, 1870-06-12
down. AM0HG THE DEAD nzH.


KDoAR 4. POE,
Front hs Oh Guard tor .,,t5x.
A recent writer h Southern periodical CON.
plains Of the unfair treatment OF Poe by Rufus
y. Gfh.old, IN the biographical aketch pre-
that he Was dead. But though Grisswold epoko
OF those peccad11loes Of Pos best known ho
softered thoee be noticed, and omitted n1uch
he might have eaid. 8tit7 had Griswold re-.
fected, he might have put in an ingenious plea
in behalf of the poet, and aesumed that Poeta
frequent violations Of tho code-of morals and
honor was from the lack Of T. Thorough appre-
cstio1 Of right and wrong.
Poo's mind Was not vol balanced. Certain
Of the intellectual faculties wGe in excess.
while some OF the moral ones Appeared to be
deficient. 7 doubt indeed, whether,. with ali
moral iiiok Gris~e1d had, himself, reason to
know, IL We may credit Poe's statement. The
latter came to me one day, chuckliuc over H q
neat 1ittle trick he had Just played upon
Griswold.
tai beok Of his Poets md Poetry Of Amkri-
ca aud I'd like TO write favorable review
OF it; but was hard pressed for money apd
couldn't afford the time. He bit at the bit
like 1angE gudgson, and told me to write
the notice, and, AZ hisipubliabers could use it,
he would pay mo fos them my price, So t
wrote, and handed it to him; md be paid mo-
: swell p I naked, for I saw nothing in that
! but ono Of the tricks Of tho pushshing trade.
II knew he wouldn't read It until ho got
home" continued Poe, s'but I should ike
to have seen lis face when be got to the mid
dle."
"Wasp't it favorable, thsp7"
tsFavorablc? Yes, to tho amateur in SCALP
ing. I abused the book and riaEuled him,
and gaze him the most severe using up he
ever bad. or ever will have, i fancy don't
think he'll send hat to the publishers, and
In quite sure they wouldn't print it it lie
did"
sit isa good joke OF its kind" was my an
ever. s'iou did not keep the ulouev?"
keep it? No, iudcedl spent it at once"
Now, no amount Of argument would con-
vince him that he had obtained money uu-
der false pretcnces in thonhtter; there was no
intent OF wrong itBelf.
Another case occurs to me which will put the
matter in an even clearer light. Poe camo in
to my Office ono day, looking especially hag-
gard. Ho had evidently Just got through one
Of his drinking bouts, and looked very murh
the worse for it. commenced to lecture him
little, but ho interrupted me- with" Oh,
you needn't say word On that. I have made
up my mind on that subject, and have given
my word as gentleman, and man OF honor,
never to drink anything but cold water again
But I'm in terrible strait. promised tho
Bostoniana to read them an original poem this
line. I haven't time now. and what to do
do2't know"
1suggestcd that he should writo postpon-
ing the delivery two weeks = and he might say
that circumstances, over which he had no con-
trol-for he had no control over himself in the
on. 'Better still,' said,, "to plead simply
that yoM would explain when you camo, and
then tell tho truth frankly to some member Of
the committee"
"Ycs, he answered, ''but they're to pay me
for it. and want the money"
You can't expect to get it, unless you earn
"can't II Well, you'll sec. I've Just
thought OF way" And on ho went.
He appeared in Boston On tie night set, and
read Juvenile poem, written before be was Of
hge-he used to say when he was child, but
that was an e1aggcration. He Ind critical
audience, who were dissatisfied and disappoint-
ed but they treated him with courtesy On
Ills return, finding his work was criticised
sharply in the boston papers ho wrote series
OF paragraphs for The Br0altray journal ve-
hemcntIy assailing tho Bostonians, and assort-
ed that hs had planned tho thing deliberately;
and that be had selected the greatest trash
they had gono into raptures over it that thoy
were a1aes and noodlcs-I think be used those
very words-and claiming it az q great triumph.
