pon by their friends in
Richmond that neither he nor Rosalie had ever been known to manifest a
sign of religious feeling or of interest in religious things. It was
noticeable in both that, phrenologically considered, the organ of
_veneration_ was so undeveloped as to give a depressed or flat
appearance to the top of the head when seen in profile. And it was known
to Poe's intimate friends that, while he believed in a Supreme Power, he
had no faith in the doctrine of the Divinity of Christ. Hence he was as
a bark at sea with a guiding star in view but no rudder to direct its
course. His eager seeking for truth was ever but a groping in darkness,
with now and then a faint, far-away ray of the light of Truth flashing
upon his sight--as we see in _Eureka_.

Yet Poe was careful to offer no disrespect to religion, and he was a
frequent attendant at church and a great lover of church music.

Great injustice has been done the Allans by Poe's biographers in
representing them as responsible for his early dissipation. By all the
story has been repeated of how the child of three or four years was
accustomed to be given a glass of wine at dinner parties and required to
drink the health of the company.

It was no unusual thing for little children to be taught this trick for
the amusement of company, as from my own recollections I can myself
aver. But the liquor given them was simply a little sweetened wine and
water. As Edgar grew older he was, like other boys in his position--as
the Mackenzies--allowed his glass of wine at table; but no word was ever
heard of his being fond of wine until his return from the University.

I have heard a Richmond gentleman who was Poe's chum at the University
speak of the latter's peculiar manner of drinking. He was no
_connoisseur_, they said, in either wine or other liquors, and seemed to
care little for their mere taste or flavor. "You never saw him
critically discussing his wine or smacking his lips over its excellence;
but he would generally swallow his glass at a draught, as though it had
been water--especially when he was in any way worried." In this way he
would soon become intoxicated, while his companions remained sober. "He
had the weakest head of any one that I ever knew," said this gentleman,
who attributed his dissipation while at the University, not to a natural
inclination, but to a weakness of will which allowed himself to be
easily influenced by his companions.

Hitherto we have