Poe, junior, little is known, except that he was the eldest son, and that at the age of eighteen, while a law student in the office of a Mr. William Gynne, of Baltimore, he became enamoured of Elizabeth Arnold, an English actress, whom he first saw in Norfolk, whither he had been sent on business, and whom he persuaded to marry him. His parents refused to countenance the marriage, but relented after the birth of his first child.

The parentage and early life of Elizabeth Arnold might, perhaps, be traced in England, by a careful student of theatrical annals. The earliest mention of her in America is in 1797, when she was a member of a company of comedians engaged by a Mr. Solee for the City Theatre, Charleston, South Carolina. This company played an engagement at the old John Street Theatre, New York, and among the pieces produced by them was the farce of "The Spoiled Child," in which she played the part of Maria.* She re-appeared in New York as Mrs. Poe, on the 16th of July, 1806, at the

* Ireland's "Records of the New York Stage." New York: 1866, vol. i. page 42.

new Vauxhall Garden, in the part of Priscilla Tomboy. Two nights afterwards Mr. Poe appeared as Frank in "Fortune's Frolic." "The lady was young and pretty, and evinced talent both as a singer and an actress ; the gentleman was literally nothing." The next theatrical mention of the Poes, that I have been able to trace, occurs in the Boston Gazette for 1809. They were engaged at the Boston Theatre, where Mrs. Poe played regularly from January 5th to May 12th. At first she appeared in pantomimes, and took minor parts generally; but on the 7th of April she played Juliet, and after that date the leading parts, appearing as Ophelia on the nights of the 17th and 21st of the same month. The leading male parts of the season were played by Mr. Poe, who seems to have improved by practice. It was while the Poes were playing this engagement-on the 19th of February, 1809-that Edgar Allan was born.

We lose sight of the family until 1811, when Mrs. Poe died at Richmond, leaving three children to the charity of the world-Edgar Allan, his elder brother, William Henry Leonard, and his sister Rosalie, who

was an infant in arms. It is the recollection of those who knew Mrs. Poe that her husband had deserted her some time before the birth of her last child, and that she was in poverty and distress. However this may be, she was engaged at the Richmond Theatre at the time of her death, which occurred on the 8th of December, 1811, and is thus noted in the Richmond Enquirer of Tuesday, December 10th: "Died.—On Sunday last, Mrs. Poe, one of the actresses of the company at present playing on the Richmond boards. By the death of this lady the stage has been deprived of one of its chief ornaments, and to say the least of her, she was an interesting actress, and never failed to catch the applause, and command the admiration, of the beholder." The three orphan children—for their father, it is believed, speedily followed their mother to the grave—were adopted by friends of the family : Edgar, by Mr. John Allan, a merchant of Richmond; Rosalie, by a Scotch gentleman named McKenzie ; and William Henry Leonard, by some one, probably a relative, in Baltimore.

Mr. Allan was married, but he had no children, which was probably the reason, or one of the reasons, why he adopted Edgar. He was kind-hearted and indulgent, but not fitted to take charge of the young child whom Providence seemed to have committed to his care. The child, we know now, was a genius; but his adopted father could not be expected to know that, or, knowing it, could not be expected to modify himself and his life in order to guide and guard the child. He loved his son-for so he called the boyas did also his wife, and, between the two, young Master Edgar Allan was in a fair way to be spoiled.

They were proud of him, so foolishly proud, indeed, that nobody was permitted to do anything which could "break his spirit." He must be his own master, they said, which was but another way of saying-He must be the master of others, a proposition which was set at nought when he was sent to school. His first teacher was a widow lady, who instructed the children of the first families in Richmond, and who believed that she had rights as well as her pupils, and was

determined to maintain them. "A portion of the grounds was used for the cultivation of vegetables, and its invasion by her pupils strictly forbidden. A trespasser, if discovered, was commonly made to wear, during school hours, a turnip, or carrot, or something of the sort, attached to his neck as a sign of disgrace. On one occasion Poe, having violated the rules, was decorated with the promised badge, which he wore in sullenness until the dismissal of the boys, when, that the full extent of his wrong might be understood by his patron, of whose sympathy he was confident, he eluded the notice of the schoolmistress, who would have released him of his esculent, and made the best of his way home with it dangling at his neck. Mr. Allan's anger was aroused, and he proceeded instantly to the school-room, and, after lecturing the astonished dame upon the enormity of such an insult to his son and himself, demanded the account, determined that the child should not again be subjected to such tyranny.'

* Griswold's "Memoir of Poe," vol. i. of collected works, page 33.