volume, which is now extremely rare. For the purposes of

his memoir, Mr. Didier carefully examined the copy and reports as follows:

"It numbered seventy-one pages. On the sixth page is the dedication, 'Who drinks the deepest? Here's to him.' "Al Aaraaf' is printed as now, except eight unimportant verbal changes. 'Tamerlane,' which is dedicated to John Neal, is preceded by an advertisement as follows :-' This poem was printed for publication in Boston, in the year 1827, but suppressed through circumstances of a private nature.' What this may have been it is impossible now to conjecture. There is only one word changed in the whole poem. After 'Tamerlane' followed nine miscellaneous poems, all of which, with the exception of the first and part of the eighth, are in this edition of Poe's works. The first of these miscellaneous poems consists of four stanzas, and is headed 'To——.' It has never been reprinted in full, but the third stanza contains the germ of 'A Dream within a Dream.""

It does not appear that this little volume excited any interest, and it seems more than probable that Mr. Allan paid for its publication. At that time there were but two literary journals in Baltimore, and only one of these-The Minerva-noticed the book, and reviewed it rather roughly. The young poet seems to have gained neither money nor fame by this publication.

FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH HIS COUSIN.

Whatever may have been the predisposing cause, it is quite certain that at this time Edgar Poe was well acquainted with his aunt, Mrs. Maria Clemm, and his cousin Virginia.

Mrs. Clemm was his father's sister, and the widow of William Clemm, a schoolmaster, who had bravely fought for his city and state during the war of independence. She was now compelled to earn her living by keeping school.

Virginia was a lovely, delicate child of seven, and from the first, Edgar seems to have been devoted to her. This love for his beautiful, fairy-like cousin, whom he afterwards married, and to whom he was devotedly attached throughout his life, is the great redeeming point in Poe's strange and restless career. She was the prototype of many of his beautiful creations. She was "The fair and gentle young Eulalie who became his blushing bride "—his Ligeia-his "beautiful one"-his Annabel Lee, "whom he loved with a love that was more than love "-his lost Lenore. Throughout life, Mrs. Clemm and her daughter remained his constant and most devoted friends and defenders.

But even whilst he was enjoying the society of his newly found relatives, the end of all his fair prospects was fast approaching. Already the dread shadow of that unmerciful Diaster, which followed fast and followed faster," was looming over him. He was summoned back to Richmond by the alarming illness of Mrs. Allan. He hastened to obey the sad summons, for he fondly loved his adopted mother. But, alas! he was never again to see that kind, motherly face, never again to hear that sweet and gentle voice, for when he arrived at his foster-home, she was no more.

For the time, this sad event caused no immediate change in Mr. Allan's treatment of him, unless it were a change for the better. If there had been so complete a rupture between them as some writers assert, Mrs. Allan's death led to a reconciliation. At all events, Edgar now again resided with his foster father.

CHOICE OF A PROFESSION.

In the next year, Mr. Allan pointed out to the young man that he must adopt a profession. This may have been intended as a hint that Edgar must now learn to depend somewhat on his own efforts, and that he must no longer regard himself as sole heir to Mrs. Allan's great wealth, or it may have been simply that his foster father very wisely thought that a young man-however great his expectations -should adopt a profession, and learn to be of use in the world. Whatever may have been the remote cause, Mr. Allan talked with Edgar long and seriously on this point, and as might have been expected, the high-spirited youth chose the army. He expressed a dislike for the dry drudgery of the law, and for the arduous life of a physician. The apparently gay, dashing, and chivalrous career of a soldier seemed much more congenial to him, and so he fixed his choice. His foster father seems to have been much pleased with his selection, and immediately set to work to secure his entrance to West Point Military Academy. At that time he had so many influential friends that an appointment was soon obtained, and on the 1st July, 1830, furnished with a handsome and liberal outfit, he entered West Point.

Perhaps he was the most brilliant and gifted, but least creditable cadet that ever entered that celebrated school of arms. "He was," says Mr. Didier, "now in the very first bloom of that remarkable beauty of face and form, which neither study, nor trouble, nor poverty, nor sorrow, ever destroyed. Dark, hyacinthine locks of hair fell in graceful curls over his magnificent forehead, beneath which shone the most beautiful, the most glorious of mortal eyes. His

figure was slight, but elegantly proportioned; his bearing was proud and fearless."

LIFE AT WEST POINT.

For a time Poe seems to have thrown himself into his studies with great ardour, but he soon discovered that the life of a soldier was not so gay and dashing as his youthful fancy had imagined. The strict discipline, the monotony of morning drill and evening parade, the guard-duty, and the irksome routine work, were each and all distasteful to him. He began to chafe under the restraint with ill-concealed impatience.

With delight he turned from military science to scan the tuneful verse of Virgil, or neglected mathematics for the musical language of Macaulay, who was just then beginning to charm the world.

Self-willed as ever, he shirked evening parade and morning drill, to wander along the romantic banks of the Hudson, perhaps meditating "Israfel," or planning "The Fall of the House of Usher." At all events, early in 1831, he published another volume of verse, under the title of "Poems by Edgar A. Poe." This book contained seven new poems, and also "Al Aaraaf," and "Tamerlane," from the edition of 1829, but omitted all others that had been in that work. The seven new poems were "To Helen," "Israfel," "The Doomed City" (afterwards improved and called "The City in the Sea"), "Fairyland” (which retains its name only), “Irene” (afterward remodelled into "The Sleeper "), “ A Pæan” (four verses of which were incorporated in "Lenore"), and “The Valley of Nis" ("The Valley of Unrest"). The volume was prefaced by a long, rambling letter to "My dear B-" sup

posed to be Bulwer, whom of course he did not know —and was published by subscription at a high figure. It was dedicated to the United States Corps of Cadets. Although the price was so high, being 2 dollars 50 cents per copy, it was very generally bought by them and paid for beforehand. When the book appeared, great was the disappointment, for all the famous squibs-with which Poe had beguiled his time, and amused his fellows at West Point-were omitted, and the volume itself was very small, and of poor, coarse paper. The cadets ridiculed the author greatly, and thought the poems "rubbish," a verdict which, however, the world has since almost entirely reversed.

It seems clear that the author wanted to make moneyout of all proportion-by his little venture, and the supposition has therefore arisen that at this time he had been distinctly given to understand by Mr. Allan that he must no longer look to him for further support.

However this may be, it seems to be quite without doubt, that before Edgar entered West Point he received the news of Mr. Allan's second marriage, and while he was at the Academy the intelligence reached him that a son had been born. Poe was therefore no longer the heir to Mr. Allan's great wealth, and as the second Mrs. Allan appears to have been as opposed to Poe as the first Mrs. Allan was fond of him, it may easily be believed that the high-spirited youth had already resolved to earn his own livelihood.

DEPARTURE FROM WEST POINT.

And now again so many inconsistencies, contradictions, and obscurities, meet us in Poe's story, that it is difficult to thread our way through them. Of all the various reasons