[page 155, unnumbered:]

I

For the materials of the present biography, we are indebted, partly to information derived from the late Thomas W. White, Proprietor of the “Southern Literary Messenger,” but, principally, to memoranda furnished by the well known author of “Clinton Bradshaw,” — Frederic W. Thomas, Esq. — who has enjoyed a better opportunity of intimate acquaintance with the subject of our sketch, than, perhaps, any other in America.

EDGAR ALLAN POE is descendent from one of the oldest and most respectable families in Baltimore. His great-grandfather, John Poe, married, in England, Jane, a daughter of the British Admiral McBride, and through her, the family claim connexion with many of the noblest in England. — His paternal grandfather, General David Poe, of Baltimore, was Quartermaster General in the “Maryland Line,” during the Revolution. General Poe, was, in the true sense of the word, a patriot. To furnish provisions, forage, and clothing for the destitute Government troops, he stripped himself of his entire patrimony. For this he never instituted a claim, nor for services rendered to the United States as an officer; but for actual money loaned, he claimed $40,000. Owing to technical informalities in the vouchers (which consisted principally of letters from WASHINGTON and LA FAYETTE) he received no portion of the sum. The Maryland Legislature, however, subsequently allowed his widow a pension, and in the preamble of the act, expressed their satisfaction of the equity of the claim,while they deplored the legal insufficiency of the proofs to support it. General Poe [page 156:] was one of the most intimate friends of La Fayette, who, during his memorable visit to America, called upon the widow, publicly acknowledged the obligations of the country to her husband, expressed his astonishment at finding her in comparative indigence, and his strong indignation at the narrow-minded policy of the Government. We gather a few particulars of this interview from the late “Baltimore Gazette,” and other papers of the time. General La Fayette affectionately embraced Mrs. Poe, exclaiming at the same time, in tears, “the last time I embraced you madame, you were younger and more blooming than now.” He visited, with his staff, the grave of General Poe, in the “First Presbyterian Church-yard,” and, kneeling on the ground, kissed the sod above him, and, weeping, exclaimed “Ici repose un coeur noble!” — here lies a noble heart! — a just tribute to the memory of a good, if not a great man.

Mr. Poe’s father was David Poe, Jr., the fourth son of the General. He studied law for several years in the office of William Gwyn, the quondam proprietor of the ‘Baltimore Gazette.’ When very young he became enamored of Miss Elizabeth Arnold, a lady of great beauty, and extraordinary talents and accomplishments,* who made the stage her profession for some time previous. The attachment resulted in an elopement and marriage, to the great displeasure of his father’s family, who afterwards, however, became reconciled. By this lady, Mr. David Poe had three children, Henry, Edgar and Rosalie. Both parents died of consumption within a few weeks of each other, while on a visit to Richmond, Va. This circumstance excited much interest, and the youngest children (Edgar and Rosalie) were adopted, the one by Mr. John Allan, a very wealthy gentleman of Richmond, and the other by Mr. William McKenzie of the same city.

Mr. Allan’s principal recommendation was his wealth. His income was large, some $20 or $30,000 per annum. He treated his young protégé with as much kindness as his gross nature admitted, and, as he had no children, made a point of informing everyone that he intended to make him his sole heir. He took a species of pride in the precocious talents envinced by his adopted son, and gave him an expensive education.

In 1816 or 17, Edgar accompanied Mr. Allan and his wife to England, of which, and of Scotland, they made the tour. He remained in England five years, during which time he went to school, chiefly to Reverend Dr. Bransby, at Stoke Newington. A faithful description of this school and its principal, is introduced in Mr. Poe’s tale of “William [page 157:] Wilson,” which forms a part of the collection entitled, “Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque.” Upon his return to America, he went to various academies, and finally to the University of Virginia, (Jefferson’s) at Charlottesville. The manners of the Institution, at that time, were exceedingly dissolute, and he fell in with the general course. He managed, however, to maintain a position with the Professors. He attended lectures at random, and spent his time partly in the debating societies, where he soon grew noted as a debater, partly in solitary rambles among the mountains of the Blue Ridge, and partly in covering the walls of his dormitory with crayon drawings, caricaturing the Faculty. This dissipated course of life brought with it, however, a natural disgust, and, towards the close of his university career, arousing himself to better things, he took the first honors of the college, without any difficulty, and returned home.

His good resolutions, however had come somewhat too late, for he had already become involved in difficulties, which resulted in his leaving home. With a young friend, Ebenezer Burling, he endeavored to make his way, with scarcely a dollar in his pocket, to Greece, with the wild design of aiding in the Revolution then taking place. Burling soon repented his folly, and gave up the design when he had scarcely entered on the expedition: Mr. Poe persevered, but did not succeed in reaching the scene of action; he proceeded, however, to St. Petersburgh, where, through deficiency of passport, he became involved in serious difficulties, from which he was finally extricated by the American Consul. He returned to America, only in time to learn of the severe illness of Mrs. Allan, who, in character, was the reverse of her husband, and whom he sincerely loved. He reached Richmond on the night after her burial.

