His wife's death, after a residence in the county of about three years, was a sad blow to the poet's sensitive organization ; but it is plciiisant to think that the sweetest as well as the saddest memories of his "dear heart" his "dear Virginia," were associated with the charming landscapes of Morrisania and Fordham. Poe was nearly thirty-four years old when, in the autumn of 1844, he removed to New York City from Philadelphia. Born in Boston, in January LSll, his early life was as chequered and eventful as his manhood was dark and stormy. The Poe family was one of the oldest and most respectable in Maryland. Edgar's grandfather was a quartermaster-general in the Continental Army and the friend of Lafayette. His father while a law student fell in love with a beautiful actress, Elizabeth Arnold, and went on the stage. He was discarded by his family, and he and his wife died within a few weeks of each other in Richmond, Va., leaving three children, Henry, Edgar and Rosalie, in a state of destitution. Edgar was adopted by Mr.

I John Allan, a wealthy merchant of Richmond, from whom he derived his middle name. Mr. and Mrs. Allan treated him with great kindness, and after a tour of the British Islands in 1816, placed him at school at Stoke Newington near London, where he remained four or five years. In 1822 he returned to Richmond, and in 1825 was entered as a student at the University of Virginia. His life at the University was marked by many youthful excesses, which finally resulted in his expulsion. He was very much in debt and upon Mr. Allan's refusal to satisfy the claims of some of his creditors he quarreled with his benefactor and set out to join the Greeks, who were then in the midst of their war with Turkey.