Hawthorne reverted to the same symbol in a notebook entry seven years later, and in 1847 began work on what was to be his greatest achievement, The Scarlet Letter. Such letters were actually worn in colonial New England; instances have been recorded of a D for Drunkard, and even of an I, signifying Incest. They furnished Hawthorne with just the combination of "moral and material" that he could handle: here was a "type" bodied forth: here also was "a secret thing in public". However, despite its near-perfect construction, few great books have been more hesitantly produced. Worries over money prevented him from giving his whole mind to the story. He was troubled by its "hell-fired" quality, and tried to make the book more attractive by supplying a lengthy preamble on the Salem Custom House. Moreover, apart from his immature Fanshawe, Hawthorne had not written anything longer than magazine stories. If his publisher had not badgered him, it is possible that The Scarlet Letter would never have been completed as a novel.