Mr. Allan’s house now became doubly displeasing to him; deprived of her who had, in all cases, endeavored to make it a happy home. Mr. Allan’s manners, however, had become somewhat softened, and he professed, if he did not feel, an entire reconciliation. Mr. Poe now resolved to enter the West Point Academy, and, as his application was backed by Chief Justice Marshall, Andrew Stevenson, Gen. Scott, and many other gentlemen of the highest distinction, to say nothing of Mr. Allan, he found no difficulty in obtaining a letter of appointment. At West Point his stay was brief. At first he was delighted with everything, busied himself in study, and “headed” every class; but after the lapse of some ten months, he heard of Mr. Allan’s marriage with Miss Patterson, of Richmond, a lady young enough to be his [page 158:] granddaughter. She was a relative of Gen. Scott’s, and lived at Belleville, the residence of Mrs. Mayo, the General’s mother-in-law. Upon the birth of the first child, Mr. Poe made up his mind that the heirship was at an end, and as he considered the army no place for a poor man, he determined to resign. At West Point it is necessary, in order to achieve such a step, to obtain permission from the parent or guardian. For this permission he wrote to Mr. Allan, who flatly refused it; this refusal Mr. Poe represented to Col. Thayer, the Superintendent of the post, who declined interfering with the rules, or to accept the resignation. It was about this period that Poland made the desperate and unfortunate struggle for independence, against the combined powers of Russia, Austria and Prussia, which terminated in the capitulation of Warsaw, and the annihilation of the kingdom. — All our cadet’s former chivalric ardor had now returned, and with tenfold vigor. He burned to be a participant in the affray. But to do this, it was doubly necessary to leave West Point. There was one resource yet left him: he positively refused to do duty of any kind, disobeyed all orders, and, keeping closely to his quarters, amused himself with his old tricks — caricaturing, and Pasquinading the Professors. There was a gentleman named Joseph Locke, who had made himself especially obnoxious, through his pertinacity in reporting the pranks of the cadets. At West Point, a “report” is no every day matter, but a very serious thing. Each “report” counts a certain number against the offender — is charged to his account — and, when the whole exceeds a stated sum, he is liable to dismissal. Mr. Poe, it appears, wrote a long lampoon against this Mr. Locke, of which the following are the only stanzas preserved:

The result of all this was just what he intended. For some time Colonel Thayer, to whose good offices the young cadet had been personally recommended by General Scott, overlooked these misdemeanors. But at length, the matter becoming too serious, charges [page 159:] were instituted against him for “Neglect of duty, and disobedience of orders;” (nothing was said about the lampoons) and he was tried by a Court Martial. There were specifications innumerable, to all which, by way of saving time, he pleaded “guilty,” although some of them were monstrously absurd. In a word he was cashiered nem. con. and went on his way rejoicing.

But not to Poland. The capitulation had been effected, and that unfortunate country was no more. He repaired to Baltimore where, shortly afterwards, he learned the death of Mr. Allan, who had left him nothing. His widow even refused him possession of his library — a valuable one. To be sure, he never treated this lady with a whit more respect than that to which he thought her, as a woman, entitled.

A circumstance now occurred of great moment as regards Mr. Poe’s subsequent literary career. “The Baltimore Visiter,” a weekly paper, edited by a Mr. John Hewitt, or Hewlett, offered a premium for the best prose tale; also one for the best poem. This system of premium offering was not then as now. The Committee, in this case, were men of the highest literary, as well as social respectability, if not of profound talents — John P. Kennedy, author of “Horse Shoe Robinson,” J. H. B. Latrobe, and Dr. James H. Miller. To neither of these gentlemen was Mr. P. at that time, personally or by reputation known. He offered a poem, (“The Coliseum,” published in Mr. Griswold’s book) and six tales. These articles, with Mr. P’s name prefixed, were written in a remarkably neat and peculiar manuscript, bearing a close resemblance to brevier type, and, the name being entirely new to the committee, it was thought that some person who could merely write and punctuate well, had been attempting an imposition — in short that the articles were copies from some of the foreign magazines — so little did their spirit resemble the usual character of American compositions. Nevertheless, both premiums were awarded to the unknown writer, (although, among the competitors* were many of the most celebrated names in our literature,) and the committee took occasion to pay him some extraordinary compliments, over their own signatures [sic], in the “Visiter.”

They said, among other things, that all the tales offered by him, were far better than the best offered by others, adding that they “thought it a duty to call public attention to them in that marked manner, since they possessed a singular force and beauty, and were eminently distinguished by a wild, vigorous and poetical imagination, a rich style, a fertile invention, and varied and curious learning.” [page 160:]

Shortly after this, Mr. Poe was invited by Mr. White to edit the “Southern Literary Messenger” which was then in its seventh month, with about four hundred subscribers. He remained with this journal until the end of its second year, by which time its circulation had increased to between three and four thousand; which latter number, it is believed, the Magazine never afterwards exceeded — if it did not immediately and permanently decrease upon Mr. P’s secession. The success of the “Messenger” has been on all hands justly attributed to his exertion in its behalf, but, especially, to the skill, honesty and audacity of the criticism under the editorial head. The review of “Norman Leslie” may be said to have introduced a new era in our critical literature. The article afforded even a ludicrous contrast to the mere glorifications which had heralded and attended that miserable abortion. It was followed up, continuously, by others of the same force and character. Of the review of “Drake and Halleck” Mr. J. K. Paulding says, in a letter now upon our table, “I think it one of the finest pieces of criticism ever published in this country.” None of these articles, however, were comparable, either in severity, or analytical ability, to many of those which subsequently established, (during Mr. Poe’s brief connection with that journal) the character of “Graham’s Magazine.”

