statement which seemed true enough for the
moment, that Poe was "out of his head." It is an ungracious duty to
describe such conduct in a person of Poe's unquestionable genius and
capacities of greatness, but those who are familiar with the career of
this extraordinary creature can recall but too many similar anecdotes;
and as to his intemperance, they perfectly well understand that its
pathology was like that of ninety-nine of every hundred cases of the
disease.

[Footnote C: This lady was the late Mrs. Osgood, and a fragment of what
she wrote under these circumstances may be found in the last edition of
her works under the title of "Lullin, or the Diamond Fay."]

As the autumn of 1846 wore on, Poe's habits of frequent intoxication and
his inattention to the means of support reduced him to much more than
common destitution. He was now living at Fordham, several miles from the
city, so that his necessities were not generally known even among his
acquaintances; but when the dangerous illness of his wife was added to
his misfortunes, and his dissipation and accumulated causes of anxiety
had prostrated all his own energies, the subject was introduced into the
journals. The _Express_ said:

"We regret to learn that Edgar A. Poe and his wife are both dangerously
ill with the consumption, and that the hand of misfortune lies heavy
upon their temporal affairs. We are sorry to mention the fact that they
are so far reduced as to be barely able to obtain the necessaries of
life. This is indeed a hard lot, and we hope that the friends and
admirers of Mr. Poe will come promptly to his assistance in his bitterest
hour of need."

Mr. Willis, in an article in the _Home Journal_ suggesting a hospital for
disabled laborers with the brain, said--

"The feeling we have long entertained on this subject, has been freshened
by a recent paragraph in the _Express_, announcing that Mr. Edgar A. Poe
and his wife were both dangerously ill, and suffering for want of the
common necessaries of life. Here is one of the finest scholars, one of
the most original men of genius, and one of the most industrious of the
literary profession of our country, whose temporary suspension of labor,
from bodily illness, drops him immediately to a level with the common
objects of public charity. There was no intermediate stopping-place-no
respectful shelter where, with the delicacy due to genius and culture, he
might secure aid, unadvertised, till, with ret