are far up in Heaven—­the stars I kneel to In the sad, silent watches of my night; While even in the meridian glare of day I see them still—­two sweetly scintillant Venuses, unextinguished by the sun!”

They were not married, and the breaking of the engagement affords a striking illustration of his character.  He said to an acquaintance in New York, who congratulated with him upon the prospect of his union with a person of so much genius and so many virtues—­“It is a mistake:  I am not going to be married.”  “Why, Mr. Poe, I understand that the bans have been published.”  “I cannot help what you have heard, my dear Madam:  but mark me, I shall not marry her.”  He left town the same evening, and the next day was reeling through the streets of the city which was the lady’s home, and in the evening—­that should have been the evening before the bridal—­in his drunkenness he committed at her house such outrages as made necessary a summons of the police.  Here was no insanity leading to indulgence:  he went from New York with a determination thus to induce an ending of the engagement; and he succeeded.

Sometime in August, 1849, Mr. Poe left New York for Virginia.  In Philadelphia he encountered persons who had been his associates in dissipations while he lived there, and for several days he abandoned himself entirely to the control of his worst appetites.  When his money was all spent, and the disorder of his dress evinced the extremity of his recent intoxication, he asked in charity means for the prosecution of his journey to Richmond.  There, after a few days, he joined a temperance society, and his conduct showed the earnestness of his determination to reform his life.  He delivered in some of the principal towns of Virginia two lectures, which were well attended, and renewing his acquaintance with a lady whom he had known in his youth, he was engaged to marry her, and wrote to his friends that he should pass the remainder of his days among the scenes endeared by all his pleasantest recollections of youth.

On Thursday, the 4th of October, he set out for New York, to fulfill a literary engagement, and to prepare for his marriage.  Arriving in Baltimore he gave his trunk to a porter, with directions to convey it to the cars which were to leave in an hour or two for Philadelphia, and went into a tavern to obtain some refreshment.  Here he met acquaintances who invited him to drink; all his resolutions and duties were soon forgotten; in a few hours he was in such a state as is commonly induced only by long-continued intoxication; after a night of insanity and exposure, he was carried to a hospital; and there, on the evening of Sunday, the 7th of October, 1849, he died, at the age of thirty-eight years.