in Edgar A. Poe," which affirmation, thus elicited, bears in it, unintentionally we have no doubt, (for Willis is not given to sarcasm,) the bitterest irony. Mr. Poe's goodness, it seems, had escaped ordinary observation, and to establish a belief in its existence it became necessary to authenticate it by a similar process to that by which other men's crimes are substantiated. And so it befell, that writs of curiosity (with some from a better motive) were issued, and instructions were given to all volunteers in the cause of justice and humanity to "attach" this said "goodness" of Mr. Poe's, wherever it might be found, and to bring it before the court of public opinion for adjudication. For some time the returns constantly were non est, but a hue and cry being raised, and more joining in the search, it was finally discovered, and two witnesses were summoned to testify to the genuineness of the thing. These were the late Mrs. Frances S. Osgood, and Mrs. Clemm, his wife's mother, who was also his own aunt. Mr. Willis we may consider as his attorney, and Mr. Griswold as the prosecuting officer. The list of witnesses called by the latter is long, and some of the names are weighty; among them is Mr. Allan, his guardian, who charges him with wanton insult and ingratitude; the Faculty of Maryland University; the President of the Military Academy at West Point; the officers of the regiment from which he deserted; the publishers, White, Burton, Graham, and Godey, whose business he had injured or neglected, with others, who, being superfluous, are excluded. But one we must not omit,-the state's evidence, -himself; for none have accused Poe of more numerous indefensible motives and actions than he admitted to be true. He accuses himself of deliberate falsehood, for the sake of sustaining appearances; of insulting a respectful audience, and a respectable literary association, solely in order to avenge himself upon a small clique, who he fancied had slighted him; of making public, unjust, and untrue allegations against an individual, without any evidence, satisfactory to himself, of their truth; and of experiencing a "superior relish for a row over all sublunary pleasures." Here the prosecutor may be content to rest the case, though but a small fraction of the evidence is in; and we are glad to hear Mrs. Osgood his counsel call for the rebutting testimony. testifies to his "chivalric, graceful, and almost tender reverence for all women who won his respect, and of his playful, witty, and affectionate behavior at home, both to his wife and visitors." Mrs. Clemm, who speaks with a more intimate knowledge than any mere acquaintance could, says: "He was more than a son to myself, in his long-continued and affectionate observance of every duty to me." Here we have reached the one oasis in his checkered and unhappy life; and most cheerfully do we accede to the plea of Mr. Willis, and agree with him "that there was goodness in Edgar A. Poe." Indeed, this gentle home-character, which we cannot doubt, redeems his memory from many of the darker shadows that seem to rest upon it. It is pleasant to know, that, however irascible abroad and with strangers, he was always as kind to his delicate and gentle wife as the sin of habitual intemperance ever permits a man to be. Yet must we confess that this favorable testimony, coming from the persons who render it, impresses us more deeply with their charming character than with his, when we remember that those who saw this "goodness" most clearly were both unusually lovely and gentle women, who probably never hurt his self-esteem, never thwarted, never disputed him. The only other person who coincides with their view of his character is Mr. Willis, himself remarkable for general urbanity of manner, and who expressly says, in his notice of Poe, that he always treated him with "deferential courtesy," - exactly the manner to suit this sensitive and wayward child of genius. And thus we are forced to the conclusion, that it was only in a few exceptional cases, and where the sacrifice of dignity and pretension was all on the side of the other party, that Mr. Poe presented that winning and gentlemanly demeanor described by Mrs. Osgood. That Poe had genius of a high order, both analytic and creative, no one thoroughly acquainted with his writings will deny. But he had also, to its fullest extent, and in its most virulent form, the cant of genius; we mean that disposition exhibited by many of the erratic stars of literature to claim exemption, on account of their peculiarly fine temperament, from the ordinary rules of morality, ever begging the indulgence and tender judgment of their fellows on the very score of superiority, a kind of perpetual plea for "benefit of clergy" in the realm of letters, which ought to have been proscribed there when it was disowned by the law-courts of the fatherland. This cant, learned from the chronicles of Grub Street, and wholly unwarranted, either by the times in which Mr. Poe lived, or the circumstances under which he made his literary début, we regard as the weakest point in his character. It is a plea which any man should be ashamed to make. In the name of virtue, let it be for ever banished from the domain of letters