About this period was commenced “The New York Quarterly Review,” by Professors Anthon and Henry, with Dr. Hawks. Receiving a flattering invitation from its proprietors, Mr. P. was induced to abandon “The Messenger” (in which he had no pecuniary interest) and remove to New York. Dr. Hawks Says: — “I wish you to fall in with your broad-axe amidst this miserable literary trash which surrounds us. I believe you have the will, and I know well you have the ability.” This Review, however, has since deceased: perhaps the old adage about “too many cooks” had something to do with its decline. There was assuredly no lack of talent or learning, whatever there might have been of independence, in its conductors. The long article on “Stephens’ Travels in Arabia Petrea,” which attracted so much attention in the “New York Review,” some years ago, and in which the traveller’s misconceptions of the biblical prophecies were exposed, as well as some important mistranslations in Ezekiel and Isaiah, was the composition of Mr. Poe.

At the end of a year, the subject of our memoir removed to Philadelphia, where he has since constantly resided. He here formed an association, not altogether satisfactory to himself, with the proprietor of the “Gentleman’s Magazine,” the journal which was subsequently [page 161:] merged in “Graham’s.” With Mr. Graham, (with whom he has always maintained the most friendly relations,) he remained as critical editor, for a period of some fourteen or fifteen months; but is not to be considered responsible, (as some have held him) either for the external appearance or the general internal character of that periodical.

It has often been a subject for wonder that with the prëeminent success which has attended his editorial efforts, Mr. Poe has never established a magazine, in which he should have more than a collateral interest, and we are now happy to learn that such is, at length, his intention. By reference to another page of our paper, it will be seen that he has issued the prospectus of a Monthly, to be entitled “THE STYLUS,” for which, it is needless to say, we predict the most unequivocal success. In so saying, we but endorse the opinion of every literary man in the country, and fully agree with Fitz Greene Halleck, that, however eminent may be the contributors engaged, it is, after all, “on his own fine taste, sound judgment, and great general ability for the task, that the public will place the firmest reliance.”

We have already spoken of Mr. Poe as a critic and, on this head, it is unnecessary to say more. His analytical reputation is universal.

“As a critic,” says the St. Louis Bulletin, [and so say we] “notwithstanding the dignity of the two Quarterlies, we have ranked him first.* If various and general powers on almost every subject, combined with an acumen that seems intuitive, and which shrinks from no responsibility, deserve success, then will he be successful.” But as imagination is a loftier faculty than mere taste or judgment, so it is upon his tales, perhaps, that, in the end, his reputation will mainly depend. In 1840 Messrs. Lea & Blanchard published his “Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque,” a work which elicited encomiums of the most extraordinary character, from the greatest variety of the highest sources. Indeed, to append here only a few of these commendations, will be the best comment we can possibly make, upon the merits and reputation of the author. We glean some of them from the late magazines and papers now lying before us, and some from the Publisher’s appendix affixed, by Messrs, [sic] Lea and Blanchard to the volumes themselves. It will be seen that our extracts are totally distinct from the common newspaper puff, and are of such nature that Mr. Poe’s bitterest enemy, (if he have one in the world) will find it impossible to question or gainsay them — since they embody the already published, personal, and not merely editorial or anonymous opinions, of almost every noted literary man in America. [page 162:]

Of “William Wilson,” MR. WASHINGTON IRVING says: — “It is managed in a highly picturesque style, and its singular and mysterious interest is ably sustained throughout. In point of mere style, it is, perhaps, even superior to ‘House of Usher.’ It is simpler. In the latter composition, he seems to have been distrustful of his effects, or, rather, too solicitous of bringing them forth fully to the eye, and thus, perhaps, has laid on too much coloring. He has erred, however, on the safe side, that of exuberance, and the evil side might easily be remedied, by relieving the style of some of its epithets” [since done.] “There would be no fear of injuring the graphic effect, which is powerful.” The italics are Mr. Irving’s own.

Judge BEVERLY TUCKER, author of “George Balcombe,” says: — “Mr. Poe possesses an extraordinary faculty. He paints the ‘palpable obscure’ with strange power; throwing over his pictures a sombre gloom which is appalling. The images are dim, but distinct — shadowy, but well defined. The outline, indeed, is all we see; but there they stand, shrouded in darkness, and fright us with the mystery which defies farther scrutiny. . . .Original thoughts come to him thronging unbidden; crowding themselves upon him in such numbers, as to require the rod of his own Master of Ceremonies, Criticism, to keep them in order. . . . His genius and history remind me of Coleridge.”

Mr. JAMES E. HEATH, the original editor of the “Messenger,” says: — “There can be but one opinion in regard to the force and beauty of his style. . . . A gentleman of fine endowments, possessing a taste classical and refined, an imagination affluent and splendid, and withal a singular capacity for minute and mathematical detail. . . . Morella will unquestionably prove that he has great powers of imagination, and a command of language never surpassed. We doubt if anything in the same style can be cited, which contains more terrific beauty than this tale.”

Professor H. W. LONGFELLOW says: — “All that I have seen from his pen inspires me with a high idea of his power, and I think him destined to stand among the first of romance writers — if such, indeed, be his aim.”

