CHAPTER III.

1827-1831.

ENTERS THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. HIS LIFE THERE.STATEMENT OF MR. WERTENBAKER.-A SUCCESSFUL STUDENT. PUBLISHES "AL AARAAF, TAMERLANE, AND MINOR POEMS."-FIRST MEETS MRS. CLEMM AND VIRGINIA.-POE AT WEST POINT.

R. ALLAN certainly gave Edgar Poe the advantages of a first-rate education. The petted and

precocious boy was now an accomplished youth of seventeen, fully prepared to enter college. The University of Virginia-which, with the Declaration of Independence, stand as enduring monuments of the genius and patriotism of Thomas Jefferson-was opened for the reception of students in the spring of 1825. The new seat of learning soon became the favorite resort of the most distinguished young men of Virginia, Maryland, and other Southern States. Mr. Allan determined to send Edgar to the University of Virginia. William Wertenbaker, Esq., the Librarian of the University (to which position he was appointed by Mr. Jefferson, in 1825), has

furnished me with an interesting account of Poe's college career, from which I make the following extracts:

"Edgar A. Poe entered the University of Virginia, February 1st, 1826, and remained until the 15th of December of the same year. He entered the schools of ancient and modern languages, attending the lectures on Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, and Italian. I was myself a member of the last three classes, and can testify that he was regular in attendance, and a very successful student, having obtained distinction at the final examination in Latin and French. This was at that time the highest honor a student could obtain, the present regulations in regard to degrees not having been then adopted. Under existing regulations, Mr. Poe would have graduated in the two languages above mentioned, and have been entitled' to diplomas.

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As Librarian, I had frequent official intercourse with Mr. Poe. The following are the names of some of the books which he borrowed from the college library : 'Histoire Ancienne,' par Rollin; 'Histoire Romaine;' Robertson's 'America;' Marshall's 'Life of Washington;' 'Histoire Particulière" de Voltaire; Dufief's 'Nature Displayed.' It will gratify the many admirers of Poe to know that his works are more in demand and more read than those of any other author, American or foreign, now in the library.

"Mr. Poe was certainly not habitually intemperate

during the time he was at the university. I often saw him in the lecture-room and in the library, but never in the slightest degree under the influence of intoxicating liquors. Among the professors he had the reputation of being a sober, quiet, and orderly young man. To them and to the officers, his deportment was universally that of an intelligent and polished gentleman. The records of the university, of which I was then, and am still, the custodian, attest that, at no time during the session, did he fall under the censure of the Faculty.

"I remember spending a pleasant hour in Mr. Poe's room one cold night in Deceraber, a short time before he left the university. On this occasion, he spoke with regret of the large amount of money he had wasted, and of the debts he had contracted during the session. If my memory is not at fault, he estimated his indebtedness at two thousand dollars, and though they were gaming debts, he was earnest and emphatic in the declaration that he was bound by honor to pay, at the earliest opportunity, every cent of them."

The room-mate and most intimate friend of Poe at the university was the late Judge Thomas S. Gholson, of Petersburg, Va. Among his other classmates were the Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, formerly United States Senator, and now Treasurer of Virginia; General George Mason Graham, of King George County, Va.; Judge William Loving, of Louisville, Ky; Dr. Orlando Fairfax, of Rich

mond, Va.; William M. Burwell, of New Orleans; George H. Hoffman, Esq., of Philadelphia; Philip St. George Ambler, Esq., of Amherst County, Va.; General John S. Preston, of South Carolina; Judge Henry Shackleford, of Culpepper County, Va.; Ex-Governor Thomas Swann, of Maryland; the late Judge Z. Collins Lee, of Baltimore; Dr. William A Spotswood, of Virginia, and a score of others still living.

Poe was liberally supplied with money while at the university, but he had never been taught its value, and, consequently, he spent it recklessly and extravagantly. Goldsmith, whose heart was "open as day to melting charity," said of himself that he had been taught to give away thousands before he had learned to earn hundreds. Poe had been allowed-almost encouraged to throw away thousands before he was eighteen. When a mere boy, his little purse was filled with gold dollars, while the other boys were glad to have silver quarters.

In the winter of 1826-7, Poe returned to Richmond from the university, bringing with him the reputation of great scholarship and great extravagance. The latter reputation was brilliantly maintained, for we hear of champagne suppers, and elegant suits of clothes in abundance. Edgar Poe was, at this time, the gayest, handsomest, and most dashing young man in Richmond; the peer and companion of the Mayos, Randolphs, Prestons, and other aristocratic young men of Virginia. His

distinguished talents, fascinating conversation, polished manners, and presumptive wealth (for Mr. Allan's fortune had been recently increased by the death of a wealthy uncle, and Edgar Poe was to be the heir of his adopted father), made him a welcome visitor in the best society of Richmond.

But Poe's time was not wholly passed in the gay pleasures of fashionable life. He was ambitious, and looked to something higher, nobler, than mere social distinction. He studied much and read more; nor was he satisfied with being only an admirer of the writings of others. He determined to be himself a writer-a poet; to place his name in the literature of his country-in the literature of the world. Early in 1829 we find Poe in Baltimore, with a manuscript volume of verses, which in a few months was published in a thin octavo, bound in boards, crimson sprinkled, with yellow linen back. The title of the book was, "Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. By Edgar A. Poe. Baltimore: Hatch & Dunning. 1829."* The Peabody Library of Baltimore has a copy of this rare volume, which I have carefully examined. It numbers seventy-one pages. On the sixth page is the Dedication : “Who drinks the deepest? Here's to him." "Al Aaraaf" is printed the same as now, except eight unim

* It was printed by Matchett & Woods, who have printed the Baltimore City Directory for nearly half a century. Hatch & Dunning were two young men from New York who started in Baltimore with a small capital. After a year or two they disappeared.