e given to the
_terrific_. He is at work upon a tragedy, but I have turned him to
drudging upon whatever may make money, and I have no doubt you and he
will find your account in each other."

In the next number of the "Messenger" Mr. White announced that Poe was
its editor, or in other words, that he had made arrangements with a
gentleman of approved literary taste and attainments to whose especial
management the editorial department would be confided, and it was
declared that this gentleman would "devote his exclusive attention to
the work." Poe continued, however, to reside in Baltimore, and it is
probable that he was engaged only as a general contributor and a writer
of critical notices of books. In a letter to Mr. White, under the date of
the thirtieth of May, he says:

"In regard to my critique of Mr. Kennedy's novel, I seriously feel
ashamed of what I have written. I fully intended to give the work a
thorough review, and examine it in detail. Ill health alone prevented me
from so doing. At the time I made the hasty sketch I sent you, I was so
ill as to be hardly able to see the paper on which I wrote, and I
finished it in a state of complete exhaustion. I have not, therefore,
done anything like justice to the book, and I am vexed about the matter,
for Mr. Kennedy has proved himself a kind friend to me in every respect,
and I am sincerely grateful to him for many acts of generosity and
attention. You ask me if I am perfectly, satisfied with your course. I
reply that I am--entirely. My poor services are not worth what you give
me for them."

About a month afterward he wrote:

"You ask me if I would be willing to come on to Richmond if you should
have occasion, for my services during the coming winter. I reply that
nothing would give me greater pleasure. I have been desirous for some
time past of paying a visit to Richmond, and would be glad of an
reasonable excuse for so doing. Indeed I am anxious to settle myself in
that city, and if, by any chance, you hear of a situation likely to suit
me, I would gladly accept it, were the salary even the merest trifle. I
should, indeed, feel myself greatly indebted to you if through your means
I could accomplish this object. What you say in the conclusion of your
letter, in relation to the supervision of proof-sheets, gives me reason
to hope that possibly you might find something for me to do in your
office. If so I should be very glad--for at present only a very small
por