Yet, though so famous, he was not freed from the trials incident to the first years of an author’s life.  Mr. Tuckerman says of him at this time:  “He had the fortitude and pride, as well as the sensitiveness and delicacy, of true and high genius.  Not even his nearest country neighbors knew aught of his meager larder or brave economies.  He never complained, even when editors were dilatory in their remuneration and friends forgetful of their promises.  When the poor author had the money, he would buy a beefsteak for dinner; when he had not, he would make a meal of chestnuts and potatoes.  He had the self-control and the probity to fulfill that essential condition of self-respect, alike for those who subsist by brain work and those who inherit fortunes—­he always lived within his income; and it was only by a kind of pious fraud that a trio of his oldest friends occasionally managed to pay his rent.”  His friend and publisher, Mr. Ticknor, “received and invested the surplus earnings of the absentee author when American Consul at Liverpool, and had obtained from Hawthorne a promise on the eve of his departure for his post, ... that he would send him all he could spare from his official income, to be carefully nursed into a competence for his family.  Never was better advice given or wiser service performed by publisher to author.  The investments thus made became the means of comfort to the returned writer in the maturity of his years and his fame.”

In 1852 he returned to Concord and purchased a small house which had once been the residence of the philosopher Alcott.  Here he made his permanent home and gathered about him his household treasures.  In the Presidential campaign of 1852, his friend Franklin Pierce was the candidate of the Democracy, and Hawthorne wrote a short biography of him which was used by the Democrats as a campaign document.  It was a labor of love, for the friendship that had been begun between these two men in their college days had never been broken, and though naturally averse to every thing that savored of politics, our author made this contribution to the cause of his friend with all the heartiness of his nature.  Pierce was profoundly touched by this unexpected aid, for he knew how utterly Hawthorne detested political strife, and when seated in the Presidential chair he showed his appreciation of it by offering his friend the consulship to Liverpool—­one of the most lucrative offices within the gift of the executive.  Hawthorne broke up his home in Concord and sailed for Liverpool in 1853, and remained there until 1857, when he resigned his consulship and traveled on the continent with his family, residing for some time in Italy for the benefit of his health.  His European residence had the effect of drawing him out of his shyness and reserve to a certain extent, and during the closing years of his life he was more social with the persons about him than he had ever been.  After his return he went back to Concord, where he enlarged and beautified his old home, intending to remain there for the balance of his life.  He wrote the “Marble Faun” and “Our Old Home” just after his return from Europe.  The former was suggested by his residence in Italy, and the latter was a collection of English sketches and reminiscences.