Page:The Raven; with literary and historical commentary.djvu/38



HISTORY.

N the autumn of 1844 Poe removed from Philadelphia to New York. Doubtless, he bore with him the rough draft of The Raven. If the account furnished by The South for November 1875 be correct—and there would not appear to be any reason to doubt its accuracy—the original poem had been offered to and rejected by several editors ere it was accepted, through the intervention of the late David W. Holley, by The American Review. Mr. Holley, it is stated, was a near relative of the editor of that review, and being "a gentleman of education, literary tastes, and safe and fearless in judgment, was a trusted attaché of the" publishing establishment. One day, so runs the narration, Poe, being in pecuniary difficulty, presented himself, with his manuscript poem, to Mr. Holley, and related his perplexities. Mr. Holley, says The South, "with characteristic indifference to the adverse opinion of others, after having an equal chance to form an opinion for himself, expressed his decided admiration of the poem. And after listening to the poet's need, and the story of his endeavours to dispose of his weird pet, expressing his regret and even chagrin that he could do no better, he said to Poe, in a most unpoetically business way, the better to conceal his