And justly might the Lumley Letter claim a full share of literary homage.Boasting a distinguished signature, it possessed the first essential of a superior autograph; for, although a rose under any other name may smell as sweet, yet it is clear that with regard to every thing coming from the pen, whether folio or billet doux, imaginative poem, or matter-of-fact note of hand, there is a vast deal in this important item, which is often the very life and stamina of the whole production.Then again, the subject of extreme want is one of general interest, while the allusion to the unpublished poem must always prove an especial attraction to the curious.Such were the intrinsic merits of the document, in addition to which, sober Time lent his aid to enhance its value, and capricious Fortune added a peculiar charm of mystery, which few papers of the kind could claim to the same extent.The appearance also of this interesting paper was always admitted to be entirely worthy of its fame.The hand- writing fully carried out the idea of extreme debility and agitation corresponding with its nature, while a larger and a lesser blot bore painful testimony to that recklessness of propriety which a starving man might be supposed to feel; one corner had been ruthlessly abstracted at the time it was seen by the writer of this notice, and with it the last figures of the date; a considerable rent crossed the sheet from right to left, but happily without injuring its contents; several punctures were also observed, one of these encroaching very critically upon the signature.But I need not add that these marks of age and harsh treatment, like the scars on the face of a veteran, far from being blemishes, were acknowledged to be so many additional embellishments.The coloring of the piece was of that precious hue, verging here and there on the dingy, the very tint most charming in the eyes of an antiquary, andwhich Time alone can bestow.In fact, one rarely sees a relic of the kind, more perfect in color, more expressive in its general aspect, or more becoming to an album, from the fine contrast between its poverty-stricken air, torn, worn, and soiled, and the rich, embossed, unsullied leaf on which it reposed, like some dark Rembrandt within its gilded frame.In short, it was the very Torso of autographs.Happily the position which it finally attained was one worthy of its merits, and we could not have wished it a more elegant shrine than the precious pages of the Holberton Album, a volume encased in velvet, secured with jeweled clasps, reposing on a tasteful etagere.
{etagere = small table or shelf for displaying curios (French)}
But I proceed without further delay to relate some of the more important steps in the progress of this interesting paper, from the garret of the starving poet to the drawing-rooms of Holberton House, merely observing by way of preface that the following notice may be relied on so far as it goes, the writer--Colonel Jonathan Howard of Trenton, New Jersey,--having had access to the very best authorities, and having also had the honor of being enlisted in the service of the Lumley Autograph upon an occasion of some importance, as will be shown by the narrative.
It was just one hundred years since, in 1745, that this celebrated letter was first brought to light, from the obscurity in which it had already lain some half a century, and which no subsequent research has been able fully to clear away.In the month of August of that year, the Rev.John Lumley, tutor to Lord G--, had the honor of discovering this curious relic under the following circumstances.
Mr.Lumley was one day perched on the topmost step of a library ladder, looking over a black letter volume of Hollinshed, from the well filled shelves of his pupil.Suddenly he paused, and his antiquarian instincts were aroused by the sight of a sheet of paper, yellow and time worn.He seized it with the eagerness of a book- worm, and in so doing dropped the volume of Hollinshed alarmingly near the wig-covered head of his youthful pupil, who with closed eyes, and open mouth, lay reclining on a sofa below.The book, grazing the curls of the young lord's wig, he sprang up from his nap, alive and sound, though somewhat startled.
{Hollinshed = Raphael Holinshed (d.1580), famous writer of British historical chronicles, used by Shakespeare as source for some of his plays} "Hang it Lumley, what a rumpus you keep up among the books! You well nigh drove that old volume into my head by a process more summarythan usual."
The learned tutor made a thousand apologies, as he descended the ladder, but on touching the floor his delight burst forth.
"It was this paper, my lord, which made me so awkward--I have lighted on a document of the greatest interest!""What is it?" asked the pupil looking askance at letter, and tutor.
"An original letter which comes to hand, just in time for my lives of the tragedians--the volume to be dedicated to your lordship--it is a letter of poor Otway."{Otway = Thomas Otway (1652-1685), English playwright who wrote a number of important tragedies in verse, but who died destitute at the age of 33.The Coopers were familiar with his work; James Fenimore Cooper used quotations from Otway's "The Orphan" for three chapter heading epigraphs in his 1850 novel, "The Ways of the Hour"}
"Otway?--What, the fellow you were boring me about last night?" "The same my lord--the poet Otway--you may remember we saw hisVenice Preserved last week.It is a highly interesting letter, written in great distress, and confirms the story of his starvation.You see the signature."{Venice Preserved = a well-known play by Otway, written in 1682} "That name, Otway?--Well, to my mind it is as much like GenghisKhan."
"Oh, my lord!--Thomas Otway clearly--signatures are always more or less confused.
