Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/130

 incomparable Virginia Edition of "Edgar Allan Poe," for which work all Poe students owe Dr. Harrison profound gratitude. Quoting Bishop Fitzgerald: "With a view to giving him pecuniary assistance in a delicate way, and an expression of the good will of the Richmond public toward him, Poe was invited to deliver a lecture on some topic to be chosen by himself. The tickets were placed at five dollars each, and at that price three hundred persons were packed into the Assembly Rooms of the Old Exchange Hotel. The lecture prepared for the occasion was on 'The Poetic Principle,' and it was read by him as it is now presented in his works. He was a charming reader, his manner the opposite of the elocutionary or sentimental—quiet, without gesture, with distinctness of utterance, nice shadings of accent, easy gracefulness, and that indefinable element that draws the hearer toward the speaker with increasing good will and pleasure. I am glad that I heard Poe read that lecture; its sentences on the printed page have for me an added charm from the recollection. The net proceeds of the lecture amounted to fifteen hundred dollars."

According to a letter to Mrs. Clemm from Mrs. Shelton, Poe spent the last evening in Richmond with the latter. She writes, "he came to take leave of me. He was very sad and complained of being sick. I felt his pulse and found he had considerable fever, and did not think it probable he would be able to start the next morning (Thursday) as he anticipated. I felt so wretched about him all that night that I went up early the next