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Dread of Living Inhumation.

ing and despair. For the bright side of the painting I had a limited sympathy."

Dreams of the day and of the night are plentiful in Pym's narrative, and are rather more typical of the psychological introspection of the poet than of the healthy animalism and muscular energy of the sailor. And yet they are not out of harmony with the tone of this work, nor discordant with the overwrought imagination of a sensitive youth. A dreaming fit is described in the second chapter-that whence Pym is aroused by the dog "Tiger"—which fully equals in descriptive terror and power of language any of the English Opium-Eater's "Confessions;" whilst the analysis of the various mental phases through which the hero passes—as told in Chapter xxiv.—from the time he commences his descent of the soapstone cliff and must not think, until the longing to fall is finally finished by the fall, quite equals in psychological subtlety anything that De Quincey ever did. Another noteworthy passage is that in Chapter xxi., wherein is described the horrible dread, ever recurring with such ghastly effect in Poe's tales, of entombment alive: "The supremeness of mental and bodily distress of living inhumation" continually overshrouds his imagination, and his readers are goaded into believing that the narrator himself must have experienced the sographically-portrayed horrors of "the blackness of

darkness which

envelops the victim, the terrific oppression of lungs, the stifling fumes from the damp earth," and all the appalling paraphernalia of a deathscene, which he shudderingly declares, even as he describes, are "not to be tolerated-never to be conceived."

The originality of Poe's genius, as shown in this "Narrative," will doubtless be the more generally admired, although less real, in such things as where he explains the singular character of the many-hued waters—which never seemed limpid—in the Antarctic island; and in the gradually-revealed horror of the inhabitants of the colour white; or in the ingenuity of the perusal of the torn letter by phosphorus; or in such probably inexplicable psychological facts, as the long ocean travelling voyager, in his delirium, beholding every creation of his "mind's-eye" in motion-movement being the all predominant idea. Our remarks on "Arthur Gordon Pym" are purposely directed more towards bringing prominently forward certain commonly unnoted characteristics of the tale, than to recalling attention to its generally appreciated, and frequently commented upon, more salient features.

Another of Poe's productions for this year was "Siope: A Fable. [In the manner of the Psychological Autobiographists].” "Siope," which appeared in the Baltimore Book for 1838, is the weird prose

152

His Invention Limited.

poem now styled “Silence,” and is paralleled in many passages by its author's sonnet to "Silence" and other later poems. Poe's inventive genius, indeed, was much more limited than is generally supposed, leading him to frequently repeat and repolish, rather than to originate, over and over again: the same favourite quotation, or pet idea, may be found doing duty in several places. Those readers well acquainted with his earlier as well as later publications, will be able to recall to mind many instances of such repetition.

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CHAPTER XI.

IN THE CITY OF PENN.

LATE in 1838 Poe removed to Philadelphia. The reason of his removal is uncertain, but it has been suggested that regular literary employment was proffered him in the Quaker city, wherefore, as the independence he had sought to earn by his pen was not obtainable in New York, he migrated thither with his lares et penates. That, or the constitutional restlessness, which like a fiend goaded him hither and thither, may have been the motive power. The whole burden of the household now falling upon his shoulders, for Mrs. Clemm relinquished the New York house and accompanied the Poes to Philadelphia, the poet sought engagements in various quarters. Among other magazines for which he agreed to write was the American Museum, a new publication projected and edited by Dr. N. C. Brooks of Baltimore. Requested by the proprietor to furnish a critique on Washington Irving, Poe replied in the following terms :—

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Washington Irving under Fire.

"PHILADELPHIA, September 4, 1838. "MY DEAR SIR,—I duly received your favour with the $10. Touching the review, I am forced to decline it just now. I should be most unwilling not to execute such a task well, and this I could not do at so short notice, at least now. I have two other engagements which it would be ruinous to defer. Besides this, I am just leaving Arch Street for a small house, and, of course, am somewhat in confusion.

"My main reason, however, for declining is what I first alleged, viz.: I could not do the review well at short notice. The truth is, I can hardly say that I am conversant with Irving's writings, having read nothing of his since I was a boy, save his Granada.' It would be necessary to give his entire works a reperusal. You see, therefore, the difficulty at once. It is a theme upon which I would like very much to write, for there is a vast deal to be said upon it. Irving is much overrated, and a nice distinction might be drawn between his just and his surreptitious and adventitious reputation-between what is due to the pioneer solely, and what to the writer.

"The merit, too, of his tame propriety and faultlessness of style should be candidly weighed. He should be compared with Addison, something being hinted about imitation, and Sir Roger de Coverley should be brought up in judgment. A bold and a priori investigation of Irving's claims would strike home, take my word for it. The American literary world never saw anything of the kind yet. Seeing, therefore, the opportunity of making a fine hit, I am unwilling to hazard your fame by a failure, and a failure would assuredly be the event were I to undertake the task at present.

"The difficulty with you is nothing-for I fancy you are conversant with Irving's works, old and new, and would not