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Richmond, January 9, 1837.
My dear Sir,
Your kind letter of Christmas eve was duly received — with the Essay.
I have read it with great pleasure and, I confess, some degree of surprise — never having suspected you of any literary designs. It shall certainly appear, entire, in the February number of the Messenger. Any supervision on my part, I perceive, would be altogether superfluous.
I must apologize for not having made you a reply before. Ill health, and a weight of various and harassing business, will prove, I trust, a sufficient excuse.
With sincere friendship and esteem, I am
Yours &c
Edgar A. Poe
Allan B. Magruder, Esqr
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Notes:
Magruder's essay was not published in the Messenger, as noted by White's letter to Poe: “If I had read even 10 lines of Magruder's manuscript, it would have saved me the expense of putting it in type. — It is all [. . . .] — bombast. He will have to live a little longer before he can write well enough to please the readers of the M. [[Messenger]]” (T. W. White to E. A. Poe, January 17, 1837 reprinted in Harrison, Letters, 1902, p. 41). Shortly after this letter, Poe left the Messenger.
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[S:0 - MS, 18xx] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Letters - Poe to A. B. Magruder (LTR076/RCL168)