Text: James B. Reece, “James Lawson,” Poe's Poe and the New York Literati Story, dissertation, 1954 (This material is protected by copyright)

[page 327, continued:]

James Lawson (1799-1880), the son of a merchant, was born in Glasgow, Scotland. In 1812 he entered the University of Glasgow and three years later came to New York to work in the counting house of a firm owned by an uncle. When the business, [page 328:] in which, he had been made a partner, failed in 1826, Lawson turned to journalism. He was an editor of the Morning Courier (1827-1329) and of the Mercantile Advertiser (1829-1833). He found more lucrative employment as a director and, in 1837 and after, as a vice-president of the Washington Marine Insurance Company. In 1835 or 1836 he married Mary E. Donaldson.

In addition to newspaper and magazine contributions, Lawson's writings include Tales and Sketches, by a Cosmopolite (1830), and Giordano; a Tragedy (1832), which had been performed at the Park Theater in 1828. Poems; Gleanings from the Spare Hours of a Business Life (1857) and a tragedy entitled Liddesdale; or the Border Chief (1874) were privately printed. He helped to introduce works by Bryant, Halleck, and others to British readers through his selections of American poetry for the Literary Coronal (Edinburgh, 1821, 1823, 1826).

Lawson was popular in literary circles and his home was a favorite resort of authors. With Simms he enjoyed a warm association over a period of forty years. Other close friends were Bryant, the actor Edwin Forrest, and, among Poe's “Literati” subjects, Duyckinck, Halleck, and Wetmore.(1)

The statement of Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith that Poe was a [page 329:] guest at Lawson's home(2) exhausts the evidence that the two were personally acquainted. Poe's written comments on Lawson are confined to the brief “Literati” article(3) and a revision of it, which remained unpublished during Poe's lifetime.(4) The genial attitude of Poe toward his subject in the first sketch contrasts sharply with the hostile tone of the second. In the 1846 sketch Poe wrote that Lawson's Giordano “was performed some years ago ... with no great success”; the revised sketch states that the drama “was condemned (to use a gentle word) some years ago ... and never was condemnation more religiously deserved.” In the first article Poe described Lawson as “enthusiastic, especially in matters of art or taste”; in the second Poe remarked that Lawson, “with no taste whatever, is quite enthusiastic on all topics appertaining to Taste.” Other such modifications appear in the later sketch, which was written perhaps in 1848 or 1849, when Poe appears to have revised other “Literati” papers.(5) The changes suggest a quarrel between Poe and Lawson, but nothing is known of the matter.

[[Footnotes]]

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[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 329:]