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diff --git a/3481-0.txt b/3481-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..210b76e --- /dev/null +++ b/3481-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17425 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Life of George Borrow, by Herbert Jenkins + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: The Life of George Borrow + Compiled from Unpublished Official Documents, his Works, + Correspondence, etc. + + +Author: Herbert Jenkins + + + +Release Date: October 12, 2014 [eBook #3481] +[This file was first posted on May 11, 2001] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF GEORGE BORROW*** + + +Transcribed from the 1912 John Murray edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + [Picture: Book cover] + + [Picture: George Borrow from the picture in the possession of John + Murray] + + + + + + THE LIFE OF + GEORGE BORROW + + + COMPILED FROM UNPUBLISHED + OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS, HIS + WORKS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. + + BY HERBERT JENKINS + + WITH A FRONTISPIECE IN PHOTOGRAVURE, AND + TWELVE OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS + + * * * * * + + LONDON + JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. + 1912 + + * * * * * + + TO + JOHN MURRARY THE FOURTH + + IN GRATEFUL RECOLLECTION OF THE KEEN INTEREST + HE HAS SHOWN IN THE WRITING OF THE LIFE OF + A MAN WHOM HE WELL REMEMBERS AND MUCH ADMIRES + THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED + BY THE AUTHOR + + * * * * * + + + + +PREFACE + + +DURING the whole of Borrow’s manhood there was probably only one period +when he was unquestionably happy in his work and content with his +surroundings. He may almost be said to have concentrated into the seven +years (1833–1840) that he was employed by the British and Foreign Bible +Society in Russia, Portugal and Spain, a lifetime’s energy and resource. +From an unknown hack-writer, who hawked about unsaleable translations of +Welsh and Danish bards, a travelling tinker and a vagabond Ulysses, he +became a person of considerable importance. His name was acclaimed with +praise and enthusiasm at Bible meetings from one end of the country to +the other. He developed an astonishing aptitude for affairs, a tireless +energy, and a diplomatic resourcefulness that aroused silent wonder in +those who had hitherto regarded him as a failure. His illegal +imprisonment in Madrid nearly brought about a diplomatic rupture between +Great Britain and Spain, and later his missionary work in the Peninsula +was referred to by Sir Robert Peel in the House of Commons as an instance +of what could be achieved by courage and determination in the face of +great difficulties. + +Those seven rich and productive years realised to the full the strange +talents and unsuspected abilities of George Borrow’s unique character. +He himself referred to the period spent in Spain as the “five happiest +years” of his life. When, however, his life came to be written by Dr +Knapp, than whom no biographer has approved himself more loyal or +enthusiastic, it was found that the records of that period were not +accessible. The letters that he had addressed to the Bible Society had +been mislaid. These came to light shortly after the publication of Dr +Knapp’s work, and type-written copies were placed at my disposal by the +General Committee long before they were given to the public in volume +form. + +A systematic search at the Public Record Office has revealed a wealth of +unpublished documents, including a lengthy letter from Borrow relating to +his imprisonment at Seville in 1839. From other sources much valuable +information and many interesting anecdotes have been obtained, and +through the courtesy of their possessor a number of unpublished Borrow +letters are either printed in their entirety or are quoted from in this +volume. + +My thanks are due in particular to the Committee of British and Foreign +Bible Society for placing at my disposal the copies of the Borrow +Letters, and also for permission to reproduce the interesting silhouette +of the Rev. Andrew Brandram, and to the Rev. T. H. Darlow, M.A. (Literary +Superintendent), whose uniform kindness and desire to assist me I find it +impossible adequately to acknowledge. My thanks are also due to the Rt. +Hon. Sir Edward Grey, M.P., for permission to examine the despatches from +the British Embassy at Madrid at the Record Office, and the Registers of +Passports at the Foreign Office, and to Mr F. H. Bowring (son of Sir John +Bowring), Mr Wilfrid J. Bowring (who has placed at my disposal a number +of letters from Borrow to his grandfather), Mr R. W. Brant, Mr Ernest H. +Caddie, Mr William Canton, Mr S. D. Charles, an ardent Borrovian from +whom I have received much kindness and many valuable suggestions, Mr A. +I. Dasent, the editors of _The Athenæum_ and _The Bookman_, Mr Thomas +Hake, Mr D. B. Hill of Mattishall, Norfolk, Mr James Hooper, Mr W. F. T. +Jarrold (for permission to reproduce the hitherto unpublished portrait of +Borrow painted by his brother), Dr F. G. Kenyon, C.B., Mr F. A. Mumby, Mr +George Porter of Denbigh (for interesting particulars about Borrow’s +first visit to Wales), Mr Theodore Rossi, Mr Theodore Watts-Dunton, Mr +Thomas Vade-Walpole, who have all responded to my appeal for help with +great willingness. + +To one friend, who elects to be nameless, I am deeply grateful for many +valuable suggestions and much help; but above all for the keen interest +he has taken in a work which he first encouraged me to write. To her who +gave so plentifully of her leisure in transcribing documents at the +Record Office and in research work at the British Museum and elsewhere, I +am indebted beyond all possibility of acknowledgment. To no one more +than to Mr John Murray are my acknowledgments due for his unfailing +kindness, patience and assistance. It is no exaggeration to state that +but for his aid and encouragement this book could not have been written. + + HERBERT JENKINS. + +_January_, 1912. + + + + +CHAPTER I: +1678–MAY 1816 + + +ON 28th July 1783 was held the annual fair at Menheniot, and for miles +round the country folk flocked into the little Cornish village to join in +the festivities. Among the throng was a strong contingent of young men +from Liskeard, a town three miles distant, between whom and the youth of +Menheniot an ancient feud existed. In days when the bruisers of England +were national heroes, and a fight was a fitting incident of a day’s +revelry, the very presence of their rivals was a sufficient challenge to +the chivalry of Menheniot, and a contest became inevitable. Some +unrecorded incident was accepted by both parties as a sufficient cause +for battle, and the two factions were soon fighting furiously midst +collapsing stalls and tumbled merchandise. Women shrieked and fainted, +men shouted and struck out grimly, whilst the stall-holders, in a frenzy +of grief and despair, wrung their hands helplessly as they saw their +goods being trampled to ruin beneath the feet of the contestants. + +Slowly the men of Liskeard were borne back by their more numerous +opponents. They wavered, and just as defeat seemed inevitable, there +arrived upon the scene a young man who, on seeing his townsmen in danger +of being beaten, placed himself at their head and charged down upon the +enemy, forcing them back by the impetuosity of his attack. + +The new arrival was a man of fine physique, above the medium height and a +magnificent fighter, who, later in life, was to achieve something of +which a Mendoza or a Belcher might have been proud. He fought strongly +and silently, inspiring his fellow townsmen by his example. The new +leader had entirely turned the tide of battle, but just as the defeat of +the men of Menheniot seemed certain, a diversion was created by the +arrival of the local constables. Now that their own villagers were on +the verge of disaster, there was no longer any reason why they should +remain in the background. They made a determined effort to arrest the +leader of the Liskeard contingent, and were promptly knocked down by him. + +At that moment Mr Edmund Hambley, a much-respected maltster and the +headborough of Liskeard, was attracted to the spot. Seeing in the person +of the outrageous leader of the battle one of his own apprentices, he +stepped forward and threatened him with arrest. Goaded to desperation by +the scornful attitude of the young man, the master-maltster laid hands +upon him, and instantly shared the fate of the constables. With great +courage and determination the headborough rose to his feet and again +attempted to enforce his authority, but with no better result. When he +picked himself up for a second time, it was to pass from the scene of his +humiliation and, incidentally, out of the life of the young man who had +defied his authority. + +The young apprentice was Thomas Borrow (born December 1758), eighth and +posthumous child of John Borrow and of Mary his wife, of Trethinnick (the +House on the Hill), in the neighbouring parish of St Cleer, two and a +half miles north of Liskeard. At the age of fifteen, Thomas had begun to +work upon his father’s farm. At nineteen he was apprenticed to Edmund +Hambley, maltster, of Liskeard, who five years later, in his official +capacity as Constable of the Hundred of Liskeard, was to be publicly +defied and twice knocked down by his insubordinate apprentice. + +A trifling affair in itself, this village fracas was to have a lasting +effect upon the career of Thomas Borrow. He was given to understand by +his kinsmen that he need not look to them for sympathy or assistance in +his wrongdoing. The Borrows of Trethinnick could trace back further than +the parish registers record (1678). They were godly and law-abiding +people, who had stood for the king and lost blood and harvests in his +cause. If a son of the house disgrace himself, the responsibility must +be his, not theirs. In the opinion of his family, Thomas Borrow had, by +his vigorous conduct towards the headborough, who was also his master, +placed himself outside the radius of their sympathy. At this period +Trethinnick, a farm of some fifty acres in extent, was in the hands of +Henry, Thomas’ eldest brother, who since his mother’s death, ten years +before, had assumed the responsibility of launching his youngest brother +upon the world. + +Fearful of the result of his assault on the headborough, Thomas Borrow +left St Cleer with great suddenness, and for five months disappeared +entirely. On 29th December he presented himself as a recruit before +Captain Morshead, {3} in command of a detachment of the Coldstream +Guards, at that time stationed in the duchy. + +Thomas Borrow was no stranger to military training. For five years he +had been in the Yeomanry Militia, which involved a short annual training. +In the regimental records he is credited with five years “former +service.” He remained for eight years with the Coldstream Guards, most +of the time being passed in London barracks. He had no money with which +to purchase a commission, and his rise was slow and deliberate. At the +end of nine months he was promoted to the rank of corporal, and five +years later he became a sergeant. In 1792 he was transferred as +Sergeant-Major to the First, or West Norfolk Regiment of Militia, whose +headquarters were at East Dereham in Norfolk. + +It was just previous to this transfer that Sergeant Borrow had his famous +encounter in Hyde Park with Big Ben Bryan, the champion of England; he +“whose skin was brown and dusky as that of a toad.” It was a combat in +which “even Wellington or Napoleon would have been heartily glad to cry +for quarter ere the lapse of five minutes, and even the Blacksmith Tartar +would, perhaps, have shrunk from the opponent with whom, after having had +a dispute with him,” Sergeant Borrow “engaged in single combat for one +hour, at the end of which time the champions shook hands and retired, +each having experienced quite enough of the other’s prowess.” {4a} + +At East Dereham Thomas Borrow met Ann {4b} Perfrement, {4c} a strikingly +handsome girl of twenty, whose dark eyes first flashed upon him from over +the footlights. It was, and still is, the custom for small touring +companies to engage their supernumeraries in the towns in which they were +playing. The pretty daughter of Farmer Perfrement, whose farm lay about +one and a half miles out of East Dereham, was one of those who took +occasion to earn a few shillings for pin-money. The Perfrements were of +Huguenot stock. On the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, their +ancestors had fled from their native town of Caen and taken refuge in +East Anglia, there to enjoy the liberty of conscience denied them in +their beloved Normandy. Thomas Borrow made the acquaintance of the young +probationer, and promptly settled any aspirations that she may have had +towards the stage by marrying her. The wedding took place on 11th +February 1793 at East Dereham church, best known as the resting-place of +the poet Cowper, Ann being twenty-one and Thomas thirty-four years of +age. + +For the next seven years Thomas and Ann Borrow moved about with the West +Norfolk Militia, which now marched off into Essex, a few months later +doubling back again into Norfolk. Then it dived into Kent and for a time +hovered about the Cinque Ports, Thomas Borrow in the meantime being +promoted to the rank of quarter-master (27th May 1795). It was not until +he had completed fourteen years of service that he received a commission. +On 27th February 1798 he became Adjutant in the same regiment, a +promotion that carried with it a captain’s rank. + +Whilst at Sandgate Mrs Borrow became acquainted with John Murray, the son +of the founder of the publishing house from which, forty-four years +later, were to be published the books of her second son, then unborn. +The widow of John Murray the First had married in 1795 Lieutenant Henry +Paget of the West Norfolk Militia. Years later (27th March 1843) George +Borrow wrote to John Murray, Junr., third of the line: + + “I am at present in Norwich with my mother, who has been ill, but is + now, thank God, recovering fast. She begs leave to send her kind + remembrances to Mr Murray. She knew him at Sandgate in Kent + _forty-six_ years ago, when he came to see his mother, Mrs P[aget]. + She was also acquainted with his sister, Miss Jane Murray, {5} who + used to ride on horseback with her on the Downs. She says Captain + [_sic_] Paget once cooked a dinner for Mrs P. and herself; and sat + down to table with his cook’s apron on. Is not this funny? Does it + not ‘beat the Union,’ as the Yankees say?” + +The first child of the marriage was born in 1800, it is not known exactly +when or where. This was John, “the brother some three years older than +myself,” whose beauty in infancy was so great “that people, especially +those of the poorer classes, would follow the nurse who carried him about +in order to look at and bless his lovely face,” {6a} with its rosy cheeks +and smiling, blue-eyed innocence. On one occasion even, an attempt was +made to snatch him from the arms of his nurse as she was about to enter a +coach. The parents became a prey to anxiety; for the child seems to have +possessed many endearing qualities as well as good looks. He was quick +and clever, and when the time came for instruction, “he mastered his +letters in a few hours, and in a day or two could decipher the names of +people on the doors of houses and over the shop windows.” {6b} His +cleverness increased as he grew up, and later he seems to have become, in +the mind of Captain Borrow at least, a standard by which to measure the +shortcomings of his younger son George, whom he never was able to +understand. + +For the next three years, 1800–3, the regiment continued to hover about +the home counties. The Peace of Amiens released many of the untried +warriors, who had enlisted “until the peace,” their adjutant having to +find new recruits to fill up the gaps. War broke out again the following +year (18th May 1803), and the Great Terror assumed a phase so critical as +to subdue almost entirely all thought of party strife. On 5th July Ann +Borrow gave birth to a second son, in the house of her father. At the +time Captain Borrow was hunting for recruits in other parts of Norfolk, +in order to send them to Colchester, where the regiment was stationed. +In due course the child was christened George Henry {7a} at the church of +East Dereham, and, within a few weeks of his birth, he received his first +experience of the vicissitudes of a soldier’s life, by accompanying his +father, mother, and brother to Colchester to rejoin the regiment. The +whole infancy of George Borrow was spent in the same trailing +restlessness. Napoleon was alive and at large, and the West Norfolks +seemed doomed eternally to march and countermarch in the threatened area, +Sussex, Kent, Essex. + +No efforts appear to have been made to steal the younger brother, +although “people were in the habit of standing still to look at me, ay, +more than at my brother.” {7b} Unlike John in about everything that one +child could be unlike another, George was a gloomy, introspective +creature who considerably puzzled his parents. He compares himself to “a +deep, dark lagoon, shaded by black pines, cypresses and yews,” {7c} +beside which he once paused to contemplate “a beautiful stream . . . +sparkling in the sunshine, and . . . tumbling merrily into cascades,” +{7d} which he likened to his brother. + +Slow of comprehension, almost dull-witted, shy of society, sometimes +bursting into tears when spoken to, George became “a lover of nooks and +retired corners,” {7e} where he would sit for hours at a time a prey to +“a peculiar heaviness . . . and at times . . . a strange sensation of +fear, which occasionally amounted to horror,” {7f} for which there was no +apparent cause. In time he grew to be as much disliked as his brother +was admired. On one occasion an old Jew pedlar, attracted by the latent +intelligence in the smouldering eyes of the silent child, who ignored his +questions and continued tracing in the dust with his fingers curious +lines, pronounced him “a prophet’s child.” This carried to the mother’s +heart a quiet comfort; and reawakened in her hope for the future of her +second son. + + [Picture: The birthplace of George Borrow, East Dereham. Photo. H. T. + Cave, East Dereham] + +The early childhood of George Borrow was spent in stirring times. +Without, there was the menace of Napoleon’s invasion; within, every +effort was being made to meet and repel it. Dumouriez was preparing his +great scheme of defence; Captain Thomas Borrow was doing his utmost to +collect and drill men to help in carrying it into effect. Sometimes the +family were in lodgings; but more frequently in barracks, for reasons of +economy. Once, at least, they lived under canvas. + +The strange and puzzling child continued to impress his parents in a +manner well-calculated to alarm them. One day, with a cry of delight, he +seized a viper that, “like a line of golden light,” was moving across the +lane in which he was playing. Whilst making no effort to harm the child, +who held and regarded it with awe and admiration, the reptile showed its +displeasure towards John, his brother, by hissing and raising its head as +if to strike. This happened when George was between two and three years +of age. At about the same period he ate largely of some poisonous +berries, which resulted in “strong convulsions,” lasting for several +hours. He seems to have been a source of constant anxiety to his +parents, who were utterly unable to understand the strange and gloomy +child who had been vouchsafed to them by the inscrutable decree of +providence. + +In the middle of the year 1809 the regiment returned from Essex to +Norfolk, marching first to Norwich and thence to other towns in the +county. Captain Borrow and his family took up their quarters once more +at Dereham. George was now six years old, acutely observant of the +things that interested him, but reluctant to proceed with studies which, +in his eyes, seemed to have nothing to recommend them. Books possessed +no attraction for him, although he knew his alphabet and could even read +imperfectly. The acquirement of book-learning he found a dull and +dolorous business, to which he was driven only by the threats or +entreaties of his parents, who showed some concern lest he should become +an “arrant dunce.” + +The intelligence that the old Jew pedlar had discovered still lay +dormant, as if unwilling to manifest itself. The boy loved best “to look +upon the heavens, and to bask in the rays of the sun, or to sit beneath +hedgerows and listen to the chirping of the birds, indulging the while in +musing and meditation.” {9a} Meanwhile John was earning golden opinions +for the astonishing progress he continued to make at school, +unconsciously throwing into bolder relief the apparent dullness of his +younger brother. George, however, was as active mentally as the elder. +The one was studying men, the other books. George was absorbing +impressions of the things around him: of the quaint old Norfolk town, its +“clean but narrow streets branching out from thy modest market-place, +with thine old-fashioned houses, with here and there a roof of venerable +thatch”; of that exquisite old gentlewoman Lady Fenn, {9b} as she passed +to and from her mansion upon some errand of bounty or of mercy, “leaning +on her gold-headed cane, whilst the sleek old footman walked at a +respectful distance behind.” {9c} On Sundays, from the black +leather-covered seat in the church-pew, he would contemplate with +large-eyed wonder the rector and James Philo his clerk, “as they read +their respective portions of the venerable liturgy,” sometimes being +lulled to sleep by the monotonous drone of their voices. + +On fine Sundays there was the evening walk “with my mother and brother—a +quiet, sober walk, during which I would not break into a run, even to +chase a butterfly, or yet more a honey-bee, being fully convinced of the +dread importance of the day which God had hallowed. And how glad I was +when I had got over the Sabbath day without having done anything to +profane it. And how soundly I slept on the Sabbath night after the toil +of being very good throughout the day.” {10a} + +During these early years there was being photographed upon the brain of +George Borrow a series of impressions which, to the end of his life, +remained as vivid as at the moment they were absorbed. What appeared to +those around him as dull-witted stupidity was, in reality, mental +surfeit. His mind was occupied with other things than books, things that +it eagerly took cognisance of, strove to understand and was never to +forget. {10b} Hitherto he had taken “no pleasure in books . . . and bade +fair to be as arrant a dunce as ever brought the blush of shame into the +cheeks of anxious and affectionate parents.” {10c} His mind was not +ready for them. When the time came there was no question of dullness: he +proved an eager and earnest student. + +One day an intimate friend of Mrs Borrow’s, who was also godmother to +John, brought with her a present of a book for each of the two boys, a +history of England for the elder and for the younger _Robinson Crusoe_. +Instantly George became absorbed. + +“The true chord had now been touched . . . Weeks succeeded weeks, months +followed months, and the wondrous volume was my only study and principal +source of amusement. For hours together I would sit poring over a page +till I had become acquainted with the import of every line. My progress, +slow enough at first, became by degrees more rapid, till at last, under a +‘shoulder of mutton sail,’ I found myself cantering before a steady +breeze over an ocean of enchantment, so well pleased with my voyage that +I cared not how long it might be ere it reached its termination. And it +was in this manner that I first took to the paths of knowledge.” {11a} + +In the spring of 1810 the regiment was ordered to Norman Cross, in +Huntingdonshire, situated at the junction of the Peterborough and Great +North Roads. At this spot the Government had caused to be erected in +1796 an extensive prison, covering forty acres of ground, in which to +confine some of the prisoners made during the Napoleonic wars. There +were sixteen large buildings roofed with red tiles. Each group of four +was surrounded by a palisade, whilst another palisade “lofty and of +prodigious strength” surrounded the whole. At the time when the West +Norfolk Militia arrived there were some six thousand prisoners, who, with +their guards, constituted a considerable-sized township. From time to +time fresh batches of captives arrived amid a storm of cheers and cries +of “Vive L’Empereur!” These were the only incidents in the day’s +monotony, save when some prisoner strove to evade the hospitality of King +George, and was shot for his ingratitude. + +Captain Borrow rejoined his regiment at Norman Cross, leaving his +family to follow a few days later. At the time the country round +Peterborough was under water owing to the recent heavy rains, and at one +portion of the journey the whole party had to embark in a species of +punt, which was towed by horses “up to the knees in water, and, on coming +to blind pools and ‘greedy depths,’ were not unfrequently swimming.” +{11b} But they were all old campaigners and accepted such adventures as +incidents of a soldier’s life. + +At Norman Cross George made the acquaintance of an old snake-catcher and +herbalist, a circumstance which, insignificant in itself, was to exercise +a considerable influence over his whole life. Frequently this curious +pair were to be seen tramping the countryside together; a tall, quaint +figure with fur cap and gaiters carrying a leathern bag of wriggling +venom, and an eager child with eyes that now burned with interest and +intelligence—and the talk of the two was the lore of the viper. When the +snake-catcher passed out of the life of his young disciple, he left +behind him as a present a tame and fangless viper, which George often +carried with him on his walks. It was this well-meaning and inoffensive +viper that turned aside the wrath of Gypsy Smith, {12a} and awakened in +his heart a superstitious awe and veneration for the child, the +_Sap-engro_, who might be a goblin, but who certainly would make a most +admirable “clergyman and God Almighty,” who read from a book that +contained the kind of prayers particularly to his taste—perhaps the +greatest encomium ever bestowed upon the immortal _Robinson Crusoe_. +Thus it came about that George Borrow was proclaimed brother to the +gypsy’s son Ambrose, {12b} who as Jasper Petulengro figures so largely in +_Lavengro_ and _The Romany Rye_, and is credited with that exquisitely +phrased pagan glorification of mere existence: + + “Life is sweet, brother . . . There’s night and day, brother, both + sweet things; sun, moon and stars, brother, all sweet things; there’s + likewise the wind on the heath. Life is very sweet, brother; who + would wish to die?” {13a} + +The Borrows were nomads, permitted by God and the king to tarry not over +long in any one place. In the following July (1811) the West Norfolks +proceeded to Colchester _via_ Norfolk, after fifteen months of prison +duty and straw-plait destroying. {13b} Captain Borrow betook himself to +East Dereham again to seek for likely recruits. In the meantime George +made his first acquaintance with that universal specific for success in +life, for correctness of conduct, for soundness of principles—Lilly’s +Latin Grammar, which to learn by heart was to acquire a virtue that +defied evil. The good old pedagogue who advocated Lilly’s Latin Grammar +as a remedy for all ills, would have traced George Borrow’s eventual +success in life entirely to the fact that within three years of the date +that the solemn exhortation was pronounced the boy had learned Lilly by +heart, although without in the least degree comprehending him. + +Early in 1812 the regiment turned its head north, and by slow degrees, +with occasional counter marchings, continued to progress towards +Edinburgh, which was reached thirteen months later (6th April 1813). +“With drums beating, colours flying, and a long train of baggage-waggons +behind,” {13c} the West Norfolk Militia wound its way up the hill to the +Castle, the adjutant’s family in a chaise forming part of the procession. +There in barracks the regiment might rest itself after long and weary +marches, and the two young sons of the adjutant be permitted to continue +their studies at the High School, without the probability that the morrow +would see them on the road to somewhere else. + +Whilst at Edinburgh George met with his first experience of racial +feeling, which, under uncongenial conditions, develops into race-hatred. +He discovered that one English boy, when faced by a throng of young Scots +patriots, had best be silent as to the virtues of his own race. He +joined in and enjoyed the fights between the “Auld and the New Toon,” and +incidentally acquired a Scots accent that somewhat alarmed his loyal +father, who had named him after the Hanoverian Georges. Proving himself +a good fighter, he earned the praise of his Scots acquaintances, and a +general invitation to assist them in their “bickers” with “thae New Toon +blackguards.” + +He loved to climb and clamber over the rocks, peeping into “all manner of +strange crypts, crannies, and recesses, where owls nestled and the weasel +brought forth her young.” He would go out on all-day excursions, +enjoying the thrills of clambering up to what appeared to be inaccessible +ledges, until eventually he became an expert cragsman. One day he came +upon David Haggart {14} sitting on the extreme verge of a precipice, +“thinking of Willie Wallace.” + +For fifteen months the regiment remained at Edinburgh. In the spring of +1814 the waning star of Napoleon had, to all appearances, set, and he was +on his way to his miniature kingdom, the Isle of Elba (28th April). +Europe commenced to disband its huge armies, Great Britain among the +rest. On 21st June the West Norfolks received orders to proceed to +Norwich by ship _via_ Leith and Great Yarmouth. The Government, relieved +of all apprehension of an invasion, had time to think of the personal +comfort of the country’s defenders. With marked consideration, the +orders provided that those who wished might march instead of embarking on +the sea. Accordingly Captain Borrow and his family chose the land route. +Arrived at Norwich, the regiment was formally disbanded amid great +festivity. The officers, at the Maid’s Head, the queen of East Anglian +inns, and the men in the spacious market-place, drank to the king’s +health and peace. The regiment was formally mustered out on 19th July. + +The Borrows took up their quarters at the Crown and Angel in St Stephen’s +Street, a thoroughfare that connects the main roads from Ipswich and +Newmarket with the city. George, now eleven years old, had an +opportunity of continuing his education at the Norwich Grammar School, +whilst his brother proceeded to study drawing and painting with a “little +dark man with brown coat . . . and top-boots, whose name will one day be +considered the chief ornament of the old town,” {15a} and whose works are +to “rank among the proudest pictures of England,”—the Norwich painter, +“Old Crome.” {15b} + +Whilst the two boys were thus occupied, Louis XVIII. was endeavouring to +reorder his kingdom, and on a little island in the Mediterranean, +Napoleon was preparing a bombshell that was to shatter the peace of +Europe and send Captain Borrow hurrying hither and thither in search of +the men who, a few months before, had left the colours, convinced that a +generation of peace was before them. + +On 1st March Napoleon was at Cannes; eighteen days later Louis XVIII. +fled from Paris. Everywhere there were feverish preparations for war. +John Borrow threw aside pencil and brush and was gazetted ensign in his +father’s regiment (29th May). Europe united against the unexpected and +astonishing danger. By the time Captain Borrow had finished his task, +however, the crisis was past, Waterloo had been won and Napoleon was on +his way to St Helena. + +By a happy inspiration it was decided to send the West Norfolks to +Ireland, where “disturbances were apprehended” and private stills +flourished. On 31st August the regiment, some eight hundred strong, +sailed in two vessels from Harwich for Cork, the passage occupying eight +days. The ship that carried the Borrows was old and crazy, constantly +missing stays and shipping seas, until it seemed that only by a miracle +she escaped “from being dashed upon the foreland.” + +After a few days’ rest at Cork, the “city of contradictions,” where +wealth and filth jostled one another in the public highways and +“boisterous shouts of laughter were heard on every side,” the regiment +marched off in two divisions for Clonmel in Tipperary. Walking beside +his father, who was in command of the second division, and holding on to +his stirrup-leather, George found a new country opening out before him. +On one occasion, as they were passing through a village of low huts, +“that seemed to be inhabited solely by women and children,” he went up to +an old beldam who sat spinning at the door of one of the hovels and asked +for some water. She “appeared to consider for a moment, then tottering +into her hut, presently reappeared with a small pipkin of milk, which she +offered . . . with a trembling hand.” When the lad tendered payment she +declined the money, and patted his face, murmuring some unintelligible +words. Obviously there was nothing in the boy’s nature now that appeared +strange to simple-minded folk. Probably the intercourse with other boys +at Edinburgh and Norwich had been beneficial in its effect. Keenly +interested in everything around him, George fell to speculating as to +whether he could learn Irish and speak to the people in their own tongue. + +At Clonmel the Borrows lodged with an Orangeman, who had run out of his +house as the Adjutant rode by at the head of his men, and proceeded to +welcome him with flowery volubility. On the advice of his host Captain +Borrow sent George to a Protestant school, where he met the Irish boy +Murtagh, who figures so largely in _Lavengro_ and _The Romany Rye_. +Murtagh settled any doubts that Borrow may have had as to his ability to +acquire Erse, by teaching it to him in exchange for a pack of cards. + +On 23rd December 1815 Ensign John Thomas Borrow was promoted to the rank +of lieutenant, he being then in his sixteenth year. In the following +January, after only a few months’ stay, the West Norfolks were moved on +to Templemore. It was here that George learned to ride, and that without +a saddle, and had awakened in him that “passion for the equine race” that +never left him. {17} + +The nine months spent in Ireland left an indelible mark upon Borrow’s +imagination. In later life he repeatedly referred to his knowledge of +the country, its people, and their language. In overcoming the +difficulties of Erse, he had opened up for himself a larger prospect than +was to be enjoyed by a traveller whose first word of greeting or enquiry +is uttered in a hated tongue. + +On 11th May 1816 the West Norfolk Militia was back again at Norwich. +Peace was now finally restored to Europe, and every nation was far too +impoverished, both as regards men and money, to nourish any schemes of +aggression. Napoleon was safe at St Helena, under the eye of that +instinctive gaoler, Sir Hudson Lowe. The army had completed its work and +was being disbanded with all possible speed. The turn of the West +Norfolk Militia came on 17th June, when they were formally mustered out +for the second time within two years. Three years later their Adjutant +was retired upon full-pay—eight shillings a day. + + + + +CHAPTER II: +MAY 1816–MARCH 1824 + + +FOR the first time since his marriage, Captain Borrow found himself at +liberty to settle down and educate his sons. He had spent much of his +life in Norfolk, and he decided to remain there and make Norwich his +home. It was a quiet and beautiful old-world city: healthy, picturesque, +ancient, and, above all, possessed of a Grammar School, where George +could try and gather together the stray threads of education that he had +acquired at various times and in various dialects. It was an ideal city +for a warrior to take his rest in; but probably what counted most with +Captain Borrow was the Grammar School—more than the Norman Cathedral, the +grim old Castle that stands guardian-like upon its mound, the fact of its +being a garrison town, or even the traditions that surrounded the place. +He had two sons who must be appropriately sent out into the world, and +Norwich offered facilities for educating both. He accordingly took a +small house in Willow Lane, to which access was obtained by a covered +passage then called King’s, but now Borrow’s Court. + +During the most nomadic portion of his life, when, with discouraging +rapidity, he was moving from place to place, Captain Borrow never for one +moment seems to have forgotten his obligations as a father. Whenever he +had been quartered in a town for a few months, he had sought out a school +to which to send John and George, notably at Huddersfield and Sheffield. +Had he known it, these precautions were unnecessary; for he had two sons +who were of what may be called the self-educating type: John, by virtue +of the quickness of his parts; George, on account of the strangeness of +his interests and his thirst for a knowledge of men and the tongues in +which they communicate to each other their ideas. It would be impossible +for an unconventional linguist, such as George Borrow was by instinct, to +remain uneducated, and it was equally impossible to educate him. + +Quite unaware of the trend of his younger son’s genius, Captain Borrow +obtained for him a free-scholarship at the Grammar School, then under the +headmastership of the Rev. Edward Valpy, B.D., whose principal claims to +fame are his severity, his having flogged the conqueror of the “Flaming +Tinman,” and his destruction of the School Records of Admission, which +dated back to the Sixteenth Century. Among Borrow’s contemporaries at +the Grammar School were “Rajah” Brooke of Sarawak (for whose achievements +he in after life expressed a profound admiration), Sir Archdale Wilson of +Delhi, Colonel Charles Stoddart, Dr James Martineau, and Thomas Borrow +Burcham, the London Magistrate. + +Borrow was now thirteen, and, it would appear, as determined as ever to +evade as much as possible academic learning. He was “far from an +industrious boy, fond of idling, and discovered no symptoms by his +progress either in Latin or Greek of that philology, so prominent a +feature of his last work (_Lavengro_).” {20} Borrow was an idler merely +because his work was uncongenial to him. “Mere idleness is the most +disagreeable state of existence, and both mind and body are continually +making efforts to escape from it,” he wrote in later years concerning +this period. He wanted an object in life, an occupation that would prove +not wholly uncongenial. That he should dislike the routine of school +life was not unnatural; for he had lived quite free from those +conventional restraints to which other boys of his age had always been +accustomed. Occupation of some sort he must have, if only to keep at a +distance that insistent melancholy that seems to have been for ever +hovering about him, and the tempter whispered “Languages.” {21a} One day +chance led him to a bookstall whereon lay a polyglot dictionary, “which +pretended to be an easy guide to the acquirement of French, Italian, Low +Dutch, and English.” He took the two first, and when he had gleaned from +the old volume all it had to teach him, he longed for a master. Him he +found in the person of an old French _émigré_ priest, {21b} a study in +snuff-colour and drab with a frill of dubious whiteness, who attended to +the accents of a number of boarding-school young ladies. The progress of +his pupil so much pleased the old priest that “after six months’ tuition, +the master would sometimes, on his occasional absences to teach in the +country, request his so forward pupil to attend for him his home +scholars.” {21c} It was M. D’Eterville who uttered the second recorded +prophecy concerning George Borrow: “Vous serez un jour un grand +philologue, mon cher,” he remarked, and heard that his pupil nourished +aspirations towards other things than mere philology. + +In the study of French, Spanish, and Italian, Borrow spent many hours +that other boys would have devoted to pleasure; yet he was by no means a +student only. He found time to fish and to shoot, using a condemned, +honey-combed musket that bore the date of 1746. His fishing was done in +the river Yare, which flowed through the estate of John Joseph Gurney, +the Quaker-banker of Earlham Hall, two miles out of Norwich. It was here +that he was reproached by the voice, “clear and sonorous as a bell,” of +the banker himself; not for trespassing, but “for pulling all those fish +out of the water, and leaving them to gasp in the sun.” + +At Harford Bridge, some two miles along the Ipswich Road, lived “the +terrible Thurtell,” a patron and companion of “the bruisers of England,” +who taught Borrow to box, and who ultimately ended his own inglorious +career by being hanged (9th January 1824) for the murder of Mr Weare, and +incidentally figuring in De Quincey’s “On Murder Considered As One of the +Fine Arts.” It was through “the king of flash-men” that Borrow saw his +first prize-fight at Eaton, near Norwich. + +The passion for horses that came suddenly to Borrow with his first ride +upon the cob in Ireland had continued to grow. He had an opportunity of +gratifying it at the Norwich Horse Fair, held each Easter under the +shadow of the Castle, and famous throughout the country. {22} It was +here, in 1818, that Borrow encountered again Ambrose Petulengro, an event +that was to exercise a considerable influence upon his life. Mr +Petulengro had become the head of his tribe, his father and mother having +been transported for passing bad money. He was now a man, with a wife, a +child, and also a mother-in-law, who took a violent dislike to the tall, +fair-haired _gorgio_. Borrow’s life was much broadened by his +intercourse with Mr Petulengro. He was often at the gypsy encampment on +Mousehold, a heath just outside Norwich, where, under the tuition of his +host, he learned the Romany tongue with such rapidity as to astonish his +instructor and earn for him among the gypsies the name of “Lav-engro,” +word-fellow or word-master. He also boxed with the godlike Tawno Chikno, +who in turn pronounced him worthy to bear the name “Cooro-mengro,” +fist-fellow or fist-master. He frequently accompanied Mr Petulengro to +neighbouring fairs and markets, riding one of the gypsy’s horses. At +other times the two would roam over the gorse-covered Mousehold, +discoursing largely about things Romany. + +The departure of Mr Petulengro and his retinue from Norwich threw Borrow +back once more upon his linguistic studies, his fishing, his shooting, +and his smouldering discontent at the constraints of school life. It was +probably an endeavour on Borrow’s part to make himself more like his +gypsy friends that prompted him to stain his face with walnut juice, +drawing from the Rev. Edward Valpy the question: “Borrow, are you +suffering from jaundice, or is it only dirt?” The gypsies were not the +only vagabonds of Borrow’s acquaintance at this period. There were the +Italian peripatetic vendors of weather-glasses, who had their +headquarters at Norwich. In after years he met again more than one of +these merchants. They were always glad to see him and revive old +memories of the Norwich days. + +About this time he saved a boy from drowning in the Yare. {23} It may be +this act with which he generously credits his brother John when he says— + + “I have known him dash from a steep bank into a stream in his full + dress, and pull out a man who was drowning; yet there were twenty + others bathing in the water, who might have saved him by putting out + a hand, without inconvenience to themselves, which, however, they did + not do, but stared with stupid surprise at the drowning one’s + struggles.” {24} + +From the first Borrow had shown a strong distaste for the humdrum routine +of school life. In a thousand ways he was different from his fellows. +He had been accustomed to meet strange and, to him, deeply interesting +people. Now he was bidden adopt a course of life against which his whole +nature rebelled. It was impossible. He missed the atmosphere of +vagabondage that had inspired and stimulated his early boyhood. + +The crisis came at last. There was only one way to avoid the awkward and +distasteful destiny that was being forced upon him. He entered into a +conspiracy with three school-fellows, all younger than himself, to make a +dash for a life that should offer wider opportunities to their +adventurous natures. The plan was to tramp to Great Yarmouth and there +excavate on the seashore caves for their habitation. From these +headquarters they would make foraging expeditions, and live on what they +could extract from the surrounding country, either by force or by the +terror that they inspired. One morning the four started on their +twenty-mile trudge to the sea; but, when only a few miles out, one of +their number became fearful and turned back. + +Encouraged by their leader, the others continued on their way. The +father of the other two boys appears to have got wind of the project and +posted after them in a chaise. He came up with them at Acle, about +eleven miles from Norwich. When they were first seen, Borrow was +striving to hearten his fellow buccaneers, who were tired and dispirited +after their long walk. The three were unceremoniously bundled into the +chaise and returned to their homes and, subsequently, to the wrath of the +Rev. Edward Valpy. {25a} + +The names of the three confederates were John Dalrymple (whose heart +failed him) and Theodosius and Francis Purland, sons of a Norwich +chemist. The Purlands are credited with robbing “the paternal till,” +while Dalrymple confined himself to the less compromising duty of +“gathering horse-pistols and potatoes.” If the boys robbed their +father’s till, why did they beg? In the ballad entitled _The Wandering +Children and the Benevolent Gentleman_, Borrow depicts the “eldest child” +as begging for charity for these hungry children, who have had “no +breakfast, save the haws.” This does not seem to suggest that the boys +were in the possession of money. Again, it was the father of one of +their schoolfellows who was responsible for their capture, according to +Dr Knapp, by asking them to dinner whilst he despatched a messenger to +the Rev. Edward Valpy. The story of Borrow’s being “horsed” on Dr +Martineau’s back is apocryphal. Martineau himself denied it. {25b} + +There is no record of how Captain Borrow received the news of his younger +son’s breach of discipline. It probably reminded him that the boy was +now fifteen and it was time to think about his future. The old soldier +was puzzled. Not only had his second son shown a great partiality for +acquiring Continental tongues, but he had learned Irish, and Captain +Borrow seemed to think that by learning the language of Papists and +rebels, his son had sullied the family honour. To his father’s way of +thinking, this accomplishment seemed to bar him from most things that +were at one and the same time honourable and desirable. + +The boy’s own inclinations pointed to the army; but Captain Borrow had +apparently seen too much of the army in war time, and the slowness of +promotion, to think of it as offering a career suitable to his son, now +that there was every prospect of a prolonged peace. He thought of the +church as an alternative; but here again that fatal facility the boy had +shown in learning Erse seemed to stand out as a barrier. “I have +observed the poor lad attentively and really I do not see what to make of +him,” Captain Borrow is said to have remarked. What could be expected of +a lad who would forsake Greek for Irish, or Latin for the barbarous +tongue of homeless vagabonds? Certainly not a good churchman. At length +it became obvious to the distressed parents that there was only one +choice left them—the law. + +About this period Borrow fell ill of some nameless and unclassified +disease, which defied the wisdom of physicians, who shook their heads +gravely by his bedside. An old woman, however, cured him by a decoction +prepared from a bitter root. The convalescence was slow and laborious; +for the boy’s nerves were shattered, and that deep, haunting melancholy, +which he first called the “Fear” and afterwards the “Horrors,” descended +upon him. + +On the 30th of March 1819 Borrow was articled for five years to Simpson & +Rackham, solicitors, of Tuck’s Court, St Giles, Norwich. {26} He +consequently left home to take up his abode at the house of the senior +partner in the Upper Close. {27a} Mr William Simpson was a man of +considerable importance in the city; for besides being Treasurer of the +County, he was Chamberlain and Town Clerk, whilst his wife was famed for +her hospitality, in particular her expensive dinners. + +With that unerring instinct of contrariety that never seemed to forsake +him, Borrow proceeded to learn, not law but Welsh. When the eyes of +authority were on him he transcribed Blackstone, but when they were +turned away he read and translated the poems of Ab Gwilym. He performed +his tasks “as well as could be expected in one who was occupied by so +many and busy thoughts of his own.” + +At the end of Tuck’s Court was a house at which was employed a Welsh +groom, a queer fellow who soon attracted the notice of Simpson & +Rackham’s clerks, young gentlemen who were bent on “mis-spending the time +which was not legally their own.” {27b} They would make audible remarks +about the unfortunate and inoffensive Welsh groom, calling out after him +“Taffy”—in short, rendering the poor fellow’s life a misery with their +jibes, until at last, almost distracted, he had come to the determination +either to give his master notice or to hang himself, that he might get +away from that “nest of parcupines.” Borrow saw in the predicament of +the Welsh groom the hand of providence. He made a compact with him, that +in exchange for lessons in Welsh, he, Borrow, should persuade his fellow +clerks to cease their annoyance. + +From that time, each Sunday afternoon, the Welsh groom would go to +Captain Borrow’s house to instruct his son in Welsh pronunciation; for in +book Welsh Borrow was stronger than his preceptor. Borrow had learned +the language of the bards “chiefly by going through Owen Pugh’s version +of ‘Paradise Lost’ twice” with the original by his side. After which +“there was very little in Welsh poetry that I could not make out with a +little pondering.” {28a} This had occupied some three years. The +studies with the groom lasted for about twelve months, until he left +Norwich with his family. {28b} + +Captain Borrow’s thoughts were frequently occupied with the future of his +younger son, a problem that had by no means been determined by signing +the articles that bound him to Simpson & Rackham. The boy was frank and +honest and did not scruple to give expression to ideas of his own, and it +was these ideas that alarmed his father. Once at the house of Mr +Simpson, and before the assembled guests, he told an archdeacon, worth +£7000 a year, that the classics were much overvalued, and compared Ab +Gwilym with Ovid, to the detriment of the Roman. To Captain Borrow the +possession of ideas upon any subject by one so young was in itself a +thing to be deplored; but to venture an opinion contrary to that commonly +held by men of weight and substance was an unforgivable act of +insubordination. + +The boy had been sent to Tuck’s Court to learn law, and instead he +persisted in acquiring languages, and such languages! Welsh, Danish, +Arabic, Armenian, Saxon; for these were the tongues with which he +occupied himself. None but a perfect mother such as Mrs Borrow could +have found excuses for a son who pursued such studies, and her husband +pointed out to her, it is “in the nature of women invariably to take the +part of the second born.” + +In one of those curiously self-revelatory passages with which his +writings abound, Borrow tells how he continued to act as door-keeper long +after it had ceased to be part of his duty. As a student of men and a +collector of strange characters, it was in keeping with his genius to do +so, although he himself was unable to explain why he took pleasure in the +task. No one was admitted to the presence of the senior partner who did +not first pass the searching scrutiny of his articled clerk. Those who +pleased him were admitted to Mr Simpson’s private room; to those who did +not he proved himself an almost insuperable obstacle. Unfortunately +Borrow’s standards were those of the physiognomist rather than the +lawyer; he inverted the whole fabric of professional desirability by +admitting the goats and refusing the sheep. He turned away a knight, or +a baronet, and admitted a poet, until at last the distressed old +gentleman in black, with the philanthropical head, his master, was forced +to expostulate and adjure his clerk to judge, not by faces but by +clothes, which in reality make the man. Borrow bowed to the ruling of +“the prince of English solicitors,” revised his standards and continued +to act as keeper of the door. + +Mr Simpson seems to have earned Borrow’s thorough regard, no small +achievement considering in how much he differed from his illustrious +articled-clerk in everything, not excepting humour, of which the +delightful, old-world gentleman seems to have had a generous share. He +was doubtless puzzled to classify the strange being by whose +instrumentality a stream of undesirable people was admitted to his +presence, whilst distinguished clients were sternly and rigorously turned +away. He probably smiled at the story of the old yeoman and his wife +who, in return for some civility shown to them by Borrow, presented him +with an old volume of Danish ballads, which inspired him to learn the +language, aided by a Danish Bible. {30a} He was not only “the first +solicitor in East Anglia,” but “the prince of all English solicitors—for +he was a gentleman!” {30b} In another place Borrow refers to him as “my +old master . . . who would have died sooner than broken his word. God +bless him!” {30c} And yet again as “my ancient master, the gentleman +solicitor of East Anglia.” {30d} + +Borrow was always handsome in everything he did. If he hated a man he +hated him, his kith and kin and all who bore his name. His friendship +was similarly sweeping, and his regard for William Simpson prompted him +to write subsequently of the law as “a profession which abounds with +honourable men, and in which I believe there are fewer scamps than in any +other. The most honourable men I have ever known have been lawyers; they +were men whose word was their bond, and who would have preferred ruin to +breaking it.” {31a} + +Fortunately for Borrow there was at the Norwich Guildhall a valuable +library consisting of a large number of ancient folios written in many +languages. “Amidst the dust and cobwebs of the Corporation Library” he +studied earnestly and, with a fine disregard for a librarian’s feelings, +annotated some of the volumes, his marginalia existing to this day. One +of his favourite works was the _Danica Literatura Antiquissima_ of Olaus +Wormius, 1636, which inspired him with the idea of adopting the name +Olaus, his subsequent contributions to _The New Magazine_ being signed +George Olaus Borrow. + +Whilst Borrow was striving to learn languages and avoid the law, {31b} +the question of his brother’s career was seriously occupying the mind of +their father. Borrow loved and admired his brother. There is sincerity +in all he writes concerning John, and there is something of nobility +about the way in which he tells of his father’s preference for him. +“Who,” he asks, “cannot excuse the honest pride of the old man—the stout +old man?” {31c} + +The Peace had closed to John Borrow the army as a profession, and he had +devoted himself assiduously to his art. Under Crome the elder he had +made considerable progress, and had exhibited a number of pictures at the +yearly exhibitions of the Norwich Society of Artists. He continued to +study with Crome until the artist’s death (22nd April 1821), when a new +master had to be sought. With his father’s blessing and £150 he +proceeded to London, where he remained for more than a year studying with +B. R. Haydon. {32a} Later he went to Paris to copy Old Masters. + +About this time Borrow had an opportunity of seeing many of “the bruisers +of England.” In his veins flowed the blood of the man who had met Big +Ben Bryan and survived the encounter undefeated. “Let no one sneer at +the bruisers of England,” Borrow wrote—“What were the gladiators of Rome, +or the bull-fighters of Spain, in its palmiest days, compared to +England’s bruisers?” {32b} he asks. On 17th July 1820 Edward Painter of +Norwich was to meet Thomas Oliver of London for a purse of a hundred +guineas. On the Saturday previous (the 15th) the Norwich hotels began to +fill with bruisers and their patrons, and men went their ways anxiously +polite to the stranger, lest he turn out to be some champion whom it were +dangerous to affront. Thomas Cribb, the champion of England, had come to +see the fight, “Teucer Belcher, savage Shelton, . . . the terrible +Randall, . . . Bulldog Hudson, . . . fearless Scroggins, . . . Black +Richmond, . . . Tom of Bedford,” and a host of lesser lights of the +“Fancy.” + +On the Monday, upwards of 20,000 men swept out of the old city towards +North Walsham, less than twenty miles distant, among them George Borrow, +striding along among the varied stream of men and vehicles (some 2000 in +number) to see the great fight, which was to end in the victory of the +local man and a terrible storm, as if heaven were thundering its anger +against a brutal spectacle. The sportsmen were left to find their way to +shelter, Borrow and Mr Petulengro, whom he had encountered just after the +fight, with them, talking of dukkeripens (fortunes). + +Some time during the year 1820, a Jew named Levy (the Mousha of +_Lavengro_), Borrow’s instructor in Hebrew, introduced him to William +Taylor, {33a} one of the most extraordinary men that Norwich ever +produced. In the long-limbed young lawyer’s clerk, whose hair was +rapidly becoming grey, Taylor showed great interest, and, as an act of +friendship, undertook to teach him German. He was gratified by the young +man’s astonishing progress, and much interested in his remarkable +personality. As a result Borrow became a frequent visitor at 21 King +Street, Norwich, where Taylor lived and many strange men assembled. + +It is doubtful if William Taylor ever found another pupil so apt, or a +disciple so enthusiastic among all the “harum-scarum young men” {33b} +that he was so fond of taking up and introducing “into the best society +the place afforded.” {33c} He was much impressed by Borrow’s +extraordinary memory and power of concentration. Speaking one day of the +different degrees of intelligence in men he said:—“I cannot give you a +better example to explain my meaning than my two pupils (there was +another named Cooke, who was said to be ‘a genius in his way’); what I +tell Borrow once he ever remembers; whilst to the fellow Cooke I have to +repeat the same thing twenty times, often without effect; and it is not +from want of memory either, but he will never be a linguist.” {33d} + +To a correspondent Taylor wrote:— + + “A Norwich young man is construing with me Schiller’s _Wilhelm Tell_, + with the view of translating it for the press. His name is George + Henry Borrow, and he has learnt German with extraordinary rapidity; + indeed, he has the gift of tongues, and, though not yet eighteen, + understands twelve languages—English, Welsh, Erse, Latin, Greek, + Hebrew, German, Danish, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese; he + would like to get into the Office for Foreign Affairs, but does not + know how.” {34a} + +This was in 1821; two years later Borrow is said to have “translated with +fidelity and elegance from twenty different languages.” {34b} In spite +of his later achievements in learning languages, it seems scarcely +credible that he acquired eight separate languages in two years, although +it must be remembered that with him the learning of a language was to be +able to read it after a rather laborious fashion. Taylor, however, uses +the words “facility and elegance.” + + [Picture: William Taylor of Norwich] + +In the autobiographical notes that Borrow supplied to Mr John Longe in +1862 there appears the following passage:— + + “At the expiration of his clerkship he knew little of the law, but he + was well versed in languages, being not only a good Greek and Latin + scholar, but acquainted with French, Italian, Spanish, all the Celtic + and Gothic dialects, and likewise with the peculiar language of the + English Romany Chals or gypsies.” + +At William Taylor’s table Borrow met “the most intellectual and talented +men of Norwich, as also those of note who visited the city.” {34c} +Taylor was much interested in young men, into whose minds he did not +hesitate to instil his own ideas, ideas that not only earned for him the +name of “Godless Billy,” but outraged his respectable fellow-citizens as +much as did his intemperate habits. “His face was terribly bloated from +drink, and he had a look as if his intellect was almost as much decayed +as his body,” wrote a contemporary. {35a} “Matters grew worse in his old +age,” says Harriet Martineau, “when his habits of intemperance kept him +out of the sight of ladies, and he got round him a set of ignorant and +conceited young men, who thought they could set the whole world right by +their destructive propensities. One of his chief favourites was George +Borrow.” {35b} Borrow has given the following convincing picture of +Taylor: + + “Methought I was in a small, comfortable room wainscotted with oak; I + was seated on one side of a fireplace, close by a table on which were + wine and fruit; on the other side of the fire sat a man in a plain + suit of brown, with the hair combed back from the somewhat high + forehead; he had a pipe in his mouth, which for some time he smoked + gravely and placidly, without saying a word; at length, after drawing + at the pipe for some time rather vigorously, he removed it from his + mouth, and emitting an accumulated cloud of smoke, he exclaimed in a + slow and measured tone: ‘As I was telling you just now, my good chap, + I have always been an enemy of humbug.’” {35c} + +William Taylor appears to have flattered “the harum-scarum young men” +with whom he surrounded himself by talking to them as if they were his +intellectual equals. He encouraged them to form their own opinions, in +itself a thing scarcely likely to make him popular with either parents or +guardians, least of all with discipline-loving Captain Borrow, who +declined even to return the salute of his son’s friend on the public +highway. + +Borrow now began to look to the future and speculate as to what his +present life would lead to. His cogitations seem to have ended, almost +invariably, in a gloomy mist of pessimism and despair—in other words, an +attack of the “Horrors.” If Mr Petulengro were encamped upon Mousehold, +the antidote lay near to hand in his friend’s pagan optimism; if, on the +other hand, the tents of Egypt were pitched on other soil, there was no +remedy, unless perhaps a prize-fight supplied the necessary stimulus to +divert his thoughts from their melancholy trend. + + [Picture: George Borrow (1821). From a hitherto unpublished painting by + John Borrow, now in the posession of W. F. T. Jarrold, Esq.] + +Borrow met at the house of his tutor and friend, in July 1821, Dr Bowring +{36a} (afterwards Sir John) at a dinner given in his honour. Bowring had +recently published _Specimen of Russian Poets_, in recognition of which +the Czar (Alexander I.) had presented him with a diamond ring. He had a +considerable reputation as a linguist, which naturally attracted Borrow +to him. Dr Bowring was told of Borrow’s accomplishments, and during the +evening took a seat beside him. Borrow confessed to being “a little +frightened at first” of the distinguished man, whom he described as +having “a thin weaselly figure, a sallow complexion, a certain obliquity +of vision, and a large pair of spectacles.” It would be dangerous to +accept entirely the account that Borrow gives of the meeting, {36b} +because when that was written he had come to hate and despise the man +whom he had begun by regarding with such awe. Bowring appears to have +ventilated his views with some freedom, and to have had a rather serious +passage of arms with another guest whom he had rudely contradicted. It +is very probable that Borrow’s dislike of Bowring prompted him to +exaggerate his account of what happened at Taylor’s house that evening. + +Whilst Borrow was industriously occupied in collecting vagabonds and +imbibing the dangerous beliefs of William Taylor, there sat in an +easy-chair in the small front-parlour of the little house in Willow Lane, +in a faded regimental coat, a prematurely old man, whose frame still +showed signs of the magnificent physique of his vigorous manhood. +“Sometimes in prayer, sometimes in meditation, and sometimes in reading +the Scriptures,” with his dog beside him, Captain Thomas Borrow, now +sixty-five, was preparing for the end that he felt to be approaching. He +frequently meditated upon what was to become of his younger son George, +who held his father in such awe as to feel ill at ease when alone with +him. + +One day the inevitable interrogation took place. “What do you propose to +do?” and the equally inevitable reply followed, “I really do not know +what I shall do.” In the course of a somewhat lengthy cross-examination, +Captain Borrow discovered that his son knew the Armenian tongue, for +which he very cunningly strove to enlist his father’s interest by telling +him that in Armenia was Mount Ararat, whereon the ark rested. Captain +Borrow also discovered that his son could not only shoe a horse, but also +make the shoes; but, what was most important, he found that George had +learned “very little” law. When asked if he thought he could support +himself by Armenian or his “other acquirements,” the younger man was not +very hopeful, and horrified the old soldier by suggesting that if all +else failed there was always suicide. + +The dying man was thus left to yearn for the return of his elder son, in +whom all his hopes lay centred. John appears to have been by no means +dutiful to his parents in the matter of letters. For six months he left +them unacquainted even with his address in Paris, where he was still +copying Old Masters in the Louvre. + +After their talk the father and younger son seem to have come to a better +understanding. George would frequently read aloud from the Bible, whilst +Captain Borrow would tell about his early life. His son “had no idea +that he knew and had seen so much; my respect for him increased, and I +looked upon him almost with admiration. His anecdotes were in general +highly curious; some of them related to people in the highest stations, +and to men whose names are closely connected with some of the brightest +glories of our native land.” {38} + +At last John arrived, apparently a little disillusioned with the world; +but the coming of his favourite son produced no change for the better in +Captain Borrow’s health. He was content and happy that God had granted +his wish. There remained nothing now to do but “to bless my little +family and go.” George learned “that it is possible to feel deeply and +yet make no outward sign.” + +The end came on the morning of 28th February 1824. It was by a strange +chance that the old man should die in the arms of his younger son, who +had run down on hearing his mother’s anguished screams. Borrow has given +a dramatic account of his father’s last moments:— + + “At the dead hour of night, it might be about two, I was awakened + from sleep by a cry which sounded from the room immediately below + that in which I slept. I knew the cry, it was the cry of my mother, + and I also knew its import; yet I made no effort to rise, for I was + for the moment paralysed. Again the cry sounded, yet still I lay + motionless—the stupidity of horror was upon me. A third time, and it + was then that, by a violent effort bursting the spell which appeared + to bind me, I sprang from the bed and rushed downstairs. My mother + was running wildly about the room; she had awoke and found my father + senseless in the bed by her side. I essayed to raise him, and after + a few efforts supported him in the bed in a sitting posture. My + brother now rushed in, and snatching a light that was burning, he + held it to my father’s face. ‘The surgeon, the surgeon!’ he cried; + then dropping the light, he ran out of the room followed by my + mother; I remained alone, supporting the senseless form of my father; + the light had been extinguished by the fall, and an almost total + darkness reigned in the room. The form pressed heavily against my + bosom—at last methought it moved. Yes, I was right, there was a + heaving of the breast, and then a gasping. Were those words which I + heard? Yes, they were words, low and indistinct at first, and then + audible. The mind of the dying man was reverting to former scenes. + I heard him mention names which I had often heard him mention before. + It was an awful moment; I felt stupified, but I still contrived to + support my dying father. There was a pause, again my father spoke: I + heard him speak of Minden, and of Meredith, the old Minden sergeant, + and then he uttered another name, which at one period of his life was + much on his lips, the name of—but this is a solemn moment! There was + a deep gasp: I shook, and thought all was over; but I was mistaken—my + father moved and revived for a moment; he supported himself in bed + without my assistance. I make no doubt that for a moment he was + perfectly sensible, and it was then that, clasping his hands, he + uttered another name clearly, distinctly—it was the name of Christ. + With that name upon his lips, the brave old soldier sank back upon my + bosom, and, with his hands still clasped, yielded up his soul.” {39} + + + + +CHAPTER III +APRIL 1824–MAY 1825 + + +ON 2nd April 1824, George Borrow was cast upon the world of London by the +death of his father, “with an exterior shy and cold, under which lurk +much curiosity, especially with regard to what is wild and extraordinary, +a considerable quantity of energy and industry, and an unconquerable love +of independence.” {40a} + +It had become necessary for him to earn his own livelihood. Captain +Borrow’s pension had ceased with his death, and the old soldier’s savings +of a lifetime were barely sufficient to produce an income of a hundred +pounds a year for his widow. The provision made in the will for his +younger son during his minority would operate only for about four months, +as he would be of age in the following July. {40b} The clerkship with +Simpson & Rackham would expire at the end of March. Borrow had outlined +his ambitions in a letter written on 20th January 1824, when he was ill +and wretched, to Roger Kerrison, then in London: “If ever my health mends +[this has reference to a very unpleasant complaint he had contracted], +and possibly it may by the time my clerkship is expired, I intend to live +in London, write plays, poetry, etc., abuse religion and get myself +prosecuted,” for he was tired of the “dull and gloomy town.” It was +therefore with a feeling of relief that, on the evening of 1st April, he +took his seat on the top of the London coach, his hopes centred in a +small green box that he carried with him. It contained his +stock-in-trade as an author: his beloved manuscripts, “closely written +over in a singular hand.” + +Among the bundles of papers were: + + (i.) The Ancient Songs of Denmark, heroic and romantic, translated by + himself, with notes philological, critical and historical. + + (ii.) The Songs of Ab Gwilym, the Welsh Bard, also translated by + himself, with notes critical, philological and historical. {41} + + (iii.) A romance in the German style. + +In addition to his manuscripts, Borrow had some twenty or thirty pounds, +his testimonials, and a letter from William Taylor to Sir Richard +Phillips, the publisher, to whose _New Magazine_ he had already +contributed a number of translations of poems. He had also printed in +_The Monthly Magazine_ and _The New Monthly Magazine_ translations of +verse from the German, Swedish, Dutch, Danish and Spanish, and an essay +on Danish ballad writing. + +On the morning of 2nd April there arrived at 16 Milman Street, Bedford +Row, London, W.C., + + “A lad who twenty tongues can talk, + And sixty miles a day can walk; + Drink at a draught a pint of rum, + And then be neither sick nor dumb; + Can tune a song and make a verse, + And deeds of Northern kings rehearse; + Who never will forsake his friend + While he his bony fist can bend; + And, though averse to broil and strife, + Will fight a Dutchman with a knife; + O that is just the lad for me, + And such is honest six-foot-three.” {42a} + +It was through the Kerrisons that Borrow went to 16 Milman Street, where +Roger was lodging. His apartments seem to have been dismal enough, +consisting of “a small room, up two pair of stairs, in which I was to +sit, and another, still smaller, above it, in which I was to sleep.” +After the first feeling of loneliness had passed, dispelled largely by a +bright fire and breakfast, he sallied forth, the contents of the green +box under his arm, to present his letter of introduction to Sir Richard +Phillips, {42b} in whom centred his hopes of employment. + + [Picture: Sir Richard Phillips. From the painting by James Saxon in the + National Portrait Gallery] + +On arriving at the publisher’s house in Tavistock Square, he was +immediately shown into Sir Richard’s study, where he found “a tall, stout +man, about sixty, dressed in a loose morning gown,” and with him his +confidential clerk Bartlett (the Taggart of _Lavengro_). Sir Richard was +at first enthusiastic and cordial, but when he learned from William +Taylor’s letter that Borrow had come up to earn his livelihood by +authorship, his manner underwent a marked change. The bluff, hearty +expression gave place to “a sinister glance,” and Borrow found that +within that loose morning gown there was a second Sir Richard. + +He learned two things—first, that Sir Richard Phillips had retired from +publishing and had reserved only _The Monthly Magazine_; {43} secondly, +that literature was a drug upon the market. With airy +self-assertiveness, the ex-publisher dismissed the contents of the green +box that Borrow had brought with him, which had already aroused +considerable suspicion in the mind of the maid who had admitted him to +the publisher’s presence. + +When he had thoroughly dashed the young author’s hopes of employment, Sir +Richard informed him of a new publication he had in preparation, _The +Universal Review_ [_The Oxford Review_ of _Lavengro_], which was to +support the son of the house and the wife he had married. With a promise +that he should become a contributor to the new review, an earnest +exhortation to write a story in the style of _The Dairyman’s Daughter_, +and an invitation to dinner for the following Sunday, the first interview +between George Borrow and Sir Richard Phillips ended, and Borrow left the +great man’s presence to begin his exploration of London, first leaving +his manuscripts at Milman Street. During the rest of the day he walked +“scarcely less than thirty miles about the big city.” It was late when +he returned to his lodgings, thoroughly tired, but with a copy of _The +Dairyman’s Daughter_, for “a well-written tale in the style” of which Sir +Richard Phillips “could afford as much as ten pounds.” The day had been +one of the most eventful in Borrow’s life. + +On the following Sunday Borrow dined at Tavistock Square, and met Lady +Phillips, young Phillips and his bride. He learned that Sir Richard was +a vegetarian of twenty years’ standing and a total abstainer, although +meat and wine were not banished from his table. When publisher and +potential author were left alone, the son having soon followed the ladies +into the drawing-room, Borrow heard of Sir Richard’s amiable intentions +towards him. He was to compile six volumes of the lives and trials of +criminals [the _Newgate Lives and Trials_ of _Lavengro_], each to contain +not less than a thousand pages. {44a} For this work he was to receive +the munificent sum of fifty pounds, which was to cover all expenses +incurred in the purchase of books, papers and manuscripts necessary to +the compilation of the work. This was only one of the employments that +the fertile brain of the publisher had schemed for him. He was also to +make himself useful in connection with the forthcoming _Universal +Review_. “Generally useful, sir—doing whatever is required of you”; for +it was not Sir Richard’s custom to allow young writers to select their +own subjects. + +With impressive manner and ponderous diction, Sir Richard Phillips +unfolded his philanthropic designs regarding the young writer to whom his +words meant a career. He did not end with the appointment of Borrow as +general utility writer upon _The Universal Review_; but proceeded to +astonish him with the announcement that to him, George Borrow, +understanding German in a manner that aroused the “strong admiration” of +William Taylor, was to be entrusted the translating into that tongue of +Sir Richard Phillips’ book of Philosophy. {44b} If translations of +Goethe into English were a drug, Sir Richard Phillips’ _Proximate Causes_ +was to prove that neither he nor his book would be a drug in Germany. +For this work the remuneration was to be determined by the success of the +translation, an arrangement sufficiently vague to ensure eventual +disagreement. + +When Sir Richard had finished his account of what were his intentions +towards his guest, he gave him to understand that the interview was at an +end, at the same time intimating how seldom it was that he dealt so +generously with a young writer. Borrow then rose from the table and +passed out of the house, leaving his host to muse, as was his custom on +Sunday afternoons, “on the magnificence of nature and the moral dignity +of man.” + +For the next few weeks Borrow was occupied in searching in out-of-the-way +corners for criminal biography. If he flagged, a visit from his +philosopher-publisher spurred him on to fresh effort. He received a copy +of _Proximate Causes_, with an injunction that he should review it in +_The Universal Review_, as well as translate it into German. He was +taken to and introduced to the working editor {45a} of the new +publication, which was only ostensibly under the control of young +Phillips. + +In the provision that he should purchase at his own expense all the +necessary materials for _Celebrated Trials_, Borrow found a serious tax +upon his resources; but a harder thing to bear with patience and +good-humour were the frequent visits he received from Sir Richard +himself, who showed the keenest possible interest in the progress of the +compilation. He had already caused a preliminary announcement to be made +{45b} to the effect that: + + “A Selection of the most remarkable Trials and Criminal Causes is + printing, in five volumes. {46a} It will include all famous cases, + from that of Lord Cobham, in the reign of Henry the Fifth, to that of + John Thurtell: and those connected with foreign as well as English + jurisprudence. Mr Borrow, the editor, has availed himself of all the + resources of the English, German, French, and Italian languages; and + his work, including from 150 to 200 {46b} of the most interesting + cases on record, will appear in October next.” {46c} + +Sir Richard’s visits to Milman Street were always accompanied by numerous +suggestions as to criminals whose claims to be included in this literary +chamber of horrors were in his, Sir Richard’s, opinion unquestionable. +The English character of the compilation was soon sacrificed in order to +admit notable malefactors of other nationalities, and the drain upon the +editor’s small capital became greater than ever. + +The leisure that he allowed himself, Borrow spent in exploring the city, +or in the company of Francis Arden (Ardrey in _Lavengro_), whom he had +met by chance in the coffee-room of a hotel. The two appear to have been +excellent friends, perhaps because of the dissimilarity of their natures. +“He was an Irishman,” Borrow explains, “I an Englishman; he fiery, +enthusiastic and opened-hearted; I neither fiery, enthusiastic, nor +open-hearted; he fond of pleasure and dissipation, I of study and +reflection.” {46d} + +They went to the play together, to dog-fights, gaming-houses, in short +saw the sights of London. The arrival of Francis Arden at 16 Milman +Street was a signal for books and manuscripts to be thrown aside in +favour either of some expedition or an hour or two’s conversation. +Borrow, however, soon tired of the pleasures of London, and devoted +himself almost entirely to work. Although he saw less of Francis Arden +in consequence, they continued to be excellent friends. + +After being some four weeks in London, Borrow received a surprise visit +(29th April) from his brother, whom he found waiting for him one morning +when he came down to breakfast. John told him of his mother’s anxiety at +receiving only one letter from him since his departure, of her fits of +crying, of the grief of Captain Borrow’s dog at the loss of his master. +He also explained the reason for his being in London. He had been +invited to paint the portrait of Robert Hawkes, an ex-mayor of Norwich, +for a fee of a hundred guineas. Lacking confidence in his own ability, +he had declined the honour and suggested that Benjamin Haydon should be +approached. At the request of a deputation of his fellow citizens, which +had waited upon him, he had undertaken to enter into negotiations with +Haydon. He even undertook to come up to London at his own expense, that +he might see his old master and complete the bargain. Borrow +subsequently accompanied his brother when calling upon Haydon, and was +enabled to give a thumbnail-sketch of the painter of the Heroic at work +that has been pronounced to be photographic in its faithfulness. + +John returned to Norwich about a fortnight later accompanied by Haydon, +who was to become the guest of his sitter, {47} and George was left to +the compilation of _Celebrated Trials_. Sir Richard Phillips appears to +have been a man as prolific of suggestion as he was destitute of tact. +He regarded his authors as the instruments of his own genius. Their +business it was to carry out his ideas in a manner entirely congenial to +his colossal conceit. His latest author he exposed “to incredible +mortification and ceaseless trouble from this same rage for +interference.” + +The result of all this was an attack of the “Horrors.” Towards the end +of May, Roger Kerrison received from Borrow a note saying that he +believed himself to be dying, and imploring him to “come to me +immediately.” The direct outcome of this note was, not the death of +Borrow, but the departure from Milman Street of Roger Kerrison, lest he +should become involved in a tragedy connected with Borrow’s oft-repeated +threat of suicide. Kerrison became “very uneasy and uncomfortable on his +account, so that I have found it utterly impossible to live any longer in +the same lodgings with him.” {48a} Looked at dispassionately it seems +nothing short of an act of cowardice on Kerrison’s part to leave alone a +man such as Borrow, who might at any moment be assailed by one of those +periods of gloom from which suicide seemed the only outlet. On the other +hand, from an anecdote told by C. G. Leland (“Hans Breitmann”), there +seems to be some excuse for Kerrison’s wish to live alone. “I knew at +that time [about 1870],” he writes, {48b} “a Mr Kerrison, who had been as +a young man, probably in the Twenties, on intimate terms with Borrow. He +told me that one night Borrow acted very wildly, whooping and +vociferating so as to cause the police to follow him, and after a long +run led them to the edge of the Thames, ‘and there they thought they had +him.’ But he plunged boldly into the water and swam in his clothes to +the opposite shore, and so escaped.” + +A serious misfortune now befell Borrow in the premature death of _The +Universal Review_, which expired with the sixth number (March +1824—January 1825). It is not known what was the rate of pay to young +and impecunious reviewers {49a} certainly not large, if it may be judged +by the amount agreed upon for _Celebrated Trials_. Still, its end meant +that Borrow was now dependent upon what he received for his compilation, +and what he merited by his translation into German of _Proximate Causes_. + +There appears to have been some difficulty about payment for Borrow’s +contributions to the now defunct review, which considerably widened the +breach that the _Trials_ had created. Sir Richard became more exacting +and more than ever critical. {49b} The end could not be far off. Borrow +had come to London determined to be an author, and by no juggling with +facts could his present drudgery be considered as authorship. +Occasionally his mind reverted to the manuscripts in the green box, his +faith in which continued undiminished. He made further efforts to get +his translations published, but everywhere the answer was the same, in +effect, “A drug, sir, a drug!” + +At last he determined to approach John Murray (the Second), “Glorious +John, who lived at the western end of the town”; but he called many times +without being successful in seeing him. Another seventeen years were to +elapse before he was to meet and be published by John Murray. + +Yet another dispute arose between Borrow and Sir Richard Phillips. +Neither appeared to have realised the supreme folly of entrusting to a +young Englishman the translation into German of an English work. A novel +would have presented almost insurmountable difficulties; but a work of +philosophy! The whole project was absurd. The diction of philosophy in +all languages is individual, just as it is in other branches of science, +and a very thorough knowledge of, and deep reading in both languages are +necessary to qualify a man to translate from a foreign tongue into his +own. To expect an inexperienced youth to reverse the order seems to +suggest that Sir Richard Phillips must have been a publisher whose +enthusiasm was greater than his judgment. + +One day when calling at Tavistock Square, Borrow found Sir Richard in a +fury of rage. He had submitted the first chapter of the translation of +_Proximate Causes_ to some Germans, who found it utterly unintelligible. +This was only to be expected, as Borrow confesses that, when he found +himself unable to comprehend what was the meaning of the English text, he +had translated it _literally into German_! + +The result of the interview was that Borrow, after what appears to be a +tactless, not to say impertinent, rejoinder, {50a} relapsed into silence +and finally left the house, ordered back to his compilation by Sir +Richard, as soon as he became sufficiently calm to appear coherent, and +Borrow walked away musing on the “difference in clever men.” + +The discovery of the inadequacy of the German translation apparently +urged Borrow to hasten on with _Celebrated Trials_. _The Universal +Review_ was dead, the German version of _Proximate Causes_ {50b} had +passed out of his hands. It was desirable, therefore, that the remaining +undertaking should be completed as soon as possible, that the two might +part. The last of the manuscript was delivered, the proofs passed for +press, and on 19th March the work appeared, the six volumes, running to +between three and four thousand pages, containing accounts of some four +hundred trials, including that of Borrow’s old friend Thurtell for the +murder of Mr Weare. + +Borrow’s name did not appear. He was “the editor,” and as such was +referred to in the preface contributed by Sir Richard himself. Among +other things he tells of how, in some cases, “the Editor has compressed +into a score of pages the substance of an entire volume.” Sir Richard +was a philosopher as well as a preface-writing publisher, and it was only +natural that he should speculate as to the effect upon his editor’s mind +of months spent in reading and editing such records of vice. “It may be +expected,” he writes, “that the Editor should convey to his readers the +intellectual impressions which the execution of his task has produced on +his mind. He confesses that they are mournful.” Sir Richard was either +a master of irony, or a man of singular obtuseness. + +One effect of this delving into criminal records had been to raise in +Borrow’s mind strange doubts about virtue and crime. When a boy, he had +written an essay in which he strove to prove that crime and virtue were +mere terms, and that we were the creatures of necessity or circumstance. +These broodings in turn reawakened the theory that everything is a lie, +and that nothing really exists except in our imaginations. The world was +“a maze of doubt.” These indications of an overtaxed brain increased, +and eventually forced Borrow to leave London. His work was thoroughly +uncongenial. He disliked reviewing; he had failed in his endeavours to +render _Proximate Causes_ into intelligible German; and it had taken him +some time to overcome his dislike of the sordid stories of crime and +criminals that he had to read and edit. He became gloomy and depressed, +and prone to compare the real conditions of authorship with those that +his imagination had conjured up. + +The most important result of his labours in connection with _Celebrated +Trials_ was that upon his literary style. There is a tremendous +significance in the following passage. It tells of the transition of the +actual vagabond into the literary vagabond, with power to express in +words what proved so congenial to Borrow’s vagabond temperament: + + “Of all my occupations at this period I am free to confess I liked + that of compiling the Newgate Lives and Trials [Celebrated Trials] + the best; that is, after I had surmounted a kind of prejudice which I + originally entertained. The trials were entertaining enough; but the + lives—how full were they of wild and racy adventures, and in what + racy, genuine language were they told. What struck me most with + respect to these lives was the art which the writers, whoever they + were, possessed of telling a plain story. It is no easy thing to + tell a story plainly and distinctly by mouth; but to tell one on + paper is difficult indeed, so many snares lie in the way. People are + afraid to put down what is common on paper, they seek to embellish + their narratives, as they think, by philosophic speculations and + reflections; they are anxious to shine, and people who are anxious to + shine can never tell a plain story. ‘So I went with them to a music + booth, where they made me almost drunk with gin, and began to talk + their flash language, which I did not understand,’ {52a} says, or is + made to say, Henry Simms, executed at Tyburn some seventy years + before the time of which I am speaking. I have always looked upon + this sentence as a masterpiece of the narrative style, it is so + concise and yet so clear.” {52b} + +By the time the work was published and Borrow had been paid his fee, all +relations between editor and publisher had ceased, and there was “a poor +author, or rather philologist, upon the streets of London, possessed of +many tongues,” which he found “of no use in the world.” {52c} A month +after the appearance of _Celebrated Trials_ (18th April), and a little +more than a year after his arrival in London, Borrow published a +translation of Klinger’s _Faustus_. {53a} He himself gives no +particulars as to whether it was commissioned or no. It may even have +been “the Romance in the German style” from the Green Box. It is known +that he received payment for it by a bill at five or six months, {53b} +but there is no mention of the amount. It would appear that the +translation had long been projected, for in _The Monthly Magazine_, July +1824, there appeared, in conjunction with the announcement of _Celebrated +Trials_, the following paragraph: “The editor of the preceding has ready +for the press, a Life of Faustus, his Death and Descent into Hell, which +will also appear the next winter.” + +_Faustus_ did not meet with a very cordial reception. _The Literary +Gazette_ (16th July 1825) characterised it as “another work to which no +respectable publisher ought to have allowed his name to be put. The +political allusion and metaphysics, which may have made it popular among +a low class in Germany, do not sufficiently season its lewd scenes and +coarse descriptions for British palates. We have occasionally +publications for the fireside,—these are only fit for the fire.” + +Borrow had apparently been in some doubt about certain passages, for in a +note headed “The Translator to the Public,” he defends the work as moral +in its general teaching: + + “The publication of the present volume may at first sight appear to + require some brief explanation from the Translator, inasmuch as the + character of the incidents may justify such an expectation on the + part of the reader. It is, therefore, necessary to state that, + although scenes of vice and crime are here exhibited, it is merely in + the hope that they may serve as beacons, to guide the ignorant and + unwary from the shoals on which they might otherwise be wrecked. The + work, when considered as a whole, is strictly moral.” + +It must be confessed that Faustus does not err on the side of restraint. +Many of its scenes might appear “lewd . . . and coarse” to anyone who for +a moment allowed his mind to wander from the morality of “its general +teaching.” The attacks upon the lax morals of the priesthood must have +proved particularly congenial to the translator. + +The more Borrow read his translations of Ab Gwilym, the more convinced he +became of their merit and the profit they would bring to him who +published them. The booksellers, however, with singular unanimity, +declined the risk of introducing to the English public either Welsh or +Danish ballads; and their translator became so shabby in consequence, +that he refrained from calling upon his friend Arden, for whom he had +always cherished a very real friendship. He began to lose heart. His +energy left him and with it went hope. He was forced to review his +situation. Authorship had obviously failed, and he found himself with no +reasonable prospect of employment. + +There is no episode in Borrow’s life that has so exercised the minds of +commentators and critics as his account of the book he terms in +_Lavengro_, _The Life and Adventures of Joseph Sell_, _the Great +Traveller_. Some dismiss the whole story as apocryphal; others see in it +a grain of truth distorted into something of vital importance; whilst +there are a number of earnest Borrovians that accept the whole story as +it is written. Dr Knapp has said that Joseph Sell “was not a book at +all, and the author of it never said that it was.” This was obviously an +error, for the bookseller is credited with saying, “I think I shall +venture on sending your book to the press,” {55a} referring to it as a +“book” four times in nine lines. Again, in another place, Borrow +describes how he rescued himself “from peculiarly miserable circumstances +by writing a book, an original book, within a week, even as Johnson is +said to have written his _Rasselas_ and Beckford his _Vathek_.” {55b} +This removes all question of the _Life and Adventures of Joseph Sell_ +being included in a collection of short stories. The title would not be +the same, the date is most probably wrongly given, as in the case of +Marshland Shales; but the general accuracy of the account as written +seems to be highly probable. Many efforts have been made to trace the +story; but so far unsuccessfully. It must be remembered that Borrow +loved to stretch the long arm of coincidence; but he loved more than +anything else a dramatic situation. He was always on the look out for +effective “curtains.” + +In favour of the story having been actually written, is the knowledge +that Borrow invented little or nothing. Collateral evidence has shown +how little he deviated from actual happenings, although he did not +hesitate to revise dates or colour events. The strongest evidence, +however, lies in the atmosphere of truth that pervades Chapters LV.–LVII. +of _Lavengro_. They are convincing. At one time or another during his +career, it would appear that Borrow wrote against time from grim +necessity; otherwise he must have been a master of invention, which +everything that is known about him clearly shows that he was not. + +_Joseph Sell_ has disappeared, a most careful search of the Registers at +Stationers’ Hall can show no trace of that work, or any book that seems +to suggest it, and the contemporary literary papers render no assistance. + +According to Borrow’s own account, one morning on getting up he found +that he had only half a crown in the world. It was this circumstance, +coupled with the timely notice that he saw affixed to a bookseller’s +window to the effect that “A Novel or Tale is much wanted,” that +determined him to endeavour to emulate Dr Johnson and William Beckford. +He had tired of “the Great City,” and his thoughts turned instinctively +to the woods and the fields, where he could be free to meditate and muse +in solitude. + +When he returned to Milman Street after seeing the bookseller’s +advertisement, he found that his resources had been still further reduced +to eighteen-pence. He was too proud to write home for assistance, he had +broken with Sir Richard Phillips, and he had no reasonable expectation of +obtaining employment of any description; for his accomplishments found no +place in the catalogue of everyday wants. He was a proper man with his +hands, and knew some score or more languages. No matter how he regarded +the situation, the facts were obvious. Between him and actual starvation +there was the inconsiderable sum of eighteen-pence and the bookseller’s +advertisement. The gravity of the situation banished the cloud of +despondency that threatened to settle upon him, and also the doubts that +presented themselves as to whether he possessed the requisite ability to +produce what the bookseller required. The all-important question was, +could he exist sufficiently long on eighteen-pence to complete a story? +Sir Richard Phillips had told him to live on bread and water. He now did +so. + +For a week he wrote ceaselessly at the _Life and Adventures of Joseph +Sell_, _the Great Traveller_. He wrote with the feverish energy of a man +who sees the shadow of actual starvation cast across his manuscript. +When the tale was finished there remained the work of revision, and after +that, worst of all, fears lest the bookseller were already suited. + +Fortune, however, was kind to him, and he was successful in extracting +for his story the sum of twenty pounds. Borrow had not mixed among +gypsies for nothing. He, a starving and unknown author, succeeded in +extracting from a bookseller twenty pounds for a story, twice the amount +offered by Sir Richard Phillips for a novel on the lines of _The +Dairyman’s Daughter_. It was an achievement. + +The first argument against the story, as related by Borrow, is that he +was not without resources at the time. Why should he be so impoverished +a few weeks after receiving payment for _Celebrated Trials_? {57} Above +all, why did he not realise upon Simpkin & Marshall’s bill for _Faustus_? +He would have experienced no difficulty in discounting a bill accepted by +such a firm. It seems hardly conceivable that he should preserve this +piece of paper when he had only eighteen-pence in the world. Everything +seems to point to the fact that in May 1825 Borrow was not in want of +money, and if he were not, why did he almost kill himself by writing the +_Life and Adventures of Joseph Sell_? Again, at that period he had met +with no adventures such as might be included in the life of a “Great +Traveller,” and Borrow was not an inventive writer. Later he possessed +plenty of material; for there can be no question that he roamed about the +world for a considerable portion of those seven mysterious years of his +life that came to be known as the “Veiled Period.” His accuracy as to +actual occurrences has been so emphasised that this particular argument +holds considerable significance. + +The strongest evidence against _Joseph Sell_ having been written in 1825, +however, lies in the fact that Greenwich Fair was held on 23rd May, and +not 12th May, as given by Dr Knapp. By his error Dr Knapp makes Borrow +leave London a day before the Fair took place that he describes. Borrow +must have left London on the day following Greenwich Fair (24th May). If +he left later, then those things which tend to confirm his story of the +life in the Dingle do not fit in, as will be seen. He certainly could +not have left before Greenwich Fair was held. + +In one of his brother John’s letters, written at the end of 1829, there +is a significant passage, “Let me know how you sold your manuscript.” +{58} What manuscript is it that is referred to? There is no record of +George having sold a manuscript in the autumn of 1829. The passage can +scarcely have reference to some article or translation; it seems to +suggest something of importance, an event in George’s life that his +brother is anxious to know more about. If this be _Joseph Sell_, then it +explains where Borrow got the money from to go up to London at the end of +1829, when he entered into relations with Dr Bowring. It is merely a +theory, it must be confessed; but there is certain evidence that seems to +support it. In the first place, Borrow was a chronicler before all else. +He possessed an amazing memory and a great gift for turning his +experiences into literary material. If he coloured facts, he appears to +have done so unconsciously, to judge from those portions of _The Bible in +Spain_ that were covered by letters to the Bible Society. Not only are +the facts the same, but, with very slight changes, the words in which he +relates them. He never hesitated to change a date if it served his +purpose, much as an artist will change the position of a tree in a +landscape to suit the exigencies of composition. His five volumes of +autobiography bristle with coincidences so amazing that, if they were +actually true, he must have been the most remarkable genius on record for +attracting to himself strange adventures. He met the sailor son of the +old Apple-Woman returning from his enforced exile; Murtagh tells him of +how the postilion frightened the Pope at Rome by his denunciation, a +story Borrow had already heard from the postilion himself; the Hungarian +at Horncastle narrates how an Armenian once silenced a Moldavian, the +same Moldavian whom Borrow had encountered in London; the postilion meets +the man in black again. There are scores of such coincidences, which +must be accepted as dramatic embellishments. + + + + +CHAPTER IV +MAY–SEPTEMBER 1825 + + +FOURTEEN months in London had shown Borrow how hard was the road of +authorship. He confessed that he was not “formed by nature to be a +pallid indoor student.” “The peculiar atmosphere of the big city” did +not agree with him, and this fact, together with the anxiety and hard +work of the past twelve months, caused him to flag, and his first thought +was how to recover his health. He was disillusioned as to the busy +world, and the opportunities it offered to a young man fired with +ambition to make a stir in it. He determined to leave London, which he +did towards the end of May, {60} first despatching his trunk “containing +a few clothes and books to the old town [Norwich].” He struck out in a +south-westerly direction, musing on his achievements as an author, and +finding that in having preserved his independence and health, he had +“abundant cause to be grateful.” + +Throughout his life Borrow was hypnotised by independence. Like many +other proud natures, he carried his theory of independence to such an +extreme as to become a slave to it and render himself unsociable, +sometimes churlish. It was this virtue carried to excess that drove +Borrow from London. He must tell men what was in his mind, and his one +patron, Sir Richard Phillips, he had mortally offended in this manner. + +Finding that he was unequal to much fatigue, after a few hours’ walking +he hailed a passing coach, which took him as far as Amesbury in +Wiltshire. From here he walked to Stonehenge and on to Salisbury, +“inspecting the curiosities of the place,” and endeavouring by sleep and +good food to make up the wastage of the last few months. The weather was +fine and his health and spirits rapidly improved as he tramped on, his +“daily journeys varying from twenty to twenty-five miles.” He +encountered the mysterious stranger who “touched” against the evil eye. +F. H. Groome asserts, on the authority of W. B. Donne, that this was in +reality William Beckford. Borrow must have met him at some other time +and place, as he had already left Fonthill in 1825. It is, however, +interesting to recall that Borrow himself “touched” against the evil eye. +Mr Watts-Dunton has said: + + “There was nothing that Borrow strove against with more energy than + the curious impulse, which he seems to have shared with Dr Johnson, + to touch the objects along his path in order to save himself from the + evil chance. He never conquered the superstition. In walking + through Richmond Park he would step out of his way constantly to + touch a tree, and he was offended if the friend he was with seemed to + observe it.” {61a} + +The chance meeting with Jack Slingsby (in fear of his life from the +Flaming Tinman, and bound by oath not to continue on the same beat) gave +Borrow the idea of buying out Slingsby, beat, plant, pony and all. “A +tinker is his own master, a scholar is not,” {61b} he remarks, and then +proceeds to draw tears and moans from the dispirited Slingsby and his +family by a description of the joys of tinkering, “the happiest life +under heaven . . . pitching your tent under the pleasant hedge-row, +listening to the song of the feathered tribes, collecting all the leaky +kettles in the neighbourhood, soldering and joining, earning your honest +bread by the wholesome sweat of your brow.” {62a} + +By the expenditure of five pounds ten shillings, plus the cost of a +smock-frock and some provisions, George Borrow, linguist, editor and +translator, became a travelling tinker. With his dauntless little pony, +Ambrol, he set out, a tinkering Ulysses, indifferent to what direction he +took, allowing the pony to go whither he felt inclined. At first he +experienced some apprehension at passing the night with only a tent or +the stars as a roof. Rain fell to mar the opening day of the adventure, +but the pony, with unerring instinct, led his new master to one of +Slingsby’s usual camping grounds. + +In the morning Borrow fell to examining what it was beyond the pony and +cart that his five pounds ten shillings had purchased. He found a tent, +a straw mattress and a blanket, “quite clean and nearly new.” There were +also a frying-pan, a kettle, a teapot (broken in three pieces) and some +cups and saucers. The stock-in-trade “consisted of various tools, an +iron ladle, a chafing-pan, and small bellows, sundry pans and kettles, +the latter being of tin, with the exception of one which was of copper, +all in a state of considerable dilapidation.” The pans and kettles were +to be sold after being mended, for which purpose there was “a block of +tin, sheet-tin, and solder.” But most precious of all his possessions +was “a small anvil and bellows of the kind which are used in forges, and +two hammers such as smiths use, one great, and the other small.” {62b} +Borrow had learned the blacksmith’s art when in Ireland, and the anvil, +bellows and smith’s hammers were to prove extremely useful. + +A few days after pitching his tent, Borrow received from his old enemy +Mrs Herne, Mr Petulengro’s mother-in-law, a poisoned cake, which came +very near to ending his career. He then encountered the Welsh preacher +(“the worthiest creature I ever knew”) and his wife, who were largely +instrumental in saving him from Mrs Herne’s poison. Having remained with +his new friends for nine days, he accompanied them as far as the Welsh +border, where he confessed himself the translator of Ab Gwilym, giving as +an excuse for not accompanying them further that it was “neither fit nor +proper that I cross into Wales at this time, and in this manner. When I +go into Wales, I should wish to go in a new suit of superfine black, with +hat and beaver, mounted on a powerful steed, black and glossy, like that +which bore Greduv to the fight of Catraeth. I should wish, moreover,” he +continued, “to see the Welshmen assembled on the border ready to welcome +me with pipe and fiddle, and much whooping and shouting, and to attend me +to Wrexham, or even as far as Machynllaith, where I should wish to be +invited to a dinner at which all the bards should be present, and to be +seated at the right hand of the president, who, when the cloth was +removed, should arise, and amidst cries of silence, exclaim—‘Brethren and +Welshmen, allow me to propose the health of my most respectable friend +the translator of the odes of the great Ab Gwilym, the pride and glory of +Wales.’” {63a} + +He returned with Mr Petulengro, who directed him to Mumber Lane (Mumper’s +Dingle), near Willenhall, in Staffordshire, “the little dingle by the +side of the great north road.” Here Borrow encamped and shod little +Ambrol, who kicked him over as a reminder of his clumsiness. + +He had refused an invitation from Mr Petulengro to become a Romany _chal_ +and take a Romany bride, the granddaughter of his would-be murderess, who +“occasionally talked of” him. He yearned for solitude and the country’s +quiet. He told Mr Petulengro that he desired only some peaceful spot +where he might hold uninterrupted communion with his own thoughts, and +practise, if so inclined, either tinkering or the blacksmith’s art, and +he had been directed to Mumper’s Dingle, which was to become the setting +of the most romantic episode in his life. + +In the dingle Borrow experienced one of his worst attacks of the +“Horrors”—the “Screaming Horrors.” He raged like a madman, a prey to +some indefinable, intangible fear; clinging to his “little horse as if +for safety and protection.” {64a} He had not recovered from the +prostrating effects of that night of tragedy when he was called upon to +fight Anselo Herne, “the Flaming Tinman,” who somehow or other seemed to +be part of the bargain he had made with Jack Slingsby, and encounter the +queen of road-girls, Isopel Berners. The description of the fight has +been proclaimed the finest in our language, and by some the finest in the +world’s literature. + +Isopel Berners is one of the great heroines of English Literature. As +drawn by Borrow, with her strong arm, lion-like courage and tender +tearfulness, she is unique. However true or false the account of her +relations with Borrow may be, she is drawn by him as a living woman. He +was incapable of conceiving her from his imagination. It may go +unquestioned that he actually met an Isopel Berners, {64b} but whether or +no his parting from her was as heart-rendingly tragic as he has depicted +it, is open to very grave question. + + [Picture: Mumber Lane (Mumper’s Dingle)] + +With this queen of the roads he seems to have been less reticent and more +himself than with any other of his vagabond acquaintance, not excepting +even Mr Petulengro. To the handsome, tall girl with “the flaxen hair, +which hung down over her shoulders unconfined,” and the “determined but +open expression,” he showed a more amiable side of his character; yet he +seems to have treated her with no little cruelty. He told her about +himself, how he “had tamed savage mares, wrestled with Satan, and had +dealings with ferocious publishers,” bringing tears to her eyes, and when +she grew too curious, he administered an antidote in the form of a few +Armenian numerals. If his _Autobiography_ is to be credited, Isopel +loved him, and he was aware of it; but the knowledge did not hinder him +from torturing the poor girl by insisting that she should decline the +verb “to love” in Armenian. + +Borrow’s attitude towards Isopel was curiously complex; he seemed to find +pleasure in playing upon her emotions. At times he appeared as +deliberately brutal to her, as to the gypsy girl Ursula when he talked +with her beneath the hedge. He forced from Isopel a passionate rebuke +that he sought only to vex and irritate “a poor ignorant girl . . . who +can scarcely read or write.” He asked her to marry him, but not until he +had convinced her that he was mad. How much she had become part of his +life in the dingle he did not seem to realise until after she had left +him. Isopel Berners was a woman whose character was almost masculine in +its strength; but she was prepared to subdue her spirit to his, wished to +do so even. With her strength, however, there was wisdom, and she left +Borrow and the dingle, sending him a letter of farewell that was +certainly not the composition of “a poor girl” who could “scarcely read +or write.” The story itself is in all probability true; but the letter +rings false. Isopel may have sent Borrow a letter of farewell, but not +the one that appears in _The Romany Rye_. + +Among Borrow’s papers Dr Knapp discovered a fragment of manuscript in +which Mr Petulengro is shown deliberating upon the expediency of +emulating King Pharaoh in the number of his wives. Mrs Petulengro +desires “a little pleasant company,” and urges her husband to take a +second spouse. He proceeds:— + + “Now I am thinking that this here Bess of yours would be just the + kind of person both for my wife and myself. My wife wants something + _gorgiko_, something genteel. Now Bess is of blood gorgious; if you + doubt it, look at her face, all full of _pawno ratter_, white blood, + brother; and as for gentility, nobody can make exceptions to Bess’s + gentility, seeing she was born in the workhouse of Melford the + Short.” + +Mr Petulengro sees in Bess another advantage. If “the Flaming Tinman” +{66a} were to descend upon them, as he once did, with the offer to fight +the best of them for nothing, and Tawno Chikno were absent, who was to +fight him? Mr Petulengro could not do so for less than five pounds; but +with Bess as a second wife the problem would be solved. She would fight +“the Flaming Tinman.” + +This proves nothing, one way or the other, and can scarcely be said to +“dispel any allusions,” as Dr Knapp suggests, or confirm the story of +Isopel. Why did Borrow omit it from Lavengro? Not from caprice surely. +It has been stated that those who know the gypsies can vouch for the fact +that no such suggestion could have been made by a gypsy woman. + +It would appear that Isopel Berners existed, but the account of her given +by Borrow in Lavengro and The Romany Rye is in all probability coloured, +just as her stature was heightened by him. If she were taller than he, +she must have appeared a giantess. Borrow was an impressionist, and he +has probably succeeded far better in giving a faithful picture of Isopel +Berners than if he had been photographically accurate in his +measurements. + +According to Borrow’s own account, he left Willenhall mounted upon a fine +horse, purchased with money lent to him by Mr Petulengro, a small valise +strapped to the saddle, and “some desire to meet with one of those +adventures which upon the roads of England are generally as plentiful as +blackberries.” From this point, however, _The Romany Rye_ becomes +dangerous as autobiography. {66b} + +For one thing, it was unlike Borrow to remain in debt, and it is +incredible that he should have ridden away upon a horse purchased with +another man’s money, without any set purpose in his mind. Therefore the +story of his employment at the Swan Inn, Stafford, where he found his +postilion friend, and the subsequent adventures must be reluctantly +sacrificed. They do not ring true, nor do they fit in with the rest of +the story. That he experienced such adventures is highly probable; but +it is equally probable that he took some liberty with the dates. + +Up to the point where he purchases the horse, Borrow’s story is +convincing; but from there onwards it seems to go to pieces, that is as +autobiography. The arrival of Ardry (Arden) at the inn, {67a} _passing +through Stafford on his way to Warwick_ to be present at a dog and lion +fight that had already taken place (26th July), is in itself enough to +shake our confidence in the whole episode of the inn. In _The Gypsies of +Spain_ Mr Petulengro is made to say: + + “I suppose you have not forgot how, fifteen years ago, when you made + horseshoes in the little dingle by the side of the great north road, + I lent you fifty cottors [guineas] to purchase the wonderful trotting + cob of the innkeeper with the green Newmarket coat, which three days + after you sold for two hundred. Well, brother, if you had wanted the + two hundred instead of the fifty, I could have lent them to you, and + would have done so, for I knew you would not be long pazorrhus + [indebted] to me.” {67b} + +It seems more in accordance with Borrow’s character to repay the loan +within three days than to continue in Mr Petulengro’s debt for weeks, at +one time making no actual effort to realise upon the horse. The question +as to whether Borrow received a hundred and fifty (as he himself states) +or two hundred pounds is immaterial. It is quite likely that he sold the +horse before he left the dingle, and that the adventures he narrates may +be true in all else save the continued possession of his steed, that is, +with the exception of the Francis Ardry episode, the encounter with the +man in black, and the arrival at Horncastle during the fair. If Borrow +left London on 24th May, and he could not have left earlier, as has been +shown, he must have visited the Fair (Tamworth) with Mr Petulengro on +26th July, and set out from Willenhall about 2nd August. + +It has been pointed out by that distinguished scholar and +gentleman-gypsy, Mr John Sampson, {68} that as the Horse Fair at +Horncastle was held 12th–21st August, if Borrow took the horse there it +could not have been in the manner described in _The Romany Rye_, where he +is shown as spending some considerable time at the inn, if we may judge +by the handsome cheque (£10) offered to him by the landlord as a bonus on +account of his services. Then there was the accident and the consequent +lying-up at the house of the man who knew Chinese, but could not tell +what o’clock it was. To confirm Borrow’s itinerary all this must have +been crowded into less than three weeks, fully a third of which Borrow +spent in recovering from his fall. This would mean that for less than a +fortnight’s work, the innkeeper offered him ten pounds as a gratuity, in +addition to the bargain he had made, which included the horse’s keep. + +Mr Sampson has supported his itinerary with several very important pieces +of evidence. Borrow states in _Lavengro_ that “a young moon gave a +feeble light” as he mounted the coach that was to take him to Amesbury. +The moon was in its first quarter on 24th May. There actually was a +great thunderstorm in the Willenhall district about the time that Borrow +describes (18th July). It is Mr Sampson also who has identified the fair +to which Borrow went with the gypsies as that held at Tamworth on 26th +July. + +Whatever else Borrow may have been doing immediately after leaving the +dingle, he appears to have been much occupied in speculating as to the +future. Was he not “sadly misspending his time?” He was forced to the +conclusion that he had done nothing else throughout his life but misspend +his time. He was ambitious. He chafed at his narrow life. “Oh! what a +vast deal may be done with intellect, courage, riches, accompanied by the +desire of doing something great and good!” {69a} he exclaims, and his +thoughts turned instinctively to the career of his old school-fellow, +Rajah Brooke of Sarawak. {69b} He was now, by his own confession, “a +moody man, bearing on my face, as I well knew, the marks of my strivings +and my strugglings, of what I had learnt and unlearnt.” {69c} He +recognised the possibilities that lay in every man, only awaiting the +hour when they should be called forth. He believed implicitly in the +power of the will. {69d} He possessed ambition and a fine workable +theory of how success was to be obtained; but he lacked initiative. He +expected fortune to wait for him on the high-road, just as he knew +adventures awaited him. He would not go “across the country,” to use a +phrase of the time common to postilions. He was too independent, perhaps +too sensitive of being patronised, to seek employment. That he cared +“for nothing in this world but old words and strange stories,” was an +error into which his friend Mr Petulengro might well fall. The +mightiness of the man’s pride could be covered only by a cloak of assumed +indifference. He must be independent of the world, not only in material +things, but in those intangible qualities of the spirit. It was this +that lost him Isopel Berners, whose love he awakened by a strong right +arm and quenched with an Armenian noun. Again, his independence stood in +the way of his happiness. A man is a king, he seemed to think, and the +attribute of kings is their splendid isolation, their godlike solitude. +If his Ego were lonely and crying out for sympathy, Borrow thought it a +moment for solitude, in which to discipline his insurgent spirit. The +“Horrors” were the result of this self-repression. When they became +unbearable, his spirit broke down, the yearning for sympathy and +affection overmastered him, and he stumbled to his little horse in the +desolate dingle, and found comfort in the faithful creature’s whinny of +sympathy and its affectionate licking of his hand. The strong man clung +to his dumb brute friend as a protection against the unknown horror—the +screaming horror that had gripped him. + +One quality Borrow possessed in common with many other men of strange and +taciturn personality. He could always make friends when he chose. +Ostlers, scholars, farmers, gypsies; it mattered not one jot to him what, +or who they were. He could earn their respect and obtain their +good-will, if he wished to do so. He demanded of men that they should +have done things, or be capable of doing things. They must know +everything there was to be known about some one thing; and the ostler, +than whom none could groom a horse better, was worthy of being ranked +with the best man in the land. He demanded of every man that he should +justify his existence, and was logical in his attitude, save in the +insignificant particular that he applied the same rule to himself only in +theory. + +He was shrewd and a good judge of character, provided it were Protestant +character, and could hold his own with a Jew or a Gypsy. He was fully +justified in his boast of being able to take “precious good care of” +himself, and “drive a precious hard bargain”; yet these qualities were +not to find a market until he was thirty years of age. + +Sometime during the autumn (1825) Borrow returned to Norwich, where he +busied himself with literary affairs, among other things writing to the +publishers of _Faustus_ about the bill that was shortly to fall due. The +fact of the book having been destroyed at both the Norwich libraries, +gave him the idea that he might make some profit by selling copies of the +suppressed volume. Hence his offer to Simpkin & Marshall to take copies +in lieu of money. + + + + +CHAPTER V +SEPTEMBER 1825–DECEMBER 1832 + + +FROM the autumn of 1825 until the winter of 1832, when he obtained an +introduction to the British & Foreign Bible Society, only fragmentary +details of Borrow’s life exist. He decided to keep sacred to himself the +“Veiled Period,” as it came to be called. In all probability it was a +time of great hardship and mortification, and he wished it to be thought +that the whole period was devoted to “a grand philological expedition,” +or expeditions. There is no doubt that some portion of the mysterious +epoch was so spent, but not all. Many of the adventures ascribed to +characters in _Lavengro_ and _The Romany Rye_ were, most probably, +Borrow’s own experiences during that period of mystery and misfortune. +Time after time he was implored to “lift up a corner of the curtain”; but +he remained obdurate, and the seven years are in his life what the New +Orleans days were in that of Walt Whitman. + +Soon after his return to Norwich, Borrow seems to have turned his +attention to the manuscripts in the green box. In the days of happy +augury, before he had quarrelled with Sir Richard Phillips, there had +appeared in _The Monthly Magazine_ the two following paragraphs:— + + “We have heard and seen much of the legends and popular superstitions + of the North, but, in truth, all the exhibitions of these subjects + which have hitherto appeared in England have been translations from + the German. Mr Olaus Borrow, who is familiar with the Northern + Languages, proposes, however, to present these curious reliques of + romantic antiquity directly from the Danish and Swedish, and two + elegant volumes of them now printing will appear in September. They + are highly interesting in themselves, but more so as the basis of + most of the popular superstitions of England, when they were + introduced during the incursions and dominion of the Danes and + Norwegians.” (1st September 1824.) + + “We have to acknowledge the favour of a beautiful collection of + Danish songs and ballads, of which a specimen will be seen among the + poetical articles of the present month. One, or more, of these very + interesting translations will appear in each succeeding number.” + (1st December 1824.) + +It seems to have been Borrow’s plan to run his ballads serially through +_The Monthly Magazine_ and then to publish them in book-form. His +initial contribution to _The Monthly Magazine_ had appeared in October +1823. The first of the articles, entitled “Danish Traditions and +Superstitions,” appeared August 1824, and continued, with the omission of +one or two months, until December 1825, there being in all nine articles; +but there was only one instalment of “Danish Songs and Ballads.” {73} + +Borrow was determined that these ballads, at least, should be published, +and he set to work to prepare them for the press. Allan Cunningham, with +whom Borrow was acquainted, contributed, at his request, a metrical +dedication. The volume appeared on 10th May, in an edition of five +hundred copies at ten shillings and sixpence each. It appears that some +two hundred copies were subscribed for, thus ensuring the cost of +production. The balance, or a large proportion of it, was consigned to +John Taylor, the London publisher, who printed a new title-page and sold +them at seven shillings each, probably the trade price for a half-guinea +book. + +Cunningham wrote to Borrow advising him to send out freely copies for +review, and with each a note saying that it was the translator’s ultimate +intention to publish an English version of the whole _Kiæmpe Viser_ with +notes; also to “scatter a few judiciously among literary men.” It is +doubtful if this sage counsel were acted upon; for there is no record of +any review or announcement of the work. This in itself was not +altogether a misfortune; for Borrow did not prove himself an inspired +translator of verse. Apart from the two hundred copies sold to +subscribers, the book was still-born. + +After the publication of _Romantic Ballads_, Borrow appears to have +returned to London, not to his old lodging at Milman Street, possibly on +account of the associations, but to 26 Bryanston Street, Portman Square, +from which address he wrote to Benjamin Haydon the following note:—{74} + + DEAR SIR,— + + I should feel extremely obliged if you would allow me to sit to you + as soon as possible. I am going to the South of France in little + better than a fortnight, and I would sooner lose a thousand pounds + than not have the honour of appearing in the picture. + + Yours sincerely, + + GEORGE BORROW. + +In his account of how he first became acquainted with Haydon, Borrow +shows himself as anything but desirous of appearing in a picture. When +John tells of the artist’s wish to include him as one of the characters +in a painting upon which he is engaged, Borrow replies: “I have no wish +to appear on canvas.” It is probable that in some way or other Haydon +offended his sitter, who, regretting his acquiescence, antedated the +episode and depicted himself as refusing the invitation. Such a liberty +with fact and date would be quite in accordance with Borrow’s +autobiographical methods. + +Borrow wrote in _Lavengro_, “I have been a wanderer the greater part of +my life; indeed I remember only two periods, and these by no means +lengthy, when I was, strictly speaking, stationary.” {75a} One of the +“two periods” was obviously the eight years spent at Norwich, 1816–24, +the other is probably the years spent at Oulton. Thus the “Veiled +Period” may be assumed to have been one of wandering. The seven years +are gloomy and mysterious, but not utterly dark. There is a hint here, a +suggestion there—a letter or a paragraph, that gives in a vague way some +idea of what Borrow was doing, and where. It seems comparatively safe to +assume that after the publication of _Romantic Ballads_ he plunged into a +life of roving and vagabondage, which, in all probability, was brought to +an abrupt termination by either the loss or the exhaustion of his money. +Anything beyond this is pure conjecture. {75b} + +After he became associated with the British & Foreign Bible Society, his +movements are easily accounted for; but all we have to guide us as to +what countries he had seen before 1833 is an occasional hint. He +casually admits having been in Italy, {75c} at Bayonne, {75d} Paris, +{75e} Madrid, {75f} the south of France. {75g} “I have visited most of +the principal capitals of the world,” he writes in 1843; and again in the +same year, “I have heard the ballad of Alonzo Guzman chanted in Danish, +by a hind in the wilds of Jutland.” {76a} “I have lived in different +parts of the world, much amongst the Hebrew race, and I am well +acquainted with their words and phraseology,” {76b} he writes; and on +another occasion: “I have seen gypsies of various lands, Russian, +Hungarian, and Turkish; and I have also seen the legitimate children of +most countries of the world.” {76c} An even more significant admission +is that made when Colonel Elers Napier, whom Borrow met in Seville in +1839, enquired where he had obtained his knowledge of Moultanee. “Some +years ago, in Moultan,” was the reply; then, as if regretting that he had +confessed so much, showed by his manner that he intended to divulge +nothing more. {76d} + +“Once, during my own wanderings in Italy,” Borrow writes, “I rested at +nightfall by the side of a kiln, the air being piercingly cold; it was +about four leagues from Genoa.” {76e} Again, “Once in the south of +France, when I was weary, hungry, and penniless, I observed one of these +last patterans {76f} [a cross marked in the dust], and following the +direction pointed out, arrived at the resting-place of ‘certain +Bohemians,’ by whom I was received with kindness and hospitality, on the +faith of no other word of recommendation than patteran.” {76g} In a +letter of introduction to the Rev. E. Whitely, of Oporto, the Rev. Andrew +Brandram, of the Bible Society, wrote in 1835: “With Portugal he [Borrow] +is already acquainted, and speaks the language.” This statement is +significant, for only during the “Veiled Period” could Borrow have +visited Portugal. + +It may be argued that Borrow was merely posing as a great traveller, but +the foregoing remarks are too casual, too much in the nature of asides, +to be the utterances of a poseur. A man seeking to impress himself upon +the world as a great traveller would probably have been a little more +definite. + +The only really reliable information as to Borrow’s movements after his +arrival in London is contained in the note to Haydon. In all probability +he went to Paris, where possibly he met Vidocq, the master-rogue turned +detective. {77a} It has been suggested by Dr Knapp that he went to +Paris, and thence on foot to Bayonne and Madrid, after which he tramped +to Pamplona, where he gets into trouble, is imprisoned, and is released +on condition that he leave the country; he proceeds towards Marseilles +and Genoa, where he takes ship and is landed safely in London. The data, +however, upon which this itinerary is constructed are too frail to be +convincing. There is every probability that he roamed about the +Continent and met with adventures—he was a man to whom adventures +gravitated quite naturally—but the fact of his saying that he had been +imprisoned on three occasions, and there being only two instances on +record at the time, cannot in itself be considered as conclusive evidence +of his having been arrested at Pamplona. {77b} + +In the spring of 1827 Borrow was unquestionably at Norwich, for he saw +the famous trotting stallion Marshland Shales on the Castle Hill (12th +April), and did for that grand horse “what I would neither do for earl or +baron, doffed my hat.” {78} Borrow apparently remained with his mother +for some months, to judge from certain entries (29th September to 19th +November) in his hand that appear in her account books. + +In December 1829 he was back again in London at 77 Great Russell Street, +W.C. He was as usual eager to obtain some sort of work. He wrote to +“the Committee of the Honourable and Praiseworthy Association, known by +the name of the Highland Society . . . a body animate with patriotism, +which, guided by philosophy, produces the noblest results, and many of +whose members stand amongst the very eminent in the various departments +of knowledge.” + +The project itself was that of translating into English “the best and +most approved poetry of the Ancient and Modern Scoto-Gaelic Bards, with +such notes on the usages and superstitions therein alluded to, as will +enable the English reader to form a clear and correct idea of the +originals.” In the course of a rather ornate letter, Borrow offers +himself as the translator and compiler of such a work as he suggests, +avowing his willingness to accept whatsoever remuneration might be +thought adequate compensation for his expenditure of time. Furthermore, +he undertakes to complete the work within a period of two years. + +On 7th December he wrote to Dr Bowring, recently returned from Denmark:— + + “Lest I should intrude upon you when you are busy, I write to enquire + when you will be unoccupied. I wish to show you my translation of + The Death of Balder, Ewald’s most celebrated production, which, if + you approve of, you will perhaps render me some assistance in + bringing forth, for I don’t know many publishers. I think this will + be a proper time to introduce it to the British public, as your + account of Danish literature will doubtless cause a sensation.” {79} + +On 29th December he wrote again:— + + “When I had last the pleasure of being at yours, you mentioned that + we might at some future period unite our strength in composing a kind + of Danish Anthology. Suppose we bring forward at once the first + volume of the Danish Anthology, which should contain the heroic + supernatural songs of the _K_[_iæmpe_] _V_[_iser_].” + +It was suggested that there should be four volumes in all, and the first, +with an introduction that Borrow expressed himself as not ashamed of, was +ready and “might appear instanter, with no further trouble to yourself +than writing, if you should think fit, a page or two of introductory +matter.” Dr Bowring replied by return of post that he thought that no +more than two volumes could be ventured on, and Borrow acquiesced, +writing: “The sooner the work is advertised the better, _for I am +terribly afraid of being forestalled in the Kiæmpe Viser by some of those +Scotch blackguards_, who affect to translate from all languages, of which +they are fully as ignorant as Lockhart is of Spanish.” + +Borrow was full of enthusiasm for the project, and repeated that the +first volume was ready, adding: “If we unite our strength in the second, +I think we can produce something worthy of fame, for we shall have plenty +of matter to employ talent upon.” A later letter, which was written from +7 Museum Street (8th January), told how he had “been obliged to decamp +from Russell St. for the cogent reason of an execution having been sent +into the house, and I thought myself happy in escaping with my things.” + +He drew up a prospectus, endeavouring “to assume a Danish style,” which +he submitted to his collaborator, begging him to “alter . . . whatever +false logic has crept into it, find a remedy for its incoherencies, and +render it fit for its intended purpose. I have had for the two last days +a rising headache which has almost prevented me doing anything.” + +It would appear that Dr Bowring did not altogether approve of the “Danish +style,” for on 14th January Borrow wrote, “I approve of the prospectus in +every respect; it is business-like, and there is nothing flashy in it. I +do not wish to suggest one alteration . . . When you see the foreign +Editor,” he continues, “I should feel much obliged if you would speak to +him about my reviewing Tegner, and enquire whether a _good_ article on +Welsh poetry would be received. I have the advantage of not being a +Welshman. I would speak the truth, and would give translations of some +of the best Welsh poetry; and I really believe that my translations would +not be the worst that have been made from the Welsh tongue.” + +The prospectus, which appeared in several publications ran as follows:— + + “Dr Bowring and Mr George Borrow are about to publish, dedicated to + the King of Denmark, by His Majesy’s permission, THE SONGS OF + SCANDINAVIA, in 2 vols. 8vo, containing a Selection of the most + interesting of the Historical and Romantic Ballads of North-Western + Europe, with Specimens of the Danish and Norwegian Poets down to the + present day. + + Price to Subscribers, £1, 1s.—to Non-Subscribers £1, 5s. + + The First Volume will be devoted to Ancient Popular Poetry; the + Second will give the choicest productions of the Modern School, + beginning with Tullin.” {81} + +_The Songs of Scandinavia_ now became to Borrow what the _Celebrated +Trials_ had been four years previously, a source of constant toil. On +one occasion he writes to Dr Bowring telling him that he has just +translated an ode “as I breakfasted.” What Borrow lived on at this +period it is impossible to say. It may be assumed that Mrs Borrow did +not keep him, for, apart from the slender proportions of the income of +the mother, the unconquerable independence of the son must be considered; +and Borrow loved his mother too tenderly to allow her to deprive herself +of luxuries even to keep him. He borrowed money from her at various +times; but he subsequently faithfully repaid her. Even John was puzzled. +“You never tell me what you are doing,” he writes to his brother at the +end of 1832; “you can’t be living on nothing.” + +Borrow appears to have kept Dr Bowring well occupied with suggestions as +to how that good-natured man might assist him. Although he is to see him +on the morrow, he writes on the evening of 21st May regarding another +idea that has just struck him: + + “As at present no doubt seems to be entertained of Prince Leopold’s + accepting the sovereignty of Greece, would you have any objection to + write to him concerning me? I should be very happy to go to Greece + in his service. I do not wish to go in a civil or domestic capacity, + and I have, moreover, no doubt that all such situations have been + long since filled up; I wish to go in a military one, for which I am + qualified by birth and early habits. You might inform the Prince + that I have been for years on the Commander-in-Chiefs list for a + commission, but that I have not had sufficient interest to procure an + appointment. One of my reasons for wishing to reside in Greece is, + that the mines of Eastern literature would be accessible to me. I + should soon become an adept in Turkish, and would weave and transmit + to you such an anthology as would gladden your very heart. As for + the _Songs of Scandinavia_, all the ballads would be ready before + departure, and as I should have books, I would in a few months send + you translations of the modern Lyric Poetry. I hope this letter will + not displease you. I do not write it from _flightiness_, but from + thoughtfulness. I am uneasy to find myself at four and twenty + drifting on the sea of the world, and likely to continue so.” + +On 22nd May Dr Bowring introduced Borrow to Dr Grundtvig, the Danish +poet, who required some transcriptions done. On 7th June, Borrow wrote +to Dr Bowring: + + “I have looked over Mr Gruntvig’s (_sic_) manuscript. It is a very + long affair, and the language is Norman Saxon. £40 would not be an + extravagant price for a transcript, and so they told him at the + Museum. However, as I am doing nothing particular at present, and as + I might learn something from transcribing it, I would do it for £20. + He will call on you to-morrow morning, and then, if you please, you + may recommend me. The character closely resembles the ancient Irish, + so I think you can answer for my competency.” + +At this time there were a hundred schemes seething through Borrow’s eager +brain. Hearing that “an order has been issued for the making a +transcript of the celebrated Anglo-Saxon Codex of Exeter, for the use of +the British Museum,” he applied to some unknown correspondent for his +interest and help to obtain the appointment as transcriber. The work, +however, was carried out by a Museum official. + +Another project appears to have been to obtain a post at the British +Museum. On 9th March 1830 he had written to Dr Bowring: + + “I have thought over the Museum matter, which we were talking about + last night, and it appears to me that it would be the very thing for + me, provided that it could be accomplished. I should feel obliged if + you would deliberate upon the best mode of proceeding, so that when I + see you again I may have the benefit of your advice.” + +In reply Dr Bowring commended the scheme, and promised to assist “by +every sort of counsel and exertion. But it would injure you,” he +proceeds, “if I were to take the initiative. [The Gibraltar house of +Bowring & Murdock had recently failed.] Quietly make yourself master of +that department of the Museum. We must then think of how best to get at +the Council. If by any management they can be induced to ask my opinion, +I will give you a character which shall take you to the top of Hecla +itself. You have claims, strong ones, and I should rejoice to see you +_niched_ in the British Museum.” + +Again failure! Disappointment seemed to be dogging Borrow’s footsteps at +this period. For years past he had been seeking some sort of occupation, +into which he could throw all that energy and determination of character +that he possessed. He was earnest and able, and he knew that he only +required an opportunity of showing to the world what manner of man he +was. He seemed doomed to meet everywhere with discouragement; for no one +wanted him, just as no one wanted his translations of the glorious Ab +Gwilym. He appeared before the world as a failure, which probably +troubled him very little; but there was another aspect of the case that +was in his eyes, “the most heartbreaking of everything, the strange, the +disadvantageous light in which I am aware that I must frequently have +appeared to those whom I most love and honour.” {83} + +On 14th September he wrote to Dr Bowring: + + “I am going to Norwich for some short time, as I am very unwell and + hope that cold bathing in October and November may prove of service + to me. My complaints are, I believe, the offspring of ennui and + unsettled prospects. I have thoughts of attempting to get into the + French service, as I should like prodigiously to serve under Clausel + in the next Bedouin campaign. I shall leave London next Sunday and + will call some evening to take my leave; I cannot come in the + morning, as early rising kills me.” + +A year later he writes again to Dr Bowring, who once more has been +exerting himself on his friend’s behalf: + + “WILLOW LANE, NORWICH, + 11_th_ _September_ 1831. + + MY DEAR SIR,— + + I return you my most sincere thanks for your kind letter of the 2nd + inst., and though you have not been successful in your application to + the Belgian authorities in my behalf, I know full well that you did + your utmost, and am only sorry that at my instigation you attempted + an impossibility. + + The Belgians seem either not to know or not to care for the opinion + of the great Cyrus who gives this advice to his captains. ‘Take no + heed from what countries ye fill up your ranks, but seek recruits as + ye do horses, not those particularly who are of your own country, but + those of merit.’ The Belgians will only have such recruits as are + born in Belgium, and when we consider the heroic manner in which the + native Belgian army defended the person of their new sovereign in the + last conflict with the Dutch, can we blame them for their + determination? It is rather singular, however, that resolved as they + are to be served only by themselves they should have sent for 5000 + Frenchmen to clear their country of a handful of Hollanders, who have + generally been considered the most unwarlike people in Europe, but + who, if they had fair play given them, would long ere this time have + replanted the Orange flag on the towers of Brussels, and made the + Belgians what they deserve to be, hewers of wood and drawers of + water. + + And now, my dear Sir, allow me to reply to a very important part of + your letter; you ask me whether I wish to purchase a commission in + the British service, because in that case you would speak to the + Secretary at War about me. I must inform you therefore that my name + has been for several years upon the list for the purchase of a + commission, and I have never yet had sufficient interest to procure + an appointment. If I can do nothing better I shall be very glad to + purchase; but I will pause two or three months before I call upon you + to fulfil your kind promise. It is believed that the Militia will be + embodied in order to be sent to that unhappy country Ireland, and + provided I can obtain a commission in one of them, and they are kept + in service, it would be better than spending £500 about one in the + line. I am acquainted with the Colonels of the two Norfolk + regiments, and I daresay that neither of them would have any + objection to receive me. If they are not embodied I will most + certainly apply to you, and you may say when you recommend me that + being well grounded in Arabic, and having some talent for languages, + I might be an acquisition to a corps in one of our Eastern Colonies. + I flatter myself that I could do a great deal in the East provided I + could once get there, either in a civil or military capacity; there + is much talk at present about translating European books into the two + great languages, the Arabic and Persian; now I believe that with my + enthusiasm for these tongues I could, if resident in the East, become + in a year or two better acquainted with them than any European has + been yet, and more capable of executing such a task. Bear this in + mind, and if before you hear from me again you should have any + opportunity to recommend me as a proper person to fill any civil + situation in those countries or to attend any expedition thither, I + pray you to lay hold of it, and no conduct of mine shall ever give + you reason to repent it. + + I remain, + + My Dear Sir, + Your most obliged and obedient Servant, + + GEORGE BORROW. + + _P.S._—Present my best remembrances to Mrs B. and to Edgar, and tell + them that they will both be starved. There is now a report in the + street that twelve corn-stacks are blazing within twenty miles of + this place. I have lately been wandering about Norfolk, and I am + sorry to say that the minds of the peasantry are in a horrible state + of excitement; I have repeatedly heard men and women in the + harvest-field swear that not a grain of the corn they were cutting + should be eaten, and that they would as lieve be hanged as live. I + am afraid all this will end in a famine and a rustic war.” + +It was pride that prompted Borrow to ask Dr Bowring to stay his hand for +the moment about a commission. There was no reasonable possibility of +his being able to raise £500. Even if his mother had possessed it, which +she did not, he would not have drained her resources of so large an +amount. His subsequent attitude towards the Belgians was characteristic +of him. To his acutely sensitive perceptions, failure to obtain an +appointment he sought was a rebuff, and his whole nature rose up against +what, at the moment, appeared to be an intolerable slight. + +Nothing came of the project of collaboration between Bowring and Borrow +beyond an article on Danish and Norwegian literature that appeared in +_The Foreign Quarterly Review_ (June 1830), in which Borrow supplied +translations of the sixteen poems illustrating Bowring’s text. In all +probability the response to the prospectus was deemed inadequate, and +Bowring did not wish to face a certain financial loss. + +From Borrow’s own letters there is no question that Dr Bowring was acting +towards him in a most friendly manner, and really endeavouring to assist +him to obtain some sort of employment. It may be, as has been said, and +as seems extremely probable, that Bowring used his “facility in acquiring +and translating tongues deliberately as a ladder to an administrative +post abroad,” {86a} but if Borrow “put a wrong construction upon his +sympathy” and was led into “a veritable _cul-de-sac_ of literature,” +{86b} it was no fault of Bowring’s. + +Borrow’s relations with Dr Bowring continued to be most cordial for many +years, as his letters show. “Pray excuse me for troubling you with these +lines,” he writes years later; “I write to you, as usual, for assistance +in my projects, convinced that you will withhold none which it may be in +your power to afford, more especially when by so doing you will perhaps +be promoting the happiness of our fellow-creatures.” This is very +significant as indicating the nature of the relations between the two +men. + +Borrow was to experience yet another disappointment. A Welsh bookseller, +living in the neighbourhood of Smithfield, commissioned him to translate +into English Elis Wyn’s _The Sleeping Bard_, a book printed originally in +1703. The bookseller foresaw for the volume a large sale, not only in +England but in Wales; but “on the eve of committing it to the press, +however, the Cambrian-Briton felt his small heart give way within him. +‘Were I to print it,’ said he, ‘I should be ruined; the terrible +descriptions of vice and torment would frighten the genteel part of the +English public out of its wits, and I should to a certainty be prosecuted +by Sir James Scarlett . . . Myn Diawl! I had no idea, till I had read +him in English, that Elis Wyn had been such a terrible fellow.’” {87a} + +With this Borrow had to be content and retire from the presence of the +little bookseller, who told him he was “much obliged . . . for the +trouble you have given yourself on my account,” {87b} and his bundle of +manuscript, containing nearly three thousand lines, the work probably of +some months, was to be put aside for thirty years before eventually +appearing in a limited edition. + +It cannot be determined with exactness when Borrow relinquished the +unequal struggle against adverse circumstances in London. He had met +with sufficient discouragement to dishearten him from further effort. +Perhaps his greatest misfortune was his disinclination to make friends +with anybody save vagabonds. He could attract and earn the friendship of +an apple-woman, thimble-riggers, tramps, thieves, gypsies, in short with +any vagrant he chose to speak to; but his hatred of gentility was a great +and grave obstacle in the way of his material advancement. His brother +John seemed to recognise this; for in 1831 he wrote, “I am convinced that +_your want of success in life_ is more owing to your being unlike other +people than to any other cause.” + +It would appear that, finding nothing to do in London, Borrow once more +became a wanderer. He was in London in March; but on 27th, 28th, and +29th July 1830 he was unquestionably in Paris. Writing about the +Revolution of La Granja (August 1836) and of the energy, courage and +activity of the war correspondents, he says: + + “I saw them [the war correspondents] during the three days at Paris, + mingled with _canaille_ and _gamins_ behind the barriers, whilst the + _mitraille_ was flying in all directions, and the desperate + cuirassiers were dashing their fierce horses against these seemingly + feeble bulwarks. There stood they, dotting down their observations + in their pocket-books as unconcernedly as if reporting the + proceedings of a reform meeting in Covent Garden or Finsbury Square.” + {88a} + +This can have reference only to the “Three Glorious Days” of Revolution, +27th to 29th July 1830, during which Charles X. lost, and Louis-Philippe +gained, a throne. He returned to Norwich sometime during the autumn of +1830. {88b} In November he was entering upon his epistolary duel with +the Army Pay Office in connection with John’s half-pay as a lieutenant in +the West Norfolk Militia. + +In 1826 John had gone to Mexico, then looked upon as a land of promise +for young Englishmen, who might expect to find fortunes in its silver +mines. Allday, brother of Roger Kerrison, was there, and John Borrow +determined to join him. Obtaining a year’s leave of absence from his +colonel, together with permission to apply for an extension, he entered +the service of the Real del Monte Company, receiving a salary of three +hundred pounds a year. He arranged that his mother should have his +half-pay, and it was in connection with this that George entered upon a +correspondence with the Army Pay Office that was to extend over a period +of fifteen months. + +Originally John had arranged for the amounts to be remitted to Mexico, +and he sent them back again to his mother. This involved heavy losses in +connection with the bills of exchange, and wishing to avoid this tax, +John sent to his brother an official copy of a Mexican Power of Attorney, +which George strove to persuade the Army Pay Office was the original. + +Tact was unfortunately not one of George Borrow’s acquirements at this +period, and in this correspondence he adopted an attitude that must have +seriously prejudiced his case. “I am a solicitor myself, Sir,” he +states, and proceeds to threaten to bring the matter before Parliament. +He writes to the Solicitor of the Treasury “as a member of the same +honourable profession to which I was myself bred up,” and demands whether +he has not law, etc., on his side. The outcome of the correspondence was +that the disembodied allowance was refused on the plea “that Lieutenant +Borrow having been absent without Leave from the Training of the West +Norfolk Militia has, under the provisions of the 12th Section of the +Militia Pay and Clothing Act, forfeited his Allowance.” In consequence, +payment was made only for the amount due from 25th June 1829 to 24th +December 1830. The whole tone of Borrow’s letters was unfortunate for +the cause he pleaded. He wrote to the Secretary of State for War as he +might have written to the little Welsh bookseller with “the small heart.” +He was indignant at what he conceived to be an injustice, and was unable +to dissemble his anger. + +George had thought of joining his brother, but had not received any very +marked encouragement to do so. John despised Mexican methods. On one +occasion he writes apropos of George’s suggestion of the army, “If you +can raise the pewter, come out here rather than that, and _rob_.” One +sage thing at least John is to be credited with, when he wrote to his +brother, “Do not enter the army; it is a bad spec.” It would have been +for George Borrow. + +Among the papers left at Borrow’s death was a fragment of a political +article in dispraise of the Radicals. The editorial “We” suggests that +Borrow might possibly have been engaged in political journalism. The +statement made by him that he “frequently spoke up for Wellington” {90} +may or may not have had reference to contributions to the press. The +fragment itself proves nothing. Many would-be journalists write +“leaders” that never see the case-room. + +It is useless to speculate further regarding the period that Borrow +himself elected to veil from the eyes, not only of his contemporaries, +but those of another generation. Men who have overcome adverse +conditions and achieved fame are not as a rule averse from publishing, or +at least allowing to be known, the difficulties that they had to contend +with. Borrow was in no sense of the word an ordinary man. He +unquestionably suffered acutely during the years of failure, when it +seemed likely that his life was to be wasted, barren of anything else +save the acquirement of a score or more languages; keys that could open +literary storehouses that nobody wanted to explore, to the very existence +of which, in fact, the public was frigidly indifferent. + +“Poor George . . . I wish he was making money . . . He works hard and +remains poor,” is the comment of his brother John, written in the autumn +of 1830. To no small degree Borrow was responsible for his own failure, +or perhaps it would be more just to say that he had been denied many of +the attributes that make for success. His independence was aggressive, +and it offended people. Even with the Welsh Preacher and his wife he +refused to unbend. + +“‘What a disposition!’” Winifred had exclaimed, holding up her hands; +“‘and this is pride, genuine pride—that feeling which the world agrees to +call so noble. Oh, how mean a thing is pride! never before did I see all +the meanness of what is called pride!’” {91a} + +This pride, magnificent as the loneliness of kings, and about as +unproductive of a sympathetic view of life, always constituted a barrier +in the way of Borrow’s success. There were innumerable other obstacles: +his choice of friends, his fierce denunciatory hatred of gentility, +together with humbug, which he always seemed to confuse with it, the +attacks of the “Horrors,” his grave bearing, which no laugh ever +disturbed, and, above all, his uncompromising hostility to the things +that the world chose to consider excellent. The world in return could +make nothing of a man who was a mass of moods and sensibilities, strange +tastes and pursuits. It is not remarkable that he should fail to make +the stir that he had hoped to make. + +With the unerring instinct of a hypersensitive nature, he knew his merit, +his honesty, his capacity—knew that he possessed one thing that +eventually commands success, which “through life has ever been of +incalculable utility to me, and has not unfrequently supplied the place +of friends, money, and many other things of almost equal importance—iron +perseverance, without which all the advantages of time and circumstance +are of very little avail in any undertaking.” {91b} It was this dogged +determination that was to carry him through the most critical period of +his life, enable him to earn the approval of those in whose interests he +worked, and eventually achieve fame and an unassailable place in English +literature. + + + + +CHAPTER VI +JANUARY–JULY 1833 + + +IT is not a little curious that no one should have thought of putting +Borrow’s undoubted gifts as a linguist to some practical use. He himself +had frequently cast his eyes in the direction of a political appointment +abroad. It remained, however, for the Rev. Francis Cunningham, {92} +vicar of Lowestoft, in Suffolk, to see in this young man against whom the +curse of Babel was inoperative, a sword that, in the hands of the British +and Foreign Bible Society, might be wielded with considerable effect +against the heathen. + +Borrow appears to have become acquainted with the Rev. Francis Cunningham +through the Skeppers of Oulton Hall, near Lowestoft, of whom it is +necessary to give some account. Edmund Skepper had married Anne Breame +of Beetley, who, on the death of her father, came into £9000. She and +her husband purchased the Oulton Hall estate, upon which Anne Skepper +seems to have been given a five per cent. mortgage. There were two +children of the marriage, Breame (born 1794) and Mary (born 1796). The +boy inherited the estate, and the girl the mortgage, worth about £450 per +annum. Mary married Henry Clarke, a lieutenant in the Navy (26th July +1817), who within eight months died of consumption. Two months later Mrs +Clarke gave birth to a daughter, who was christened Henrietta Mary. Mrs +Clarke became acquainted with the Cunninghams while they were at +Pakefield, and there is every reason to believe that she was instrumental +in introducing Borrow to Cunningham. It is most probable that they met +during Borrow’s visit at Oulton Hall in November 1832. + +The Rev. Francis Cunningham appears to have been impressed by Borrow’s +talent for languages, and fully alive to his value to an institution such +as the Bible Society, of which he, Cunningham, was an active member. He +accordingly addressed {93a} to the secretary, the Rev. Andrew Brandram, +the following letter: + + LOWESTOFT VICARAGE, + 27_th_ _Dec._ 1832. + + MY DEAR FRIEND,— + + A young farmer in this neighbourhood has introduced me to-day to a + person of whom I have long heard, who appears to me to promise so + much that I am induced to offer him to you as a successor of Platt + and Greenfield. {93b} He is a person without University education, + but who has read the Bible in thirteen languages. He is independent + in circumstances, of no very defined denomination of Christians, but + I think of certain Christian principle. I shall make more enquiry + about him and see him again. Next week I propose to meet him in + London, and I could wish that you should see him, and, if you please, + take him under your charge for a few days. He is of the middle order + in Society, and a very produceable person. + + I intend to be in town on Tuesday morning to go to the Socy. P. C. K. + On Wednesday is Dr Wilson’s meeting at Islington. He may be in town + on Monday evening, and will attend to any appointment. + + Will you write me word by return of post, and believe me ever + + Most truly and affectionately yours, + + F. CUNNINGHAM. + +The recommendation was well-timed, for the Bible Society at that +particular moment required such a man as Borrow for a Manchu-Tartar +project it had in view. In 1821 the Bible Society had commissioned +Stepán Vasiliévitch Lipovzoff, {94a} of St Petersburg, to translate the +New Testament into Manchu, the court and diplomatic language of China. A +year later, an edition of 550 copies of the First Gospel was printed from +type specially cast for the undertaking. A hundred copies were +despatched to headquarters in London, and the remainder, together with +the type, placed with the Society’s bankers at St Petersburg, {94b} until +the time should arrive for the distribution of the books. + +Three years after (1824), the overflowing Neva flooded the cellars in +which the books were stored, causing their irretrievable ruin, and doing +serious damage to the type. This misfortune appeared temporarily to +discourage the authorities at home, although Mr Lipovzoff was permitted +to proceed with the work of translation, which he completed in two years +from the date of the inundation. + +In 1832 the Rev. Wm. Swann, of the London Missionary Society, discovered +in the famous library of Baron Schilling de Canstadt at St Petersburg the +manuscript of a Manchu translation of “the principal part of the Old +Testament,” and two books of the New. The discovery was considered to be +so important that Mr Swann decided to delay his departure for his post in +Siberia and make a transcription, which he did. The Manchu translation +was the work of Father Puerot, “originally a Jesuit emissary at Pekin +[who] passed the latter years of his life in the service of the Russian +Mission in the capacity of physician.” {95} + +The immediate outcome of Mr Cunningham’s letter was an interview between +Borrow and the Bible Society’s officials. With characteristic energy and +determination, Borrow trudged up to London, covering the 112 miles on +foot in 27.5 hours. His expenses by the way amounted to +fivepence-halfpenny for the purchase of a roll, two apples, a pint of ale +and a glass of milk. On reaching London he proceeded direct to the Bible +Society’s offices in Earl Street, in spite of the early hour, and there +awaited the arrival of the Rev. Andrew Brandram (Secretary), and the Rev. +Joseph Jowett (Literary Superintendent). + +The story of Borrow’s arrival at Earl Street was subsequently told, by +one of the secretaries at a provincial meeting in connection with the +Bible Society. The Rev. Wentworth Webster writes: + + “I was little more than a boy when I first heard George Borrow spoken + of at the annual dinner given by a connection of my family to the + deputation of the British and Foreign Bible Society in a country town + near London . . . I can distinctly recall one of the secretaries + telling of his first meeting with Borrow, whom he found waiting at + the offices of the Society one morning;—how puzzled he was by his + appearance; how, after he had read his letter of introduction, he + wished to while away the time until a brother secretary should + arrive, and did not want to say anything to commit himself to such a + strange applicant; so he began by politely hoping that Borrow had + slept well. ‘I am not aware that I fell asleep on the road,’ was the + reply; I have walked from Norwich to London.’” {96a} + +It would appear that this conference took place on Friday, 4th January; +for on that day there is an entry in the records of the Society of the +loan to George Borrow of several books from the Society’s library. On +this and subsequent occasions, Borrow was examined as to his +capabilities, the result appearing to be quite satisfactory. To judge +from the books lent to Borrow, one of the subjects would seem to have +been Arabic. + +Borrow appeared before the Committee on 14th January, with the result +that they seemed to be “quite satisfied with me and my philological +capabilities,” which they judged of from the report given by the +Secretary and his colleague. A more material sign of approval was found +in the undertaking to defray “the expenses of my journey to and from +London, and also of my residence in that city, in the most handsome +manner.” {96b} That is to say, the Committee voted him the sum of ten +pounds. + +Borrow had been formally asked if he were prepared to learn Manchu +sufficiently well to edit, or translate, into that language such portions +of the Scriptures as the Society might decide to issue, provided means of +acquiring the language were put within his reach, and employment should +follow as soon as he showed himself proficient. To this Borrow had +willingly agreed. At this period, the idea appears to have been to +execute the work in London. + +Shortly after appearing before the Committee Borrow returned to Norwich, +this time by coach, with several books in the Manchu-Tartar dialect, +including the Gospel of St Matthew and Amyot’s Manchu-French Dictionary. +His instructions were to learn the language and come up for examination +in six months’ time. Possibly the time limit was suggested by Borrow +himself, for he had said that he believed he could master any tongue in a +few months. + +After two or three weeks of incessant study of a language that Amyot says +“one may acquire in five or six years,” Borrow, who, it should be +remembered, possessed no grammar of the tongue, wrote to Mr Jowett: + + “It is, then, your opinion that, from the lack of anything in the + form of Grammar, I have scarcely made any progress towards the + attainment of Manchu: {97} perhaps you will not be perfectly + miserable at being informed that you were never more mistaken in your + life. I can already, with the assistance of Amyot, translate Manchu + with no great difficulty, and am perfectly qualified to write a + critique on the version of St Matthew’s Gospel, which I brought with + me into the country . . . I will now conclude by beseeching you to + send me, as soon as possible, _whatever can serve to enlighten me in + respect to Manchu Grammar_, for, had I a Grammar, I should in a + month’s time be able to send a Manchu translation of _Jonah_.” + +The racy style of Borrow’s letters must have been something of a +revelation to the Bible Society’s officers, who seem to have shown great +tact and consideration in dealing with their self-confident correspondent +There is something magnificent in the letters that Borrow wrote about +this period; their directness and virility, their courage and +determination suggest, not a man who up to the thirtieth year of his age +has been a conspicuous failure, as the world gauges failure; but one who +had grown confident through many victories and is merely proceeding from +one success to another. + +Whilst in London, Borrow had discussed with Mr Brandram “the Gypsies and +the profound darkness as to religion and morality that envolved them.” +{98} The Secretary told him of the Southampton Committee for the +Amelioration of the Condition of the Gypsies that had recently been +formed by the Rev. James Crabbe for the express purpose of enlightening +and spreading the Gospel among the Romanys. Furthermore, Mr Brandram, on +hearing of Borrow’s interest in, and knowledge of, the gypsies, had +requested him immediately on his return to Norwich to draw up a +vocabulary of Mr Petulengro’s language, during such time as he might have +free from his other studies. Borrow showed himself, as usual, prolific +of suggestions, all of which involved him in additional labour. He +enquired through Mr Jowett if Mr Brandram would write about him to the +Southampton Committee. He wished to translate into the gypsy tongue the +Gospel of St John, “which I could easily do,” he tells Mr Jowett, “with +the assistance of one or two of the old people, but then they must be +paid, for the gypsies are more mercenary than the Jews.” + +He also informed Mr Jowett that he had a brother in Mexico, subsequently +assuring him that he had no doubt of John’s willingness to assist the +Society in “flinging the rays of scriptural light o’er that most +benighted and miserable region.” He sent to his brother, at Mr Jowett’s +request, first a sheet, and afterwards a complete copy, of the Gospel of +St Luke translated into Nahuatl, the prevailing dialect of the Mexican +Indians, by Mariano Paz y Sanchez. {99a} + +In addition to learning Manchu, Borrow is credited with correcting and +passing for press the Nahuatl version of St. Luke. {99b} The Bible +Society’s records, however, point to the fact that this work was carried +through by John Hattersley, who later was to come up with Borrow for +examination in Manchu. In the light of this, the following passage from +one of John’s letters is puzzling in the extreme:—“I have just received +your letter of the 16th of February, together with your translation of St +Luke. I am glad you have got the job, but I must say that the Bible +Society are just throwing away their time.” + +He goes on to explain how many dialects there are in Mexico. “The job” +can only refer to the Mexican translation, as, at that period, Borrow was +merely studying Manchu. He had received no appointment from the Society. +It may have happened that Borrow expressed a wish to look through the +proofs and that a set was sent to him for this purpose; but there seems +no doubt that the actual official responsibility for the work rested with +Hattersley. A very important point in support of this view is that there +is no record of Borrow being paid anything in connection with this +Mexican translation, beyond the amount of fifteen shillings and +fivepence, which he had expended in postage on the advance sheet and +complete copy sent to John. To judge from the subsequent financial +arrangements between the Society and its agent, it is very improbable +that he was given work to do without payment. + +After seven weeks’ study Borrow wrote again to Mr Jowett: + + “I am advancing at full gallop, and . . . able to translate with + pleasure and facility the specimens of the best authors who have + written in the language contained in the compilation of the Klaproth. + But I confess that the want of a Grammar has been, particularly in + the beginning of my course, a great clog to my speed, and I have + little doubt that had I been furnished with one I should have + attained my present knowledge of Manchu in half the time. I was + determined, however, not to be discouraged, and, not having a hatchet + at hand to cut down the tree with, to attack it with my knife; and I + would advise every one to make the most of the tools which happen to + be in his possession until he can procure better ones, and it is not + improbable that by the time the good tools arrive he will find he has + not much need of them, having almost accomplished his work.” {100a} + +There is a hint of the difficulties he was experiencing in his confession +that tools would still be of service to him, in particular “this same +tripartite Grammar which Mr Brandram is hunting for, my ideas respecting +Manchu construction being still very vague and wandering.” {100b} There +is also a request for “the original grammatical work of Amyot, printed in +the _Memoires_.” {100c} + +Borrow had been studying Manchu for seven weeks when, feeling that his +glowing report of the progress he was making might be regarded as “a +piece of exaggeration and vain boasting,” he enclosed a specimen +translation from Manchu into English. This he accompanied with an +assurance that, if required, he could at that moment edit any book +printed in the Manchu dialect. About this period Mr Jowett and his +colleagues passed from one sensation to another. The calm confidence of +this astonishing man was more than justified by his performance. His +attitude towards life was strange to Earl Street. + +Nineteen weeks from the date of commencing his study of Manchu, Borrow +wrote again to Mr Jowett with unmistakable triumph: “I have mastered +Manchu, and I should feel obliged by your informing the Committee of the +fact, and also my excellent friend Mr Brandram.” He proceeds to indicate +some of the many difficulties with which he has had to contend, the +absolute difference of Manchu from all the other languages that he has +studied, with the single exception of Turkish; the number of its +idiomatic phrases, which must of necessity be learnt off by heart; the +little assistance he has had in the nature of books. Finally he +acknowledges “the assistance of God,” and asks “to be regularly employed, +for though I am not in want, my affairs are not in a very flourishing +condition.” + +The response to this letter was an invitation to proceed to London to +undergo an examination. His competitor was John Hattersley, upon whom, +in the event of Borrow’s failure, would in all probability have devolved +the duty of assisting Mr Lipovzoff. A Manchu hymn, a pæan to the great +Fûtsa, was the test. Each candidate prepared a translation, which was +handed to the examiners, who in turn were to report to the Sub-Committee. +Borrow returned to Norwich to await the result. This was most probably +towards the end of June. {101} + +Mr Jowett wrote encouragingly to Borrow of his prospects of obtaining the +coveted appointment. In acknowledgment of this letter, Borrow dashed off +a reply, magnificent in its confidence and manly sincerity. It was a +defiance to the fate that had so long dogged his footsteps. + + “What you have written has given me great pleasure,” he wrote, “as it + holds out hope that I may be employed usefully to the Deity, to man, + and myself. I shall be very happy to visit St Petersburg and to + become the coadjutor of Lipovzoff, {102} and to avail myself of his + acquirements in what you very happily designate a most singular + language, towards obtaining a still greater proficiency in it. I + flatter myself that I am for one or two reasons tolerably well + adapted for the contemplated expedition, for besides a competent + knowledge of French and German, I possess some acquaintance with + Russian, being able to read without much difficulty any printed + Russian book, and I have little doubt that after a few months + intercourse with the natives, I should be able to speak it fluently. + It would ill become me to bargain like a Jew or a Gypsy as to terms; + all I wish to say on that point is, that I have nothing of my own, + having been too long dependent on an excellent mother, who is not + herself in very easy circumstances.” + +Whilst still waiting for the confirmation by the General Committee of the +Sub-Committee’s resolution, which was favourable to Borrow, Mr Jowett +wrote to him (5th July), telling him how good were his prospects; but +warning him not to be too confident of success. The Sub-Committee had +recommended that Borrow’s services should be engaged that he might go to +St Petersburg and assist Mr Lipovzoff in editing St Luke and the Acts and +any other portions of the New Testament that it was thought desirable to +publish in Manchu. Should the Russian Government refuse to permit the +work to be proceeded with, Borrow was to occupy himself in assisting the +Rev. Wm. Swan to transcribe and collate the manuscript of the Old +Testament in Manchu that had recently come to light. At the same time, +he was to seize every opportunity that presented itself of perfecting +himself in Manchu. For this he was to receive a salary of two hundred +pounds a year to cover all expenses, save those of the journey to and +from St Petersburg, for which the Society was to be responsible. Borrow +was advised to think carefully over the proposal, and, if it should prove +attractive to him, to hold himself in readiness to start as soon as the +General Committee should approve of the recommendation that was to be +placed before it. In conclusion, Mr Jowett proceeded to administer a +gentle rebuke to the confident pride with which the candidate indited his +letters. Only a quotation can show the tact with which the admonition +was conveyed. + +“Excuse me,” wrote the Literary Superintendent, “if as a clergyman, and +your senior in years though not in talent, I venture, with the kindest of +motives, to throw out a hint which may not be without its use. I am sure +you will not be offended if I suggest that there is occasionally a tone +of confidence in speaking of yourself, which has alarmed some of the +excellent members of our Committee. It may have been this feeling, more +than once displayed before, which prepared one or two of them to stumble +at an expression in your letter of yesterday, in which, till pointed out, +I confess I was not struck with anything objectionable, but at which, +nevertheless, a humble Christian might not unreasonably take umbrage. It +is where you speak of the prospect of becoming ‘useful to the Deity, to +man, and to yourself.’ Doubtless you meant the prospect of glorifying +God.” + +Borrow had yet to learn the idiom of Earl Street, which he showed himself +most anxious to acquire. He clearly recognised that the Bible Society +required different treatment from the Army Pay Office, or the Solicitor +of the Treasury. It was accustomed to humility in those it employed, and +a trust in a higher power, and Borrow’s self-confident letters alarmed +the members of the Committee. How thoroughly Borrow appreciated what was +required is shown in a letter that he wrote to his mother from Russia, +when anticipating the return of his brother. “Should John return home,” +he warns her, “by no means let him go near the Bible Society, for he +would not do for them.” + +Borrow’s reply to the Literary Superintendent’s kindly worded admonition +was entirely satisfactory and “in harmony with the rule laid down by +Christ himself.” It was something of a triumph, too, for Mr Jowett to +rebuke a man of such sensitiveness as Borrow, without goading him to an +impatient retort. + +The meeting of the General Committee that was to decide upon Borrow’s +future was held on 22nd July, and on the following day Mr Jowett informed +him that the recommendation of the Sub-Committee had been adopted and +confirmed, at the same time requesting him to be at Earl Street on the +morning of Friday, 26th July, that he might set out for St Petersburg the +following Tuesday. On 25th July Borrow took the night coach to London. +On the 29th he appeared before the Editorial Sub-Committee and heard read +the resolution of his appointment, and drafts of letters recommending him +to the Rev. Wm. Swan and Dr I. J. Schmidt, a correspondent of the +Society’s in St Petersburg and a member of the Russian Board of Censors. +Finally, there was impressed upon him “the necessity of confining himself +closely to the one object of his mission, carefully abstaining from +mingling himself with political or ecclesiastical affairs during his +residence in Russia. Mr Borrow assured them of his full determination +religiously to comply with this admonition, and to use every prudent +method for enlarging his acquaintance with the Manchu language.” {104} + +The salary was to date from the day he embarked, and on account of +expenses to St Petersburg he drew the sum of £37. The actual amount he +expended was £27, 7s. 6d., according to the account he submitted, which +was dated 2nd October 1834. It is to be feared that Borrow was not very +punctual in rendering his accounts, as Mr Brandram wrote to him (18th +October 1837):—“I know you are no accountant, but do not forget that +there are some who are. My memory was jogged upon this subject the other +day, and I was expected to say to you that a letter of figures would be +acceptable.” + +It is not unnatural that those who remembered Borrow as one of William +Taylor’s “harum-scarum” young men, who at one time intended to “abuse +religion and get prosecuted,” should find in his appointment as an agent +of the British and Foreign Bible Society a subject for derisive mirth. +Harriet Martineau’s voice was heard well above the rest. “When this +polyglott gentleman appeared before the public as a devout agent of the +Bible Society in foreign parts,” she wrote, “there was one burst of +laughter from all who remembered the old Norwich days.” {105} Like +hundreds of other men, Borrow had, in youth, been led to somewhat hasty +and ill-considered conclusions; but this in itself does not seem to be +sufficiently strong reason why he should not change his views. Many +young men pass through an aggressively irreligious phase without +suffering much harm. Harriet Martineau was rather too precipitate in +assuming that what a man believes, or disbelieves, at twenty, he holds to +at thirty; such a view negatives the reformer. Perhaps the chief cause +of the change in Borrow’s views was that he had touched the depths of +failure. Here was an opening that promised much. He was a diplomatist +when it suited his purpose, and if the old poison were not quite gone out +of his system, he would hide his wounds, or allow the secretaries to +bandage them with mild reproof. + +Very different from the attitude of Harriet Martineau was that of John +Venning, an English merchant resident at Norwich and recently returned +from St Petersburg, where his charity and probity had placed him in high +favour with the Emperor and the Goverment officials. Mr Venning gave +Borrow letters of introduction to a number of influential personages at +St Petersburg, including Prince Alexander Galitzin and Baron Schilling de +Canstadt. Dr Bowring obtained a letter from Lord Palmerston to someone +whose name is not known. There were letters of introduction from other +hands, so that when he was ready to sail Borrow found himself “loaded +with letters of recommendation to some of the first people in Russia. Mr +Venning’s packet has arrived with letters to several of the Princes, so +that I shall be protected if I am seized as a spy; for the Emperor is +particularly cautious as to the foreigners whom he admits. It costs £2, +7s. 6d. merely for permission to go to Russia, which alone is enough to +deter most people.” {106} + +Before leaving England, Borrow paid into his mother’s account at her bank +the sum of seventeen pounds, an amount that she had advanced to him +either during his unproductive years, or on account of his expenses in +connection with the expedition to St Petersburg. + + + + +CHAPTER VII +AUGUST 1833–JANUARY 1834 + + +ON 19th/31st July 1833 Borrow set out on a journey that was to some +extent to realise his ambitions. He was to be trusted and encouraged +and, what was most important of all, praised for what he accomplished; +for Borrow’s was a nature that responded best to the praise and entire +confidence of those for whom he worked. + +Travelling second class for reasons of economy, he landed at Hamburg at +seven in the morning of the fourth day, after having experienced “a +disagreeable passage of three days, in which I suffered much from +sea-sickness.” {107a} Exhausted by these days of suffering and want of +sleep, the heat of the sun brought on “a transient fit of delirium,” +{107b} in other words, an attack of the “Horrors.” Two fellow-passengers +(Jews), with whom he had become acquainted, conveyed him to a comfortable +hotel, where he was visited by a physician, who administered forty drops +of laudanum, caused his head to be swathed in wet towels, ordered him to +bed, and charged a fee of seven shillings. The result was that by the +evening he had quite recovered. + +One of Borrow’s first duties was to write a lengthy letter to Mr Jowett, +telling him of his movements, describing the city, the service at a +church he attended, the lax morality of the Hamburgers in permitting +rope-dancers in the park, and the opening of dancing-saloons, “most +infamous places,” on the Lord’s day. “England, with all her faults,” he +proceeds, “has still some regard to decency, and will not tolerate such a +shameless display of vice on so sacred a season, when a decent +cheerfulness is the freest form in which the mind or countenance ought to +invest themselves.” In conclusion, he announced his intention of leaving +for Lübeck on the sixth, {108a} and he would be on the Baltic two days +later en route for St Petersburg. “My next letter, provided it pleases +the Almighty to vouchsafe me a happy arrival, will be from the Russian +capital.” By “a fervent request that you will not forget me in your +prayers,” he demonstrated that Mr Jowett’s hint had not been forgotten. + +The distance between Hamburg and Lübeck is only about thirty miles, yet +it occupied Borrow thirteen hours, so abominable was the road, which “was +paved at intervals with huge masses of unhewn rock, and over this +pavement the carriage was very prudently driven at a snail’s pace; for, +had anything approaching speed been attempted, the entire demolition of +the wheels in a few minutes must have been the necessary result. No +sooner had we quitted this terrible pavement than we sank to our +axle-trees in sand, mud, and water; for, to render the journey perfectly +delectable, the rain fell in torrents and ceaselessly.” {108b} The state +of the road Borrow attributed to the ill-nature of the King of Denmark, +for immediately on leaving his dominions it improved into an excellent +carriageway. + +On 28th July/9th August Borrow took steamer from Travemünde, and three +days later landed at St Petersburg. His first duty was to call upon Mr +Swan, whom he found “one of the most amiable and interesting characters” +he had ever met. The arrival of a coadjutor caused Mr Swan considerable +relief, as he had suffered in health in consequence of his uninterrupted +labours in transcribing the Manchu manuscript. + +Borrow was enthusiastic in his admiration of the capital of “our dear and +glorious Russia.” St Petersburg he considered “the finest city in the +world” {109} other European capitals were unworthy of comparison. The +enormous palaces, the long, straight streets, the grandeur of the public +buildings, the noble Neva that flows majestically through “this Queen of +the cities,” the three miles long Nevsky Prospect, paved with wood; all +aroused in him enthusiasm and admiration. “In a word,” he wrote to his +mother, “I can do little else but look and wonder.” All that he had read +and heard of the capital of All the Russias had failed to prepare him for +this scene of splendour. The meeting and harmonious mixing of East and +West early attracted his attention. The Oriental cultivation of a +twelve-inch beard among the middle and lower classes, placed them in +marked contrast with the moustached or clean-shaven patricians and +foreigners. In short, Russia gripped hold of and warmed Borrow’s +imagination. Here were new types, curious blendings of nationalities +unthought of and strange to him, a mine of wealth to a man whose studies +were never books, except when they helped him the better to understand +men. + +Another thing that attracted him to Russia was the great kindness with +which he was received, both by the English Colony and the natives: to the +one he appealed by virtue of a common ancestry; to the other, on account +of his knowledge of the Russian tongue, not to speak of his mission, +which acted as a strong recommendation to their favour. On his part +Borrow reciprocated the esteem. If he were an implacable enemy, he was +also a good friend, and he thoroughly appreciated the manner in which he +was welcomed by his countrymen, especially the invitation he received +from one of them to make his house his home until he found a suitable +dwelling. To his mother he wrote: + + “The Russians are the best-natured, kindest people in the world, and + though they do not know as much as the English [he was not referring + to the Colony], they have not their fiendish, spiteful dispositions, + and if you go amongst them and speak their language, however badly, + they would go through fire and water to do you a kindness.” Later, + when in Portugal, he heartily wished himself “back in Russia . . . + where I had left cherished friends and warm affections.” + +High as was his opinion of the Russians, he was at a loss to understand +how they had earned their reputation as “the best general linguists in +the world.” He found Russian absolutely necessary to anyone who wished +to make himself understood. French and German as equivalents were of +less value in St Petersburg than in England. + +At first Borrow took up his residence “for nearly a fortnight in a hotel, +as the difficulty of procuring lodgings in this place is very great, and +when you have procured them you have to furnish them yourself at a +considerable expense . . . eventually I took up my abode with Mr Egerton +Hubbard, a friend of Mr Venning’s [at 221 Galernoy Ulitza], where I am +for the present very comfortably situated.” {110} He stayed with Mr +Hubbard for three months; but was eventually forced to leave on account +of constant interruptions, probably by his fellow-boarders, in +consequence of which he could neither perform his task of transcription +nor devote himself to study. He therefore took a small lodging at a cost +of nine shillings a week, including fires, where he could enjoy quiet and +solitude. His meals he got at a Russian eating-house, dinner costing +fivepence, “consequently,” he writes to his mother, “I am not at much +expense, being able to live for about sixty pounds a year and pay a +Russian teacher, who has five shillings for one lesson a week.” + +One of Borrow’s earliest thoughts on arriving at St Petersburg had been +to present his letters of introduction. Within two days of landing he +called upon Prince Alexander Galítzin, {111} accompanied by his +fellow-lodger, young Venning. One of the most important, and at the same +time useful, friendships that he made was with Baron Schilling de +Canstadt, the philologist and savant, who, later, with his accustomed +generosity, was to place his unique library at Borrow’s disposition. The +Baron was one of the greatest bibliophiles of his age, and possessed a +collection of Eastern manuscripts and other priceless treasures that was +world-famous. He spared neither expense nor trouble in procuring +additions to his collection, which after his death was acquired by the +Imperial Academy of Science at St Petersburg. In this literary +treasure-house Borrow found facilities for study such as he nowhere else +could hope to obtain. + +Another friendship that Borrow made was with John P. Hasfeldt, a man of +about his own age attached to the Danish Legation, who also gave lessons +in languages. Borrow seems to have been greatly attracted to Hasfeldt, +who wrote to him with such cordiality. It was Hasfeldt who gave to +Borrow as a parting gift the silver shekel that he invariably carried +about with him, and which caused him to be hailed as blessed by the +Gibraltar Jews. + +In his letter Hasfeldt shows himself a delightful correspondent. His +generous camaraderie seemed to warm Borrow to response, as indeed well it +might. Who could resist the breezy good humour of the following from a +letter addressed to Borrow by Hasfeldt years later?— + + “Do you still eat Pike soup? Do you remember the time when you lived + on that dish for more than six weeks, and came near exterminating the + whole breed? And the pudding that accompanied it, that always lay as + hard as a stone on the stomach? This you surely have not forgotten. + Yes, your kitchen was delicately manipulated by Machmoud, your Tartar + servant, who only needed to give you horse-meat to have merited a + diploma. Do you still sing when you are in a good humour? Doubtless + you are not troubled with many friends to visit you, for you are not + of the sort who are easily understood, nor do you care to have + everyone understand you; you prefer to have people call you grey and + let you gae.” + +Other friends Borrow made, including Nikolai Ivánovitch Gretch, {112a} +the grammarian, and Friedrich von Adelung, {112b} who assisted him with +the loan of books and MSS. in Oriental tongues. + +The story of Borrow’s labours in connection with the printing of the +Manchu version of the New Testament, forms a remarkable study of +unswerving courage and will-power triumphing over apparently +insurmountable obstacles. The mere presence of difficulties seemed to +increase his eagerness and determination to overcome them. +Disappointments he had in plenty; but his indomitable courage and +untiring energy, backed up by the earnest support he received from Earl +Street, enabled him to emerge from his first serious undertaking with the +knowledge that he had succeeded where failure would not have been +discreditable. + +He threw himself into his work with characteristic eagerness. At the end +of the first two months he had transcribed the Second Book of Chronicles +and the Gospel of St Matthew. He formed a very high opinion of the work +of the translator, and took the opportunity of paying a tribute to the +followers of Ignatius Loyola (Father Puerot was a Jesuit). “When,” he +writes, “did a Jesuit any thing which he undertook, whether laudable or +the reverse, not far better than any other person?” yet they laboured in +vain, for “they thought not of His glory, but of the glory of their +order.” {113} + +Borrow discovered that Mr Lipovzoff knew nothing of the Bible Society’s +scheme for printing the New Testament in Manchu; but he found, what was +of even greater importance to him, that the old man knew no European +language but Russian. Thus the frequent conversations and explanations +all tended to improve Borrow’s knowledge of the language of the people +among whom he was living. + +Mr Lipovzoff struck Borrow as being “rather a singular man,” as he took +occasion to inform Mr Jowett, apparently utterly indifferent as to the +fate of his translation, excellent though it was. As a matter of fact, +Mr Lipovzoff was occupied with his own concerns, and, as an official in +the Russian Foreign Office, most likely saw the inexpediency of a too +eager enthusiasm for the Bible Society’s Manchu-Tartar programme. He was +probably bewildered by the fierce energy of its honest and compelling +agent, who had descended upon St Petersburg to do the Society’s bidding +with an impetuosity and determination foreign to Russian official life. +Borrow was on fire with zeal and impatient of the apathy of those around +him. + +He soon began to show signs of that singleness of purpose and +resourcefulness that, later, was to arouse so much enthusiasm among the +members of the Bible Society at home. The transcribing and collating +Puerot’s version of the Scriptures occupied the remainder of the year. +On the completion of this work, it had been arranged that Mr Swan should +return to his mission-station in Siberia. The next step was to obtain +official sanction to print the Lipovzoff version of the New Testament. +Dr Schmidt, to whom Borrow turned for advice and information, was +apparently very busily occupied with his own affairs, which included the +compilation of a Mongolian Grammar and Dictionary. The Doctor was +optimistic, and promised to make enquiries about the steps to be taken to +obtain the necessary permission to print; but Borrow heard nothing +further from him. + + “Thus circumstanced, and being very uneasy in my mind,” he writes, “I + determined to take a bold step, and directly and without further + feeling my way, to petition the Government in my own name for + permission to print the Manchu Scriptures. Having communicated this + determination to our beloved, sincere, and most truly Christian + friend Mr Swan (who has lately departed to his station in Siberia, + shielded I trust by the arm of his Master), it met with his perfect + approbation and cordial encouragement. I therefore drew up a + petition, and presented it with my own hand to His Excellence Mr + Bludoff, Minister of the Interior.” {114a} + +The minister made reply that he doubted his jurisdiction in the matter; +but that he would consider. Fearful lest the matter should miscarry or +be shelved, Borrow called on the evening of the same day upon the British +Minister, the Hon. J. D. Bligh, “a person of superb talents, kind +disposition, and of much piety,” {114b} whose friendship Borrow had +“assiduously cultivated,” and who had shown him “many condescending marks +of kindness.” {114c} But Mr Bligh was out. Nothing daunted, Borrow +wrote a note entreating his interest with the Russian officials. On +calling for an answer in the morning, he was received by Mr Bligh, when +“he was kind enough to say that if I desired it he would apply officially +to the Minister, and exert all his influence in his official character in +order to obtain the accomplishment of my views, but at the same time +suggested that it would, perhaps, be as well at a private interview to +beg it as a personal favour.” {115a} + +There was hesitation, perhaps suspicion, in official quarters. It is +easy to realise that the Government was not eager to assist the agent of +an institution closely allied to the Russian Bible Society, which it had +recently been successful in suppressing. It might with impunity suppress +a Society; but in George Borrow it soon became evident that the officials +had to deal with a man of purpose and determination who used a British +Minister as a two-edged sword. Borrow was invited to call at the Asiatic +Department: he did so, and learned that if permission were granted, Mr +Lipovzoff (who was a clerk in the Department) was to be censor (over his +own translation!) and Borrow editor. There was still the “If.” Borrow +waited a fortnight, then called on Mr Bligh. By great good chance Mr +Bludoff was dining that evening with the British Minister. The same +night Borrow received a message requesting him to call on Mr Bludoff the +next day. On presenting himself he was given a letter to the Director of +Worship, which he delivered without delay, and was told to call again on +the first day of the following week. + +“On calling there _I found that permission had been granted to print the +Manchu Scripture_.” {115b} Baron Schilling had rendered some assistance +in getting the permission, and Borrow was requested to inform him of “the +deep sense of obligation” of the Bible Society, to which was added a +present of some books. + +Borrow clearly viewed this as only a preliminary success; he had in mind +the eventual printing of the whole Bible. He was beginning to feel +conscious of his own powers. Mr Swan had gone, and upon Borrow’s +shoulders rested the whole enterprise. A mild wave of enthusiasm passed +over the Head Office at Earl Street on receipt of the news that +permission to print had been obtained. + +“You cannot conceive,” Borrow wrote to Mr Jowett, “the cold, heartless +apathy in respect to the affair, on which I have been despatched hither +as an _assistant_, which I have found in people to whom I looked not +unreasonably for encouragement and advice.” {116} Well might he +underline the word “assistant.” In this same letter, with a spasmodic +flicker of the old self-confidence, he adds, “In regard to what we have +yet to do, let it be borne in mind, that we are by no means dependent +upon Mr Lipovzoff, though certainly to secure the services, which he is +capable of performing, would be highly desirable, and though he cannot +act outwardly in the character of Editor (he having been appointed +censor), he may privately be of great utility to us.” Borrow seems to +have formed no very high opinion of Mr Lipovzoff’s capacity for affairs, +although he recognised his skill as a translator. + +At first Borrow seems to have found the severity of the winter very +trying. “The cold when you go out into it,” he writes to his mother +(1st/13th Feb. 1834), “cuts your face like a razor, and were you not to +cover it with furs the flesh would be bitten off. The rooms in the +morning are heated with a stove as hot as ovens, and you would not be +able to exist in one for a minute; but I have become used to them and +like them much, though at first they made me dreadfully sick and brought +on bilious headaches.” + +There was still at the Sarepta House, the premises of the Bible Society’s +bankers in St Petersburg, the box of Manchu type, which had not been +examined since the river floods. In addition to this, the only other +Manchu characters in St Petersburg belonged to Baron Schilling, who +possessed a small fount of the type, which he used “for the convenience +of printing trifles in that tongue,” as Borrow phrased it. This was to +be put at Borrow’s disposal if necessary; but first the type at the +Sarepta House had to be examined. Borrow’s plan was, provided the type +were not entirely ruined, to engage the services of a printer who was +accustomed to setting Mongolian characters, which are very similar to +those of Manchu, who would, he thought, be competent to undertake the +work. He suggested following the style of the St Matthew’s Gospel +already printed, giving to each Gospel and the Acts a volume and printing +the Epistles and the Apocalypse in three more, making eight volumes in +all. + +These he proposed putting “in a small thin wooden case, covered with blue +stuff, precisely after the manner of Chinese books, in order that they +may not give offence to the eyes of the people for whom they are intended +by a foreign and unusual appearance, for the mere idea that they are +barbarian books would certainly prevent them being read, and probably +cause their destruction if ever they found their way into the Chinese +Empire.” {117} Borrow left nothing to chance; he thought out every +detail with great care before venturing to put his plans into execution. + +Although busily occupied in an endeavour to stimulate Russian government +officials to energy and decision, Borrow was not neglecting what had been +so strongly urged upon him, the perfecting of himself in the Manchu +dialect. In reply to an enquiry from Mr Jowett as to what manner of +progress he was making, he wrote:— + + “For some time past I have taken lessons from a person who was twelve + years in Pekin, and who speaks Manchu and Chinese with fluency. I + pay him about six shillings English for each lesson, which I grudge + not, for the perfect acquirement of Manchu is one of my most ardent + wishes.” {118a} + +This person Borrow subsequently recommended to the Society “to assist me +in making a translation into Manchu of the Psalms and Isaiah,” but the +pundit proved “of no utility at all, but only the cause of error.” + +Borrow was soon able to transcribe the Manchu characters with greater +facility and speed than he could English. In addition to being able to +translate from and into Manchu, he could compose hymns in the language, +and even prepared a Manchu rendering of the second Homily of the Church +of England, “On the Misery of Man.” He had, however, made the discovery +that Manchu was far less easy to him than it had at first appeared, and +that Amyot was to some extent justified in his view of the difficulties +it presented. “It is one of those deceitful tongues,” he confesses in a +letter to Mr Jowett, “the seeming simplicity of whose structure induces +you to suppose, after applying to it for a month or two, that little more +remains to be learned, but which, should you continue to study a year, as +I have studied this, show themselves to you in their veritable colours, +amazing you with their copiousness, puzzling with their idioms.”{118b} +Its difficulties, however, did not discourage him; for he had a great +admiration for the language which “for majesty and grandeur of sound, and +also for general copiousness is unequalled by any existing tongue.” +{118c} + +However great his exertions or discouragements, Borrow never forgot his +mother, to whom he was a model son. On 1st/13th February he sent her a +draft for twenty pounds, being the second since his arrival six months +previously. Thus out of his first half-year’s salary of a hundred +pounds, he sent to his mother forty pounds (in addition to the seventeen +pounds he had paid into her account before sailing), and with it a +promise that “next quarter I shall try and send you thirty,” lest in the +recent storms of which he had heard, some of her property should have +suffered damage and be in need of repair. The larger remittance, +however, he was unable to make on account of the illness that had +necessitated the drinking of a bottle of port wine each day (by doctor’s +orders); but he was punctual in remitting the twenty pounds. The attack +which required so drastic a remedy originated in a chill caught as the +ice was breaking up. “I went mad,” he tells his mother, “and when the +fever subsided, I was seized with the ‘Horrors,’ which never left me day +or night for a week.” {119} During this illness everyone seems to have +been extremely kind and attentive, the Emperor’s apothecary, even, +sending word that Borrow was to order of him anything, medical or +otherwise, that he found himself in need of. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII +FEBRUARY–OCTOBER 1834 + + +BORROW had at last found work that was thoroughly congenial to him. It +was not in his nature to exist outside his occupations, and his whole +personality became bound up in the mission upon which he was engaged. +Not content with preparing the way for printing the New Testament in +Manchu, he set himself the problem of how it was to be distributed when +printed. He foresaw serious obstacles to its introduction into China, on +account of the suspicion with which was regarded any and everything +European. With a modest disclaimer that his suggestion arose “from a +plenitude of self-conceit and a disposition to offer advice upon all +matters, however far they may be above my understanding,” he proceeds to +deal with the difficulties of distribution with great clearness. + +To send the printed books to Canton, to be distributed by English +missionaries, he thought would be productive of very little good, nor +would it achieve the object of the Society, to distribute copies at +seaports along the coasts, because it was unlikely that there would be +many Tartars or people there who understood Manchu. There was a further +obstacle in the suspicion in which the Chinese held all things English. +On the other hand, he tells Mr Jowett, + + “there is a most admirable opening for the work on the Russian side + of the Chinese Empire. About five thousand miles from St Petersburg, + on the frontiers of Chinese Tartary, and only nine hundred miles + distant from Pekin, the seat of the Tartar Monarchy, stands the town + of Kiakhta, {121a} which properly belongs to Russia, but the + inhabitants of which are a medley of Tartary, Chinese, and Russ + (_sic_). As far as this town a Russian or foreigner is permitted to + advance, but his further progress is forbidden, and if he make the + attempt he is liable to be taken up as a spy or deserter, and sent + back under guard. This town is the emporium of Chinese and Russian + trade. Chinese caravans are continually arriving and returning, + bringing and carrying away articles of merchandise. There are + likewise a Chinese and a Tartar Mandarin, also a school where Chinese + and Tartar are taught, and where Chinese and Tartar children along + with Russian are educated.” {121b} + +The advantages of such a town as a base of operations were obvious. +Borrow was convinced that he could dispose “of any quantity of Testaments +to the Chinese merchants who arrive thither from Pekin and other places, +and who would be glad to purchase them on speculation.” {121c} + +Russia and China were friendly to each other, so much so, that there was +at Pekin a Russian mission, the only one of its kind. These good +relations rendered Borrow confident that books from Russia, especially +books which had not an outlandish appearance, would be purchased without +scruple. “In a word, were an agent for the Bible Society to reside at +this town [Kiakhta] for a year or so, it is my humble opinion, and the +opinion of much wiser people, that if he were active, zealous and +likewise courageous, the blessings resulting from his labours would be +incalculable.” {121d} + +He might even make excursions into Tartary, and become friendly with the +inhabitants, and eventually perhaps, “with a little management and +dexterity,” he might “penetrate even to Pekin, and return in safety, +after having examined the state of the land. I can only say that if it +were my fortune to have the opportunity, I would make the attempt, and +should consider myself only to blame if I did not succeed.” Borrow was +to revert to this suggestion on many occasions, in fact it seems to have +been in his mind during the whole period of his association with the +Bible Society. + +Acting upon instructions from Earl Street, Borrow proceeded to find out +the approximate cost of printing the Manchu New Testament. He early +discovered that in Russia “the wisdom of the serpent is quite as +necessary as the innocence of the dove,” as he took occasion to inform Mr +Jowett. The Russians rendered him estimates of cost as if of the opinion +that “Englishmen are made of gold, and that it is only necessary to ask +the most extravagant price for any article in order to obtain it.” + +In St Petersburg Borrow was taken for a German, a nation for which he +cherished a cordial dislike. This mistake as to nationality, however, +did not hinder the Russian tradesmen from asking exorbitant prices for +their services or their goods. At first Borrow “was quite terrified at +the enormous sums which some of the printers . . . required for the +work.” At length he applied to the University Press, which asked 30 +roubles 60 copecks (24s. 8d.) per sheet of two pages for composition and +printing. A young firm of German printers, Schultz & Beneze, was, +however, willing to undertake the same work at the rate of 12.5 roubles +(10s.) per two sheets. + +In contracting for the paper Borrow showed himself quite equal to the +commercial finesse of the Russian. He scoured the neighbourhood round St +Petersburg in a calash at a cost of about four pounds. Russian methods +of conducting business are amazing to the English mind. At Peterhof, a +town about twenty miles out of St Petersburg, he found fifty reams of a +paper such as he required. “Concerning the price of this paper,” he +writes, “I could obtain no positive information, for the Director and +first and second clerks were invariably absent, and the place abandoned +to ignorant understrappers (according to the custom of Russia). And +notwithstanding I found out the Director in St Petersburg, he himself +could not tell me the price.” {123a} + +Eventually 75 roubles (£3) a ream was quoted for the stock, and 100 +roubles (£4) a ream for any further quantity required. Thus the paper +for a thousand copies would run to 40,000 roubles (£1600), or 32s. a +copy. Borrow found that the law of commerce prevalent in the East was +that adopted in St Petersburg. A price is named merely as a basis of +negotiation, and the customer beats it down to a figure that suits him, +or he goes elsewhere. Borrow was a master of such methods. The sum he +eventually paid for the paper was 25 roubles (£1) a ream! Of all these +negotiations he kept Mr Jowett well informed. By June he had received +from Earl Street the official sanction to proceed, together with a +handsome remittance. + +For some time past Borrow had been anxious on account of his brother +John. On 9th/21st November, he had written to his mother telling her to +write to John urging him to come home at once, as he had seen in the +Russian newspapers how the town of Guanajuato had been taken and sacked +by the rebels, and also that cholera was ravaging Mexico. Later {123b} +he tells her of that nice house at Lakenham, {123c} which he means to +buy, and how John can keep a boat and amuse himself on the river, and +adds, “I dare say I shall continue for a long time with the Bible +Society, as they see that I am useful to them and can be depended upon.” + +On the day following that on which Borrow wrote asking his mother to urge +his brother to return home, viz., 10th/22nd November, John died. He was +taken ill suddenly in the morning and passed away the same afternoon. + +In February 1832 John Borrow had, much against the advice of his friends, +left the United Mexican Company, which he had become associated with the +previous year. He was of a restless disposition, never content with what +he was doing. Thinking he could better himself, and having saved a few +hundred dollars, he resigned his post. He appears soon to have +discovered his mistake. First he indulged in an unfortunate speculation, +by which he was a considerable loser, then cholera broke out. Without a +thought of himself he turned nurse and doctor, witnessing terrible scenes +of misery and death and ministering to the poor with an energy and +humanity that earned for him the admiration of the whole township. +Finally, finding himself in serious financial difficulties, he entered +the service of the Colombian Mining Company, and was to be sent to +Colombia “for the purpose of introducing the Mexican system of +beneficiating there.” It only remained for the agreement to be signed, +when he was taken ill. + +In the letter in which she tells George of their loss, Mrs Borrow +expresses fear that he does “not live regular. When you find yourself +low,” she continues, “take a little wine, but not too much at one time; +it will do you the more good; I find that by myself.” Her solicitude for +George’s health is easily understandable. He is now her “only hope,” as +she pathetically tells him. “Do not grieve, my dear George,” she +proceeds tenderly, “I trust we shall all meet in heaven. Put a crape on +your hat for some time.” + +George wrote immediately to acknowledge his mother’s letter containing +the news of John’s death, which had given him “the severest stroke I ever +experienced. It [the letter] quite stunned me, and since reading its +contents I have done little else but moan and lament . . . O that our +darling John had taken the advice which I gave him nearly three years +since, to abandon that horrid country and return to England! . . . Would +that I had died for him! for I loved him dearly, dearly.” Borrow’s +affection for his bright and attractive brother is everywhere manifest in +his writings. He never showed the least jealousy when his father held up +his first-born as a model to the strange and incomprehensible younger +son. His love for and admiration of John were genuine and deep-rooted. +In the same letter he goes on to assure his mother that he was never +better in his life, and that experience teaches him how to cure his +disorders. “The ‘Horrors,’ for example. Whenever they come I must drink +strong Port wine, and then they are stopped instantly. But do not think +that I drink habitually, for you ought to know that I abhor drink. The +‘Horrors’ are brought on by weakness.” + +He goes on to reassure his mother as to the care he takes of himself, +telling her that he has three meals a day, although, as a rule, dinner is +a poor one, “for the Russians, in the first place, are very indifferent +cooks, and the meat is very bad, as in fact are almost all the +provisions.” The fish is without taste, Russian salmon having less +savour than English skate; the fowls are dry because no endeavour is made +to fatten them, and the “mutton stinks worst than carrion, for they never +cut the wool.” + +With great thought and tenderness he tells her that he wishes her “to +keep a maid, for I do not like that you should live alone. Do not take +one of the wretched girls of Norwich,” he advises her, but rather the +daughter of one of her tenants. “What am I working for here and saving +money, unless it is for your comfort? for I assure you that to make you +comfortable is my greatest happiness, almost my only one.” Urging her to +keep up her spirits and read much of the things that interest her, he +concludes with a warning to her not to pay any debts contracted by John. +{126a} The letter concludes with the postscript: “I have got the crape.” + +In July 1834 Borrow again changed his quarters, taking an unfurnished +floor, {126b} at the same time hiring a Tartar servant named Mahmoud, +“the best servant I ever had.” {126c} The wages he paid this prince of +body-servants was thirty shillings a month, out of which Mahmoud supplied +himself “with food and everything.” Borrow’s reason for making this +change in his lodgings was that he wanted more room than he had, and +furnished apartments were very expensive. The actual furnishing was not +a very costly matter to a man of Borrow’s simple wants; for the +expenditure of seven pounds he provided himself with all he required. + +After the letter of 27th June/9th July the Bible Society received no +further news of what was taking place in St Petersburg. Week after week +passed without anything being heard of its Russian agent’s movements or +activities. On 25th September/7th October Mr Jowett wrote an extremely +moderate letter beseeching Borrow to remember “the very lively interest” +taken by the General Committee in the printing of the Manchu version of +the New Testament; that people were asking, “What is Mr Borrow doing?” +that the Committee stands between its agents and an eager public, +desirous of knowing the trials and tribulations, the hopes and fears of +those actively engaged in printing or disseminating the Scriptures. “You +can have no difficulty,” he continues, “in furnishing me with such +monthly information as may satisfy the Committee that they are not +expending a large sum of money in vain.” There was also a request for +information as to how “some critical difficulty has been surmounted by +the translator, or editor, or both united, not to mention the advance +already made in actual printing.” On 1st/13th Oct. Borrow had written a +brief letter giving an account of his disbursements during the journey to +St Petersburg _fifteen months previously_; but he made no mention of what +was taking place with regard to the printing. + +The letter in which Borrow replied to Mr Jowett is probably the most +remarkable he ever wrote. It presents him in a light that must have +astonished those who had been so eager to ridicule his appointment as an +agent of the Bible Society. The letter runs:— + + ST PETERSBURG, + 8_th_ [20_th_] _October_ 1834. + + I have just received your most kind epistle, the perusal of which has + given me both pain and pleasure—pain that from unavoidable + circumstances I have been unable to gratify eager expectation, and + pleasure that any individual should have been considerate enough to + foresee my situation and to make allowance for it. The nature of my + occupations during the last two months and a half has been such as + would have entirely unfitted me for correspondence, had I been aware + that it was necessary, which, on my sacred word, I was not. Now, and + only now, when by the blessing of God I have surmounted all my + troubles and difficulties, I will tell, and were I not a Christian I + should be proud to tell, what I have been engaged upon and + accomplished during the last ten weeks. I have been working in the + printing-office, as a common compositor, between ten and thirteen + hours every day during that period; the result of this is that St + Matthew’s Gospel, printed from such a copy as I believe nothing was + ever printed from before, has been brought out in the Manchu + language; two rude Esthonian peasants, who previously could barely + compose with decency in a plain language which they spoke and were + accustomed to, have received such instruction that with ease they can + each compose at the rate of a sheet a day in the Manchu, perhaps the + most difficult language for composition in the whole world. + Considerable progress has also been made in St Mark’s Gospel, and I + will venture to promise, provided always the Almighty smiles upon the + undertaking, that the entire work of which I have the superintendence + will be published within eight months from the present time. Now, + therefore, with the premise that I most unwillingly speak of myself + and what I have done and suffered for some time past, all of which I + wished to keep locked up in my own breast, I will give a regular and + circumstantial account of my proceedings from the day when I received + your letter, by which I was authorised by the Committee to bespeak + paper, engage with a printer, and cause our type to be set in order. + + My first care was to endeavour to make suitable arrangements for the + obtaining of Chinese paper. Now those who reside in England, the + most civilised and blessed of countries, where everything is to be + obtained at a fair price, have not the slightest idea of the anxiety + and difficulty which, in a country like this, harass the foreigner + who has to disburse money not his own, if he wish that his employers + be not shamefully and outrageously imposed upon. In my last epistle + to you I stated that I had been asked 100 roubles per ream for such + paper as we wanted. I likewise informed you that I believed that it + was possible to procure it for 35 roubles, notwithstanding our + Society had formerly paid 40 roubles for worse paper than the samples + I was in possession of. Now I have always been of opinion that in + the expending of money collected for sacred purposes, it behoves the + agent to be extraordinarily circumspect and sparing. I therefore was + determined, whatever trouble it might cost me, to procure for the + Society unexceptionable paper at a yet more reasonable rate than 35 + roubles. I was aware that an acquaintance of mine, a young Dane, was + particularly intimate with one of the first printers of this city, + who is accustomed to purchase vast quantities of paper every month + for his various publications. I gave this young gentleman a specimen + of the paper I required, and desired him (he was under obligations to + me) to inquire of his friend, _as if from curiosity_, the least + possible sum per ream at which _the printer himself_ (who from his + immense demand for paper should necessarily obtain it cheaper than + any one else) could expect to purchase the article in question. The + answer I received within a day or two was 25 roubles. Upon hearing + this I prevailed upon my acquaintance to endeavour to persuade his + friend to bespeak the paper at 25 roubles, and to allow me, + notwithstanding I was a perfect stranger, to have it at that price. + All this was brought about. I was introduced to the printer, Mr + Pluchard, by the Dane, Mr Hasfeldt, and between the former gentleman + and myself a contract was made to the effect that by the end of + October he should supply me with 450 reams of Chinese paper at 25 + roubles per ream, the first delivery to be made on the 1st of August; + for as my order given at an advanced period of the year, when all the + paper manufactories were at full work towards the executing of orders + already received, it was but natural that I should verify the old + apophthegm, ‘Last come, last served.’ As no orders are attended to + in Russia unless money be advanced upon them, I deposited in the + hands of Mr Pluchard the sum of 2000 roubles, receiving his receipt + for that amount. + + Having arranged this most important matter to my satisfaction, I + turned my attention to the printing process. I accepted the offer of + Messrs Schultz & Beneze to compose and print the Manchu Testament at + the rate of 25 roubles per sheet [of four pages], and caused our + fount of type to be conveyed to their office. I wish to say here a + few words respecting the state in which these types came into my + possession. I found them in a kind of warehouse, or rather cellar. + They had been originally confined in two cases; but these having + burst, the type lay on the floor trampled amidst mud and filth. They + were, moreover, not improved by having been immersed within the + waters of the inundation of ’27 [1824]. I caused them all to be + collected and sent to their destination, where they were purified and + arranged—a work of no small time and difficulty, at which I was + obliged to assist. Not finding with the type what is called + ‘Durchschuss’ by the printers here, consisting of leaden wedges of + about six ounces weight each, which form the spaces between the + lines, I ordered 120 pounds weight of those at a rouble a pound, + being barely enough for three sheets. {129} I had now to teach the + compositors the Manchu alphabet, and to distinguish one character + from another. This occupied a few days, at the end of which I gave + them the commencement of St Matthew’s Gospel to copy. They no sooner + saw the work they were called upon to perform than there were loud + murmurs of dissatisfaction, and . . . ‘It is quite impossible to do + the like,’ was the cry—and no wonder. The original printed Gospel + had been so interlined and scribbled upon by the author, in a hand so + obscure and irregular, that, accustomed as I was to the perusal of + the written Manchu, it was not without the greatest difficulty that I + could decipher the new matter myself. Moreover, the corrections had + been so carelessly made that they themselves required far more + correction than the original matter. I was therefore obliged to be + continually in the printing-office, and to do three parts of the work + myself. For some time I found it necessary to select every character + with my own fingers, and to deliver it to the compositor, and by so + doing I learnt myself to compose. We continued in this way till all + our characters were exhausted, for no paper had arrived. For two + weeks and more we were obliged to pause, the want of paper being + insurmountable. At the end of this period came six reams; but partly + from the manufacturers not being accustomed to make this species of + paper, and partly from the excessive heat of the weather, which + caused it to dry too fast, only one ream and a half could be used, + and this was not enough for one sheet; the rest I refused to take, + and sent back. The next week came fifteen reams. This paper, from + the same causes, was as bad as the last. I selected four reams, and + sent the rest back. But this paper enabled us to make a beginning, + which we did not fail to do, though we received no more for upwards + of a fortnight, which caused another pause. At the end of that time, + owing to my pressing remonstrances and entreaties, a regular supply + of about twelve reams per week of most excellent paper commenced. + This continued until we had composed the last five sheets of St + Matthew, when some paper arrived, which in my absence was received by + Mr Beneze, who, without examining it, as was his duty, delivered it + to the printers to use in the printing of the said sheets, who + accordingly printed upon part of it. But the next day, when my + occupation permitted me to see what they were about, I observed that + the last paper was of a quality very different from that which had + been previously sent. I accordingly instantly stopped the press, + and, notwithstanding eight reams had been printed upon, I sent all + the strange paper back, and caused Mr Beneze to recompose three + sheets, which had been broken up, at his own expense. But this + caused the delay of another week. + + This last circumstance made me determine not to depend in future for + paper on one manufactory alone. I therefore stated to Mr P[luchard] + that, as his people were unable to furnish me with the article fast + enough, I should apply to others for 250 reams, and begged him to + supply me with the rest as fast as possible. He made no objection. + Thereupon I prevailed upon my most excellent friend, Baron Schilling, + to speak to his acquaintance, State-Councillor Alquin, who is + possessed of a paper-factory, on the subject. M. Alquin, as a + personal favour to Baron Schilling (whom, I confess, I was ashamed to + trouble upon such an affair, and should never have done so had not + zeal for the cause induced me), consented to furnish me with the + required paper on the same terms as Mr P. At present there is not + the slightest risk of the progress of our work being retarded—at + present, indeed, the path is quite easy; but the trouble, anxiety, + and misery which have till lately harassed me, alone in a situation + of great responsibility, have almost reduced me to a skeleton. + + My dearest Sir, do me the favour to ask our excellent Committee, + Would it have answered any useful purpose if, instead of continuing + to struggle with difficulties and using my utmost to overcome them, I + had written in the following strain—and what else could I have + written if I had written at all?—‘I was sent out to St Petersburg to + assist Mr Lipovzoff in the editing of the Manchu Testament. That + gentleman, who holds three important Situations under the Russian + Government, and who is far advanced in years, has neither time, + inclination, nor eyesight for the task, and I am apprehensive that my + strength and powers unassisted are incompetent to it’ (praised be the + Lord, they were not!), ‘therefore I should be glad to return home. + Moreover, the compositors say they are unaccustomed to compose in an + unknown tongue from such scribbled and illegible copy, and they will + scarcely assist me to compose. Moreover, the working printers say + (several went away in disgust) that the paper on which they have to + print is too thin to be wetted, and that to print on dry requires a + twofold exertion of strength, and that they will not do such work for + double wages, for it ruptures them.’ Would that have been a welcome + communication to the Committee? Would that have been a communication + suited to the public? I was resolved ‘to do or die,’ and, instead of + distressing and perplexing the Committee with complaints, to write + nothing until I could write something perfectly satisfactory, as I + now can; {132a} and to bring about that result I have spared neither + myself nor my own money. I have toiled in a close printing-office + the whole day, during ninety degrees of heat, for the purpose of + setting an example, and have bribed people to work when nothing but + bribes would induce them so to do. + + I am obliged to say all this in self-justification. No member of the + Bible Society would ever have heard a syllable respecting what I have + undergone but for the question, ‘What has Mr Borrow been about?’ I + hope and trust that question is now answered to the satisfaction of + those who do Mr Borrow the honour to employ him. In respect to the + expense attending the editing of such a work as the New Testament in + Manchu, I beg leave to observe that I have obtained the paper, the + principal source of expense, at fifteen roubles per ream less than + the Society formerly paid for it—that is to say, at nearly half the + price. + + As St Matthew’s Gospel has been ready for some weeks, it is high time + that it should be bound; for if that process be delayed, the paper + will be dirtied and the work injured. I am sorry to inform you that + book-binding in Russia is incredibly dear, {132b} and that the + expenses attending the binding of the Testament would amount, were + the usual course pursued, to two-thirds of the entire expenses of the + work. Various book-binders to whom I have applied have demanded one + rouble and a half for the binding of every section of the work, so + that the sum required for the binding of one Testament alone would be + twelve roubles. Doctor Schmidt assured me that one rouble and forty + copecks, or, according to the English currency, fourteenpence + halfpenny, were formerly paid for the binding of every individual + copy of St Matthew’s Gospel. + + I pray you, my dear Sir, to cause the books to be referred to, for I + wish to know if that statement be correct. In the meantime + arrangements have to be made, and the Society will have to pay for + each volume of the Testament the comparatively small sum of + forty-five copecks, or fourpence halfpenny, whereas the usual price + here for the most paltry covering of the most paltry pamphlet is + fivepence. Should it be demanded how I have been able to effect + this, my reply is that I have had little hand in the matter. A + nobleman who honours me with particular friendship, and who is one of + the most illustrious ornaments of Russia and of Europe, has, at my + request, prevailed on his own book-binder, over whom he has much + influence, to do the work on these terms. That nobleman is Baron + Schilling. + + Commend me to our most respected Committee. Assure them that in + whatever I have done or left undone, I have been influenced by a + desire to promote the glory of the Trinity and to give my employers + ultimate and permanent satisfaction. If I have erred, it has been + from a defect of judgment, and I ask pardon of God and them. In the + course of a week I shall write again, and give a further account of + my proceedings, for I have not communicated one-tenth of what I have + to impart; but I can write no more now. It is two hours past + midnight; the post goes away to-morrow, and against that morrow I + have to examine and correct three sheets of St Mark’s Gospel, which + lie beneath the paper on which I am writing. With my best regards to + Mr Brandram, + + I remain, dear Sir, + + Most truly yours, + + G. BORROW. + + Rev. JOSEPH JOWETT. + +Closely following upon this letter, and without waiting for a reply, +Borrow wrote again to Mr Jowett, 13th/25th October, enclosing a +certificate from Mr Lipovzoff, which read:— + + “Testifio:—Dominum Burro ab initio usque ad hoc tempus summa cum + diligentia et studio in re Mantshurica laborasse, Lipovzoff.” + +He also reported progress as regards the printing, and promised (D.V.) +that the entire undertaking should be completed by the first of May; but +the letter was principally concerned with the projected expedition to +Kiakhta, to distribute the books he was so busily occupied in printing. +He repeated his former arguments, urging the Committee to send an agent +to Kiakhta. “I am a person of few words,” he assured Mr Jowett, “and +will therefore state without circumlocution that I am willing to become +that agent. I speak Russ, Manchu, and the Tartar or broken Turkish of +the Russian Steppes, and have also some knowledge of Chinese, which I +might easily improve.” As regards the danger to himself of such a +hazardous undertaking, the conversion of the Tartar would never be +achieved without danger to someone. He had become acquainted with many +of the Tartars resident in St Petersburg, whose language he had learned +through conversing with his servant (a native of Bucharia [Bokhara]), and +he had become “much attached to them; for their conscientiousness, +honesty, and fidelity are beyond all praise.” + +To this further offer Mr Jowett replied:— + + “Be not disheartened, even though the Committee postpone for the + present the consideration of your enterprising, not to say intrepid, + proposal. Thus much, however, I may venture to say: that the offer + is more likely to be accepted now, than when you first made it. If, + when the time approaches for executing such a plan, you give us + reason to believe that a more mature consideration of it in all its + bearings still leaves you in hope of a successful result, and in + heart for making the attempt, my own opinion is that the offer will + ultimately be accepted, and that very cordially.” + + + + +CHAPTER IX +NOVEMBER 1834–SEPTEMBER 1835 + + +BORROW was an unconventional editor. He foresaw the interminable delays +likely to arise from allowing workmen to incorporate his corrections in +the type. To obviate these, he first corrected the proof, then, +proceeding to the printing office, he made with his own hands the +necessary alterations in the type. This involved only two proofs, the +second to be submitted to Mr Lipovzoff, instead of some half a dozen that +otherwise would have been necessary. During these days Borrow was +ubiquitous. Even the binder required his assistance, “for everything +goes wrong without a strict surveillance.” + +Borrow had passed through _the_ crisis in his career. Stricken with +fever, which was followed by an attack of the “Horrors” (only to be +driven away by port wine), he had scarcely found time in which to eat or +sleep. He had emerged triumphantly from the ordeal, and if he had +“almost killed Beneze and his lads”{135a} with work, he had not spared +himself. If he had to report, as he did, that “my two compositors, whom +I had instructed in all the mysteries of Manchu composition, are in the +hospital, down with the brain fever,” {135b} he himself had grown thin +from the incessant toil. + +The simple manliness and restrained dignity of his justification had +produced a marked effect upon the authorities at home. If the rebuke +administered by Mr Jowett had been mild, his acknowledgment of the reply +that it had called forth was most cordial and friendly. After assuring +Borrow of the Committee’s high satisfaction at the way in which its +interests had been looked after, he proceeds sincerely to deprecate +anything in his previous letter which may have caused Borrow pain, and +continues: + + “Yet I scarcely know how to be sorry for what has been the occasion + of drawing from you (what you might otherwise have kept locked up in + your own breast) the very interesting story of your labours, + vexations, disappointments, vigilance, address, perseverance, and + successes. How you were able in your solitude to keep up your + spirits in the face of so many impediments, apparently + insurmountable, I know not . . . Do not fear that _we_ should in any + way interrupt your proceedings. We know our interest too well to + interfere with an agent who has shown so much address in planning, + and so much diligence in effecting, the execution of our wishes.” + +These encouraging words were followed by a request that he would keep a +careful account of all extraordinary expenses, that they might be duly +met by the Society:— + + “I allude, you perceive, to such things,” the letter goes on to + explain, “as your journies _huc et illuc_ in quest of a better + market, and to the occasional bribes to disheartened workmen. In all + matters of this kind the Society is clearly your debtor.” Borrow + replied with a flash of his old independent spirit: “I return my most + grateful thanks for this most considerate intimation, which, + nevertheless, I cannot avail myself of, as, according to one of the + articles of my agreement, my salary of £200 was to cover all extra + expenses. Petersburg is doubtless the dearest capital in Europe, and + expenses meet an individual, especially one situated as I have been, + at every turn and corner; but an agreement is not to be broken on + that account.” {136} + +That the Committee, even before this proof of his ability, had been well +pleased with their engagement of Borrow is shown by the acknowledgment +made in the Society’s Thirtieth Annual Report: “Mr Borrow has not +disappointed the expectation entertained.” + +There were other words of encouragement to cheer him in his labours. His +mother wrote in September of that year, telling him how, at a Bible +Society’s gathering at Norwich, which had lasted the whole of a week, his +name “was sounded through the Hall by Mr Gurney and Mr Cunningham”; +telling how he had left his home and his friends to do God’s work in a +foreign land, calling upon their fellow-citizens to offer up prayers +beseeching the Almighty to vouchsafe to him health and strength that the +great work he had undertaken might be completed. “All this is very +pleasing to me,” added the proud old lady. “God bless you!” + +From Mrs Clarke of Oulton Hall, with whom he kept up a correspondence, he +heard how his name had been mentioned at many of the Society’s meetings +during the year, and how the Rev. Francis Cunningham had referred to him +as “one of the most extraordinary and interesting individuals of the +present day.” Even at that date, viz., before the receipt of the +remarkable account of his labours, the members and officials of the Bible +Society seem to have come to the conclusion that he had achieved far more +than they had any reason to expect of him. Their subsequent approval is +shown by the manner in which they caused his two letters of 8th/20th and +13th/25th October to be circulated among the influential members of the +Society, until at last they had reached the Rev. F. Cunningham and Mrs +Clarke. + +About the middle of January (old style) 1835, Borrow placed in the hands +of Baron Schilling a copy of each of the four Gospels in Manchu, to be +conveyed to the Bible Society by one of the couriers attached to the +Foreign Department at St Petersburg; but they did not reach Earl Street +until several weeks later. There were however, still the remaining four +volumes to complete, and many more difficulties to overcome. + +One vexation that presented itself was a difference of opinion between +Borrow and Lipovzoff, who “thought proper, when the Father Almighty is +addressed, to erase the personal and possessive pronouns _thou_ or +_thine_, as often as they occur, and in their stead to make use of the +noun as the case may require. For example, ‘O Father! thou art merciful’ +he would render, ‘O Father! the Father is merciful.’” Borrow protested, +but Lipovzoff, who was “a gentleman, whom the slightest contradiction +never fails to incense to a most incredible degree,” told him that he +talked nonsense, and refused to concede anything. {138a} Lipovzoff, who +had on his side the Chinese scholars and unlimited powers as official +censor (from whose decree there was no appeal) over his own work, carried +his point. He urged that “amongst the Chinese and Tartars, none but the +dregs of society were ever addressed in the second person; and that it +would be most uncouth and indecent to speak of the Almighty as if He were +a servant or a slave.” This difficulty of the verbal ornament of the +East was one that the Bible Society had frequently met with in the past. +It was rightly considered as ill-fitting a translation of the words of +Christ. Simplicity of diction was to be preserved at all costs, whatever +might be the rule with secular books. Mr Jowett had warned Borrow to +“beware of confounding the two distinct ideas of translation and +interpretation!” {138b} and also informed him that “the passion for +honorific-abilitudinity is a vice of Asiatic languages, which a Scripture +translator, above all others, ought to beware of countenancing.” {139a} + +Well might Borrow write to Mr Jowett, “How I have been enabled to +maintain terms of friendship and familiarity with Mr Lipovzoff, and yet +fulfil the part which those who employ me expect me to fulfil, I am much +at a loss to conjecture; and yet such is really the case.” {139b} On the +whole, however, the two men worked harmoniously together, the +censor-translator being usually amenable to editorial reason and +suggestion; and Borrow was able to assure Mr Jowett that with the +exception of this one instance “the word of God has been rendered into +Manchu as nearly and closely as the idiom of a very singular language +would permit.” + +Borrow’s mind continued to dwell upon the project of penetrating into +China and distributing the Scriptures himself. He wrote again, repeating +“the assurance that I am ready to attempt anything which the Society may +wish me to execute, and, at a moment’s warning, will direct my course +towards Canton, Pekin, or the court of the Grand Lama.” {139c} The +project had, however, to be abandoned. The Russian Government, desirous +of maintaining friendly relations with China, declined to risk her +displeasure for a missionary project in which Russia had neither interest +nor reasonable expectation of gain. In agreeing to issue a passport such +as Borrow desired, it stipulated that he should carry with him “not one +single Manchu Bible thither.” {139d} In spite of this discouragement, +Borrow wrote to Mr Jowett with regard to the Chinese programme, “_I again +repeat that I am at command_.” {139e} + +This determination on Borrow’s part to become a missionary filled his +mother with alarm. She had only one son now, and the very thought of his +going into wild and unknown regions seemed to her tantamount to his going +to his death. Mrs Clarke also expressed strong disapproval of the +project. “I must tell you,” she wrote, “that your letter chilled me when +I read your intention of going as a Missionary or Agent, with the Manchu +Scriptures in your hand, to the Tartars, the land of incalculable +dangers.” + +By the middle of May 1835 Borrow saw the end of his labours in sight. On +3rd/15th May he wrote asking for instructions relative to the despatch of +the bulk of the volumes, and also as to the disposal of the type. “As +for myself,” he continues, “I suppose I must return to England, as my +task will be speedily completed. I hope the Society are convinced that I +have served them faithfully, and that I have spared no labour to bring +out the work, which they did me the honor of confiding to me, correctly +and within as short a time as possible. At my return, if the Society +think that I can still prove of utility to them, I shall be most happy to +devote myself still to their service. I am a person full of faults and +weaknesses, as I am every day reminded by bitter experience, but I am +certain that my zeal and fidelity towards those who put confidence in me +are not to be shaken.” {140} + +On 15th/27th June he reported the printing completed and six out of the +eight volumes bound, and that as soon as the remaining two volumes were +ready, he intended to take his departure from St Petersburg; but a new +difficulty arose. The East had laid a heavy hand upon St Petersburg. +“To-morrow, please God!” met the energetic Westerner at every turn. The +bookbinder delayed six weeks because he could not procure some paper he +required. But the real obstacle to the despatch of the books was the +non-arrival of the Government sanction to their shipment. Nothing was +permitted to move either in or out of the sacred city of the Tsars +without official permission. Probably those responsible for the +administration of affairs had never in their experience been called upon +to deal with a man such as Borrow. To apply to him the customary rules +of procedure was to bring upon “the House of Interior Affairs” a series +of visits and demands that must have left it limp with astonishment. + +On 16th/28th July Borrow wrote to the Bible Society, “I herewith send you +a bill of lading for six of the eight parts of the New Testament, which I +have at last obtained permission to send away, after having paid sixteen +visits to the House of Interior Affairs.” {141a} He expresses a hope +that in another fortnight he will have despatched the remaining two +volumes and have “bidden adieu to Russia”; but it was dangerous to +anticipate the official course of events in Russia. Even to the last +Borrow was tormented by red tape. Early in August the last two volumes +were ready for shipment to England; but he could not obtain the necessary +permission. He was told that he ought never to have printed the work, in +spite of the license that had been granted, and that grave doubts existed +in the official mind as to whether or no he really were an agent of the +Bible Society. At length Borrow lost patience and told the officials +that during the week following the books would be despatched, with or +without permission, and he warned them to have a care how they acted. +These strong measures seem to have produced the desired result. + +Despite his many occupations on behalf of the Bible Society, Borrow found +time in which to translate into Russian the first three Homilies of the +Church of England, and into Manchu the Second. His desire was that the +Homily Society should cause these translations to be printed, and in a +letter to the Rev. Francis Cunningham he strove to enlist his interest in +the project, offering the translations without fee to the Society if they +chose to make use of them. {141b} As “a zealous, though most unworthy, +member of the Anglican Church,” he found that his “cheeks glowed with +shame at seeing dissenters, English and American, busily employed in +circulating Tracts in the Russian tongue, whilst the members of the +Church were following their secular concerns, almost regardless of things +spiritual in respect to the Russian population.” {142a} + +Borrow also translated into English “one of the sacred books of Boudh, or +Fo,” from Baron Schilling de Canstadt’s library. The principal +occupation of his leisure hours, however, was a collection of +translations, which he had printed by Schultz & Beneze, and published +(3rd/ 15th June 1835) under the title of _Targum_, _or Metrical +Translations from Thirty Languages and Dialects_. {142b} In a prefatory +note, the collection is referred to as “selections from a huge and +undigested mass of translation, accumulated during several years devoted +to philological pursuits.” Three months later he published another +collection entitled _The Talisman_, _From the Russian of Alexander +Pushkin_. _With Other Pieces_. {143a} There were seven poems in all, +two after Pushkin, one from the Malo-Russian, one from Mickiewicz, and +three “ancient Russian Songs.” Again the printers were Schultz & Beneze. +Each of these editions appears to have been limited to one hundred +copies. {143b} + +Writing in the _Athenæum_, {143c} J. P. H[asfeldt] says:—“The work is a +pearl in literature, and, like pearls, derives value from its scarcity, +for the whole edition was limited to about a hundred copies.” W. B. +Donne admired the translations immensely, considering “the language and +rhythm as vastly superior to Macaulay’s _Lays of Ancient Rome_.” {143d} + +Whilst the last two volumes of the Manchu New Testament were waiting for +paper (probably for end-papers), Borrow determined to pay a hurried visit +to Moscow, “by far the most remarkable city it has ever been my fortune +to see.” One of his principal objects in visiting the ancient capital of +Russia was to see the gypsies, who flourished there as they flourished +nowhere else in Europe. They numbered several thousands, and many of +them inhabited large and handsome houses, drove in their carriages, and +were “distinguishable from the genteel class of the Russians only . . . +by superior personal advantages and mental accomplishments.” {143e} For +this unusual state of prosperity the women were responsible, “having from +time immemorial cultivated their vocal powers to such an extent that, +although in the heart of a country in which the vocal art has arrived at +greater perfection than in any other part of the world, the principal +Gypsy choirs in Moscow are allowed by the general voice of the public to +be unrivalled and to bear away the palm from all competitors. It is a +fact notorious in Russia that the celebrated Catalani was so filled with +admiration for the powers of voice displayed by one of the Gypsy +songsters, who, after the former had sung before a splendid audience at +Moscow, stepped forward and with an astonishing burst of melody ravished +every ear, that she [Catalani] tore from her own shoulders a shawl of +immense value which had been presented to her by the Pope, and embracing +the Gypsy, compelled her to accept it, saying that it had been originally +intended for the matchless singer, which she now discovered was not +herself.” {144a} + +These Russian gypsy singers lived luxurious lives and frequently married +Russian gentry or even the nobility. It was only the successes, however, +who achieved such distinction, and there were “a great number of low, +vulgar, and profligate females who sing in taverns, or at the various +gardens in the neighbourhood, and whose husbands and male connections +subsist by horse-jobbing and such kinds of low traffic.” {144b} + +One fine evening Borrow hired a calash and drove out to Marina Rotze, “a +kind of sylvan garden,” about one and a half miles out of Moscow, where +this particular class of Romanys resorted. “Upon my arriving there,” he +writes, “the Gypsies swarmed out of their tents and from the little +_tracteer_ or tavern, and surrounded me. Standing on the seat of the +calash, I addressed them in a loud voice in the dialect of the English +Gypsies, with which I have some slight acquaintance. A scream of wonder +instantly arose, and welcomes and greetings were poured forth in torrents +of musical Romany, amongst which, however, the most pronounced cry was: +_ah kak mi toute karmuma_ {145a}—‘Oh how we love you’; for at first they +supposed me to be one of their brothers, who, they said, were wandering +about in Turkey, China, and other parts, and that I had come over the +great _pawnee_, or water, to visit them.” {145b} + +On several other occasions during his stay at Moscow, Borrow went out to +Marina Rotze, to hold converse with the gypsies. He “spoke to them upon +their sinful manner of living,” about Christianity and the advent of +Christ, to which the gypsies listened with attention, but apparently not +much profit. The promise that they would soon be able to obtain the +teachings of Jesus of Nazareth in their own tongue interested them far +more on account of the pleasurable strangeness of the idea, than from any +anticipation that they might derive spiritual comfort from such writings. + +Returning to St Petersburg from Moscow, after four-days’ absence, Borrow +completed his work, settled up his affairs, bade his friends good-bye, +and on 28th August/9th September left for Cronstadt to take the packet +for Lübeck. The authorities seem to have raised no objection to his +departure. His passport bore the date 28th August O/S (the actual day he +left) and described him as “of stature, tall—hair, grey—face, +oval—forehead, medium—eyebrows, blonde—eyes, brown—nose and mouth, +medium—chin, round.” + +Borrow’s work at St Petersburg gave entire satisfaction to the Bible +Society. The Official Report for the year 1835 informed the members +that— + + “The printing of the Manchu New Testament in St Petersburg is now + drawing to a conclusion. Mr G. Borrow, who has had to superintend + the work, has in every way afforded satisfaction to the Committee. + They have reason to believe that his acquirements in the language are + of the most respectable order; while the devoted diligence with which + he has laboured, and the skill he has shown in surmounting + difficulties, and conducting his negotiations for the advantage of + the Society, justly entitle him to this public acknowledgment of his + services.” {146a} + +Of the actual work itself John Hasfeldt justly wrote: + + “I can only say, that it is a beautiful edition of an oriental + work—that it is printed with great care on a fine imitation of + Chinese paper, made on purpose. At the outset, Mr Borrow spent weeks + and months in the printing office to make the compositors acquainted + with the intricate Manchu types; and that, as for the contents, I am + assured by well-informed persons, that this translation is remarkable + for the correctness and fidelity with which it has been executed.” + {146b} + +The total cost to the Society of his labours in connection with the +transcription of Puerot’s MS., and printing and binding one thousand +copies of Lipovzoff’s New Testament had reached the very considerable sum +of £2600. What the amount would have been if Borrow had not proved a +prince of bargainers, it is impossible to imagine. The entire edition +was sent to Earl Street, and eventually distributed in China as occasion +offered. An edition of the Gospels in this version has recently been +reprinted, and is still in use among certain tribes in Mongolia. + +Borrow arrived in London somewhere about 20th September (new style), +after an absence of a little more than two years. He went to St +Petersburg “prejudiced against the country, the government, and the +people; the first is much more agreeable than is generally supposed; the +second is seemingly the best adapted for so vast an empire; and the +third, even the lowest classes, are in general kind, hospitable, and +benevolent.” {147} + +On 23rd September Borrow was still in London writing his report to the +General Committee upon his recent labours. In all probability he left +immediately afterwards for Norwich, there to await events. + + + + +CHAPTER X +OCTOBER 1835–JANUARY 1836 + + +BORROW had strong hopes that the Bible Society would continue to employ +him. Mr Brandram had written (5th June 1835) that the Committee “will +not very willingly suffer themselves to be deprived of your services. +From Russia Borrow had written to his mother: {148} + + “They [the Bible Society] place great confidence in me, and I am + firmly resolved to do all in my power to prove that they have not + misplaced that confidence. I dare say that when I return home they + will always be happy to employ me to edit their Bibles, and there is + no employment in the whole world which I should prefer and for which + I am better fitted. I shall, moreover, endeavour to get ordained.” + +On another occasion he wrote, also to his mother: + + “I hope that the Bible Society will employ me upon something new, for + I have of late led an active life, and dread the thought of having + nothing to do except studying as formerly, and I am by no means + certain that I could sit down to study now. I can do anything if it + is to turn to any account; but it is very hard to dig holes in the + sand and fill them up again, as I used to do. However, I hope God + will find me something on which I can employ myself with credit and + profit. I should like very much to get into the Church, though I + suppose that that, like all other professions, is overstocked.” + +Mrs Borrow reminded him that he had a good home ready to receive him, and +a mother grown lonely with long waiting. She told him, among other +things, that she had spent none of the money that he had so generously +and unsparingly sent her. + +Borrow certainly had every reason to expect further employment. He had +proved himself not only a thoroughly qualified editor; but had discovered +business qualities that must have astonished and delighted the General +Committee. Above all he had brought to a most successful conclusion a +venture that, but for his ability and address, would in all probability +have failed utterly. The application for permission to proceed with the +distribution had, it is true, been unsuccessful; but there was, as Mr +Brandram wrote, the “seed laid up in the granary; but ‘it is not yet +written’ that the sowers are to go forth to sow.” + +After remaining for a short time with his mother at Norwich, Borrow +appears to have paid a visit to his friends the Skeppers of Oulton. Old +Mrs Skepper, Mrs Clarke’s mother, had just died, and it is a proof of +Borrow’s intimacy with the family that he should be invited to stay with +them whilst they were still in mourning. Although there is no record of +the date when he arrived at Oulton, he is known to have been there on 9th +October, when he addressed a Bible Society meeting, about which he wrote +the following delectable postscript to a letter he addressed to Mr +Brandram: {149} + + “There has been a Bible meeting at Oulton, in Suffolk, to which I was + invited. The speaking produced such an effect, that some of the most + vicious characters in the neighbourhood have become weekly + subscribers to the Branch Society. So says the Chronicle of Norfolk + in its report.” The actual paragraph read: + + “It will doubtless afford satisfaction to the Christian public to + learn that many poor individuals in this neighbourhood, who previous + to attending this meeting were averse to the cause or indifferent to + it, had their feelings so aroused by what was communicated to them, + that they have since voluntarily subscribed to the Bible Society, + actuated by the hope of becoming humbly instrumental in extending the + dominion of the true light, and of circumscribing the domains of + darkness and of Satan.” + +On returning to the quiet of the old Cathedral city, Borrow had an +opportunity of resting and meditating upon the events of the last two +years; but he soon became restless and tired of inaction. {150a} “I am +weary of doing nothing, and am sighing for employment,” {150b} he wrote. +He had impatiently awaited some word from Earl Street, where, seemingly, +he had discussed various plans for the future, including a journey to +Portugal and Spain, as well as the printing in Armenian of an edition of +the New Testament. Hearing nothing from Mr Jowett, he wrote begging to +be excused for reminding him that he was ready to undertake any task that +might be allotted to him. + +On the day following, he received a letter from Mr Brandram telling of +how a resolution had been passed that he should go to Portugal. Then the +writer’s heart misgave him. In his mind’s eye he saw Borrow set down at +Oporto. What would he do? Fearful that the door was not sufficiently +open to justify the step, he had suggested the suspension of the +resolution. Borrow was asked what he himself thought. What did he think +of China, and could he foresee any prospect for the distribution of the +Scriptures there? “Favour us with your thoughts,” Mr Brandram wrote. +“Experimental agency in a Society like ours is a formidable undertaking.” +Borrow replied the same day, {150c} + + “As you ask me to favour you with my thoughts, I certainly will; for + I have thought much upon the matters in question, and the result I + will communicate to you in a very few words. I decidedly approve + (and so do all the religious friends whom I have communicated it to) + of the plan of a journey to Portugal, and am sorry that it has been + suspended, though I am convinced that your own benevolent and + excellent heart was the cause, unwilling to fling me into an + undertaking which you supposed might be attended with peril and + difficulty. Therefore I wish it to be clearly understood that I am + perfectly willing to undertake the expedition, nay, to extend it into + Spain, to visit the town and country, to discourse with the people, + especially those connected with institutions for infantine education, + and to learn what ways and opportunities present themselves for + conveying the Gospel into those benighted countries. I will moreover + undertake, with the blessing of God, to draw up a small volume of + what I shall have seen and heard there, which cannot fail to be + interesting, and if patronised by the Society will probably help to + cover the expenses of the expedition. On my return I can commence + the Armenian Testament, and whilst I am editing that, I may be + acquiring much vulgar Chinese from some unemployed Lascar or stray + Cantonman whom I may pick up upon the wharves, and then . . . to + China. I have no more to say, for were I to pen twenty pages, and I + have time enough for so doing, I could communicate nothing which + would make my views more clear.” + +The earnestness of this letter seems effectually to have dissipated Mr +Brandram’s scruples, for events moved forward with astonishing rapidity. +Four days after the receipt of Borrow’s letter, a resolution was adopted +by the Committee to the following effect:— + + “That Mr Borrow be requested to proceed forthwith to Lisbon and + Oporto for the purpose of visiting the Society’s correspondents + there, and of making further enquiries respecting the means and + channels which may offer for promoting the circulation of the Holy + Scriptures in Portugal.” {151} + +Mr Brandram gave Borrow two letters of introduction, one to John Wilby, a +merchant at Lisbon, and the other to the British Chaplain, the Rev. E. +Whiteley. Having explained to Mr Whiteley how Borrow had recently been +eventually going to be employed in St Petersburg in editing the Manchu New +Testament, he wrote:— + + “We have some prospect of his eventually going to China; but having proved by experience + that he possesses an order of talent remarkably suited to the + purposes of our Society, we have felt unwilling to interrupt our + connection with him with the termination of his engagement at St + Petersburg. In the interval we have thought that he might + advantageously visit Portugal, and strengthen your hands and those of + other friends, and see whether he could not extend the promising + opening at present existing. He has no specific instructions, though + he is enjoined to confer very fully with yourself and Mr Wilby of + Lisbon. + + “I have mentioned his recent occupation at St Petersburg, and you may + perhaps think that there is little affinity between it and his + present visit to Portugal. But Mr Borrow possesses no little tact in + addressing himself to anything. With Portugal he is already + acquainted, and speaks the language. He proposes visiting several of + the principal cities and towns . . . + + “Our correspondence about Spain is at this moment singularly + interesting, and if it continues so, and the way seems to open, Mr + Borrow will cross the frontier and go and enquire what can be done + there. We believe him to be one who is endowed with no small portion + of address and a spirit of enterprise. I recommend him to your kind + attentions, and I anticipate your thanks for so doing, after you + shall have become acquainted with him. Do not, however, be too hasty + in forming your judgment.” + +This letter outlines very clearly what was in the minds of the Committee +in sending Borrow to Portugal. He was to spy out the land and advise the +home authorities in what direction he would be most likely to prove +useful. He was in particular to direct his attention to schools, and was +“authorised to be liberal in _giving_ New Testaments.” Furthermore, he +was to be permitted to draw upon the Society’s agents to the extent of +one hundred pounds. + +The most significant part of this letter is the passage relating to +China. It leaves no doubt that Borrow’s reiterated requests to be +employed in distributing the Manchu New Testament had appealed most +strongly to the General Committee. Mr Brandram was evidently in doubt as +to how Borrow would strike his correspondent as an agent of the Bible +Society, hence his warning against a hasty judgment. Apparently this +letter was never presented, as it was found among Borrow’s papers, and Mr +Whiteley had to form his opinion entirely unaided. + +On 6th November Borrow sailed from the Thames for Lisbon in the steamship +_London Merchant_. The voyage was fair for the time of year, and was +marked only by the tragic occurrence of a sailor falling from the +cross-trees into the sea and being drowned. The man had dreamed his fate +a few minutes previously, and had told Borrow of the circumstances on +coming up from below. {153} + +Borrow had scarcely been in Lisbon an hour before he heartily wished +himself “back in Russia . . . where I had left cherished friends and warm +affections.” The Customs-house officers irritated him, first with their +dilatoriness, then by the minuteness with which they examined every +article of which he was possessed. Again, there was the difficulty of +obtaining a suitable lodging, which when eventually found proved to be +“dark, dirty and exceedingly expensive without attendance.” Mr Wilby was +in the country and not expected to return for a week. It would also +appear that the British Chaplain was likewise away. Thus Borrow found +himself with no one to advise him as to the first step he should take. +This in itself was no very great drawback; but he felt very much a +stranger in a city that struck him as detestable. + +Determined to commence operations according to the dictates of his own +judgment, he first engaged a Portuguese servant that he might have ample +opportunities of perfecting himself in the language. He was fortunate in +his selection, for Antonio turned out an excellent fellow, who “always +served me with the greatest fidelity, and . . . exhibited an assiduity +and a wish to please which afforded me the utmost satisfaction.” {154a} + +When Borrow arrived in Portugal, it was to find it gasping and dazed by +eight years of civil war (1826–1834). In 1807, when Junot invaded the +country, the Royal House of Braganza had sailed for Brazil. In 1816 Dom +Joāo succeeded to the thrones of Brazil and Portugal, and six years later +he arrived in Portugal, leaving behind him as Viceroy his son Dom Pedro, +who promptly declared himself Emperor of Brazil. Dom Joāo died in 1826, +leaving, in addition to the self-styled Emperor of Brazil, another son, +Miguel. Dom Pedro relinquished his claim to the throne of Portugal in +favour of his seven years old daughter, Maria da Gloria, whose right was +contested by her uncle Dom Miguel. In 1834 Dom Miguel resigned his +imaginary rights to the throne by the Convention of Evora, and departed +from the country that for eight years had been at war with itself, and +for seven with a foreign invader. + +Borrow proceeded to acquaint himself with the state of affairs in Lisbon +and the surrounding country, that he might transmit a full account to the +Bible Society. He visited every part of the city, losing no opportunity +of entering into conversation with anyone with whom he came in contact. +The people he found indifferent to religion, the lower orders in +particular. They laughed in his face when he enquired if ever they +confessed themselves, and a muleteer on being asked if he reverenced the +cross, “instantly flew into a rage, stamped violently, and, spitting on +the ground, said it was a piece of stone, and that he should have no more +objection to spit upon it than the stones on which he trod.” {154b} + +Many of the people could read, as they proved when asked to do so from +the Portuguese New Testament; but of all those whom he addressed none +appeared to have read the Scriptures, or to know anything of what they +contain. + +After spending four or five days at Lisbon, Borrow, accompanied by +Antonio, proceeded to Cintra. {155a} Here he pursued the same method, +also visiting the schools and enquiring into the nature of the religious +instruction. During his stay of four days, he “traversed the country in +all directions, riding into the fields, where I saw the peasants at work, +and entering into discourse with them, and notwithstanding many of my +questions must have appeared to them very singular, I never experienced +any incivility, though they frequently answered me with smiles and +laughter.” {155b} + +From Cintra he proceeded on horseback to Mafra, a large village some +three leagues distant. Everywhere he subjected the inhabitants to a +searching cross-examination, laying bare their minds upon religious +matters, experiencing surprise at the “free and unembarrassed manner in +which the Portuguese peasantry sustain a conversation, and the purity of +the language in which they express their thoughts,” {155c} although few +could read or write. + +On the return journey from Mafra to Cintra he nearly lost his life, owing +to the girth of his saddle breaking during his horse’s exertions in +climbing a hill. Borrow was cast violently to the ground; but +fortunately on the right side, otherwise he would in all probability have +been bruised to death by tumbling down the steep hill-side. As it was, +he was dazed, and felt the effects of his mishap for several days. + +On his return to Lisbon, Borrow found that Mr Wilby was back, and he had +many opportunities of taking counsel with him as to the best means to be +adopted to further the Society’s ends. He learned that four hundred +copies of the Bible and the New Testament had arrived, and it was decided +to begin operations at once. Mr Wilby recommended the booksellers as the +best medium of distribution; but Borrow urged strongly that at least half +of the available copies “should be entrusted to colporteurs,” who were to +receive a commission upon every copy sold. To this Mr Wilby agreed, +provided the operations of the colporteurs were restricted to Lisbon, as +there was considerable danger in the country, where the priests were very +powerful and might urge the people to mishandle, or even assassinate, the +bearers of the Word. + +By nature Borrow was not addicted to half measures. His whole record as +an agent of the Bible Society was of a series of determined onslaughts +upon the obstacles animate and inanimate, that beset his path. Sometimes +he took away the breath of his adversaries by the very vigour of his +attack, and, like the old Northern leaders, whose deeds he wished to give +to an uneager world in translated verse, he faced great dangers and +achieved great ends. Recognising that the darkest region is most in need +of light, he enquired of Mr Wilby in what province of Portugal were to be +found the most ignorant and benighted people, and on being told the +Alemtejo (the other side of the Tagus), he immediately announced his +intention of making a journey through it, in order to discover how dense +spiritual gloom could really be in an ostensibly Christian country. + +The Alemtejo was an unprepossessing country, consisting for the most part +of “heaths, broken by knolls and gloomy dingles, swamps and forests of +stunted pine,” with but few hills and mountains. The place was infested +with banditti, and robberies, accompanied by horrible murders, were of +constant occurrence. On 6th December, accompanied by his servant +Antonio, Borrow set out for Evora, the principal town, formerly a seat of +the dreaded Inquisition, which lies about sixty miles east of Lisbon. +After many adventures, which he himself has narrated, including a +dangerous crossing of the Tagus, and a meeting with Dom Geronimo Jozé +d’Azveto, secretary to the government of Evora, Borrow arrived at his +destination, having spent two nights on the road. During the journey he +had been constantly mindful of his mission; beside the embers of a +bandit’s fire he left a New Testament, and the huts that mark the spot +where Dom Pedro and Dom Miguel met, he sweetened with some of “the +precious little tracts.” + +He had brought with him to Evora twenty Testaments and two Bibles, half +of which he left with an enlightened shopkeeper, to whom he had a letter +of introduction. The other half he subsequently bestowed upon Dom +Geronimo, who proved to be a man of great earnestness, deeply conscious +of his countrymen’s ignorance of true Christianity. Each day during his +stay at Evora, Borrow spent two hours beside the fountain where the +cattle were watered, entering into conversation with all who approached, +the result being that before he left the town, he had spoken to “about +two hundred . . . of the children of Portugal upon matters connected with +their eternal welfare.” Sometimes his hearers would ask for proofs of +his statements that they were not Christians, being ignorant of Christ +and his teaching, and that the Pope was Satan’s prime minister. He +invariably replied by calling attention to their own ignorance of the +Scripture, for if the priests were in reality Christ’s ministers, why had +they kept from their flocks the words of their Master? + +When not engaged at the fountain, Borrow rode about the neighbourhood +distributing tracts. Fearful lest the people might refuse them if +offered by his own hand, he dropped them in their favourite walks, in the +hope that they would be picked up out of curiosity. He caused the +daughter of the landlady of the inn at which he stopped to burn a copy of +Volney’s _Ruins of Empire_, because the author was an “emissary of +Satan,” the girl standing by telling her beads until the book were +entirely consumed. + +Borrow had been greatly handicapped through the lack of letters of +introduction to influential people in Portugal. He wrote, therefore, to +Dr Bowring, now M.P. for Kilmarnock, telling him of his wanderings among +the rustics and banditti of Portugal, with whom he had become very +popular; but, he continues: + + “As it is much more easy to introduce oneself to the cottage than the + hall (though I am not utterly unknown in the latter), I want you to + give or procure me letters to the most liberal and influential minds + in Portugal. I likewise want a letter from the Foreign Office to + Lord [Howard] de Walden. In a word, I want to make what interest I + can towards obtaining the admission of the Gospel of Jesus into the + public schools of Portugal, which are about to be established. I beg + leave to state that this is _my plan_ and no other person’s, as I was + merely sent over to Portugal to observe the disposition of the + people, therefore I do not wish to be named as an Agent of the B.S., + but as a person who has plans for the mental improvement of the + Portuguese; should I receive _these letters_ within the space of six + weeks it will be time enough, for before setting up my machine in + Portugal, I wish to lay the foundations of something similar in + Spain.” + + P.S.—“I start for Spain to-morrow, and I want letters something + similar (there is impudence for you) for Madrid, _which I should like + to have as soon as possible_. I do not much care at present for an + introduction to the Ambassador at Madrid, as I shall not commence + operations seriously in Spain until I have disposed of Portugal. I + will not apologise for writing to you in this manner, for you know + me, but I will tell you one thing, which is, that the letter which + you procured for me, on my going to St Petersburg, from Lord + Palmerston, assisted me wonderfully; I called twice at your domicile + on my return; the first time you were in Scotland—the second in + France, and I assure you I cried with vexation. Remember me to Mrs + Bowring, and God bless you.” {159a} + +In this letter Borrow gives another illustration of his shrewdness. He +saw clearly the disadvantage of appealing for assistance as an agent of +the Bible Society, a Protestant institution which was anathema in a Roman +Catholic country, whereas if he posed merely as “a gentleman who has +plans for the mental improvement of the Portuguese,” he could enlist the +sympathetic interest of any and every broad-minded Portuguese mindful of +his country’s intellectual gloom. In response to this request Dr +Bowring, writing from Brussels, sent two letters of introduction, one +each for Lisbon and Madrid. + +After remaining at Evora for a week (8th to 17th December) Borrow +returned to Lisbon, thoroughly satisfied with the results of his journey. +The next fortnight he spent in a further examination of Lisbon, and +becoming acquainted with the Jews of the city, by whom he was welcomed as +a powerful rabbi. He favoured the mistake, with the result that in a few +days he “knew all that related to them and their traffic in Lisbon.” +{159b} + +Borrow’s methods seem to have impressed Earl Street most favourably. In +a letter of acknowledgment Mr Brandram wrote:— + + “We have been much interested by your two communications. {159c} + They are both very painful in their details, and you develop a truly + awful state of things. You are probing the wound, and I hope + preparing the way for our pouring in by and by the healing balsam of + the Scripture. We shall be anxious to hear from you again. We often + think of you in your wanderings. We like your way of communicating + with the people, meeting them in their own walks.” + +Thoroughly convinced as to the irreligious state of Portugal, Borrow +determined to set out for Spain, in order that he might examine into the +condition of the people, and report to the Bible Society their state of +preparedness to receive the Scriptures. On the afternoon of 1st January +1836 he set out, bound for Badajos, a hundred miles south of Lisbon. +From Badajos he intended to take the diligence on to Madrid, which he +decided to make his headquarters. + +Having taken leave of his servant Antonio (who had accompanied him as far +as Aldéa Galléga) almost with tears, Borrow mounted a hired mule, and +with no other companion than an idiot lad, who, when spoken to, made +reply only with an uncouth laugh, he plunged once more into the dangerous +and desolate Alemtejo on a four days’ journey “over the most savage and +ill-noted track in the whole kingdom.” At first he was overwhelmed with +a sense of loneliness, and experienced a great desire for someone with +whom to talk. There was no one to be seen—he was hemmed in by desolation +and despair. + +At Montemôr Novo Borrow appears in a new light when he kisses his hand +repeatedly to the tittering nuns who, with “dusky faces and black waving +hair,” {160a} strove to obtain a glance of the stranger who, a few +minutes previously, had dared to tell one of their number that he had +come “to endeavour to introduce the gospel of Christ into a country where +it is not known.” {160b} + +One adventure befel him that might have ended in tragedy. Soon after +leaving Arrayólos he overtook a string of carts conveying ammunition into +Spain. One of the Portuguese soldiers of the guard began to curse +foreigners in general and Borrow, whom he mistook for a Frenchmen, in +particular, because “the devil helps foreigners and hates the +Portuguese.” When about forty yards ahead of the advance guard, with +which the discontented soldier marched, Borrow had the imprudence to +laugh, with the result that the next moment two well-aimed bullets sang +past his ears. Taking the hint, Borrow put spurs to his mule, and, +followed by the terrified guide, soon outdistanced these official +banditti. With great _naïveté_ he remarks, “Oh, may I live to see the +day when soldiery will no longer be tolerated in any civilised, or at +least Christian country!” {161a} + +For two and a half days the idiot guide had met Borrow’s most dexterous +cross-examination with a determined silence; but on reaching a hill +overlooking Estremóz he suddenly found tongue, and, in an epic of +inspiration, told of the wonderful hunting that was to be obtained on the +Serre Dorso, the Alemtejo’s finest mountain. “He likewise described with +great minuteness a wonderful dog, which was kept in the neighbourhood for +the purpose of catching the wolves and wild boars, and for which the +proprietor had refused twenty _moidores_.” {161b} From this it would +appear that the idiocy of the guide was an armour to be assumed at will +by one who preferred the sweetness of his own thoughts to the +cross-questionings of his master’s clients. + +At Elvas, which he reached on 5th January, Borrow showed very strongly +one rather paradoxical side of his character. Never backward in his +dispraise of Englishmen and things English, in particular those +responsible for the administration of the nation’s affairs, past and +present, he demonstrated very clearly, in his expressions of indignation +at the Portuguese attitude towards England, that he reserved this right +of criticism strictly to himself. At the inn where he stayed, he +thoroughly discomfited a Portuguese officer who dared to criticise the +English Government for its attitude in connection with the Spanish civil +war. When refused entrance to the fort, where he had gone in order to +satisfy his curiosity, Borrow exclaims, “This is one of the beneficial +results of protecting a nation, and squandering blood and treasure in its +defence.” {162a} + +Borrow was essentially an Englishman and proud of his blood, prouder +perhaps of that which came to him from Norfolk, {162b} and although +permitting himself and his fellow-countrymen considerable license in the +matter of caustic criticism of public men and things, there the matter +must end. Let a foreigner, a Portuguese, dare to say a word against his, +Borrow’s, country, and he became subjected to either a biting +cross-examination, or was denounced in eloquent and telling periods. “I +could not command myself,” he writes in extenuation of his unchristian +conduct in discomfiting the officer at Elvas, “when I heard my own +glorious land traduced in this unmerited manner. By whom? A Portuguese? +A native of a country which has been twice liberated from horrid and +detestable thraldom by the hands of Englishmen.” {162c} + +On 6th January 1836, {162d} having sent back the “idiot” guide with the +two mules, Borrow “spurred down the hill of Elvas to the plain, eager to +arrive in old, chivalrous, romantic Spain,” and having forded the stream +that separates the two countries, he crossed the bridge over the Guadiana +and entered the North Gate of Badajos, immortalised by Wellington and the +British Army. He had reached Spain “in the humble hope of being able to +cleanse some of the foul stains of Popery from the minds of its +children.” {162e} + + + + +CHAPTER XI +JANUARY–OCTOBER 1836 + + +WHEN Borrow entered Spain she was in the throes of civil war. In 1814 +British blood and British money had restored to the throne Ferdinand +VII., who, immediately he found himself secure, and forgetting his +pledges to govern constitutionally, dissolved the Cortes and became an +absolute monarch. All the old abuses were revived, including the +re-establishment of the Inquisition. For six years the people suffered +their King’s tyranny, then they revolted, with the result that Ferdinand, +bending to the wind, accepted a re-imposition of the Constitution. In +1823 a French Army occupied Madrid in support of Ferdinand, who promptly +reverted to absolutism. + +In 1829 Ferdinand married for the fourth time, and, on the birth of a +daughter, declared that the Salic law had no effect in Spain, and the +young princess was recognised as heir-apparent to the throne. This drew +from his brother, Don Carlos, who immediately left the country, a protest +against his exclusion from the succession. When his daughter was four +years of age, Ferdinand died, and the child was proclaimed Queen as +Isabel II. + +A bitter war broke out between the respective adherents of the Queen and +her uncle Don Carlos. Prisoners and wounded were massacred without +discrimination, and an uncivilised and barbarous warfare waged when +Borrow crossed the Portuguese frontier “to undertake the adventure of +Spain.” + +Spain had always appealed most strongly to Borrow’s imagination. + + “In the day-dreams of my boyhood,” he writes, “Spain always bore a + considerable share, and I took a particular interest in her, without + any presentiment that I should, at a future time, be called upon to + take a part, however humble, in her strange dramas; which interest, + at a very early period, led me to acquire her noble language, and to + make myself acquainted with the literature (scarcely worthy of the + language), her history and traditions; so that when I entered Spain + for the first time I felt more at home than I should otherwise have + done.” {164a} + +Whilst standing at the door of the Inn of the Three Nations on the day +following his arrival at Badajos, meditating upon the deplorable state of +the country he had just entered, Borrow recognised in the face of one of +two men who were about to pass him the unmistakable lineaments of Egypt. +Uttering “a certain word,” he received the reply he expected and +forthwith engaged in conversation with the two men, who both proved to be +gypsies. These men spread the news abroad that staying at the Inn of the +Three Nations was a man who spoke Romany. “In less than half an hour the +street before the inn was filled with the men, women, and children of +Egypt.” Borrow went out amongst them, and confesses that “so much +vileness, dirt, and misery I had never seen among a similar number of +human beings; but worst of all was the evil expression of their +countenances.” {164b} He soon discovered that their faces were an +accurate index to their hearts, which were capable of every species of +villainy. The gypsies clustered round him, fingering his hands, face and +clothes, as if he were a holy man. + +Gypsies had always held for Borrow a strange attraction, {164c} and he +determined to prolong his stay at Badajos in order that he might have an +opportunity of becoming “better acquainted with their condition and +manners, and above all to speak to them of Christ and His Word; for I was +convinced, that should I travel to the end of the universe, I should meet +with no people more in need of a little Christian exhortation.” {165a} + +Intimate though his acquaintance with the gypsies of other countries had +been, Borrow was aghast at the depravity of those of Spain. The men were +drunkards, brigands, and murderers; the women unchaste, and inveterate +thieves. Their language was terrifying in its foulness. They seemed to +have no religion save a misty glimmering of metempsychosis, which had +come down to them through the centuries, and having been very wicked in +this world they asked, with some show of reason, why they should live +again. They were incorrigible heathens, keenly interested in the +demonstration that their language was capable of being written and read, +but untouched by the parables of Lazarus or the Prodigal Son, which +Borrow read and expounded to them. “Brother,” exclaimed one woman, “you +tell us strange things, though perhaps you do not lie; a month since I +would sooner have believed these tales, than that this day I should see +one who could read Romany.” {165b} + +Neither by exhortation nor by translating into Romany a portion of the +Gospel of St Luke could Borrow make any impression upon the minds of the +gypsies, therefore when one of them, Antonio by name, announced that “the +affairs of Egypt” called for his presence “on the frontiers of +Costumbra,” and that he and Borrow might as well journey thus far +together, he decided to avail himself of the opportunity. It was +arranged that Borrow’s luggage should be sent on ahead, for, as Antonio +said, “How the _Busné_ [the Spaniards] on the road would laugh if they +saw two _Calés_ [Gypsies] with luggage behind them.” {166a} Thus it came +about that an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, mounted +upon a most uncouth horse “of a spectral white, short in the body, but +with remarkably long legs” and high in the withers, set out from Badajos +on 16th January 1836, escorted by a smuggler astride a mule; for the +affairs of Egypt on this occasion were the evasion of the Customs dues. + +Towards evening on the first day the curiously assorted pair arrived at +Mérida, and proceeded to a large and ruinous house, a portion of which +was occupied by some connections of the gypsy Antonio’s. In the large +hall of the old mansion they camped, and here, acting on the gypsy’s +advice, Borrow remained for three days. Antonio himself was absent from +early morning until late at night, occupied with his own affairs. {166b} + +The fourth night was spent in the forest by the campfire of some more of +Antonio’s friends. On one occasion, but for the fortunate possession of +a passport, the affairs of Egypt would have involved Borrow in some +difficulties with the authorities. At another time, for safety’s sake, +he had to part from Antonio and proceed on his way alone, picking up the +_contrabandista_ further on the road. + +When some distance beyond Jaraicéjo, it was discovered that the affairs +of Egypt had ended disastrously in the discomfiture and capture of +Antonio’s friends by the authorities. The news was brought by the +gypsy’s daughter. Antonio must return at once, and as the steed Borrow +was riding, which belonged to Antonio, would be required by him, Borrow +purchased the daughter’s donkey, and having said good-bye to the +smuggler, he continued his journey alone. + +By way of Almaráz and Oropésa Borrow eventually reached Talavéra (24th +Jan.). On the advice of a Toledo Jew, with whom he had become acquainted +during the last stage of his journey, he decided to take the diligence +from Talavéra to Madrid, the more willingly because the Jew amiably +offered to purchase the donkey. On the evening of 25th Jan. Borrow +accordingly took his place on the diligence, and reached the capital the +next morning. + +On arriving at Madrid, Borrow first went to a Posada; but a few days +later he removed to lodgings in the Calle de la Zarza (the Street of the +Brambles),—“A dark and dirty street, which, however, was close to the +Puerta del Sol, the most central point of Madrid, into which four or five +of the principal streets debouche, and which is, at all times of the +year, the great place of assemblage for the idlers of the capital, poor +or rich.” {167a} + +The capital did not at first impress Borrow very favourably. {167b} +“Madrid is a small town,” he wrote to his mother, {167c} “not larger than +Norwich, but it is crammed with people, like a hive with bees, and it +contains many fine streets and fountains . . . Everything in Madrid is +excessively dear to foreigners, for they are made to pay six times more +than natives . . . I manage to get on tolerably well, for I make a point +of paying just one quarter of what I am asked.” + +He suffered considerably from the frost and cold. From the snow-covered +mountains that surround the city there descend in winter such cold blasts +“that the body is drawn up like a leaf.” {167d} Then again there were +the physical discomforts that he had to endure. + +“You cannot think,” he wrote, {168a} “what a filthy, uncivilised set of +people the Spanish and Portuguese are. There is more comfort in an +English barn than in one of their palaces; and they are rude and ill-bred +to a surprising degree.” + +Borrow was angry with Spain, possibly for being so unlike his “dear and +glorious Russia.” He saw in it a fertile and beautiful country, +inhabited by a set of beings that were not human, “almost as bad as the +Irish, with the exception that they are not drunkards.” {168b} They were +a nation of thieves and extortioners, who regarded the foreigner as their +legitimate prey. Even his own servant was “the greatest thief and +villain that ever existed; who, if I would let him, would steal the teeth +out of my head,” {168c} and who seems actually to have destroyed some of +his master’s letters for the sake of the postage. Being forced to call +upon various people whose addresses he did not know, Borrow found it +necessary to keep the man, in spite of his thievish proclivities, for he +was clever, and had he been dismissed his place would, in all +probability, have been taken by an even greater rogue. + +At night he never went out, for the streets were thronged with hundreds +of people of the rival factions, bent on “cutting and murdering one +another; . . . for every Spaniard is by nature a cruel, cowardly tiger. +Nothing is more common than to destroy a whole town, putting man, woman, +and child to death, because two or three of the inhabitants have been +obnoxious.” {168d} Thus he wrote to his mother, all-unconscious of the +anxiety and alarm that he was causing her lest he, her dear George, +should be one of the cut or murdered. + +Later, Borrow seems to have revised his opinion of Madrid and of its +inhabitants. He confesses that of all the cities he has known Madrid +interested him the most, not on account of its public buildings, squares +or fountains, for these are surpassed in other cities; but because of its +population. “Within a mud wall scarcely one league and a half in +circuit, are contained two hundred thousand human beings, certainly +forming the most extraordinary vital mass to be found in the entire +world.” {169} In the upper classes he had little interest. He mixed but +little with them, and what he saw did not impress him favourably. It was +the Spaniard of the lower orders that attracted him. He regarded this +class as composed not of common beings, but of extraordinary men. He +admired their spirit of proud independence, and forgave them their +ignorance. His first impressions of Spain had been unfavourable because, +as a stranger, he had been victimised by the amiable citizens, who were +merely doing as their fathers had done before them. Once, however, he +got to know them, he regarded with more indulgence their constitutional +dishonesty towards the stranger, a weakness they possessed in common with +the gypsies, and hailed them as “extraordinary men.” Borrow’s +impulsiveness frequently led him to ill-considered and hasty conclusions, +which, however, he never hesitated to correct, if he saw need for +correction. + +The disappointment he experienced as regards Madrid and the Spaniards is +not difficult to understand. He arrived quite friendless and without +letters of introduction, to find the city given over to the dissensions +and strifes of the supporters of Isabel II. and Don Carlos. His journey +had been undertaken in “the hope of obtaining permission from the +Government to print the New Testament in the Castilian language, without +the notes insisted on by the Spanish clergy, for circulation in Spain,” +and there seemed small chance of those responsible for the direction of +affairs listening to the application of a foreigner for permission to +print the unannotated Scriptures. For one thing, any acquiescence in +such a suggestion would draw forth from the priesthood bitter reproaches +and, most probably, active and serious opposition. It is only natural +that despondency should occasionally seize upon him who sought to light +the lamp of truth amidst such tempests. + +[Picture: George Villiers, Fourth Earl of Clarendon. British Minister at + Madrid, 1833–1839. From the engraving after Sir Francis Grant in the + National Portrait Gallery] + +The man to approach was the premier, Juan Álvarez y Mendizábal, {170a} a +Christianised Jew. He was enormously powerful, and Borrow decided to +appeal to him direct; for, armed with the approval of Mendizábal, no one +would dare to interfere with his plans or proceedings. Borrow made +several attempts to see Mendizábal, who “was considered as a man of +almost unbounded power, in whose hands were placed the destinies of the +country.” Without interest or letters of introduction, he found it +utterly impossible to obtain an audience. Recollecting the assistance he +had received from the Hon. J. D. Bligh at St Petersburg, Borrow +determined to make himself known to the British Minister at Madrid, the +Hon. George Villiers, {170b} and, “with the freedom permitted to a +British subject . . . ask his advice in the affair.” Borrow was received +with great kindness, and, after conversing upon various topics for some +time, he introduced the subject of his visit. Mr Villiers willingly +undertook to help him as far as lay in his power, and promised to +endeavour to procure for him an audience with the Premier. In this he +was successful, and Borrow had an interview with Mendizábal, who was +almost inaccessible to all but the few. + +At eight o’clock on the morning of 7th February Borrow presented himself +at the palace, where Mendizábal resided, and after waiting for about +three hours, was admitted to the presence of the Prime Minister of Spain, +whom he found—“A huge athletic man, somewhat taller than myself, who +measure six foot two without my shoes. His complexion was florid, his +features fine and regular, his nose quite aquiline, and his teeth +splendidly white; though scarcely fifty years of age, his hair was +remarkably grey. He was dressed in a rich morning gown, with a gold +chain round his neck, and morocco slippers on his feet.” {171} + +Borrow began by assuring Mendizábal that he was labouring under a grave +error in thinking that the Bible Society had sought to influence unduly +the slaves of Cuba, that they had not sent any agents there, and they +were not in communication with any of the residents. Mr Villiers had +warned Borrow that the premier was very angry on account of reports that +had reached him of the action in Cuba of certain people whom he insisted +were sent there by the Bible Society. In vain Borrow suggested that the +disturbers of the tranquillity of Spain’s beneficent rule in the Island +were in no way connected with Earl Street; he was several times +interrupted by Mendizábal, who insisted that he had documentary proof. +Borrow with difficulty restrained himself from laughing in the premier s +face. He pointed out that the Committee was composed of quiet, +respectable English gentlemen, who attended to their own concerns and +gave a little of their time to the affairs of the Bible Society. + +On Borrow asking for permission to print at Madrid the New Testament in +Spanish without notes, he was met with an unequivocal refusal. In spite +of his arguments that the whole tenor of the work was against +bloodshedding and violence, he could not shake the premier’s opinion that +it was “an improper book.” + +At first Borrow had experienced some difficulty in explaining himself, on +account of the Spaniard’s habit of persistent interruption, and at last +he was forced in self-defence to hold on in spite of Mendizábal’s +remarks. The upshot of the interview was that he was told to renew his +application when the Carlists had been beaten and the country was at +peace. Borrow then asked permission to introduce into Spain a few copies +of the New Testament in the Catalan dialect, but was refused. He next +requested to be allowed to call on the following day and submit a copy of +the Catalan edition, and received the remarkable reply that the +prime-minister refused his offer to call lest he should succeed in +convincing him, and Mendizábal did not wish to be convinced. This seemed +to show that the Mendizábal was something of a philosopher and a little +of a humorist. + +With this Borrow had to be content, and after an hour’s interview he +withdrew. The premier was unquestionably in a difficult position. On +the one hand, he no doubt desired to assist a man introduced to him by +the representative of Great Britain, to whom he looked for assistance in +suppressing Carlism; on the other hand, he had the priesthood to +consider, and they would without question use every means of which they +stood possessed to preserve the prohibition against the dissemination of +the Scriptures, without notes, a prohibition that had become almost a +tradition. + +But Borrow was not discouraged. He wrote in a most hopeful strain that +he foresaw the speedy and successful termination of the Society’s +negotiations in the Peninsula. He looked forward to the time when only +an agent would be required to superintend the engagement of colporteurs, +and to make arrangements with the booksellers. He proceeds to express a +hope that his exertions have given satisfaction to the Society. + +Borrow received an encouraging letter from Mr Brandram, telling him of +the Committee’s appreciation of his work, but practically leaving with +him the decision as to his future movements. They were inclined to +favour a return to Lisbon, but recognised that “in these wondrous days +opportunities may open unexpectedly.” In the matter of the Gospel of St +Luke in Spanish Romany, the publication of extracts was authorised, but +there was no enthusiasm for the project. “We say,” wrote Mr Brandram, +“_festina lente_. You will be doing well to occupy leisure hours with +this work; but we are not prepared for printing anything beyond portions +at present.” + +In the meantime, however, an article in the Madrid newspaper, _El +Español_, upon the history, aims, and achievements of the British and +Foreign Bible Society, had determined Borrow to remain on at Madrid for a +few weeks at least. + + “Why should Spain, which has explored the New World, why should she + alone be destitute of Bible Societies,” asked the _Español_. “Why + should a nation eminently Catholic continue isolated from the rest of + Europe, without joining in the magnificent enterprise in which the + latter is so busily engaged?” {173a} + +This article fired Borrow, and with the promise of assistance from the +liberal-minded _Español_, he set to work “to lay the foundation of a +Bible Society at Madrid.” {173b} As a potential head of the Spanish +organization, Borrow’s eyes were already directed towards the person of +“a certain Bishop, advanced in years, a person of great piety and +learning, who has himself translated the New Testament” {173c} and who +was disposed to print and circulate it. + +Nothing, however, came of the project. Mr Brandram wrote to +Borrow:—“With regard to forming a Bible Society in Madrid, and appointing +Dr Usoz Secretary, it is so out of our usual course that the Committee, +for various reasons, cannot comply with your wishes—of the desirableness +of forming such a Society at present, you and your friend must be the +best judges. If it is to be an independent society, as I suppose must be +the case,” Mr Brandram continues, and the Bible Society’s aid or that of +its agent is sought, the new Society must be formed on the principles of +the British and Foreign Bible Society, admitting, “on the one hand, +general cooperation, and on the other, that it does not circulate +Apocryphal Bibles.” There was doubt at Earl Street as to whether the +time was yet ripe; so the decision was very properly left with Borrow, +and he was told that he “need not fear to hold out great hopes of +encouragement in the event of the formation of such a Society.” {174} + +A serious difficulty now arose in the resignation of Mendizábal (March +1836). Two of his friends and supporters, in the persons of Francisco de +Isturitz and Alcala Galiano, seceded from his party, and, under the name +of _moderados_, formed an opposition to their Chief in the Cortes. They +had the support of the Queen Regent and General Cordova, whom Mendizábal +had wished to remove from his position as head of the army on account of +his great popularity with the soldiers, whose comforts and interests he +studied. Isturitz became Premier, Galiano Minister of Marine (a mere +paper title, as there was no navy at the time), and the Duke of Rivas +Minister of the Interior. + +Conscious of the advantage of possessing powerful friends, especially in +a country such as Spain, Borrow had used every endeavour to enlarge the +circle of his acquaintance among men occupying influential positions, or +likely to succeed those who at present filled them. The result was that +he was able to announce to Mr Brandram that the new ministry, which had +been formed, was composed “entirely of _my_ friends.” {175a} With +Galiano in particular he was on very intimate terms. Everything promised +well, and the new Cabinet showed itself most friendly to Borrow and his +projects, until the actual moment arrived for writing the permission to +print the Scriptures in Spanish. Then doubts arose, and the decrees of +the Council of Trent loomed up, a threatening barrier, in the eyes of the +Duke of Rivas and his secretary. + +So hopeful was Borrow after his first interview with the Duke that he +wrote:—“I shall receive the permission, the Lord willing, in a few days . . . +The last skirts of the cloud of papal superstition are vanishing +below the horizon of Spain; whoever says the contrary either knows +nothing of the matter or wilfully hides the truth.” {175b} + +At Earl Street the good news about the article in the _Español_ gave the +liveliest satisfaction. “Surely a new and wonderful thing in Spain,” +wrote Mr Brandram {175c} in a letter in which he urged Borrow to “guard +against becoming too much committed to one political party,” and asked +him to write more frequently, as his letters were always most welcome. +This letter reached Madrid at a time when Borrow found himself absolutely +destitute. + +“For the last three weeks,” he writes, {175d} “I have been without money, +literally without a farthing.” Everything in Madrid was so dear. A +month previously he had been forced to pay £12, 5s. for a suit of +clothes, “my own being so worn that it was impossible to appear longer in +public with them.” {175e} He had written to Mr Wilby, but in all +probability his letter had gone astray, the post to Estremadura having +been three times robbed. “The money may still come,” he continues, +{176a} “but I have given up all hopes of it, and I am compelled to write +home, though what I am to do till I can receive your answer I am at a +loss to conceive . . . whatever I undergo, I shall tell nobody of my +situation, it might hurt the Society and our projects here. I know +enough of the world to be aware that it is considered as the worst of +crimes to be without money.” {176b} + +For weeks Borrow devoted himself to the task of endeavouring to obtain +permission to print the Scriptures in Spanish. The Duke of Rivas +referred him to his secretary, saying, “He will do for you what you +want!” But the secretary retreated behind the decrees of the Council of +Trent. Then Mr Villiers intervened, saw the Duke and gave Borrow a +letter to him. Again the Council of Trent proved to be the obstacle. +Galiano took up the matter and escorted Borrow to the Bureau of the +Interior, and had an interview with the Duke’s secretary. When Galiano +left, there remained nothing for the conscientious secretary to do but to +write out the formal permission, all else having been satisfactorily +settled; but no sooner had Galiano departed, than the recollection of the +Council of Trent returned to the secretary with terrifying distinctness, +and no permission was given. + +Tired of the Council of Trent and the Duke’s secretary, Borrow would +sometimes retire to the banks of the canal and there loiter in the sun, +watching the gold and silver fish basking on the surface of its waters, +or gossiping with the man who sold oranges and water under the shade of +the old water-tower. Once he went to see an execution—anything to drive +from his mind the conscientious secretary and the Council of Trent, the +sole obstacles to the realisation of his plans. + +Borrow informed Mr Brandram at the end of May that the Cabinet was +unanimously in favour of granting his request; nothing happened. There +seems no doubt that the Cabinet’s policy was one of subterfuge. It could +not afford to offend the British Minister, nor could it, at that +juncture, risk the bitter hostility of the clergy, consequently it +promised and deferred. A petition to the Ecclesiastical Committee of +Censors, although strongly backed by the Civil Governor of Madrid (within +whose department lay the censorship), produced no better result. There +was nothing heard but “To-morrow, please God!” + +Foiled for the time being in his constructive policy, Borrow turned his +attention to one of destruction. He had already announced to the Bible +Society that the authority of the Pope was in a precarious condition. + + “Little more than a breath is required to destroy it,” he writes, + {177} “and I am almost confident that in less than a year it will be + disowned. I am doing whatever I can in Madrid to prepare the way for + an event so desirable. I mix with the people, and inform them who + and what the Pope is, and how disastrous to Spain his influence has + been. I tell them that the indulgences, which they are in the habit + of purchasing, are of no more intrinsic value than so many pieces of + paper, and were merely invented with the view of plundering them. I + frequently ask: ‘Is it possible that God, who is good, would sanction + the sale of sin? and, supposing certain things are sinful, do you + think that God, for the sake of your money, would permit you to + perform them?’ In many instances my hearers have been satisfied with + this simple reasoning, and have said that they would buy no more + indulgences.” + +Mr Brandram promptly wrote warning Borrow against becoming involved in +any endeavour to hasten the fall of the Pope. Although deeply interested +in what their agent had to say, there was a strong misgiving at +headquarters that for a few moments Borrow had “forgotten that our hopes +of the fall of — are founded on the simple distribution of the +Scriptures,” {178a} and he was told that, as their agent, he must not +pursue the course that he described. The warning was carefully worded, +so that it might not wound Borrow’s feelings or lessen his enthusiasm. + +Borrow had found that the climate of Madrid did not agree with him. It +had proved very trying during the winter; but now that summer had arrived +the heat was suffocating and the air seemed to be filled with “flaming +vapours,” and even the Spaniards would “lie gasping and naked upon their +brick floors.” {178b} In spite of the heat, however, he was occupied +“upon an average ten hours every day, dancing attendance on one or +another of the Ministers.” {178c} + +Sometimes the difficulties that he had to contend with reduced him almost +to despair of ever obtaining the permission he sought. “Only those,” he +writes, {178d} “who have been in the habit of dealing with Spaniards, by +whom the most solemn promises are habitually broken, can form a correct +idea of my reiterated disappointments, and of the toil of body and agony +of spirit which I have been subjected to. One day I have been told, at +the Ministry, that I had only to wait a few moments and all I wished +would be acceded to; and then my hopes have been blasted with the +information that various difficulties, which seemed insurmountable, had +presented themselves, whereupon I have departed almost broken-hearted; +but the next day I have been summoned in a great hurry and informed that +‘all was right,’ and that on the morrow a regular authority to print the +Scriptures would be delivered to me, but by that time fresh and yet more +terrible difficulties had occurred—so that I became weary of my life.” + +Mr Villiers evidently saw through the Spanish Cabinet’s policy of delay; +for he spoke to the ministers collectively and individually, strongly +recommending that the petition be granted. He further pointed out the +terrible condition of the people, who lacked religious instruction of any +kind, and that a nation of atheists would not prove very easy to govern. +It may have been these arguments, or, what is more likely, a desire on +the part of the Cabinet to please the representative of Great Britain, in +any case a greater willingness was now shown to give the necessary +permission. Measures were accordingly taken to evade the law and protect +the printer into whose hands the work was to be entrusted, until an +appropriate moment arrived for repealing the existing statute. + +Borrow forwarded to Earl Street the following interesting letter that he +had received from Mr Villiers, which confirms his words as to the keen +interest taken by the British Minister in the endeavour to obtain the +permission to print the New Testament in Spanish + + DEAR SIR, + + I have had a long conversation with Mr Isturitz upon the subject of + printing the Testament, in which he showed himself to be both + sagacious and liberal. He assured me that the matter should have his + support whenever the Duque de Ribas brought it before the Cabinet, + and that as far as he was concerned the question _might be considered + as settled_. + + You are quite welcome to make any use you please of this note with + the D. de Ribas or Mr Olivan. {179a} + + I am, Dear Sir, + + Yours faithfully, + + GEORGE VILLIERS. + + _June_ 23_rd_ [1836]. + +It was unquestionably Borrow’s personality that was responsible for Mr +Villiers’ interest in the scheme, as when Lieutenant Graydon {179b} had +applied to him on a previous occasion he declined to interfere. + +At Borrow’s suggestion the President of the Bible Society, Lord Bentley, +wrote to Mr Villiers thanking him for the services he had rendered in +connection with the Spanish programme. It was characteristic of Borrow +that he added to his letter as a reason for his request, that “I may be +again in need of Mr V’s. assistance before I leave Spain.” {180} Borrow +was always keenly alive to the advantage of possessing influential +friends who would be likely to assist him in his labours for the Society. +He was not a profound admirer of the Society of Jesus for nothing, and +although he would scorn to exercise tact in regard to his own concerns, +he was fully prepared to make use of it in connection with those of the +Bible Society. He was a Jesuit at heart, and would in all probability +have preferred a good compositor who had been guilty of sacrilege to a +bad one who had not. He saw that besides being something of a +diplomatist, an agent of the Bible Society had also to be a good business +man. He has been called tactless, until the word seems to have become +permanently identified with his name; how unjustly is shown by a very +hasty examination of his masterly diplomacy, both in Russia and Spain. +Diplomacy, as Borrow understood it, was the art of being persuasive when +persuasion would obtain for him his object, and firm, even threatening, +when strong measures were best calculated to suit his ends. It is only +the fool who defines tact as the gentle art of pleasing everybody. +Diplomacy is the art of getting what you want at the expense of +displeasing as few people as possible. + +“The affair is settled—thank God!!! and we may begin to print whenever we +think proper.” With these words Borrow announces the success of his +enterprise. “Perhaps you have thought,” he continues, “that I have been +tardy in accomplishing the business which brought me to Spain; but to be +able to form a correct judgment you ought to be aware of all the +difficulties which I have had to encounter, and which I shall not +enumerate. I shall content myself with observing that for a thousand +pounds I would not undergo again all the mortifications and +disappointments of the last two months.” {181a} + +There were moments when Borrow forgot the idiom of Earl Street and +reverted to his old, self-confident style, which had so alarmed some of +the excellent members of the Committee. He had achieved a great triumph, +how great is best shown by the suggestion made by the prime minister that +if determined to avail himself of the permission that had been obtained, +he had better employ “the confidential printer of the Government, who +would keep the matter secret; as in the present state of affairs he [the +prime minister] would not answer for the consequences if it were noised +abroad.” {181b} By giving the license to print the New Testament without +notes, the Cabinet was assuming a very grave responsibility. All this +shows how great was the influence of the British Minister upon the +Isturitz Cabinet, and how considerable that of Borrow upon the British +Minister. + +Now that his object was gained, there was nothing further to keep Borrow +in Spain, and he accordingly asked for instructions, suggesting that, as +soon as the heats were over, Lieutenant Graydon might return to Madrid +and take charge, “as nothing very difficult remains to be accomplished, +and I am sure that Mr Villiers, at my entreaty, would extend to him the +patronage with which he has honoured me.” {181c} In conclusion he +announced himself as ready to do “whatever the Bible Society may deem +expedient.” {181d} + +Borrow now began to suffer from the reaction after his great exertions. +He became so languid as scarcely to be able to hold a pen. He had no +books, and conversation was impossible, for the heat had driven away all +who could possibly escape, among them his acquaintances, and he +frequently remembered with a sigh the happy days spent in St Petersburg. + +A few days later (25th July) he wrote proposing as a member of the Bible +Society Dr Luis de Usoz y Rio, “a person of great respectability and +great learning.” {182a} Dr Usoz, who was subsequently to be closely +associated with Borrow in his labours in Spain, was a man of whom he was +unable to “speak in too high terms of admiration; he is one of the most +learned men in Spain, and is become in every point a Christian according +to the standard of the New Testament.” {182b} + +Dr Usoz also addressed a letter to the Society asking to be considered as +a correspondent and entrusted with copies of the Scriptures, which he was +convinced he could circulate in every province of Spain. The advantage +of having one of the editors of the principal newspaper of Spain on the +side of the Society did not fail to appeal to Borrow. Dr Usoz not only +became a member of the Bible Society, but earned from Borrow a splendid +tribute in the Preface to _The Bible in Spain_. + +Before advantage could be taken of the hardly earned permission to print +the New Testament in Madrid, the Revolution of La Granja {182c} broke +out, resulting in the proclamation of the Constitution of 1812, by which +the press became free. In Madrid chaos reigned as a result. Borrow +himself has given a vivid account of how Quesada, by his magnificent +courage, quelled for the time being the revolution, how the ministers +fled, how eventually the heroic tyrant was recognised and killed, and, +finally, how, at a celebrated coffee-house in Madrid, Borrow saw the +victorious Nationals drink to the Constitution from a bowl of coffee, +which had first been stirred with one of the mutilated hands of the hated +Quesada. {183a} + +Now that no obstacle stood in the way of the printing of the Spanish New +Testament, Borrow was requested to return to England that he might confer +with the authorities at Earl Street. “You may now consider yourself +under marching orders to return home as soon as you have made all the +requisite arrangements; . . . you have done, we are persuaded, a good and +great work,” {183b} Mr Brandram wrote. It was thought by the Committee +that the advantages to be derived from a conference with Borrow would be +well worth the expense involved in his having to return again to Spain. + +To this request for his immediate presence in London Borrow replied: + + “I shall make the provisional engagement as desired [as regards the + printing of the New Testament] and shall leave Madrid as soon as + possible; but I must here inform you, that I shall find much + difficulty in returning to England, as all the provinces are + disturbed in consequence of the Constitution of 1812 having been + proclaimed, and the roads are swarming with robbers and banditti. It + is my intention to join some muleteers, and attempt to reach Granada, + from whence, if possible, I shall proceed to Malaga or Gibraltar, and + thence to Lisbon, where I left the greatest part of my baggage. Do + not be surprised, therefore, if I am tardy in making my appearance; + it is no easy thing at present to travel in Spain. But all these + troubles are for the benefit of the Cause, and must not be repined + at.” {183c} + +Leaving Madrid on 20th August, Borrow was at Granada on the 30th, as +proved by the Visitors’ Book, in which he signed himself + + “George Borrow Norvicensis.” + +The real object of this visit appears to have been his desire to study +more closely the Spanish gypsies. From Granada he proceeded to Malaga. +Neither place can be said to be on the direct road to England; but the +disturbed state of the country had to be taken into consideration, and it +was a question not of the shortest road but the safest. + +On his return to London, early in October, Borrow wrote a report {184} +upon his labours, roughly sketching out his work since he left Badajos. +He repeated his view that the Papal See had lost its power over Spain, +and that the present moment was a peculiarly appropriate one in which to +spread the light of the Gospel over the Peninsula. Forgetting the +thievish propensities of the race, he wrote glowingly of the Spaniards +and their intellectual equipment, the clearness with which they expressed +themselves, and the elegance of their diction. The mind of the Spaniard +was a garden run to waste, and it was for the British and Foreign Bible +Society to cultivate it and purge it of the rank and bitter weeds. + +He foresaw no difficulty whatever in disposing of 5000 copies of the New +Testament in a short time in the capital and provincial towns, in +particular Cadiz and Seville where the people were more enlightened. He +was not so confident about the rural districts, where those who assured +him that they were acquainted with the New Testament said that it +contained hymns addressed to the Virgin which were written by the Pope. + + + + +CHAPTER XII +NOVEMBER 1836–MAY 1837 + + +BORROW remained in England for a month (3rd October/4th November), during +which time he conferred with the Committee and Officials at Earl Street +as to the future programme in Spain. On 4th November, having sent to his +mother £130 of the £150 he had drawn as salary, and promising to write to +Mr Brandram from Cadiz, he sailed from London in the steamer +_Manchester_, bound for Lisbon and Cadiz. + +In a letter to his mother, he describes his fellow passengers as invalids +fleeing from the English winter. “Some of them are three parts gone with +consumption,” he writes, “some are ruptured, some have broken backs; I am +the only sound person in the ship, which is crowded to suffocation. I am +in a little hole of a berth where I can scarcely breathe, and every now +and then wet through.” + +The horrors of the voyage from Falmouth to Lisbon he has described with +terrifying vividness; {185a} how the engines broke down and the vessel +was being driven on to Cape Finisterre; how all hope had been abandoned, +and the Captain had told the passengers of their impending fate; how the +wind suddenly “_veered right about_, and pushed us from the horrible +coast faster than it had previously driven us towards it.” {185b} + +During the whole of that terrible night Borrow had remained on deck, all +the other passengers having been battened down below. He was almost +drowned in the seas that broke over the vessel, and, on one occasion, was +struck down by a water cask that had broken away from its lashings. Even +after he had escaped Cape Finisterre, the ordeal was not over; for the +ship was in a sinking condition, and fire broke out on board. Eventually +the engines were repaired, the fire extinguished, and Lisbon was reached +on the 13th, where Borrow landed with his water-soaked luggage, and found +on examination that the greater part of his clothes had been ruined. In +spite of this experience, he determined to continue his voyage to Cadiz +in the _Manchester_, probably for reasons of economy, indifferent to the +fact that she was utterly unseaworthy, and that most of the other +passengers had abandoned her. During his enforced stay in Lisbon, whilst +the ship was being patched up, Borrow saw Mr Wilby and made enquiry into +the state of the Society’s affairs in Portugal. Many changes had taken +place and the country was in a distracted state. + +After a week’s delay at Lisbon the _Manchester_ continued her voyage to +Cadiz, where she arrived without further mishap on the 21st. During this +voyage a fellow passenger with Borrow was the Marqués de Santa Coloma. +“According to the expression of the Marqués, when they stepped on to the +quay at Cadiz, Borrow looked round, saw some Gitanos lounging there, said +something that the Marqués could not understand, and immediately ‘that +man became _une grappe de Gitanos_.’ They hung round his neck, clung to +his knees, seized his hands, kissed his feet, so that the Marqués hardly +liked to join his comrade again after such close embraces by so dirty a +company.” {186} + +Borrow now found himself in his allotted field—unhappy, miserable, +distracted Spain. Gomez, the Carlist leader, had been sweeping through +Estremadura like a pestilence, and Borrow fully expected to find Seville +occupied by his banditti; but Carlists possessed no terrors for him. +Unless he could do something to heal the spiritual wounds of the wretched +country, he assured Mr Brandram, he would never again return to England. + +On 1st December Mr Brandram wrote to Borrow expressing deep sympathy with +all he had been through, and adding: “If you go forward . . . we will +help you by prayer. If you retreat we shall welcome you cordially.” He +appears to have written before consulting with the Committee, who, on +hearing of the actual state of affairs in Spain, became filled with +misgiving and anxiety for the safety of their agent, who seemed to be +destitute of fear. Mr Brandram had been content for Borrow to go forward +if he so decided, but, as he wrote later, “your prospective dangers, +while they created an absorbing interest, were viewed in different lights +by the Committee,” who thought they had “no right to commit you to such +perils. My own feeling was that, while I could not urge you forward, +there were peculiarities in your history and character that I would not +keep you back if you were minded to go. A few felt with me—most, +however, thought that you should have been restrained.” {187} It was +decided therefore to forbid him to proceed on his hazardous adventure, +and accordingly a letter was addressed to him care of the British Consul +at Cadiz. If Borrow received this he disregarded the instructions it +contained. + +Cadiz proved to be in a state of great confusion. It was reported that +numerous bands of Carlists were in the neighbourhood, and the whole city +was in a state of ferment in consequence. In the coffee-houses the din +of tongues was deafening; would-be orators, sometimes as many as six at +one time, sprang up upon chairs and tables and ventilated their political +views. The paramount, nay, the only, interest was not in the words of +Christ; but the probable doings of the Carlists. + +On the night of his arrival Borrow was taken ill with what, at the time, +he thought to be cholera, and for some time in the little “cock-loft or +garret” that had been allotted to him at the over-crowded French hotel, +he was “in most acute pain, and terribly sick,” drinking oil mixed with +brandy. For two days he was so exhausted as to be able to do nothing. + +On the morning of the 24th he embarked in a small Spanish steamer bound +for Seville, which was reached that same night. The sun had dissipated +the melancholy and stupor left by his illness, and by the time he arrived +at Seville he was repeating Latin verses and fragments of old Spanish +ballads to a brilliant moon. The condition of affairs at Seville was as +bad if not worse than at Cadiz. There was scarcely any communication +with the capital, the diligences no longer ran, and even the fearless +_arrieros_ (muleteers) declined to set out. Famine, plunder and murder +were let loose over the land. Bands of banditti robbed, tortured and +slew in the name of Don Carlos. They stripped the peasantry of all they +possessed, and the poor wretches in turn became brigands and preyed upon +those weaker than themselves. Through all this Borrow had to penetrate +in order to reach Madrid. Had the road been familiar to him he would +have performed the journey alone, dressed either as a beggar or as a +gypsy. It is obvious that he appreciated the hazardous nature of the +journey he was undertaking, for he asked Mr Brandram, in the event of his +death, to keep the news from old Mrs Borrow as long as possible and then +to go down to Norwich and break it to her himself. + +At Seville Borrow encountered Baron Taylor, {188} whom he states that he +had first met at Bayonne (during the “veiled period”), and later in +Russia, beside the Bosphorus, and finally in the South of Ireland. Than +Baron Taylor there was no one for whom Borrow entertained “a greater +esteem and regard . . . There is a mystery about him which, wherever he +goes, serves not a little to increase the sensation naturally created by +his appearance and manner.” {189} Borrow was much attracted to this +mysterious personage, about whom nothing could be asserted “with +downright positiveness.” + +From Seville Borrow proceeded to Cordoba, accompanied by “an elderly +person, a Genoese by birth,” whose acquaintance he had made and whom he +hoped later to employ in the distribution of the Testaments. Borrow had +hired a couple of miserable horses. The Genoese had not been in the +saddle for some thirty years, and he was an old man and timid. His horse +soon became aware of this, and neither whip nor spur could persuade it to +exert itself. When approaching night rendered it necessary to make a +special effort to hasten forward, the bridle of the discontented steed +had to be fastened to that of its fellow, which was then urged forward +“with spur and cudgel.” Both the Genoese and his mount protested against +such drastic measures, the one by entreaties to be permitted to dismount, +the other by attempting to fling itself down. The only notice Borrow +took of these protests was to spur and cudgel the more. + +On the night of the third day the party arrived at Cordoba, and was +cordially welcomed by the Carlist innkeeper, who, although avowing +himself strictly neutral, confessed how great had been his pleasure at +welcoming the Carlists when they occupied the City a short time before. +It was at this inn that Borrow explained to the elderly Genoese, who had +indiscreetly resented his host’s disrespectful remarks about the young +Queen Isabel, how he invariably managed to preserve good relations with +all sorts of factions. “My good man,” he said, “I am invariably of the +politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I +sleep; at least I never say anything which can lead them to suspect the +contrary; by pursuing which system I have more than once escaped a bloody +pillow, and having the wine I drank spiced with sublimate.” {190a} + +Borrow remained at Cordoba much longer than he had intended, because of +the reports that reached him of the unsafe condition of the roads. He +sent back the old Genoese with the horses, and spent the time in +thoroughly examining the town and making acquaintances among its +inhabitants. At length, after a stay of ten or eleven days, despairing +of any improvement in the state of the country, he continued his journey +in the company of a _contrabandista_, temporarily retired from the +smuggling trade, from whom he hired two horses for the sum of forty-two +dollars. Borrow allowed no compunction to assail him as to the means he +employed when he was thoroughly convinced as to the worthiness of the end +he had in view. To further his projects he would cheerfully have +travelled with the Pope himself. + +The journey to Madrid proved dismal in the extreme. The _contrabandista_ +was sullen and gloomy, despite the fact that his horses had been insured +against loss and the handsome fee he was to receive for his services. +The Despeñaperros in the Sierra Morena through which Borrow had to pass, +had, even in times of peace, a most evil reputation; but by great good +luck for Borrow, the local banditti had during the previous day +“committed a dreadful robbery and murder by which they sacked 40,000 +_reals_.” {190b} They were in all probability too busily occupied in +dividing their spoil to watch for other travellers. Another factor that +was much in Borrow’s favour was a change in the weather. + + “Suddenly the Lord breathed forth a frozen blast,” Borrow writes, + “the severity of which was almost intolerable. No human being but + ourselves ventured forth. We traversed snow-covered plains, and + passed through villages and towns to all appearance deserted. The + robbers kept close to their caves and hovels, but the cold nearly + killed us. We reached Aranjuez late on Christmas day, and I got into + the house of an Englishman, where I swallowed nearly a pint of + brandy: {191a} it affected me no more than warm water.” {191b} + +Borrow arrived at Madrid on 26th December, having almost by a miracle +avoided death or capture by the human wolves that infested the country. +He took up his quarters at 16 Calle de Santiago at the house of Maria +Díaz, who was to prove so loyal a friend during many critical periods of +his work in Spain. His first care was to call upon the British Minister, +and enquire if he considered it safe to proceed with the printing without +special application to the new Government. Mr Villiers’ answer is +interesting, as showing how thoroughly he had taken Borrow under his +protection. + + “You obtained the permission of the Government of Isturitz,” he + replied, “which was a much less liberal one than the present; I am a + witness to the promise made to you by the former Ministers, which I + consider sufficient; you had best commence and complete the work as + soon as possible without any fresh application, and should anyone + attempt to interrupt you, you have only to come to me, whom you may + command at any time.” {191c} + +Having saved the Bible Society 9000 _reals_ in its paper bill alone, +{191d} Borrow proceeded to arrange for the printing. He had already +opened negotiations with Charles Wood, who was associated with Andréas +Borrégo, {192a} the most fashionable printer in Madrid, who not only had +the best printing-presses in Spain, but had been specially recommended by +Isturitz. It had been tentatively arranged that an edition of 5000 +copies of the New Testament should be printed from the version of Father +Felipe Scio de San Miguel, confessor to Ferdinand VII., without notes or +commentaries, and delivered within three months. + +Remembering the advice of Isturitz, Borrow determined to entrust the work +to Borrégo, including the binding. He was the Government printer, and, +furthermore, enjoyed the good opinion of Mr Villiers. Having persuaded +Borrégo to reduce his price to 10 _reals_ a sheet, he placed the order. +It was agreed that the work should be completed in ten weeks from 20th +January. + +Each sheet was to be passed by Borrow. As a matter of fact he read every +word three times; but in order to insure absolute accuracy, he engaged +the services of Dr Usoz, “the first scholar in Spain,” {192b} who was to +be responsible for the final revision, leaving the question of the +remuneration to the generosity of the Bible Society. The result of all +this care was that, according to Borrow the edition exhibited scarcely +one typographical error. {192c} + +The question of systematic distribution had next to be considered. After +much musing and cogitation, Borrow came to the conclusion that the only +satisfactory method was for him to “ride forth from Madrid into the +wildest parts of Spain,” where the word is most wanted and where it seems +next to an impossibility to introduce it, and this he proposed to the +Committee. + + “I will take with me 1200 copies,” he wrote, {193} “which I will + engage to dispose of for little or much to the wild people of the + wild regions which I intend to visit; as for the rest of the edition, + it must be disposed of, if possible, in a different way—I may say the + usual way; part must be entrusted to booksellers, part to + colporteurs, and a depôt must be established at Madrid. Such work is + every person’s work, and to anyone may be confided the execution of + it; it is a mere affair of trade. What I wish to be employed in is + what, I am well aware, no other individual will undertake to do: + namely, to scatter the Word upon the mountains, amongst the valleys + and the inmost recesses of the worst and most dangerous parts of + Spain, where the people are more fierce, fanatic and, in a word, + Carlist.” + +In the same letter Borrow shows how thoroughly he understood his own +character when he wrote: + + “I shall not feel at all surprised should it [the plan] be + disapproved of all-together; but I wish it to be understood that in + that event I could do nothing further than see the work through the + press, as I am confident that whatever ardour and zeal I at present + feel in the cause would desert me immediately, and that I should + neither be able nor willing to execute anything which might be + suggested. I wish to engage in nothing which would not allow me to + depend entirely on myself. It would be heart-breaking to me to + remain at Madrid expending the Society’s money, with almost the + certainty of being informed eventually by the booksellers and their + correspondents that the work has no sale. In a word, to make sure + that some copies find their way among the people, I must be permitted + to carry them to the people myself.” + +He goes on to inform Mr Brandram that in anticipation of the acquiescence +of the Committee in his schemes, he has purchased, for about £12, one of +the smuggler’s horses, which he has preferred to a mule, on account of +the expense of the popular hybrid, and also because of its enormous +appetite, to satisfy which two pecks of barley and a proportionate amount +of straw are required each twenty-four hours, as the beast must be fed +every four hours, day and night. Thus the members of the Committee +learned something about the ways of the mule. + +The response to this suggestion was a resolution passed by the +Sub-Committee for General Purposes, by which Borrow was permitted to +enter into correspondence with the principal booksellers and other +persons favourable to the dissemination of the Scriptures. In a covering +letter {194a} Mr Brandram very pertinently enquired, “Can the people in +these wilds read?” Whilst not wishing to put a final negative to the +proposal, the Secretary asked if there were no middle course. Could +Borrow not establish a depôt at some principal place, and from it make +excursions occupying two or three days each, “instead of devoting +yourself wholly to the wild people.” + +Borrow assured Mr Brandram that he had misunderstood. The care of “the +wild people” was only to be incidental on his visits to towns and +villages to establish depôts or agencies. “On my way,” he wrote, “I +intended to visit the secret and secluded spots amongst the rugged hills +and mountains, and to talk to the people, after my manner, of Christ.” +{194b} + +It was on 3rd April that Borrow had received the letter from Earl Street +authorising him “to undertake the tour suggested . . . for the purpose of +circulating the Spanish New Testament in some of the principal cities of +Spain.” He was requested to write as frequently as possible, giving an +account of his adventures. At the same time Mr Brandram wrote: “You will +perceive by the Resolution that nearly all your requests are complied +with. You have authority to go forth with your horses, and may you have +a prosperous journey . . . Pray for wisdom to discern between +presumptuousness and want of Faith.” {195a} + +The printing of the 5000 copies of the New Testament in Spanish was +completed early in April, but there was considerable delay over the +binding. The actual date of publication was 1st May. The work had been +well done, and was “allowed by people who have perused it, and with no +friendly feeling, to be one of the most correct works that have ever +issued from the press in Spain, and to be an exceedingly favourable +specimen of typography and paper.” {195b} + +In addition to the _contrabandista’s_ horse, Borrow had acquired “a black +Andalusian stallion of great size and strength, and capable of performing +a journey of a hundred leagues in a week’s time.” {195c} In spite of his +unbroken state, Borrow decided to purchase the animal, relying upon “a +cargo of bibles” to reduce him to obedience. It was with this black +Andalusian that he created a sensation by riding about Madrid, “with a +Russian skin for a saddle, and without stirrups. Altogether making so +conspicuous a figure that [the Marqués de] Santa Coloma hesitated, and it +needed all his courage to be seen riding with him. At this period Borrow +spent a good deal of money and lived very freely (i.e., luxuriously) in +Spain. From the point of view of the Marqués, a Spanish Roman Catholic, +Borrow was excessively bigoted, and fond of attacking Roman Catholics and +Catholicism. He evidently, however, liked him as a companion; but he +says Borrow never, as far as he saw or could learn, spoke of religion to +his Gypsy friends, and that he soon noticed his difference of attitude +towards them. He was often going to the British Embassy, and he thinks +was considered a great bore there.” {195d} + +The unanimous advice of Borrow’s friends, Protestant and Roman Catholic, +was “that for the present I should proceed with the utmost caution, but +without concealing the object of my mission.” {196a} He was to avoid +offending people’s prejudices and endeavour everywhere to keep on good +terms with the clergy, “at least one-third of whom are known to be +anxious for the dissemination of the Word of God, though at the same time +unwilling to separate themselves from the discipline and ceremonials of +Rome.” {196b} + +Thus equipped with sage counsel, Borrow was just about to start upon his +journey into the North, when he found it necessary to dismiss his servant +owing to misconduct. This caused delay. Through Mr O’Shea, the banker, +he got to know Antonio Buchini, the Greek of Constantinople, who, of all +the strange characters Borrow had met he considered “the most +surprising.” {196c} Antonio’s vices were sufficiently obvious to +discourage anyone from attempting to discover his virtues. He loved +change, quarrelled with everybody, masters, mistresses, and +fellow-servants. Borrow engaged him; but looked to the future with +misgiving. Antonio unquestionably had his bad points; yet he was a +treasure compared with the Spaniard whom he succeeded. This man was much +given to drink and was always engaged in some quarrel. He drew his +terrible knife, such as all Spaniards carry, upon all who offended him. +On one occasion Borrow saved from his wrath a poor maid-servant who had +incurred his ire by burning a herring she was toasting for him. +Antonio’s virtues comprised an unquestioned honesty and devotion, and on +the whole he was a desirable servant in a country where such virtues were +extremely rare. + +It was not until 15th May that Borrow, accompanied by Antonio, was able +to get away from Madrid. A few days previously he had contracted “a +severe cold which terminated in a shrieking, disagreeable cough.” This, +following on a fortnight’s attack of influenza, proved difficult to shake +off. Finding himself scarcely able to stand, he at length appealed to a +barber-surgeon, who drew 16 oz. of blood, assuring his patient that on +the following day he would be well enough to start. + +That same evening Mr Villiers sent round to Borrow’s lodgings informing +him that he had decided to help him by every means in his power. He +announced his intention of purchasing a large number of the Testaments, +and despatching them to the various British Consuls in Spain, with +instructions “to employ all the means which their official situation +should afford them to circulate the books in question, and to assure +their being noticed.” {197a} They were also to render every assistance +in their power to Borrow “as a friend of Mr Villiers, and a person in the +success of whose enterprise he himself took the warmest interest.” {197b} +Mr Villiers’ interest in Borrow’s mission seems to have led him into a +diplomatic indiscretion. Borrow himself confesses that he could scarcely +believe his ears. Although assured of the British Minister’s friendly +attitude, he “could never expect that he would come forward in so noble, +and to say the least of it, considering his high diplomatic situation, so +bold and decided a manner.” {197c} This act of friendliness becomes a +personal tribute to Borrow, when it is remembered that at first Mr +Villiers had been by no means well disposed towards the Bible Society. + +Before leaving Madrid, Borrow had circularised all the principal +booksellers, offering to supply the New Testament at fifteen _reals_ a +copy, the actual cost price; but he was not sanguine as to the result, +for he found the Spaniard “short-sighted and . . . so utterly +unacquainted with the rudiments of business.” {198} Advertisements had +been inserted in all the principal newspapers stating that the +booksellers of Madrid were now in a position to supply the New Testament +in Spanish, unencumbered by obscuring notes and comments. Borrow also +provided for an advertisement to be inserted each week during his +absence, which he anticipated would be about five months. After that he +knew not what would happen—there was always China. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII +MAY–OCTOBER 1837 + + +THE prediction of the surgeon-barber was fulfilled; by the next morning +the fever and cough had considerably abated, although the patient was +still weak from loss of blood. This, however, did not hinder him from +mounting his black Andalusian, and starting upon his initial journey of +distribution. On arriving at Salamanca, his first objective, he +immediately sought out the principal bookseller and placed with him +copies of the New Testament. He also inserted an advertisement in the +local newspaper, stating that the volume was the only guide to salvation; +at the same time he called attention to the great pecuniary sacrifices +that the Bible Society was making in order to proclaim Christ crucified. +This advertisement he caused to be struck off in considerable numbers as +bills and posted in various parts of the town, and he even went so far as +to affix one to the porch of the church. He also distributed them as he +progressed through the villages. {199} + +From Salamanca (10th June) Borrow journeyed to Valladolid, and from +thence to León, {200a} (a hotbed of Carlism), where the people were +ignorant and brutal and refused to the stranger a glass of water, unless +he were prepared to pay for it. At León he was seized by a fever that +prostrated him for a week. He also experienced marked antagonism from +the clergy, who threatened every direful consequence to whosoever read or +purchased “the accursed books” which he brought. A more serious evidence +of their displeasure was shown by the action they commenced in the +ecclesiastical court against the bookseller whom Borrow had arranged with +to act as agent for his Testaments. The bookseller himself did not mend +matters by fixing upon the doors of the cathedral itself one of the +advertisements that he had received with the books. + +When sufficiently recovered to travel, Borrow proceeded to Astorga, which +he reached with the utmost difficulty owing to bad roads and the fierce +heat. + + “We were compelled to take up our abode,” he writes, {200b} “in a + wretched hovel full of pigs’ vermin and misery, and from this place I + write, for this morning I felt myself unable to proceed on my + journey, being exhausted with illness, fatigue and want of food, for + scarcely anything is to be obtained; but I return God thanks and + glory for being permitted to undergo these crosses and troubles for + His Word’s sake. I would not exchange my present situation, + unenviable as some may think it, for a throne.” + +Thus Borrow wrote when burning with fever, after having just been told to +vacate his room at the _posada_, and having his luggage flung into the +yard to make room for the occupants of the “waggon” from Madrid to +Coruña. + +From Astorga he proceeded by way of Puerto de Manzanál, Bembibre, +Cacabélos, Villafranca, Puerto de Fuencebadón and Nogáles, “through the +wildest mountains and wildernesses” to Lugo. + +Owing to the unsafety of the roads, it was customary for travellers to +attach themselves to the Grand Post, which was always guarded by an +escort. At Nogáles Borrow joined the mail courier; but as a rule he was +too independent, too much in a hurry, and too indifferent to danger to +wait for such protection against the perils of the robber-infested roads. +He has given the following graphic account “of the grand post from Madrid +to Coruña, attended by a considerable escort, and an immense number of +travellers . . . We were soon mounted and in the street, amidst a +confused throng of men and quadrupeds. The light of a couple of +flambeaus, which were borne before the courier, shone on the arms of +several soldiers, seemingly drawn up on either side of the road; the +darkness, however, prevented me from distinguishing objects very clearly. +The courier himself was mounted on a little shaggy pony; before and +behind him were two immense portmanteaus, or leather sacks, the ends of +which nearly touched the ground. For about a quarter of an hour there +was much hubbub, shouting, and trampling, at the end of which period the +order was given to proceed. Scarcely had we left the village when the +flambeaus were extinguished, and we were left in almost total darkness. +In this manner we proceeded for several hours, up hill and down dale, but +generally at a very slow pace. The soldiers who escorted us from time to +time sang patriotic songs . . . At last the day began to break, and I +found myself amidst a train of two or three hundred people, some on foot, +but the greater part mounted, either on mules or the pony mares: I could +not distinguish a single horse except my own and Antonio’s. A few +soldiers were thinly scattered along the road.” {201} + +After about a week’s stay at Lugo, Borrow again attached himself to the +Grand Post; but tiring of its slow and deliberate progress, he decided to +push on alone, and came very near to falling a prey to the banditti. He +was suddenly confronted by two of the fraternity, who presented their +carbines, “which they probably intended to discharge into my body, but +they took fright at the noise of Antonio’s horse, who was following a +little way behind.” {202} + +The night was spent at Betanzos, where the black Andalusian was stricken +with “a deep, hoarse cough.” Remembering a prophetic remark that had +been made by a roadside acquaintance to the effect that “the man must be +mad who brings a horse to Galicia, and doubly so he who brings an +_entero_,” Borrow, determined to have the animal bled, sent for a +farrier, meanwhile rubbing down his steed with a quart of _anis_ brandy. +The farrier demanded an ounce of gold for the operation, which decided +Borrow to perform it himself. With a large fleam that he possessed, he +twice bled the Andalusian, to the astonishment of the discomfited +farrier, and saved its valuable life, also an ounce of gold. Next day he +and Antonio walked to Coruña, leading their horses. + +At Coruña were five hundred copies of the New Testament that had been +sent on from Madrid. So far Borrow had himself disposed of sixty-five +copies, irrespective of those sold at Lugo and other places by means of +the advertisement. These books were all sold at prices ranging from 10 +to 12 _reals_ each. Borrow made a special point of this, “to give a +direct lie to the assertion” that the Bible Society, having no vent for +the Bibles and New Testaments it printed, was forced either to give them +away or sell them by auction, when they were purchased as waste paper. + +The condition of the roads at that period was so bad, on account of +robbers and Carlists, that it was forbidden to anyone to travel along the +thoroughfare leading to Santiago unless in company with the mail courier +and his escort of soldiers. Unfortunately for Borrow his black +Andalusian was not of a companionable disposition, and to bring him near +other horses was to invite a fierce contest. On the rare occasions that +he did travel with the Grand Post, Borrow was frequently involved in +difficulties on account of the _entero’s_ unsociable nature; but as he +was deeply attached to the noble beast, he retained him and suffered +dangers rather than give up the companion of many an adventure. + +Some idea may be obtained of the state of rural Spain in 1837, when the +highways teemed with “patriots” bent upon robbing friend and foe alike +and afterwards assassinating or mutilating their victims, from a story +that Borrow tells of how a viper-catcher, who was engaged in pursuing his +calling in the neighbourhood of Orense, fell into the hands of these +miscreants, who robbed and stripped him. They then pinioned his hands +behind him and drew over his head the mouth of the bag containing the +_living_ vipers, which they fastened round his neck and listened with +satisfaction to the poor wretch’s cries. The reptiles stung their victim +to madness, and after having run raving through several villages he +eventually fell dead. {203a} + +Making Coruña his headquarters, Borrow proceeded to Santiago, “travelling +with the courier or weekly post,” and from thence to Padrón, Pontevedra, +and Vigo. At Vigo he was apprehended as a spy, but immediately released. +It was whilst at Santiago that he repeated an experiment he had +previously made at Valladolid. + + “I . . . sallied forth,” he writes, {203b} “alone and on horseback, + and bent my course to a distant village; on my arrival, which took + place just after the _siesta_ or afternoon’s nap had concluded, I + proceeded . . . to the market place, where I spread a horse-cloth on + the ground, upon which I deposited my books. I then commenced crying + with a loud voice: ‘Peasants, peasants, I bring you the Word of God + at a cheap price. I know you have but little money, but I bring it + you at whatever you can command, at four or three _reals_, according + to your means.’ I thus went on till a crowd gathered round me, who + examined the books with attention, many of them reading aloud, but I + had not long to wait; . . . my cargo was disposed of almost + instantaneously, and I mounted my horse without a question being + asked me, and returned to my temporary abode lighter than I came.” + +Borrow did not repeat the experiment for fear of giving offence to the +clergy. The new means of distribution was to be used only as a last +resource. + +Arriving at Padrón on the return journey, Borrow found that he had only +one book left. He determined to send Antonio forward with the horses to +await him at Coruña, whilst he made an excursion to Cape Finisterre. + + “It would be,” he says, “difficult to assign any plausible reason for + the ardent desire which I entertained to visit this place; but I + remembered that last year I had escaped almost by a miracle from + shipwreck and death on the rocky sides of this extreme point of the + Old World, and I thought that to convey the Gospel to a place so wild + and remote might perhaps be considered an acceptable pilgrimage in + the eyes of my Maker.” {204a} + +Hiring a guide and a pony, he reached the Cape, after surmounting +tremendous difficulties, and on arrival he and his guide were arrested as +Carlist spies. {204b} In all probability he would have been shot, such +was the certainty of the _Alcalde_ that he was a spy, had not the +professional hero of the place come forward and, after having +cross-examined him as to his knowledge of “knife” and “fork,” the only +two English words the Spaniard knew, pronounced him English, and +eventually conveyed him to the _Alcalde_ of Convucion, who released him. +On the man who had saved him Borrow privately bestowed a gratuity, and +publicly the copy of the New Testament that had led to the expedition. +He then returned to Coruña, by his journey having accomplished “what has +long been one of the ardent wishes of my heart. I have carried the +Gospel to the extreme point of the Old World.” {205a} + +The black Andalusian was totally unfitted for the long mountainous +journey into the Asturias that Borrow now planned to undertake, and he +decided to dispose of him. He was greatly attached to the creature, +notwithstanding his vicious habits and the difficulties that arose out of +them. Now the _entero_ would be engaged in a deadly struggle with some +gloomy mule; again, by rushing among a crowd outside a _posada_, he would +do infinite damage and earn for his master and himself an evil name. +Borrow thus announces to the Bible Society the sale of its property: +“This animal cost the Society about 2000 _reals_ at Madrid; I, however, +sold him for 3000 at Coruña, notwithstanding that he has suffered much +from the hard labour which he had been subjected to in our wanderings in +Galicia, and likewise from bad provender.” {205b} + +Borrow next set out upon an expedition to Orviedo in the Asturias, {205c} +then in daily expectation of being attacked by the Carlists. It was at +Orviedo that he received a striking tribute from a number of Spanish +gentlemen. + + “A strange adventure has just occurred to me,” he wrote. {205d} “I + am in the ancient town of Orviedo, in a very large, scantily + furnished and remote room of an ancient _posada_, formerly a palace + of the Counts of Santa Cruz, it is past ten at night and the rain is + descending in torrents. I ceased writing on hearing numerous + footsteps ascending the creeking stairs which lead to my + apartment—the door was flung open, and in walked nine men of tall + stature, marshalled by a little hunchbacked personage. They were all + muffled in the long cloaks of Spain, but I instantly knew by their + demeanour that they were _caballeros_, or gentlemen. They placed + themselves in a rank before the table where I was sitting; suddenly + and simultaneously they all flung back their cloaks, and I perceived + that every one bore a book in his hand, a book which I knew full + well. After a pause, which I was unable to break, for I sat lost in + astonishment and almost conceived myself to be visited by + apparitions, the hunchback advancing somewhat before the rest, said, + in soft silvery tones, ‘_Señor_ Cavalier, was it you who brought this + book to the Asturias?’ I now supposed that they were the civil + authorities of the place come to take me into custody, and, rising + from my seat, I exclaimed: ‘It certainly was I, and it is my glory to + have done so; the book is the New Testament of God; I wish it was in + my power to bring a million.’ ‘I heartily wish so too,’ said the + little personage with a sigh; ‘be under no apprehension, Sir + Cavalier, these gentlemen are my friends. We have just purchased + these books in the shop where you have placed them for sale, and have + taken the liberty of calling upon you in order to return you our + thanks for the treasure you have brought us. I hope you can furnish + us with the Old Testament also!’ I replied that I was sorry to + inform him that at present it was entirely out of my power to comply + with his wish, as I had no Old Testaments in my possession, but I did + not despair of procuring some speedily from England. {206} He then + asked me a great many questions concerning my Biblical travels in + Spain and my success, and the views entertained by the Society in + respect to Spain, adding that he hoped we should pay particular + attention to the Asturias, which he assured me was the best ground in + the Peninsula for our labour. After about half an hour’s + conversation, he suddenly said in the English language, ‘Good night, + Sir,’ wrapped his cloak around him and walked out as he had come. + His companions, who had hitherto not uttered a word, all repeated, + ‘Good night, Sir,’ and adjusting their cloaks followed him.” + +This anecdote greatly impressed the General Committee. Mr Brandram wrote +(15th November 1837): “We were all deeply interested with your ten +gentlemen of Orviedo. I have introduced them at several meetings.” + +Whilst at Orviedo, Borrow began to be very uneasy about the state of +affairs at the capital. “Madrid,” he wrote, {207} “is the depôt of our +books, and I am apprehensive that in the revolutions and disturbances +which at present seem to threaten it, our whole stock may perish. True +it is that in order to reach Madrid I should have to pass through the +midst of the Carlist hordes, who would perhaps slay or make me prisoner; +but I am at present so much accustomed to perilous adventure, and have +hitherto experienced so many fortunate escapes, that the dangers which +infest the route would not deter me a moment from venturing. But there +is no certain intelligence, and Madrid may be in safety or on the brink +of falling.” + +Another factor that made him desirous of returning to the capital was +that, ever since leaving Coruña, he had been afflicted with a dysentery +and, later, with ophthalmia, which resulted from it, and he was anxious +to obtain proper medical advice. He determined, however, first to carry +out his project of visiting Santandér, which he reached by way of Villa +Viciosa, Colunga, Riba de Sella, Llánes, Colombres, San Vicente, +Santillana. It was at Santandér that he encountered the unfortunate +Flinter, {208} as brave with his sword as with his tongue. + +Instructions had been given in a letter to Borrégo to forward to +Santandér two hundred copies of the New Testament; but, much to Borrow’s +disappointment, he found that they had not arrived. He thought that +either they had fallen into the hands of the Carlists, or his letter of +instruction had miscarried: as a matter of fact they did not leave Madrid +until 30th October, the day before Borrow arrived at the capital. Thus +his journey was largely wasted. It would be folly to remain at +Santandér, where, in spite of the strictest economy, his expenses +amounted to two pounds a day, whilst a further supply of books was +obtained. Accordingly he determined to make for Madrid without further +delay. + +Purchasing a small horse, and notwithstanding that he was so ill as +scarcely to be able to support himself; indifferent to the fact that the +country between Santandér and Madrid was overrun with Carlists, whose +affairs in Castile had not prospered; too dispirited to collect his +thoughts sufficiently to write to Mr Brandram, he set out, accompanied by +Antonio, “determined to trust, as usual, in the Almighty and to venture.” +Physical ailments, however, did not in any way cause him to forget why he +had come to Santandér, and before leaving he made tentative arrangements +with the booksellers of the town as to what they should do in the event +of his being able to send them a supply of Testaments. + +That journey of a hundred leagues was a nightmare. “Robberies, murders, +and all kinds of atrocity were perpetrated before, behind, and on both +sides” of them; but they passed through it all as if travelling along an +English highway. Even when met at the entrance of the Black Pass by a +man, his face covered with blood, who besought him not to enter the pass, +where he had just been robbed of all he possessed, Borrow, without making +reply, proceeded on his way. He was too ill to weigh the risks, and +Antonio followed cheerfully wherever his master went. Madrid was reached +on 31st October. {209a} The next day Borrow wrote to Mr Brandram: +“People say we have been very lucky; Antonio says, ‘It was so written’; +but I say, Glory be to the Lord for His mercies vouchsafed.” + +The expedition to the Northern Provinces had occupied five and a half +months. Every kind of fatigue had been experienced, dangers had been +faced, even courted, and every incident of the road turned to further the +end in view—the distribution of the Scriptures in Spain. The countryside +had proved itself ignorant and superstitious, and the towns eager, not +for the Word of God but “for stimulant narratives, and amongst too many a +lust for the deistical writings of the French, especially for those of +Talleyrand, which have been translated into Spanish and published by the +press of Barcelona, and for which I was frequently pestered.” {209b} +Antonio had proved himself a unique body-servant and companion, and if +with a previous employer he had valued his personal comfort so highly as +to give notice because his mistress’s pet quail disturbed his slumbers, +he was nevertheless utterly indifferent to the hardships and discomforts +that he endured when with Borrow, and always proved cheerful and willing. + +Borrow had “by private sale disposed of one hundred and sixteen +Testaments to individuals entirely of the lower classes, namely, +muleteers, carmen, _contrabandistas_, etc.” {209c} He had dared to +undertake what perhaps only he was capable of carrying to a successful +issue; for, left alone to make his own plans and conduct the campaign +along his own lines, Borrow has probably never been equalled as a +missionary, strange though the term may seem when applied to him. His +fear of God did not hinder him from making other men fear God’s +instrument, himself. His fine capacity for affairs, together with what +must have appeared to the clergy of the districts through which he passed +his outrageous daring, conspired to his achieving what few other men +would have thought, and probably none were capable of undertaking. A +missionary who rode a noble, black Andalusian stallion, who could use a +fleam as well as a blacksmith’s hammer, who could ride barebacked, and, +above all, made men fear him as a physical rather than a spiritual force, +was new in Spain, as indeed elsewhere. The very novelty of Borrow’s +methods, coupled with the daring and unconventional independence of the +man himself, ensured the success of his mission. There was something of +the Camel-Driver of Mecca about his missionary work. He saw nothing +anomalous in being possessed of a strong arm as well as a Christian +spirit. He would endeavour to win over the ungodly; but woe betide them +if they should attempt to pit their strength against his. Borrow’s own +comment upon his journey in the Northern Provinces was, “Insignificant +are the results of man’s labours compared with the swelling ideas of his +presumption; something, however, had been effected by the journey which I +had just concluded.” {210} + + + + +CHAPTER XIV +NOVEMBER 1837–APRIL 1838 + + +GREAT changes had taken place in Madrid during Borrow’s absence. The +Carlists had actually appeared before its gates, although they had +subsequently retired. Liberalism had been routed and a _Moderado_ +Cabinet, under the leadership of Count Ofalia, ruled the city and such +part of the country as was sufficiently complaisant as to permit itself +to be ruled. As the _Moderados_ represented the Court faction, Borrow +saw that he had little to expect from them. He was unacquainted with any +of the members of the Cabinet, and, what was far more serious for him, +the relations between the new Government and Sir George Villiers {211} +were none too cordial, as the British Minister had been by no means +favourable to the new ministry. + +Having written to Mr Brandram telling of his arrival in Madrid, “begging +pardon for all errors of commission and omission,” and confessing himself +“a frail and foolish vessel,” that had “accomplished but a slight portion +of what I proposed in my vanity,” Borrow proceeded to disprove his own +assertion. He found the affairs of the Bible Society in a far from +flourishing condition. The Testaments had not sold to any considerable +extent, for which “only circumstances and the public poverty” were the +cause, as Dr Usoz explained. + +To awaken interest in his campaign, Borrow planned to print a thousand +advertisements, which were to be posted in various parts of the city, and +to employ colporteurs to vend the books in the streets. He despatched +consignments of books to towns he had visited that required them, and in +the enthusiasm of his eager and active mind foresaw that, “as the circle +widens in the lake into which a stripling has cast a pebble, so will the +circle of our usefulness continue widening, until it has embraced the +whole vast region of Spain.” {212a} + +It soon became evident that there was to be a very strong opposition. A +furious attack upon the Bible Society was made in a letter addressed to +the editors of _El Español_ on 5th November, prefixed to a circular of +the Spiritual Governor of Valencia, forbidding the purchase or reading of +the London edition of Father Scio’s Bible. The letter described the +Bible Society as “an infernal society,” and referred in passing to “its +accursed fecundity.” It also strongly resented the omission of the +Apocrypha from the Scio Bible. Borrow promptly replied to this attack in +a letter of great length, and entirely silenced his antagonist, whom he +described to Mr Brandram (20th Nov.) as “an unprincipled benefice-hunting +curate.” “You will doubtless deem it too warm and fiery,” he writes, +referring to his reply, “but tameness and gentleness are of little avail +when surrounded by the vassal slaves of bloody Rome.” {212b} Borrow’s +response to the “benefice-hunting curate” not only silenced him, but was +listened to by the General Committee of the Society “with much pleasure.” + +The cause of the trouble in Valencia lay with the other agent of the +Bible Society in Spain, Lieutenant James Newenham Graydon, R.N., who +first took up the work of distributing the Scriptures at Gibraltar in +1835. Here he became associated with the Rev. W. H. Rule, of the +Wesleyan Methodist Society. “The Lieutenant, who seems to have combined +the personal charm of the Irish gentleman with some of the perfervid +incautiousness of the Keltic temperament, finding himself unemployed at +Gibraltar, resolved to do what lay in his power for the spiritual +enlightenment of Spain. Without receiving a regular commission from any +society, he took up single-handed the task which he had imposed upon +himself.” {213a} + +Borrow had first met Lieutenant Graydon at Madrid, in the summer of 1836, +where he saw him two or three times. When Graydon left, on account of +the heat, Borrow had removed to Graydon’s lodgings as being more +comfortable than his own. The prohibition in Valencia was directly due +to the indiscretion and incaution of Graydon. The Vicar-General of the +province gave as a reason for his action, an advertisement that had +appeared in the _Diario Comercial_ of Valencia, undertaking to supply +Bibles gratis to those who could not afford to buy them. For this +advertisement Graydon was admonished by the General Committee, which +refused to entertain his plea that, being unpaid, he was not, strictly +speaking, an agent of the Bible Society. He was given to understand that +as the Society was responsible for his acts he must be guided by its +views and wishes. + +The next occasion on which Borrow came into conflict with this impulsive +missionary free-lance was in March 1838, when he heard from the Rev. W. +H. Rule that Graydon was on his way to Andalusia. Borrow immediately +wrote to Mr Brandram that he, acting on the advice of Sir George +Villiers, had already planned an expedition into that province, and +furthermore that he had despatched there a number of Testaments. He +explained to Mr Brandram that he was apprehensive “of the re-acting at +Seville of the Valencian Drama, which I have such unfortunate cause to +rue, as I am the victim on whom an aggravated party have wreaked their +vengeance, and for the very cogent reason that I was within their reach.” +{213b} On this occasion Graydon was instructed not to start upon his +projected journey, although Mr Brandram gave the order much against his +own inclination. {214a} + +One great difficulty that Borrow had to contend with was the apathy of +the Madrid booksellers, who “gave themselves no manner of trouble to +secure the sale, and even withheld [the] advertisements from the public.” +{214b} This determined him to open a shop himself, and, accordingly, +towards the end of November, he secured premises in the Calle del +Principe, one of the main thoroughfares, for which he agreed to pay a +rent of eight _reals_ a day. He furnished the premises handsomely, with +glass cases and chandeliers, and caused to be painted in large yellow +characters the sign “Despacho de la Sociedad Bíblica y Estrangera” (Depôt +of the Biblical and Foreign Society). He engaged a Gallegan (José +Calzado, whom he called Pepe) as salesman, and on 27th November formally +opened his new premises. Customers soon presented themselves; but many +were disappointed on finding that they could not obtain the Bible. “I +could have sold ten times the amount of what I did,” Borrow writes. “I +_must_ therefore be furnished with Bibles instanter; send me therefore +the London edition, bad as it is, say 500 copies.” {214c} + +To facilitate the passing of these books through the customs, Borrow +suggested that they should be consigned to the British Consul at Cadiz, +who was friendly to the Society and “would have sufficient influence to +secure their admission into Spain. But the most advisable way,” he goes +on to explain with great guile, “would be to pack them in two chests, +placing at the top Bibles in English and other languages, for there is a +demand, viz., 100 English, 100 French, 50 German, 50 Hebrew, 50 Greek, 10 +Modern Greek, 10 Persian, 20 Arabic. _Pray do not fail_.” {215a} + +When Sir George Villiers first obtained from Isturitz permission for +Borrow to print and sell the New Testament in Spanish without notes, he +had cautioned him “to use the utmost circumspection, and in order to +pursue his vocation with success, to avoid offending popular prejudices, +which would not fail to be excited against a Protestant and a Foreigner +engaged in the propagation of the Gospel.” {215b} This warning the +British Minister had repeated frequently since. It was without +consulting Sir George that Borrow opened his depôt, and “imprudently +painted upon the window that it was the Depôt of the London (sic) Bible +Society for the sale of Bibles. I told him,” Sir George writes “that +such a measure would render the interference of the Authorities +inevitable, and so it turned out.” {215c} + +Borrow now lost the services of the faithful Antonio, who, on the last +day of the year, informed him that he had become unsettled and +dissatisfied with everything at his master’s lodgings, including the +house, the furniture, and the landlady herself. Therefore he had hired +himself out to a count for four dollars a month less than he was +receiving from Borrow, because he was “fond of change, though it be for +the worse. _Adieu_, _mon maitre_,” he said in parting; “may you be as +well served as you deserve. Should you chance, however, to have any +pressing need _de mes soins_, send for me without hesitation, and I will +at once give my new master warning.” A few days later Borrow engaged a +Basque, named Francisco, who “to the strength of a giant joined the +disposition of a lamb,” {216a} and who had been strongly recommended to +him. + +On his return from a hurried visit to Toledo, Borrow found his _Despacho_ +succeeding as well as could be expected. To call attention to his +premises he now took an extremely daring step. He caused to be printed +three thousand copies of an advertisement on paper yellow, blue, and +crimson, “with which I almost covered the sides of the streets” he wrote, +“and besides this inserted notices in all the journals and periodicals, +employing also a man, after the London fashion, to parade the streets +with a placard, to the astonishment of the populace.” {216b} The result +of this move, Borrow declared, was that every man, woman and child in +Madrid became aware of the existence of his _Despacho_, as well they +might. In spite of this commercial enterprise, the first month’s trading +showed a sale of only between seventy and eighty New Testaments, and ten +Bibles, {216c} these having been secured from a Spanish bookseller who +had brought them secretly from Gibraltar, but who was afraid to sell them +himself. Mr Brandram’s comment upon the letter from Borrow telling of +the posters was that its contents had “afforded us no little merriment. +The idea of your placards and placard-bearers in Madrid is indeed a novel +one. It cannot but be effectual in giving publicity. I sincerely hope +it may not be prejudicial.” {216d} + +When in England, at the end of 1836, Borrow had been authorised by the +Bible Society to find “a person competent to translate the Scriptures in +Basque.” On 27_th_ February 1837, he wrote telling Mr Brandram that he +had become “acquainted with a gentleman well versed in that dialect, of +which I myself have some knowledge.” Dr Oteiza, the domestic physician +of the Marqués de Salvatierra, was accordingly commissioned to proceed +with the work, for which, when completed, he was paid the sum of “£8 and +a few odd shillings.” Borrow reported to Mr Brandram (7th June 1837): + + “I have examined it with much attention, and find it a very faithful + version. The only objection which can be brought against it is that + Spanish words are frequently used to express ideas for which there + are equivalents in Basque; but this language, as spoken at present in + Spain, is very corrupt, and a work written entirely in the Basque of + Larramendi’s Dictionary would be intelligible to very few. I have + read passages from it to men of Guipuscoa, who assured me that they + had no difficulty in understanding it, and that it was written in the + colloquial style of the province.” + +Borrow had “obtained a slight acquaintance” with Basque when a youth, +which he lost no opportunity of extending by mingling with Biscayans +during his stay in the Peninsula. He also considerably improved himself +in the language by conversing with his Basque servant Francisco. Borrow +now decided to print the Gitano and Basque versions of St Luke, which he +accordingly put in hand; but as the compositors were entirely ignorant of +both languages, he had to exercise the greatest care in reading the +proofs. + +During his stay in Spain he had found time to translate into the dialect +of the Spanish gypsies the greater part of the New Testament. {217a} His +method had been somewhat original. Believing that there is “no +individual, however wicked and hardened, who is utterly _godless_,” +{217b} he determined to apply his belief to the gypsies. To enlist their +interest in the work, he determined to allow them to do the translating +themselves. At one period of his residence in Madrid he was regularly +visited by two gypsy women, and these he decided to make his translators; +for he found the women far more amenable than the men. In spite of the +fact that he had already translated into Gitano the New Testament, or the +greater part of it, he would read out to the women from the Spanish +version and let them translate it into Romany themselves, thus obtaining +the correct gypsy idiom. The women looked forward to these gatherings +and also to “the one small glass of Malaga” with which their host regaled +them. They had got as far as the eighth chapter before the meetings +ended. What was the moral effect of St Luke upon the minds of two +gypsies? Borrow confessed himself sceptical; first, because he was +acquainted with the gypsy character; second, because it came to his +knowledge that one of the women “committed a rather daring theft shortly +afterwards, which compelled her to conceal herself for a fortnight.” +{218a} Borrow comforted himself with the reflection that “it is quite +possible, however, that she may remember the contents of those chapters +on her death-bed.” {218b} The translation of the remaining chapters was +supplied from Borrow’s own version begun at Badajos in 1836. + +It is not strange that Borrow should be regarded with suspicion by the +Spaniards on account of his association with the Gitanos. Sometimes +there would be as many as seventeen gypsies gathered together at his +lodgings in the Calle de Santiago. + + “The people in the street in which I lived,” he writes, {218c} + “seeing such numbers of these strange females continually passing in + and out, were struck with astonishment, and demanded the reason. The + answers which they obtained by no means satisfied them. ‘Zeal for + the conversion of souls—the souls too of Gitánas,—disparáte! the + fellow is a scoundrel. Besides he is an Englishman, and is not + baptised; what cares he for souls? They visit him for other + purposes. He makes base ounces, which they carry away and circulate. + Madrid is already stocked with false money.’ Others were of the + opinion that we met for the purposes of sorcery and abomination. The + Spaniard has no conception that other springs of action exist than + interest or villany.” + +Borrow was in reality endeavouring to convey to his “little +congregation,” as he called them, some idea of abstract morality. He was +bold enough “to speak against their inveterate practices, thieving and +lying, telling fortunes,” etc., and at first experienced much opposition. +About the result, he seems to have cherished no illusions; still, he +wrote a hymn in their dialect which he taught his guests to sing. + +For some time past it had been obvious to Borrow that he was becoming +more than ever unpopular with certain interested factions in Madrid, who +looked upon his missionary labours with angry disapproval. The opening +of his _Despacho_ had caused a great sensation. “The Priests and Bigots +are teeming with malice and fury,” he had written to Mr Brandram, {219a} +“which hitherto they have thought proper to exhibit only in words, as +they know that all I do here is favoured by Mr Villiers {219b} (sic) . . . +There is no attempt, however atrocious, which may not be expected from +such people, and were it right and seemly for _me_, the most +insignificant of worms, to make such a comparison, I would say that, like +Paul at Ephesus, I am fighting with wild beasts.” He was attacked in +print and endeavours were made to incite the people against him as a +sorcerer and companion of gypsies and witches. When he decided upon the +campaign of the posters it would appear, at first glance, that in the +claims of the merchant Borrow had entirely forgotten the obligations of +the diplomatist. On the other hand, he may have foreseen that the +priestly party would soon force the Government to action, and was +desirous of selling all the books he could before this happened. His own +words seem to indicate that this was the case. + + “People who know me not,” he wrote to Mr Brandram, “nor are + acquainted with my situation, may be disposed to call me rash; but I + am far from being so, as I never adopt a venturous course when any + other is open to me; but I am not a person to be terrified by any + danger when I see that braving it is the only way to achieve an + object.” {220} + +Whatever may have been Borrow’s motives, the crisis arrived on 12th +January, when he received a peremptory order from the Civil Governor of +Madrid (who had previously sent for and received two copies, to submit +for examination to the Ecclesiastical Authorities) to sell no more of the +New Testament in Spanish without notes. At that period the average sale +was about twenty copies a day. “The priests have at length ‘swooped upon +me,’” Borrow wrote to Mr Brandram, three days later. The order did not, +however, take him unawares. + +Borrow saw that little assistance was to be expected from Sir George +Villiers, who, for obvious reasons, was not popular with the Ofalia +ministry, and, accepting the British Minister’s advice, he promptly +complied with the edict. He recognised that for the time being his +enemies were paramount. He accuses the priests of employing the ruffian +who, one night in a dark street, warned him to discontinue selling his +“Jewish books,” or he would “have a knife ‘_nailed in his heart_’” to +which he replied by telling the fellow to go home, say his prayers and +inform his employers that he, Borrow, pitied them. It was a few days +after this episode that Borrow received the formal notice of prohibition. + +Consoling himself with the fact that he was not ordered to close his +_Despacho_, and refusing the advice that was tendered to him to erase +from its windows the yellow-lettered sign, he determined to continue his +campaign with the Bibles that were on their way to him, and the Gitano +and Basque versions of St Luke as soon as they were ready. The +prohibition referred only to the Spanish New Testament without notes, and +in this Borrow took comfort. He had every reason to feel gratified; for, +since opening the _Despacho_, he had sold nearly three hundred copies of +the New Testament. + +At Earl Street it was undoubtedly felt that Borrow had to some extent +precipitated the present crisis. On 8th February Mr Brandram wrote that, +whilst there was no wish on the part of the Committee to censure him, +they were not altogether surprised at what had occurred; for, when they +first heard about them, “some _did_ think that your tri-coloured placards +and placard-bearer were somewhat calculated to provoke what has +occurred.” In reply Borrow confessed that the view of the “some” gave +him “a pang, more especially as I knew from undoubted sources that +nothing which I had done, said, or written, was the original cause of the +arbitrary step which had been adopted in respect to me.” {221a} + +The printing of the Gitano and Basque editions of St Luke (500 copies +{221b} of each) was completed in March, and they were published +respectively in March and April. The Gitano version attracted much +attention. Some months later Borrow wrote:— + + “No work printed in Spain ever caused so great and so general a + sensation, not so much amongst the Gypsies, that peculiar people for + whom it was intended, as amongst the Spaniards themselves, who, + though they look upon the Roma with some degree of contempt as a low + and thievish race of outcasts, nevertheless take a strange interest + in all that concerns them, it having been from time immemorial their + practice, more especially of the dissolute young nobility, to + cultivate the acquaintance of the Gitanos, as they are popularly + called, probably attracted by the wild wit of the latter and the + lascivious dances of the females. The apparation, therefore, of the + Gospel of St Luke at Madrid in the peculiar jargon of these people, + was hailed as a strange novelty and almost as a wonder, and I believe + was particularly instrumental in bruiting the name of the Bible + Society far and wide through Spain, and in creating a feeling far + from inimical towards it and its proceedings.” {222a} + +The little volume appears to have sold freely among the gypsies. “Many +of the men,” Borrow says, {222b} “understood it, and prized it highly, +induced of course more by the language than the doctrine; the women were +particularly anxious to obtain copies, though unable to read; but each +wished to have one in her pocket, especially when engaged in thieving +expeditions, for they all looked upon it in the light of a charm.” + +All endeavours to get the prohibition against the sale of the New +Testament removed proved unavailing. Borrow’s great strength lay in the +support he received from the British Minister, and, in all probability, +this prevented his expulsion from Spain, which alone would have satisfied +his enemies. At the request of Sir George Villiers, he drew up an +account of the Bible Society and an exposition of its views, telling +Count Ofalia, among other things, that “the mightiest of earthly +monarchs, the late Alexander of Russia, was so convinced of the +single-mindedness and integrity of the British and Foreign Bible Society, +that he promoted their efforts within his own dominions to the utmost of +his ability.” He pointed to the condition of Spain, which was +“overspread with the thickest gloom of heathenish ignorance, beneath +which the fiends and demons of the abyss seem to be holding their ghastly +revels.” He described it as “a country in which all sense of right and +wrong is forgotten . . . where the name of Jesus is scarcely ever +mentioned but in blasphemy, and His precepts [are] almost utterly unknown +. . . [where] the few who are enlightened are too much occupied in the +pursuit of lucre, ambition, or ungodly revenge to entertain a desire or +thought of bettering the moral state of their countrymen.” This report, +in which Borrow confesses that he “made no attempts to flatter and +cajole,” must have caused the British Minister some diplomatic +embarrassment when he read it; but it seems to have been presented, +although, as is scarcely surprising, it appears to have been ineffectual +in causing to be removed the ban against which it was written as a +protest. + +The Prime Minister was in a peculiarly unpleasant position. On the one +hand there was the British Minister using all his influence to get the +prohibition rescinded; on the other hand were six bishops, including the +primate, then resident in Madrid, and the greater part of the clergy. +Count Ofalia applied for a copy of the Gipsy St Luke, and, seeing in this +an opening for a personal appeal, Borrow determined to present the +volume, specially and handsomely bound, in person, probably the last +thing that Count Ofalia expected or desired. The interview produced +nothing beyond the conviction in Borrow’s mind that Spain was ruled by a +man who possessed the soul of a mouse. Borrow had been received “with +great affability,” thanked for his present, urged to be patient and +peaceable, assured of the enmity of the clergy, and promised that an +endeavour should be made to devise some plan that would be satisfactory +to him. The two then “parted in kindness,” and as he walked away from +the palace, Borrow wondered “by what strange chance this poor man had +become Prime Minister of a country like Spain.” + +In reporting progress to the Bible Society on 17th March Borrow, after +assuring Mr Brandram that he had “brought every engine into play which it +was in my power to command,” asked for instructions. “Shall I wait a +little time longer in Madrid,” he enquired; “or shall I proceed at once +on a journey to Andalusia and other places? I am in strength, health and +spirits, thanks be to the Lord! and am at all times ready to devote +myself, body and mind, to His cause.” {224a} The decision of the +Committee was that he should remain at Madrid. + +During the time that Borrow had been preparing his Depôt in Madrid, +Lieutenant Graydon had been feverishly active in the South. On 19th +April Borrow wrote to Mr Brandram:— + + “Sir George Villiers has vowed to protect me and has stated so + publicly . . . He has gone so far as to state to Ofalia and [Don + Ramon de] Gamboa [the Civil Governor], that provided I be allowed to + pursue my plans without interruption, he will be my bail (_fiador_) + and answerable for everything I do, as he does me the honor to say + that he knows me, and can confide in _my_ discretion.” + +In the same letter he begs the Society to be cautious and offer no +encouragement to any disposed “‘to run the muck’ (_sic_) (it is Sir +George’s expression) against the religious and political _institutions_ +of Spain”; but “the delicacy of the situation does not appear to have +been thoroughly understood at the time even by the Committee at home.” +{224b} They saw the astonishing success of Graydon in distributing the +Scripture, and became infused with his enthusiasm, oblivious to the fact +that the greater the enthusiasm the greater the possibilities of +indiscretion. On the other hand Graydon himself saw only the glory of +the Gospel. If he were indiscreet, it was because he was blinded by the +success that attended his efforts, and he failed to see the clouds that +were gathering. {225} Borrow saw the danger of Graydon’s reckless +evangelism, and although he himself had few good words for the pope and +priestcraft, he recognised that a discreet veiling of his opinions was +best calculated to further the ends he had in view. + +About this period Borrow became greatly incensed at the action of the +Rev. W. H. Rule of Gibraltar in consigning to his care an ex-priest, Don +Pascual Mann, who, it was alleged, had been persuaded to secede from Rome +“by certain promises and hopes held out” to him. He had accordingly left +his benefice and gone to Gibraltar to receive instruction at the hands of +Mr Rule. On his return to Valencia his salary was naturally +sequestrated, and he was reduced to want. When he arrived at Madrid it +was with a letter (12th April) from Mr Rule to Borrow, in which it was +stated that Mann was sent that he might “endeavour to circulate the Holy +Scriptures, Religious Tracts and books, and if possible prepare the minds +of some with a view to the future establishment of a Mission in Madrid.” + +Borrow had commiserated with the unfortunate Mann, even to the extent of +sending him 500 _reals_ out of his own pocket; but on hearing that he was +on his way to Madrid to engage in missionary work, he immediately wrote a +letter of protest to Mr Brandram. He was angry at Mr Rule’s conduct in +saddling him with Mann, and that without any preliminary correspondence. +He had entertained Mr Rule when in Madrid, had conversed with him about +the unfortunate ex-priest; but there had never been any mention of his +being sent to Madrid. Mr Rule, on the other hand, thought it had been +arranged that Mann should be sent to Borrow. The whole affair appears to +have arisen out of a misunderstanding. There was considerable danger to +Borrow in Mann’s presence in the capital; but it was not the thought of +the danger that incensed him so much as what he conceived to be Mr Rule’s +unwarrantable conduct, and his own deeply-rooted objection to working +with anyone else. Mr Brandram repudiated the suggestion that assistance +had been promised Mann from London (although he authorised Borrow to give +him ten pounds in his, Brandram’s, name), and gave as an excuse for what +Borrow described as the desertion of the ex-priest by those who were +responsible for his conversion, that “the man had returned of his own +accord to Rome,” Graydon vouching for the accuracy of the statement. + +On the other hand, Mann stated that he was persuaded to secede by +promises made by Graydon and Rule, and induced to sign a document +purporting to be a separation from the Roman Church. He further stated +that he was abandoned because he refused to preach publicly against the +Chapter of Valencia, which in all probability would have resulted in his +imprisonment. Whatever the truth, there appears to have been some +embarrassment among those responsible for bringing in the lost sheep as +to what should be done with him. “I hope that Mann’s history will be a +warning to many of our friends,” Borrow wrote to Mr Rule and quoted the +passage in his letter to Mr Brandram, {226} “and tend to a certain extent +to sober down the desire for doing what is called at home _smart things_, +many of which terminate in a manner very different from the original +expectations of the parties concerned.” Mr Brandram thought that Borrow +was a little hard upon Graydon, and that he had not received “with the +due _grano salis_ the statements of the unfortunate M.” He intimated, +nevertheless, that the Committee had no opening for Mann’s services. + +That Borrow was justified in his anger is shown by the fact that, as he +had foreseen, he reaped all the odium of Mann’s conversion. The Bishop +of Cordoba in Council branded him as “a dangerous, pestilent person, who +under the pretence of selling the Scriptures went about making converts, +and moreover employed subordinates for the purpose of deluding weak and +silly people into separation from the Mother Church.” {227a} + +Although Borrow was angry about the Mann episode, he did not allow his +personal feelings to prevent him from ministering to the needs of the +poor ex-priest “as far as prudence will allow,” when he fell ill. He +even went the length of writing to Mr Rule, being wishful “not to offend +him.” None the less he felt that he had not been well treated. To Mr +Brandram he wrote reminding him “that all the difficulty and danger +connected with what has been accomplished in Spain have fallen to my +share, I having been labouring on the flinty rock and sierra, and not in +smiling meadows refreshed by sea breezes.” {227b} + +On 14th July 1838 Borrow made the last reference to the ex-priest in a +letter to Mr Brandram: “The unfortunate M. is dying of a galloping +consumption, brought on by distress of mind. All the medicine in the +world would not accomplish his cure.” {227c} + +The watchful eye of the law was still on Borrow, and fearful lest his +stock of Bibles, of which 500 had arrived from Barcelona, and the Gypsy +and Basque editions of St Luke should be seized, he hired a room where he +stored the bulk of the books. He now advertised the two editions of St +Luke, with the result that on 16th April a party of _Alguazils_ entered +the shop and took possession of twenty-five copies of the Romany Gospel +of St Luke. + +On the publication of the Gypsy St Luke, a fresh campaign had been opened +against Borrow, and accusations of sorcery were made and fears expressed +as to the results of the publication of the book. Application was made +by the priestly party to the Civil Governor, with the result that all the +copies at the _Despacho_ of the Basque and Gitano versions of St Luke had +been seized. Borrow states that the _Alguazils_ “divided the copies of +the gypsy volume among themselves, selling subsequently the greater +number at a large price, the book being in the greatest demand.” {228a} +Thus the very officials responsible for the seizure and suppression of +the Bible Society’s books in Spain became “unintentionally agents of an +heretical society.” {228b} + +Disappointed at the smallness of the spoil, the authorities strove by +artifice to discover if Borrow still had copies of the books in his +possession. To this end they sent to the _Despacho_ spies, who offered +high prices for copies of the Gitano St Luke, in which their interest +seemed specially to centre, to the exclusion of the Basque version. To +these enquiries the same answer was returned, that at present no further +books would be sold at the _Despacho_. + +As evidence of the high opinion formed of the Romany version of St Luke, +the following story told by Borrow is amusing:— + + “Shortly before my departure a royal edict was published, authorising + all public libraries to provide themselves with copies of the said + works [the Basque and Gypsy St Lukes] on account of their + philological merit; whereupon on application being made to the Office + [of the Civil Governor, where the books were supposed to be stored], + it was discovered that the copies of the Gospel in Basque were safe + and forthcoming, whilst every one of the sequestered copies of the + Gitano Gospel had been plundered by hands unknown [to the + authorities]. The consequence was that I was myself applied to by + the agents of the public libraries of Valencia and other places, who + paid me the price of the copies which they received, assuring me at + the same time that they were authorised to purchase them at whatever + price which might be demanded.” {229a} + +Borrow’s enemies acknowledged that the Gitano St Luke was a philological +curiosity; but that it was impossible to allow it to pass into +circulation without notes. How great a philological curiosity it +actually was, is shown by the fact that the ecclesiastical authorities +were unable to find anywhere a person, in whom they had confidence, +capable of pronouncing upon it, consequently they could only condemn it +on two counts of omission; firstly the notes, secondly the imprint of the +printer from the title-page. + +The Basque version was by no means so popular; for one thing, “It can +scarcely be said to have been published,” Borrow wrote, “it having been +prohibited, and copies of it seized on the second day of its appearance.” +{229b} Several orders were received from San Sebastian and other towns +where Basque predominates, which could not be supplied on account of the +prohibition. + +The official remonstrance from Sir George Villiers to Count Ofalia in +respect of the seizure of the Gypsy and Basque Gospels is of great +interest as showing, not only the British Minister’s attitude towards +Borrow, but how, and with what wrath, Borrow “desisted from his +meritorious task.” The communication runs:— + + MADRID, 24_th_ _April_ 1838. + + SIR, + + It is my duty to request the attention of Your Excellency to an act + of injustice committed against a British subject by the Civil + Authorities of Madrid. + + It appears that on the 16th inst., two officers of Police were sent + by the Civil Governor to a Shop, No. 25 Calle del Principe occupied + by Mr Borrow, where they seized and carried away 25 Copies of the + Gospel of St Luke in the Gitano language, being the entire number + exposed there for sale. + + Mr Borrow is an agent of the British Bible Society, who has for some + time past been in Spain, and in the year 1836 obtained permission + from the Government of Her Catholic Majesty to print, at the expense + of the Society, Padre Scio’s translation of the New Testament. He + subsequently sold the work at a moderate price and had no reason to + believe that in so doing he infringed any law of Spain or exposed + himself to the animadversion of the Authorities, otherwise, from my + knowledge of Mr Borrow’s character, I feel justified in assuring Your + Excellency that he would at once, although with regret, have desisted + from his meritorious task of propagating the Gospel. Some months + ago, however, the late Civil Governor of Madrid, after having sent + for and examined a copy of the work, thought proper to direct that + its further sale should be suspended, which order was instantly + complied with. + + Mr Borrow is a man of great learning and research and master of many + languages, and having translated the Gospel of St Luke into the + Gitano, he presented a copy of it to Don Ramon Gamboa, the late Civil + Governor, and announced his intention to advertise it for sale, to + which no objection was made. + + Since that time neither Mr Borrow nor the persons employed by him + received any communication from the present Civil Governor forbidding + the sale of this work until it was seized in the manner I have above + described to Your Excellency. + + I feel convinced that the mere statement of these facts without any + commentary on my part will be sufficient to induce your Excellency to + take steps for the indemnification of Mr Borrow, who is not only a + very respectable British subject but the Agent of one of the most + truly benevolent and philanthropic Societies in the world. + + I have, etc., etc., etc. + + GEORGE VILLIERS. + + His Excellency Count Ofalia. + + + + +CHAPTER XV +MAY 1–13, 1838 + + +ON the morning of 30th April, whilst at breakfast, Borrow, according to +his own account, received a visit from a man who announced that he was “A +Police Agent.” He came from the Civil Governor, who was perfectly aware +that he, Borrow, was continuing in secret to dispose of the “evil books” +that he had been forbidden to sell. The man began poking round among the +books and papers that were lying about, with the result that Borrow led +his visitor by the arm down the three flights of stairs into the street, +“looking him steadfastly in the face the whole time,” and subsequently +sending down by his landlady the official’s sombrero, which, in the +unexpectedness of his departure, he had left behind him. + +The official report of Pedro Martin de Eugenio, the police agent in +question, runs as follows:— + + MADRID, 30_th_ _April_ 1838. + + OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE POLICE AGENT OF THE LANGUAGE HELD BY MR + BORROW. + + _Public Security_.—In virtue of an order from His Excellency the + Civil Governor, {231} I went to seize the Copies Entitled the Gospel + of St Luke, in the Shop Princes Street No. 25, belonging to Mr George + Borrow, but not finding him there; I went to his lodgings, which are + in St James Street, No. 16, on the third floor and presenting the + said order to Him He read it, and with an angry look threw it on the + ground saying, that He had nothing to do with the Civil Governor, + that He was authorised by His Ambassador to sell the Work in + question, and that an English Stable Boy, is more than any Spanish + Civil Governor, and that I had forcibly entered his house, to which I + replied that I only went there to communicate the order to Him, as + proprietor as he was of the said Shop, and to seize the Copies in it + in virtue of that Order, and He answered I might do as I liked, that + He should go to the House of His Ambassador, and that I should be + responsible for the consequences; to which I replied that He had + personally insulted the Civil Governor and all Spain, to which He + answered in the same terms, holding the same language as above + stated. + + All of which I communicate to you for the objects required. + + THE POLICE AGENT + PEDRO MARTIN DE EUGENIO. {232a} + +Borrow felt that the fellow had been sent to entrap him into some +utterance that should justify his arrest. In any case a warrant was +issued that same morning. The news caused Borrow no alarm; for one thing +he was indifferent to danger, for another he was desirous of studying the +robber language of Spain, and had already, according to his own +statement, {232b} made an unsuccessful effort to obtain admission to the +city prison. + +The official account of the interview between Borrow and the “Police +Agent” is given in the following letter from the Civil Governor to Sir +George Villiers:— + + To the British Minister,— + + MADRID, 30_th_ _April_ 1838. + + SIR, + + The Vicar of the Diocese having, on the 16th and 26th Instant, + officially represented to me, that neither the publication nor the + sale of the Gospel of St Luke translated into the romain, or Gitano + Dialect ought to be permitted, until such time as the translation had + been examined and approved by the competent Ecclesiastical Authority, + in conformity with the Canonical and Civil regulations existing on + the matter, I gave an order to a dependent of this civil + administration, to present himself in the house of Mr George Borrow, + a British Subject, charged by the London Bible Society with the + publication of this work, and to seize all the Copies of it. In + execution of this order my Warrant was yesterday morning {233} + presented to the said Mr George Borrow; who, so far from obeying it, + broke out in insults most offensive to my authority, threw the order + on the ground with angry gestures, and grossly abused the bearer of + it, and said that he had nothing to do with the Civil Governor. The + detailed report in writing which has been made to me of this + disageeeable occurrence could not but deeply affect me, being a + question of a British Subject, to whom the Government of Her Catholic + Majesty has always afforded the same protection as to its own. As + Executor of the Law it is my duty to cause its decrees to be + inviolably observed; and you will well understand, that both the + Canonical as the Civil Laws now existing, in this kingdom, relative + to writings and works published upon Dogmas, Morals, and holy and + religious matters, are the same without distinction for the Subjects + of all Countries residing in Spain. No one can be permitted to + violate them with impunity, without detriment to the Laws themselves, + to the Royal Authority and to the Evangelical Moral which is highly + interested in preventing the propagation of doctrines which may be + erroneous, and that the purity of the sublime maxims of our divine + Faith should remain intact. + + In conformity with these undeniable principles, which are in the Laws + of all civilised nations, you must acknowledge that the offensive + conduct of Mr George Borrow, and his disobedience to a legitimate + Authority sufficiently authorised the proceeding to his arrest . . . + + I have, etc., etc. + + DEIGO DE ENTRENA. + +The “Police Agent” seems to have boasted that within twenty-four hours +Borrow would be in prison; Borrow, on the other hand, determined to prove +the “Police Agent” wrong. He therefore spent the rest of the day and the +following night at a café. {234a} In the evening he received a visit +from Maria Diaz, {234b} his landlady and also his strong adherent and +friend, whom he had informed of his whereabouts. From her he learned +that his lodgings had been searched and that the _alguazils_, who bore a +warrant for his arrest, were much disappointed at not finding him. + +The next morning, 1st May, at the request of Sir George Villiers, Borrow +called at the Embassy and narrated every circumstance of the affair, with +the result that he was offered the hospitality of the Embassy, which he +declined. Whilst in conversation with Mr Sothern, Sir George Villiers’ +private secretary, Borrow’s Basque servant Francisco rushed in with the +news that the _alguazils_ were again at his rooms searching among his +papers, whereat Borrow at once left the Embassy, determined to return to +his lodgings. Immediately afterwards he was arrested, {234c} within +sight of the doors of the Embassy, and conducted to the office of the +Civil Governor. Francisco in the meantime, acting on his master’s +instructions, conveyed to him in Basque that the _alguazils_ might not +understand, proceeded immediately to the British Embassy and informed Sir +George Villiers of what had just taken place, with such eloquence and +feeling that Mr Sothern afterwards remarked to Borrow, “That Basque of +yours is a noble fellow,” and asked to be given the refusal of his +services should Borrow ever decide to part with him. With his dependents +Borrow was always extremely popular, even in Spain, where, according to +Mr Sothern, a man’s servant seemed to be his worst enemy. + +Borrow submitted quietly to his arrest and was first taken to the office +of the Civil Governor (_Gefatura Politica_), and subsequently to the +Carcel de la Corte, by two Salvaguardias, “like a common malefactor.” +Here he was assigned a chamber that was “large and lofty, but totally +destitute of every species of furniture with the exception of a huge +wooden pitcher, intended to hold my daily allowance of water.” {235} For +this special accommodation Borrow was to pay, otherwise he would have +been herded with the common criminals, who existed in a state of foulness +and misery. Acting on the advice of the _Alcayde_, Borrow despatched a +note to Maria Diaz, with the result that when Mr Sothern arrived, he +found the prisoner not only surrounded by his friends and furniture, but +enjoying a comfortable meal, whereat he laughed heartily. + +Borrow learned that, immediately on hearing what had taken place, Sir +George Villiers had despatched Mr Sothern to interview Señor Entrena, the +Civil Governor, who rudely referred him to his secretary, and refused to +hold any communication with the British Legation save in writing. +Nothing further could be done that night, and on hearing that Borrow was +determined to remain in durance, even if offered his liberty, now that he +had been illegally placed there, Mr Sothern commended his resolution. +The Government had put itself grievously in the wrong, and Sir George, +who had already sent a note to Count Ofalia demanding redress, seemed +desirous of making it as difficult for them as possible, now that they +had perpetrated this wanton outrage on a British subject. He determined +to make it a national affair. + +It is by no means certain that Borrow was anxious to leave the _Carcel de +la Corte_, even with the apologies of Spain in his pocket. The prison +afforded him unique opportunities for the study of criminal vagabonds. +An entirely new phase of life presented itself to him, and, but for this +arrest and his subsequent decision to involve the authorities in +difficulties, _The Bible in Spain_ would have lacked some of its most +picturesque pages. It would have been strange if he had not encountered +some old friend or acquaintance in the prison of the Spanish capital. At +the _Carcel de la Corte_ he found the notorious and immense Gitana, +Aurora, who had fallen into the hands of the _Busné_ for defrauding a +rather foolish widow. + +“A great many people came to see me,” Borrow wrote to his mother, +“amongst others, General Quiroga, the Military Governor, who assured me +that all he possessed was at my service. The Gypsies likewise came, but +were refused admittance.” His dinner was taken to him from an inn, and +Sir George Villiers sent his butler each day to make enquiries. There +was, however, one very unpleasant feature of his prison life, the +verminous condition of the whole building. In spite of having fresh +linen taken to him each day, he suffered very much from what the polished +Spaniard prefers to call _miseria_. + +Sir George Villiers took active and immediate steps, not only to secure +Borrow’s release, but to obtain an unqualified apology. Referring to the +letter he had received from the Civil Governor (30th April), he expressed +himself as convinced that “a gentleman of Borrow’s character and +education was incapable of the conduct alleged,” and had accordingly +requested Mr Sothern to enquire into the matter and then to call upon the +Civil Governor to explain in what manner he had been misinformed. As the +Civil Governor refused to receive Mr Sothern, Sir George adds that he +need trouble him no further, as the affair had been placed before Her +Catholic Majesty’s Government; but during his five years of office at the +Court of Madrid, he proceeded, “no circumstance has occurred likely to be +more prejudicial to the relations between the two Countries than the +insult and imprisonment to which a respectable Englishman has now been +subjected upon the unsupported evidence of a Police Officer,” acting +under the orders of the Civil Governor. + +On 3rd May Sir George Villiers wrote again to Count Ofalia, reminding him +that he had not received the letter from him that he had expected. In +the course of a lengthy recapitulation of the occurrences of the past ten +days, Sir George reminded Count Ofalia that, as a result of their +interview on 30th April about the ill-usage of Borrow, the Count had +written on 1st May to him a private letter stating that measures had been +taken to release Borrow on _parole_, he to appear when necessary, and +that if Sir George would abstain from making a written remonstrance, +Count Ofalia would see that both he and Borrow received the ample +satisfaction to which they were entitled. Borrow had been taken by two +Guards “like a Malefactor, to the Common Prison, where he would have been +confined with Criminals of every description if he had not had money to +pay for a Cell to Himself.” The British Minister complained that every +step that he had taken for Borrow’s protection was followed by fresh +insult, and he further intimated that Borrow refused to leave the prison +until his character had been publicly cleared. + +The Spanish Government now found itself in a quandary. The British +Minister was pressing for satisfaction, and he was too powerful and too +important to the needs of Spain to be offended. The prisoner himself +refused to be liberated, because he had been illegally arrested, inasmuch +as he, a foreigner, had been committed to prison without first being +conducted before the Captain-General of Madrid, as the law provided. +Furthermore, Borrow advised the authorities that if they chose to eject +him from the prison he would resist with all his bodily strength. In +this determination he was confirmed by the British Minister. + +A Cabinet Council was held, at which Señor Entrena was present. The +Premier explained the serious situation in which the ministry found +itself, owing to the attitude assumed by the British Minister, and he +remarked that the Civil Governor must respect the privileges of +foreigners. Señor Entrena suggested that he should be relieved of his +duties; but the majority of the Cabinet seems to have been favourable to +him. The _Affaire Borrow_ is said to have come up for debate even during +a secret session of the Chamber. + +When Count Ofalia had called at the British Embassy (4th May) he was +informed by Sir George Villiers that the affair had passed beyond the +radius of a subordinate authority of the Government, and that he +“considered that great want of respect had been shown to me, as Her +Majesty’s Minister, and that an unjustifiable outrage had been committed +upon a British Subject,” {238a} and that the least reparation that he was +disposed to accept was a written declaration that an injustice had been +done, and the dismissal of the Police Officer. {238b} + +The value of a British subject’s freedom was brought home to the Spanish +Government with astonishing swiftness and decision. The Civil Governor +wrote to Sir George Villiers (3rd May), apparently at the instance of the +distraught premier, discoursing sagely upon the Civil and Canon Laws of +Spain, and adding that the 25 copies of the Gitano St Luke were seized, +“not as being confiscated, but as a deposit to be restored in due time.” +He concluded by hoping that he had convinced the British Minister of his +good faith. + +In his reply, Sir George considered that the Civil Governor had been led +to view the matter in a light that would not “bear the test of impartial +examination.” The result of this interchange of letters was twofold. +Sir George dropped the correspondence with “that Functionary [who] +displays so complete a disregard for fact,” {239a} and as Count Ofalia +evaded the real question at issue, holding out “slender hopes of the +matter ending in the reparation which I considered to be peremptorily +called for,” {239b} he advised Borrow to claim protection from the +Captain-General, the only authority competent to exercise any +jurisdiction over him. The Captain-General Quiroga, jealous of his +authority, entered warmly into the dispute and ordered the Civil Governor +to hand over the case to him. There was now a danger of the _Affaire +Borrow_ being made a party question, in which case it would have been +extremely difficult to settle. + +The intervention of the Captain-General rendered all the more obvious the +illegality of the Civil Governor’s action, and increased the +embarrassment of Count Ofalia, who called on Sir George to ask him to +have Borrow’s memorial to the Captain-General withdrawn. He refused, and +said the only way now to finish the affair was that “His Excellency +should in an official Note declare to me that Mr Borrow left the prison, +where he had been improperly placed, with unstained honour,—that the +Police Agent, upon whose testimony he had been arrested, should be +dismissed,—that all expenses imposed upon Mr Borrow by his detention +should be repaid him by the Government,—that Mr Borrow’s not having +availed himself of the ‘Fuero Militar’ should not be converted into a +precedent, or in any way be considered to prejudice that important right, +and that Count Ofalia should add with reference to maintaining the +friendly relations between Great Britain and Spain, that he hoped I would +accept this satisfaction as sufficient.” {240a} + +Borrow states that Sir George Villiers went to the length of informing +Count Ofalia that unless full satisfaction were accorded Borrow, he would +demand his passports and instruct the commanders of the British war +vessels to desist from furnishing further assistance to Spain. {240b} +There is, however, no record of this in the official papers sent by Sir +George to the Foreign Office. What actually occurred was that, on 8th +May, the British Minister, determined to brook no further delay, wrote a +grave official remonstrance, in which he stated that, “if the desire had +existed to bring it to a close,” the case of Borrow could have been +settled. “Having up to the present moment,” he proceeds, “trusted that +in Your Excellency’s hands, this affair would be treated with all that +consideration required by its nature and the consequences that may follow +upon it . . . I have forborne from denouncing the whole extent of the +illegality which has marked the proceedings of the case” (viz., the Civil +Governor’s having usurped the right of the Captain-General of the +Province in causing Borrow’s arrest). In conclusion, Sir George states +that he considers the + + “case of most pressing importance, for it may compromise the + relations now existing between Great Britain and Spain. It is one + that requires a complete satisfaction, for the honor of England and + the future position of Englishmen in the Country are concerned; and + the satisfaction, in order to be complete, required to be promptly + given.” + + “This disagreeable business,” Sir George writes in another of his + despatches, “is rendered yet more so by the impossibility of + defending with success all Mr Borrow’s proceedings . . . His + imprudent zeal likewise in announcing publicly that the Bible Society + had a depôt of Bibles in Madrid, and that he was the Agent for their + sale, irritated the Ecclesiastical Authorities, whose attention has + of late been called to the proceedings of a Mr Graydon,—another agent + of the Bible Society, who has created great excitement at Malaga (and + I believe in other places) by publishing in the Newspapers that the + Catholic Religion was not the religion of God, and that he had been + sent from England to convert Spaniards to Protestantism. I have upon + more than one occasion cautioned Mr Graydon, but in vain, to be more + prudent. The Methodist Society of England is likewise endeavouring + to establish a School at Cadiz, and by that means to make + conversions. + + “Under all these circumstances it is not perhaps surprising that the + Archbishop of Toledo and the Heads of the Church should be alarmed + that an attempt at Protestant Propagandism is about to be made, or + that the Government should wish to avert the evils of religious + schism in addition to all those which already weigh upon the Country; + and to these different causes it must, in some degree, be attributed + that Mr Borrow has been an object of suspicion and treated with such + extreme rigor. Still, however, they do not justify the course + pursued by the Civil Governor towards him, or by the Government + towards myself, and I trust Your Lordship will consider that in the + steps I have taken upon the matter, I have done no more than what the + National honor, and the security of Englishmen in this Country, + rendered obligatory upon me.” {241a} + +Whilst Borrow was in the _Carcel de la Corte_, a grave complication had +arisen in connection with the misguided Lieutenant Graydon. Borrow gives +a strikingly dramatic account {241b} of Count Ofalia’s call at the +British Embassy. He is represented as arriving with a copy of one of +Graydon’s bills, which he threw down upon a table calling upon Sir George +Villiers to read it and, as a gentleman and the representative of a great +and enlightened nation, tell him if he could any longer defend Borrow and +say that he had been ill or unfairly treated. According to the Foreign +Office documents, Count Ofalia _wrote_ to Sir George Villiers on 5th May, +_enclosing_ a copy of an advertisement inserted by Lieutenant Graydon in +the _Boletin Oficial de Malaga_, which, translated, runs as follows:— + + “The Individual in question most earnestly calls the greatest + attention of each member of the great Spanish Family to this _divine_ + Book, in order that _through it_ he may learn the chief cause, if not + the _sole one_, of all his terrible afflictions and of his _only_ + remedy, as it is so clearly manifested in the Holy Scripture . . . A + detestable system of superstition and fanaticism, _only greedy for + money_, and not so either of the temporal or eternal felicity of man, + has prevailed in Spain (as also in other Nations) during several + Centuries, by the _absolute_ exclusion of the true knowledge of the + Great God and last Judge of Mankind: and thus it has been plunged + into the most frightful calamities. There was a time in which + precisely the same was read in the then _very little_ Kingdom of + England, but at length Her Sons recognising their imperative _Duty_ + towards God and their Neighbour, as also their unquestionable rights, + and that since the world exists it has never been possible to gather + grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles, they destroyed the system + and at the price of their blood chose the Bible. Oh that the + unprejudiced and enlightened inhabitants not only of Malaga and of so + many other Cities, but of all Spain, would follow so good an + example.” {242a} + +The result of Graydon’s advertisement was that “the people flocked in +crowds to purchase it [the Bible], so much so that 200 copies, all that +were in Mr Graydon’s possession at the time, were sold in the course of +the day. The Bishop sent the Fiscal to stop the sale of the work, but +before the necessary measures were taken they were all disposed of.” +{242b} In consequence Graydon “was detained and under my [the Consul’s] +responsibility allowed to remain at large.” {243a} A jury of nine all +pronounced the article to contain “matter subject to legal process” +{243b} but a second jury of twelve at the subsequent public trial +“unanimously absolved” Graydon. + +Sir George Villiers acknowledged the letter from Count Ofalia (9th May) +saying that he had written to Graydon warning him to be more cautious in +future. He stated that from personal knowledge he could vouch for the +purity of Lieutenant Graydon’s intentions; but he regretted that he +should have announced his object in so imprudent a manner as to give +offence to the ministers of the Catholic religion of Spain. In a +despatch to Lord Palmerston he states that he has not thought it in the +interests of the Bible Society to defend this conduct of Graydon, “whose +zeal appears so little tempered by discretion,” {243c} as he had written +to Count Ofalia. “Had I done so,” he proceeds, “and thereby tended to +confirm some of the idle reports that are current, that England had a +national object to serve in the propagation of Protestantism in Spain, it +is not improbable that a legislative Enactment might have been introduced +by some Member of the Cortes, which would be offensive to England, and +render it yet more difficult than it is the task the Bible Society seems +desirous to undertake in this Country.” {243d} Sir George concludes by +saying that he gave to “these Agents the best advice and assistance in my +power, but if by their acts they infringe the laws of the Country,” it +will be impossible to defend them. + +Sir George thought so seriously of the _Affaire Borrow_, as endangering +the future liberty of Englishmen in Spain, that he went so far as to send +a message to the Queen Regent, “by a means which I always have at my +disposal,” {244a} in which he told her that he thought the affair “might +end in a manner most injurious to the continuance of friendly relations +between the two Countries.” {244b} He received a gracious assurance that +he should have satisfaction. Later there reached him + + “a second message from the Queen Regent expressing Her Majesty’s hope + that Count Ofalia’s Note [of 11th May] would be satisfactory to me, + and stating that Her Ministers had so fully proved their incompetency + by giving any just cause of complaint to the Minister of Her only + real Friend and Ally, The Queen of England, that she should have + dismissed them, were it not that the state of affairs in the Northern + Provinces at this moment might be prejudiced by a change of + Government, which Her Majesty said she knew no one more than myself + would regret, but at the same time if I was not satisfied I had only + to state what I required and it should be immediately complied with. + My answer was confined to a grateful acknowledgement of Her Majesty’s + condescension and kindness. Count Ofalia has informed me that as + President of the Council He had enjoined all his Colleagues never to + take any step directly or indirectly concerning an Englishman without + a previous communication with Him as to its propriety, and I + therefore venture to hope that the case of Mr Borrow will not be + unattended with ultimate advantage to British subjects in Spain.” + {244c} + +The “Note” referred to by the Queen Regent in her message was Count +Ofalia’s acquiescence in Sir George Villiers’ demands, with the exception +of the dismissal of the Police Officer. His communication runs:— + + “11_th_ _May_ 1838. + + “SIR,—The affair of Mr Borrow is already decided by the Judge of + First Instance and his decision has been approved by the Superior or + Territorial Court of the Province. As I stated to you in my note of + the fourth last, the foundation of the arrest of Mr Borrow, who was + detained (and not committed), was an official communication from the + Agent of Police, Don Pedro Martin de Eugenio, in which he averred + that on intimating to Mr Borrow the written order of the Civil + Governor relative to the seizure of a book which he had published and + exposed for sale without complying with the forms prescribed by the + Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws of Spain, he (Mr Borrow) had thrown on + the floor the order of the Superior Authority of the Province and + used offensive expressions with regard to the said Authority. + + “The judicial proceedings have had for their object the ascertainment + of the fact. Mr Borrow has denied the truth of the statement and the + Agent of Police, who it appears entered the lodgings of Mr Borrow + without being accompanied by any one, has been unable to confirm by + evidence what he alleged in his official report, or to produce the + testimony of any one in support of it. + + “This being the case the judge has declared and the Territorial Court + approved the superceding of the cause, putting Mr Borrow immediately + at complete liberty, with the express declaration that the arrest he + has suffered in no wise affects his honor and good fame, and that the + ‘_celador_ of Public Security,’ Don Pedro Martin de Eugenio, be + admonished for the future to proceed in the discharge of his duty + with proper respect and circumspection according to the condition and + character of the persons whom he has to address. + + “In accordance with the judicial decision and anxious to give + satisfaction to Mr Borrow, correcting at the same time the fault of + the Agent of Police in having presented himself without being + accompanied by any person in order to effect the seizure in the + lodging of Mr Borrow, Her Majesty has thought proper to command that + the aforesaid Don Pedro Martin de Eugenio be suspended from his + office for the space of Four Months, an order which I shall + communicate to the Minister of the Interior, and that Mr Borrow be + indemnified for the expenses which may have been incurred by his + lodging in the apartment of the Alcaide (chief gaoler or Governor) + for the days of his detention, although even before the expiration of + 24 hours after his arrest he was permitted to return to his house + under his word of honor during the judicial proceedings, as I stated + to you in my note already cited. I flatter myself that in this + determination you as well as your Government will see a fresh proof + of the desire which animates that of H.M. the Queen Regent to + maintain and draw closer the relation of friendship and alliance + existing between the two countries. And with respect to the claim + advanced by Mr Borrow, and of which you also make mention in Your + Note of the 8th inst., I ought to declare to you that when the Judge + of First Instance received official information of the said claim the + business was already concluded in his tribunal, and consequently + there was nothing to be done. Without, for this reason, there being + understood any innovation with respect to the matter of privilege + (_fuero_) according as it is now established.” {246a} + +Borrow was liberated with unsullied honour on 12th May, after twelve +days’ imprisonment. He refused the compensation that Sir George Villiers +had made a condition, and later wrote to the Bible Society asking that +there might be deducted from the amount due to him the expenses of the +twelve days. He states also that he refused to acquiesce in the +dismissal of the Agent of Police, by which he doubtless means his +suspension, giving as a reason that there might be a wife and family +likely to suffer. In any case the man was only carrying out his +instructions. Borrow’s reason for refusing the payment of his expenses +was that he was unwilling to afford them, the Spanish Government, an +opportunity of saying that after they had imprisoned an Englishman +unjustly, and without cause, he condescended to receive money at their +hands. {246b} + +The greatest loss to Borrow, consequent upon his imprisonment, no +government could make good. His faithful Basque, Francisco, had +contracted typhus, or gaol fever, that was raging at the time, and died +within a few days of his master’s release. “A more affectionate creature +never breathed,” Borrow wrote to Mr Brandram. The poor fellow, who, “to +the strength of a giant joined the disposition of a lamb . . . was +beloved even in the _patio_ of the prison, where he used to pitch the bar +and wrestle with the murderers and felons, always coming off victor.” +{247a} The next day Antonio presented himself at Borrow’s lodging, and +without invitation or comment assumed the duties he had relinquished in +order that he might enjoy the excitements of change. “Who should serve +you now but myself?” he asked when questioned as to the meaning of his +presence, “N’est pas que le sieur François est mort!” {247b} + +John Hasfeldt’s comment on his friend’s imprisonment was characteristic. +In September 1838 he wrote:— + + “The very last I heard of you is that you have had the great good + fortune to be stopping in the _carcel de corte_ at Madrid, which + pleasing intelligence I found in the _Preussiche Staats-Zeitung_ this + last spring. If you were fatter no doubt the monks would have got up + an _Auto de Fé_ on your behalf, and you might easily have become a + nineteenth-century martyr. Then your strange life would have been + hawked about the streets of London for one penny, though you never + obtained a fat living to eat and drink and take your ease after all + the hardships you have endured.” + + + + +CHAPTER XVI +MAY–JULY 1838 + + +BORROW was now to enter upon that lengthy dispute with the Bible Society +that almost brought about an open breach, and eventually proved the +indirect cause that led to the severance of their relations. Graydon’s +mistake lay in not contenting himself with printing and distributing the +Scriptures, of which he succeeded in getting rid of an enormous quantity. +He had advertised his association with the Bible Society and proclaimed +Borrow as a colleague, and the authorities at Madrid were not greatly to +blame for being unable to distinguish between the two men. Whereas +Graydon and Rule, who was also extremely obnoxious to the Spanish Clergy, +were safe at Gibraltar or generally within easy reach of it, Borrow was +in the very midst of the enemy. He was not unnaturally furiously angry +at the situation that he conceived to have been brought about by these +evangelists in the south. He referred to Graydon as the Evil Genius of +the Society’s Cause in Spain. + +It may be felt that Borrow was a prejudiced witness, he had every reason +for being so; but a despatch from Sir George Villiers to the Consul at +Malaga shows clearly how the British Minister viewed Lieutenant Graydon’s +indiscretion: + + “You will communicate Count Ofalia’s note to Mr Graydon,” he writes, + “and tell him from me that, feeling as I do a lively interest in the + success of his mission, I cannot but regret that he should have + published his opinions upon the Catholic religion and clergy in a + form which should render inevitable the interference of + ecclesiastical authority. I have no doubt that Mr Graydon, in the + pursuit of the meritorious task he has undertaken, is ready to endure + persecution, but he should bear in mind that it will not lead him to + success in this country, where prejudices are so inveterate, and at + this moment, when party spirit disfigures even the best intentions. + Unless Mr Graydon proceeds with the utmost circumspection it will be + impossible for me, with the prospect of good result, to defend his + conduct with the Government, for no foreigner has a right, however + laudable may be his object, to seek the attainment of that object by + infringing the laws of the country in which he resides.” {249} + +In writing to Mr Brandram, Borrow pointed out that although he had +travelled extensively in Spain and had established many depôts for the +sale of the Scriptures, not one word of complaint had been transmitted to +the Government. He had been imprisoned; but he had the authority of +Count Ofalia for saying that it was not on account of his own, but rather +of the action of others. Furthermore the Premier had advised him to +endeavour to make friends among the clergy, and for the present at least +make no further effort to promote the actual sale of the New Testament in +Madrid. + +On the day following his release from prison (13th May) Borrow, after +being sent for by the British Minister, wrote to Mr Brandram as follows:— + + “Sir George has commanded me . . . to write to the following + effect:—Mr Graydon must leave Spain, or the Bible Society must + publicly disavow that his proceedings receive their encouragement, + unless they wish to see the Sacred book, which it is their object to + distribute, brought into universal odium and contempt. He has lately + been to Malaga, and has there played precisely the same part which he + acted last year at Valencia, with the addition that in printed + writings he has insulted the Spanish Government in the most + inexcusable manner. A formal complaint of his conduct has been sent + up from Malaga, and a copy of one of his writings. Sir George + blushed when he saw it, and informed Count Ofalia that any steps + which might be taken towards punishing the author would receive no + impediment from him. I shall not make any observation on this matter + farther than stating that I have never had any other opinion of Mr + Graydon than that he is insane—insane as the person who for the sake + of warming his own hands would set a street on fire. Sir George said + to-day that he (Graydon) was the cause of my _harmless_ shop being + closed at Madrid and also of my imprisonment. The Society will of + course communicate with Sir George on the subject, I wash my hands of + it.” + +On 23rd May Borrow wrote again to Mr Brandram: + + “In the name of the _Most Highest_ take steps for preventing that + miserable creature Graydon from ruining us all.” Borrow’s use of the + term “insane” with regard to Graydon was fully justified. The Rev. + W. H. Rule wrote to him on 14th May: + + “Our worthy brother Graydon is, I suppose, in Granada. I overtook + him in Cartagena, endured the process of osculation, saw him without + rhime or reason wrangle with and publicly insult our Consul there. + Had his company in the steamer to Almeria, much to my discomfort. + Never was a man fuller of love and impudence, compounded in the most + provoking manner. In Malaga, just as we were to part, he broke out + into a strain highly disagreeable, and I therefore thought it a + convenient occasion to tell him that I should have no more to do with + him. I left him dancing and raving like an energumen.” + +This letter Borrow indiscreetly sent to Mr Brandram, much to Mr Rule’s +regret, who wrote to Mr Brandram, saying that whilst he had nothing to +retract, he would not have written for the eyes of the Bible Society’s +Committee what he had written to Borrow. To Mr Rule Lieut. Graydon was +“a good man, or at least a well-meaning [one], who has not the balance of +judgment and temper necessary for the situation he occupies.” He was +given to “the promulgation of Millenianism,” and to calling the Bible +“the true book of the Constitution.” + +Mann had confirmed all the rumours current about Graydon. In order to +remove from his shoulders “the burden of obloquy,” Borrow’s first act on +leaving prison was to publish in the _Correo Nacional_ an advertisement +disclaiming, in the name of the Bible Society, any writings which may +have been circulated tending to lower the authorities, civil and +ecclesiastical, in the eyes of the people. He denied that it was the +Society’s intention or wish to make proselytes from the Roman Catholic +form of worship, and that it was at all times prepared to extend the hand +of brotherhood to the Spanish clergy. This notice was signed “George +Borrow, Sole authorised Agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society in +Spain.” + +_El Gazeta Oficial_ in commenting on the situation, saw in the +anti-Catholic tracts circulated by Graydon “part of the monstrous plan, +whose existence can no longer be called in question, concocted by the +enemies of all public order, for the purpose of inaugurating on our +unhappy soil a _social_ revolution, just as the political one is drawing +to a close.” The Government was urged to allow no longer these attacks +upon the religion of the country. Rather illogically the article +concludes by paying a tribute to the Bible Society, “considered not under +the religious but the social aspect.” After praising its prudence for +“accommodating itself to the civil and ecclesiastical laws of each +country, and by adopting the editions there current,” it concludes with +the sophisticated argument that, “if the great object be the propagation +of evangelic maxims, the notes are no obstacle, and by preserving them we +fulfil our religious principle of not permitting to private reason the +interpretation of the Sacred Word.” + +The General Committee expressed themselves, somewhat enigmatically, it +must be confessed, as in no way surprised at this article, being from +past experience learned enough in the ways of Rome to anticipate her. + + “That advertisement,” Borrow wrote six months later in his Report + that was subsequently withdrawn, “gave infinite satisfaction to the + liberal clergy. I was complimented for it by the Primate of Spain, + who said I had redeemed my credit and that of the Society, and it is + with some feeling of pride that I state that it choked and prevented + the publication of a series of terrible essays against the Bible + Society, which were intended for the Official Gazette, and which were + written by the Licentiate Albert Lister, the editor of that journal, + the friend of Blanco White, and the most talented man in Spain. + These essays still exist in the editorial drawer, and were + communicated to me by the head manager of the royal printing office, + my respected friend and countryman Mr Charles Wood, whose evidence in + this matter and in many others I can command at pleasure. In lieu of + which essays came out a mild and conciliatory article by the same + writer, which, taking into consideration the country in which it was + written, and its peculiar circumstances, was an encouragement to the + Bible Society to proceed, although with secrecy and caution; yet this + article, sadly misunderstood in England, gave rise to communications + from home highly mortifying to myself and ruinous to the Bible + cause.” + +Borrow had written from prison to Mr Brandram {252} telling him that it +had “pleased God to confer upon me the highest of mortal honors, the +privilege of bearing chains for His sake.” After describing how it had +always been his practice, before taking any step, to consult with Sir +George Villiers and receive his approval, and that the present situation +had not been brought about by any rashness on his, Borrow’s, part, he +proceeds to convey the following curious piece of information that must +have caused some surprise at Earl Street:— + + “I will now state a fact, which speaks volumes as to the state of + affairs at Madrid. My arch-enemy, the Archbishop of Toledo, the + primate of Spain, wishes to give me the kiss of brotherly Peace. He + has caused a message to be conveyed to me in my dungeon, assuring me + that he has had no share in causing my imprisonment, which he says + was the work of the Civil Governor, who was incited to the step by + the Jesuits. He adds that he is determined to seek out my + persecutors amongst the clergy, and to have them punished, and that + when I leave prison he shall be happy to co-operate with me in the + dissemination of the Gospel!! I cannot write much now, for I am not + well, having been bled and blistered. I must, however, devote a few + lines to another subject, but not one of rejoicing or Christian + exultation. Mann arrived just after my arrest, and visited me in + prison, and there favoured me with a scene of despair, abject + despair, which nearly turned my brain. I despised the creature, God + forgive me, but I pitied him; for he was without money and expected + every moment to be seized like myself and incarcerated, and he is by + no means anxious to be invested with the honors of martyrdom.” + +That the Primate of Spain should have sent to Borrow such a message is +surprising; but what is still more so is that six days later Borrow wrote +telling Mr Brandram that he had asked a bishop to arrange an interview +between him and the Archbishop of Toledo, and Sir George Villiers, who +was present, begged the same privilege. {253} On 23rd May Borrow wrote +again to Mr Brandram: “I have just had an interview with the Archbishop. +It was satisfactory to a degree I had not dared to hope for.” In his +next letter (25th May) he writes: + + “I have had, as you are aware, an interview with the Archbishop of + Toledo. I have not time to state particulars, but he said amongst + other things, ‘Be prudent, the Government are disposed to arrange + matters amicably, and I am disposed to co-operate with them.’ At + parting he shook me most kindly by the hand saying that he liked me. + Sir George intends to visit him in a few days. He is an old, + venerable-looking man, between seventy and eighty. When I saw him he + was dressed with the utmost simplicity, with the exception of a most + splendid amethyst ring, the lustre of which was truly dazzling.” + +There is only one conclusion to be drawn from this archiepiscopal +condescension, if the interview were not indeed sought by Borrow, that it +was a political move to pacify the wounded feelings of an outraged +Englishman at a time when the goodwill of England was as necessary to the +kingdom of Spain as the sun itself. + +The upshot of the Malaga Incident was that “the Spanish Government +resolved to put an end to Bible transactions in Spain, and forthwith gave +orders for the seizure of all the Bibles and Testaments in the country, +wherever they might be deposited or exposed for sale. They notified Sir +George Villiers of the decision, expressly stating that the resolution +was taken in consequence of the ‘_Ocurrido en Malaga_.’” {254a} The +letter in which Sir George Villiers was informed of the Government’s +decision runs as follows:— + + MADRID, 19_th_ _May_ 1838. + + SIR, + + I have the honor to inform You that in consequence of what has taken + place at Malaga and other places, respecting the publication and sale + of the Bible translated by Padre Scio, which are not complete (since + they do not contain all the Books which the Catholic Church + recognises as Canonical) nor even being complete could they be + printed unless furnished with the Notes of the said Padre Scio, + according to the existing regulations; Her Majesty has thought proper + to prevent this publication and sale, but without insulting or + molesting those British Subjects who for some time past have been + introducing them into the Kingdom and selling them at the lowest + prices, thinking they were conferring a benefit when in reality they + were doing an injury. + + I have also to state to You that in order to carry this Royal + determination into effect, orders have been issued to prohibit its + being printed in Spain, in the vulgar tongue, unless it should be the + entire Bible as recognised by the Catholic Church with corresponding + Notes, preventing its admittance at the Frontiers, as is the case + with books printed in Spanish abroad; that the Bibles exposed for + public sale be seized and given to their owners in a packet marked + and sealed, upon the condition of its being sent out of the country + through the Custom Houses on the Frontier or at the Ports. + + I avail myself, etc., etc. + + THE COUNT OF OFALIA. {255a} + +Borrow and Graydon were advised of this inhibition, and both ordered +their establishments for the sale of books to be closed, thus showing +that they were “Gentlemen who are animated with due respect for the Laws +of Spain.” {255b} At Valladolid, Santiago, Orviedo, Pontevedra, Seville, +Salamanca, and Malaga the decree was at once enforced. On learning that +the books at his depôts had all been seized, Borrow became apprehensive +for the safety of his Madrid stock of New Testaments, some three thousand +in number. He accordingly had them removed, under cover of darkness, to +the houses of his friends. + +Borrow was not the man to accept defeat, and he wrote to Mr Brandram with +great cheerfulness: + + “This, however, gives me little uneasiness, for, with the blessing of + God, I shall be able to repair all, always provided I am allowed to + follow my own plans, and to avail myself of the advantages which have + lately been opened—especially to cultivate the kind feeling lately + manifested towards me by the principal Spanish clergy.” {255c} + +Later he wrote: + + “Another bitter cup has been filled for my swallowing. The Bible + Society and myself have been accused of blasphemy, sedition, etc. A + collection of tracts has been seized in Murcia, in which the Catholic + religion and its dogmas are handled with the most abusive severity; + {256a} these books have been sworn to as having been left _by the + Committee of the Bible Society whilst in that town_, and Count Ofalia + has been called upon to sign an order for my arrest and banishment + from Spain. Sir George, however, advises me to remain quiet and not + to be alarmed, as he will answer for my innocence.” {256b} + +Borrow strove to galvanise the General Committee into action. The +Spanish newspapers were inflamed against the Society as a sectarian, not +a Christian institution. “Zeal is a precious thing,” he told Mr +Brandram, “when accompanied with one grain of common sense.” The theme +of his letters was the removal of Graydon. “Do not be cast down,” he +writes; “all will go well if the stumbling block [Graydon] be removed.” + +Borrow’s state of mind may well be imagined, and if by his impulsive +letters he unwittingly harmed his own cause at Earl Street, he did so as +a man whose liberty, perhaps his life even, was being jeopardised, +although not deliberately, by another whom the reforming spirit seemed +likely to carry to any excess. It must be admitted that for the time +being Borrow had forgotten the idiom of Earl Street. + +The president (a bishop) of the body of ecclesiastics that was engaged in +examining the Society’s Spanish Bible, communicated with Borrow, through +Mr Charles Wood, the suggestion that “the Committee of the Bible Society +should in the present exigency draw up an exposition of their views +respecting Spain, stating what they are prepared to do and what they are +not prepared to do; above all, whether in seeking to circulate the Gospel +in this Country they harbour any projects hostile to the Government or +the established religion; moreover, whether the late distribution of +tracts was done by their connivance or authority, and whether they are +disposed to sanction in future the publication in Spain of such a class +of writings.” {257a} + +Borrow was of the opinion that this should be done, although he would not +take upon himself to advise the Committee upon such a point, he merely +remarked that “the Prelate in question is a most learned and respectable +man, and one of the warmest of our friends.” {257b} The Society very +naturally declined to commit itself to any such undertaking. It would +not have been quite logical or conceivable that a Protestant body should +give a guarantee that it harboured no projects hostile to Rome. + +Undeterred by the official edict against the circulation in Spain of the +Scriptures, Borrow wrote to Mr Brandram (14th June): + + “I should wish to make another Biblical tour this summer, until the + storm be blown over. Should I undertake such an expedition, I should + avoid the towns and devote myself entirely to the peasantry. I have + sometimes thought of visiting the villages of the Alpujarra Mountains + in Andalusia, where the people live quite secluded from the world; + what do you think of my project?” + +All this time Borrow had heard nothing from Earl Street as to the effect +being produced there by his letters. On 15th or 16th June he received a +long letter from Mr Brandram enclosing the Resolutions of the General +Committee with regard to the crisis. They proved conclusively that the +officials failed entirely to appreciate the state of affairs in Spain, +and the critical situation of their paid and accredited agent, George +Borrow. Their pride had probably been wounded by Borrow’s impetuous +requests, that might easily have appeared to them in the light of +commands. It may have struck some that the Spanish affairs of the +Society were being administered from Madrid, and that they themselves +were being told, not what it was expedient to do, but what they _must_ +do. Another factor in the situation was the Committee’s friendliness for +their impulsive, unsalaried servant Lieut. Graydon, who was certainly a +picturesque, almost melodramatic figure. In any case the letter from Mr +Brandram that accompanied the Resolutions was couched in a strain of fair +play to Graydon that became a thinly disguised partizanship. At the +meeting of the Committee held on 28th May the following Resolutions had +been adopted:— + + _First_.