73 



Grant Wilson that this was the first publication of any sub- 

 stantial part of The Culprit Fay. 2 



Many manuscript copies were in circulation, however. 

 Drake himself is said to have made as many as six copies for 

 friends. No collation of these has, I believe, ever been at- 

 tempted. In a manuscript letter written by W. I. Paulding to 

 E. A. Duyckinck, January 22, 1868, and preserved in the 

 New York Public Library, Paulding quotes Mr. C. Graham 

 Til'lou, Drake's nephew, as saying " The Culprit Fay has never 

 been published as written by Drake." 3 In the circumstances 

 Tillou can hardly have meant more than that not all of 

 Drake's versions are alike. In the " Athenaeum " Willis re- 

 marks that " great numbers of manuscripts are abroad, and 

 with every new copy it is . . . becoming more and more 

 mangled and incorrect." This fact no doubt contributed to 

 the motive which led Mrs. De Kay, Drake's daughter, to pub- 

 lish through Dearborn, in New York in 1835, the thin and 

 beautiful volume which contains the first complete and authori- 

 tative edition of The Culprit Fay, together with such other 

 poems as she cared to include in this permanent record. This 

 edition established the text of the poem. 



What is the theme of the poem? It is the story of the ex- 

 piation by a fairy ouphe of the crime of loving a mortal 

 maiden. The scene is laid in the Highlands of the Hudson, 

 not far from West Point. 



'Tis the middle watch of a summer's night 

 The earth is dark but the heavens are bright; 



The moon looks down on old Cronest. 



The monarch of the Elfs has summoned his court for trial of 

 the Culprit Ouphe for the capital offence of loving an earthly 



2 Century Magazine, 80 : 439. 



3 I wish here to acknowledge the help in obtaining material for ths 

 preparation of this article rendered by Hon. Victor H. Paltsit's, Keeper of 

 MSS. in the New York Public Library. This occasion is in many of its 

 aspects a testimonial to his deep interest in Drake. 



