Text: Paul H,. Hayne, “[Review of The Poe Memorial Volume,]” Sunny South (Augusta, GA), vol. II, no. 86, January 27, 1877, p. 4, cols. 4-5

“THE POE MEMORIAL VOLUMES.” Published by the Turnbull Brothers, Baltimore.

Under the general title of “Edgar Allan Poe, a Memorial Volume,” Miss Sara Sigourney Rice, of Baltimore, has prepared and edited with admirable taste one of the most unique and valuable books of the season.

It was a happy idea to collect, and preserve in so permanent a form, the letters, addresses, incidents, &c., &c., called forth by the erection of Poe's monument; these, as now presented, constituting another, and by no means contemptible, monument of their own.

The “contents” of the work are a condensed biographical sketch of Poe, by Mr. Ingram, of London; “Some Reminiscences of Poe as a Schoolboy,” by Col. J. T. L. Preston, of Va.; “ Dedication of the Monument, with Ceremonies of the Occasion,” “Letters from Distinguished Poets and Authors “ (including fac similes of the chirography of Tennyson, Swinburne, Whittier, Bryant, Longfellow and Holmes), together with oriignal “Poetic Tributes” from two American and one French poet. The “illustrations” are a portrait of Poe, a picture of his cottage at Fordham, and, lastly, the monument, as lithographed by Hoen A Co., Baltimore.

The portrait, probably, is the only perfect likeness of Poe in existence. It was photographed from a daguerreotype, originally taken in Richmond, and now in the possession of Mr. Thomas H. Davidson, of Abingdon, Va., who courteously allowed it to be copied for the present volume.

Most persons are acquainted with Poe's features as displayed in the likeness which accompanies the edition of his work by Redfield. Therein, we have an eminently handsome man with a head phrenologically wonderful, and a face, calm, aristocratic, thoughtful, somewhat sarcastic, especially in the expression of the mouth, and as clear-cut in outline as that of some old Greek philosophers.

The general impression, however, is one of unreality. Instinctively, the gazer feels that he contemplates an idealized portrait, in which all hard, characteristic lines, all roughness of contour, have been studiously toned down, if not wholly swept away. Not so with the present likeness. While the smooth, regal brow, superbly developed, is still there, we perceive in the careworn cheeks, the melancholy eyes, tokens of the sorrow, disappointments, wretchedness and the frequent hypochondria which were the curse and burden of Poe's existence.

The ironic bitterness of his nature, or certain phases of it, is plainly indicated by the expression of lips and chin — as plainly, indeed, as the constitutional melancholy shown in the long, slightly disproportionate nose. (Don’t laugh, readers! The human nose is a vastly more expressive organ than seems commonly imagined. Poe himself recognized this significant fact, on its humorous side, in his extravaganza called “Nosology.”)

Of the literary contents of the book, Mr. Ingram's biography, though greatly abbreviated. will be found delightful reading. Its clear, logical arrangement of details and eloquence of style indicate the practical literary workman. More noteworthy still is the conclusive manner [column 2:] in which he has forever disproved some of the worst of Griswold's slanders; showing how that reverend hypocrite had deliberately played the part of moral ghoul, refusing, on several occasions, to correct his published statements fatal to Poe's reputation, although he had been conclusively proved in error.

Col. Preston's “Reminiscences” are charmingly presented. They bring Poe's boyhood before us with unusual vividness. “Although,” writes the Colonel, “I was several years Poe's junior, we sat together on the same form for a year or more at a classical school in Richmond- Our master was Joseph Clark, of Trinity College, Dublin, a hot-tempered, pedantic bachelor Irishman, but a Latinist of the first order.

“Edgar Poe at this time might have been about fifteen or sixteen. His power and accomplishments captivated me, and something in me or in him made him take a fancy to me. In the simple school athletics, he was facile princeps. He was a swift runner, a wonderful leaper, and a boxer with some slight training. I remember that he would allow the strongest boy in the school to strike him with full force in the chest. He taught me the secret, and I imitated him after my measure. It was to inflate the lungs to the uttermost, and at the moment of receiving the blow, to exhale the air. For swimming, he was noted, being in many of his athletic proclivities surprisingly like Byron in his youth. There was no one of the school boys who would so dare in the midst of the rapids of the James river.

