WCP4910

Letter (WCP4910.5320)

[1]1

Broadstone, Dorset.

Nov[embe]r. 18th. 1903

Ernest Marriott Esq.2

Dear Sir

I have now read through Poe's3 essay "Eureka"4. It is certainly a remarkable work, very original, and with some beautiful & suggestive ideas, but a large part of it very prolix, laboured, and unsatisfactory.

His idea or explanation of gravitation as being merely the reaction from the original impulse of gravitation does not explain it at all — till you come to the end, the "catastrophe", the final disappearance of matter into God! And of spirit also!!

This conclusion is very fine, but it renders the long & laboured efforts [2]5 to explain things in detail, unnecessary, — his acceptance of Laplace's6 Nebula hypothesis, without at all seeing its difficulties, or limitations is curious. Neither does he make intelligible, how, or why, the centripetal reaction seems everywhere to result in circular or elliptical revolving motion. He also has the old idea, now entirely given up, that the Galaxy is only one of many nebula.His conception of all our pleasures (& pains) being God's also, — that we are in fact parts of God's nature — diffused God as it were — is fine, and perhaps original. The same idea has been reached however in two remarkable books (no doubt quite independently) — "Whence comes [3] Man, from nature or from God7." — and its sequel — "Why does Man Exist"8 — by the late J. Arthur Bell [sic]. From a survey of modern physiology & science generally he reaches the conclusion, that Man comes from God, — and that man is so much part of God, that God feels & suffers, and grieves for, every pain & crime & wrong, of every human being! The books are beautifully written, very suggestive, and I think would interest you.

Your letter about the "Poems from the Inner Life"9 very much pleased me, as it shows you are open to conviction. I therefore send for your acceptance a copy of my little book — "Miracles & Modern Spiritualism"10 — in which you will find much that will be new to you, and perhaps put the subject in a new light.

The "Farewell to Earth"11 is such a [4] favourite of mine that I know it by heart, & use it as an opiate if I lay awake. It really contains the essence of modern spiritualistic teaching, and such lines as — "Where the golden line of duty Like a living pathway lies" strike a higher note than anything in Poe's Earthy poems.

I have written to America & hope to obtain some information as to the origin of Leonaine12 [sic].

Do not hurry to return the "Poems" if you wish to keep them longer.

Yours very truly | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

1

In the top left hand corner of page one of the manuscript, the text reads "4" This letter was one of a series of seventeen letters published privately by an unknown person.

Smith, Charles. (2012). Edgar Allan Poe;

A series of seventeen letters concerning Poe's scientific

erudition in Eureka and his authorship of Leonainie.

http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/S708.htm [accessed 30 May 2014]

2
Marriott, Ernest (1882-1918). English literary figure and Librarian at the Portico Library in Manchester from 1901 until 1911.
3
Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849). American author and poet.
4
Eureka. A non-fiction essay written by Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1848.
5
On the left-hand side of page two of the manuscript, a comment has been written horizontally in the hand of A.R.W. It reads "He even speaks of the planetary rings being solid! instead of millions of times rarer than air".
6
Laplace, Pierre-Simon (1849-1827). French mathematician and astronomer.
7
Whence Comes Man, from 'Nature' or from 'God'? A book written by Arthur John Bell, published in 1888.
8
Why does Man Exist? The Continuation and Conclusion of Whence Comes Man? A book written by Arthur John Bell, published in 1890.
9
Poems from the Inner Life. A collection of poems written by Elizabeth Doten whilst supposedly under the influence of spirits, published in 1864.
10
Miracles and Modern Spiritualism. A book written by Alfred R. Wallace, published in 1896.
11
The Farewell to Earth. A poem written by Elizabeth Doten whilst supposedly under the influence of the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe. Published in Poems from the Inner Life in 1864.
12
Leonainie. A poem allegedly written by Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1877 in The Kokomo Dispatch. The poem was actually written by James Whitcomb Riley.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP4910.5320)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Published letter (WCP4910.5497)

[1]1 [p. 8]

Broadstone, Dorset

Nov. 18th, 1903

Ernest Marriott, Esq.

Dear Sir:

I have now read through Poe's essay "Eureka". It is certainly a remarkable work, very original, and with some beautiful and suggestive ideas, but a large part of it very prolix, laboured, and unsatisfactory. His idea or explanation of gravitation as being merely the reaction from the original impulse of gravitation does not explain it at all—till you come to the end, the "catastrophe", the final disappearance of matter into God! And of spirit also!!

This conclusion is very fine, but it renders the long and laboured efforts to explain things in detail, unnecessary,—his acceptance of Laplace's Nebula hypothesis, without at all seeing its difficulties or limitations is curious. Neither does he make intelligible, how, or why, the centripetal reaction seems everywhere to result in circular or elliptical revolving motion. He also has the old idea, now entirely given up, that the Galaxy is only one of many nebulae. His conception of all our pleasures (& pains) being God's also,—that we are in fact parts of God's nature—diffused God as it were—is fine, and perhaps original. The same idea has been reached however in two remarkable books (no doubt quite independently)—"Whence comes Man, from nature or from God," and its sequel—"Why does Man Exist"—by the late J. Arthur Bell. From a survey of modern physiology and science generally he reaches the conclusion that Man comes from God,—and that man is so much part of God, that God feels & suffers, and grieves for every pain & crime & wrong, of every human being! The books are beautifully written, very suggestive, and I think would interest you.

Your letter about the "Poems from the Inner Life" very much pleased as it shows you are open to conviction. I therefore send for your acceptance a copy of my little book—"Miracles & Modern Spiritualism"—in which you will find much that will be new to you, and perhaps put the subject in a new light.

[2] [p. 9] The "Farewell to Earth" is such a favourite of mine that I know it by heart, & use it as an opiate if I lay awake. It really contains the essence of modern spiritualistic teaching, and such lines as—

"Where the golden line of duty

Like a living pathway lies"

strikes a higher note than anything in Poe's earthly poems.

I have written to America and hope to obtain some information as to the origin of Leonainie.

Do not hurry to return the "Poems" if you wish to keep them longer.

Yours very truly,

(signed) Alfred R. Wallace.

He even speaks of the planetary rings being solid! instead of millions of times rarer than air.

1
Editor Charles H. Smith's Note: Fourth of fifteen letters in a pamphlet, a background to which is as follows: In 1904 Wallace published a pair of short essays (S612 and S614) describing what he had mistakenly taken to be a previously unknown poem by Edgar Allan Poe. This turned out to be a hoax that had been perpetrated by the Indiana writer James Whitcomb Riley some years earlier. In late 1903 Wallace had entered into a correspondence with the literary figure Ernest Marriott about this matter; sometime later Wallace's part of the correspondence—seventeen letters in all (actually, fifteen separately dated ones)—was collected and turned into a privately printed pamphlet. Who did this and when it was done is unknown, though it could not have taken place any later than 1930 (by which time both Wallace and Marriott were long dead), the date a copy of the pamphlet was added to the New York Public Library's collection.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP4910.5497)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Smith, Charles Hyde [2013-02-07] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-02-08]

Please cite as “WCP4910,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4910