HAWTHORNE * S "MY KINSMAN, MAJOR MOLINEUX" by Joseph R. ^ooke A thesis submitted in partial Eulfillatent of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of English Fresno State College November, 1971 nn bud mu dolll d L I L; U A K V TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 Section 1 4 II - 6 III 9 IV 14 V 17 VI 21 VII . 23 VIII 26 IX 28 X 29 CONCLUSION 35 BIBLIOGRAPHY 36 iii INTRODUCTION Until Mrs. Q. D, Leavis published "Hawthorne As Poet" in 1951, "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" had received only minor critical attention. Mrs. Leavls* reading identifies Robin with the American Colonies in the period before the revolution. She suggests this tale might better be understood if it was subtitled "America Comes of Age."1 Hawthorne's introduction to **My Ki nsman, Major Moli­ neux" indicates it is based upon historical events by recounting incidents from the annals of Massachusetts-Bay Colony and by then saying: These remarks may serve as a preface to the following adventures, which chanced upon a summer night, not far from a hundred years ago. The reader, in order to avoid a long and dry detail of colonial affairs, is requested to dispense with an account of the train of circumstances that had caused much temporary inflammation of the popular mind.2 Attempts to identify a historical source for this tale have met with limited success. Roy Harvey Pearce has con­ jectured that Robin may be derived fro© one General Willis® 1Q. V. Leavis, "Hawthorne as Poet," Sewanee Review. 59 (1951), 179-205. ^Nathaniel Hawthorn., Tha Comnl.ta Wrltlnga Nathaniel Hawthorn. (Boaton and New tort: Houghton, and Co., 1W, 111. 326. 1 2 Molineux, a wealthy Boston radical and member of the Committee of Correspondence,3 According to Pearce, William Molineux was a mob leader who helped drive the British out of America, paralleling Robin who "finds his kinsman and helps hurt him and drive him away" (p. 329). Pearce also identifies William Molineux with Major Molineux in that what Robin "helps destroy and drive away is himself, or part of himself" (p. 329), and that "through William Molineux whose name they share, Robin and his kinsman are one" (p. 333). John Russell, in The Hew England Quarterly, offers a view almost the opposite of those given above. Russell contrasts Robin with the rough, uncouth Americans Robin sees in the tavern. These are the men who later disgrace Major Molineux end remind the reader of the raw character of early America. According to Russell, Robin clearly does not belong among them. He claims instead "Robin represents the six governors of Massachusetts-Bay Colony between 1686 and 1729."4 A reading by Julian Smith identifies Robin as Young Ban Franklin at his first arrival in Philadelphia.D Smith 3Roy Harvey Pearce, "Hawthorne and the sense of the past; or The immortality of Major Molineux," £££, 21 (1954), 327-49. r ni sm 550-8. 3 believes the events in "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" occur between 1720 and 1730, while the arrival of Franklin in Philadelphia was in 1723 (p. 552), Smith points up a number of parallels: Ben and Robin are shrewd, manly youths who are the same age. Each leaves his father's house to go to a strange city in search of advancement, each arrives in this strange city by boat} each is in danger of being arrested for having run away from his master. Both encounter and resist strumpets, and both fall asleep or "dream" in or near places of worship, (p. 551) Smith admits these adventures could befall a number of people, but shows the temporal order in which they occur to both is almost the same, and that there are many other "superficial correspondences" (p, 551), I A number of parallels between "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" and events portrayed in historical narratives available to Hawthorne suggest that the above theories regarding the sources for "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" are incorrect. There is much evidence to support another hypo­ thesis, i.e., the character Robin is actually derived from the person of one Spencer Phips, a nephew and later adopted son of Sir William Phips, the first governor of Massachusetts- Bay Colony under the restored royal charter of 1691. Hie abrupt decline of Sir William from political power was a consequence of colonial discontent and popular political action and his political demise set the pattern for relations between New England and the Crown, a pattern cul­ minating in the American Revolution. Spencer Phips rose to become Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts-Bay Colony and was the chief officer of that colony following the recall of Governor Shirley in 1755. Spencer Phips continued in that capacity until his death