is one of the most curious on record."]

In criticism, as Mr. Lowell justly remarks, Mr. Poe had "a scientific
precision and coherence of logic;" he had remarkable dexterity in the
dissection of sentences; but he rarely ascended from the particular to
the general, from subjects to principles; he was familiar with the
microscope but never looked through the telescope. His criticisms are of
value to the degree in which they are demonstrative, but his unsupported
assertions and opinions were so apt to be influenced by friendship or
enmity, by the desire to please or the fear to offend, or by his constant
ambition to surprise, or produce a sensation, that they should be
received in all cases with distrust of their fairness. A volume might be
filled with literary judgments by him as antagonistical and inconsistent
as the sharpest antitheses. For example, when Mr. Laughton Osborn's
romance, "The Confessions of a Poet," came out, he reviewed it in "The
Southern Literary Messenger," saying:

"There is nothing of the _vates_ about the author. He is no poet-and
most positively he is no prophet. He avers upon his word of honor that
in commencing this work he loads a pistol and places it upon the table.
He further states that, upon coming to a conclusion, it is his intention
to blow out what he supposes to be his brains. Now this is excellent.
But, even with so rapid a writer as the poet must undoubtedly be, there
would be some little difficulty in completing the book under thirty days
or thereabouts. The best of powder is apt to sustain injury by lying so
long 'in the load.' We sincerely hope the gentleman took the precaution
to examine his priming before attempting the rash act. A flash in the
pan--and in such a case--were a thing to be lamented. Indeed there would
be no answering for the consequences. We might even have a second series
of the 'Confessions.'"--_Southern Literary Messenger_, i. 459.

This review was attacked, particularly in the Richmond "Compiler," and
Mr. Poe felt himself called upon to vindicate it to the proprietor of the
magazine, to whom he wrote:

"There is no necessity of giving the 'Compiler' a reply. The book is
_silly enough of itself_, without the aid of any controversy concerning
it. I have read it, from beginning to end, and was very much amused at
it. My opinion of it is pretty nearly the opinion of the press at large.
I have heard no person offer one serious word in its defense."--_Letter
to