THE_LUMLEY_AUTOGRAPH(卢母雷手迹)

THE LUMLEY AUTOGRAPH 1 THE LUMLEY AUTOGRAPH by Susan Fenimore Cooper THE LUMLEY AUTOGRAPH 2 THE LUMLEY AUTOGRAPH BY THE AUTHOR OF RURAL HOURS ETC The month of November of the year sixteen hundred and was cheerless and dark as November has never failed to be within the foggy smoky bounds of the great city of London It was one of the worst days of the season what light there was seemed an emanation from the dull earth the heavens would scarce have owned it veiled as they were by an opaque canopy of fog which weighed heavily upon the breathing multitude below Gloom penetrated every where no barriers so strong no good influences so potent as wholly to ward off the spell thrown over that mighty town by the spirits of chill and damp they clung to the silken draperies of luxury they were felt within the busy circle of industry they crept about the family hearth but abroad in the public ways and in the wretched haunts of misery they held undisputed sway Among the throng which choked the passage of Temple Bar toward evening an individual shabbily clad was dragging his steps wearily along his pallid countenance bearing an expression of misery beyond the more common cares of his fellow passengers Turning from the great thoroughfare he passed into a narrow lane and reaching the door of a mean dwelling he entered ascended a dirty stairway four stories high and stood in his garret lodging If that garret was bare cold and dark it was only like others in which many a man before and since has pined away years of neglect and penury at the very moment when his genius was cheering enriching enlightening his country and his race That the individual whose steps we have followed was indeed a man of genius could not be doubted by one who had met the glance of that deep clear piercing eye clouded though it was at that moment by misery of body and mind that amounted to the extreme of anguish The garret of the stranger contained no food no fuel no light its occupant was suffering from cold hunger and wretchedness Throwing himself on a broken chair he clenched his fingers over the manuscript held within a pale and emaciated hand THE LUMLEY AUTOGRAPH 3 Shall I die of hunger or shall I make one more effort he exclaimed in a voice in which bitterness gave a momentary power to debility I will write once more to my patron possibly without waiting to finish the sentence he groped about in the dull twilight for ink and paper resting the sheet on a book he wrote in a hand barely legible Nov 20th 16 MY LORD I have no light and cannot see to write no fire and my fingers are stiff with cold I have not tasted food for eight and forty hours and I am faint Three times my lord I have been at your door to day but could not obtain admittance This note may yet reach you in time to save a fellow creature from starvation I have not a farthing left nor credit for a ha penny small debts press upon me and the publishers refused my last poem Unless relieved within a few hours I must perish Your lordship s most humble Most obedient most grateful servant This letter scarcely legible from the agitation and misery which enfeebled the hand that wrote it was folded and directed and again the writer left his garret lodging on the errand of beggary he descended the narrow stairway slowly dragged his steps through the lane and sought the dwelling of his patron Whether he obtained admittance or was again turned from the door whether his necessities were relieved or the letter was idly thrown aside unopened we cannot say Once more mingled with the crowd we lose sight of him It is not the man but the letter which engages our attention to day There is still much doubt and uncertainty connected with the subsequent fate of the poor poet but the note written at that painful moment has had a brilliant career a history eventful throughout If the reader is partial to details of misery and poverty any volume of general literary biography will furnish him with an abundant supply for such has too often proved the lot of those who have built up the noble edifice of British Literature like the band of laborers on the Egyptian pyramid theirs was too often a mess of leeks while milk and honey and oil were the portion of those for whom they toiled those in whose honor and for whose advantage the monument was raised Patrons whether single individuals or nations have too often proved but indifferent friends THE LUMLEY AUTOGRAPH 4 careless and forgetful of those whom they proudly pretend to foster But leaving the poor poet with his sorrows to the regular biographer we choose rather the lighter task of relating the history of the letter itself a man s works are often preferred before himself and it is believed that in this the day of autographs no further apology will be needed for the course taken on the present occasion We hold ourselves indeed entitled to the especial gratitude of collectors for the following sketch of a document maintaining so high a rank in their estimation And justl