Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-12-24
EDGAR A. POE AND HIS BIOGRA-
New Work world

II =
:zed edition of Poe's works for twenty-five
years, has done not a little TO limit the de.
mand for them and to preIudice their read
ers against the contents. That it has stood
so long, if not unquestiOned, vet unan-
swered, is the more strange when il an
pears how easily its most i'm
refuted. Mr. Gill takes up DIR. Girls
Wolds statements, Whether made through
carelessness or from whatever motive.
whether important or unimportant, and
discusses them SeriGtiR. In the first place,
Dr. Griswold states that Poe was born in
baltimore in January Of 1911, and in 1922
introduces him as gambler and rake at
the University Of Virginia, from which be
Is expelled. According to his own dates,
Poe would have exhibited this remarkable
precocity al the age of eleven years. "As q
matter Of fact, = says Mr.. Gill, aPoe did not
enter the university until 1926, when be
was seventeen years Of age. He was
never, according to reliable evidence, in
toxicated while there, nor was he ever
expelled" Against the assertion of DIR.
Grisworld that, falling to attract attention
by his pen, Poe enlisted as a private sol
der, and afterwards deserted, Mr.. Gill op-
poses the written testimony of Mrs. GLENN
that his friends were endeavOrlng TO procure
him a commission; from which he con-
cludes he woGld scarcely have unnecessa-
rily occurred the penalty and disgrace OF
deseFtiOn. This is the more plausible since
Mrs. GLENN states thai he was living at
her house at this time, and was never for
one night absent from home. To DR.. Girls
wold's statement that the prize by the
Saturday Visitor, of Baltimore, was given
TO Poe ON account of the beauty of his
penmanship. the other manuscripts not be-
ing even opened, Mr.. Gill responds with
an extract from the Visitor calling atten-
ton to their rare literary merit. The ex-
aggeratiOns of DR.. GrisTOld concerning
Poe's fallen fortunes, his personal appear
anee, and numerous petty charges showing
the animus of DR.. GEisWold's biography,
Mr.. Gill disposes of by the probabilities Of
the circumstances, which are altogether
against DR.. GriSwOld's statements.
With regard to POe's connection with
GrGhagR's Magazine, Mr.. Graham publish
ed, al the time, an indignant denial Of DR..
Griswold's assertions, which nevertheless
still stand in their original form. Mr.. Gill
quotes from Mr.. Grabam's letter; and adds
an account of a personal interview with
Mr.. Graham, who is still living, in which
he states:
Poe never quarreled with him, never was
discharged from GrdhDR's Magazine, and
during the S'four or five years" emphasized
by DR.. 0risHold Is indicating the personal
ill-will between Poe and Mr.. Graham, over
fifty articles by Poe were accepted by Mr..
Graham.
The facts Of POe's secession from Gro
hOm's were as follows:
Mr.. Poe was, from illness or other causes,
absent for short time from his post on the
magazine. Mr.. Graham, had meanwhile
made a temporary arrangement with DIR.
GrisWold TO act as POe's substitute until
his return. Poe came back Unexpectedly,
and seeing Griswold in his chair, turned on
his heel without a word and left the office,
nor could he be persuaded to enter it again,
although, as stated, he sent frequent con-
tributions thereafter to the pages of the
Mr.. Gill then gives the account of DR..
GriswOld's dismissal from the magazine on
account of a secret and scurrilOus attack
made by him on Mr.. Charles j. Peterson;
which involves all the disgrace he heaped
on Poe.
The alleged breaking of POe's engage
ment with Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman, as
DR.. GriswOrld has given it TO the world, is
one Of the unhappy poets sins the public
has visited most severely upon his memory.
After DR.. GriswOld's account was publish
ed, it was denied in printed letter with
all the facts Of the case, by Mr.. VIM. j.
PabOdie, of Providence, but Mr.. GriswOld's
first statement has never been altered, and
has been generally accepted. The follow
ing extracts from a private letter written
by the lady, Mrs. Whitman, in 1873, now
printed by Mr.. Gill, is an effectual, if long
delayed, answer TO DR.. Griswold:
No such scene rs that described by DR..
Griswold ever transpired in my presence.
No one, certainly NO woman, who had the
slightest acquaintance with Edgar Poe
could have credited the story for an in
slant. He was essentially and instructive
ly a gentleman, utterly incapable, even in
moments Of excitement and delirium, of
such an outrage as DR.. GrisYOld has
aseribed to him. No authentic anecdOte
of coarse indulgence in vulgar orgies or
bestial riot has ever been recorded Of him.
During the last years of his unhappy life,
whenever he yielded to the temptation
that was drawing him into is fathOmleSs
abyss, as with the resistleSs swirl Of
the maelstrOm, he always lost HIM
self in sublime rhapsodies on the
evolution Of the universe, speaking as from
some imaginary platform TO vast audiences
of rapt and attentive listeners. During one
of his visits TO this city, in the autumn Of
1S4S, | once saw him, after one Of those
nights of wild excitement, before reason
had fully recovered its throne. Yet even
then, in those frenZied moments when the
doors of the minds ''Haunted Palace were
left all unguarded, his words were the
words Of princely intellect, overweight,
and of a heart only too sensitive and too
finely strung. l repeat that no one &C
quainted with Edgar Poe could have given
DIR. GriswOld's scandalOus anecdote a mo-
ment's credence. Yours, etc,
S.H. WHITMAN.
That Dr.. GriSwOld should have edited
POe's works is a cause for astOnishment;
that he should have written hi- memoir, as
he owns there was no friendship between
them, is more incredible. MIR. Gill says:
1t presents simply the fact Of a designing
and INSCRIPTIONS man, prompted by hatred
and greed Of gain, taking advantage OF a
helpless woman, unaccustOmed TO business,
to defraud her of her rights, and crafty his
malice and bis ayaTiee at her expense.
A miserable pittance having been given
10 Mrs. GLENN in exchange for Ppe's pri-
vate papers, DR.. Griswold draws mp pa
per for Mrs. GLENN to sign, announcing
his appointment as Poe's literary executor,
not emitting, of course, a touching allusiOn
t0 himself. This is duly signed by Mrs.
GLENN and printed over her signature in
the published editions of POe's works. But
if the wording of this curious paper be
carefully observed, it will be noted that
nothing whatever is said in it of any re-
quest by Poe that DIR. GriswOld should
write a memoir Of his lite. This duty was
properly assigned 10 Mr.. Willis, of all men,
familiar with the subject, the most cOmpe-
tent TO fulfill such a task, and his tender
and manly tribute to the stricken genius
was all that could hive been wished, all
that the world called for.
Mrs. GLENN had no idea, at the time she
signed the paper which she scarcely under
stood, that DR.. GrisWold had any intention
of supplementing Mr.. Willis obituary with
any memoir by his own pen. 1t was
piece of gratuitous malice-the act of a
fend exulting over a dead and helpless
victim.
Mr.. Gill has made a very strong case
Ill,