It was among his remarkable habits that he preserved with scrupulous care everything that was published respecting himself or his works, and everything that was written to him in letters that could be used in any way for the establishment or extension of his reputation.  In Philadelphia, in 1843, he prepared with his own hands a sketch of his life for a paper called “The Museum.”  Many parts of it are untrue, but I refer to it for the purpose of quoting a characteristic instance of perversion in the reproduction of compliments: 

“Of ‘William Wilson,’ Mr. Washington Irving says:  ’It is managed in a highly picturesque style, and its singular and mysterious interest is ably sustained throughout.  In point of mere style, it is, perhaps, even superior to ‘The House of Usher.’  It is simpler.  In the latter composition, he seems to have been distrustful of his effects, or, rather, too solicitous of bringing them forth fully to the eye, and thus, perhaps, has laid on too much coloring.  He has erred, however, on the safe side, that of exuberance, and the evil might easily be remedied, by relieving the style of some of its epithets;’ [since done.] ’There would be no fear of injuring the graphic effect, which is powerful.’  The italics are Mr. Irving’s own.”

Now Mr. Irving had said in a private letter that he thought the “House of Usher” Was clever, and that “a volume of similar stories would be well received by the public.”  Poe sent him a magazine containing “William Wilson,” asking his opinion of it, and Mr. Irving, expressly declining to publish a word upon the subject, remarked in the same manner, that “the singular and mysterious interest is well sustained,” and that in point of style the tale was “much better” than the “House of Usher,” which, he says, “might be improved by relieving the style from some of the epithets:  there is no danger of destroying the graphic effect, which is powerful.”  There is not a word in italics in Mr. Irving’s letter, the meaning of which is quite changed by Mr. Poe’s alterations.  And this letter was not only published in the face of an implied prohibition, but made to seem like a deliberately-expressed judgment in a public reviewal.  In the same way Mr. Poe published the following sentence as an extract from a letter by Miss Barrett: 

“Our great poet, Mr. Browning, the author of ‘Paracelsus,’ etc., is enthusiastic in his admiration of the rhythm.”

But on turning to Miss Barrett’s letter, I find that she wrote: 

“Our great poet, Mr. Browning, author of ‘Paracelsus,’ and ’Bells and Pomegranates,’ was struck much by the rhythm of that poem.”

The piece alluded to is “The Raven.”