Text: William H. Gravely, Jr., “Poe and Thomas Dunn English,” Papers on Poe, 1972, pp. 165-193

[page 165, unnumbered:]

William H. Gravely, Jr.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

 

Poe and Thomas Dunn English:
More Light on a Probable Reason for
Poe's Failure to Receive a
Custom-House Appointment

 

IN ANY speculation about the possible or probable reasons for the unfriendly feelings that developed between Poe and Thomas Dunn English during the earlier years of their acquaintanceship, perhaps the most intriguing question is whether English used his influence with the administration of John Tyler to keep Poe from receiving a Custom-House appointment in Philadelphia during 1842 or especially during 1843.(1) Since Poe's efforts to obtain such an appointment were closely tied up with his desire to establish a magazine of his own, any open opposition by English would have probably made him Poe's mortal enemy from that time on. But the ways of politicians are frequently not open, and English may have been partly or even chiefly responsible for Poe's failure and still kept his political machinations under cover.

Poe's long-continued and futile efforts to obtain a minor governmental appointment were, of course, first directed toward getting a place in Washington and began not long after the death of President Harrison in the spring of 1841. It was a period of extreme uncertainty among both would-be officeholders and incumbents. As soon as General Harrison became President, he was besieged by a host of office seekers, some of whom are said even to have invaded his sickroom during his last days.(2) In any case, he made many promises which he did not live long enough to keep and which Tyler, who [page 166:] was opposed in principle to the spoils system, had to decide whether or not he should honor. At first Tyler resolved to hold removals from office to a minimum, but later he determined to abandon his earlier resolution when he became convinced that numerous appointive offices were being manipulated to undermine his political strength. This situation naturally grew worse as the breach between the President and the regular Whigs continued to widen.(3)

When Harrison assumed office, Poe had already formed close friendships with two residents of Washington, Frederick W. Thomas and Jesse E. Dow, both of whom, during the administration of John Tyler, became close friends of the President's eldest son, Robert. Although they differed politically, Thomas being an ardent Whig and Dow perhaps an even more ardent Democrat, they were devoted friends and seem to have been immediately drawn to Poe. Both men evidently did everything in their power to help Poe obtain an appointment, although there was not much that Dow could do early in the new administration since he himself, because of his Locofocoism, lost his position as a corresponding clerk in the Contract Office.(4) Thomas, on the other hand, was rewarded for his support of Harrison and Tyler with a temporary appointment as clerk in the Treasury Department.(5)

After Virginia Poe's serious illness in January 1842, Thomas's efforts were directed for a while toward interesting Robert Tyler personally in Poe, as well as in his projected magazine, although he did not encourage Poe to expect any financial assistance from that source. By 21 May Thomas had been so successful in his endeavors as to receive a virtual promise from Robert Tyler that Poe would be given an appointment — not in Washington, but in the Custom House in Philadelphia. In a letter of this date Thomas said that he had talked to Robert the night before and had suggested to him that Poe might be given the kind of position that would enable him to pursue his literary interests. ‘Robert replied,” wrote Thomas, “that he felt confident that such a situation could be obtained for you in the course of two or three months at farthest, as certain vacancies would then occur.”(6)

Unfortunately, however, by the time that Thomas received this assurance from Robert Tyler, the political situation in the Philadelphia Custom House had deteriorated to such an extent as to militate strongly against the probability that a nonpolitical claimant like Poe would be given an appointment, especially if there were manifest [page 167:] opposition to it. This deterioration had set in not long after Tyler assumed office. As early as 13 April 1841, in order to forestall such a development, Tyler had written a letter to Jonathan Roberts, a former Representative and Senator from Pennsylvania, notifying him of his appointment to the post of Collector of Customs for the port of Philadelphia.(7) A great admirer of Henry Clay, Roberts had joined the Whig Party because of his opposition to Jacksonianism. Believing Roberts to hold political views similar to his own, Tyler saw in this appointment an excellent opportunity to avoid having to make a decision in favor of either J. Washington Tyson or Bela Badger, who were the two warmest contestants for the Collectorship at the time of Harrison's death. In other words, Tyler felt, since Harrison had died without publicly announcing his final choice, that it would be best to withhold the victory from both men to whom Harrison had given primary consideration. Realizing, however, that each of the unsuccessful contestants, in expectation of the appointment, had undoubtedly promised subordinate offices to certain of his friends, the President now asked his newly appointed Collector to distribute these offices equally among the friends of the losers. In a conciliatory move Tyler gave Tyson and Badger the two most important remaining posts in the Custom House, Tyson being appointed Surveyor of Customs and Badger, Naval Officer.(8)

But all of Tyler's efforts to achieve harmony in the Philadelphia Custom House proved futile. The rupture between the President and Henry Clay was not long in coming about, and this rupture necessarily affected adversely the friendly relations between Tyler and Roberts. These relations began to deteriorate when it became evident that many of Roberts” appointees had turned against Tyler after Clay had broken with him. Tyler soon became convinced that it would be necessary to purge the Custom House in Philadelphia of appointees who were antagonistic toward his administration. Although Roberts declared that he had no knowledge of subversive activities, Tyler was not to be persuaded, and on 27 April 1842 he addressed a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury, Walter Forward, requesting that thirty-one changes be made in the subordinate offices in the Custom House “for reasons satisfactory to myself, and connected with the administration of governmental affairs.” One of the changes requested was that Robert S. English, the father of Thomas Dunn English and a staunch Tyler supporter, be made a measurer in place of one James Clarke.(9) [page 168:]

Instead of yielding to Tyler's wishes, Roberts sought an audience with the President. After going to Washington and finally obtaining an interview, Roberts told the President that he could not conscientiously make the changes requested. Nor was he willing to resign, as the President intimated he should do if he were unable to comply. On his return to Philadelphia Roberts found a note awaiting him, signed “R. Tyler, P. Secretary” and mailed on 3 May before the date of the interview, stating that the President wished the requisition he had made “to be at once and to the letter complied with.” For more than four months after receiving this letter from Robert Tyler, Roberts continued in office without his resignation's being demanded for his refusal to accede to the President's request. On 12 September 1842, however, Thomas S. Smith presented himself at the Custom House and announced that he had been appointed to supersede Roberts. It is clear from Roberts’ lengthy report on the controversy that he attributed the President's loss of confidence in him to false representations by J. Washington Tyson, who, although denied the Collectorship and forced to settle for the post of Surveyor, had remained loyal to the administration and had won the confidence of its leaders. This confidence was clearly indicated in October 1841 when Tyler appointed Tyson Commissary General in the United States Army. But Tyson's occupancy of this office was not long-lived, for Congress, having decided to do away with it, refused on 22 April 1842 to confirm the appointment.(10)

Unquestionably, the dismissal of Roberts and the appointment of Thomas S. Smith in his stead established Tyson as the most influential of Tyler's supporters in Philadelphia. Unquestionably, too, the influence of Thomas Dunn English as a prominent young member of the Tyson faction was substantially increased. Although only twenty-three years old at this time, English had been active in politics since the beginning of the 1840 campaign. As a member of the editorial staff of the Philadelphia Star, he had spoken briefly but eloquently (along with Rufus W. Griswold, assistant editor of the Standard) at a complimentary dinner given in Philadelphia on 24 December 1840 in conjunction with a meeting called to celebrate the recent victory of Harrison.(11) About fourteen months later he had been a moving force in a great Tyler celebration held in Philadelphia on 22 February 1842 to commemorate the birth of Washington.(12) Not only had he written for the occasion a song in praise of John Tyler, but he had also delivered one of the two outstanding speeches, the other having [page 169:] been made by the Hon. William H. Irwin, one of Pennsylvania's Representatives in Congress and a member of the original Corporal's Guard which had so loyally upheld the President.(13) That English's speech was given the place of honor alongside Irwin's is strong evidence that the young Philadelphian had advanced rapidly to a position of influence among the President's political friends. Earlier during the celebration he had received the following tribute in the form of a toast: “Dr. Thomas Dunn English — young in years; but mature in judgment. His friends love, and his enemies respect him.”

