Critical reactions to Melville's novels were diverse. Many criticized his treatment towards religion, most especially those in the church. However, William Ellery Channing Jr. wrote in The New Bedford Mercury:
"This bulky, queer looking volume, in some respects, 'very whale like' even in outward appearance. We have had before volume upon volume of narratives of whaling voyages, and adventures with leviathans of the deep, but never before a work combining so much of natural history as Moby Dick, nor in so attractive a guise as the volume before us...although as a whole the book is made to serve as a 'tub for the Whale,' the characters and subjects which figure in it are set off with artistic effect, and with irresistible attraction to the reader..."
Channing's reaction was not typical of most, however, and in a letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Melville expressed his displeasure over his close friends reaction to the novel:
"You did not care a penny for the book. But, now and then as you read, you understood the pervading thought that impelle the book-- and that you praised . Was it no so? You were archangel enough to despise the imperfect body, and embrace the soul."
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