We have received a letter from the author of "
The City of Dreadful Night," too late for insertion. It seems to us a mere criticism of a criticism, except as to three statements. There are two misprints in the last extract, a " mantle " being described as " leathern," not " leaden," as it should have been, and the word "louder" turned into" loud." The writer did not copy Poe, having written "life is a dream," and not as Poe did, a " dream within a dream " ; " the creature sits unquelled," not " with unquelled eyes " ; and the poem contains but 1,100 lines, not 1,500. The latter statement we gave on the authority of the Academy, and have only to explain that we never intended to charge the writer with plagiarism, though the words read as if we did so. For the rest, what poet ever existed who did not think that he best understood himself ? Very likely he, does, but the object of publishing his poem is an effect on other men, and that was the effect of rds Sphinx stanzas upon us.
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