shed until 1840.

GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE.

"My name has figured, I assure you, on the covers of Graham and Godey,
making as respectable an appearance, for aught I could see, as any of
the canonized bead-roll with which it was associated."

So Holgrave tells Miss Phoebe Pyncheon in the "House of Seven Gables,"
and voices Hawthorne's and New England's appreciation of the merit and
supremacy of the two Philadelphia magazines which in the middle of this
century engaged the services and elicited the abilities of the best
American writers.

Mr. George R. Graham, whose name was once known wherever books were read
in America, and whose intimate relations with American literature seemed
"too intrinse t'unloose," has quite outlived the memories of his
countrymen. Few are aware that the generous and able publisher who gave
employment to young James Russell Lowell, who awarded the prize for the
"Gold-Bug" to Edgar Allan Poe, and who was almost the first to pay
American authors for their work, is still living in Orange, New Jersey.
He has outlived health and fortune as well as fame. And now, rich only
in memory, and the precious store of reminiscences of nearly four-score
years, he lies in the Memorial Hospital at Orange contentedly awaiting
the end, neither anxious to go nor eager to remain.

His few personal wants and the necessary comforts of his age are fully
provided by Mr. George W. Childs, whose liberal hand, prompted by his
generous heart, never wearies in doing deeds of generosity.

Mr. Graham has told me in detail the story of his magazine. He was the
owner and editor of _Atkinson's Casket_, when, in 1841, William E.
Burton, the actor, came to him with the request that he should buy the
_Gentleman's Magazine_, of which Burton had been the proprietor for four
years. Burton explained that money was needed for his new theatre, that
the magazine must be sold, that it numbered thirty-five hundred
subscribers, and that it would be sold outright for thirty-five hundred
dollars. Graham, who at that time had fifteen hundred subscribers to his
own magazine, accepted the offer, and the _Gentleman's Magazine_ was
transferred to him. "There is one thing more," said Burton, "I want you
to take care of my young editor." That "young editor," who in this
manner entered the employ of George Graham, was Edgar Allan Poe. Mr.
Graham bears clear and willing testimony to the efficient service
rendered by Poe to the new magazine, which, now co