Mr. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, author of “Twice Told Tales,” says: — “Mr. Poe gained ready admission [into the Hall of Fantasy] on account of his imagination, but was threatened with ejection as belonging to the obnoxious class of critics.”

Mr. N. P. WILLIS says: — “Mr. Poe’s contribution, ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ is very wild and very readable, and is the only thing in the [page 163:] number which most people would read and remember. —. . . . In ‘Ligeia’ there is a fine march of description which has a touch of the D’Israeli quality.”

The opinion of Mr. FITZ-GREENE HALLECK, we have already quoted, and that of Mr. JOHN NEAL we will quote elsewhere.

Mr. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL says: — “This species of physical remorse is strikingly depicted in Mr. Thomas Hood’s ‘Dream of Eugene Aram,’ and with no less strength by the powerful imagination of Mr. Poe, in his story of ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’.”

“Mr. L. F. TASISTRO says: — “There is not one of the Tales published in the volumes before us, in which we do not find the development of great intellectual capacity, with a power for vivid description, an opulence of imagination, a fecundity of invention, and a command over the elegances of diction, which have seldom been displayed, even by writers who have acquired the greatest distinction in the Republic of Letters. . . .. A succession of richly colored pictures in the magic lantern of invention.”

Mr. FREDERICK W. THOMAS, author of “Clinton Bradshaw,” says: — “I think ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue,’ the most ingenious thing of the kind on record. It is managed with a tact, ability, and subtlety that are absolutely marvellous. I do not know what to make of his intellectuals.”

Mr. PARK BENJAMIN says: — “We have always been admirers of Mr. Poe’s talents. Under his supervision the ‘Southern Literary Messenger’ acquired its high character. His productions display great power and originality, and bear the stamp of a thoroughly educated mind. In a recent number of this Magazine (Graham’s), there appeared a narrative which we intend to copy, on account of its philosophical spirit, and extraordinary interest, entitled ‘The Murders of [sic] the Rue Morgue’. . . .. We regard this gentleman as one of the best writers of the English language now living. His style is singularly pure and idiomatic. He never condescends to affectations but writes with a nervous clearness that inspires the reader with a perpetual confidence in his power.”

Mr. M. M. NOAH says: — “ ‘Bon-Bon,’ by Edgar A. Poe, is equal to anything Theodore Hook ever wrote. . . . ‘The House of Usher’ would have been considered a chef-d’-oeuvre, even if it had appeared in the pages of Blackwood.”

Mrs. SIGOURNEY says: — “ ‘That powerful pen whose brilliant and versatile creations I have so often admired.” [page 164:]

Mr. EPES SARGENT, author of ‘Velasco,’ says: — “I have always been an ardent admirer of his varied and surpassing talents.”

Mr. W. G. SIMMS has paid him some very high compliments in ‘The Magnolia,’ which we are now unable to obtain.

Mr. JOHN P. KENNEDY, author of “Horse-Shoe Robinson,” says: — “These tales are eminently distinguished by a wild, vigorous, and poetical imagination, a fertile invention, a rich style, and varied and curious learning.”

Mr. JOHN L. CAREY, of the “Baltimore American,” says: — “The impress of genius is stamped upon them all. . . . Without particularising others, we will observe, of the story called ‘William Wilson,’ that it embodies a profounder meaning than will be gathered from regarding it as a purely fanciful invention.”

Mr. G. G. FOSTER, of the “St. Louis Bulletin,” says: — “He is one of the very few writers who blend philosophy, common sense, humor, and poetry smoothly together. He places his hands upon the wild steeds of his imagination, and they plunge furiously through storm and tempest, or, at his bidding, glide noiselessly along the quiet and dreamy lake, or among the whispering bowers of thought and feeling. . . . With an acuteness of observation, a vigorous and effective style, and an independence that defies control, he unites a fervid fancy, and a most beautiful enthusiasm. His is a high destiny.”

The “BALTIMORE METHODIST” says: — “Mr. Poe is a gentleman of the finest abilities. For freshness of thought, vigor of imagination, and force of description, he stands alone among the Magazine writers of the age. This is saying a great deal for him, but it is no more than all are willing to award.”

The “N.Y. TIMES AND STAR” says: — “Mr. Poe, in our opinion, is the most truly original writer we have in America.”

The “NORFOLK HERALD” says: — “The author of the ‘Lunar Hoax,’ is indebted to the ‘Hans Pfaall’ of Mr. Poe, for the conception, and, in a great measure, for the execution of his discoveries.”

Mr. GEORGE H. CALVERT, of the “Baltimore American,” says: — “‘The Duc de L’Omelette,’ is one of those light, spirited, and fantastic inventions, of which we have had specimens before in the ‘Messenger,’ betokening a fertility of imagination, and power of execution, that would under sustained effort, produce creations of enduring character.” [page 165:]

The “N.Y. COURIER AND ENQUIRER” says: — “Mr. Poe is one of those original philosophical writers, of whom we have so few in America, and his articles always produce a deep and thrilling interest.”

The “SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER,” says: — “The production of a talented and powerful writer. . . .. The possession of high powers of invention and imagination — of genius is undoubtedly his — His compositions are, many of them, in Literature, like Martin’s in the Fine Arts. His serious sketches all bear the marks of bold, fertile genius. There is the dark cloud hanging over all — there are the dim, misty, undefined shapes in the back-ground. But, amid all these, arise huge and magnificent columns, flashing lamps, rich banquetting vessels, gleaming tiaras, and sweet, expressive faces. But the writings of Mr. Poe are well-known to the readers of the Messenger.”