Meanwhile Poe continued to live in a state fluctuating between hope and despair. On the strength of Thomas's encouraging news Poe had written early in June 1842 to James Herron in Washington, saying that he had been promised a situation in the Custom House.(14) “The offer was entirely unexpected & gratuitous,” said Poe. “I am to receive the appointment upon removal of several incumbents — the removal to be certainly made in a month. I am indebted to the personal friendship of Robert Tyler. If I really receive the appointment all may yet go well. The labors of the office are by no means onerous and I shall have time enough to spare for other pursuits.” But Poe had prefaced these hopeful remarks with others of an entirely different import, which show how desperately he needed some hope to cling to at this time: “You have learned, perhaps, that I have retired from ‘Graham's Magazine.” The state of my mind has, in fact, forced me to abandon for the present, all mental exertion. The renewed and hopeless illness of my wife, ill health on my own part, and pecuniary embarrassments, have nearly driven me to distraction.” Later on in June Herron wrote Poe a kind letter in reply, not only sending him a check for twenty dollars but also informing him that he had seen Robert Tyler in his behalf. Although the letter is not extant, much of its content may be inferred from Poe's letter of 30 June, in which he thanked Herron for the money and for his “prompt and unexpected interposition with Mr Tyler.” Poe said that he now felt “assured of success.”(15)

But as the days wore on without his hearing any good news, Poe lost much of his confidence. “How happens it,” he inquired in a letter to Thomas dated 27 August,(16) “that I have received not a line from you for these four months? What in the world is the matter?” In the same letter Poe told Thomas of the assurance which he had indirectly received from Robert Tyler through Herron and also of his having called on “Gen. J. W. Tyson, the leader of the T. party in [page 170:] the city,” who seemed to be “especially well disposed.” Yet in spite of these encouraging signs, Poe admitted that he was doubtful of success. Evidently Thomas revived Poe's hopes, if one may judge from the tone of Poe's letter of 12 September. By that time, too, he had learned that Thomas S. Smith was to be the new Collector of Customs for Philadelphia, and of course this change in the main office meant that numerous changes in the minor offices would soon take place. “Should I obtain the office,” Poe gratefully wrote to his friend, “ — and of course I can no longer doubt that I shall obtain it — I shall feel that to you alone I am indebted. You have shown yourself a true friend, and I am not likely to forget it, however impotent I may be, now or hereafter, to reciprocate your many kindnesses. I would give the world to clasp you by the hand and assure you, personally, of my gratitude.”(17)

Not long after Smith replaced Roberts as Collector the political axe began to fall. Thomas Dunn English's father, Robert, received an appointment as Inspector of Customs on 18 October 1842.(18) At least eighteen other changes occurred on the same day, and more were shortly to follow.(19) But it soon became evident that there were not enough vacancies to go around, and dissension began to break out among the supporters of President Tyler. Especially strong was the ill feeling that developed between two specific groups of Tyler's followers. First, there was the controlling element under the leadership of Tyson and Smith with which Thomas Dunn English was identified. This group had supported Harrison against Van Buren in 1840, but had later sustained Tyler in his fight against the dominant element in the Whig Party. Now out of favor with the regular Whigs, they elected to call themselves Democrats on the ground that they were the true exponents of Jeffersonian Democracy. Second, there was a group of Democrats who had never broken with the party of Jackson and Van Buren, but who had been drawn to Tyler either because he was opposed to such measures as the Whig Bank bills or because they hoped to profit in some way by supporting the existing administration. They referred to members of the first group as Whigs and accused them of arrogating to themselves the Democratic label.(20) Thomas Dunn English, as a power in the faction led by Tyson and Smith, became deeply involved in a violent controversy arising from dissension between the two groups — a controversy which caused consternation among leaders of the Tyler administration in Washington. [page 171:]

In view of the turmoil and dissension that infested the Philadelphia Custom House after President Tyler's break with Henry Clay, it is small wonder that Poe's hopes of receiving generous treatment from Thomas S. Smith proved to be ill-founded. His hopes gradually vanished with each successive list of removals and replacements that appeared in the Philadelphia newspapers during October and November 1842. On 17 November Poe saw in one or more of these newspapers a notice similar to the ensuing one: “The following removals and appointments have been made in the Custom House. Removals — Peter B. Curry, Henry Schell, Robert Neal, J. Hullings, and Urban R. Titterville. Appointments — George Guthrie, Jesse Walm, Sandy Harris, and —— Pogue.”(21) The presence of an unidentified —— Pogue on the list of appointees, as well as an encouraging letter from Thomas which arrived on the same day that these changes were announced, revived Poe's spirits. How rudely they were crushed Poe vividly describes in the following excerpts from his letter to Thomas of 19 November:(22)

Later in the letter Poe wrote, “It seems to me that the only way to serve me now, is to lay the matter once again before Mr T. and, if possible, through him, to procure a few lines from the President directing Mr Smith to give me the place. With these credentials he would scarcely again refuse. But I leave all to your better judgment.” Near the end of the letter is the following poignant comment: “I would write more, my dear Thomas; — but my heart is too heavy. You have felt the misery of hope deferred & will feel for me.”

The foregoing excerpts from Poe's letter give every indication of being an accurate account of his disheartening and exasperating experience with Thomas S. Smith. They indicate, too, that from the time Smith assumed the duties of his office, there had been, on the part of the dominant group of President Tyler's supporters in Philadelphia, either utter indifference or active opposition to Poe's appointment. If opposition existed, what was the cause of it?

