s lost caste as a writer of novels. But Miss Lynch cared little
what opinions any one held so long as they really had opinions and
would stand by them, and Mrs. Child was welcomed to her home until she
left the city, in 1844, to spend the rest of her life in Wayland,
Massachusetts.

Very often Edgar Allan Poe attended the Lynch receptions, taking with
him his delicate wife, who seemed to get better for the moment when
she saw her husband the centre of a notable gathering. For even here
Poe had quite a following of his own. It was on one of these evenings
that he gave it as his opinion that _The Sinless Child_ was one of the
strongest long poems ever produced in America. This poem was just
then making a great stir and on this special evening had been the
subject of much discussion. The author was present, as she usually was
where writers congregated, for the beautiful and witty Elizabeth Oakes
Smith carried enthusiasm and inspiration wherever she went. She found
time to form part of many a circle, even though her days were well
filled, for she assisted her husband, "Major Jack Downing," in his
editorial work. For many a year before she finally retired to
Hollywood, South Carolina, she held her place as the first and only
woman lecturer in America.

[Illustration:

1. W.D. HOWELLS.
2. J.G. HOLLAND.
3. RICHARD GRANT WHITE.
4. BRANDER MATTHEWS.
5. WILLIAM WINTER.

From an engraving of the picture by J.H. Marble; courtesy of Mr. W.E.
Benjamin.]

Another dear friend of Poe's might usually be found at these
receptions. "Estella" Lewis, the poet, lived in Brooklyn and held
there quite a court of clever people. The time came when she was,
indeed, a friend in need to Poe in his time of dire necessity at
Fordham. It was at her Brooklyn home that he read _The Raven_ before
it was published, and Estella Lewis was the last friend he visited
before he left New York on the journey south which ended in his death.

On the "Poe nights," too, Ann S. Stephens was usually to be found at
Miss Lynch's. She became a much-read novelist, writing _Fashion and
Famine_ and _Mary Derwent_. On these nights, too, might be seen
Margaret Fuller, the transcendentalist. She had left her Massachusetts
home to take her place with Horace Greeley as literary editor of the
_Tribune_, and between whiles devoted herself to charitable work in an
effort to better the social condition of the poor of the metropolis.
During most of her stay she lived in a l