Text: John C. Miller, ed., “Entry 101: John H. Ingram to Sarah Helen Whitman, June 2, 1875,” Poe's Helen Remembers (1979), pp. 302-??? (This material is protected by copyright)

[page 302, continued:]

101. John H. Ingram to Sarah Helen Whitman

My dearest Friend,

Incident, letter, and event, follow event, letter & incident so closely, that I cannot possibly hope to keep you au fait with everything by means of my hasty scribbles. I enclose you some scrawls which I have rattled off, from time to time, for your perusal, if you think them worth it, but things crowd so fast upon me & letters — especially from America — arrive in such multitudes that I am beginning to give up answering them. To begin such items as I can think of for the moment, let me commence with the latest.

I have today met Miss Peckham at one station, & seen her off to Liverpool from another en route per Celtic for New York! She is thoroughly homesick & seems to me quite worn out & evidently requires rest. I fancy she must have been doing too much. I hope sincerely, & believe, that the scent of the sea breezes which waft her [page 303:] homeward, & the sight of her native land will quite recuperate her. To you I need not say how deeply interested I feel in her — she is so different to some specimens of Yankeedom I have lately been brought in contact with. Entre nous, I fear she has been overtasking mind as well as body and, could I get a chance, would bid her father insist upon a thorough and prolonged relaxation from study. Had I been master of my own time I should have straightway taken a ticket & started with her to New York.

En avant — on Monday, 31st, a Mr. O. E. Dodge called on me during my absence from home & I returned the call today — he is London correspondent to the New York Daily Sun & professes to have been an old friend of Poe's & proffered me “a grateful welcome as the friend of Truth” — he wrote that he visited me to show “A daguerreotype of the once brilliant & noble-hearted Edgar Allan Poe.”(1) “Hearing that you had given my old friend credit {he remarks} for traits of character which too many of his own countrymen (and mine) enviously labored for years to deny, I thought — though I have not seen your book — that you would be highly gratified by having an opportunity of examining the only likeness ever taken of the author of ‘The Bells. —

I receive all these statements now-a-days with suspicion, but sure enough Mr. Dodge has a beautiful daguerreotype so fresh-looking & handsome of Poe — it is the original of one of the photos you sent me! Not the one the engraving is from but the better of the other two. I shall try & get him to have it copied & send you a copy. Strange that I should discover here in London two such fine daguerreotypes of Poe! Mr. D[odge]'s is much handsomer than Mrs. Lewis's, I think, but, as you know, much smaller. Now don’t you think that I must be marked out by Fate to champion Poe's memory!

I have told you of my possession of Politian — some more of it will “turn up” soon, I fancy.(2)

How do you like the photos I sent? I trust you got them safely. Mrs. Houghton says, “The photograph is very good —. ... It quite startled me, and at first I did not like it, but it is very like him.” I only sent her the smaller size, & have also sent one to John P. Poe, but he has not had time to reply.

I cannot tell you all now that Mrs. H[oughton] says. I must like her but, nevertheless, shall have to most carefully weigh & investigate some of her wonderful statements. She tells me:

That is all I can now give you of Mrs. H[oughton]'s last two letters — such long ones!

En passant, Mr. Dodge said he first saw my name in the Tribune, giving some flattering remarks about me & my labours & stating that I had accepted offers to lecture in the United States! I’ve not seen the offers yet! But have heard of it again today. I shall, however, try to visit America — if possible — this year. Mr. D[odge] said he should have taken me — poor short little me — for an American by my appearance.

Entre nous, I saw a note of the Cleavelands saying I had “charmed them” — c’est Men! n’ est ce pas?

Davidson's last two letters not yet answered — he has sent me over a lot of magazines & cuttings. John Neal has sent me an interesting account of Poe's early letters to him in an editorial capacity.(4) I can use this — also a short testimony by a [sic] R. C. Ambler in Richmond, “got at” by Valentine.(5) Ambler knew Poe as a boy & used to battle & swim with [him]! Other names are given & Valentine is raking up items. He is a friend of the 2nd Mrs. Allan, but finds it a sore matter with her. Mrs. H[oughton] declares that when Allan died Mrs. Allan wrote to Poe, acknowledging herself cause of the estrangement between Poe & Allan & offered to provide for Poe, but that he was too proud to accept anything — that Virginia kept Mrs. Allan's letters, but Mrs. H[oughton] supposes Griswold had them & returned them! Mrs. Clemm's possessions were all given to Neilson Poe when she died — Davidson proved.

Mrs. M. St. Leon Loud was a Miss Barstow. I cannot find out anything about her, & don’t think she would be of much use. Mrs. Shelton does not give any sign. Mrs. Houghton has a neighbor 92 years of age, who lived 60 years in Washington, & who (this Mr. Drake) was Director in a bank with “George Poe, Edgar's uncle.” G[eorge] Poe, he says, was wealthy, “a man of culture & a very good man.” “He was very proud of his poet nephew & often spoke of him & his beauty & genius. G[eorge] Poe lived in Georgetown, & had some lovely daughters. He does not remember any sons.” Now this seems confirmed by what John Neal says & what J. P. Poe also remarks, & you have spoken of G[eorge] Poe. All will some day be cleared up — from Alpha to Omega!

