Florence, a villa which he has described with some changes, in the
"Marble Faun," as the mountain residence of Donatello.
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