"a dead" (n. sing.), c1861 -- where does this fit?

[Joel S. Berson]

'You put a dead into the grave, and behold a spirit comes from it ..."

Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Septimius Norton", c1861.
In _The Elixer of Life Manuscripts_, Vol. 12 of _The Centenary
Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne_ (Ohio State Univ. Press,
1977), page 332.

The OED has "dead, a. (n.1, adv.)" sense "1. a. sing. One who is
dead, a dead person. Formerly with a, and with possessive dead's
(dedes, dedis).  b. pl. the dead."  I see no quotations thereunder
for the singular later than 1340.

Is this a useful postdating?

Joel

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