Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1863 (1804-1864)
Shakespeare has surface beneath surface, to an immeasurable depth, adapted to the plummet-line of every reader; his works present many phases of truth, each with scope large enough to fill a contemplative mind. Whatever you seek in him you will surely discover, provided you seek truth. There is no exhausting the various interpretation of his symbols; and a thousand years hence, a world of new readers will possess a whole library of new books, as we ourselves do, in these volumes old already.
Our Old Home. 1863, i. 171.
In Our Old Home (i. 158-60) Hawthorne records his impressions on visiting Shakespeare’s house.