“I recall one of his races. A challenge to a foot-race had been passed between the two classical schools of the city. We selected Poe as our champion.

“The race came off one bright May morning at sunrise on the Capitol square. Historical truth compels me to add that our school was beaten, and we had to pay up our small bets. Poe ran well, but his competitor was a long-legged, Indian-like fellow, who would have out-stripped Atalanta without the help of the golden apple.

* * * “In our Latin exercises, Poe was among the first, not first, without dispute. He had competitors, especially one, ‘Nat Howard,’ afterwards known as one of the ripest scholars in Virginia, though distinguished also as a profound lawyer.

* * * “One exercise of the school was a favorite one with Poe — namely: ‘capping verses.’ He was very fond of Horace's Odes, and repeated them so often in my hearing that I learned by sound the words of many before I understood their meaning. In the tilting rhythm of the Sapphics and Iambics, his ear took special delight.

“Ah I when I think of his boyhood, his career, his fate, the poet whose lines I first learned from his musical life, supplies me with his epigraph:

Next in the volume is an account of the ceremonies which accompanied the dedication of the monument.*

These comprise a series of addresses by Professors Elliott and Shepherd, and by Mr. Neilson Poe, a relative of the illustrious poet. The first address, by Prof. Wm. Elliott, jr., professes to be a sketch of “the movement which culminated in the erection of a monument.” We quote from it the following paragraphs:

“For a number of years after the burial of the poet, no steps seem (!) to have been taken towards marking his grave. * * * * * * Another series of years intervened, but yet no monument. True, numerous articles made their appearance during that time in different newspapers, but the authors of those articles were mostly of that class of persons who employ their energies in finding fault with others, totally oblivious of the fact that they themselves no less deserve the censure they so liberally mete out to others. Poe's “neglected grave “ was the stereotyped expression of these modern Jeremiahs.

“Nor were they content to indulge in lamentations. Not unfrequently, our good city was berated because of its alleged (!!) want of appreciation of the memory of one whose ashes they of intimated, had he been an Englishman, instead filling an unmarked grave in an obscure cemetery, would have had accorded to them a place in that grand old Abbey which England has appropriated as a mausoleum for her distinguished dead.”

The wonderful logic of these passages is equalled only by their delicate taste and sweet, amiable temper. It will be remembered that the gentleman makes no distinction and deals in no qualification. He groups, en masse, all the luckless correspondents who dared refer, through the columns of newspapers, to “Poe's neglected grave,” and vents upon them his timely and reasonable spleen. Indeed, his exhibition of nettled amor propre, whether patriotic or personal, is almost laughable in its rather silly naivete.

Now, it is possible that some of the correspondents mentioned, may have expressed them- selves improperly; but this sagacious Professor unhesitatingly — or at least by direct inference — condemns them all ! We conclude, therefore, that the Professor is an old, a. very old-fashioned conservative, Quieta non movere is his motto! Agitate not things that be at rest! Not even the hones and ashes of our distinguished dead, who may have been buried like dogs, in some obscure corner of the land and left unmarked for generations !

Let them decay in peace; and the memory of the great poet, or scientist, or statesman, whatever he might have been, decay and perish utterly along with his mortal remains.

As for men of literary genius, we of the South, are so rich in them and their works, what does it matter whether we revile them living and neg- lect them dead?

Of the “poetic tributes,” in this “memorial volume,” the “sonnet” by Stephane Mallarme, is a queer specimen of the latest French school, “bursting,” as one of his critics has remarked, “with wondrous meanings.”

The other sonnet however, by Edgar Fawcet, will be more generally appreciated by our readers.

EDGAR A. POE.

We must not conclude our notice of this work without alluding to its fine typography; it is indeed a splendid specimen of book-making, and reflects great credit upon the taste and enterprise of ith [[the]] Baltimore publishers, Turnbull & Brothers.

[[Footnotes]]

[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 4, column 5:]

* Among the persons present on this occasion was Professor Joseph Clarke, the Hibernian schoolmaster mentioned by Col. Preston, at whose establishment in Richmond Poe had first become intimate with “the humanities.” If still alive, the old “Trinity College” hero must be closely verging upon his 90th year.