EDGAR A. POE AND HIS BIOGRAPHER. A VINDICATION OF POE FROM THE ASPERSIONS OF RUFUS W. GRISWold. BY WILLIAM F. GILL. "DR. GRISWOLD's biography of my Eddie is one atrocious lie," writes Mrs. Clemm, the mother-in-law of Edgar Allan Poe, in a letter to an intimate friend; and after careful researches, extending over the space of three years, I have come, from the cumulation of corroborative documentary evidence, to give an unequivocal endorsement to Mrs. Clemm's statement. Intense admiration of Poe's writings and of his genius, mingled with deep sympathy for the exceptional misfortunes of his career, first prompted me to the arduous task of investigating the story of his life, and verifying or disproving the statements of the Griswold biography of Poe, which for nearly twenty-five years has been permitted to preface the authorized editions of his works, also forming the basis of several of the biographies that have been written to preface the English editions of the poet's works. As a matter of fact, Poe's poems are five-fold more popular in England than in America, and his prose writings, which have never secured the recognition of extended popular currency in America, are even more admired in England than are his poems. I cannot refrain from feeling and expressing the conviction that Griswold's mendacious biography, preluding the American editions of Poe, and, as it were, forming å chilling wet-blanket, most repelling to the warmest admirer of the poet, is in a degree responsible for the comparatively limited circulation enjoyed by his works in America. I measure the effect of the Griswold biography upon the intelligent reader precisely as does an English reviewer the biography of Poe by James Hannay, based upon Griswold, to wit: Should any man of taste and sense, not acquainted with Poe, be so unfortunate as to look at Mr. Griswold's preface before reading the poetry, it is extremely probable he will throw the book into the fire, in indignation at the self-conceit and affected smartness by which the preface is characterized. As a matter of fact, the demand for the complete edition of Poe's works containing the Griswold memoir, is so limited that, within a few months, calling for this edition at two of the largest book-houses in Boston, I was unable to obtain a copy, and was informed that the calls for it were so few that they, the dealers, were not encouraged to keep this edition of Poe in stock. Yet no one will deny that among the collections of poems by various authors published, Poe is among the most popular and the most admired of the authors repre sented. My purpose in this paper being to offer an impartial statement, or a series of statements, duly authenticated by documents, controverting the statements of Dr. Griswold, rather than to attempt any eulogium of the poet, I shall devote my allotted space, so far as it will allow, principally to meeting the misstatements of the reverend vilifier. Some of Dr. Griswold's statements are properly attributable to malicious |