The late William Southworth Hunt of South Orange, New Jersey, who at one time planned to write a brief life of Thomas Dunn English and who generously gave me the benefit of his prior investigations, was confident that he had found the real cause of Poe's dislike of English. To Hunt belongs the credit not only of establishing that Robert S. English was Thomas Dunn's father, but also of discovering that he was given a position as Inspector of Customs at the same time that Poe was anticipating a similar appointment. Hunt was quite convinced that Thomas Dunn English succeeded in having the very appointment which Poe had been promised transferred to his father. Although English's influence was doubtless chiefly responsible for [page 173:] his father's success, Hunt's view of the matter can scarcely be sustained in the light of all the data now available. That Poe did lose his promised place to some political claimant is probably true, for in the margin of the first page of a letter from Poe dated 25 May 1842 Thomas wrote the following comment: “I had been promised a place in the Philadelphia Custom House by the powers that were for Poe, but some small beer politician or other got the place and genius was left to its fate.”(23) But Robert Tyler made this promise to Thomas on the night of 20 May,(24) whereas President Tyler had originally requested the appointment of Robert English in a letter dated 27 April to take place on 1 May. That Robert English's appointment was originally requested more than three weeks before Robert Tyler promised Thomas a place for Poe indicates, I feel, that the eventual success of Robert English had no special connection with Poe's failure to obtain office. Furthermore, though not so politically influential as his son, the father had at least some claim to a minor office in his own right. As early as 1837 he served as secretary to the “Democratic Whig Young Men” of West Philadelphia and the Township of Blockley, when his son was only eighteen years old.(25) Moreover, he had been loyal to Tyler from the beginning and had been honored by being chosen one of the Vice-Presidents of the previously mentioned large Tyler meeting in Philadelphia on 22 February 1842.

Whether Thomas Dunn English actively opposed Poe's appointment is, of course, an entirely different matter. There are stronger reasons, however, for suspecting that he opposed it in 1843 than in 1842. Yet it seems clear that even in 1842 the dominant Tyler group in Philadelphia was jealous of its prerogatives in the matter of determining local appointments just as Jonathan Roberts had been. Since Smith apparently owed his appointment as Collector largely to Tyson's influence, he probably confined his nominations mainly to those who were politically acceptable to Tyson. Quinn's contention that Poe's Whig sympathies militated against his success(26) is questionable in view of the sentiments which Poe expressed to Thomas in his letter of 19 November 1842 since most of Smith's appointees were at least listed in the newspapers as Whigs. True, not long after Thomas first broached the subject of a political appointment Poe said: “My political principles have always been as nearly as may be, with the existing administration, and I battled with right good will for Harrison when opportunity offered.”(27) But more likely, Poe was really not greatly concerned with practical politics and was not considered by local Philadelphia [page 174:] politicians to be a person on whom it was worth while to waste an appointment. When one reflects upon the total lack of consideration shown for Poe by both Tyson and Smith, remembering at the same time English's close tie-up with the Tyson clique, one may not unreasonably surmise that English did advise against Poe's nomination even in 1842. But there is no positive proof that he did so.

Poe's suggestion in his letter of 19 November that Thomas should try to procure through Robert Tyler “a few lines from the President, directing Mr. Smith” to appoint him to office(28) was, of course, mere wishful thinking. President Tyler had already brought upon himself the most violent sort of criticism by making a similar requisition on Jonathan Roberts in behalf of many who now held office. At that time he felt that the necessities of the case demanded drastic action. But he was evidently too good a politician to take such a drastic step merely in the interest of a single person or in the absence of any impelling political motive.

After Smith's gruff refusal to consider Poe's claims any further, Thomas could do little more than wait and hope that the Senate would refuse to confirm Smith's appointment to the Collectorship. Shortly before 1 February 1843 Poe must have written Thomas surmising that his friend had not sent him a letter for some time because he was waiting to see what action Congress was going to take in regard to Smith. This surmise was correct, for Thomas wrote Poe on that date: “You judged rightly [.]I did not write to you waiting ‘for some definite action of Congress on Smith's case.” I feel most anxious in the matter for you my friend — [.]”(29) Poe had apparently already planned to go to Washington soon after Smith's anticipated rejection, for at the end of the letter Thomas remarked: “When you come to Washington stop at Fullers [sic] Hotel where you will find your friend.”

Let us now examine one of the most pathetic episodes of Poe's career — his ill-fated journey to Washington. When Poe wrote to Thomas on 25 February 1843,(30) Smith had not yet been rejected, but Poe was full of hope. He had entered into a partnership with Thomas C. Clarke on 31 January to publish a magazine to be called The Stylus, of which he was to have complete editorial control. Now he was more eager than ever to go to Washington, for he had high hopes not only of being appointed to office but also of obtaining subscriptions to his projected magazine. Sometime before 3 March 1843 Smith had been notified of his removal from office, for on that date Calvin [page 175:] Blythe succeeded him.(31) Since Blythe had held the office immediately before Jonathan Roberts’ appointment to it and had been removed by the present administration to make way for Roberts, his reappointment clearly indicates that the powers in Washington had ceased trying to placate the Whigs and had placed all their hopes in an effort to effect a reconciliation with the Democratic Party.

Poe lost little time in proceeding to take advantage of the new developments. He almost certainly arrived in Washington on 8 March or late on the preceding day, for on 7 March he had written from Philadelphia to Robert Carter asking for money due him from The Pioneer.(32) Dow's letter to Clarke of 12 March clearly indicates that Poe arrived before 9 March.(33) As to where Poe roomed while in Washington, we have the following recollection of Colonel John A. Joyce: “Brady, the noted photographer, told me that he met Poe in March, 1843, at the house of a widow Barrett, where he was rooming on New York Avenue, south side, near the junction of H and Thirteenth Streets, adjoining the ‘Halls of the Ancients.’”(34) On 8 March Poe evidently called on Thomas at Fuller's Hotel as he had been requested to do, only to find his friend ill and therefore unable to be his companion and official escort. Apparently, during this visit, Thomas wrote and handed Poe the following letter of introduction to Robert Tyler, which he mistakenly dated 8 February instead of 8 March and which Poe seems never to have had occasion to use:

It is probable that Thomas, who had been in bed for a week, and who had therefore had no occasion to write any other letter thus far in March, inadvertently wrote down the preceding month instead. The dating of a letter exactly one month earlier than it should be dated [page 176:] is a frequent oversight under similar circumstances. This explanation, in my judgment, is far more likely than Quinn's assumption (p. 371) that Poe originally planned to go to Washington in February, that he later changed his plans, and that Thomas was too ill to introduce him personally to Robert Tyler on two occasions covering a period of more than a month. Evidently, although Poe had been planning for more than a month to go to Washington in anticipation that Smith would be rejected, it was definitely understood that he would not make the journey until Congress had voted on the Collector's confirmation. It is most unlikely that Thomas, more than three weeks before Congress took any action on the status of Smith, would have mailed Poe a letter of introduction to Robert Tyler saying that illness prevented him from introducing Poe in person.(36)

Poe was evidently at this time in a highly nervous condition which caused him to be unduly upset about the illness of Thomas. For months he had worried continually over Virginia's health and over the interminable delays that had caused his hopes of obtaining office to be deferred again and again. Now that success seemed about to come his way, his exceedingly sensitive nervous system was unable to endure still further disruption of his plans because of the indisposition of Thomas. At any rate, he began drinking. On 11 March he wrote a letter to Clarke — evidently while in his cups — asking for ten dollars, expressing great discomfiture because of Thomas's illness, and — with unintended irony — declaring that he thought he was “making a sensation” which would “tend to the benefit of the Magazine.”(37)

Jesse E. Dow, who had apparently more or less taken Poe under his wing because of Thomas's illness, clearly saw that Poe was rapidly dissipating his chances of obtaining office. Consequently, he lost little time writing the following letter to Thomas C. Clarke in Philadelphia:

One important point in connection with Dow's letter to Clarke needs clarification before we proceed with an examination of the consequences of Poe's unfortunate behavior in Washington. Gill, in whose biography of Poe the letter was first published, mistakenly asserts that Dow was then editor of the Washington Daily Madisonian,(39) which was the chief organ of the Tyler administration. All of Poe's subsequent biographers have either repeated Gill's erroneous statement or implied acceptance of it by failing to correct it. If Dow had been editor of the Madisonian in 1843, or even in 1844, Poe's chances of obtaining office would have been enhanced. But the editor during these years was John B. Jones, and he remained so until more than a month after Tyler's term of office expired. Not until 7 April 1845 did Jones announce that he had disposed of the paper to “Jesse E. Dow, Esq., a gentleman of established reputation both in the literary and political circles of the country.”(40) True, Dow would have been able to do more for Poe than he could have done earlier in Tyler's administration. Not only was he on exceptionally good terms with [page 178:] Robert Tyler, but by 1843 his strong anti-Whig sentiments would have no longer been embarrassing to the administration. Yet even though he lacked the influence that he surely would have possessed had he been editor of the main Tyler newspaper in the country, his letter to Clarke indicates that he was eager to do whatever he could for Poe and that he had a penetrating and sympathetic understanding of Poe's intrinsic worth. The letter thoroughly justifies the tribute which Thomas paid Dow after the latter's death — that “he was possessed of the noblest qualities of heart and mind.”(41)

From Dow's letter and from one of Poe's written on 16 March jointly to Thomas and Dow after Poe's return to Philadelphia,(42) it is possible to reconstruct much of the pathetic story of Poe's sojourn in Washington and, on the basis of this reconstructed narrative, to advance strong reasons to support the proposition that, as far as Poe's hopes of obtaining office were concerned, the most damaging effect of his behavior was to arouse the ire of Thomas Dunn English. Although most of Poe's biographers have discussed the episode at some length, they have never stressed its probable effect upon his relations with English.

As Dow's letter unmistakably reveals, Poe began to drink on the very day of his arrival in Washington and by 12 March had so far lost control over his actions as to make his continued presence in the city no longer an asset but a liability to those interested in his welfare. Poe's letter of apology to Thomas and Dow indicates more specifically what actually took place. It is written in a jesting manner, but the jesting is of the sort which reveals that Poe was exceedingly ashamed of his conduct and that he was aware of having made a complete fool of himself.

At one time during the visit there was apparently a little social gathering at Fuller's Hotel which might have led to better things for Poe had he been the charming and brilliant conversationalist that he was capable of being when sober. But he proceeded to get drunk on Mr. Fuller's Port wine and then made matters worse by following it up with “rummy” coffee. Among those present were Dr. Lacey, who wished to become a subscriber to The Stylus, and Dr. Frailey, who had doubtless come to Fuller's to meet the man who had once astounded him by solving a difficult cryptogram of his which had been forwarded to Graham's Magazine through Thomas. But Poe had evidently done nothing to offend these men. He recalled, however, that he had been inconsiderate of his closest friends. He had been petulant with [page 179:] Thomas and had apparently said things that made him seem ungrateful for all that his friend had tried to do for him. He remembered going home with Dow at some time or other, and he realized that his condition must have caused Dow's wife some vexation. He recalled, too, being drunk enough to wear his cloak turned inside out. Moreover, he had quickly run through the money that he had taken with him and had been compelled to borrow from both Thomas and Dow before he could return home.

But Thomas and Dow were his friends, and Poe counted on their sympathetic understanding. He was afraid, however, that he had made an unfavorable impression on Robert Tyler, whose friendly interest he had particularly wanted to cultivate. “If possible,” he wrote, “enclose a line from Rob. Tyler — but I fear, under the circumstances, it is not so — I blame no one but myself.” Near the end of the letter he again indicated his concern about Robert Tyler's impression in the following remarks addressed to Thomas: “I would be glad, too, if you would take an opportunity of saying to Mr Rob. Tyler that if he can look over matters & get me the Inspectorship, I will join the Washingtonians forthwith. I am as serious as a judge — & much [more] so than many. I think it would be a feather in Mr Tyler's cap to save [fr]om the perils of mint julap [sic] — & ‘Port wines’ — a young man of whom all the world thinks so well & who thinks so remarkably well of himself.” Poe's biographers have never pointed out that when Poe said that he was “as serious as a judge” about joining the Washingtonians he was promising to join the Washington Temperance Society in Philadelphia if he got the Inspectorship. Members of the society were called Washingtonians.

It was not Robert Tyler, however, but Thomas Dunn English who was apparently most offended by Poe's behavior and whose resentment seems to have been most detrimental to Poe's prospects of obtaining office. English had probably come to Washington for some political purpose relating directly to the altered situation in the Philadelphia Custom House due to the reappointment of Calvin Blythe to the Collectorship. At any rate, since English belonged to the Tyson clique, had warmly supported Thomas S. Smith, and had violently opposed the attempt of the influential Henry A. Wise to meddle in the local Custom-House quarrels in Philadelphia, some clarification of his present position in the Tyler organization was probably necessary. He may have journeyed to Washington to consult with Robert Tyler and perhaps with other important party leaders. Presumably, [page 180:] too, he was staying at Fuller's Hotel when Poe arrived in Washington, and Poe's friends may have thought it politically wise to include him in the social gathering that took place at Fuller's.

Unfortunately, when Poe had drunk enough of Mr. Fuller's Port wine to loosen his tongue beyond the bounds of discretion, he began to make fun of English's mustaches and figure. English was exceptionally sensitive to ridicule and was not inclined to endure it meekly. But in his letter of apology to Thomas and Dow there is no indication that Poe foresaw at the time that his treatment of English would have any serious implications for himself. On the contrary, he still recalled this particular incident with amusement. “Remember me most kindly to D’ Lacey,” he remarked to Thomas, “ — also to the Don, whose mustachios I do admire after all, and who has about the finest figure I ever beheld.” The rather patronizing tone of the humorous portion of this request was to be repeated several years later in Poe's lengthy rejoinder to a libelous attack by English. Speaking then of English's literary accomplishments, Poe caustically remarked: “The sin of having, at one time, attempted to patronize him, is, I fear, justly to be laid to my charge; — but his goatee was so continual a source of admiration to me that I found it impossible ever to write a serious line in his behalf.”(43) Still later, when Poe rewrote his “Literati” sketch of English for his projected Literary America and renamed it “Thomas Dunn Brown,” he made the following observation about Mr. Brown: “About his appearance there is nothing very remarkable — except that he exists in a perpetual-state of vacillation between mustachio and goatee.”(44) These and other humorous references to English's mustaches leave little room for questioning the identity of the “Don” whose mustaches and figure were the ill-chosen objects of Poe's ridicule at Fuller's Hotel.(45)