Mr. H. HAINES, of the “Petersburg Constellation,” says: — “Of the diamonds which sparkle beside the more sombre gems, commend us, thou Spirit of Eccentricity, forever and a day, to the ‘Duc de L’Omelette,’ the best of the kind we have ever read, or expect to read.”

Mr. HORACE GREELEY, of the “N. Y. Tribune,” says of “The Tell-Tale Heart,” — “Mr. Poe contributes a strong and skilful, but in our minds, overstrained and repulsive analysis of the feelings and promptings of an insane homicide. The painting of the terror of the victim, while he sat upright in his bed, feeling that death was near him, is most powerful and fearfully vivid.”

Coming to our own city, Mr. JOSEPH C. NEAL says: — “A writer who adds to the most extensive acquirements, a remarkable vigor and originality of mind. . .These ‘grotesque and arabesque’ delineations are full of variety — now irresistibly quaint and droll, and again marked with all the deep and painful interest of the German school. In every page the reader will note matter unlike the production of any other writer. He follows in nobody’s track. His imagination seems to have a domain of its own to revel in.”

Mr. MORTON McMICHAEL says: — “Mr. Poe is a writer of rare and various abilities. He possesses a fine perception of the ludicrous, and his humorous stories are instinct with the principle of mirth. He possesses, also, a mind of unusual grasp, a vigorous power of analysis, and an acuteness of perception which have given him high celebrity as a critic. These same faculties, moreover, aided by an unusually active imagination, and directed by familiar study of metaphysical writings, have led him to produce some of the most vivid scenes of the wild and wonderful which can be found in English literature.” [page 166:]

Professor JOHN FROST says: — “‘William Wilson,’ by Mr. Poe, reminds us of Godwin and Brockden Brown. . . . We must say that we derive no small enjoyment from a delineation like this. We like to see the evidences of study and thought, as well as of inspiration, in the design, and of careful and elaborate handling in the execution, not less than of grand and striking effect in the tout ensemble. ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ is what we denominate a stern and sombre, but at the same time, a noble and imposing picture, such as could be drawn only by a master-hand. — Such things are not produced by your slip-shod amateurs in composition.” And again:

“To say we have read these tales attentively, is not enough. We have studied them. They are, in every way, worthy of such distinction, and whoever shall give them a careful study and a philosophical analysis, will find in them the evidences of an original, vigorous and independent mind, stored with rich and various learning, and capable of successful application to a great variety of subjects. As a writer of fiction, Mr. Poe passes ‘from grave to gay, from lively to severe,’ with an ease and buoyance not less wonderful than the unfailing vigor of his style, and the prodigious extent of his resources for illustration and embellishment. He is capable of great things, and beautiful and interesting as the Tales before us are, we deem them much less remarkable as actual performances, than as evidences of ability for more serious and sustained efforts. They seem to us the playful effusions of a remarkable — of a powerful intellect. He has placed himself in the foremost rank of American writers.”

Mr. P. P. COOKE, author of “Florence Vane,” and one of the finest critics in America, says: — “In the first place I must say, what I firmly believe, that his mere style is the very best among the first of the living writers; and I regard style as something more than the mere manners of communicating ideas. ‘Words are used by the wise as counters, by the foolish as coin,’ is the aphorism of a person who never appreciated Jeremy Taylor or Sir Thomas Browne. . . . He does not, to be sure, use his words, as those fine old glowing rhetoricians did, as tints of the pencil — as colors of a picture — but he moulds them into exquisitely artful excellence; a care which is pleasantly perceptible, and accomplishing an effect which I can only characterize as the visible presentation, instead of the mere expression, of his ideas. . . . . I consider the skill of one portion of ‘Eiros and Charmion’ unapproachable. ‘Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque’ expresses [page 167:] admirably the character of his wild stories, and as tales of the grotesque and arabesque, they have certainly never been equalled.”

In conclusion, (it is absolutely necessary to bring these extracts to a close,) Mr. JAMES K. PAULDING says: — “‘Lionizing,’ by Edgar A. Poe, is the happiest travestie of the coxcomical egotism of travelling scribblers, I have ever seen. . . Mr. Poe is decidedly the best of all our young writers, and I don’t know but that I may say of all our old ones.”

To which Professor CHARLES ANTHON pointedly adds — “facile princeps.”

We have only to remark here, that all the best* of Mr. Poe’s Prose Tales have been published since the issue of the volumes which elicited these extraordinary comments, and a thousand of similar character from men of less note, or purely editorial. A complete collection of his Tales is a desideratum in our Literature.

But notwithstanding his success as a prose writer, it is as a poet we now wish chiefly to consider him. He wrote verses as soon as he could write at all. His most poetical publication, however, was “Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. By a Virginian.” Of this, the first edition was published in pamphlet form) in Boston, before he had completed his fifteenth year. Some of his best pieces, among others the subjoined lines to Helen, were composed two years previously.

These lines, by a boy of fourteen, will compare favorably with any written, at any age, by any poet whatsoever.