in 1757, as no new governor had been appointed. Further evidence indicates Major Molineux is derived from Sir William Phips and that the arrival of Robin from the country, his search for the dwelling of his kinsman, and 4 5 the public disgrace undergone by the Major, parallel histori­ cal events. There are indications that Robin arrives in Boston from the region near the mouth of the Kennebec River, that his search is for Province House, the official residence of the royal governors, and that the evening in which the story takes place is midsummer-eve, June 22, 1694. II In 1757 a funeral oration was published as Mr. Apple ton'a Funeral Sermon on the Death of the Honorable Spencer Phlps Esq.6 This sermon was delivered before the Massachusetts-Bay Colony General Assembly on April 12, 1757, five days after the death of Spencer Phips.7 The brief biography found in this sermon and events in MMy Kinsman, Major Molineux," make evident many parallels between Robin and Spencer Phlps. There are indications this funeral sermon may have been read by Hawthorne shortly before he wrote "My Kinsman, Major Molineux." Elizebeth L. Chandler has established that Hawthorne wrote this story within the years 1828 and 1829.8 Marion L. Kesserling has established that Hawthorne borrowed a miscellaneous collection of funeral sermons on 9 March 24, 1828 from the Atheneum Library in Salem. ^Nathaniel Applet on. Mr. • — b-t-, - ^ tral rmon on the Death of the Honourable Spencer Phips Esq on: j7 Draper, 7Appleton title page* 8Eli2ebeth L. Chandler, "A Study of the Tales and Romances Written by Nathaniel hawthorne before 13, Smith College Studiee In Modern Languages, 7 (1926;, 55. 9Marion L. Kasserli 'Wh0T5? 7 Kes.ierli.ng 3 -d5ntIficatlon of these funeral sermons Is curt and affords no further means by which the sermons within this collection can be further identified, but as they are pub­ lished sermons it is possible that the above sermon by Appleton was in this collection, for Spencer Phips was a man relatively prominent in Massachusetts history. In this sermon, Appleton compares Spencer Phips to King David, for King David was a shepherd in his youth, he came from a "low station" and a "remote land," rose to high office (pp. 8-9). Appleton says further, By the sovereign Disposals of divine Providence He, who was born of Parents in private Life, was in his early Days adoptad, and taken into the Family, and made Heir of his late Excellency Sir WILLIAM PHIPS, (first Governor of this Province tinder the present Charter) whereby he was favoured with the advantage of a liberal and publick Education: And he was very early brought into publick Services; advancing Step to Step, till at length he received a commission from the KING, for Lieutenant Governor of this Province• (pp. 38-9) Biographical information pertaining to the life Spencer Phips is limited, but George E. Ellis in Justin Winsor's The Memorial History of Boston does say that Spencer Phips was a nephew to Sir William Phips and that Sir William, who was childless, adopted Spencer.10 This information 10George E. Ellis, "The Soyal Governors," In The wlrfaTua* of the ^spSScr STE SiKn6^ sir William war. blood relations. II§ 538. 8 coincides well with the fact that "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" was titled "My Uncle Molineux" when it was first published in The Token in 1832,11 The points of correspondence between Robin and Spencer Phips are clear, Robin is a poor boy from the country, lie s eeks the dwelling of his influential and child­ less relative in Boston in a story originally titled HMy Uncle Molineux." Spencer Fhlps comes from a "remote land" and a "low station," and is adopted % an uncle who is childless and who, as governor, resides in the governor's mansion in Boston. Robin is told he may "rise in the world" without the help of his kinsman following the removal of Major Molineux in disgrace. Spencer Fhlps rises to political power following, it will be shown, the untimely death of his uncle following his fall in disgrace from power. 11Naal F. Double day, "Hawthorne * seat imate of his early works," Literature, 37 (1956), 403. Ill On June 19, 1827 and again on April 19, 1828 Hawthorne borrowed from the Atheneum Library Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christ! Americana in which appears Mather's biography of Sir 1.2 William Phips. This second borrowing of the Magnalia is within ® weeks of his borrowing of the funeral sermons. In this biography of Sir William, Mather calls Phips a Gideon "who ventured his life more than once to save his country."13 Sir William was bora at Woolwich, Maine near the mouth of the Kennebec River, one of twenty-six children. A shepherd until he was eighteen, he left home to become a ship's carpenter.