style became more and more evident. A
    number of the stories which Poe had
    prepared for "Tales of the Folio Club" in
    Baltimore before receiving the Saturday
    Visitor Prize, he now published in the
    Messenger. Such stories as
    "Metzengerstein" attracted considerable
    notice,, as they well might, and added not a
    little to his reputation. In some of them a
    marked morbidity was even then noted and
    deprecated. Such deprecatory, comment,
    however, did not prevent their unique
    fascination from being felt. Under the title
    of "Pinakidia" the young editor also
    published at this time a collection of curious
    gleanings covering a wide field of interest
    which were taken from his commonplace
    book. Many of these he used again later in
    the Democratic Review under the title of
    "Marginalia."
      Poe was described about this time as
     being "graceful, and with dark, curling hair
     and magnificent eyes, wearing a Byron
     collar and looking every inch a poet." The
     earliest known portrait of him dates from
     his early days on the Messenger and shows
     him with sideburns and a slightly sardonic
     cast of countenance for so young a man.
     Even at this date he was evidently
     somewhat fragile and delicate. His
     complexion which later became quite sallow
     is described as having been olive.
      Of his private affairs the most important
     event of the Richmond epoch was his
     second marriage to his cousin Virginia. The
     reasons for this appear to be sufficiently
     obvious. The first marriage in Baltimore
     had been clandestine with Mrs. Clemm as
     the only witness. It had been opposed by
     influential relatives and had never been
     made public. All explanations were
     obviated
    by a second marriage in public, nothing was
    said about the first affair, and on May 16,
    1830, a marriage bond was signed in the
    Hustings Court of the City of Richmond
    which described Virginia Clemm as twenty-
    one years old. She was, as a matter of fact,
    less than fourteen years of age at the time,
    and appeared to be a child. The wedding
    took place in a boarding house kept by a
    Mrs. Yarrington, in the company of friends,
    a Presbyterian divine by the name of Amasa
    Converse officiating. After a simple
    ceremony the couple left for their
    honeymoon which was spent at Petersburg,
    Virginia, at the house of a Mr. Hiram
    Haines, editor of the local paper. Poe was
    back in Richmond before the end of May,
    1836, at his desk on the Messenger. Mr.
    White had promised him an increase of

    




    salary later
    011.
      After his marriage, indeed for some time
     before, the poet's correspondence with
     'relatives and friends shows that he was
     desirous of setting up housekeeping. The
     plan followed was to solicit funds for Mrs.
     Clemm and Virginia in order to establish a
     boarding house. Although some small aid,
     "loans," were obtained, the scheme fell
     through, and the little family moved to a
     cheap tenement on Seventh Street, where
     they seem to have remained until the end of
     their stay in Richmond.
      Poe continued his editorial work and
     from his observation, experience, and
     ambition began to evolve in his mind a
     scheme of which the beginnings can be
     traced back to Baltimore. It was his hope to
     establish and to be the editor of a great
     national literary magazine. That Poe was
     one of the first men in America to
     understand the possibilities