Annotation
[1] NH, I, 288-92.
[2] The parody entitled ``The Pole-Cat'' did not appear in the Quincy Whig until March 18, 1846. Hence Lincoln's estimate of ``six weeks'' is somewhat inaccurate.
[3] ``The Raven'' was first published in N. P. Willis' Evening Mirror, January, 1845. Later Lincoln read and memorized the poem.
[4] See Lincoln's letter to Johnston, February 24, 1846. The poem was ``Mortality'' by William Knox.
[5] Now Spencer County, then Perry County, Indiana.
[6] In the absence of the original manuscript of this canto which was enclosed with the letter to Johnston, it is impossible to know which variations from the complete manuscript are Lincoln's emendations. The version sent to Johnston seems, however, to be a revision of the first canto as preserved in the complete manuscript printed supra (February 25? 1846). A second canto was sent in Lincoln's letter of September 6, 1846. Both cantos were published in the Quincy Whig, May 5, 1847. See letter of February 25, 1847, infra.