There is little evidence to indicate that either Robert Tyler or any other member of the President's family took Poe's behavior in Washington very seriously. When Thomas eventually found time on 27 March to answer Poe's apologetic letter, he said that he had not yet had an opportunity to secure a line from Robert Tyler as Poe had suggested. “But this I can tell you,” he continued, “that the President, yesterday, asked me many questions about you, and spoke of you kindly — John Tyler, who was by, told the President that he wished he would give you an office in Philadelphia, and before he could reply a servant entered and called him out. John had heard of your frolic from a man who saw you in it, but I made light of the matter when he mentioned it to me, and he seemed to think nothing of it himself. [page 181:] He seems to feel a deep interest in you — [.]”(46) When Poe realized that Thomas was too busy to see Robert Tyler at this time, he evidently decided to take matters into his own hands by writing at once to the President's eldest son for a letter of recommendation to give to Calvin Blythe. Robert Tyler's prompt reply clearly indicates that he, like his brother John, was still sincerely interested in Poe's obtaining office and that he, too, was not inclined to condemn Poe for his frolic. “It gives me pleasure,” he wrote from the White House, “to say that it would gratify me very sensibly, to see you appointed by Judge Blythe. I am satisfied that no one is more competent or would be more satisfactory in the discharge of any duty connected with the office — [.](47)

Whatever the Tylers may have thought of Poe's conduct, it is clear that Thomas eventually realized that Poe had thrown away his big opportunity. Before he turned Poe's letters over to Griswold, Thomas wrote explanatory notes on a number of them.”(48) The longest of these notes is an understanding comment on the letter of apology addressed jointly to himself and Dow, a portion of which bears directly on the harm that Poe had done to himself. “Poor Fellow,” wrote Thomas, “a place had been promised his friends for him, and in that state of suspense which is so trying to all men, and particularly to men of imagination, he presented himself in Washington certainly not in a way to advance his interests. I have seen a great deal of Poe, and it was his excessive and at times marked sensibility which forced him into his ‘frolics,” rather than any mere morbid appetite for drink, but if he took but one glass of weak wine or beer or cider, the Rubicon of the cup was passed with him, and it almost always ended in excess and sickness.”(49)

Dow, too, was astute enough to see that Poe's conduct was injuring his chances of success. Most likely Thomas Dunn English was one of the politicians to whom Dow referred when he wrote Clarke that Poe was exposing himself in Washington to persons who might “injure him very much with the President.” Since English was strongly opposed to drinking at that period of his life, it is most likely, too, that Dow was alluding especially to him in confiding to Clarke that he could not bear to see Poe made “the sport of senseless creatures, who, like oysters, keep sober, and gape and swallow everything.” Thomas H. Lane recalled, years later, that over a long period of time English “had the capacity of being a perfect irritant” to Poe — particularly when the latter “was lost in the inebriate.”(50) When Poe drank [page 182:] to excess, English seems to have lost few opportunities to taunt him, and quite likely this self-righteous attitude would have aroused Poe's antipathy.

Although it cannot be conclusively proved that Poe's behavior in Washington caused English to use his influence to keep Poe out of the Philadelphia Custom House, there is ample reason for suspecting that it did. Less than three weeks after Poe got drunk on Mr. Fuller's “excellent Port wine” English delivered a lecture to the members of the Washington Temperance Society of Philadelphia at a meeting to which the public had been invited.(51) Six or seven months later his temperance novel, “The Doom of the Drinkers; or, Revel and Retribution,” began to appear serially in The Cold Water Magazine, a monthly temperance periodical.(52) It is the sordid autobiographical story of Walter Woolfe, a reformed drunkard, who, before two Washingtonians persuaded him to sign the pledge of abstinence and to become a member of their society, had sunk to the lowest depths of human degradation. The novel contains a vicious portrait of Poe, who is represented as attending a wine party and as being under the influence of wine. At a dinner party further on in the novel is introduced a physician who is unquestionably intended to be English himself, and also the physician's red-haired friend, who is just as certainly meant to portray Henry B. Hirst. Especially significant about the portrait of English is that the physician is the only person present who drinks none of the wine which flows freely after dinner but is content with cold water instead.

The portraits of Poe and English provide an interesting contrast in character study. Poe is thinly disguised as one of the guests whom Walter Woolfe sees at a wine party given by a close friend of his father. After describing one of the other guests, Walter proceeds:

The physician representing English is a guest at a dinner party for men of note given by William St. Arthur, the former counselor of Walter Woolfe's now-deceased father. Walter, who has gone to Philadelphia to attend to a matter concerning his father's estate, is invited to the party to meet the other guests. He is late, however, and arrives after dinner is over and wine bottles cover the table. After describing a guest sitting opposite the physician, Walter draws the following portrait of the latter:

Now although English's self-portrait is not altogether flattering, he has clearly represented himself as being vastly superior to Poe insofar as the essentials of sterling character are concerned. True, he acknowledges that he is cynical, ungracious in manner, inclined to make enemies, contemptuous of others, and smugly self-satisfied. But however unattractive this characterization may be, it at least suggests a Byronic pose and in no way reflects on the integrity of the man portrayed. Indeed, the physician, besides being versatile and talented, [page 184:] is a man of firmness and honor. Not only is the portrait of Poe distinctly less flattering, but it is also undoubtedly drawn with vindictive intent. Although Poe's intellectual brilliance, his analytical powers, and even his innate sensitivity are duly acknowledged, his integrity is assailed. He has the “power to steal judiciously,” his style is “apparently candid,” and he is “the very incarnation of treachery and falsehood.” It is hardly conceivable that a writer, even in a fictional narrative, would thus depict a man with whom he was on friendly terms. Evidently something more galling and personal than mere disapproval of Poe's drinking or of his harshness as a critic — either the incident in Washington or a succession of incidents causing him to feel belittled and patronized — had aroused in English a vengeful feeling toward Poe.

After the final installment of “The Doom of the Drinkers” appeared in the December 1843 issue of The Cold Water Magazine, only a short time elapsed before English was again harassing Poe. On 1 February 1844 a tale entitled “The Ghost of a Grey Tadpole” appeared under Poe's name in the Baltimore Republican and Daily Argus — one day after Poe had lectured in Baltimore. It had been reprinted from the Irish Citizen, a Philadelphia newspaper no number of which is known to be extant. As Thomas O. Mabbott has shown beyond any doubt, in an article which prefaces his reprinting of this tale in The Journal of the American Irish Historical Society for 1930-31, English is the author and the tale is a burlesque of Poe's manner of writing as it is exemplified in “The Black Cat.”(55) The opening paragraph, though merely introductory to English's burlesque, is particularly relevant to the present study:

Mabbott has previously called attention to some of the rather clever hits at Poe in the paragraph quoted above, such as the reference to cryptography; the use of cui bono, a phrase frequently employed by Poe; and the allusion to Poe's well-known antipathy to Carlyle (p. 124). More important insofar as the present study is concerned, however, is that this opening paragraph unmistakably reveals that English was still alluding to Poe's drinking habits in the same vindictive spirit which he had displayed in his temperance novel. Even before Killis Campbell knew that English was the author of the tale, he attributed its appearance in a Baltimore paper on the day after Poe lectured in that city to an enemy “who was willing to make capital out of the poet's unhappy fondness for drink.”(57) Later, in his article already mentioned, Mabbott pointed out that Poe's tippling in Washington and his consequent objection to English's mustaches tended to support Campbell's opinion (p. 124). Now, in the light of English's activities as a temperance lecturer and writer in 1843 and of his spiteful portrayal of Poe in a temperance novel, there can be no doubt that one of the motives behind English's burlesque was exactly what Campbell suspected.

