ion of course drove away all those who would
otherwise have stood by him in his hours of trial. He became, and was, an
Ishmaelite."

After having, in no ungenerous spirit, presented the chief facts in Mr.
Poe's history, not designedly exaggerating his genius, which none held in
higher admiration, not bringing into bolder relief than was just and
necessary his infirmities. I am glad to offer a portraiture of some of
his social qualities, equally beautiful, and--so changeable and
inconsistent was the man--as far as it goes, truthful. Speaking of him
one day soon after his death, with the late Mrs. Osgood, the beauty of
whose character had made upon Poe's mind that impression which it never
failed to produce upon minds capable of the apprehension of the finest
traits in human nature, she said she did not doubt that my view of Mr.
Poe, which she knew indeed to be the common view, was perfectly just, as
it regarded him in his relations with men; but to women he was different,
and she would write for me some recollections of him, to be placed beside
my harsher judgments in any notice of his life that the acceptance of the
appointment to be his literary executor might render it necessary for me
to give to the world. She was an invalid--dying of that consumption by
which in a few weeks she was removed to heaven, and calling for pillows
to support her while she wrote, she drew this sketch:

"You ask me, my friend, to write for you my reminiscences of Edgar Poe.
For you, who knew and understood my affectionate interest in him, and my
frank acknowledgment of that interest to all who had a claim upon my
confidence, for you, I will willingly do so. I think no one could know
him--no one _has_ known him personally--certainly no woman-without
feeling the same interest. I can sincerely say, that although I have
frequently _heard_ of aberrations on his part from the 'straight and
narrow path,' I have never _seen_ him otherwise than gentle, generous,
well-bred, and fastidiously refined. To a sensitive and
delicately-nurtured woman, there was a peculiar and irresistible charm in
the chivalric, graceful, and almost tender reverence with which he
invariably approached all women who won his respect. It was this which
first commanded and always retained my regard for him.

"I have been told, that when his sorrows and pecuniary embarrassments had
driven him to the use of stimulants, which a less delicate organization
might have borne without