anxious and industrious in revision--that his works,
whenever first composed, displayed the perfection of his powers at the
time when they were given to the press.

His contributions to the journals attracted little attention, and his
hopes of gaining a living in this way being disappointed, he enlisted
in the army as a private soldier. How long he remained in the service I
have not been able to ascertain. He was recognized by officers who had
known him at West Point and efforts were made, privately, but with
prospects of success, to obtain for him a commission, when it was
discovered by his friends that he had deserted.

He had probably found relief from the monotony of a soldier's life in
literary composition. His mind was never in repose, and without some such
resort the dull routine of camp or barracks would have been
insupportable. When he next appears, he has a volume of MS. stories,
which he desires to print under the title of "Tales of the Folio Club."
An offer by the proprietor of the Baltimore _Saturday Visitor_, of two
prizes, one for the best tale and one for the best poem, induced him to
submit the pieces entitled "MS. Found in a Bottle," "Lionizing," "The
Visionary," and three others, with "The Coliseum," a poem, to the
committee, which consisted of Mr. John P. Kennedy, the author of
"Horse-Shoe Robinson;" Mr. J.H.B. Latrobe, and Dr. James H. Miller. Such
matters are usually disposed of in a very off-hand way: Committees to
award literary prizes drink to the payer's health in good wines, over
unexamined MSS., which they submit to the discretion of publishers, with
permission to use their names in such a way as to promote the publishers'
advantage. So perhaps it would have been in this case, but that one of
the committee, taking up a little book remarkably beautiful and distinct
in caligraphy, was tempted to read several pages; and becoming
interested, he summoned the attention of the company to the half-dozen
compositions it contained. It was unanimously decided that the prizes
should be paid to "the first of geniuses who had written legibly." Not
another MS. was unfolded. Immediately the "confidential envelope" was
opened, and the successful competitor was found to bear the
scarcely-known name of Poe. The committee indeed awarded to him the
premiums for both the tale and the poem, but subsequently altered their
decision, so as to exclude him from the second premium, in consideration
of his having obtaine