Stowe's humor, pathos, clear moral sense, and quick eye
for the scenery of life. We do not believe that there is any one who,
by birth, breeding, and natural capacity, has had the opportunity to
know New England so well as she, or who has the peculiar genius so to
profit by the knowledge. Already there have been scenes in 'The
Minister's Wooing' that, in their lowness of tone and quiet truth,
contrast as charmingly with the humid vagueness of the modern school
of novel-writers as 'The Vicar of Wakefield' itself, and we are
greatly mistaken if it do not prove to be the most characteristic of
Mrs. Stowe's works, and therefore that on which her fame will chiefly
rest with posterity."
"The Minister's Wooing" was not completed as a serial till December,
1859. Long before its completion Mrs. Stowe received letters from many
interested readers, who were as much concerned for the future of her
"spiritual children," as George Eliot would call them, as if they had
been flesh and blood.
The following letter from Mr. Lowell is given as the most valuable
received by Mrs. Stowe at this time:--
CAMBRIDGE, February 4, 1859.
MY DEAR MRS. STOWE,--I certainly did mean to write you about your
story, but only to cry _bravissima!_ with the rest of the world.
I intended no kind of criticism; deeming it wholly out of place, and
in the nature of a wet-blanket, so long as a story is unfinished.
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