It never entered his head to think there was
anything wrong in this.
could namc dozen other instances OF this
same lack Of appreciation, To hold such a
man to strict responsibility for his acts IL
unfair. You might Us well convict a raviug
1unatic Of murder. It was not his fault il he
had no-8enBe Of honor, and no feeling OF
shame. The fact Of which Griswold speaks,
transcribing copy Of Captain Browns work
on Conehology, and selling it to Philadcl-
phia publisher as his own original production,
would have been crime in another but Poe
had no idea he was obtaining money OIL false
pretences. He thought it all fair, and clover
piece Of diplomacy. The unfaiIness OF Gris-
void did not consist in mentioning facts that
the one great fact that would explain, and in
ZONE measure, excuse, them.
I could tell some very curious anecdotes
about Poo; but as they would not add any
thing to his good reputation, and as what l
havo said will DO enough to palliato great
many of his shortcomings by showing his IL
responsibility, I refrain. But one thing should
charged him with stealing ''The Raven from
the persian, with which language Poe was IA
niiiar. The charge Is utterly false. Poe
knew no more Of the Persian than be did OF
the ChoctAr, and nothing OF either.
i two PPe Ps'e' taken flon hatso Se Hsds ihs5s
Gcraldine's Courtship'-a quite unconscious
borrowing; but the spirit, recurring refrain,
general idea and mode andmanaren'est uf the
poem, nre sill Poes OWL. Perhaps the charge
ond 81 a5es aes ~s F Tas
accusing Longfellow, for instance, with having
stolen from him and from otherB. But in
either his prose or poetry Foo Was tho master
OF Lis art. Some one has c impaired him With
Savage. In his private life toere are few points
of resemblance, and in Ingenuity and the in
vcnt;vo faculty, he Was sasage's infinite supo-
riot
CORNELIUS v. LAWRENCE.
A ecrap of paper containing an announce
ment OF death, brings Lawrence to my mini
He IVES Collector Of tho Port under Polk, sue
cee1ing Van Ness. Lawrence WAS an
agreeable gentleman, according to my zccol-
lection but he was much bothered by tho
polticians, and 1t annoyed him extremely.
He loved to battle them in quiet way. re-
member Of his telling me one instance in
which WAS concerned. was passing through
the rotunda one day, just as be Was aboEt en-
tering his private office, when he Baw and
and entered the Office with him
I" / wish you had becn here yesterday" he
said, sin come place where yon could have
good look 1t Coddington's faco. Three
Of thcm came in, with Coddington ct the head,
md asked mo to appoint -- a. weigher",
~ dare say" -...-
They urged his claims strongly; but I told
them there was no vacancy.
90. Cnnt yon mako ono = said Coddington.
"'Why, said !, sthere is no one in, at pros-
cnt, who is not strongly backed
"Then Coddington mentioned your name,
and said that you were ono OF Van Ness ap-
pointments, and might be removed"
The deuce be did :" replied.
"Yes told him that would be very hap-
pr to turn you out and put but
there wcre three gentlemen who insisted on
your being retained, and it was very hard to
djsobhge them: In fact, it would bo very un-
"sWho arc theya' said coddington, rather
nbruptly.
!" One Of them, Mr.. Coddington, is Mr.
other il Mr. Dallas, the Vice President the
thlrd il Mr.. Polk, the President. They ali
made such point Of it that am afraid can
not oblige you in that instance Couldn't you
think OF some one else 2
"They changed the subject,' continued
Lawrence, chuckling; they changed the sub
jec!.'
NATHANIEL CHAPMAN.
How came to omit the name Of Dr.. Chap
man, when spoke of some OF the Philadel-
phiA physicians, can not tell. 1t was the play
ct Hamlet with the princely Dano left out.
For Dr.. Chapman, during q long term Of years,
wa8 not only the professor most identical with
the Medical Department Of the University Of
Pennsylvania, but stood very lngh as hunor.
ist, particularly as punBter. Pnnning used
to be very much practiced in Philadelphia
men Of culture there are not 30 much ad-
dicted to it, and with advancing ciEiliza-
ton it will probably die ont. But Chap
man made his debut as a joker with q very
neat pun. Il was Preble, or some one, who
vas about to sail for Algiers, to bring the D,ey