Text: John C. Miller, ed., “Entry 110: Sarah Helen Whitman to John H. Ingram, Sept. 28, 1875,” Poe's Helen Remembers (1979), pp. 330-332 (This material is protected by copyright)

[page 330, continued:]

110. Sarah Helen Whitman to John H. Ingram. Item 245

My dear Friend,

Your welcome letter [Sept. 15] has made me so happy. I had been very anxious about you. You say a month ago life was a burden to you, I, too, all through the dog-days seemed possessed by a leaden lethargy, such as I never felt before. I had important letters to answer, but could not write — could not think — have not, even yet, written to Dr. Buchanan. I fancied you might not live to receive the MS., & to me it seemed of little consequence. Were we in mesmerei rapport, I wonder? From the date of your note of Sept. 11 I began to feel a marvellous reaction.

To begin with the “fac-simile” poem — was there ever so audacious [page 331:] and so palpable a forgery? I think that the poem might readily be accepted as genuine. If it had been in Poe's writing, I should not have questioned it even without signature. The introductory note, however, is in itself enough to show its fraudulent character. Who is Mr. Didier & how did he get hold of the so-called fac-simile? And this is accepted by the press without question or criticism! Stoddard must have known that this was not a facsimile, yet he probably countenanced its publication. At this rate there will soon be a glut in the market! Facsimile poems will flood the press. Do be careful of ascribing anything to Poe that comes from such questionable sources. Still, the poem may be his, but if so, why was it not given in his own handwriting?

But have you seen the October Scribner's containing Francis Gerry Fairfield's “Mad Man of Letters,” in which Poe is presented as a favorable specimen of the epileptic type!(1)

Now for the animus of this medley — this farago of mendacity & metaphysics: Scribner's is the publisher of Stoddard's Bric-a-brac-series, & Stoddard doubtless can get anything inserted in the magazine that he likes. Fairfield is an impecunious author who has heretofore made Poe an idol.(2) In 1871 he advertised that he was about to publish “an edition of Poe's masterpieces; to contain also a critical estimate of Poe's claims as the representative of a literary originality purely American.” Not finding a publisher ready to undertake his work, he has published within the present year a book called Ten Years with Spiritual Mediums. This book assumed all the alleged phenomena of spiritualism to be true, & referred all to epileptic neurosis! This book received very harsh treatment from professional “alienists” on the one side, who scouted him for accepting the facts of spiritualism even though he attributed them to “epileptic nerve auras,” & was ridiculed by those who believed in spiritual intervention for declaring that in the presence of a medium he had seen a hand evolve itself out of a nebulous cloud & play one of Mendelssohn's airs on a piano, when no one was in contact with the instrument.

He was next spoken of as having prepared an analysis of Poe's physiological & mental peculiarities & now presents it to the public as a perfect type of the epileptic temperament. Now this article has been six months in the hands of the editors of the magazine & has doubtless been modified to suit his patrons. “One of the masters of the century,” as he formerly designated Poe, is now simply “A Mad Man of Letters.”

Observe, too, that Griswold and Stoddard are quoted as “the sole authorities for the facts of Poe's life so far as they are accessible.”

I should think even Stoddard must shrink from such a copartnership. I have answered this precious specimen of “epileptic lying,” and will [page 332:] send you a copy by the next mail, if the article appears in time. In the meantime, before my reply reaches you I hope you will read the article in Scribner's. One must read it to appreciate its audacity.

Thank you for sending me the “Lines to Marie Louise.” I think with you that the alteration was unquestionably made by Poe himself, and for reasons which I think I can understand. I will give you my theory about it next time I write. I am very tired now.

I sent to the Journal office yesterday the Appleton's announcement, & they brought it out this morning in the most conspicuous part of the paper, at the head of the editorial column. I will enclose a copy of it to Mr. Browne tomorrow.

I, too, have little confidence in the goodwill of Neilson Poe, et. al. I never supposed that he knew anything of his ancestry beyond his immediate progenitors in this country. I have not seen the St. James, have no access to it, & seldom see the Home Journal.

I am delighted to find that you knew nothing of the origin of the British Quarterly article, because it shows what an unprepossessed & unprejudiced writer thought about the question. I never have seen a copy of the New London Magazine. Oh, I see the first number is not yet out. Do you know the date of Politian? I long to know it.

I have seen it announced some time this summer that Gill was to publish one of Stoddard's serial publications! I always knew it was useless to try to get any information out of Gill. More of him next time. I am so sorry that Davidson could not have made out Clarke's address. He must have been living when you first wrote for it. Yes, I knew that Clarke was a Rhode Islander; we talked it over when he came to see me in the winter of [18]59-60.

I claimed kinship with him then, I remember, for I believe that like my maternal ancestors he was descended from Walter Clarke, one of the early governors of R[hode] I[sland]. I believe he was an honest, upright man, & he seemed to love Poe.

But goodbye for today.

Is the photo I enclose taken from Harrison? I am ashamed of my hurried letter.

 

1. Francis Gerry Fairfield, “A Mad Man of Letters,” Scribner's Monthly, 10 (Oct. 1875), 690-99. Item 628 in the Ingram Poe Collection.

2. As early as Mar. 1866 Fairfield had published two articles: “Poe as an Imaginative Writer” and “Poe's Masterpieces” in the New York Home Journal, both highly appreciative of Poe's genius and suggesting a table of contents for a new edition of Poe's masterpieces.