Final answer:
Reverend Mr. Hooper's preaching style before wearing the black veil is best described as informative and scholarly.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Reverend Mr. Hooper's style as a preacher before he donned the black veil could be described as informative and scholarly. This style resonates with the way the cultural elite of older periods used to express themselves, often in long, intricate sentences rich in rhetorical devices.
This manner was appreciated in an era when the literary and academically inclined audiences valued detailed exploration of subjects. Therefore, option (c) Informative and scholarly is the correct description of Reverend Mr. Hooper's preaching style before the arrival of the black veil.
The Reverend Mr. Hooper's style as a preacher before he donned the black veil was informative and scholarly. In the passage, it states that the informative style worked well for contemporary readers who were hungry for accounts about explorations and scientific experiments. This suggests that Mr. Hooper's preaching was focused on providing knowledge and educating his congregation.