A Chapter on Autography and An Appendix of Autographs — Poe, 1841–1842 — reading text

letter written altogether by himself. He generally employs an amanuensis, whose chirography does not differ materially from his own, but is somewhat more regular. Orv ted author of the whole of them, he would at all events be entitled to a place among our literati. His chirography is simple, clear and legible, with little grace and less boldness. These traits are pre- cisely those of his literary style. the “‘ veritable Jack” himself, written by him indi- vidually in our own bodily presence. Here, then, is an opportunity of comparison. The chirography of ‘‘ the veritable Jack ” is a very good, honest, sensible hand, and not very dissimilar to that of Ex-President Adams. ” tis BA 983 4 | 4 4 is ane : = 4 4 ; * A 5 49 j 4 + aS + N > | 4 we) _ . | [Source scan page 34] —_ Per in 4 984 AUTOGRAPHY. Mr. J. R. Lowe, of Massachusetts, is entitled, in our opinion, to at least the second or third place among the poets of America. We say this on ac- count of the vigor of his imagination —a faculty to be first considered in all criticism upon poetry. In this respect he surpasses, we think, any of our writers (at least any of those who have put themselves pro- minently forth as poets) with the exception of Long- fellow, and perhaps one other. His ear for rhythm, nevertheless, is imperfect, and he is very far from possessing the artistic ability of either Longfellow, Bryant, Halleck, Sprague or Pierpont. The reader desirous of properly estimating the powers of Mr. Lowell will find a very beautiful little poem from his pen in the October number of this Magazine. There. is one also (not quite so fine) in the number for last month. He will contribute regularly. | His MS. is strongly indicative of the vigor and pre- cision of his poetical thought. The man who writes thus, for example, will never be guilty of metaphori- cal extravagance, and there will be found terseness as well as strength in all that he does. Mr. L. J.Ctsr, of Cincinnati, has not written much prose, and is known especially by his poetical com- positions, many of which have been very popular, although they are at times disfigured by false meta- Mr. ARTHUR is not without a rich talent for description of scenes in low life, but is uneducated, and too fond of mere vulgarities to please a refined taste. He has published ‘‘ The Subordinate”, and ‘“‘Tnsubordination”’, two tales distinguished by the Mr. Hearn is almost the only person of any lite- rary distinction residing in the chief city of the Old Dominion. He edited the “ Southern Literary Mes- senger’’ in the five or six first months of its exist- ence ; and, since the secession of the writer of this ar- ticle, has frequently aided in its editorial conduct. Dr. Tuomas Hotiey Curvers, of New York, is at the same time one\pf the best and one of the worst poets in America. \ His productions affect one as a wild dream —strange, incongruous, full of images of more than arabesque monstrosity, and snatches of sweet unsustained song. Even his worst nonsense (and some of it is horrible) has an indefinite charm of sentiment and melody. We can never be sure that there is any meaning in his words —neither is there | any meaning in many of our finest musical airs— phor, and by a meretricious straining after effect. This latter foible makes itself clearly apparent in his chi- rography, which abounds in ornamental flourishes, not illy executed, to be sure, but in very bad taste. peculiarities above mentioned. He has also written much for our weekly papers, and the ‘‘ Lady’s Book.” His hand is a common-place clerk’s hand, such as we might expect him to write. The signature is much better than the general MS. He is the author of ‘Edge-Hill”, a well-written novel, which, owing to the circumstances of its pub- lication, did not meet with the reception it deserved. His writings are rather polished and graceful, than forcible or original; and these peculiarities can be traced in his chirography. but the effect is very similar in both. His figures of speech are metaphor run mad, and his grammar is often none atall. Yet there are as fine individual passages to be found in the poems of Dr. Chivers, as in those of any poet whatsoever. His MS. resembles that of P. P. Cooke very nearly, and in poetical character the two gentlemen are closely akin. Mr. Cooke is, by much, the more cor- rect ; while Dr. Chivers is sometimes the more poetic. Mr. C. always sustains himself; Dr. C. never. 3 ; 3 | 3 | a \ 3 t % [Source scan page 35] AUTOGRAPH Y. Judge Story, and his various literary and political labors, are too well known to require comment. _ Mis chirography is a noble one — bold, clear, mas- sive, and deliberate, betokening in the most unequiv- Joun Frost, Esq., Professor of Belles Lettres in the High School of Philadelphia, and at present edi- tor of “‘The Young People’s Book,’ has distin- guished himself by numerous literary compositions for the periodicals of the day, and by a great num- ber of published works which come under the head of the utile rather than of the dulce—at least in the Mr. J. F. Orrs is well known as a writer for the Magazines ; and has, at various times, been connect- ed with many of the leading newspapers of the day — especially with those in New York and Washington. His prose and poetry are equally good ; but he writes too much and too hurriedly to write invariably well. Mr. Reynotps occupied at one time a distinguish- ed position in the eye of the public, on account cf his great and laudable exertions to get up the American South Polar expedition, froma personal participation in which he was most shamefully excluded. He has Willig Mr. WiILL1AM CUTTER, a young merchant of Port- land, Maine, although not very generally known asa poet beyond his immediate neighborhood, (or at least out of the Eastern States ) has given to the world nu- merous compositions which prove him to be possessed q 4 é FY if : Davip Paut Brown, Esq., is scarcely more