The Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale bent his head, in silent prayer, as it seemed, and then came forward.

"Hester Prynne," said he, leaning over the balcony and looking down steadfastly into her eyes, "thou hearest what this good man says, and seest the accountability under which I labour. If thou feelest it to be for thy soul's peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer! Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so than to hide a guilty heart through life. What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him—yea, compel him, as it were—to add hypocrisy to sin? Heaven hath granted thee an open ignominy, that thereby thou mayest work out an open triumph over the evil within thee and the sorrow without. Take heed how thou deniest to him—who, perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself—the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now presented to thy lips!"

Who wrote the above passage?

This author was born in New York City and is best known for his epic about an aggressive whale that destroys a whaling ship and its crew. 

This author was the first American horror, mystery, and science fiction writer. His most famous tales include The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart and the poem The Raven.

This author was a philosopher and naturalist at Concord, Massachusetts, best known for his writings about independence, spiritual discovery, and self-reliance in works such as his essay Civil Disobedience and his book Walden about a two-year retreat to the woods near Walden Pond.

This author was inspired to write his classic novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by his childhood experiences in Hannibal, Missouri, and his job as a Mississippi River steamboat pilot.

This author was born in Connecticut. Her book Uncle Tom's Cabin revealed the horrific life of slaves. She because a major abolitionist and influenced the movement.

This author, from Salem, Massachusetts, wrote stories about sin, guilt, and concerns about witchcraft in Puritan New England. He was a dark romantic who felt these qualities were natural in humans. He is most known for his work from which the following excerpt is taken:

"Her attire, which, indeed, she had wrought for the occasion, in prison, and had modeled much after her own fancy, seemed to express the attitude of her spirit, the desperate recklessness of her mood, by its wild and picturesque peculiarity. But the point which drew all eyes, and, as it were, transfigured the wearer,--so that both men and women, who had been familiarly acquainted with Hester Prynne, were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time,--was that SCARLET LETTER, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself."

This author was one of the earliest American fiction writers. His works include Rip Van Winkle (1819) and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820). An excerpt adapted from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820): 

"From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of Sleepy Hollow, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow Boys throughout all the neighboring country. A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere."

This author, born in San Francisco, drew on his adventures as a sailor, and gold prospector to write exciting tales about dogs in the North and voyages on the high seas. In his most popular book, he writes: 

"Dark spruce forest frowned on either side the frozen waterway. The trees had been stripped by a recent wind of their white covering of frost, and they seemed to lean toward each other, black and ominous, in the fading light. A vast silence reigned over the land. The land itself was a desolation, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of sadness."

This author is best known for his five-book Leatherstocking series, part of which is excerpted here:

“Let the Frenchman and all his host go to the devil, sir!” exclaimed the hasty veteran. “He is not yet master of William Henry, nor shall he ever be, provided Webb proves himself the man he should. No, sir, thank Heaven we are not yet in such a strait that it can be said Munro is too much pressed to discharge the little domestic duties of his own family. Your mother was the only child of my bosom friend, Duncan; and I’ll just give you a hearing, though all the knights of St. Louis were in a body at the sally–port, with the French saint at their head, crying to speak a word under favor. A pretty degree of knighthood, sir, is that which can be bought with sugar hogsheads! and then your twopenny marquisates. The thistle is the order for dignity and antiquity; the veritable ‘nemo me impune lacessit’ of chivalry. Ye had ancestors in that degree, Duncan, and they were an ornament to the nobles of Scotland.”