AGAIN IN RICHMOND.
When Poe came to Richmond on this visit, he went first to Duncan Lodge,
but afterward, for sake of the convenience of being in the city, took
board at the old _Swan Tavern_, on Broad street, once a fashionable
hostelry, but at this time little more than a cheap, though respectable,
boarding-house for business men. Broad street--so named from its unusual
width--extended several miles in a straight line from Chimberazo Heights
and Church Hill on the east, where Mrs. Shelton had her residence, to
the western suburbs, where Duncan Lodge and our own home of "_Talavera_"
were situated. This was the route which Poe traversed in his visits to
Mrs. Shelton. There were no street cars in those days, hacks were
expensive, and the walk from "the Swan" to Church Hill was long and
fatiguing. Poe would break his journey by stopping to rest at the office
of Dr. John Carter, a young physician who had recently hung out his
sign, about half-way between those two points.
During the three months of his stay in Richmond we saw a good deal of
Poe. He appeared at first to be in not very good health or spirits, but
soon brightened up and was invariably cheerful, seeming to be enjoying
himself. I do not know to what it was to be attributed, unless to his
increased fame as a poet, but certainly his reception in Richmond at
this time was very different from what it had been two years previously.
He became the fashion; and was _feted_ in society and discussed in the
papers. His friend, Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell--a first cousin of Mrs.
Allan--inaugurated the evening entertainments to which people were
invited "to meet Mr. Poe." It was generally expected that at these
gatherings he would recite _The Raven_, and this he was often obliging
enough to do, though we knew that it was to him an unwelcome task. In
our own home, no matter who were the visitors, we would never allow this
request to be made of him after he had on one occasion gratified us by a
recital. I remember on this occasion being disappointed in his manner of
delivery. I had expected some little graceful and expressive action,
but he sat motionless as a statue except that at the line,
"_Prophet! cried I, thing of evil!_"
he slightly erected his head; and again, in repeating:
"Get thee back into the tempest and the night's plutonian shore!"
he turned his face suddenly though slightly toward the outer darkness of
the open window near which he sat, each time raising his voice. He
explained his own idea to be that any action served to attract the
attention of the audience from the poem to the speaker, thus detracting
from the effect of the former. I was told how, at one of these
entertainments, Poe was embarrassed by the persistent attentions of a
moth or beetle, until a sympathetic old lady took a seat beside him and,
with wild wavings of a huge fan, kept the troublesome insect at a
distance. This mingling of the comic with the tragic element rather
spoiled the effect of the latter, and though Poe preserved his dignity,
he was perceptibly annoyed.
I never saw Mr. Poe in a large company, but was told that on such
occasions he invariably assumed his mask of cold and proud reserve, not
untouched by an expression of sadness, which was natural to his features
when in repose. It was then that he "looked every inch a poet." In
general companies he disliked any attempt to draw him out, never
expressing himself freely, and at times manifesting a shyness amounting
almost to an appearance of diffidence, which was very noticeable.
A marked peculiarity was that he never, while in Richmond, either in
society or elsewhere, made any advance to acquaintance, or sought an
introduction, even to a lady. Aware of the estimation in which his
character was held by some persons, he stood aloof, in proud
independence, though responding with ready courtesy to any advance from
others. Ladies who desired Mr. Poe's acquaintance would be compelled to
privately seek an introduction from some friend, since he himself never
requested it, and it was observed that he preferred the society of
mature women to that of the youthful belles, who were enthusiastic over
the author of _Lenore_ and _The Raven_.
Mr. Poe spent his mornings in town, but in the evenings would generally
drive out to Duncan Lodge with some of the Mackenzies. He liked the
half-country neighborhood, and would sometimes join us in our sunset
rambles in the romantic old Hermitage grounds. Those were pleasant
evenings at Duncan Lodge and Talavera, with no lack of company at either
place.