ndered where Gill had gotten the material for Poe's
vindication. She had first met Poe at the Mackenzies, when he was editor
of the _Southern Literary Messenger_, and he afterward boarded at the
same hotel as herself; but she saw most of him on his visit to Richmond
previous to his last. He was then at her house daily, and sometimes two
or three times a day. He came there, as he said, to rest.

"If there happened to be friends present he was often obliging enough
to read, and would sometimes read some of his own poems; but he would
never read _The Raven_ unless he felt in the mood for it. When in
Richmond he generally stayed with the Mackenzies at _Duncan Lodge_, and
would drive in with them at any time. One day he came in with his sister
and two of the Mackenzies and stopped with me. There were some other
people present, and he read _The Raven_ for us. He shut out the daylight
and read by an astral lamp on the table. When he was through all of us
that had any tact whatever spared our comments and let our thanks be
brief; for he was most impatient of both."

Of Poe's reading, Mrs. Clark spoke with enthusiasm. "It was altogether
peculiar and indescribable," she said. "I have heard _The Raven_ read by
his friend, John R. Thompson, and others, but it sounded so strange and
affected, compared with his own delivery. Poe had a wonderful
voice--rich, mellow and sweet. I cannot give you any idea of it. Edwin
Booth sometimes reminds me of him in his eyes and expression, but Poe's
voice was peculiar to himself. I have never heard anything like it. He
often read from Shelley and other poets. One day he pointed out to me
in one of Shelley's poems what he considered the truest characteristic
of hopeless love that he knew of:

"'The desire of the moth for the star,
Of the night for the morrow.'

"I enjoyed a good deal of his society during that visit in 1847. On his
last visit I saw less of him. He was then said to be engaged to a Mrs.
Shelton. Some said he was marrying her for her money. There was a good
deal of gossip at that time concerning Poe. His intemperate habits
especially were exaggerated and made the most of by those who did not
like him, while his companions in dissipation escaped unnoticed. When he
was in company at a party for instance--you might see a little of him in
the earlier part of the evening, but he would presently be off
somewhere. Then his eccentricities; I think that when a very young man
he imitat