There remained, after "Septimius Felton" had been published,
certain manuscripts connected with the scheme of an English story. One
of these manuscripts was written in the form of a journalized narrative;
the author merely noting the date of what he wrote, as he went along.
The other was a more extended sketch of much greater bulk, and without
date, but probably produced several years later. It was not originally
intended by those who at the time had charge of Hawthorne's papers that
either of these incomplete writings should be laid before the public;
because they manifestly had not been left by him in a form which he would
have considered as warranting such a course. But since the second and
larger manuscript has been published under the title of "Dr. Grimshawe's
Secret," it has been thought best to issue the present sketch, so that
the two documents may be examined together. Their appearance places in
the hands of readers the entire process of development leading to the
"Septimius" and "The Dolliver Romance." They speak for themselves much
more efficiently than any commentator can expect to do; and little,
therefore, remains to be said beyond a few words of explanation in regard
to the following pages.
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