An examination of the paragraph in question will reveal that the narrator is meant to be Poe himself. In his observation on the milk-and-water writings of ‘the divine Mrs. Arthur” English was making Poe refer disparagingly to the temperance tales of T. S. Arthur, who had moved to Baltimore in 1841. He had already become exceedingly active in the temperance movement and in 1842 had published his first important book, Six Nights with the Washingtonians: A Series of Temperance Tales.(58) Hervey Allen has pointed out that when Poe lived in Baltimore from 1831 to 1835 he drew inspiration chiefly from a group of writers who, like their leader, John P. Kennedy, were more literarily than journalistically inclined. But there was another rising group, to which T. S. Arthur belonged, which was beginning to make its presence felt and which, in Allen's words, “represented rather ably the various tendencies in cheap verse, magazine stories, and the more popular writing of the time.”(59) That Poe was rather contemptuous of the sort of thing the latter group represented is indicated by the following comment on T. S. Arthur in his “Chapter on Autography,” published in Graham's Magazine for December 1841: “Mr. [page 186:] Arthur is not without a rich talent for description of scenes of low life, but is uneducated, and too fond of mere vulgarities to please a refined taste”(60) Obviously, when English represented Poe as aligning himself with those who detested ‘’mild-and-water” and who preferred refreshing their inner selves with a draught of “cold without” (or, in other words, with “brandy and cold water without sugar”),(61) he was spitefully alluding to Poe's weakness for drink. Obviously, too, in mentioning that Mrs. Radcliffe and the Newgate Calendar furnished the preferred reading of those who detested the sort of thing that T. S. Arthur stood for, not only was English sneeringly intimating that terror and crime constituted the staple of Poe's literary stock in trade, but he was also implying that his taste was perverted and definitely related to his fondness for drink.

The significance of English's harassment of Poe in “The Ghost of a Grey Tadpole” is increased by the fact that the tale first appeared in the Irish Citizen. In his unpublished reminiscences English states that he edited this paper “for some time.”(62) How long he did so he ‘does not say, but in all likelihood he was still editor when his burlesque appeared in its columns. Significant, too, is the circumstantial evidence that he probably edited the paper, partly at least, in the interest of the Tyler administration. Even though no number of the Irish Citizen has been discovered, one may gather some fairly definite information about the paper from several notices appearing in the contemporary press of Philadelphia. By 15 January 1843 the first number had been issued under the proprietorship of Benjamin P. Binns, the place of publication being No. 164 S. 4th Street. By 3 June the journal had passed into the hands of Severns and Magill, at the northeast corner of Third and Dock Streets. Its chief aim was avowedly to serve the cause of the Irish Repeal Movement.(63)

Now English was among the most ardent advocates of Irish Repeal. No less enthusiastic and probably more influential with the large number of potential Irish voters in Philadelphia was Robert Tyler. Even before he moved to Philadelphia toward the end of his father's term, Robert had been active in the cause of Repeal and had made stirring speeches in Philadelphia and elsewhere in support of the movement.(64) In Philadelphia, as early as June 1843, he had given it his unqualified backing in an eloquent speech, and shortly afterwards, just before delivering another enthusiastic speech on the same subject, also in Philadelphia, he had been elected to honorary membership in the Irish Repeal Association of that city.(65) After shifting his residence [page 187:] to Philadelphia, he was soon made President of the Association there.(66) Mutual sympathy with the aims of the Repealers undoubtedly helped to cement the friendly relations between English and Robert Tyler, for English also spoke at meetings of the Repeal Association in Philadelphia during 1843.(67) When one considers these activities in connection with the fact that English edited the Irish Citizen “for some time” and probably as late as the early part of 1844,it is surely not unreasonable to surmise that this short-lived journal was employed in some way or other to promote President Tyler's interests.

Poe must have observed during 1843 and in the early part of 1844 that English was playing an increasingly important role in the Tyler administration and also that English's relations with Robert Tyler were becoming correspondingly closer. In view of these developments, it is difficult to believe that he did not suspect, months before he left Philadelphia, that English had opposed his appointment to office. At any rate, when he afterwards learned that English had been given the editorship of the Aurora — the only Tyler organ in the city of New York — he was apparently convinced of what had happened even though he had no definite proof. Had he also known that Robert Tyler was one of two men who offered the editorship of the Aurora to English,(68) he might have been even more positive of his appraisal of the situation.

That Poe and Thomas reached the same conclusion in regard to this matter is indicated in an exchange of letters between them about five months after Poe left Philadelphia. On 2 September 1844 Thomas wrote, saying that when he had tried to get in touch with Poe several months earlier, he learned of his friend's removal to New York. He had written partly to call Poe's attention to The Beechen Tree, a poem which he had recently published in the form of a book and which English had reviewed unfavorably in the Aurora. Commenting on the poem, Thomas said: “My particular friend (heaven save the mark!) Thomas Dunn English, is I see editor of the Aurora — The only notice except from Clarke [sic] of the Knickerbocker, from whom I have had a very kind letter, that I have seen of my poem is in the columns of the Aforesaid Aurora — [.] The editor says it gave him ‘nausea’ and that it was all twattle — [.]”(69) In his reply of 8 September Poe promised to write a favorable review of Thomas’ poem as soon as he could find time to do so and, as the following excerpt from his letter attests, expressed his feelings about English in no uncertain terms:

Answering Poe's letter on 10 October, Thomas mentioned that so far as he knew, only English and Park Benjamin had reviewed his book unfavorably. “As to Dunn English,” said Thomas, “ — what you say of him I believed long ago — it would not be consistent with self-love for me to think otherwise now — [.]”(71)

Thomas was probably correct in his opinion that Robert Tyler was personally in favor of giving Poe a Custom-House appointment in Philadelphia. But it would be unrealistic to conclude that, at a time when the President's son was expending most of his energy helping his father struggle for political survival, he would have been willing to weaken his father's position in Philadelphia by trying to enforce a minor appointment if he had reason to believe that an important local supporter like English was strongly opposed to it.

