remain lame; and equally futile are the attempts to trace magic rhythms of "The Raven" into the recesses of Lady Geraldine's Courtship." Mrs. Browning herself was familiar with the American poem and never accused Poe of stealing her metres.1

Of the genesis and evolution of the poem until it appeared in print little or nothing authentic is known. It was one of Poe's surprises, and we cannot trace its growth as we can that of "The Bells" or "Lenore," from the germ to the perfect flower. In print it went through six stages, all immediately under Poe's' eye "The Evening Mirror," "The American Review," "The Broadway Journal" for February 8, 1845, the poet's edition of 1845; the Southern Literary Messenger;" and there is a copy of the 1845 edition owned by the Century Association which contains a few of Poe's MS. notes.

The nearest approximation to authenticity in the accounts of an earlier origin for "The Raven" is that given by Mr. Rosenbach, in "The Baltimore American" for February 26, 1887: "I read The Raven' long before it was published, and was in George R. Graham's office when the poem was offered to him. Poe said that his wife and Mrs. Clemm were starving, and that he was in very pressing need of the money. I carried him $15 contributed by Mr. Graham, Mr. Godey, Mr. McMichael, and others, who condemned the poem, but gave the money as a charity."2

As the poem appeared January 29, 1845, it is evident it must have been composed some weeks before,

1 See Vol. VII. of this edition for the Poe-Chivers controversy and for a further discussion of "The Raven."

2 Woodberry, Poems, p. 157.

which would place its composition somewhere within the year 1844.

The following newspaper clipping (newspaper not named) sent the writer by John P. Poe, Esq., of Baltimore, the poet's relative, throws interesting light on this obscure subject and affords a variant reading for one of the lines in the famous "Raven": —

"Judge George Shea, formerly of the Marine Court of New York, has a letter written to his father by Edgar Allan Poe.

The letter from Poe is written on a glazed paper without lines, the penmanship is clear and legible, the ink is unfaded, and this is the way the letter read, punctuation and capitalization being followed:

DEAR SHEA, Lest I should have made some mistake in the hurry I transcribe the whole alteration. Instead of the whole stanza commencing "Wondering at the stillness broken &c substituting this:

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore
Till the dirges of his Hope the melancholy burden bore,

oh, Nevermore !''''

At the close of the stanza preceding this, instead of "Quoth the raven Nevermore,' substitute "Then the bird said Nevermore.' Truly yours, POE.

"On the back of the letter is the address, J. Augustus Shea, Esq.,' and the words, To be delivered as soon as he comes in.'

"John Augustus Shea in his time was a literary man of ability and industry. His son, Judge Shea, speaking of the Poe letter, said:

"While at West Point my father and Edgar Allan Poe, who was then a cadet, were the closest associates, and it is probable that in his company Poe received his first poetic impulses, for it was at that time he first began writing verses. Poe left West Point before the time of graduation, and soon after published a volume of poems, now a very rare book, a copy of which was sold in Boston not long since for several hundred dollars. The friendship between the two men continued until Shea's death. Poe often consulted with Shea about the

publication of his poems. It was in this way that he committed to Shea the publication, anonymously, of the "Raven" which made its first appearance in the February number of the "American Review," 1845, under the nom de plume of " Quarles."

"It was at this time that the letter from Poe to Shea, given at the beginning of this article, was written and left at Shea's house during his absence. As you will see it is without date. For a short time among those who knew that Shea caused the poem to be published he was regarded as the author, an inference not at all improbable to those who read his "Address to the Ocean,” his lines to The Mountain Pine of Scotland," or "The O'Kavanaugh.”’

"Judge Shea himself knew Poe personally, and in the forties was often in his company. Judge Shea said only the other day: Poe was one of the best elocutionists I have ever heard. It was my good fortune to be present when Poe and my father read and recited to each other. I remember distinctly Poe's rendering of " Florence Vane" and "Annabel Lee," and more than once his own "Raven." reading of the Raven" left upon the mind a very different impression from that which it inspires in

His