in this Western World. The impression which is made by Poe's writings, as a whole, is decidedly painful, the contrast is forced so perpetually upon us of what he was, and how he used his talents, with what he might have been, and might have accomplished, had he applied his energies to any one noble purpose. We find in him great mental power, but no mental health. His force was the preternatural activity of a strong imagination, which, curbless and uncontrolled, bore him whithersoever it would. Even his ambition had nothing ennobling in it. He "struggled, labored, created, not," as he tells us himself, "because excellence is desirable, but because to be excelled, where there exists a power to excel, is unendurable." If the human brain is indeed a palimpsest, as the author of "Suspiria de Profundis" suggests, and if all the inscriptions once written there are liable to be reproduced, then most assuredly should we pray for some more potent chemistry to blot out from our brain-roll for ever, beyond the power of future resurrection, the greater part of what has been inscribed upon it by the ghastly and charnel-hued pen of Edgar Allan Poe. Rather than remember all, we would choose to forget all that he has ever written. ART. IX. 1. Decadas da Asia 'de JOAM DE BARROS e de DIEGO DE COUTO. Nova Ediçam. 24 vols. Lisboa. 1778. 2. Vida de JOAM DE CASTRO, quarto Viso-Rey da India. Por JACINTO FREIRE DE ANDRADE. Lisboa. 1798. 3. Obras de J. B. ALMEIDA-GARRett. 1843. 18 vols. Lisboa. 4. Historia do Cerco do Porto. Por SIMAM JOSÉ DA Luz SORIANO. 2 vols. Lisboa. 1849. 5. Diccionario Geographico do Reino do Portugal e seus Dominios. Por PAULO PERESTRELLO DA CAMARA. 2 vols. Rio de Janeiro. 1850. 6. Diccionario Geographico das Provincias e Possessoes Portuguezes. Por José MARIA DE SONSA MONTEIRO. 2 parts. Lisboa. 1850. 7. Mappas Geraes do Commercio do Portugal durante o Anno de 1851. Lisboa. 1853. 8. Almanech de Lembranças, Luso, Brasileiro para 1856. Lisboa. 1856. AMONG the thousand readers of the graceful pages in which Prescott has told a portion of the tale of Philip II., are there not some who will give a moment's thought to that other Peninsular nation, which Philip with difficulty subdued, that nation which occupied (old historians say) "the marrow of Spain," medulla Hispanica, which founded the first of modern commercial empires, whose language is as sweet as the Spanish is sonorous, and whose manners are melancholy as the Spanish are gay, but whose career, like the Spanish, has been a sudden glory and a long decline? The origin of the kingdom of Portugal is the most romantic, and at the same time the most democratic, in Europe. Count Henry of Burgundy received from Alfonso VI. of Spain the hand of the fair Theresa, and the sovereignty of as much land as he could conquer from the Moors. He won province after province. At his death his son Alfonso Henriques became Count in his stead, and in 1139 the brave and chivalrous Moors made one last vain effort to resist him. On the field of Ourique was fought a strange battle. Three hundred thousand Moors at the very least, chroniclers say, (believe it who can,) met thirteen thousand Christians, and were vanquished; the five kings who had led them were slain, one by one, and their five shields still constitute the arms of Portugal. For a "Portugal" there was thenceforth to be; the battle, as it proved, was not merely for a religion, but for a kingdom. Alfonso was crowned king upon the field by his victorious soldiers, and he in return raised the whole army to the rank of nobility. But this was not all. It took four years to consummate his declaration of independence, and to gain the papal consent to the new royalty, and it was not till 1143 that there was beheld at Lamego a ceremony unparalleled in the history of coronations. In the church of Santa Maria de Almacava in Lamego, July 25, 1145, the cortes of the new nation was convoked, clergy, officers, and a delegate from every town. Alfonso Henriques was present, seated on the throne, but without crown or sceptre. The assembly was organized, and religious rites were performed. Then Lourenço Viegas, Alfonso's secretary, rose and asked the assembly whether, according to the acclamations on the battle-field, since approved by the Pope, they accepted Don Alfonso for their king. "Yes!" was the enthusiastic shout. "And his children after him?" asked Viegas. "And his children after him," they eagerly repeated. "Shall we give him the ensigns of royalty?" was the next question. "In the name of God," was the answer. Then the Archbishop of Braga placed upon his head a jewelled crown, once worn by the Gothic sovereigns; and the king, drawing his sword, addressed the assembly: "Blessed be God for his aid! By this sword your enemies have been subdued; and it is you who have raised me to be your king and comrade. Let laws now be made, for the peace of our nation." Eighteen statutes were then made, called the Statues of Lamego, the Magna Charta of Portugal. The assembly assented to them all. Then came the last and greatest question. "Is it your will," Viegas said, "that your king should go to Leon, to pay tribute to that king, or to any other?" Then the whole assembly rose, and, waving their |