dis- tinguished in his legal capacity than by his literary compositions. Asa dramatic writer he has met with much success. His “Sertorius’’ has been particu- larly well received both upon the stage and in the closet. His fugitive productions, both in prose and | The plain unornamented style of his compositions is ocal manner all the characteristics of his intellect. impressed with accuracy upon his hand-writing, the : 3 whole air of which is well conveyed in the signature. BiG estimation of the young. He is a gentleman of fine taste, sound scholarship, and great general ability. His chirography denotes his mental idiosyncrasy with great precision. Its careful neatness, legibility and finish, are but a part of that turn of mind which leads him so frequently into compilation. The signa- ture here given is more diminutive than usual. His taste is fine, and his judgment in literary mat- ters is to depended upon at all times when not inter- fered with by his personal antipathies or predilections. His chirography is exceedingly illegible and, like his style, has every possible fault except that of the common-place. | written much and well. Among other works, the public are indebted to him for a graphic account of the noted voyage of the frigate Potomac to Madagascar. His MS. is an ordinary clerk’s hand, giving no in- dication of character. of the true fire. He is, moreover, a fine scholar, and a prose writer of distinguished merit. His chirography is very similar to that of Count Tasistro, and the two gentlemen resemble each other very peculiarly in their literary character. verse, have also been numerous, diversified, and te excellent. q His chirography has no doubt been strongly modi- < | a fied by the circumstances of his position. No one at a : can expect a lawyer in full practice to give in his i MS. any true indication of his — or character. P 4 4 “4 3 4 f & > ¥ iy 4 | 4 tee 7 > ~ 4 by 4 ty @ Ve hy é fe, { f é ‘Ea 4 vi I [Source scan page 36] ‘ & ou we id 3 AUTOGRAPHY. Mrs. E. CLEMENTINE STEDMAN has lately attracted much attention by the delicacy and grace of her poetical compositions, as well as by the piquancy and spirit of her prose. For some months past we have been proud to rank her among the best sad the contributors to ‘‘ Graham’s Magazine.” Her chirography differs as materially from that of her sex in general as does her literary manner from the usual namby-pamby of our blue-stockings. It is, indeed, a beautiful MS., very closely resembling that of Professor Longfellow, but somewhat more dimi- nutive, and far more full of grace. J. GREENLEAF WHITTIER, is placed by his particu- lar admirers in the very front rank of American poets. We are not disposed, however, to agree with their decision in every respect. Mr. Whittier is a fine versifier, so far as strength is regarded independently _of modulation. His subjects, too, are usually chosen with the view of affording scope to a certain vivida vis of expression which seems to be his forte ; but in taste, and especially in imagination, which Coleridge has justly styled the soul of all poetry, he is even remarkably deficient. His themes are never to our liking. His chirography is an ordinary clerk’s hand, afford- ing little indication of character. Mrs. Anw S. STEPHENS was at one period the editor of the “ Portland Magazine,” a periodical of which we have not heard for some time, and which, we presume, has been discontinued. More lately her name has been placed upon the title page of ‘‘ The Lady’s Companion ” of New York, as one of the con- ductors of that journal —to which she has contributed ‘many articles of merit and popularity. She has also written much and well, for various other periodicals, and will, hereafter, eaxich this magazine with her compositions, and act as one of its editors. Her MS. is a very excellent one, and differs from that of her sex in general, by an air of more than usual force and freedom. Graham’s Magazine — 1842-01 [Source scan page 44] npsnemeiheeeieetenenneitorxnetsiAbeteeiiinwetewertnstinnssiniihatmmtiesaiasenroatmsnileininieaneess Ae NRE nny uacsinera-e elias pacer norte et ee AN APPENDIX OF AUTOGRAPHS. BY EDGAR A. POE. In our November and December numbers we gave fac-simile signatures of no less than one hundred and mine of the most distinguished American Jiteratz. Our design was to furnish the readers of the Maga- zine with a complete series of Autographs, embracing a specimen of the MS. of each of the most noted among our living male and female writers. For obvious reasons, we made no attempt at classification or ar- rangement — either in reference to reputation or our own private opinion of merit. Our second article will be found to contain as many of the Dui majorum gentium as our first; and this, our third and last, as many as either— although fewer names, upon the whole, than the preceding papers. The impossi- bility of procuring the signatures now given, at a period sufficiently early for the immense edition of December, has obliged us to introduce this Ap- pendix. It is with great pleasure that we have found our anticipations fulfilled, in respect to the popularity of these chapters—our individual claim to merit is so trivial that we may be permitted to say so much — but we confess it was with no less surprise than pleasure that we observed so little discrepancy of opinion manifested in relation to the hasty critical, or rather gossiping observations which accompanied the signatures. Where the subject was.so wide and so necessarily personal—where the claims of more than one hundred literati, summarily disposed of, were turned over for re-adjudication to a press so intricately bound up in their interest as is ours — it is really surprising how little of dissent was mingled with so much of general comment. The fact, how- ever, speaks loudly to one point: —to the umity of truth. It assures us that the differences which exist among us, are differences not of real, but of affected opinion, and that the voice of him who maintains