A second edition of the volume was published in Baltimore, by Hatch and Dunning, we believe in 1827; a third during the author’s cadetship at West Point. Of these editions, the two first attracted but little attention, on account of their slovenly printing and their modes of publication — John Neal, however, whose judgment will not be disputed, said of them that “they put him in mind of no less a poet than Shelley.” The critic quoted from “Al Aaraaf,” in support of his opinion the following:

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And again:

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This we conceive to be a truly wonderful poem to have emanated from the pen of a boy of fourteen. Ligeia, (a Greek word signifying canorous, or high-sounding,) is intended as a personification of Music, and the picture, which we have italicised, of the Spirit soaring, is surpassed by no American poet. From “Al Aaraaf!” we select only three more passages; and they might be quoted as gems even from Keats.

From the “Minor Poems” we quote a

In speaking of this sonnet and the preceding extracts, John Neal says: “And again the old-fashioned truth and strength of the following! — Of a truth, we ought to overlook much in one capable of [page 172:] so much simplicity and power.” Elsewhere in the same review, he says: “If the young author now before us should fulfil his destiny, as they would say on the other side of the water, he will be foremost in the rank of real poets.” [The italics are Mr. Neal’s.] Speaking of “Tamerlane,” from which we have foreborne to quote, he says: “As a whole, it is much the best; for there is breadth and depth in it, a certainty of purpose, and a loftiness of look, throughout, which are wanting in ‘Al Aaraaf,’ wonderful as some of the passages of the latter are.” Again, “But the grandest and sweetest of all is the following,” which we quote, with his own Italics.

In closing this review, Mr. Neal makes this remarkable prophecy: — “Our author, if he be just to his peculiar gift, (for it is a gift here,) will be distinguished among the most distinguished.”

The last which we shall quote of the “Minor Poems,” is one in which the skill of the composition, when the age of the writer is considered, is by no means its least remarkable feature.

In leaving these to note the poems of his maturer years, we are wonder-struck not more at the genius of the poet, than at his poetical reputation. We can only say that, in our opinion, and in every one’s, he has fulfilled his destiny, and Mr. Neal’s prediction.With the true intellect of the land, Mr. Poe stands among the first — if not the first. As a critic, and a tale-writer,* he is certainly unequalled in America. As a poet, the following poems (which he has not even taken the trouble to collect) exhibit him second to none; not even excepting Mr. Longfellow.

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As an essayist, Mr. Poe has been equally successful. His most noted compositions, in this way, are a treatise on Maelzel’s Automaton, published in the “Southern Literary Messenger,” in which, by an ingenious train of reasoning à priori, he proves it not a pure machine; the “Philosophy of Furniture;” “A New Theory of English Versification;” several most remarkable papers on “Secret Writing;” [page 185:] and the celebrated “Chapters on Autography,” published in the “Messenger” and in “Graham’s.”

The circumstances connected with the papers on secret writing, are of too extraordinary a nature, and have too obvious a bearing upon Mr. Poe’s reputation for analysis, to be omitted in a biography like this. In a work entitled “Sketches of conspicuous living characters of France,” by Mr. Robert Walsh, Jr., Berryer, the French minister, is said to have displayed the highest ingenuity in the solution of a cipher addressed by the Duchess de Berri, to the legitimists of Paris, but of which she had neglected to furnish the key [sic] Berryer discovered this key to be the phrase — Le Gouvernement Provisoire,” and the work in question extolled the acumen of the decipherer —. In a review of the book, Mr. Poe maintained not only that he could unriddle any similar secret, but that “human ingenuity could construct no secret writing which human ingenuity could not resolve.” The challenge elicited a flood of cryptographs which were promptly and without exception deciphered — of course to the profound astonishment of the writers — not one of whom, perhaps, would have hesitated to staking his existence that his secret was absolutely insoluble without the key.

For many months the pages of “Graham” contained these cryptographs, with the editor’s solutions. In order to convey an intelligible idea of the task undertaken, we append one of the least difficult of the ciphers solved with the correspondence with accompanied it. “F.W. Thomas” is the author of the “Clinton Bradshaw,” and the cryptograph in question was solved by return of mail.

The key phrase employed by Dr. Frailey in the construction of this cipher, was — “But find this out and I give it up.” Under this the alphabet was written, letter beneath letter. In this way, it will be found that many of the secret characters represent not one, but several of the natural alphabet. For example, n, in the cipher, stands either for b or m or y, and the decipherer is left to guess when it means the one and when the other. The question is, how could he ever ascertain that it meant either? Again, t stands for either c, h, n, or x, while i represents e, j, t, r, and w. When we consider these difficulties, with the other embarrassments mentioned in the letter (arbitrary marks used for whole words!) and when we consider, also, the nonsensical nature of the meaning concealed, which we give below, we can regard the solution (by return of mail, too!) as little less than miraculous.

In one of those peripatetic circumrotations I obviated a rustic whom I subjected to catechetical interrogation respecting the nosocomical characteristics of the edifice to which I was approximate. — With a volubility uncongealed by the frigorific powers of villatic bashfulness, he ejaculated a [page 188:] voluminous replication from the universal tenor of whose contents I deduce the subsequent amalgamation of heterogeneous facts. Without dubiety incipient pretension is apt to terminate in final vulgarity, as parturient mountains have been fabulated to produce muscupular abortions. The institution the subject of my remarks, has not been without cause the theme of the ephemeral columns of quotidian journals, and enthusiastic encomiations in conversational intercourse.

