VOL. V.

EDGAR ALLAN POE.

'DGAR ALLAN POE was born in Boston, on

the 19th January, 1809. He was named Allan after a wealthy and intimate friend of the family, and when both his parents died his godfather, who, although long married, was childless, adopted the little orphan, then only six years old. Even at this early age Poe was noted for his precocity as well as for his beauty, and Mr. Allan appears to have been extremely proud of his youthful protégé, and to have treated him in many respects as his own son. The boy is stated to have been made quite a showchild of by his adopted father; a tenacious memory and a musical ear, we are informed, enabling him to learn by rote, and declaim to the evening visitors assembled at Mr. Allan's house, the finest passages of English poetry with great effect.

In 1816, the Allans having to visit England on matters connected with disposal of some property there, brought their adopted son with them, and after taking him on a tour through England and Scotland with them, left him at the Manor-House School in Church Street, Stoke-Newington. The school belonged to a Rev. Dr. Bransby, who is so quaintly described in "William Wilson," one of Poe's finest stories. Here, in this dreamy place, Edgar Poe spent from four to five years of his existence, and, notwithstanding the monotony of school life, was doubtless fully justified in looking back upon the days passed in that venerable academy with pleasurable feelings.

In 1821, the lad was re-called home, and soon afterwards was placed by his adopted parents at an academy in Richmond, Va. Mr. Allan would seem to have been very proud of his handsome and precocious godson, and always to have been willing to afford him any amount of education procurable; but of parental love, of that deep sympathy for which the poor orphan yearned, he seems to have been utterly devoid. Not but what the imperious little fellow was indulged in what money could purchase, but the petting and spoiling which he still

No. 2.

appears to have received was not of that kind to touch his tender heart. Throughout life a morbid sensitiveness to affection was one of his most distinguishing traits, and this it was that frequently drove him to seek in the society of dumb creatures that love which was denied him, or which he sometimes believed denied him, by human beings. There is a paragraph in his terrible tale of "The Black Cat," which those who were intimately acquainted with Poe will at once recognize the autobiographical fidelity of.

Returning to the more commonplace records of his history, the future poet is described to us at this period of his life as remarkable for his general cleverness, his feats of activity, his wayward temper, his extreme personal beauty, and his power of extemporaneous tale-telling, and, even at this early stage, as a great classical scholar, and as well versed in mathematics, botany, and other branches of the natural sciences. He appears to have been a successful student, having obtained distinctions in Latin and French at the closing examinations of 1826.

In 1827, aroused by the heroic efforts the Greeks were making to throw off the yoke of their Turkish oppressors, and, doubtless, emulous of Byron, whose example had excited the chivalric boys of both continents, Edgar Poe and an acquaintance, Ebenezer Burling, determined to start for Greece and offer their aid to the insurgents. Either Mr. Burling's heart failed, or parental authority was too strong for him, for he stayed at home, whilst the embryo poet, doubtless in headstrong opposition to the wishes of his adopted parents, started alone for Europe. Poe was absent for more than a year, but the adventures of his journey have never been told; he seems to have been very reticent upon the subject, and to have left uncontradicted the various stories invented, and even published during his lifetime, to account for the interregnum in his history. In 1829 Edgar Poe returned home, if Mr. Allan's residence may so be termed. He reached Richmond, Va., we have been informed, early in

March, but too late to take a last farewell of his adopted mother, she having died on the 27th of February, and her funeral having taken place the very day before Poe's return.

Mr. Allan does not appear to have manifested any great pleasure at the prodigal's return, but when Poe expressed his willingness to devote himself to the military profession, he exercised his influence and obtained a nomination for him to a scholarship in the military academy at West Point. As, according to the rules of that institution, appointments are not given to candidates after they have atttained their twenty-first birth-day, the young author, for such he now was, was only just in time to secure his nomination. Meanwhile Poe had published a little volume of poems, his first known essay in literature, under the title of "Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and other poems." In 1831, whilst still a cadet, he published an enlarged collection of his boyish rhymes under the title of "POEMS by Edgar A. Poe."

Upon leaving West Point, Poe returned to Mr. Allan's residence at Richmond, and appears to have remained there some time on sufferance. Soon after his return home he became attached to Miss Royster, and was ultimately, it is believed, engaged to her. Mr. Allan, why it is not known, was violently opposed to the match, and without his pecuniary aid matrimony was out of the question, as Poe was entirely dependent upon him. A violent quarrel took place between the old man and his adopted son, and Poe, unable to submit calmly to the course of events, again left home, this time with the intention of proceeding to Poland, to expend his energies in aiding the Poles in their struggles against Russia. How far he got is not known, but it is supposed that he did not leave America, having been stopped by the intelligence that, on the 6th of September, Warsaw had fallen, carrying with it the last hopes of the Polish insurgents. In the meanwhile, as if to widen the estrangement at home, Mr. Allan had taken unto himself a young wife-"the beautiful Miss Paterson"-whilst Miss Royster, forgetful of her faith, was married to a wealthy man, a Mr. Shelton. Once more aimless, and probably resourceless, the chivalric young poet again sought his native province. Whether he returned to the home that was home no more is uncertain, but, from what is known of his proud spirit, it seems unlikely; if he did, however, his stay was of short duration, and his godfather's second wife having given birth to a son was the death-blow to Poe's prospects of succeeding to the property.

Bankrupt in nearly everything, the unfortunate poet now turned to literature as a means of obtain

ing subsistence, but he found the waters of Helicon were anything but Pactolian. Where he wandered, and what he did, for nearly two years, still remains an unravelled mystery, but it is alleged that some of his finest stories were written during this epoch, and, although accepted and published by magazine editors, were scarcely ever paid for. In 1833 he is heard of in Baltimore competing for prizes offered by the proprietor of the Saturday Visitor for the best prose story and the best poem. Here, then, was an opportunity of deferring, for a while at least, the starvation which was not far off. For the competition, Poe selected and sent in six of his stories, and his poem of "The Coliseum." Some well-known literary men consented to adjudicate upon the mass of papers received, and after a careful consideration of the various contributions, decided unanimously that Poe, who was unknown to them, was entitled to both premiums. In August of 1834 a Mr. White, an energetic and accomplished man, in opposition to the advice of his friends, commenced the publication of the Southern Literary Messenger, in Richmond, Va. This magazine was a very daring speculation at such a time and place, and but for a fortunate accident might have placed its promoter completely hors de combat. Amongst the well-know writers whose aid he solicited was Mr. Kennedy, and he, being fully engaged, advised Poe to send something. Our poet did so, and Mr. White, greatly pleased with his contributions, spoke of them in very flattering terms, in March, 1835, publishing "Berenice." Henceforth Poe became a regular monthly contributor to the Messenger. In the June number of the magazine appeared Poe's tale of "Hans Pfaall." Poe's reputation was now increasing so rapidly that Mr. White became desirous of retaining his services exclusively for his magazine, and having sounded his contributor, and found him only too willing, engaged him to assist in the editorial duties of the Messenger at a salary of about one hundred guineas (520 dollars) per annum. In consequence of this appointment Poe at once removed from Baltimore to Richmond, Virginia, where the magazine was published. During the whole of 1836 Poe devoted his entire attention to the Messenger, producing tales, poems, essays, and reviews in profusion; indeed, apparently at Mr. White's suggestion, frittering away his genius over these last. Early in the year a gleam of hope seemed to break in upon his chequered career. In Richmond, once more among his kindred, he met and married his cousin Virginia, the daughter of his father's sister, Maria. Miss Clemm was but a girl in years, and already manifested symptoms of the family complaint, consumption, but, undeterred by this or by his slender income,