I have not written Miss Blackwell yet — must at once. Could not Mrs. Charles (“Annie”) Richmond help my efforts think you? Is she alive? Would Lowell be sufficient address? Mrs. Locke of Lowell — could not she do something? Mrs. Botta remains silent. Mr. Godey ditto. “A. B. Harris” I must find out. [page 305:]

I have gone all through your letters again, & whilst I find that I have much you should have back, I also see there are some things promised “not yet sent. For instance, copy of a briefer letter of Poe's to show me something of the great things which he hoped to achieve in literature. This would be most interesting to me. Have not had copy of Pabodie's private letter to Griswold, but that is not of great moment, I suppose. Has Gill ever returned you the letter from John Willis, Poe's fellow student? I should like copy of that, but Gill would never give it to me. I have got a real clue, I think, to the “Conchology” story now, but cannot get Wyatt's Home Journal letter.

I hope Mr. Harris is not expecting letter from me.

You gave Stoddard to read Poe's letter explaining the motives which induced him (Poe) to seek your acquaintance. Might I not have a copy? All your letters ( every word) to me are sacred, & only what you authorise, published. I shall make a different history next time. Might I not introduce carefully & delicately the “Stanzas to Music”? Poe's letter of appeal, after separation, you would not like to send copy of, I suppose? You have never told me what Poe's letters to Mrs. Clemm contained, about “his feelings & views in entering upon his engagement with Mrs. Shelton.” All these things — such as you chose to tell me — you might kindly send, from time to time, when health & leisure permitted. I enclose a monumental slip looking like progress. I can prove that for more than ten years Stoddard has been slandering Poe in papers, Round Table, &c. anonymously! The scoundrel! And now having exhausted your patience, I fear, & requesting you to burn the paper so marked in red — sincerely trusting that your health is better & holding over for my next plenty to keep you au courant with my researches, I remain, believe me, ever, most devotedly yours,

[The following pages marked in red ink:] Burn all this.

My very dear friend,

You will see that I am scribbling all kinds of odds & ends to you, at odd intervals. In fact, I am continually finding things I want to ask or tell, & know not how, amid my oppressive need of leisure to make time to write one tithe of what I would write to you. Another thing, I cannot always make up my mind to write so unreservedly to you as I would talk, could I but have the felicity of an interview with you. In fact, I think you had better even burn this when you have read it, as it refers to womankind.

Just judge how delicately I am placed! You must wonder why I never tell of Mrs. Lewis & why I never repeat any of her information. In truth, although I frequently see — sometimes take a cup of tea at her house — I dare not rely upon, or print a word of hers about Poe. She is [page 306:] more imaginative than your friend Elizabeth] O[akes] S[mith]! But I must be friendly with her — in fact, despite many queer things, I cannot help liking her & feeling for her in her friendlessness — & it would be madness to quarrel with her — unwittingly, by not accepting an invitation of hers, I offended her, & in revenge, she immediately inserted a nasty paragraph in the Home Journal (New York) about my “Memoir” of Poe, although in a previous issue she’d spoken well of it! Judge from that! Of course Mr. Harris was right about the name, but believing what she told me (& she offered splendid circumstantial evidence), I undoubtingly accepted the statement as to Poe having given the wrong name in the poem. Again, I am so useful to Mrs. Lewis that she is very desirous of my friendship. She gave me the copies of the daguerreotype, although they, I fancy, cost her nothing — but are given her for her having sold right of publishing these photos to the Company. This & all this is strictly entre nous — she was, doubtless, friendly with Griswold, & had some of Poe's papers, I fancy, from him. She has just given me Poe's MS. copy of Politian containing several unpublished scenes, which, though they help out the story a little, are inferior to the published portion, further than which, however, they do not go. I am yet in hopes of her finding & giving me some more of the drama. I am fully acquainted with the story on which it is founded — but the public might not have seen it so clearly from the published fragment, as from all that I have.

Mrs. E. O. Smith is no good & I am in hopes that I shall be free from her in a friendly manner.

Mrs. Nichols has just recovered her sight after an operation. She tells me that she is preparing her “Recollections” of Poe for me, but, I fancy, she’ll give too much space to Mrs. Clemm, who she was very fond of. I may misjudge her but I cannot help deeming that she belongs to the genus imaginative. I judge from some letters & one short interview — but we’ll see.

