admire gifts so exalted, and feel sympathy for sorrows so overwhelming as were the gifts and sorrows of Edgar A.

Poe.

For one hundred years the Poe family have occupied a prominent position in the city of Baltimore, and have been conspicuously identified with its business, literary, professional, and educational interests. David Poe, the elder (by courtesy called General Poe), the grandfather of the poet, was born in Londonderry, Ireland, in 1743. His father was John Poe; his mother, the sister of Admiral MacBride.* About the middle of the last century, the family emigrated to America, and settled in Pennsylvania, where David grew to manhood, and married the beautiful Miss Cairnes, of that State. In the memorable year 1776, he took up his permanent residence in Baltimore, where he was soon recognized as one of the leading citizens. He took an immediate and active interest in the struggle for independence. We find, in Force's "American Archives" (5th Series, Vol. III., p. 1147), that on the 10th of December, 1776, David Poe bore a prominent part in the expulsion of Robert Christie, the Royal Sheriff of Baltimore; and in the Maryland

* Admiral MacBride was a distinguished officer of the British Navy, and took a conspicuous part in the engagement off Copenhagen, in March, 1801, under Lord Nelson. Admiral MacBride was a member of Parliament for several years. Mrs. John Poe, the mother of General Poe, died in Baltimore, at the age of one hundred and six, and was buried in Westminster Church-yard.

Journal, of March 25, 1777, mention is made of an attack upon Mr. William Goddard by David Poe and other members of the Whig Club. Goddard was the editor of The Journal, and had made himself obnoxious to the patriotic people of Baltimore by publishing unfavorable criticisms of Washington. Hence this attack upon him by the Whig Club, which was composed of the best citizens. Mr. Poe was a zealous member of the club until its dissolution about a year later.

On the 17th of September, 1779, David Poe was appointed, by the Governor and Council of Maryland, Assistant Deputy-Quartermaster for Baltimore. In this position he was very energetic, and frequently, when the State funds were exhausted, he made advances from his personal means, and rendered very valuable service to the cause of the patriots.* His official position required him to correspond with General Smallwood, Governor Lee, General Gist, and other distinguished officers of the Old Maryland Line. Some of his letters may be found in the Maryland papers of the '76 Society: these letters breathe the most ardent patriotism, and might be read with benefit at the present day. In Purviance's "Baltimore During the Revolution," page 106, we find the following estimate of David Poe: "He was a faithful officer,

* Among other things, General Poe furnished two brass cannons, which were used at Yorktown. His patriotism ruined him pecuniarily, and he died quite poor.

and was held in great estimation by all who had business to transact with him. Such was his devotion to his country, that it was almost proverbial, and so unabating was it long after peace was proclaimed that, by the public sentiment, he became a brevet-general, and in his later days was better known as General Poe than by any other name."

At the close of the war, David Poe engaged in the drygoods business in Baltimore. He was a member of the First Branch of the City Council in 1799-1800. This was the only public position he held after the Revolutionary War. When Baltimore was threatened by the British, in September, 1814, General Poe volunteered in the defense of the city, and, although then seventy-one years old, he took an active part in the battle of North Point, where the enemy were ignominiously defeated by the brave militia of Maryland.

General Poe died on the 17th of October, 1816, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. The Baltimore papers, in announcing the death of the noble old patriot, paid glowing tribute to his many good qualities. He died, as he lived, a zealous republican, regretted by an extensive circle of relatives and friends. General Poe's enthusiastic devotion to the American cause won for him the friendship of Washington, Lafayette, and the other leading men of that time. At the reception given to General Lafayette, by the surviving officers and sailors of the Revolution, at

Baltimore, October 23, 1824, he said: "I have not seen among these my friendly and patriotic commissary, Mr. David Poe, who resided in Baltimore when I was here in 1781, and, out of his very limited means, supplied me with five hundred dollars to aid in clothing my troops, and whose wife, with her own hands, cut out five hundred pairs of pantaloons, and superintended the making of them for the use of my men." Lafayette was informed that Mr. Poe was dead, but that his wife was still living. He expressed an anxious wish to see her. The next day he entered a coach, and, escorted by a troop of horse, paid his respects to the venerable lady. He spoke to her in grateful terms of the friendly assistance he had received from her and her husband. "Your husband,” said Lafayette, pressing his hand on his breast, "was my friend, and the aid I received from you both was greatly beneficial to my troops."

General Poe had six children, of whom the eldest was David Poe, Jr., the father of Edgar. He was a handsome, dashing, clever young fellow, and after receiving ast finished an education as the schools of Baltimore then furnished, he commenced the study of the law in the office of William Gwynn, Esq., an eminent member of the Baltimore bar, and editor of The Federal Gazette. Young Poe and several of his gay companions formed an association called the Thespian Club, for the promotion of a taste for the drama. They met in a large room

in a house belonging to General Poe, on Baltimore Street, near Charles Street, then a fashionable locality for private residences. Here, at their weekly meetings, they recited passages from the old dramatists, and performed the popular plays of the day, for the entertainment of themselves and their friends.

David Poe became so infatuated with the stage that he secretly left his home in Baltimore and went to Charleston, where he was announced to make his "first appearance on any stage." One of his uncles (William Poe),* who lived in Augusta, Georgia, saw the announcement in the newspapers; he went to Charleston, took David off the stage, and put him in the law office of the Hon. John Forsyth, of Augusta. He had always been fond of the society of actors, and was more at home in the greenroom than in the court-room. Before he ran away from home, he had met Mrs. Hopkins, an actress, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Arnold. vivacity, and beauty of the piquant little actress fired the susceptible heart of the young law student; he was willing and anxious to abandon home, position, profession, and everything, to live only for his love. But there existed a slight impediment to his desires in the person of Mr. Hopkins, who played the important role of husband to

The grace,

* William Poe, a younger brother of General Poe, removed to Georgia shortly after the Revolution, and settled in Augusta. He married the sister of the Hon. John Forsyth. His son, Hon. Washington Poe, was a member of Congress from Georgia.