Before the publication of Mr. P’s solution, reward was offered for the deciphering of the riddle. It stood in the Magazine for several months, and met the eyes of more than 100,000 readers — but was solved by none.

This cryptograph, however, was simplicity itself, in comparison with others resolved by the subject of our memoir.

Besides the works mentioned, he is the author of “Arthur Gordon Pym,” published anonymously by the Harpers — a book which ran through many English editions; — a System of Conchology, very successful, with his own name; — a large and expensively illustrated work on Natural History, in part a translation, and in part a re-arrangement of the French system of Milne Edouarde, and Achille Lecompte; — also, a work of fiction, in two volumes, under a nom-de-plume, never acknowledged; — also, two papers on American topics, for a Parisian critical journal — with one or two anonymous articles in a British periodical, and several also anonymous, in an American Quarterly.

In his youth, Mr. Poe was noted for gymnastic feats, to an extent almost beyond the credible; and it is believed, that, to this day, he remembers such achievements with greater pride, than any subsequent mental triumphs. At one period he was known to leap the distance of twenty-one feet, six inches, on a dead level, with a run of twenty yards. A most remarkable swim of his, is, also, on record in the columns of the “Richmond Enquirer,” and other Richmond papers. It took place in his fifteenth year. He swam on a hot July day, against a three-knot tide, from Ludlam’s wharf, on James River, to Warwick — a distance of seven miles and a half — fully equal to thirty miles in still water. The impossibility of resting, even for a moment, by floating, in a task such as this, renders it Herculean, and the feat has never been equalled by anyone, properly authenticated. Byron’s paddle across the Hellespont, was mere child’s play in comparison, and, indeed, would never have been thought worthy of mention, by any true swimmer, or by any other than a lord and a dandy. Mr. Poe’s swim was undertaken for a wager, [page 189:] at first sportively, and then seriously urged. No one had the faintest idea that he would make good his boast. He was accompanied, in boats, by a number of gentlemen, then youths, of Richmond. Among the survivors of the party, are Dr. Robert H. Cabell and Messrs.: Robert Saunders and Robert Stannard, Jr. — all gentlemen of the highest respectability, and even of distinction, now residing in Richmond. They relate that, upon reaching the goal at Warwick, Mr. P., before getting out of the water, offered to double the wager that he would swim back to the point of starting, but that, owing to the extreme exhaustion of the rowers, the experiment was, of necessity, declined.

In 1836, Mr. Poe married Virginia, youngest daughter of Mr. William Clemm, of Baltimore, and, through her, is closely connected with many of the best families in Maryland.

He is now but little more than thirty years of age; in person, he is somewhat slender, about five feet, eight inches in height, and well-proportioned; his complexion is rather fair; his eyes are grey and restless, exhibiting a marked nervousness: while the mouth indicates great decision of character; his forehead is extremely broad, displaying prominently the organs of Ideality, Causalty, Form, Constructiveness, and Comparison, with small Eventuality and Individuality. His hair is nearly black, and partially curling. Our portrait conveys a tolerably correct idea of the man.

[page 190:]

NOTES in the 1843 TEXT

*  Judge Beverly Tucker, of Virginia, in a letter now lying before us, addressed to Mr. Thomas W. White, says: — “Without a tithe of his genius, I am old enough to be his grandfather; for, if I mistake not his filiation, I knew his most beautiful and most accomplished mother when a girl.”

*  Among the competitors, at present of this city, was Mr. T. S. Arthur, since so well known by his “Six Nights with the Washingtonians.”

*  Perhaps the finest compliment ever paid Mr. Poe’s critical abilities, was by Mr. Cornelius Matthews, the editor of “Arcturus,” and author of “Wakondah.” This Poem was slashingly condemned in “Graham’s Magazine,” while Mr. P. edited it, and in a subsequent number of “Arcturus,” Mr. Matthews spoke of the critic in the highest terms, and instanced his review of “Barnaby Rudge” as a master-piece of ingenuity”.

*  Since the publication of the “Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque,” he has written “A Descent into the Maelstroom;” “The Colloquy of Monos and Una;” “The Pit and the Pendulum;” “The Business Man;” “Never Bet Your Head;” “The Island of the Fay;” “The Mask of the Red Death;” “Eleonora;” “Three Sundays in a Week;” “The Man of the Crowd;” “Life in Death;” “The Landscape Garden;” “The Tell-Tale Heart;” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue;” and “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt.”

*  As a tale writer, Mr. Hawthorne, to be sure, stands deservedly high, and, in his line of writing, he is unsurpassed by any one, but it must be remembered that he has only one vein, while the subject of our sketch has a thousand, and is equally good in all.

*  And the angel Israfel whose heart-strings are a lute, and who has the sweetest voice of all God’s creatures. — Sale’s Koran. [page 191:]

II

Afterword

Long known, but generally inaccessible, the foregoing biographical article published as one of a series in the Philadelphia Saturday Museum, a mammoth weekly, first on 26 [[25]] February 1843, and reprinted on 4 March, holds out great interest to students of Poe. Only the text of the 4 March version seems to survive. This lengthy essay is important as an early, if in spots inaccurate, biography, as Poe’s own first selective edition of his previously published verse, and as a document of possible collaborative authorship. Henry B. Hirst, a Philadelphia attorney and author — best known for his verse — who was a friend of Poe at the time the Museum piece appeared, has long customarily been designated as the writer of this piece, albeit Poe supplied Hirst with notes and information that he wished to see incorporated into the publication.(1) Poe likewise furnished materials for James Russell Lowell’s biographical sketch of him, for the “Our Contributors” series, in Graham’s Magazine for February 1845.