The conclusion reached in this study will probably raise in the minds of readers familiar with Poe's life a very logical question unless that question is forestalled by an anticipatory answer. Why, if Poe's feelings toward English were really those which he expressed to Thomas in his letter of 8 September 1844, did he seek out his enemy a few months later to renew their association — that is, if English's account of what happened is true?(72) Whoever the initiator may have been, the move resulted in approximately a year's outwardly cordial relationship during which English and Poe assisted each other in solving problems relating to their magazines, The Aristidean and The Broadway Journal, respectively. I venture to say that the answer to the question is implicit in a letter which Poe, on 18 February 1844 (not long before he left Philadelphia), wrote to George Lippard,(73) who had previously ridiculed English as “Thomas Done Brown” in a series of articles entitled “The Breadcrust Papers” appearing in the Philadelphia Spirit of the Times (28-31 March and 1 April 1842). Poe wrote this letter at a time when both he and Lippard felt that they were beset by personal enemies. After pointing out to Lippard certain stylistic weaknesses in the latter's book, The Ladye Annabel, Poe [page 189:] remarked that “the work, as a whole, will be admitted, by all but your personal enemies, to be richly inventive and imaginative — indicative of genius in its author” (p. 243). When Lippard published his serial novel, Herbert Tracy, in book form, he reproduced the entire letter at the end of it, with Poe's consent, and italicized the following words of advice as a rebuke to his foes:

These words of advice, then, probably explain why Poe was willing to resume outwardly cordial relations with English after moving to New York. It can hardly be doubted that when Poe gave Lippard advice on how to endure the animosities of small literary men he was thinking of his own enemies as well as those of his friend. Scarcely can it be doubted, either, that English was the enemy uppermost in Poe's mind. Twice within a short time before Poe wrote this letter, English had publicly assailed his character and literary integrity. In Poe's eyes English was not only “a bullet-headed and malicious villain,” as he later confided to Thomas, but also a small-minded person. Evidently Poe decided to do exactly what he had urged Lippard to do: to ignore the malice of a man for whose literary attainments he had little respect and whose animosities he determined to regard as tokens of his ascent or as stepping stones to his ambition. After the final break with English in 1846, Poe employed the same epithets in referring to his enemy that he had used in his letter to Lippard to refer to small-minded literary men who harbored animosities against writers more gifted than themselves — epithets like “ass,” “blackguard,” and “literary animalcula.” Clearly, the revived “friendship” of Poe and English was a patched-up affair — a friendship of convenience which had little to hold it together beyond the immediate purpose that it served.

[page 190:]

NOTES

1 In the second of two articles (the first being T. O. Mabbott's) replying to a query by Professor Willard Thorp, I have previously suggested that this question needed further investigation. See “Two Replies to ‘A Minor Poe Mystery,’” The Princeton University Library Chronicle, V (April 1944), 106-14.

2 Dorothy B. Goebel, William Henry Harrison: A Political Biography (Indianapolis, 1926), p. 374.

3 Lyon G. Tyler, Letters and Times of the Tylers (Richmond, 1884-96), I, 310-13.

4 See letter from Dow to James K. Polk, 9 July 1846, Original Autograph MS., Polk Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.

5 Arthur H. Quinn, Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography (New York and London, 1941), p. 321.

6 Photostat of Original Autograph MS., Griswold Collection, Boston Public Library. All quotations from the Griswold Collection are reproduced through the courtesy of the Boston Public Library.

7 The details on which my discussion of the Tyler-Roberts controversy is based, unless otherwise stated, are from a lengthy report by Roberts published in the Philadelphia United States Gazette, 14 Sept. 1842, p. 2, cols. 3-5. The report contains a number of letters exchanged during the controversy.

8 Roberts, Tyson, and Badger were evidently all appointed to their posts on the same day, 13 April 1841, for the names of all three appear in a list of Presidential appointments published in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, 14 April, p. 2, col. 5.

9 See Roberts’ report, Philadelphia United States Gazette, 14 Sept., p. 2, col. 4.

10 For biographical data about J. Washington Tyson see Frank W. Leach, “Old Philadelphia Families — Tyson,” Philadelphia North American, Section VI, 21 July 1912, p. 7, cols. 1-5.

11 Philadelphia United States Gazette, 4 Jan. 1841, p. 1, cols. 5-6.

12 Philadelphia Public Ledger, 23 Feb. 1842, p. 2, cols. 2-5, and 24 Feb., p. 1, cols. 2-3.

13 The original Corporal's Guard was composed of a mere half-dozen members of Congress (Tyler, II, 161-64). It was so named by Henry Clay in a debate in the Senate on 19 August 1841 when he said “there was a cabal formed for the purpose of breaking down the present cabinet, and that cabal did not number a corporal's guard” (ibid., p. 85).

14 The Letters of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. John Ward Ostrom (New York, 1966), I, 198-99. This publication by the Gordian Press, Inc., is a reprint of the Harvard University Press edition of 1948, together with a new foreword and supplement. It is hereafter referred to as Letters. The original letter is now in the Miriam Lutcher Stark Library, University of Texas.

15 Letters, I, 204. MS. is in Miriam Lutcher Stark Library.

16 Letters, I, 209-10.

17 Letters, I, 211. MS. is in New York Public Library.

18 Record of Appointments (Register of Lands, Surveyor General, Customs Officers, Marine Hospital, 1 Oct. 1806 to 12 Oct. 1844), Record Group 56, Records of the Department of the Treasury, National Archives Building, Washington, D. C.

19 The Philadelphia Public Ledger (18 Oct. 1842, p. 2, col. 3) lists eighteen changes in addition to the change involving Robert S. English. The Public Ledger (16 Nov., p. 2, col. 3; [page 191:] 17 Nov., p. 2, col. 3) and the Philadelphia National Forum (17 Nov., p. 2, col. 3) list further changes.

20 Public Ledger, 1 Nov. 1842, p. 2, col. 6.

21 National Forum, 17 Nov. 1842, p. 2, col. 3.

22 Excerpts from Poe's letter to Thomas of 19 November 1842 are reproduced from a photocopy of the original in the McCormick Collection, Princeton University, and through the courtesy of the Princeton University Library and The Princeton University Library Chronicle. Professor Willard Thorp reproduced the entire letter in the Feb. 1949 issue of the Chronicle (X, 92-94) because previous printings contained numerous errors, Poe's assertion that no person by the name of —— Pogue had any expectation of an appointment in the Philadelphia Custom House is correct. I have examined all of Smith's nominations as preserved in the Custom House records in the National Archives Building and can state positively that no one by that name was ever nominated by him.

23 Letters, II, 496, n. 134. In this note Ostrom quotes Thomas's marginal comment. MS. is in the Miriam Lutcher Stark Library.

24 Thomas to Poe, 21 May 1842, Photostat of Original Autograph MS., Griswold Collection.

25 Poulson's [Philadelphia] American Daily Advertiser, 14 Dec., p. 3, col. 2.

26 Edgar Allan Poe, pp. 323-24.

27 June 1841, Letters, I, 170.

28 Photocopy of Original Autograph MS., McCormick Collection.

29 photostat of Original Autograph MS., Griswold Collection.

30 Letters, I, 223-25.

31 Record of Appointments, Record Group 56, National Archives Building.

32 Letters, I, 225-26. MS. is in Miriam Lutcher Stark Library.

33 William F. Gill, The Life of Edgar Allan Poe, 3d ed., revised and enlarged (London, 1878), pp. 120-22.

34 Edgar Allan Poe (New York and London, 1901), p. 78. Even though Joyce inaccurately states that “Poe spent more than a month in Washington,” T. O. Mabbott wrote me on 9 Nov. 1960 that he accepted the author's information on where Poe roomed because it is not the kind of thing that anyone would make up. In the same letter he stigmatized as spurious a letter that Poe supposedly wrote John Kirk Townsend on 9 March.

35 Photostat of Original Autograph MS., Griswold Collection.

36 Professor Ostrom, who does not question the date of Thomas’ letter to Robert Tyler, assumes that a letter from Thomas to Poe on 8 Feb. is implied by the date of the letter of introduction. Since I feel strongly that the letter of introduction is misdated and was not sent by mail, I do not believe that Thomas wrote to Poe on 8 Feb. For Mr. Ostrom's assumptions see Letters, I, 227, editorial comment on Letter 155; also Letters, II, 502, n. 153, and 596, Check List.

