If he wished
to live in Italy Buchanan should have given him the consulship of
Leghorn or Venice. He looked on "Septimus Felton" as a failure, and
thought that probably Hawthorne considered it so himself. He thought it
not unlikely that Hawthorne would outlive every other writer of his
time.
At another time he came to me and said, "What deep problems of
government are you thinking over there all by yourself?" I laughed and
told him that I was thinking of Rome; and how much that little patch of
water looked like the piece of sea in Guido's Aurora; but I was glad to
have him speak of politics, for the present condition of affairs was
such as to give every serious man anxiety for the moral welfare of the
country.
"Indeed it is," he replied. "What we read in the newspapers is bad
enough; but I have information from private sources which represents
matters as being even worse than is generally supposed." [Footnote: This
was in 1875.]
"Perhaps," I said, "it is one of those evils which will cure itself
after a certain time."
"It will, no doubt," he answered, "bring about a strong reaction against
the Republican party; but even that is a thing to be deplored. Meanwhile
what an example we present to the monarchical governments of Europe!"
[Illustration: THE MERRIMAC RIVER, NEAR AMESBURY, BY MOONLIGHT.]
"I suppose," said I, "that it is one of the consequences of our civil
war.
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