Life of Edgar Allan Poe by James Albert Harrison

Author:James Albert Harrison
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: T.Y. Crowell
Published: 1903-10-21T05:00:00+00:00

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THE N'KW YORK PuDLIC LIBRARY

ASioH, Li- NOX AND

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<' During the whole of the winter 1845-46, he was residing in the city of New York— I think in Amity Street. He was, at that time, a frequent visitor and ever-welcome guest at the houses of many persons with whom I have long been intimately acquainted — among others, the Hon. John R. Bartlett . . . and Miss Anne C. Lynch, now Mrs. Botta — who were accustomed to receive informally at their houses, on stated evenings, the best intellectual society of the city. To reinforce my memory on the subject, I have just referred to letters received from various correspondents in New York, during the winters of 1845 and 1846, in all of which the name of the poet frequently occurs.

** In one of these letters, dated January 20, 1846, the writer says : * Speaking of our receptions, I must tell you what a pleasant one we had on Saturday evening, in Waverley Place; or rather I will tell you the names of some of the company, and you will Jtnffw, among others, that of Cassius Clay, Mr. Hart, the sculptor, who is doing Henry Clay in marble; Hal-leek, Locke (the Man in the Moon), Hunt, of the «' Merchant's Magazine" ; Hudson, Mr. Bellows, Poe, Headley, Miss Sedgwick, Mrs. Kirkland, Mrs. Osgood, Mrs. Seba Smith, Mrs. EUet, and many others more or less distinguished.'

** One of these letters, in which the date of the year is wanting, alludes to a controversy, which took place at one of the soirees between Margaret Fuller (Ossoli) and Poe, about some writer whom, in her lof^, autocratic way, the lady had been annihilating. Miss Fuller was then writing critical papers for the * New York Tribune.' Poe, espousing the cause of the vanquished, with a few keen, incisive rejoinders, ob-

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tained such ascendancy over the eloquent and oracular woman, that somebody whispered, *The Raven has perched upon the casque of Pallas, and pulled all the feathers out of her cap.'

<<In another letter, dated January 7, 1846, I find the following : ' I meet Mr. Poe very often at the receptions. He is the observed of all observers. His stories are thought wonderful, and to hear him repeat " The Raven,** which he does very quietly, is an event in one*s life. People seem to think there is something uncanny about him, and the strangest stories are told, and, what is more, believed^ about his mesmeric experiences, at the mention of which he always smiles. His smile is captivating ! • . . Everybody wants to know him ; but only a few people seem to get well acquainted with him.*

"This was in the spring of 1846, when Poe was at the very acme of his literary and social success among the literati of New York.'*

And how, one may ask, did Poe comport himself among the illuminati of this defunct and mutually admiring generation ?

** As a conversationist,'* remarks Mrs.

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