... class of wasted men, like the German Hoffman, whom perhaps of all men of genius he most resembled. No doubt, if we are to apply any standard of moral weight or sanity to authors,--a proposal which Poe would doubtless have ridiculed,--it can only be in a very large and generous way. If a career has only a manly ring to it, we can forgive many errors — as in reading, for instance, the autobiog...