37 Letters, I, 227. MS. is in New York Public Library.

38 Gill, pp. 120-22.

39 Life of Poe, p. 120. [page 192:]

40 Washington Madisonian, p. 2, col. 1. During the period of Dow's editorship the paper was called the Madisonian only from 7 April to 1 May 1845. Thereafter it was called the United States Journal and was edited jointly by Theophilus Fisk and Dow.

41 Poe to Thomas, 4 May 1845, Photostat of Original Autograph MS., Griswold Collection. See Thomas’ explanatory note written at the end of this letter after Dow's death. In this note Thomas also said of Dow: “He was not a man however whose genius was cultivated with the artistic and learned skill of Poe's, it was rather the child of feeling than of thought, and he wrote because he felt ‘impelled to speak.’ It was delightful to hear the two talk togeather [sic], and to see how Poe would start at some of Dow's strange notions as he called them.” Dow died on 23 Oct. 1850.

42 Letters, I, 228-30. The insertions, more after much and sic after julap are mine. MS. is in Boston Public Library.

43 “Mr. Poe's Reply to Mr. English and Others,” Philadelphia Times, 10 July 1846, p. 1, col. 5;also The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. James A. Harrison (New York, 1902), XVII, 247. The Spirit of the Times was called the Times from 3 Nov. 1845 to 7 Oct. 1846.

44 Complete Works of Poe, XV, 270.

45 T. O. Mabbott has previously expressed this opinion in his reply (pp. 106-107) to Professor Willard Thorp's query, cited in footnote 1 of this study. English was frequently called “Dunn English” at this period of his life — a fact which gives point to Poe's pun in referring to him as “the Don.”

46 Photostat of Original Autograph MS., Griswold Collection.

47 Photostat of Original Autograph MS., Griswold Collection.

48 Thomas probably wrote his notes on Poe's letters in 1854, for in a letter to Rufus Griswold dated 22 Aug. 1854 he said: “I have appended two or three explanatory notes to the letters which, as you please, you can publish or not, or make just such use of them as suits you.” See Passages from the Correspondence and Other Papers of Rufus W. Griswold, ed. William M. Griswold (Cambridge, Mass., 1898), pp. 296-97.

49 16 March 1843, Original Autograph MS., Griswold Collection.

50 Letter from Lane to Thomas Dunn English as printed in “Reminiscences of Poe,” The Independent, XLVIII (5 Nov. 1896), 1481.

51 Philadelphia Public Ledger, 25 March 1843, p. 2, col. 4.

52 English's novel is in Vol. III (Oct. — Dec. 1843), 101-83.

53 “The Doom of the Drinkers,” p. 118. This characterization of Poe was first discovered by Professor Willard Thorp in the 1847 edition of English's novel, which is almost certainly the first and only publication other than the magazine version. In its book form the novel was entitled Walter Woolfe; or, The Doom of the Drinker. After Mr. Thorp's discovery I examined the magazine version, which I knew to exist because of a reference to it in a newspaper item which T had discovered a year or two before, to ascertain whether it also contained the same malicious portrait of Poe. I found that it did and was therefore able to establish that English drew his portrait at least as early as Oct. 1843. For a previous discussion of this matter and its bearing on the Poe-English relationship, see Mr. Thorp's query, “A Minor Poe Mystery,” The Princeton University Library Chronicle, V (Nov. 1943), 30-31; also two replies to this query by T. O. Mabbott and me published in the April 1944 issue and cited in footnote 1 of this study.

54 “The Doom of the Drinkers [[Drinker]],” p. 125. [page 193:]

55 “Poe and the ‘Philadelphia Irish Citizen,’” XXIX, 121-31. Here Mabbott chose to reprint a later version of the tale appearing in The John-Donkey, I (3 June 1848), 364-65, the title having been changed to “A Tale of a Gray Tadpole.”

56 Photostat of version appearing in the Baltimore Republican and Daily Argus, 1 Feb. 1844, courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore.

57 “The Poe Canon,” PMLA, XXVII (Sept. 1912), 342.

58 Allan Nevins, “Arthur, Timothy Shay,” DAB, I, 377.

59 Israfel (New York, 1926), 1, 353-54.

60 Complete Works of Poe, XV, 240.

61 See NED, II, 609, under cold, for the definition of “cold without”; also for Bulwer's use of the expression in My Novel (1853): “Fame, sir! not worth a glass of cold without.”

62 “Memorabilia Fragmenta of Thomas Dunn English” (typescript), p. 64. These selections from English's reminiscences are among some papers of the late William Southworth Hunt temporarily in my possession. They were prepared for publication by ‘English's son-in-law, Arthur H. Noll. Most of the matter relating to Poe was published with some alteration during English's lifetime.

63 For information concerning the circumstances of publication and the chief aim of the Irish Citizen I am indebted to T. O. Mabbott's article already cited: “Poe and the ‘Philadelphia Irish Citizen.’” Mabbott discovered three references to the Irish Citizen in the columns of the Philadelphia press: two in the Pennsylvanian (5 Jan. and 19 June 1843) and one in the Public Ledger (3 June 1843). In his article (pp. 121-25) he reproduces these notices and summarizes the information deduced from them. Although his article establishes that English wrote for the Irish Citizen and was interested in Irish Repeal, it does not undertake to link the paper in any way with the Tyler administration. Nor was the information available to Mabbott when he wrote the article that English edited the paper for a while. Since English (“Memorabilia,” p. 64) mentions only Severns and Magill as publishers, I surmise that he became editor after the paper passed into their hands.

64 In June 1843 Robert Tyler spoke to an enthusiastic group of Repealers in Boston. See The Diary of Philip Hone, ed. Allan Nevins (New York, 1927), II, 662. On 29 Aug. he addressed a similar gathering in New York (Philadelphia Public Ledger, 31 Aug., p. 2, col. 3).

65 Robert Tyler was so honored on 3 July 1843 (Public Ledger, 8 July, p. 1, cols. 3-5).

66 Thomas P. Abernethy, “Tyler, Robert,” DAB, XIX, 94.

67 Public Ledger, 6 Oct., p. 2, col. 2.

68 The other man responsible for English's being selected to edit the Aurora was President Tyler's brother-in-law, Alexander Gardiner. For an account of English's connection with this paper see his novel, 1844; or The Power of the ‘'S. F.” (New York, 1847), pp. 13-14.

69 Photostat of Original Autograph MS., Griswold Collection.

70 Supplement to the Letters, II, 708. When Woodberry first published this letter in The Century Magazine, XLVIII (Oct. 1894), 863, he substituted two prolonged dashes for English's middle and last names. Undoubtedly he did so out of consideration for English, who was still alive at the time. Poe's charge that English continually vilified Robert Tyler is almost certainly without foundation. MS. is privately owned by Dr. O. O. Fisher of Detroit.

71 photostat of Original Autograph MS., Griswold Collection.

72 “Reminiscences of Poe,” The Independent, XLVIII (22 Oct. 1896), 1416.

73 Letters, I, 242-43.