Index

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

uch to the author's surprise, and (if he may say so without additional offence) considerably to his amusement, he finds that his sketch of official life, introductory to The Scarlet Letter, has created an unprecedented excitement in the respectable community immediately around him. It could hardly have been more violent, indeed, had he burned down the Custom-House, and quenched its last smoking ember in the blood of a certain venerable personage, against whom he is supposed to cherish a peculiar malevolence. As the public disapprobation would weigh very heavily on him, were he conscious of deserving it, the author begs leave to say, that he has carefully read over the introductory pages, with a[iv] purpose to alter or expunge whatever might be found amiss, and to make the best reparation in his power for the atrocities of which he has been adjudged guilty. But it appears to him, that the only remarkable features of the sketch are its frank and genuine good-humor, and the general accuracy with which he has conveyed his sincere impressions of the characters therein described. As to enmity, or ill-feeling of any kind, personal or political, he utterly disclaims such motives. The sketch might, perhaps, have been wholly omitted, without loss to the public, or detriment to the book; but, having undertaken to write it, he conceives that it could not have been done in a better or a kindlier spirit, nor, so far as his abilities availed, with a livelier effect of truth.

The author is constrained, therefore, to republish his introductory sketch without the change of a word.

Salem, March 30, 1850.

CONTENTS.

		Page
	The Custom House.—Introductory	1
THE SCARLET LETTER.
I.	The Prison-Door	51
II.	The Market-Place	54
III.	The Recognition	68
IV.	The Interview	80
V.	Hester at her Needle	90
VI.	Pearl	104
VII.	The Governor's Hall	118
VIII.	The Elf-Child and the Minister	129
IX.	The Leech	142
X.	The Leech and his Patient	155
XI.	The Interior of a Heart	168
XII.	The Minister's Vigil	177
XIII.	Another View of Hester	193
[vi]XIV.	Hester and the Physician	204
XV.	Hester and Pearl	212
XVI.	A Forest Walk	223
XVII.	The Pastor and his Parishioner	231
XVIII.	A Flood of Sunshine	245
XIX.	The Child at the Brook-side	253
XX.	The Minister in a Maze	264
XXI.	The New England Holiday	277
XXII.	The Procession	288
XXIII.	The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter	302
XXIV.	Conclusion	315