“MY DEAR WILLIS—The poem which I inclose, and which I am so vain as to hope you will like, in some respects, has been just published in a paper for which sheer necessity compels me to write, now and then. It pays well as times go-but unquestionably it ought to pay ten prices; for whatever I send it I feel I am consigning to the tomb of the Capulets. The verses accompanying this, may I beg you to take out of the tomb, and bring them to light in the ‘Home Journal?’ If you can oblige me so far as to copy them, I do not think it will be necessary to say ‘From the ——,’ that would be too bad; and, perhaps, ‘From a late —— paper,’ would do. “I have not forgotten how a ‘good word in season’ from you made ‘The Raven,’ and made ‘Ulalume’ (which by-the-way, people have done me the honor of attributing to you), therefore, I _would_ ask you (if I dared) to say something of these lines if they please you. “Truly yours ever, “EDGAR A. POE.” In double proof of his earnest disposition to do the best for himself, and of the trustful and grateful nature which has been denied him, we give another of the only three of his notes which we chance to retain: “FORDHAM, _January_ 22, 1848. “MY DEAR MR. WILLIS—I am about to make an effort at re-establishing myself in the literary world, and _feel_ that I may depend upon your aid. “My general aim is to start a Magazine, to be called ‘The Stylus,’ but it would be useless to me, even when established, if not entirely out of the control of a publisher. I mean, therefore, to get up a journal which shall be _my own_ at all points. With this end in view, I must get a list of at least five hundred subscribers to begin with; nearly two hundred I have already. I propose, however, to go South and West, among my personal and literary friends—old college and West Point acquaintances—and see what I can do. In order to get the means of taking the first step, I propose to lecture at the Society Library, on Thursday, the 3d of February, and, that there may be no cause of _squabbling_, my subject shall _not be literary_ at all. I have chosen a broad text: ‘The Universe.’ “Having thus given you _the facts_ of the case, I leave all the rest to the suggestions of your own tact and generosity. Gratefully, _most gratefully,_ “Your friend always, “EDGAR A. POE.”