itself, however, was not destined to see the light; its publication
was delayed, while Mr. Lumley accompanied his pupil on the usual
continental tour, and from this journey the learned gentleman never
returned, dying at Rome, of a cold caught in the library of the
Vatican. By his will, the MS. life of Otway with all his papers, passed
into the hands of his brother, an officer in the army. Unfortunately,
however, Captain Lumley, who was by no means a literary character,
proved extremely indifferent to this portion of his brother's
inheritance, which he treated with contemptuous neglect.

After this first stage on the road to fame, twenty more years passed
away and the letter of the starving poet was again forgotten. At
length the papers of the Rev. Mr. Lumley, fell into the hands of a
nephew, who inherited his uncle's antiquarian tastes, and clerical
profession. In looking over the MSS., he came to the life of Otway,
and was struck with the letter given there, never having met with it
in print; there was also a note appended to it with an account of the
manner in which it had been discovered by the editor, in the library
of Lord G-----, and affirming that it was still in his own possession.
The younger Lumley immediately set to work to discover the original
letter, but his search was fruitless; it was not to be found either
among the papers of his uncle, or those of his father. It was gone.
He was himself a tutor at Cambridge at the time, and returning to
the university, he carried with him his uncle's life of Otway, in MS.
Some little curiosity was at first excited among his immediate
companions by these facts, but it soon settled down into an opinion
unfavorable to the veracity of the late Mr. Lumley.--This nettled the
nephew; and as Lord G-----, was still living, a gouty bloated roue, he
at length wrote to inquire if his lordship knew any thing of the
matter. His lordship was too busy, or too idle, to answer the inquiry.