This seafaring author had a lot to "wail" about: his somber 1852 novel "Pierre" is semi-autobiographical
Ever a note of wail and 
woe, .... semi-monthly periodical called _Salmagundi_, fashioned after Addison's 
...... American literature in _The Scarlet Letter_ a masterpiece, somber yet [DOC] [TLE] Richard Wagner - The Free Information Society [PAR] sign of his inner greatness, has risen to the point of its most splendid glory ... An 
author who plans a book on an artist or an artistic question must be wary, ..... he 
had he gave no expression to them, being himself a court player and a semi-
court painter.