Were it not so terrible I should often laugh at my American lady correspondents. Half their time & space is devoted to slandering each other — swearing that Poe cared only for them, & that everybody else who lays claim to his friendship is an imposter! That they were only girls (each one says the same) when he knew them & when he died & so could not vindicate him to the world, &c.!! Entre nous — they all hate Mrs. Lewis (that makes me think she could not have been so bad) & she returns it with interest. In fact, they all look upon Poe's fame as a convenient peg upon which to hang their own mediocrities where the world may see! For my part I believe Poe only cared for Mrs. Houghton out of the lot of them & he loved her & clung to her as a friend — & as the friend of his wife, but not in any nearer or dearer way. I’m sure Mrs. Houghton] is most anxious to impress this upon [page 307:] me, as, apparently, someone who had the right to be jealous of her was jealous. I do like Mrs. H[oughton] so much for herself & not only for her goodness to Poe, but your suggestion as to that copy of a letter upset me greatly — yet it was right, & I am so grateful to you for pointing it out, not but what later on, when I came to weigh matters for publication, I must come to the conclusion I see you have. In fact, I wrote, & asked Mrs. H[oughton] whether she had not made some mistakes — which I pointed out — in her copy, & her answer confirms my & your views. Fear not — I print nothing that I am not sure about & trust that I shall have the joy of seeing you, & talking over all things, before I commence the biography for publication. Mrs. H[oughton] I’m sure loved Poe as a friend & would & will firmly stand for him & for me & she is a woman it would be difficult to put down, but she — I’m sure — is under a cloud. I fear, however, that having told me all she can remember of Poe she is drifting into the genus imaginative. Her reminiscences are so startling & so apt to satisfy one's needs that I cannot help being sceptical.

My dearest friend,

Having just discovered a curiosity of my boyhood's days, I bother you with a copy — a verbatim one, I fancy — I believe I once did indulge in some autobiographical reminiscences when writing to you, & just at the present moment (when scores of more profitable ((mentally)) works are awaiting my pen), I feel impelled to intrude some more on your kindness. Few would care for such but you might & I can, therefore, confide this to the obscurity of my next letter to you as a psychological curiosity. I believe I told you the story of how I fancied that I had discovered that I had become a poet! From that time for the space of about five or six years I wrote verses continuously — night & day — whenever I could get a spare moment, composing some thousands — many thousands — of lines. Owing to the derangement of my poor father's mind, everything had gone wrong with us, & I had to be taken from college, with but a scanty stock of educational loves; parental indulgence, indeed, not having made me make so much of previous opportunities as many at my age would have done. (In fact, my education has been really gained since I left school.) These circumstances had left me so poorly educated, indeed, that not only the grammar was occasionally faulty but the spelling frequently so, of my boyish verses. Hence the strangeness of the following facts. Believing that all I wrote was really poetry, it became a great object with me to preserve every scrap of it. As a rule, as soon as I had finished! a piece — and I sometimes produced two or three of these said “pieces” as fast as I could write them (i.e., as fast manually) I sent it off to some journal or paper, & therein it always appeared, if the [page 308:] paper was one that did not pay its poetic contributors. This continuous versifying changed my whole being — from babyhood I had always been a dreamy, imaginative child, but now I really “lived in a world of things ideal,” and so passed through the most terrible afflictions almost with happiness! But the rhyming fits always came on most powerfully when I went to bed. I could versify so composedly in the quietude of the night — and to preserve these compositions (as I fancied) from oblivion, I kept a candle, with matches, with paper & pencil by my bedside to be ready at an instant's need, & I have frequently relit the candle — I could not sleep with it alight — half a dozen times to jot down new verses! I fell asleep almost every night making verses & frequently woke in the morning doing the same thing! Not unnaturally I dreamed & dreamed poetry. I assure you several of my best (if you will allow a superlative here) verses were so composed & many far better I believe to any I have preserved. I often dreamed of the future & when I awoke in the midst of the tantalizing vision seemed to remember the whole. I seized the pencil & began to write the words down, but they gradually faded from my mind. I now send you a copy of all I could write down before they had faded. In writing out these night poems my grammar & orthography always seemed correct & the versification better than my day verses:

Life in Death

(a fragment of a long poem composed in sleep)

I duly received your sweet-scented favour of the 11th Ultimo. The violets are still sweet. I only guessed & do not know whether Griswold's “Memoir” is withdrawn. Widdleton advertises the works & notices on Poe by Lowell, Willis, Graham, & others. I have not seen Westminster Quarterly Review yet. Curwen told me he would review there. Nor have seen Lotos Leaves yet. The poem to “The B[eloved] Physician” is not discovered yet.

The above is a copy of the verses in Poe's handwriting, addressed to Mrs. Houghton, and supposed to be by Mrs. Nichols. In writing to the latter lady a few days ago, I forgot to ask her if she knew anything about them. I have not received any of her reminiscences yet, nor do I fancy they will much increase our knowledge of the facts of Poe's life. She has been blind for some time but her sight has just been restored through an operation. I trust the change may prove permanent.

1. Ossian Euclid Dodge (1820-1876) wrote music and biography and was London correspondent to the New York Daily Sun.

2. This statement instances that Ingram was indeed writing “hasty scribbles,” “scrawls ... rattled off, from time to time.” He informs Mrs. Whitman for the first time that he has acquired the manuscript of Politian later in this letter.

3. Mrs. Houghton's letter was dated May 16, 1875; the complete text appears in Building Poe Biography, pp. 136-43.

4. John Neal's letter was dated May 10, 1875, and is Item 224 in the Ingram Poe Collection.

5. Dr. R. C. Ambler's recollections of Poe, promised to Ingram by Edward V. Valentine in his letter of Dec. 10, 1874, Item 187, was finally enclosed in Valentine's letter of May 8, 1875. Item 228 in the Ingram Poe Collection.