That facts are often handled fast and loose in the Museum sketch is undeniable, but that practice is not unknown in light of what I have long distinguished as the Poe legend from the known Poe life. For example, a search of the Baltimore Gazette provides no factual confirmation for information regarding Lafayette’s visit to Baltimore as set forth in the Museum, nor is the age difference between John Allan and his second wife accurate. Poe did not travel to Russia, nor did he publish several of the works cited near the conclusion of the essay. The texts of other writers’ estimates of Poe appear more thoroughly complimentary than they were, for example, the remarks by Washington Irving, which accurate texts of his letters reveal to have been somewhat different — and this is no unique case in point, witness the passage from James E. Heath, who disliked Poe’s “German” (read “Gothic”) tales. A like exaggeration infuses the account of the high acclaim for Poe’s tales expressed by the judges for the Baltimore Saturday Visiter literary competition. The drift in several remarks about the poems would make an unwary reader believe that Poe was yet another boy genius in the Romantic tradition, although he was actually not quite so youthful when many of his poems were in process as the essay implies. The paragraph concerning Pym and other publications is suspect, excepting the anonymous publications in [page 192:] British periodicals. Both “The Visionary” and “Usher” were pirated by Bentley’s Miscellany during 1840, and Poe probably knew of these reappearances. Suggestions that he calculatingly engineered the account in the Museum to promote his projected literary magazine, the Stylus, are probably trustworthy as to his intents, no matter who actually assembled the sketch. Overall, the Poe portrayed in the Museum shines brightly on editorial and creative literary fronts, as well as in person. What remains important about the Museum article is that it contains glamorized information emanating from Poe himself.

Burton Pollin’s attempt to reproduce the Saturday Museum sketch in facsimile supplies an imperfect text because the sole extant, and clearer, original is mutilated, and thus no reliable text can be established if one depends solely on that document.(2) Fortunately, copies made long ago from what were then other available extant originals facilitate the restoration of missing portions of the text. Whether Hirst or Poe actually assembled the parts of this essay will doubtless remain a matter for speculation. To say that because he was a defective poet he could not write decent prose, or that he did not possess sufficient ability to put together such a piece as the one under consideration, fails to take into account that, as an attorney, he would have had to be responsible for effective prose compositions, and that not all contemporaneous reviewers found his poetry to be second rate. Moreover, although Poe may have referred to the Museum sketch as Hirst’s work, although he wrote much of it himself, it is evident that J. R. Lowell took seriously the writing of his later article on Poe for Graham’s, as their correspondence attests. So far as I am aware, nobody has ever reported that Poe himself wrote that essay by himself as yet another of his literary hoaxes, as has been said of the Museum article.

The Museum piece is important, as Hutcherson long ago commented, because it offers the first selective edition of Poe’s poems published up to that time. Moreover, the encomiums furnish evidence that Poe’s contemporaries were aware of comic elements in the tales, a feature that has remained controversial into the present day.

My aim has been to offer in the preceding pages an accurate text of a document useful to students of Poe’s life and works. I have preserved the spellings in the Museum, e. g. Gwyn for Gwynn, Stannard for Stanard, and I have also left punctuation irregularities as they appear there. I have omitted the likeness of Poe that appeared in the Museum because it resembles no other portrait of him.

[page 193:]

NOTES

1.  See O 223-225, 366-368; Log pp. 393-410. See also M 1: 98, 553; ) 322; A. H. Quinn p. 371. Kenneth Silverman, without supportive evidence, writes that the piece is Poe’s — Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never Ending Remembrance (New York, 1991) pp. 196-197. Thus the jury remains out. My thanks to Robert A McCown for permission to use the copy of the Saturday Museum Sketch from the Thomas Ollive Mabbott Poe Collection, University of Iowa Libraries. For similar courtesies facilitating my examination of copies of the original of the Museum, I thank the University of North Carolina Libraries. Other copies of the original are held in the American Antiquarian Society and in the A. H. Quinn papers, Special Collections, Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania; other copies may exist. For many years, the sole serious consideration of the value of the sketch was Dudley R. Hutcherson, “The Philadelphia Saturday Museum Text of Poe’s Poems,” AL 5 (1933) 36-48. See also Burton R. Pollin, “Poe’s Authorship of Three Long Critical and Autobiographical Articles of 1843 Now Authenticated,” American Renaissance Literary Report: An Annual, ed. Kenneth W. Cameron (Hartford, 1993) 139-171. I also acknowledge the courtesies tendered me by Professor Kent Ljungquist, which expedited completion of the present work; and those by my friend, and former student, Justin R. Wert, whose eyes proved invaluable to me. Julie A. Fisher’s assistance with formatting has likewise been valuable.

2.  The University of North Carolina original is torn horizontally across the pages. Thus all of the text after “Seraph!” in the first line of “To One Departed” is obliterated, and there is like mutilation within the title of “The Haunted Palace.” (H in “Haunted” and the e in “palace” are gone).