—“That Mr Borrow be requested to inform Sir George Villiers + that this Committee have written to Mr Graydon through their + Secretary, desiring him to leave Spain on account of his personal + safety.” + + _Second_.—“That Mr Borrow be informed that in the absence of specific + documents, this Committee cannot offer any opinion on the proceedings + of Mr Graydon, and that therefore he be desired to obtain, either in + original or copy, the objectionable papers alleged to have been + issued by Mr Graydon and to transmit them hither.” + + _Third_.—“That Mr Borrow be requested not to repeat the Advertisement + contained in the _Corréo Nacional_ of the 17th inst., and that he be + cautioned how he commits the Society by advertisements of a similar + character. And further, that he be desired to state to Sir George + Villiers that the advertisement in question was inserted by him on + the spur of the moment, and without any opportunity of obtaining + instructions from this Committee.” + +In justice to the Committee, it must be said that they did not appreciate +the delicacy of the situation, being only Christians and not +diplomatists. Perhaps they were unaware that the _whole of Spain was +under martial law_, or if they were, the true significance of the fact +failed to strike them. Mr Brandram’s letter accompanying these +Resolutions is little more than an amplification of the Committee’s +decision: + + “I have, I assure you,” he writes, “endeavoured to place myself in + your situation and enter into your feelings strongly excited by the + irreparable mischief which you suppose Mr G. to have done to our + cause so dear to you. Under the influence of these feelings you have + written with, what appears to us, unmitigated severity of his + conduct. But now, let me entreat you to enter into our feelings a + little, and to consider what we owe to Mr Graydon. If we have at + times thought him imprudent, we have seen enough in him to make us + both admire and love him. He has ever approved himself as an + upright, faithful, conscientious, indefatigable agent; one who has + shrunk from no trials and no dangers; one who has gone through in our + service many and extraordinary hardships. What have we against him + at present? He has issued certain documents of a very offensive + character, as is alleged. We have not seen them, neither does it + appear that you have, but that you speak from the recollections of Mr + Sothern.” {259} + +The letter goes on to say that if it can be shown that Lieut. Graydon is +acting in the same manner as he did in Valencia, for which he was +admonished, + + “he will assuredly be recalled on this ground. You wonder perhaps + that we for a moment doubt the fact of his reiterated imprudence; but + _audi alteram partem_ must be our rule—and besides, on reviewing the + Valencia proceedings, we draw a wide distinction. Had he been as + free, as you suppose him to be, of the trammels of office in our + service, many would say and think that he was prefectly at liberty to + act and speak as he did of the Authorities, if he chose to take the + consequences. Really in such a country it is no marvel if his Spirit + has been stirred within him! Will you allow me to remind you of the + strong things in your own letter to the Valencia ecclesiastic, the + well pointed and oft repeated Væ!” + +Mr Brandram points out that strong language is frequently the sword of +the Reformer, and that there are times when it has the highest sanction; +but + + “the judgment of all [the members of the Committee] will be that an + Agent of the Bible Society is a Reformer, not by his preaching or + denouncing, but by the distribution of the Bible. If Mr G’s. conduct + is no worse than it was in Valencia,” the letter continues, rather + inconsistently, in the light of the assurance in the early part that + recall would be the punishment for another such lapse into + indiscretion, “you must not expect anything beyond a qualified + disavowal of it, and that simply as unbecoming an Agent of such a + Society as ours. + + “After what I have written, you will hardly feel surprised that our + Committee could not quite approve of your Advertisement. We have + ever regarded Mr Graydon as much our Agent as yourself. In three of + our printed reports in succession we make no difference in speaking + of you both. We are anxious to do nothing to weaken your hands at so + important a crisis, and we conceive that the terms we have employed + in our Resolution are the mildest we could have used. Do not insert + the Advertisement a second time. Let it pass; let it be forgotten. + If necessary we shall give the public intimation that Mr G. was, but + is not our agent any longer. Remember, we entreat you, the very + delicate position that such a manifesto places us in, as well as the + effect which it may have on Mr Graydon’s personal safety. We give + you full credit for believing it was your duty, under the peculiar + circumstances of the case, to take so decided and bold a step, and + that you thought yourself fully justified by the distinction of + salaried and unsalaried Agent, in speaking of yourself as the alone + accredited Agent of the Society. Possibly when you reflect a little + upon the matter you may view it in another light. There are besides + some sentiments in the Advertisement which we cannot perhaps fully + accord with . . . If to our poor friend there has befallen the + saddest of all calamities to which you allude, should we not speak of + him with all tenderness. If he be insane I believe much of it is to + be attributed to that entire devotion with which he has devoted + himself to our work.” + +No complaint can be urged against the Committee for refusing to condemn +one of their agents unheard, and without documentary evidence; but it was +strange that they should pass resolutions that contained no word of +sympathy with Borrow for his sufferings in a typhus-infested prison. It +is even more strange that the covering letter should refer to Graydon’s +sufferings and hardships and the danger to his person, without apparently +realising that Borrow _had actually_ suffered what the Committee feared +that Graydon _might_ suffer. There is no doubt that Borrow’s impulsive +letters had greatly offended everybody at Earl Street, where Lieut. +Graydon appears to have been extremely popular; and the few words of +sympathy with Borrow that might have saved much acrimonious +correspondence were neither resolved nor written. + +The other side of the picture is shown in a vigorous passage from +Borrow’s Report, which was afterwards withdrawn: + + “A helpless widow [the mother of Don Pascual Mann] was insulted, her + liberty of conscience invaded, and her only son incited to rebellion + against her. A lunatic [Lieut. Graydon] was employed as the + _repartidor_, or distributor, of the Blessed Bible, who, having his + head crammed with what he understood not, ran through the streets of + Valencia crying aloud that Christ was nigh at hand and would appear + in a short time, whilst advertisements to much the same effect were + busily circulated, in which the name, the noble name, of the Bible + Society was prostituted; whilst the Bible, exposed for sale in the + apartment of a public house, served for little more than a decoy to + the idle and curious, who were there treated with incoherent railings + against the Church of Rome and Babylon in a dialect which it was well + for the deliverer that only a few of the audience understood. But I + fly from these details, and will now repeat the consequences of the + above proceedings to myself; for I, I, and only I, as every + respectable person in Madrid can vouch, have paid the penalty for + them all, though as innocent as the babe who has not yet seen the + light.” + +If the General Committee at a period of anxiety and annoyance failed to +pay tribute to Borrow’s many qualities, the official historian of the +Society makes good the omission when he describes him as “A strange, +impulsive, more or less inflammable creature as he must have occasionally +seemed to the Secretaries and Editorial Superintendent, he had proved +himself a man of exceptional ability, energy, tact, prudence—above all, a +man whose heart was in his work.” {262} + +Borrow’s acknowledgment of the Resolutions was dated 16th June. It ran:— + + “I have received your communication of the 30th ult. containing the + resolutions of the Committee, to which I shall of course attend. + + “Of your letter in general, permit me to state that I reverence the + spirit in which it is written, and am perfectly disposed to admit the + correctness of the views which it exhibits; but it appears to me that + in one or two instances I have been misunderstood in the letters + which I have addressed [to you] on the subject of Graydon. + + “I bear this unfortunate gentleman no ill will, God forbid, and it + will give me pain if he were reprimanded publicly or privately; + moreover, I can see no utility likely to accrue from such a + proceeding. All that I have stated hitherto is the damage which he + has done in Spain to the cause and myself, by the—what shall I call + it?—imprudence of his conduct; and the idea which I have endeavoured + to inculcate is the absolute necessity of his leaving Spain + instantly. + + “Take now in good part what I am about to say, and O! do not + misunderstand me! I owe a great deal to the Bible Society, and the + Bible Society owes nothing to me. I am well aware and am always + disposed to admit that it can find thousands more zealous, more + active, and in every respect more adapted to transact its affairs and + watch over its interests; yet, with this consciousness of my own + inutility, I must be permitted to state that, linked to a man like + Graydon, I can no longer consent to be, and that if the Society + expect such a thing, I must take the liberty of retiring, perhaps to + the wilds of Tartary or the Zingani camps of Siberia. + + “My name at present is become public property, no very enviable + distinction in these unhappy times, and neither wished nor sought by + myself. I have of late been subjected to circumstances which have + rendered me obnoxious to the hatred of those who never forgive, the + Bloody Church of Rome, which I have [no] doubt will sooner or later + find means to accomplish my ruin; for no one is better aware than + myself of its fearful resources, whether in England or Spain, in + Italy or in any other part. I should not be now in this situation + had I been permitted to act alone. How much more would have been + accomplished, it does not become me to guess. + + “I had as many or more difficulties to surmount in Russia than I + originally had here, yet all that the Society expected or desired was + effected, without stir or noise, and that in the teeth of an imperial + _Ukase_ which forbade the work which I was employed to superintend. + + “Concerning my late affair, I must here state that I was sent to + prison on a charge which was subsequently acknowledged not only to be + false but ridiculous; I was accused of uttering words disrespectful + towards the _Gefé Politico_ of Madrid; my accuser was an officer of + the police, who entered my apartment one morning before I was + dressed, and commenced searching my papers and flinging my books into + disorder. Happily, however, the people of the house, who were + listening at the door, heard all that passed, and declared on oath + that so far from mentioning the _Gefé Politico_, I merely told the + officer that he, the officer, was an insolent fellow, and that I + would cause him to be punished. He subsequently confessed that he + was an instrument of the Vicar General, and that he merely came to my + apartment in order to obtain a pretence for making a complaint. He + has been dismissed from his situation and the Queen [Regent] has + expressed her sorrow at my imprisonment. If there be any doubt + entertained on the matter, pray let Sir George Villiers be written + to! + + “I should be happy to hear what success attends our efforts in China. + I hope a prudent conduct has been adopted; for think not that a + strange and loud language will find favour in the eyes of the + Chinese; and above all, I hope that we have not got into war with the + Augustines and their followers, who, if properly managed, may be of + incalculable service in propagating the Scriptures . . . _P.S._—The + Documents, or some of them, shall be sent as soon as possible.” + +Nine days later (25th June) Borrow wrote: + + “I now await your orders. I wish to know whether I am at liberty to + pursue the course which may seem to me best under existing + circumstances, and which at present appears to be to mount my horses, + which are neighing in the stable, and once more betake myself to the + plains and mountains of dusty Spain, and to dispose of my Testaments + to the muleteers and peasants. By doing so I shall employ myself + usefully, and at the same time avoid giving offence. Better days + will soon arrive, which will enable me to return to Madrid and reopen + my shop, till then, however, I should wish to pursue my labours in + comparative obscurity.” + +Replying to Borrow’s letter of 16th June, Mr Brandram wrote (29th June): +“I trust we shall not easily forget your services in St Petersburg, but +suffer me to remind you that when you came to the point of distribution +your success ended.” {265a} This altogether unworthy remark was neither +creditable to the writer nor to the distinguished Society on whose behalf +he wrote. Borrow had done all that a man was capable of to distribute +the books. His reply was dignified and effective. + + “It was unkind and unjust to taunt me with having been unsuccessful + in distributing the Scriptures. Allow me to state that no other + person under the same circumstances would have distributed the tenth + part; yet had I been utterly unsuccessful, it would have been wrong + to check me with being so, after all I have undergone, and with how + little of that are you acquainted.” {265b} + +In response, Mr Brandram wrote (28th July): + + “You have considered that I have taunted you with want of success in + St Petersburg. I thought that the way in which I introduced that + subject would have prevented any such unpleasant and fanciful + impression.” + +That was all! It became evident to all at Earl Street that a conference +between Borrow, the Officials and the General Committee was imperative if +the air were to be cleared of the rancour that seemed to increase with +each interchange of letters. {265c} Unless something were done, a breach +seemed inevitable, a thing the Society did not appear to desire. When +Borrow first became aware that he was wanted at Earl Street for the +purpose of a personal conference, he in all probability conceived it to +be tantamount to a recall, and he was averse from leaving the field to +the enemy. + + “In the name of the Highest,” he wrote, {266} “I entreat you all to + banish such a preposterous idea; a journey home (provided you intend + that I should return to Spain) could lead to no result but expense + and the loss of precious time. I have nothing to explain to you + which you are not already perfectly well acquainted with by my late + letters. I was fully aware at the time I was writing them that I + should afford you little satisfaction, for the plain unvarnished + truth is seldom agreeable; but I now repeat, and these are perhaps + among the last words which I shall ever be permitted to pen, that I + cannot approve, and I am sure no Christian can, of the system which + has lately been pursued in the large sea-port cities of Spain, and + which the Bible Society has been supposed to sanction, + notwithstanding the most unreflecting person could easily foresee + that such a line of conduct could produce nothing in the end but + obloquy and misfortune.” + +Borrow saw that his departure from Spain would be construed by his +enemies as flight, and that their joy would be great in consequence. + +The Spanish authorities were determined if possible to rid the country of +missionaries. The _Gazeta Oficial_ of Madrid drew attention to the fact +that in Valencia there had been distributed thousands of pamphlets +“against the religion we profess.” Sir George Villiers enquired into the +matter and found that there was no evidence that the pamphlets had been +written, printed, or published in England; and when writing to Count +Ofalia on the subject he informed him that the Bible Society distributed, +not tracts or controversial writings, but the Scriptures. + +The next move on the part of the authorities was to produce sworn +testimony from three people (all living in the same house, by the way) +that they had purchased copies of “the New Testament and other Biblical +translations at the _Despacho_ on 5th May.” Borrow was in prison at the +time, and his assistant denied the sale. Documents were also produced +proving that the imprint on the title-page of the Scio New Testament was +false, as at the time it was printed no such printer as Andréas Borrégo +(who by the way was the Government printer and at one time a candidate +for cabinet rank) lived in Madrid. In drawing the British Minister’s +attention to these matters, Count Ofalia wrote (31st May): + + “It would be opportune if you would be pleased to advise Mr Borrow + that, convinced of the inutility of his efforts for propagating here + the translation in the vulgar tongue of Sacred Writings without the + forms required by law, he would do much better in making use of his + talents in some other class of scientifical or literary Works during + his residence in Spain, giving up Biblical Enterprises, which may be + useful in other countries, but which in this Kingdom are prejudicial + for very obvious reasons.” + + + + +CHAPTER XVII +JULY–NOVEMBER 1838 + + +BORROW’S spirit chafed under this spell of enforced idleness. His horses +were neighing in the stable and “Señor Antonio was neighing in the +house,” as Maria Diaz expressed it; and for himself, Borrow required +something more actively stimulating than pen and ink encounters with Mr +Brandram. He therefore determined to defy the prohibition and make an +excursion into the rural districts of New Castile, offering his +Testaments for sale as he went, and sending on supplies ahead. His first +objective was Villa Seca, a village situated on the banks of the Tagus +about nine leagues from Madrid. + +He was aware of the danger he ran in thus disregarding the official +decree. + + “I will not conceal from you,” he writes to Mr Brandram on 14th July, + “that I am playing a daring game, and it is very possible that when I + least expect it I may be seized, tied to the tail of a mule, and + dragged either to the prison of Toledo or Madrid. Yet such a + prospect does not discourage me in the least, but rather urges me on + to persevere; for I assure you, and in this assertion there lurks not + the slightest desire to magnify myself and produce an effect, that I + am eager to lay down my life in this cause, and whether a Carlist’s + bullet or a gaol-fever bring my career to an end, I am perfectly + indifferent.” + +He was not averse from martyrdom; but he objected to being precipitated +into it by another man’s folly. In his interview with Count Ofalia, he +had been solemnly warned that if a second time he came within the +clutches of the authorities he might not escape so easily, and had +replied that it was “a pleasant thing to be persecuted for the Gospel’s +sake.” + +In his decision to make Villa Seca his temporary headquarters, Borrow had +been influenced by the fact that it was the home of Maria Diaz, his +friend and landlady. Her husband was there working on the land, Maria +herself living in Madrid that her children might be properly educated. +Borrow left Madrid on 10th July, and on his arrival at Villa Seca he was +cordially welcomed by Juan Lopez, the husband of Maria Diaz, who +continued to use her maiden name, in accordance with Spanish custom. +Lopez subsequently proved of the greatest possible assistance in the work +of distribution, shaming both Borrow and Antonio by his energy and powers +of endurance. + +The inhabitants of Villa Seca and the surrounding villages of Bargas, +Coveja, Villa Luenga, Mocejon, Yunclér eagerly bought up “the book of +life,” and each day the three men rode forth in heat so great that “the +very _arrieros_ frequently fall dead from their mules, smitten by a +sun-stroke.” {269a} + +It was in Villa Seca that Borrow found “all that gravity of deportment +and chivalry of disposition which Cervantes is said to have sneered away” +{269b} and there were to be heard “those grandiose expressions which, +when met with in the romances of chivalry, are scoffed at as ridiculous +exaggerations.” {269c} Borrow so charmed the people of the district with +the elaborate formality of his manner, that he became convinced that any +attempt to arrest or do him harm would have met with a violent +resistance, even to the length of the drawing of knives in his defence. + +In less than a week some two hundred Testaments had been disposed of, and +a fresh supply had to be obtained from Madrid. Borrow’s methods had now +changed. He had, of necessity, to make as little stir as possible in +order to avoid an unenviable notoriety. He carefully eschewed +advertisements and handbills, and limited himself almost entirely to the +simple statement that he brought to the people “the words and life of the +Saviour and His Saints at a price adapted to their humble means.” {270a} + +It is interesting to note in connection with this period of Borrow’s +activities in Spain, that in 1908 one of the sons of Maria Diaz and Juan +Lopez was sought out at Villa Seca by a representative of the Bible +Society, and interrogated as to whether he remembered Borrow. Eduardo +Lopez (then seventy-four years of age) stated that he was a child of +eight {270b} when Borrow lived at the house of his mother; yet he +remembers that “_El inglés_” was tall and robust, with fair hair turning +grey. Eduardo and his young brother regarded Borrow with both fear and +respect; for, their father being absent, he used to punish them for +misdemeanours by setting them on the table and making them remain +perfectly quiet for a considerable time. The old man remembered that +Borrow had two horses whom he called “la Jaca” and “el Mondrágon,” and +that he used to take to the house of Maria Diaz “his trunk full of books +which were beautifully bound.” He remembered Borrow’s Greek servant, +“Antonio Guchino” (the Antonio Buchini of _The Bible in Spain_), who +spoke very bad Spanish. + +The most interesting of Eduardo Lopez’ recollections of Borrow was that +he “often recited a chant which nobody understood,” and of which the old +man could remember only the following fragment:— + + “Sed un la in la en la la + Sino Mokhamente de resu la.” + +It has been suggested, {271a} and with every show of probability, that +“this is the Moslem _kalimah_ or creed which he had heard sung from the +minarets”: + + “La illaha illa allah + Wa Muhammad rasoul allah.” + +Borrow recognised that he must not stay very long in any one place, and +accordingly it was his intention, as soon as he had supplied the +immediate wants of the Sagra (the plain) of Toledo, “to cross the country +to Aranjuez, and endeavour to supply with the Word the villages on the +frontier of La Mancha.” {271b} As he was on the point of setting out, +however, he received two letters from Mr Brandram, which decided him to +return immediately to Madrid instead of pursuing his intended route. + +Borrow was informed that if, after consulting with Sir George Villiers, +it was thought desirable that he should leave Madrid, he was given a free +hand to do so. Furthermore, the President of the Bible Society (Lord +Bexley), with whom Mr Brandram had consulted, was of the opinion that +Borrow should return home to confer with the Committee. It was clear +from the correspondence that nothing short of an interview could remove +the very obvious feeling of irritation that existed between Borrow and +the Society. In his reply (23rd July), Borrow showed a dignity and +calmness of demeanour that had been lacking from his previous letters; +and it most likely produced a far more favourable effect at Earl Street +than the impassioned protests of the past two months:— + + “My answer will be very brief;” he wrote, “as I am afraid of giving + way to my feelings; I hope, however, that it will be to the purpose. + + “It is broadly hinted in yours of the 7th that I have made false + statements in asserting that the Government, in consequence of what + has lately taken place, had come to the resolution of seizing the + Bible depôts in various parts of this country. [Borrow had written + to Mr Brandram on 25th June, “The Society are already aware of the + results of the visit of our friend to Malaga; all their Bibles and + Testaments having been seized throughout Spain, with the exception of + my stock in Madrid.”] + + “In reply I beg leave to inform you that by the first courier you + will receive from the British Legation at Madrid the official notice + from Count Ofalia to Sir George Villiers of the seizures already + made, and the motives which induced the Government to have recourse + to such a measure. + + “The following seizures have already been made, though some have not + as yet been officially announced:—The Society’s books at Orviedo, + Pontevedra, Salamanca, Santiago, Seville, and Valladolid. + + “It appears from your letters that the depôts in the South of Spain + have escaped. I am glad of it, although it be at my own expense. I + see the hand of the Lord throughout the late transactions. He is + chastening me; it is His pleasure that the guilty escape and the + innocent be punished. The Government gave orders to seize the Bible + depôts throughout the country on account of the late scenes at Malaga + and Valencia—I have never been there, yet only _my_ depôts are + meddled with, as it appears! The Lord’s will be done, blessed be the + name of the Lord! + + “I will write again to-morrow, I shall have then arranged my + thoughts, and determined on the conduct which it becomes a Christian + to pursue under these circumstances. Permit me, in conclusion, to + ask you: + + “Have you not to a certain extent been partial in this matter? Have + you not, in the apprehension of being compelled to blame the conduct + of one who has caused me unutterable anxiety, misery and persecution, + and who has been the bane of the Bible cause in Spain, refused to + receive the information which it was in _your_ power to command? I + called on the Committee and yourself from the first to apply to Sir + George Villiers; no one is so well versed as to what has lately been + going as himself; but no. It was God’s will that I, who have risked + all and lost _almost_ all in the cause, be taunted, suspected, and + the sweat of agony and tears which I have poured out be estimated at + the value of the water of the ditch or the moisture which exudes from + rotten dung; but I murmur not, and hope I shall at all times be + willing to bow to the dispensations of the Almighty. + + “Sir George Villiers has returned to England for a short period; you + have therefore the opportunity of consulting him. I _will not_ leave + Spain until the whole affair has been thoroughly sifted. I shall + then perhaps appear and bid you an eternal farewell. {273a} Four + hundred Testaments have been disposed of in the Sagra of Toledo. + + “_P.S._—I am just returned from the Embassy, where I have had a long + interview with that admirable person Lord Wm. Hervey [Chargé + d’Affaires during Sir George Villiers’ absence]. He has requested me + to write him a letter on the point in question, which with the + official documents he intends to send to the Secretary of State in + order to be laid before the Bible Society. He has put into my hands + the last communication from Ofalia {273b} it relates to the seizure + of _my_ depots at Malaga, Pontevedra, etc. I have not opened it, but + send it for your approval.” + +It is pleasant to record that the Sub-Committee expressed itself as +unable to see in Mr Brandram’s letter what Borrow saw. There was no +intention to convey the impression that he had made false statements, and +regret was expressed that he had thought it necessary to apply to the +Embassy for confirmation of what he had written. All this Mr Brandram +conveyed in a letter dated 6th August. He continues: “I am now in full +possession of all that Mr Graydon has done, and find it utterly +impossible to account for that very strong feeling that you have imbibed +against him.” + +On 20th July Mr Brandram had written that, after consulting with two or +three members of the Committee, they all confirmed a wish already +expressed that their Agent should not continue to expose himself to such +dangers. If, however, he still saw the way open before him, + + “as so pleasantly represented in your letter . . . you need not think + of returning . . . Do allow me to suggest to you,” he continues, “to + drop allusion to Mr Graydon in your letters. His conduct is not + regarded here as you regard it. I could fancy, but perhaps it is all + fancy, that you have him in your eye when you tell us that you have + eschewed handbills and advertisements. Time has been when you have + used them plentifully . . . Sir George Villiers is in England—but I + do not know that we shall seek an interview with him—We are afraid of + being hampered with the trammels of office.” + +The Committee, however, did not endorse Mr Brandram’s view as to Borrow +continuing in Spain, and further, they did “not see it right,” the +secretary wrote (6th August), “after the confidential communication in +which you have been in with the Government, that you should be acting now +in such open defiance of it, and putting yourself in such extreme +jeopardy.” Later Borrow made reference to the remark about the +handbills. + + “It would have been as well,” he wrote, “if my respected and revered + friend, the writer, had made himself acquainted with the character of + my advertisements before he made that observation. There is no harm + in an advertisement, if truth, decency and the fear of God are + observed, and I believe my own will be scarcely found deficient in + any of these three requisites. It is not the use of a serviceable + instrument, but its abuse that merits reproof, and I cannot conceive + that advertising was abused by me when I informed the people of + Madrid that the New Testament was to be purchased at a cheap price in + the _Calle del Principe_.” {275} + +Elsewhere he referred to these same advertisements as “mild yet +expressive.” + +In spite of the strained state of his relations with the Bible Society, +Borrow had no intention of remaining in Madrid brooding over his wrongs. +Encouraged by the success that had attended his efforts in the Sagra of +Toledo, and indifferent to the fact that his renewed activity was known +at Toledo, where it was causing some alarm, he determined to proceed to +Aranjuez, and, on his arrival there, to be guided by events as to his +future movements. Accordingly about 28th July he set out attended by +Antonio and Lopez, who had accompanied him from Villa Seca to Madrid, +proceeding in the direction of La Mancha, and selling at every village +through which they passed from twenty to forty Testaments. At Aranjuez +they remained three days, visiting every house in the town and disposing +of about eighty books. It was no unusual thing to see groups of the +poorer people gathered round one of their number who was reading aloud +from a recently purchased Testament. + +Feeling that his enemies were preparing to strike, Borrow determined to +push on to the frontier town of Ocaña, beyond which the clergy had only a +nominal jurisdiction on account of its being in the hands of the +Carlists. Lopez was sent on with between two and three hundred +Testaments, and Borrow, accompanied by Antonio, followed later by a +shorter route through the hills. As they approached the town, a man, a +Jew, stepped out from the porch of an empty house and barred their way, +telling them that Lopez had been arrested at Ocaña that morning as he was +selling Testaments in the streets, and that the authorities were now +waiting for Borrow himself. + +Seeing that no good could be done by plunging into the midst of his +enemies, who had their instructions from the _corregidor_ of Toledo, +Borrow decided to return to Aranjuez. This he did, on the way narrowly +escaping assassination at the hands of three robbers. The next morning +he was rejoined by Lopez, who had been released. He had sold 27 +Testaments, and 200 had been confiscated and forwarded to Toledo. The +whole party then returned to Madrid. + +The unfortunate affair at Ocaña by no means discouraged Borrow. It was +his intention “with God’s leave” to “fight it out to the last.” He saw +that his only chance of distributing his store of Testaments lay in +visiting the smaller villages before the order to confiscate his books +arrived from Toledo. His enemies were numerous and watchful; but Borrow +was as cunning as a gypsy and as far-seeing as a Jew. Thinking that his +notoriety had not yet crossed the Guadarrama mountains and penetrated +into Old Castile, he decided to anticipate it. Lopez was sent ahead with +a donkey bearing a cargo of Testaments, his instructions being to meet +Borrow and Antonio at La Granja. Failing to find Lopez at the appointed +place, Borrow pushed on to Segovia, where he received news that some men +were selling books at Abades, to which place he proceeded with three more +donkeys laden with books that had been consigned to a friend at Segovia. +At Abades Lopez was discovered busily occupied in selling Testaments. + +Hearing that an order was about to be sent from Segovia to Abades for the +confiscation of his Testaments, Borrow immediately left the town, +donkeys, Testaments and all, and for safety’s sake passed the night in +the fields. The next day they proceeded to the village of Labajos. A +few days after their arrival the Carlist leader Balmaceda, at the head of +his robber cavalry, streamed down from the pine woods of Soria into the +southern part of Old Castile, Borrow “was present at all the horrors +which ensued—the sack of Arrevalo, and the forcible entry into Marrin +Muñoz and San Cyprian. Amidst these terrible scenes we continued our +labours undaunted.” {277a} He witnessed what “was not the war of men or +even cannibals . . . it seemed a contest of fiends from the infernal +pit.” Antonio became seized with uncontrollable fear and ran away to +Madrid. Lopez soon afterwards disappeared, and, left alone, Borrow +suffered great anxiety as to the fate of the brave fellow. Hearing that +he was in prison at Vilallos, about three leagues distant, and in spite +of the fact that Balmaceda’s cavalry division was in the neighbourhood, +Borrow mounted his horse and set off next day (22nd Aug.) alone. He +found on his arrival at Vilallos, that Lopez had been removed from the +prison to a private house. Disregarding an order from the _corregidor_ +of Avila that only the books should be confiscated and that the vendor +should be set at liberty, the _Alcalde_, at the instigation of the +priest, refused to liberate Lopez. It had been hinted to the unfortunate +man that on the arrival of the Carlists he was to be denounced as a +liberal, which would mean death. “Taking these circumstances into +consideration,” Borrow wrote, {277b} “I deemed it my duty as a Christian +and a gentleman to rescue my unfortunate servant from such lawless hands, +and in consequence, defying opposition, I bore him off, though perfectly +unarmed, through a crowd of at least one hundred peasants. On leaving +the place I shouted ‘Viva Isabella Segunda.’” + +In this affair Borrow had, not only the approval of Lord William Hervey, +but of Count Ofalia also. In all probability the Bible Society has never +had, and never will have again, an agent such as Borrow, who on occasion +could throw aside the cloak of humility and grasp a two-edged sword with +which to discomfit his enemies, and who solemnly chanted the creed of +Islam whilst engaged as a Christian missionary. There was something +magnificent in his Christianity; it savoured of the Crusades in its +pre-Reformation virility. Martyrdom he would accept if absolutely +necessary; but he preferred that if martyrs there must be they should be +selected from the ranks of the enemy, whilst he, George Borrow, +represented the strong arm of the Lord. + +After the Vilallos affair, Borrow returned to Madrid, crossing the +Guadarramas alone and with two horses. “I nearly perished there,” he +wrote to Mr Brandram (1st Sept.), “having lost my way in the darkness and +tumbled down a precipice.” The perilous journey north had resulted in +the sale of 900 Testaments, all within the space of three weeks and +amidst scenes of battle and bloodshed. + +On his return to Madrid, Borrow found awaiting him the Resolution of the +General Committee (6th Aug.), recalling him “without further delay.” + + “I will set out for England as soon as possible,” he wrote in reply; + {278} “but I must be allowed time. I am almost dead with fatigue, + suffering and anxiety; and it is necessary that I should place the + Society’s property in safe and sure custody.” + +On 1st September he wrote to Mr Brandram that he should “probably be in +England within three weeks.” Shortly after this he was attacked with +fever, and confined to his bed for ten days, during which he was +frequently delirious. When the fever departed, he was left very weak and +subject to a profound melancholy. + + “I bore up against my illness as long as I could,” he wrote, {279a} + “but it became too powerful for me. By good fortune I obtained a + decent physician, a Dr Hacayo, who had studied medicine in England, + and aided by him and the strength of my constitution I got the better + of my attack, which, however, was a dreadfully severe one. I hope my + next letter will be from Bordeaux. I cannot write more at present, + for I am very feeble.” + +The actual date that Borrow left Madrid is not known. He himself gave it +as 31st August, {279b} which is obviously inaccurate, as on 19th +September he wrote to Mr Brandram: “I am now better, and hope in a few +days to be able to proceed to Saragossa, which is the only road open.” +He travelled leisurely by way of the Pyrenees, through France to Paris, +where he spent a fortnight. Of Paris he was very fond; “for, leaving all +prejudices aside, it is a magnificent city, well supplied with sumptuous +buildings and public squares, unequalled by any town in Europe.” {279c} +Having bought a few rare books he proceeded to Boulogne, “and thence by +steamboat to London,” {279d} where in all probability he arrived towards +the end of October. + +He had “long talks on Spanish affairs” {279e} with his friends at Earl +Street, where personal interviews seem to have brought about a much +better feeling. The General Committee requested Borrow to put into +writing his views as to the best means to be adopted for the future +distribution of the Scriptures in Spain. He accordingly wrote a +statement, {280} a fine, vigorous piece of narrative, putting his case so +clearly and convincingly as to leave little to be said for the +unfortunate Graydon. He expressed himself as “eager to be carefully and +categorically questioned.” This Report appears subsequently to have been +withdrawn, probably on the advice of Borrow’s friends, who saw that its +uncompromising bluntness of expression would make it unacceptable to the +General Committee. It was certainly presented to and considered by the +Sub-Committee. Another document was drawn up entitled, “Report of Mr +Geo. Borrow on Past and Future Operations in Spain.” This reached Earl +Street on 28th November. In it Borrow states that as the inhabitants of +the cities had not shown themselves well-disposed towards the Scriptures, +it would be better to labour in future among the peasantry. It was his +firm conviction, he wrote, + + “that every village in Spain will purchase New Testaments, from + twenty to sixty, according to its circumstances. During the last two + months of his sojourn in Spain he visited about forty villages, and + in only two instances was his sale less than thirty copies in each . + . . If it be objected to the plan which he has presumed to suggest + that it is impossible to convey to the rural districts of Spain the + book of life without much difficulty and danger, he begs leave to + observe that it does not become a real Christian to be daunted by + either when it pleases his Maker to select him as an instrument; and + that, moreover, if it be not written that a man is to perish by wild + beasts or reptiles he is safe in the den even of the Cockatrice as in + the most retired chamber of the King’s Palace; and that if, on the + contrary, he be doomed to perish by them, his destiny will overtake + him notwithstanding all the precautions which he, like a blind worm, + may essay for his security.” + +In conclusion Borrow calls attention, without suggesting intimate +alliance and co-operation, to the society of the liberal-minded Spanish +ecclesiastics, which has been formed for the purpose of printing and +circulating the Scriptures in Spanish _without commentary or notes_. +This had reference to a movement that was on foot in Madrid, supported by +the Primate and the Bishops of Vigo and Joen, to challenge the Government +in regard to its attempt to prevent the free circulation of the +Scriptures. It was held that nowhere among the laws of Spain is it +forbidden to circulate the Scriptures either with or without annotations. +The only prohibition being in the various Papal Bulls. Charles Wood was +chosen as “the ostensible manager of the concern”; but had it not been +for the trouble in the South, Borrow would have been the person selected. + +It would have been in every way deplorable had Borrow severed his +connection with the Bible Society as a result of the Graydon episode. +Borrow had been impulsive and indignant in his letters to Earl Street, Mr +Brandram, on the other hand, had been “a little partial,” and on one or +two occasions must have written hastily in response to Borrow’s letters. +There is no object in administering blame or directing reproaches when +the principals in a quarrel have made up their differences; but there can +be no question that the failure of the Officials and Committee of the +Bible Society to appreciate the situation in Spain retarded their work in +that country very considerably. This fact is now generally recognised. +Mr Canton has admirably summed up the situation when he says: + + “Borrow had his faults, but insincerity and lack of zeal in the cause + he had espoused were not among them. Both Sir George Villiers and + his successor [during Sir George’s visit to England], Lord William + Hervey, were satisfied with the propriety of his conduct. Count + Ofalia himself recognised his good faith—‘_cuia buena fé me es + conocida_.’ To see his plans thwarted, his work arrested, the + objects of the Society jeopardised, and his own person endangered by + the indiscretion of others, formed, if not a justification, at least + a sufficient excuse for the expression of strong feeling. On the + other hand, it was difficult for those at home to ascertain the + actual facts of the case, to understand the nicety of the situation, + and to arrive at an impartial judgment. Mr Brandram, who in any case + would have been displeased with Borrow’s unrestrained speech, appears + to have suspected that his statements were not free from + exaggeration, and that his discretion was not wholly beyond reproach. + Happily the tension caused by this painful episode was relieved by + Lieut. Graydon’s withdrawal to France in June.” {282} + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII +DECEMBER 1838–MAY 1839 + + +ON 14th December 1838 it was resolved by the General Committee of the +Bible Society that Borrow should proceed once more to Spain to dispose of +such copies of the Scriptures as remained on hand at Madrid and other +depôts established by him in various parts of the country. He left +London on the 21st, and sailed from Falmouth two days later, reaching +Cadiz on the 31st, after a stormy passage, and on 2nd January he arrived +at Seville, “rather indisposed with an old complaint,” probably “the +Horrors.” + +In such stirring times to be absent from the country, even for so short a +period as two months, meant that on his return the traveller found a new +Spain. Borrow learned that the Duke of Frias had succeeded Count Ofalia +in September. The Duke had advised the British Ambassador in November +that the Spanish authorities were possessed of a quantity of Borrow’s +Bibles (?New Testaments) that had been seized and taken to Toledo, and +that if arrangements were not made for them to be taken out of Spain they +would be destroyed. Sir George Villiers had replied that Mr Borrow, who +was then out of the country, had been advised of the Duke’s notification, +and as soon as word was received from him, the Duke should be +communicated with. Then the Duke of Frias in turn passed out of office +and was succeeded by another, and so, politically, change followed +change. + +The Government, however, had no intention of putting itself in the wrong +a second time. Great Britain’s friendship was of far too great +importance to the country to be jeopardised for the mere gratification of +imprisoning George Borrow. An order had been sent out to all the +authorities that an embargo was to be placed upon the books themselves; +but those distributing them were not to be arrested or in any way harmed. + +At Seville he found evidences of the activity of the Government in the +news that of the hundred New Testaments that he had left with his +correspondent there, seventy-six had been seized during the previous +summer. Hearing that the books were in the hands of the Ecclesiastical +Governor, Borrow astonished that “fierce, persecuting Papist by calling +to make enquiries concerning them.” The old man treated his visitor to a +stream of impassioned invective against the Bible Society and its agent, +expressing his surprise that he had ever been permitted to leave the +prison in Madrid. Seeing that nothing was to be gained, although he had +an absolute right to the books, provided he sent them out of the country, +Borrow decided not to press the matter. + +On the night of 12th Jan. 1839, he left Seville with the Mail Courier and +his escort bound for Madrid, where he arrived on the 16th without +accident or incident, although the next Courier traversing the route was +stopped by banditti. It was during this journey, whilst resting for four +hours at Manzanares, a large village in La Mancha, that he encountered +the blind girl who had been taught Latin by a Jesuit priest, and whom he +named “the Manchegan Prophetess.” {284} In telling Mr Brandram of the +incident, Borrow tactlessly remarked, “what wonderful people are the +Jesuits; when shall we hear of an English rector instructing a beggar +girl in the language of Cicero?” Mr Brandram clearly showed that he +liked neither the remark, which he took as personal, nor the use of the +term “prophetess.” + +On reaching Madrid a singular incident befell Borrow. On entering the +arch of the _posada_ called La Reyna, he found himself encircled by a +pair of arms, and, on turning round, found that they belonged to the +delinquent Antonio, who stood before his late master “haggard and +ill-dressed, and his eyes seemed starting from their sockets.” The poor +fellow, who was entirely destitute, had, on the previous night, dreamed +that he saw Borrow arrive on a black horse, and, in consequence, had +spent the whole day in loitering about outside the _posada_. Borrow was +very glad to engage him again, in spite of his recent cowardice and +desertion. Borrow once more took up his abode with the estimable Maria +Diaz, and one of his first cares was to call on Lord Clarendon (Sir +George Villiers had succeeded his uncle as fourth earl), by whom he was +kindly received. + +A week later, there arrived from Lopez at Villa Seca his “largest and +most useful horse,” the famous Sidi Habismilk (My Lord the Sustainer of +the Kingdom), “an Arabian of high caste . . . the best, I believe, that +ever issued from the desert,” {285a} Lopez wrote, regretting that he was +unable to accompany “The Sustainer of the Kingdom” in person, being +occupied with agricultural pursuits, but he sent a relative named +Victoriano to assist in the work of distributing the Gospel. + +Borrow’s plan was to make Madrid his headquarters, with Antonio in charge +of the supplies, and visit all the villages and hamlets in the vicinity +that had not yet been supplied with Testaments. He then proposed to turn +eastward to a distance of about thirty leagues. + + “I have been very passionate in prayer,” he writes, {285b} “during + the last two or three days; and I entertain some hope that the Lord + has condescended to answer me, as I appear to see my way with + considerable clearness. It may, of course, prove a delusion, and the + prospects which seem to present themselves may be mere palaces of + clouds, which a breath of wind is sufficient to tumble into ruin; + therefore bearing this possibility in mind it behoves me to beg that + I may be always enabled to bow meekly to the dispensations of the + Almighty, whether they be of favour or severity.” + +Mr Brandram’s comment on this portion of Borrow’s letter is rather +suggestive of deliberate fault-finding. + + “May your ‘passionate’ prayers be answered,” he writes. {286} “You + see I remark your unusual word—very significant it is, but one rather + fitted for the select circle where ‘passion’ is understood in its own + full sense—and not in the restricted meaning attached to it + ordinarily. Perhaps you will not often meet with a better set of men + than those who assembled in Earl Street, but they may not always be + open to the force of language, and so unwonted a phrase may raise odd + feelings in their minds. Do not be in a passion, will you, for the + freedom of my remarks. You will perhaps suppose remarks were made in + Committee. This does not happen to be the case, though I fully + anticipated it. Mr Browne, Mr Jowett and myself had first privately + devoured your letter, and we made our remarks. We could relish such + a phrase.” + +Sometimes there was a suggestion of spite in Mr Brandram’s letters. He +was obviously unfriendly towards Borrow during the latter portion of his +agency. It was clear that the period of Borrow’s further association +with the Bible Society was to be limited. If he replied at all to this +rather unfair criticism, he must have done so privately to Mr Brandram, +as there is no record of his having referred to it in any subsequent +letters among the Society’s archives. + +All unconscious that he had so early offended, Borrow set out upon his +first journey to distribute Testaments among the villages around Madrid. +Dressed in the manner of the peasants, on his head a _montera_, a species +of leathern helmet, with jacket and trousers of the same material, and +mounted on Sidi Habismilk, he looked so unlike the conventional +missionary that the housewife may be excused who mistook him for a pedlar +selling soap. + +In some villages where the people were without money, they received +Testaments in return for refreshing the missionaries. “Is this right?” +Borrow enquires of Mr Brandram. The village priests frequently proved of +considerable assistance; for when they pronounced the books good, as they +sometimes did, the sale became extremely brisk. After an absence of +eight days, Borrow returned to Madrid. Shortly afterwards, when on the +eve of starting out upon another expedition to Guadalajara and the +villages of Alcarria, he received a letter from Victoriano saying that he +was in prison at Fuente la Higuera, a village about eight leagues +distant. Acting with his customary energy and decision, Borrow obtained +from an influential friend letters to the Civil Governor and principal +authorities of Guadalajara. He then despatched Antonio to the rescue, +with the result that Victoriano was released, with the assurance that +those responsible for his detention should be severely punished. + +Whilst Victoriano was in prison, Borrow and Antonio had been very +successful in selling Testaments and Bibles in Madrid, disposing of +upwards of a hundred copies, but entirely to the poor, who “receive the +Scriptures with gladness,” although the hearts of the rich were hard. +The work in and about Madrid continued until the middle of March, when +Borrow decided to make an excursion as far as Talavera. The first halt +was made at the village of Naval Carnero. Soon after his arrival orders +came from Madrid warning the _alcaldes_ of every village in New Castile +to be on the look out for the tall, white-haired heretic, of whom an +exact description was given, who to-day was in one place and to-morrow +twenty leagues distant. No violence was to be offered either to him or +to his assistants; but he and they were to be baulked in their purpose by +every legitimate means. + +Foiled in the rural districts, Borrow instantly determined to change his +plan of campaign. He saw that he was less likely to attract notice in +the densely-populated capital than in the provinces. He therefore +galloped back to Madrid, leaving Victoriano to follow more leisurely. He +rejoiced at the alarm of the clergy. “Glory to God!” he exclaims, “they +are becoming thoroughly alarmed, and with much reason.” {288a} The +“reason” lay in the great demand for Testaments and Bibles. A new +binding-order had to be given for the balance of the 500 Bibles that had +arrived in sheets, or such as had been left of them by the rats, who had +done considerable damage in the Madrid storehouse. + +It was at this juncture that Borrow’s extensive acquaintance with the +lower orders proved useful. Selecting eight of the most intelligent from +among them, including five women, he supplied them with Testaments and +instructions to vend the books in all the parishes of Madrid, with the +result that in the course of about a fortnight 600 copies were disposed +of in the streets and alleys. A house to house canvass was instituted +with remarkable results, for manservant and maidservant bought eagerly of +the books. Antonio excelled himself and made some amends for his flight +from Labajos, when, like a torrent, the Carlist cavalry descended upon +it. Dark Madrid was becoming illuminated with a flood of Scriptural +light. In two of its churches the New Testament was expounded every +Sunday evening. Bibles were particularly in demand, a hundred being sold +in about three weeks. The demand exceeded the supply. “The Marques de +Santa Coloma,” Borrow wrote, “has a large family, but every individual of +it, old or young, is now in possession of a Bible and likewise of a +Testament.” {288b} + +Borrow appears to have enlisted the aid of other distributors than the +eight colporteurs. One of his most zealous agents was an ecclesiastic, +who always carried with him beneath his gown a copy of the Bible, which +he offered to the first person he encountered whom he thought likely to +become a purchaser. Yet another assistant was found in a rich old +gentleman of Navarre, who sent copies to his own province. + +One night after having retired to bed, Borrow received a visit from a +curious, hobgoblin-like person, who gave him grave, official warning that +unless he present himself before the _corregidor_ on the morrow at eleven +A.M., he must be prepared to take the consequences. The hour chosen for +this intimation was midnight. On the next day at the appointed time +Borrow presented himself before the _corregidor_, who announced that he +wished to ask a question. The question related to a box of Testaments +that Borrow had sent to Naval Carnero, which had been seized and +subsequently claimed on Borrow’s behalf by Antonio. In Spain they have +the dramatic instinct. If it strike the majestic mind of a _corregidor_ +at midnight that he would like to see a citizen or a stranger on the +morrow about some trifling affair, time or place are not permitted to +interfere with the conveyance of the intimation to the citizen or +stranger to present himself before the gravely austere official, who will +carry out the interrogation with a solemnity becoming a capital charge. + +By the middle of April barely a thousand Testaments remained; these +Borrow determined to distribute in Seville. Sending Antonio, the +Testaments and two horses with the convoy, Borrow decided to risk +travelling with the Mail Courier. For one thing, he disliked the +slowness of a convoy, and for another the insults and irritations that +travellers had to put up with from the escort, both officers and men. +His original plan had been to proceed by Estremadura; but a band of +Carlist robbers had recently made its appearance, murdering or holding at +ransom every person who fell into its clutches. Borrow wrote:— + + “I therefore deem it wise to avoid, if possible, the alternative of + being shot or having to pay one thousand pounds for being set at + liberty . . . It is moreover wicked to tempt Providence + systematically. I have already thrust myself into more danger than + was, perhaps, strictly necessary, and as I have been permitted + hitherto to escape, it is better to be content with what it has + pleased the Lord to do for me up to the present moment, than to run + the risk of offending Him by a blind confidence in His forbearance, + which may be over-taxed. As it is, however, at all times best to be + frank, I am willing to confess that I am what the world calls + exceedingly superstitious; perhaps the real cause of my change of + resolution was a dream, in which I imagined myself on a desolate road + in the hands of several robbers, who were hacking me with their long, + ugly knives.” {290} + +In the same letter, which was so to incur Mr Brandram’s disapproval, +Borrow tells of the excellent results of his latest plan for disposing of +Bibles and Testaments, three hundred and fifty of the former having been +sold since he reached Spain. He goes on to explain and expound the +difficulties that have been met and overcome, and hopes that his friends +at Earl Street will be patient, as it may not be in his power to send +“for a long time any flattering accounts of operations commenced there.” +In conclusion, he assures Mr Brandram that from the Church of Rome he has +learned one thing, “_Ever to expect evil_, _and ever to hope for good_.” + +Nothing could have been more unfortunate than the effect produced upon Mr +Brandram’s mind by this letter. + + “I scarcely know what to say,” he writes. “You are in a very + peculiar country; you are doubtless a man of very peculiar + temperament, and we must not apply common rules in judging either of + yourself or your affairs. What, _e.g._, shall we say to your + confession of a certain superstitiousness? It is very frank of you + to tell us what you need not have told; but it sounded very odd when + read aloud in a large Committee. Strangers that know you not would + carry away strange ideas . . . In bespeaking our patience, there is + an implied contrast between your own mode of proceeding and that + adopted by others—a contrast this a little to the disadvantage of + others, and savouring a little of the praise of a personage called + number one . . . Perhaps my vanity is offended, and I feel as if I + were not esteemed a person of sufficient discernment to know enough + of the real state of Spain . . . + + “Bear with me now in my criticisms on your second letter [that of 2nd + May]. You narrate your perilous journey to Seville, and say at the + beginning of the description: ‘My usual wonderful good fortune + accompanying us.’ This is a mode of speaking to which we are not + well accustomed; it savours, some of our friends would say, a little + of the profane. Those who know you will not impute this to you. But + you must remember that our Committee Room is public to a great + extent, and I cannot omit expressions as I go reading on. Pious + sentiments may be thrust into letters _ad nauseam_, and it is not for + that I plead; but is there not a _via media_? “We are odd people, it + may be, in England; we are not fond of prophets or ‘prophetesses’ [a + reference to her of La Mancha about whom Borrow had previously been + rebuked]. I have not turned back to your former description of the + lady whom you have a second time introduced to our notice. Perhaps + my wounded pride had not been made whole after the infliction you + before gave it by contrasting the teacher of the prophetess with + English rectors.” + +Borrow replied to this letter from Seville on 28th June, and there are +indications that before doing so he took time to deliberate upon it. + + “Think not, I pray you,” he wrote, “that any observation of yours + respecting style, or any peculiarities of expression which I am in + the habit of exhibiting in my correspondence, can possibly awaken in + me any feeling but that of gratitude, knowing so well as I do the + person who offers them, and the motives by which he is influenced. I + have reflected on those passages which you were pleased to point out + as objectionable, and have nothing to reply further than that I have + erred, that I am sorry, and will endeavour to mend, and that, + moreover, I have already prayed for assistance to do so. Allow me, + however, to offer a word, not in excuse but in explanation of the + expression ‘wonderful good fortune’ which appeared in a former letter + of mine. It is clearly objectionable, and, as you very properly + observe, savours of pagan times. But I am sorry to say that I am + much in the habit of repeating other people’s sayings without + weighing their propriety. The saying was not mine; but I heard it in + conversation and thoughtlessly repeated it. A few miles from Seville + I was telling the Courier of the many perilous journeys which I had + accomplished in Spain in safety, and for which I thank the Lord. His + reply was, ‘La mucha suerte de Usted tambien nos ha acompañado en + este viage.’” + +Thus ended another unfortunate misunderstanding between secretary and +agent. + +Borrow had taken considerable risk in making the journey to Seville with +the Courier. The whole of La Mancha was overrun with the +Carlist-banditti, who, “whenever it pleases them, stop the Courier, burn +the vehicle and letters, murder the paltry escort which attends, and +carry away any chance passenger to the mountains, where an enormous +ransom is demanded, which if not paid brings on the dilemma of four shots +through the head, as the Spaniards say.” The Courier’s previous journey +over the same route had ended in the murder of the escort and the burning +of the coach, the Courier himself escaping through the good offices of +one of the bandits, who had formerly been his postilion. Borrow was +shown the blood-soaked turf and the skull of one of the soldiers. At +Manzanares, Borrow invited to breakfast with him the Prophetess who was +so unpopular at Earl Street. Continuing the journey, he reached Seville +without mishap, and a few days later Antonio arrived with the horses. It +was found that the two cases of Testaments that had been forwarded from +Madrid had been stopped at the Seville Customs House, and Borrow had +recourse to subterfuge in order to get them and save his journey from +being in vain. + + “For a few dollars,” he tells Mr Brandram (2nd May), “I procured a + _fiador_ or person who engaged _that the chests_ should be carried + down the river and embarked at San Lucar for a foreign land. + Yesterday I hired a boat and sent them down, but on the way I landed + in a secure place all the Testaments which I intend for this part of + the country.” + +The _fiador_ had kept to the letter of his undertaking, and the chests +were duly delivered at San Lucar; but a considerable portion of their +contents, some two hundred Testaments, had been abstracted, and these had +to be smuggled into Seville under the cloaks of master and servant. The +officials appear to have treated Borrow with the greatest possible +courtesy and consideration, and they told him that his “intentions were +known and honored.” + +Borrow had great hopes of achieving something for the Gospel’s sake in +Seville; but the operation would be a delicate one. To Mr Brandram he +wrote:— + + “Consider my situation here. I am in a city by nature very + Levitical, as it contains within it the most magnificent and + splendidly endowed cathedral of any in Spain. I am surrounded by + priests and friars, who know and hate me, and who, if I commit the + slightest act of indiscretion, will halloo their myrmidons against + me. The press is closed to me, the libraries are barred against me, + I have no one to assist me but my hired servant, no pious English + families to comfort or encourage me, the British subjects here being + ranker papists and a hundred times more bigoted than the Spanish + themselves, the Consul, a _renegade Quaker_. Yet notwithstanding, + with God’s assistance, I will do much, though silently, burrowing + like the mole in darkness beneath the ground. Those who have + triumphed in Madrid, and in the two Castiles, where the difficulties + were seven times greater, are not to be dismayed by priestly frowns + at Seville.” {293} + +On arriving at Seville Borrow had put up at the _Posada de la Reyna_, in +the Calle Gimios, and here on 4th May (he had arrived about 24th April) +he encountered Lieut.-Colonel Elers Napier. Borrow liked nothing so well +as appearing in the _rôle_ of a mysterious stranger. He loved mystery as +much as a dramatic moment. His admiration of Baron Taylor was largely +based upon the innumerable conjectures as to who it was that surrounded +his puzzling personality with such an air of mystery. That May morning +Colonel Napier, who was also staying at the _Posada de la Reyna_, was +wandering about the galleries overlooking the _patio_. He writes:— + + “whilst occupied in moralising over the dripping water spouts, I + observed a tall, gentlemanly-looking man dressed in a _semarra_ + [_zamarra_, a sheepskin jacket with the wool outside] leaning over + the balustrades and apparently engaged in a similar manner with + myself . . . From the stranger’s complexion, which was fair, but + with brilliant black eyes, I concluded he was not a Spaniard; in + short, there was something so remarkable in his appearance that it + was difficult to say to what nation he might belong. He was tall, + with a commanding appearance; yet, though apparently in the flower of + manhood, his hair was so deeply tinged with the winter of either age + or sorrow as to be nearly snow white.” {294a} + +Colonel Napier was thoroughly mystified. The stranger answered his +French in “the purest Parisian Accent”; yet he proved capable of speaking +fluent English, of giving orders to his Greek servant in Romaïc, of +conversing “in good Castillian with ‘mine host’,” and of exchanging +salutations in German with another resident at the _fonda_. Later the +Colonel had the gratification of startling the Unknown by replying to +some remark of his in Hindi; but only momentarily, for he showed himself +“delighted on finding I was an Indian, and entered freely, and with depth +and acuteness, on the affairs of the East, most of which part of the +world he had visited.” {294b} + +No one could give any information about “the mysterious Unknown,” who or +what he was, or why he was travelling. It was known that the police +entertained suspicions that he was a Russian spy, and kept him under +strict observation. Whatever else he was, Colonel Napier found him “a +very agreeable companion.” {295} + +On the following morning (a Sunday) Colonel Napier and his Unknown set +out on horseback on an excursion to the ruins of Italica. As they sat on +a ruined wall of the Convent of San Isidoro, contemplating the scene of +ruin and desolation around, “the ‘Unknown’ began to feel the vein of +poetry creeping through his inward soul, and gave vent to it by reciting +with great emphasis and effect” some lines that the scene called up to +his mind. + + “I had been too much taken up with the scene,” Colonel Napier + continues, “the verses, and the strange being who was repeating them + with so much feeling, to notice the approach of a slight female + figure, beautiful in the extreme, but whose tattered garments, raven + hair, swarthy complexion and flashing eyes proclaimed to be of the + wandering tribe of _Gitanos_. From an intuitive sense of politeness, + she stood with crossed arms and a slight smile on her dark and + handsome countenance until my companion had ceased, and then + addressed us in the usual whining tone of + supplication—‘_Caballeritos_, _una limosnita_! _Dios se la pagará á + ustedes_!’—‘Gentlemen, a little charity; God will repay it to you!’ + The gypsy girl was so pretty and her voice so sweet, that I + involuntarily put my hand in my pocket. + + “‘Stop!’ said the Unknown. ‘Do you remember what I told you about + the Eastern origin of these people? You shall see I am + correct.’—‘Come here, my pretty child,’ said he in Moultanee, ‘and + tell me where are the rest of your tribe.’ + + “The girl looked astounded, replied in the same tongue, but in broken + language; when, taking him by the arm, she said in Spanish, ‘Come, + cabellero—come to one who will be able to answer you’; and she led + the way down amongst the ruins, towards one of the dens formerly + occupied by the wild beasts, and disclosed to us a set of beings + scarcely less savage. The sombre walls of the gloomy abode were + illumined by a fire the smoke from which escaped through a deep + fissure in the mossy roof; whilst the flickering flames threw a + blood-red glare on the bronzed features of a group of children, of + two men, and a decrepit old hag, who appeared busily engaged in some + culinary preparations. + + “On our entrance, the scowling glance of the males of the party, and + a quick motion of the hand towards the folds of the ‘faja’ [a sash in + which the Spaniard carries a formidable clasp-knife] caused in me, at + least, anything but a comfortable sensation; but their hostile + intentions, if ever entertained, were immediately removed by a wave + of the hand from our conductress, who, leading my companion towards + the sibyl, whispered something in her ear. The old crone appeared + incredulous. The ‘Unknown’ uttered one word; but that word had the + effect of magic; she prostrated herself at his feet, and in an + instant, from an object of suspicion he became one of worship to the + whole family, to whom, on taking leave, he made a handsome present, + and departed with their united blessings, to the astonishment of + myself and what looked very like terror in our Spanish guide. + + “I was, as the phrase goes, dying with curiosity, and as soon as we + mounted our horses, exclaimed—‘Where, in the name of goodness, did + you pick up your acquaintance with the language of those + extraordinary people?’ + + “‘Some years ago, in Moultan,’ he replied. + + “‘And by what means do you possess such apparent influence over + them?’ But the ‘Unknown’ had already said more than he perhaps + wished on the subject. He drily replied that he had more than once + owed his life to gypsies, and had reason to know them well; but this + was said in a tone which precluded all further queries on my part. + The subject was never again broached, and we returned in silence to + the fonda . . . This is a most extraordinary character, and the more + I see of him the more am I puzzled. He appears acquainted with + everybody and everything, but apparently unknown to every one + himself. Though his figure bespeaks youth—and by his own account his + age does not exceed thirty [he would be thirty-six in the following + July]—yet the snows of eighty winters could not have whitened his + locks more completely than they are. But in his dark and searching + eye there is an almost supernatural penetration and lustre, which, + were I inclined to superstition, might induce me to set down its + possessor as a second Melmoth.” {297} + + + + +CHAPTER XIX +MAY–DECEMBER 1839 + + +BORROW confesses that he was at a loss to know how to commence operations +in Seville. He was entirely friendless, even the British Consul being +unapproachable on account of his religious beliefs. However, he soon +gathered round him some of those curious characters who seemed always to +gravitate towards him, no matter where he might be, or with what +occupied. Surely the Scriptures never had such a curious assortment of +missionaries as Borrow employed? At Seville there was the gigantic +Greek, Dionysius of Cephalonia; the “aged professor of music, who, with +much stiffness and ceremoniousness, united much that was excellent and +admirable”; {298} the Greek bricklayer, Johannes Chysostom, a native of +Morea, who might at any time become “the Masaniello of Seville.” With +these assistants Borrow set to work to throw the light of the Gospel into +the dark corners of the city. + +Soon after arriving at Seville, he decided to adopt a new plan of living. + + “On account of the extreme dearness of every article at the + _posada_,” he wrote to Mr Brandram on 12th June, “where, moreover, I + had a suspicion that I was being watched [this may have reference to + the police suspicion that he was a Russian spy], I removed with my + servant and horses to an empty house in a solitary part of the town . + . . Here I live in the greatest privacy, admitting no person but two + or three in whom I had the greatest confidence, who entertain the + same views as myself, and who assist me in the circulation of the + Gospel.” + +The house stood in a solitary situation, occupying one side of the +Plazuela de la Pila Seca (the Little Square of the Empty Trough). It was +a two-storied building and much too large for Borrow’s requirements. +Having bought the necessary articles of furniture, he retired behind the +shutters of his Andalusian mansion with Antonio and the two horses. He +lived in the utmost seclusion, spending a large portion of his time in +study or in dreamy meditation. “The people here complain sadly of the +heat,” he writes to Mr Brandram (28th June 1839), “but as for myself, I +luxuriate in it, like the butterflies which hover about the _macetas_, or +flowerpots, in the court.” In the cool of the evening he would mount +Sidi Habismilk and ride along the _Dehesa_ until the topmost towers of +the city were out of sight, then, turning the noble Arab, he would let +him return at his best speed, which was that of the whirlwind. + +Throughout his work in Spain Borrow had been seriously handicapped by +being unable to satisfy the demand for Bibles that met him everywhere he +went. In a letter (June) from Maria Diaz, who was acting as his agent in +Madrid, {299} the same story is told. + + “The binder has brought me eight Bibles,” she writes, “which he has + contrived to make up out of _the sheets gnawn by the rats_, and which + would have been necessary even had they amounted to eight thousand (y + era necesario se puvièran vuelto 8000), because the people are + innumerable who come to seek more. Don Santiago has been here with + some friends, who insisted upon having a part of them. The Aragonese + Gentleman has likewise been, he who came before your departure, and + bespoke twenty-four; he now wants twenty-five. I begged them to take + Testaments, but they would not.” {300} + +The Greek bricklayer proved a most useful agent. His great influence +with his poor acquaintances resulted in the sale of many Testaments. +More could have been done had it not been necessary to proceed with +extreme caution, lest the authorities should take action and seize the +small stock of books that remained. + +When he took and furnished the large house in the little square, there +had been in Borrow’s mind another reason than a desire for solitude and +freedom from prying eyes. Throughout his labours in Spain he had kept up +a correspondence with Mrs Clarke of Oulton, who, on 15th March, had +written informing him of her intention to take up her abode for a short +time at Seville. + +For some time previously Mrs Clarke had been having trouble about her +estate. Her mother (September 1835) and father (February 1836) were both +dead, and her brother Breame had inherited the estate and she the +mortgage together with the Cottage on Oulton Broad. Breame Skepper died +(May 1837), leaving a wife and six children. In his will he had +appointed Trustees, who demanded the sale of the Estate and division of +the money, which was opposed by Mrs Clarke as executrix and mortgagee. +Later it was agreed between the parties that the Estate should be sold +for £11,000 to a Mr Joseph Cator Webb, and an agreement to that effect +was signed. Anticipating that the Estate would increase in value, and +apparently regretting their bargain, the Trustees delayed carrying out +their undertaking, and Mr Webb filed a bill in Chancery to force them to +do so. Mrs Clarke’s legal advisers thought it better that she should +disappear for a time. Hence her letter to Borrow, in replying to which +(29th March), he expresses pleasure at the news of his friend’s +determination “to settle in Seville for a short time—which, I assure you, +I consider to be the most agreeable retreat you can select . . . for +_there_ the growls of your enemies will scarcely reach you.” He goes on +to tell her that he laughed outright at the advice of her counsellor not +to take a house and furnish it. + + “Houses in Spain are let by the day: and in a palace here you will + find less furniture than in your cottage at Oulton. Were you to + furnish a Spanish house in the style of cold, wintry England, you + would be unable to breathe. A few chairs, tables, and mattresses are + all that is required, with of course a good stock of bed-linen . . . + + “Bring with you, therefore, your clothes, plenty of bed-linen, etc., + half-a-dozen blankets, two dozen knives and forks, a mirror or two, + twelve silver table spoons, and a large one for soup, tea things and + urn (for the Spaniards never drink tea), a few books, but not + many,—and you will have occasion for nothing more, or, if you have, + you can purchase it here as cheap as in England.” + +Borrow’s ideas of domestic comfort were those of the old campaigner. For +all that, he showed himself very thorough in the directions he gave as to +how and where Mrs Clarke should book her passage and obtain “a passport +for yourself and Hen.” (Henrietta her daughter, now nearly twenty years +of age), and the warning he gave that no attempt should be made to go +ashore at Lisbon, “a very dangerous place.” + +On 7th June Mrs Clarke and her daughter Henrietta sailed from London on +board the steam-packet _Royal Tar_ bound for Cadiz, where they arrived on +the 16th, and, on the day following, entered into possession of their +temporary home where Borrow was already installed, safe for the time from +Mr Webb’s Chancery bill. It was no doubt to Mrs and Miss Clarke that +Borrow referred when he wrote to Mr Brandram {301} saying that “two or +three ladies of my acquaintance occasionally dispose of some [Testaments] +amongst their friends, but they say that they experience some difficulty, +the cry for Bibles being great.” + +Borrow continued to reside at 7 Plazuela de la Pila Seca, and Mrs Clarke +and Henrietta soon learned something of the vicissitudes and excitements +of a missionary’s life. On Sunday, 8th July, as Borrow “happened to be +reading the Liturgy,” he received a visit from “various _alguacils_, +headed by the _Alcade del Barrio_, or headborough, who made a small +seizure of Testaments and Gypsy Gospels which happened to be lying +about.” {302} This circumstance convinced Borrow of the good effect of +his labours in and around Seville. + +The time had now arrived, however, when the whole of the smuggled +Testaments had been disposed of, and there was no object in remaining +longer in Seville, or in Spain for that matter. There were books at San +Lucar that might without official opposition be shipped out of the +country, and Borrow therefore determined to see what could be done +towards distributing them among the Spanish residents on the Coast of +Barbary. This done, he hoped to return to Spain and dispose of the 900 +odd Testaments lying at Madrid. On 18th July he wrote to Mr Brandram:— + + “I should wish to be permitted on my return from my present + expedition to circulate some in La Mancha. The state of that + province is truly horrible; it appears peopled partly with spectres + and partly with demons. There is famine, and such famine; there is + assassination and such unnatural assassination [another of Borrow’s + phrases that must have struck the Committee as odd]. There you see + soldiers and robbers, ghastly lepers and horrible and uncouth maimed + and blind, exhibiting their terrible nakedness in the sun. I was + prevented last year in carrying the Gospel amongst them. May I be + more successful this.” + +Antonio had been dismissed, his master being “compelled to send [him] +back to Madrid . . . on account of his many irregularities,” and in +consequence it was alone, on the night of 31st July, that Borrow set out +upon his expedition. From Seville he took the steamer to Bonanza, from +whence he drove to San Lucar, where he picked up a chest of New +Testaments and a small box of St Luke’s Gospel in Gitano, with a pass for +them to Cadiz. It proved expensive, this claiming of his own property, +for at every step there was some fee to be paid or gratuity to be given. +The last payment was made to the Spanish Consul at Gibraltar, who claimed +and received a dollar for certifying the arrival of books he had not +seen. + +Borrow was instinctively a missionary, even a great missionary. At the +Customs House of San Lucar some questions were asked about the books +contained in the cases, and he seized the occasion to hold an informal +missionary meeting, with the officials clustered round him listening to +his discourse. One of the cases had to be opened for inspection, and the +upshot of it was that, to the very officials whose duty it was to see +that the books were not distributed in Spain, Borrow sold a number of +copies, not only of the Spanish Testament, but of the Gypsy St Luke. +Such was the power of his personality and the force of his eloquence. + +From San Lucar Borrow returned to Bonanza and again took the boat, which +landed him at Cadiz, where he was hospitably entertained by Mr +Brackenbury, the British Consul, who gave him a letter of introduction to +Mr Drummond Hay, the Consul-General at Tangier. On 4th August he +proceeded to Gibraltar. It was not until the 8th, however, that he was +able to cross to Tangier, where he was kindly received by Mr Hay, who +found for him a very comfortable lodging. + +Taking the Consul’s advice, Borrow proceeded with extreme caution. For +the first fortnight of his stay he made no effort to distribute his +Testaments, contenting himself with studying the town and its +inhabitants, occasionally speaking to the Christians in the place +(principally Spanish and Genoese sailors and their families) about +religious matters, but always with the greatest caution lest the two or +three friars, who resided at what was known as the Spanish Convent, +should become alarmed. Again Borrow obtained the services of a curious +assistant, a Jewish lad named Hayim Ben Attar, who carried the Testaments +to the people’s houses and offered them for sale, and this with +considerable success. On 4th September Borrow wrote to Mr Brandram:— + + “The blessed book is now in the hands of most of the Christians of + Tangier, from the lowest to the highest, from the fisherman to the + consul. One dozen and a half were carried to Tetuan on speculation, + a town about six leagues from hence; they will be offered to the + Christians who reside there. Other two dozen are on their way to + distant Mogadore. One individual, a tavern keeper, has purchased + Testaments to the number of thirty, which he says he has no doubt he + can dispose of to the foreign sailors who stop occasionally at his + house. You will be surprised to hear that several amongst the Jews + have purchased copies of the New Testament with the intention, as + they state, of improving themselves in Spanish, but I believe from + curiosity.” + +During his stay in Tangier, Borrow had some trouble with the British +Vice-Consul, who seems to have made himself extremely offensive with his +persistent offers of service. His face was “purple and blue” and in +whose blood-shot eyes there was an expression “much like that of a +departed tunny fish or salmon,” and he became so great an annoyance that +Borrow made a complaint to Mr Drummond Hay. This is one of the few +instances of Borrow’s experiencing difficulty with any British official, +for, as a rule, he was extremely popular. In this particular instance, +however, the Vice-Consul was so obviously seeking to make profit out of +his official position, that there was no other means open to Borrow than +to make a formal complaint. + +In the case of Mr Drummond Hay, he obtained the friendship of a “true +British gentleman.” At first the Consul had been reserved and distant, +and apparently by no means inclined to render Borrow any service in the +furtherance of his mission; but a few days sufficed to bring him under +the influence of Borrow’s personal magnetism, and he ended by assuring +him that he would be happy to receive the Society’s commands, and would +render all possible assistance, officially or otherwise, to the +distribution of the Scriptures “in Fez or Morocco.” + +Borrow was thoroughly satisfied with the result of his five weeks’ stay +in Tangier. He reached Cadiz on his way to Seville on 21st Sept., after +undergoing a four days’ quarantine at Tarifa, when he wrote to Mr +Brandram (29th Sept.): + + “I am very glad that I went to Tangier, for many reasons. In the + first place, I was permitted to circulate many copies of God’s Word + both among the Jews and the Christians, by the latter of whom it was + particularly wanted, their ignorance of the most vital points of + religion being truly horrible. In the second place, I acquired a + vast stock of information concerning Africa and the state of its + interior. One of my principal Associates was a black slave whose + country was only three days’ journey from Timbuctoo, which place he + had frequently visited. The Soos men also told me many of the + secrets of the land of wonders from which they come, and the Rabbis + from Fez and Morocco were no less communicative.” + +Borrow had started upon his expedition to the Barbary Coast without any +definite instructions from Earl Street. On 29th July the Sub-Committee +had resolved that as his mission to Spain was “nearly attained by the +disposal of the larger part of the Spanish Scriptures which he went out +to distribute,” the General Committee be recommended to request him to +take measures for selling or placing in safe custody all copies remaining +on hand and returning to England “without loss of time.” This was +adopted on 5th Aug.; but before it received the formal sanction of the +General Committee Mr Browne had written (29th July) to Borrow acquainting +him with the feeling of the Sub-Committee, thinking that he ought to have +early intimation of what was taking place. This letter Borrow found +awaiting him at Cadiz on his return from Tangier. He replied immediately +(21st Sept.): + + “Had I been aware of that resolution before my departure for Tangier + I certainly should not have gone; my expedition, however, was the + result of much reflection. I wished to carry the Gospel to the + Christians of the Barbary shore, who were much in want of it; and I + had one hundred and thirty Testaments at San Lucar, which I could + only make available by exportation. The success which it has pleased + the Lord to yield me in my humble efforts at distribution in Barbary + will, I believe, prove the best criterion as to the fitness of the + enterprise. + + “I stated in my last communication to Mr Brandram the plan which I + conceived to be the best for circulating that portion of the edition + of the New Testament which remains unsold at Madrid, and I scarcely + needed a stimulant in the execution of my duty. At present, however, + I know not what to do; I am sorrowful, disappointed and unstrung. + + “I wish to return to England as soon as possible; but I have books + and papers at Madrid which are of much importance to me and which I + cannot abandon, this perhaps alone prevents me embarking in the next + packet. I have, moreover, brought with me from Tangier the Jewish + youth [Hayim Ben Attar], who so powerfully assisted me in that place + in the work of distribution. I had hoped to have made him of service + in Spain, he is virtuous and clever . . . + + “I am almost tempted to ask whether some strange, some unaccountable + delusion does not exist: what should induce me to stay in Spain, as + you appear to suppose I intend? I may, however, have misunderstood + you. I wish to receive a fresh communication as soon as possible, + either from yourself or Mr Brandram; in the meantime I shall go to + Seville, to which place and to the usual number pray direct.” + +It would appear that the Bible Society had become aware of Borrow’s +_ménage_ at Seville, and concluded that he meant to take up his abode in +Spain more or less permanently. + +Borrow’s next plan was to order a chest of Testaments to be sent to La +Mancha, where he had friends, then to mount his horse and proceed there +in person. With the assistance of his Jewish body-servant he hoped to +circulate many copies before the authorities became aware of his +presence. Later he would proceed to Madrid, put his affairs in order, +and make for France by way of Saragossa (where he hoped to accomplish +some good), and then—home. + +In September a circular signed by Lord Palmerston was received by all the +British Consuls in Spain, strictly forbidding them “to afford the +slightest countenance to religious agents. {307a} What was the cause of +this last blow?” {307b} Borrow rather unfortunately enquired of Mr +Brandram. The Consul at Cadiz, Mr Brackenbury, explained it, according +to Borrow, as due to “an ill-advised application made to his Lordship to +interfere with the Spanish Government on behalf of a certain individual +{307c} [Lieut. Graydon] whose line of conduct needs no comment.” {307d} +After pointing out that once the same consuls had received from a British +Ambassador instructions to further, in their official capacity, the work +of the Bible Society, he concludes with the following remark, as +ill-advised as it is droll: “When dead flies fall into the ointment of +the apothecary they cause it to send forth an unpleasant savour.” {308a} + +It must have been obvious to both Borrow and Mr Brandram that matters +were rapidly approaching a crisis. Mr Brandram seems to have been almost +openly hostile, and draws Borrow’s attention to the fact that after all +his distributions have been small. Borrow replies by saying that the +fault did not rest with him. Had he been able to offer Bibles instead of +Testaments for sale, the circulation would have been ten times greater. +He expresses it as his belief that had he received 20,000 Bibles he could +have sold them all in Madrid during the Spring of 1839. + + “When the Bible Society has no further occasion for my poor labours,” + he wrote {308b} somewhat pathetically, “I hope it will do me justice + to the world. I have been its faithful and zealous servant. I shall + on a future occasion take the liberty of addressing you as a friend + respecting my prospects. I have the materials of a curious book of + travels in Spain; I have enough metrical translations from all + languages, especially the Celtic and Sclavonic, to fill a dozen + volumes; and I have formed a vocabulary of the Spanish Gypsy tongue, + and also a collection of the songs and poetry of the Gitanos, with + introductory essays. Perhaps some of these literary labours might be + turned to account. I wish to obtain honourably and respectably the + means of visiting China or particular parts of Africa.” + +It is clear from this that Borrow saw how unlikely it was that his +association with the Bible Society would be prolonged beyond the present +commission. For one thing Spain was, to all intents and purposes, closed +to the unannotated Scriptures. Something might be done in the matter of +surreptitious distribution; but that had its clearly defined limitations, +as the authorities were very much alive to the danger of the light that +Borrow sought to cast over the gloom of ignorance and superstition. + +At Earl Street it was clearly recognised that Borrow’s work in Spain was +concluded. On 1st November the Sub-Committee resolved that it could “not +recommend to the General Committee to engage the further services of Mr +Borrow until he shall have returned to this country from his Mission in +Spain.” Again, on 10th January following, it recommends the General +Committee to recall him “without further delay.” + +Although he had been officially recalled, nothing was further from +Borrow’s intentions than to retire meekly from the field. He intended to +retreat with drums sounding and colours flying, fighting something more +than a rearguard action. This man’s energy and resource were terrible—to +the authorities! Seville he felt was still a fruitful ground, and +sending to Madrid for further supplies of Testaments, he commenced +operations. “Everything was accomplished with the utmost secrecy, and +the blessed books obtained considerable circulation.” {309} Agents were +sent into the country and he went also himself, “in my accustomed +manner,” until all the copies that had arrived from the capital were put +into circulation. He then rested for a while, being in need of quiet, as +he was indisposed. + +By this action Borrow was incurring no little risk. The Canons of the +Cathedral watched him closely. Their hatred amounted “almost to a +frenzy,” and Borrow states that scarcely a day passed without some +accusation of other being made to the Civil Governor, all of which were +false. People whom he had never seen were persuaded to perjure +themselves by swearing that he had sold or given them books. The same +system was carried on whilst he was in Africa, because the authorities +refused to believe that he was out of Spain. + +There now occurred another regrettable incident, and Borrow once more +suffered for the indiscretion of those whom he neither knew nor +controlled. To Mr Brandram he wrote: + + “Some English people now came to Seville and distributed tracts in a + very unguarded manner, knowing nothing of the country or the + inhabitants. They were even so unwise as _to give tracts instead of + money on visiting public buildings_, _etc._ [!]. These persons came + to me and requested my coöperation and advice, and likewise + introductions to people spiritually disposed amongst the Spaniards, + to all which requests I returned a decided negative. But I foresaw + all. In a day or two I was summoned before the Civil Governor, or, + as he was once called, the _Corregidor_, of Seville, who, I must say, + treated me with the utmost politeness and indeed respect; but at the + same time he informed me that he had (to use his own expression) + terrible orders from Madrid concerning me if I should be discovered + in the act of distributing the Scriptures or any writings of a + religious tendency; he then taxed me with having circulated both + lately, especially tracts; whereupon I told him that I had never + distributed a tract since I had been in Spain nor had any intention + of doing so. We had much conversation and parted in kindness.” {310} + +For a few days nothing happened; then, determined to set out on an +expedition to La Mancha (the delay had been due to the insecure state of +the roads), Borrow sent his passport (24th Nov.) for signature to the +_Alcalde del Barrio_. + + “This fellow,” Borrow informs Mr Brandram, “is the greatest ruffian + in Seville, and I have on various occasions been insulted by him; he + pretends to be a liberal, but he is of no principle at all, and as I + reside within his district he has been employed by the Canons of the + Cathedral to vex and harrass me on every possible occasion.” + +In the following letter, addressed to the British _Chargé d’Affaires_ +(the Hon. G. S. S. Jerningham), Borrow gives a full account of what +transpired between him and the _Alcalde_ of Seville:— + + SIR, + + I beg leave to lay before you the following statement of certain + facts which lately occurred at Seville, from which you will perceive + that the person of a British Subject has been atrociously outraged, + the rights and privileges of a foreigner in Spain violated, and the + sanctuary of a private house invaded without the slightest reason or + shadow of authority by a person in the employ of the Spanish + Government. + + For some months past I have been a resident at Seville in a house + situated in a square called the “Plazuela de la Pila Seca.” In this + house I possess apartments, the remainder being occupied by an + English Lady and her daughter, the former of whom is the widow of an + officer of the highest respectability who died in the naval service + of Great Britain. On the twenty-fourth of last November, I sent a + servant, a Native of Spain, to the Office of the “_Ayuntamiento_” of + Seville for the purpose of demanding my passport, it being my + intention to set out the next day for Cordoba. The “_Ayuntamiento_” + returned for answer that it was necessary that the ticket of + residence (_Billete de residencia_) which I had received on sending + in the Passport should be signed by the _Alcalde_ of the district in + which I resided, to which intimation I instantly attended. I will + here take the liberty of observing that on several occasions during + my residence at Seville, I have experienced gross insults from this + _Alcalde_, and that more than once when I have had occasion to leave + the Town, he has refused to sign the necessary document for the + recovery of the passport; he now again refused to do so, and used + coarse language to the Messenger; whereupon I sent the latter back + with money to pay any fees, lawful or unlawful, which might be + demanded, as I wished to avoid noise and the necessity of applying to + the Consul, Mr Williams; but the fellow became only more outrageous. + I then went myself to demand an explanation, and was saluted with no + inconsiderable quantity of abuse. I told him that if he proceeded in + this manner I would make a complaint to the Authorities through the + British Consul. He then said if I did not instantly depart he would + drag me off to prison and cause me to be knocked down if I made the + slightest resistance. I dared him repeatedly to do both, and said + that he was a disgrace to the Government which employed him, and to + human nature. He called me a vile foreigner. We were now in the + street and a mob had collected, whereupon I cried: “Viva Inglaterra y + viva la Constitucion.” The populace remained quiet, notwithstanding + the exhortations of the _Alcalde_ that they would knock down “the + foreigner,” for he himself quailed before me as I looked him in the + face, defying him. At length he exclaimed, with the usual obscene + Spanish oath, “I will make you lower your head” (Yo te haré abajar la + cabeza), and ran to a neighbouring guard-house and requested the + assistance of the Nationals in conducting me to prison. I followed + him and delivered myself up at the first summons, and walked to the + prison without uttering a word; not so the _Alcalde_, who continued + his abuse until we arrived at the gate, repeatedly threatening to + have me knocked down if I moved to the right or left. + + I was asked my name by the Authorities of the prison, which I refused + to give unless in the presence of the Consul of my Nation, and indeed + to answer any questions. I was then ordered to the _Patio_, or + Courtyard, where are kept the lowest thieves and assassins of + Seville, who, having no money, cannot pay for better accommodation, + and by whom I should have been stripped naked in a moment as a matter + of course, as they are all in a state of raging hunger and utter + destitution. I asked for a private cell, which I was told I might + have if I could pay for it. I stated my willingness to pay anything + which might be demanded, and was conducted to an upper ward + consisting of several cells and a corridor; here I found six or seven + Prisoners, who received me very civilly, and instantly procured me + paper and ink for the purpose of writing to the Consul. In less than + an hour Mr Williams arrived and I told him my story, whereupon he + instantly departed in order to demand redress of the Authorities. + The next morning the _Alcalde_, without any authority from the + Political [Civil] Governor of Seville, and unaccompanied by the + English Consul, as the law requires in such cases, and solely + attended by a common _Escribano_, went to the house in which I was + accustomed to reside and demanded admission. The door was opened by + my Moorish Servant, Hayim Ben-Attar, whom he commanded instantly to + show the way to my apartments. On the Servant’s demanding by what + authority he came, he said, “Cease chattering” (Deje cuentos), “I + shall give no account to you; show me the way; if not, I will take + you to prison as I did your master: I come to search for prohibited + books.” The Moor, who being in a strange land was somewhat + intimidated, complied and led him to the rooms occupied by me, when + the _Alcalde_ flung about my books and papers, finding nothing which + could in the slightest degree justify his search, the few books being + all either in Hebrew or Arabic character (they consisted of the + Mitchna and some commentaries on the Coran); he at last took up a + large knife which lay on a chair and which I myself purchased some + months previous at Santa Cruz in La Mancha as a curiosity—the place + being famous for those knives—and expressed his determination to take + it away as a prohibited article. The _Escribano_, however, cautioned + him against doing so, and he flung it down. He now became very + vociferous and attempted to force his way into some apartments + occupied by the Ladies, my friends; but soon desisted and at last + went away, after using some threatening words to my Moorish Servant. + Late at night of the second day of my imprisonment, I was set at + liberty by virtue of an order of the Captain General, given on + application of the British Consul, after having been for thirty hours + imprisoned amongst the worst felons of Andalusia, though to do them + justice I must say that I experienced from them nothing but kindness + and hospitality. + + The above, Sir, is the correct statement of the affair which has now + brought me to Madrid. What could have induced the _Alcalde_ in + question to practise such atrocious behaviour towards me I am at a + loss to conjecture, unless he were instigated by certain enemies + which I possess in Seville. However this may be, I now call upon + you, as the Representative of the Government of which I am a Subject, + to demand of the Minister of the Spanish Crown full and ample + satisfaction for the various outrages detailed above. In conclusion, + I must be permitted to add that I will submit to no compromise, but + will never cease to claim justice until the culprit has received + condign punishment. + + I am, etc., etc., etc. + + GEORGE BORROW. + + MADRID (no date). + + Recorded 6th December [1839].” {313} + +Thus it happened that on 19th December Mr Brandram received the following +letter:— + + PRISON OF SEVILLE, 25_th_ _Nov._ 1839. + + I write these lines, as you see, from the common prison of Seville, + to which I was led yesterday, or rather dragged, neither for murder + nor robbery nor debt, but simply for having endeavoured to obtain a + passport for Cordoba, to which place I was going with my Jewish + servant Hayim Ben-Attar. + +When questioned by the Vice-Consul as to his authority for searching +Borrow’s house, the _Alcalde_ produced a paper purporting to be the +deposition of an old woman to whom Borrow was alleged to have sold a +Testament some ten days previously. The document Borrow pronounced a +forgery and the statement untrue. + +Borrow’s fellow-prisoners treated him with unbounded kindness and +hospitality, and he was forced to confess that he had “never found +himself amongst more quiet and well-behaved men.” Nothing shows more +clearly the power of Borrow’s personality over rogues and vagabonds than +the two periods spent in Spanish prisons—at Madrid and at Seville. Mr +Brandram must have shuddered when he read Borrow’s letter telling him by +what manner of men he was surrounded. + + “What is their history?” he writes apropos of his fellow-prisoners. + “The handsome black-haired man, who is now looking over my shoulder, + is the celebrated thief, Pelacio, the most expert housebreaker and + dexterous swindler in Spain—in a word, the modern Guzman D’alfarache. + The brawny man who sits by the _brasero_ of charcoal is Salvador, the + highwayman of Ronda, who has committed a hundred murders. A + fashionably dressed man, short and slight in person, is walking about + the room: he wears immense whiskers and mustachios; he is one of that + most singular race the Jews of Spain; he is imprisoned for + counterfeiting money. He is an atheist; but, like a true Jew, the + name which he most hates is that of Christ. Yet he is so quiet and + civil, and they are all so quiet and civil, and it is that which most + horrifies me, for quietness and civility in them seems so unnatural.” + {315} + +Such were the men who fraternised with an agent of a religious society +and showed him not only civility but hospitality and kindness. It is +open to question if they would have shown the same to any other +unfortunate missionary. In all probability they recognised a +fellow-vagabond, who was at much at issue with the social conventions of +communities as they were with the laws of property. + +On this occasion the period of Borrow’s imprisonment was brief. He was +released late at night on 25th Nov., within thirty hours of his arrest, +and he immediately set to work to think out a plan by which he could once +more discomfit the Spanish authorities for this indignity to a British +subject. He would proceed to Madrid without delay and put his case +before the British Minister, at the same time he would “make preparations +for leaving Spain as soon as possible.” + + + + +CHAPTER XX +DECEMBER 1839–MAY 1840 + + +It was probably about this time (1839) that + + “The Marqués de Santa Coloma met Borrow again at Seville. He had + great difficulty in finding him out; though he was aware of the + street in which he resided, no one knew him by name. At last, by + dint of inquiry and description, some one exclaimed, ‘Oh! you mean el + Brujo’ (the wizard), and he was directed to the house. He was + admitted with great caution, and conducted through a lot of passages + and stairs, till at last he was ushered into a handsomely furnished + apartment in the ‘_mirador_,’ where Borrow was living _with his wife + and daughter_. . . It is evident . . . that, to his Spanish friends + at least, he thus called Mrs Clarke and her daughter Henrietta his + wife and daughter: and the Marqués de Santa Coloma evidently believed + that the young lady was Borrow’s _own_ daughter, and not his + step-daughter merely (!). At the time the roads from Seville to + Madrid were very unsafe. Santa Coloma wished Borrow to join his + party, who were going well armed. Borrow said he would be safe with + his Gypsies. Both arrived without accident in Madrid; the Marqués’s + party first. Borrow, on his arrival, told Santa Coloma that his + Gypsy chief had led him by by-paths and mountains; that they had not + slept in a village, nor seen a town the whole way.” {316} + +It must be confessed that Mr Webster was none too reliable a witness, and +it seems highly improbable that Borrow would wish to pass Mrs Clarke off +as his wife before their marriage. The fact of their occupying the same +house may have seemed to their Spanish friends compromising, as it +unquestionably was; but had he spoken of Mrs Clarke as his wife, it would +have left her not a vestige of reputation. + +On arriving at Madrid Borrow found that Lord Clarendon’s successor, Mr +Arthur Aston, had not yet arrived, he therefore presented his complaint +to the _Chargé d’Affaires_, the Hon. G. S. S. Jerningham, who had +succeeded Mr Sothern as private secretary. Mr Sothern had not yet left +Madrid to take up his new post as First Secretary at Lisbon, and +therefore presented Borrow to Mr Jerningham, by whom he was received with +great kindness. He assured Mr Jerningham that for some time past he had +given up distributing the Scriptures in Spain, and he merely claimed the +privileges of a British subject and the protection of his Government. +The First Secretary took up the case immediately, forwarding Borrow’s +letter to Don Perez de Castro with a request for “proper steps to be +taken, should Mr Borrow’s complaint . . . be considered by His Excellency +as properly founded.” Borrow himself was doubtful as to whether he would +obtain justice, “for I have against me,” he wrote to Mr Brandram (24th +December), “the Canons of Seville; and all the arts of villany which they +are so accustomed to practise will of course be used against me for the +purpose of screening the ruffian who is their instrument. . . . I have +been, my dear Sir, fighting with wild beasts.” + +The rather quaint reply to Borrow’s charges was not forthcoming until he +had left Spain and was living at Oulton. It runs: {317} + + MADRID, 11_th_ _May_ 1840. + + SIR, + + Under date of 20th December last, Mr Perez de Castro informed Mr + Jerningham that in order to answer satisfactorily his note of 8th + December _re_ complaint made by Borrow, he required a faithful report + to be made. These have been stated by the Municipality of Seville to + the Civil Governor of that City, and are as follows:— + + “When Borrow meant to undertake his journey to Cadiz towards the end + of last year, he applied to the section of public security for his + Passport, for which purpose he ought to deliver his paper of + residence which was given to him when he arrived at Seville. That + paper he had not presented in its proper time to the _Alcalde_ of his + district, on which account this person had not been acquainted as he + ought with his residence in the district, and as his Passport could + not be issued in consequence of this document not being in order, + Borrow addressed, through the medium of a Servant, to the house of + the said district _Alcalde_ that the defect might be remedied. That + functionary refused to do so, founded on the reasons already stated; + and for the purpose of overcoming his resistance he was offered a + gratification, the Servant with that intent presenting half a dollar. + The _Alcalde_, justly indignant, left his house to make the necessary + complaint respecting their indecorous action when he met Borrow, who, + surprised at the refusal of the _Alcalde_, expressed to him his + astonishment, addressing insulting expressions not only against his + person but against the authorities of Spain, who, he said, he was + sure were to be bought at a very small price—crying on after this, + Long live the Constitution, Death to the Religion, and Long live + England. These and other insults gave rise to the _Alcalde_ + proceeding to his arrest and the assistance of the armed force of + Veterans, and not of the National Militia, as Borrow supposed, making + a detailed report to the Constitutional _Alcalde_, who forwarded it + original to the Captain General of the Province as Judge Protector of + Foreigners, leaving him under detention at his disposition. He did + the same with another report transmitted by the said functionary, in + which reference to a Lady who lived at the Gate of Xerez; he + denounced Borrow as a seducer of youth in matters of Religion by + facilitating to them the perusal of prohibited books, of which a + copy, that was in the hands of the Ecclesiastical Governor, was + likewise transmitted to the Captain General. These antecedents were + sufficient to have authorised a summary to have been formed against + Borrow, but the repeated supplications of the British Vice-Consul, Mr + Williams, who among other things stated that Borrow laboured under + fits of madness, had the effect of causing the above Constitutional + _Alcalde_ to forgive him the fault committed and recommend to the + Captain General that the matter should be dropped, which was acceded + to, and he was put at liberty. The above facts, official proofs of + which exist in the Captain General’s Office, clearly disprove the + statement of Borrow, who ungrateful for the generous hospitality + which he has received, and for the consideration displayed towards + him on account of his infirmity, and out of deference to the request + of the British Vice-Consul, makes an unfounded complaint against the + very authorities who have used attentions towards him which he is + certainly not deserving; it being worthy of remark, in order to prove + the bad faith of his procedure, that in his own _exposé_, although he + disfigures facts at pleasure, using a language little decorous, he + confesses part of his faults, such as the offering of money _to pay_, + as he says, ‘_the legal or extra-legal dues that might be exacted_, + and his having twice challenged the _Alcalde_.’ + + “I should consider myself wanting towards your enlightened sense of + justice if, after the reasons given, I stopped to prove the just and + prudent conduct of Seville authorities. + + “Hope he will therefore be completely satisfied, especially after the + want of exactitude on Borrow’s part. + + From + + EVARISTO PEREZ DE CASTRO.” + + To Mr Aston. {319} + +And so the matter ended. The Spanish authorities knew that they no +longer had a Sir George Villiers to deal with, and had recourse to that +trump card of weak and vacillating diplomatists—delay. Whatever Borrow’s +offence, the method of his arrest and imprisonment was in itself +unlawful. + +It was Borrow’s intention on his return to England to endeavour to obtain +an interview with some members of the House of Lords, in order to +acquaint them with the manner in which Protestants were persecuted in +Spain. They were debarred from the exercise of their religion from being +married by Protestant rites, and the common privileges of burial were +denied them. He was anxious for Protestant England, lest it should fall +a victim to Popery. This fear of Rome was a very real one to Borrow. He +marvelled at people’s blindness to the danger that was threatening them, +and he even went so far as to entreat his friends at Earl Street “to drop +all petty dissensions and to comport themselves like brothers” against +their common enemy the Pope. + +Unfortunately Borrow had shown to a number of friends one of his letters +to Mr Brandram dealing with the Seville imprisonment, and had even +allowed several copies of it to be taken “in order that an incorrect +account of the affair might not get abroad.” The result was an article +in a London newspaper containing remarks to the disparagement of other +workers for the Gospel in Spain. Borrow disavowed all knowledge of these +observations. + + “I am not ashamed of the Methodists of Cadiz,” he assures Mr + Brandram, “their conduct in many respects does them honor, nor do I + accuse any one of fanaticism amongst our dear and worthy friends; but + I cannot answer for the tittle-tattle of Madrid. Far be it from me + to reflect upon any one, I am but too well aware of my own + multitudinous imperfections and follies.” {320} + +There is nothing more mysterious in Borrow’s life than his years of +friendship with Mrs Clarke. He was never a woman’s man, but Mary Clarke +seems to have awakened in him a very sincere regard. The ménage at +Seville was a curious one, and both Borrow and Mrs Clarke should have +seen that it was calculated to make people talk. There may have been a +tacit understanding between them. Everything connected with their +relations and courtship is very mysterious. Dr Knapp is scarcely just to +Borrow or gracious to the woman he married, when he implies that it was +merely a business arrangement on both sides. Mrs Clarke’s affairs +required a man’s hand to administer them, and Borrow was prepared to give +the man’s hand in exchange for an income. The engagement could scarcely +have taken place in the middle of November 1839, as Dr Knapp states, for +on the day of his arrest at Seville (24th Nov.) Borrow wrote:— + + MY DEAR MRS CLARKE,—Do not be alarmed, but I am at present in the + prison, to which place the _Alcalde_ del Barrio conducted me when I + asked him to sign the Passport. If Phelipe is not already gone to + the Consul, let Henrietta go now and show him this letter. When I + asked the fellow his motives for not signing the Passport, he said if + I did not go away he would carry me to prison. I dared him to do so, + as I had done nothing; whereupon he led me here.—Yours truly, + + GEORGE BORROW. + +This is obviously not the letter of a man recently engaged to the woman +who is to become his wife. On the other hand, Borrow may have been +writing merely for the Consul’s eye. + +On hearing the news of the engagement old Mrs Borrow wrote:— + + “I am not surprised, my dear Mrs Clarke, at what you tell me, though + I knew nothing of it. It put me in mind of the Revd. Flethers; you + know they took time to consider. So far all is well. I shall now + resign him to your care, and may you love and cherish him as much as + I have done. I hope and trust that each will try to make the other + happy. You will always have my prayers and best wishes. Give my + kind love to dear George and tell him he is never out of my thoughts. + I have much to say, but I cannot write. I shall be glad to see you + all safe and well. Give my love to Henrietta; tell her _I_ can sing + ‘Gaily the Troubadour’; I only want the ‘guitar.’ {321} God bless you + all.” + +There is no doubt that a very strong friendship had existed between Mrs +Clarke and Borrow during the whole time that he had been associated with +the Bible Society. She it was who had been indirectly responsible for +his introduction to Earl Street. It is idle to speculate what it was +that led Mrs Clarke to select Seville as the place to which to fly from +her enemies. There is, however, a marked significance in old Mrs +Borrow’s words, “I am not surprised, my dear Mrs Clarke, at what you tell +me.” Whatever his mother may have seen, there appears to have been no +thought of marriage in Borrow’s mind when, on 29th September 1839, he +wrote to Mr Brandram telling him of his wish to visit “China or +particular parts of Africa.” + +Borrow paid many tributes to his wife, not only in his letters, but in +print, every one of which she seems thoroughly to have merited. “Of my +wife,” he writes, {322} “I will merely say that she is a perfect paragon +of wives—can make puddings and sweets and treacle posset, and is the best +woman of business in East Anglia.” On another occasion he praises her +for more general qualities, when he compares her to the good wife of the +Triad, the perfect woman endowed with all the feminine virtues. His wife +and “old Hen.” (Henrietta) were his “two loved ones,” and he subsequently +shows in a score of ways how much they had become part of his life. + +After his return to Seville, early in January, Borrow proceeded to get +his “papers into some order.” There seems no doubt that this meant +preparing _The Zincali_ for publication. In the excitement and +enthusiasm of authorship, and the pleasant company of Mrs and Miss +Clarke, he seems to have been divinely unconscious that he was under +orders to proceed home. Week after week passed without news of their +Agent in Spain reaching Earl Street, and the Officials and Committee of +the Bible Society became troubled to account for his non-appearance. The +last letter from him had been received on 13th January. Early in March +Mr Jackson wrote to Mr Brackenbury asking for news of him. A letter to +Mr Williams at Seville was enclosed, which Mr Brackenbury had +discretionary powers to withhold if he were able to supply the +information himself. Two letters that Borrow had addressed to the +Society it appears had gone astray, and as “one steamer . . . arrived +after another and yet no news from Mr Borrow,” some apprehension began to +manifest itself lest misfortune had befallen him. On the other hand, +Borrow had heard nothing from the Society for five months, the long +silence making him “very, very unhappy.” + +In reply to Mr Brandram’s letter Borrow wrote:— + + “I did not return to England immediately after my departure from + Madrid for several reasons. First, there was my affair with the + _Alcalde_ still pending; second, I wished to get my papers into some + order; third, I wished to effect a little more in the cause, though + not in the way of distribution, as I have no books: moreover the + house in which I resided was paid for and I was unwilling altogether + to lose the money; I likewise dreaded an English winter, for I have + lately been subjected to attacks, whether of gout or rheumatism I + know not, which I believe were brought on by sitting, standing and + sleeping in damp places during my wanderings in Spain. The _Alcalde_ + has lately been turned out of his situation, but I believe more on + account of his being a Carlist than for his behaviour to me; that, + however, is of little consequence, as I have long forgotten the + affair.” {323a} + +There was no longer any reason for delay; the English winter was over, he +had one book nearly ready for publication and two others in a state of +forwardness. + + “I embark on the third of next month [April],” he continued, “and you + will probably see me by the 16th. I wish very much to spend the + remaining years of my life in the northern parts of China, as I think + I have a call for those regions, and shall endeavour by every + honourable means to effect my purpose.” {323b} + +These words would seem to imply that his marriage with Mrs Clarke was by +no means decided upon at the date he wrote, although during the previous +month he had been in correspondence with Mr Brackenbury regarding +Protestants in Spain being debarred from marrying. It is inconceivable +that Mrs Clarke and her daughter contemplated living in the North of +China; and equally unlikely that Mrs Clarke would marry a potential +“absentee landlord,” or one who frankly confessed “I hope yet to die in +the cause of my Redeemer.” + +Sidi Habismilk had at first presented a grave problem; but Mr +Brackenbury, who secured the passages on the steamer, arranged also for +the Arab to be slung aboard the Steam-Packet. On 3rd April the whole +party, including Hayim Ben Attar and Sidi Habismilk, boarded the _Royal +Adelaide_ bound for London. + +Borrow never forgave Spain for its treatment of him, although some of the +happiest years of his life had been spent there. “The Spaniards are a +stupid, ungrateful set of ruffians,” he afterwards wrote, “and are +utterly incapable of appreciating generosity or forbearance.” He piled +up invective upon the unfortunate country. It was “the chosen land of +the two fiends—assassination and murder,” where avarice and envy were the +prevailing passions. It was the “country of error”; yet at the same time +“the land of extraordinary characters.” As he saw its shores sinking +beneath the horizon, he was mercifully denied the knowledge that never +again was he to be so happily occupied as during the five years he had +spent upon its soil distributing the Scriptures, and using a British +Minister as a two-edged sword. + +The party arrived in London on 16th April and put up at the Spread Eagle +in Gracechurch Street. On 23rd April, at St Peter’s Church in Cornhill, +the wedding took place. There were present as witnesses only Henrietta +Clarke and John Pilgrim, the Norwich solicitor. In the Register the +names appear as:— + + “George Henry Borrow—of full age—bachelor—gentleman—of the City of + Norwich—son of Thomas Borrow—Captain in the Army. + + “Mary Clarke—of full age—widow—of Spread Eagle Inn, Gracechurch + Street—daughter of Edmund Skepper—Esquire.” + +On 2nd May an announcement of the marriage appeared in _The Norfolk +Chronicle_. A few days later the party left for Oulton Cottage, and +Borrow became a landed proprietor on a small scale in his much-loved East +Anglia. + +On 21st April Mr Brandram had written to Borrow the following letter:— + + MY DEAR FRIEND,—Your later communications have been referred to our + Sub-Committee for General Purposes. After what you said yesterday in + the Committee, I am hardly aware that anything can arise out of them. + The door seems shut. The Sub-Committee meet on Friday. Will you + wish to make any communications to them as to any ulterior views that + may have occurred to yourself? I do not myself at present see any + sphere open to which your services in connection with our Society can + be transferred. . . . With best wishes—Believe me—Yours truly, + + A. BRANDRAM. + +On 24th April, the day after Borrow’s wedding, the Sub-Committee duly met +and + + “Resolved that, upon mature consideration, it does not appear to this + Sub-Committee that there is, at present, any opening for employing Mr + Borrow beneficially as an Agent of the Society . . . and that it be + recommended to the General Committee that the salary of Mr Borrow be + paid up to the 10th June next.” + +The Bible Society’s valediction, which appeared in the Thirty-Sixth +Annual Report, read:— + + “G. Borrow, Esq., one of the gentlemen referred to in former Reports + as having so zealously exerted themselves on behalf of Spain, has + just returned home, hopeless of further attempts at present to + distribute the Scriptures in that country. Mr B. has succeeded, by + almost incredible pains, and at no small cost and hazard, in selling + during his last visit a few hundred copies of the Bible, and most + that remained of the edition of the New Testament printed in Madrid.” + +Thus ended George Borrow’s activities on behalf of the British and +Foreign Bible Society, and incidentally the seven happiest and most +active years of his life. On the whole the association had been +honourable to all concerned. There had been moments of irritation and +mistakes on both sides. It would be foolish to accuse the Society of +deliberately planting obstacles in the path of its own agent; but the +unfortunate championing of Lieutenant Graydon was the result of a very +grave error of judgment. Borrow had no personal friends among the +Committee, to whom the impetuous zeal of Graydon was more picturesque +than the grave and deliberate caution of Borrow. The Officials and +Committee alike saw in Graydon the ideal Reformer, rushing precipitately +towards martyrdom, exposing Anti-Christ as he ran. Had Borrow been +content to allow others to plead his cause, the history of his relations +with the Bible Society would, in all probability, have been different. +He felt himself a grievously injured man, who had suffered from what he +considered to be the insane antics of another, and he was determined that +Earl Street should know it. On the other hand, Mr Brandram does not +appear to have understood Borrow. He made no attempt to humour him, to +praise him for what he had done and the way in which he had done it. +Praise was meat and drink to Borrow; it compensated him for what he had +endured and encouraged him to further effort. He hungered for it, and +when it did not come he grew discouraged and thought that those who +employed him were not conscious of what he was suffering. Hence the long +accounts of what he had undergone for the Gospel’s sake. + +During his six years in Spain he had distributed nearly 5000 copies of +the New Testament and 500 Bibles, also some hundreds of the Basque and +Gypsy Gospel of St Luke. These figures seem insignificant beside those +of Lieut. Graydon, who, on one occasion, sold as many as 1082 volumes in +fourteen days, and in two years printed 13,000 Testaments and 3000 +Bibles, distributing the larger part of them. During the year 1837 he +circulated altogether between five and six thousand books. But there was +no comparison between the work of the two men. Graydon had kept to the +towns and cities on the south coast; Borrow’s methods were different. He +circulated his books largely among villages and hamlets, where the +population was sparse and the opportunities of distribution small. He +had gone out into the highways, risking his life at every turn, +penetrating into bandit-infested provinces in the throes of civil war, +suffering incredible hardships and fatigues and, never sparing himself. +Both men were earnest and eager; but the Bible Society favoured the wrong +man—at least for its purposes. But for Lieut. Graydon, Borrow would in +all probability have gone to China, and what a book he would have +written, at least what letters, about the sealed East! + +Borrow, however, had nothing to complain of. He had found occupation +when he badly needed it, which indirectly was to bring him fame. He had +been well paid for his services (during the seven years of his employment +he drew some £2300 in salary and expenses), his £200 a year and expenses +(in Spain) comparing very favourably with Mr Brandram’s £300 a year. + +He was loyal to the Bible Society, both in word and thought. He +honourably kept to himself the story of the Graydon dispute. He spoke of +the Society with enthusiasm, exclaiming, “Oh! the blood glows in his +veins! oh! the marrow awakes in his old bones when he thinks of what he +accomplished in Spain in the cause of religion and civilisation with the +colours of that society in his hat.” {328a} In spite of the +misunderstandings and the rebukes he could write fourteen years later +that he “bade it adieu with feelings of love and admiration.” {328b} He +“had done with Spain for ever, after doing for her all that lay in the +power of a lone man, who had never in this world anything to depend upon, +but God and his own slight strength.” {328c} In the preface to _The +Bible in Spain_ he pays a handsome tribute to both Rule and Graydon, thus +showing that although he was a good hater, he could be magnanimous. + +It has been stated that, during a portion of his association with the +Bible Society, Borrow acted as a foreign correspondent for _The Morning +Herald_. Dr Knapp has very satisfactorily disproved the statement, which +the Rev. Wentworth Webster received from the Marqués de Santa Coloma. +Either the Marqués or Mr Webster is responsible for the statement that +Borrow was wrecked, instead of nearly wrecked, off Cape Finisterre. As +the Marqués was a passenger on the boat, the mistake must be ascribed to +Mr Webster. The further statement that Borrow was imprisoned at Pamplona +by Quesada is scarcely more credible than that about the wreck. His +imprisonment could not very well have taken place, as stated, in 1837–9, +because General Quesada was killed in 1836. Mention is made of this +foreign correspondent rumour only because it has been printed and +reprinted. It may be that Borrow was imprisoned at Pamplona during the +“Veiled Period”; there is certainly one imprisonment (according to his +own statement) unaccounted for. It is curious how the fact first became +impressed upon the Marqués’ mind, unless he had heard it from Borrow. It +is quite likely that he confused the date. + +It would be interesting to identify the two men whom Borrow describes in +_Lavengro_ as being at the offices of the Bible Society in Earl Street, +when he sought to exchange for a Bible the old Apple-woman’s copy of +_Moll Flanders_. “One was dressed in brown,” he writes, “and the other +was dressed in black; both were tall men—he who was dressed in brown was +thin, and had a particularly ill-natured countenance; the man dressed in +black was bulky, his features were noble, but they were those of a lion.” +{329a} Again, in _The Romany Rye_, he makes the man in black say with +reference to the Bible Society:—“There is one fellow amongst them for +whom we entertain a particular aversion: a big, burly parson, with the +face of a lion, the voice of a buffalo, and a fist like a sledge-hammer.” +{329b} Who these two worthies were it is impossible to say with any +degree of certainty. Caroline Fox describes Andrew Brandram no further +than that he “appeared before us once more with his shaggy eyebrows.” +{329c} Mr Brandram was not thin and his countenance was not ill-natured. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI +MAY 1840–MARCH 1841 + + +EARLY in May, Borrow, his wife and step-daughter left London to take up +their residence at Oulton, in Suffolk. After years of wandering and +vagabondage he was to settle down as a landed proprietor. His income, or +rather his wife’s, amounted to £450 per annum, and he must have saved a +considerable sum out of the £2300 he had drawn from the Bible Society, as +his mother appears to have regarded the amounts he had sent to her as +held in trust. He was therefore able to instal himself, Sidi Habismilk +and the Jew of Fez upon his wife’s small estate, with every prospect of +enjoying a period of comfort and rest after his many years of wandering +and adventure. + + [Picture: Oulton Cottage. Photo. C. Wilson, Lowestroft] + +Oulton Cottage was ideally situated on the margin of the Broad. It was a +one-storied building, with a dormer-attic above, hanging “over a lonely +lake covered with wild fowl, and girt with dark firs, through which the +wind sighs sadly. {330a} A regular Patmos, an _ultima Thule_; placed in +an angle of the most unvisited, out-of-the-way portion of England.” +{330b} A few yards from the water’s edge stood the famous octagonal +Summer-house that Borrow made his study. Here he kept his books, a +veritable “polyglot gentleman’s” library, consisting of such literary +“tools” as a Lav-engro might be expected to possess. There were also +books of travel and adventure, some chairs, a lounge and a table; whilst +behind the door hung the sword and regimental coat of the sleeping +warrior to whom his younger son had been an affliction of the spirit, +because his mind pursued paths that appeared so strangely perilous. + +Here in this Summer-house Borrow wrote his books. Here when “sickness +was in the land, and the face of nature was overcast—heavy rain-clouds +swam in the heavens—the blast howled amid the pines which nearly surround +the lonely dwelling, and the waters of the lake which lies before it, so +quiet in general and tranquil, were fearfully agitated,” Borrow shouted, +“‘Bring lights hither, O Hayim Ben Attar, son of the miracle!’ And the +Jew of Fez brought in the lights,” {331a} and his master commenced +writing a book that was to make him famous. When tired of writing, he +would sometimes sing “strange words in a stentorian voice, while +passers-by on the lake would stop to listen with astonishment and +curiosity to the singular sounds.” {331b} + +Life at Oulton Cottage was delightfully simple. Borrow was a good host. +“I am rather hospitable than otherwise,” {331c} he wrote, and thoroughly +disliked anything in the nature of meanness. There was always a bottle +of wine of a rare vintage for the honoured guest. Sometimes the host +himself would hasten away to the little Summer-house by the side of the +Broad to muse, his eyes fixed upon the military coat and sword, or to +scribble upon scraps of paper that, later, were to be transcribed by Mrs +Borrow. Borrow would spend his evenings with his wife and Henrietta, +generally in reading until bedtime. + +In the Norwich days Borrow had formed an acquaintance with another +articled-clerk named Harvey (probably one of his colleagues at Tuck’s +Court). They had kindred tastes, in particular a love of the open air +and vigorous exercise. After settling at Oulton, the Borrows and the +Harveys (then living at Bury St Edmunds) became very intimate, and +frequently visited each other. Elizabeth Harvey, the daughter of +Borrow’s contemporary, has given an extremely interesting account of the +home life of the Borrows. She has described how sometimes Borrow would +sing one of his Romany songs, “shake his fist at me and look quite wild. +Then he would ask: ‘Aren’t you afraid of me?’ ‘No, not at all,’ I would +say. Then he would look just as gentle and kind, and say, ‘God bless +you, I would not hurt a hair of your head.’” {332a} + +Miss Harvey has also given us many glimpses into Borrow’s character. “He +was very fond of ghost stories,” she writes, “and believed in the +supernatural.” {332b} He enjoyed music of a lively description, one of +his favourite compositions being the well-known “Redowa” polka, which he +would frequently ask to have played to him again. + +As an eater Borrow was very moderate, he “took very little breakfast but +ate a very great quantity of dinner, and then had only a draught of cold +water before going to bed . . . He was very temperate and would eat what +was set before him, often not thinking of what he was doing, and he never +refused what was offered him.” {332c} On one occasion when he was dining +with the Harveys, young Harvey, seeing Borrow engrossed in telling of his +travels, handed him dish after dish in rapid succession, from all of +which he helped himself, entirely unconscious of what he was doing. +Finally his plate was full to overflowing, perceiving which he became +very angry, and it was some time before he could be appeased. A +practical joke made no appeal to him. {332d} + +Elizabeth Harvey also tells how, when a cousin of hers was staying at +Cromer, the landlady went to her one day and said, “O, Miss, there’s such +a curious gentleman been. I don’t know what to think of him, I asked him +what he would like for dinner, and he said, ‘Give me a piece of flesh.’” +“What sort of gentleman was it?” enquired the cousin, and on hearing the +description recognised George Borrow, and explained that the strange +visitor merely wanted a rump-steak, a favourite dish with him. + +As he did not shoot or hunt, he obtained exercise either by riding or +walking. At times “he suffered from sleeplessness, when he would get up +and walk to Norwich (25 miles) and return the next night recovered” +{333a} yet Borrow has said that “he always had the health of an +elephant.” + +He was proud of the Church and took great pleasure in showing to his +friends the brasses it contained, including one bearing an effigy of Sir +John Fastolf, whom he considered to be the original of Falstaff. He was +also “very fond of his trees. He quite fretted if by some mischance he +lost one.” {333b} + +His methods with the country people round Oulton were calculated to earn +for him a reputation for queerness. “Curiosity is the leading feature of +my character” {333c} he confessed, and the East Anglian looks upon +curiosity in others with marked suspicion. It was impossible for Borrow +to walk far without getting into conversation with someone or other. He +delighted in getting people to tell their histories and experiences; +“when they used some word peculiar to Norfolk (or Suffolk) country men, +he would say ‘Why, that’s a Danish word.’ By and bye the man would use +another peculiar expression, ‘Why, that’s Saxon’; a little further on +another, ‘Why, that’s French.’ And he would add, ‘Why, what a wonderful +man you are to speak so many languages.’ One man got very angry, but Mr +Borrow was quite unconscious that he had given any offence.” {334a} + +He took pleasure in puzzling people about languages. Elizabeth Harvey +tells {334b} how he once put a book before her telling her to read it, +and on her saying she could not, he replied, “You ought; it’s your own +language.” The volume was written in Saxon. Yet for all this he hated +to hear foreign words introduced into conversation. When he heard such +adulterations of the English language he would exclaim jocosely, “What’s +that, trying to come over me with strange languages?” {334c} + +Borrow’s first thoughts on settling down were of literature. He had +material for several books, as he had informed Mr Brandram. Putting +aside, at least for the present, the translations of the ballads and +songs, he devoted himself to preparing for the press a book upon the +Spanish Gypsies. During the five years spent in Spain he had gathered +together much material. He had made notes in queer places under strange +and curious conditions, “in moments snatched from more important +pursuits—chiefly in _ventas_ and _posadás_” {334d}—whilst engaged in +distributing the Gospel. It was a book of facts that he meant to write, +not theories, and if he sometimes fostered error, it was because at the +moment it was his conception of truth. Very little remained to do to the +manuscript. Mrs. Borrow had performed her share of the work in making a +fair copy for the printer. Borrow’s subsequent remark that the +manuscript “was written by a country amanuensis and probably contains +many ridiculous errata,” was scarcely gracious to the wife, who seems to +have comprehended so well the first principle of wifely duty to an +illustrious and, it must be admitted, autocratic genius—viz., +self-extinction. + +“No man could endure a clever wife,” Borrow once confided to the +unsympathetic ear of Frances Power Cobbe; but he had married one +nevertheless. No woman whose cleverness had not reached the point of +inspiration could have lived in intimate association with so capricious +and masterful a man as George Borrow. John Hasfeldt, in sending his +congratulations, had seemed to suggest that Borrow was one of those +abstruse works of nature that require close and constant study. “When +your wife thoroughly knows you,” he wrote, “she will smooth the wrinkles +on your brow and you will be so cheerful and happy that your grey hair +will turn black again.” + +“In November 1840 a tall athletic gentleman in black called upon Mr +Murray, offering a manuscript for perusal and publication.” {335a} +Fifteen years before, the same “tall athletic gentleman” had called a +dozen times at 50a Albemarle Street with translations of Northern and +Welsh ballads, but “never could see Glorious John.” Borrow had +determined to make another attempt to see John Murray, and this time he +was successful. He submitted the manuscript of _The Zincali_, which +Murray sent to Richard Ford {335b} that he might pronounce upon it and +its possibilities. “I have made acquaintance,” Ford wrote to H. U. +Addington, 14th Jan. 1841, “with an extraordinary fellow, _George +Borrow_, who went out to Spain to convert the _gypsies_. He is about to +publish his failure, and a curious book it will be. It was submitted to +my perusal by the hesitating Murray.” {335c} On Ford’s advice the book +was accepted for publication, it being arranged that author and publisher +should share the profits equally between them. + +On 17th April 1841 there appeared in two volumes _The Zincali_; {336a} +_or_, _An Account of the Gypsies in Spain_. _With an original Collection +of their Songs and Poetry_, _and a copious Dictionary of their Language_. +By George Borrow, late Agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society in +Spain. It was dedicated to the Earl of Clarendon, G.C.B. (Sir George +Villiers), in “remembrance of the many obligations under which your +Lordship has placed me, by your energetic and effectual interference in +time of need.” The first edition of 750 copies sufficed to meet the +demand of two years. Ford, however, wrote to Murray: “The book has +created a great sensation far and wide. I was sure it would, and I hope +you think that when I read the MS. my opinion and advice were sound.” +{336b} + + [Picture: Richard Ford. From the painting by Antonio Chatelain] + +_The Zincali_ had been begun at Badajos with the Romany songs or rhymes +copied down as recited by his gypsy friends. To these he had +subsequently added, being assisted by a French courier, Juan Antonio +Bailly, who translated the songs into Spanish. These translations were +originally intended to be published in a separate work, as was the +Vocabulary, which forms part of _The Zincali_. Had Borrow sought to make +two separate works of the “Songs” and “Vocabulary,” there is very +considerable doubt if they would have fared any better than the +everlasting Ab Gwilym; but either with inspiration, or acting on some +one’s wise counsel, he determined to subordinate them to an account of +the Spanish Gypsies. + +As a piece of bookmaking _The Zincali_ is by no means notable. Borrow +himself refers to it (page 354) as “this strange wandering book of mine.” +In construction it savours rather of the method by which it was +originally inspired; but for all that it is fascinating reading, +saturated with the atmosphere of vagabondage and the gypsy encampment. +It was not necessarily a book for the scholar and the philologist, many +of whom scorned it on account of its rather obvious carelessnesses and +inaccuracies. Borrow was not a writer of academic books. He lacked the +instinct for research which alone insures accuracy. + +It was particularly appropriate that Borrow’s first book should be about +the Gypsies, who had always exercised so strange an attraction for him +that he could not remember the time “when the very name of Gypsy did not +awaken within me feelings hard to be described.” {337a} His was not +merely an interest in their strange language, their traditions, their +folk-lore; it was something nearer and closer to the people themselves. +They excited his curiosity, he envied their mode of life, admired their +clannishness, delighted in their primitive customs. Their persistence in +warring against the gentile appealed strongly to his instinctive hatred +of “gentility nonsense”; and perhaps more than anything else, he envied +them the stars and the sun and the wind on the heath. + +“Romany matters have always had a peculiar interest for me,” {337b} he +affirms over and over again in different words, and he never lost an +opportunity of joining a party of gypsies round their camp-fire. His +knowledge of the Romany people was not acquired from books. Apparently +he had read very few of the many works dealing with the mysterious race +he had singled out for his particular attention. With characteristic +assurance he makes the sweeping assertion that “all the books which have +been published concerning them [the Gypsies] have been written by those +who have introduced themselves into their society for a few hours, and +from what they have seen or heard consider themselves competent to give +the world an idea of the manners and customs of the mysterious Romany.” +{338a} + +His attitude towards the race is curious. He recognised the Gypsies as +liars, rogues, cheats, vagabonds, in short as the incarnation of all the +vices; yet their fascination for him in no way diminished. He could mix +with them, as with other vagabonds, and not become harmed by their broad +views upon personal property, or their hundred and one tricks and +dishonesties. He was a changed man when in their company, losing all +that constraint that marked his intercourse with people of his own class. + +He had laboured hard to bring the light of the Gospel into their lives. +He made them translate for him the Scriptures into their tongue; but it +was the novelty of the situation, aided by the glass of Malaga wine he +gave them, not the beauty of the Gospel of St Luke, that aroused their +interest and enthusiasm. To this, Borrow’s own eyes were open. “They +listened with admiration,” he says; “but, alas! not of the truths, the +eternal truths, I was telling them, but to find that their broken jargon +could be written and read.” {338b} + +On one occasion, having refused to one of his congregation the loan of +two _barias_ (ounces of gold), he proceeded to read to the whole assembly +instead the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostle’s Creed in Romany. Happening +to glance up, he found not a gypsy in the room, but squinted, “the Gypsy +fellow, the contriver of the jest, squinted worst of all. Such are +Gypsies.” {338c} + +[Picture: John Murray the Second. The “Glorious John” of Lavengro. From + a portrait by H. W. Pickersgill, R.A., in the possession of Mr. Murray] + +It was indeed the novelty that appealed to them. They greeted with a +shout of exultation the reading aloud a translation that they themselves +had dictated; but they remained unmoved by the Christian teaching it +contained. For all these discouragements Borrow persisted, and perhaps +none of his efforts in Spain produced less result than this “attempt to +enlighten the minds of the Gitanos on the subject of religion.” {339} + +If the Gypsies were all that is evil, judged by conventional standards, +they at least loyally stood by each other in the face of a common foe. +Borrow knew Ambrose Petulengro to be a liar, a thief, in fact most things +that it is desirable a man should not be; yet he was equally sure that +under no circumstances would he forsake a friend to whom he stood +pledged. There seems to be little doubt that Borrow’s fame with the +Gypsies spread throughout England and the Continent. “Everybody as ever +see’d the white-headed Romany Rye never forgot him.” + +Borrow was by no means the first Romany Rye. From Andrew Boorde +(15th-16th Century) down the centuries they are to be found, even to our +day, in the persons of Mr Theodore Watts-Dunton and Mr John Sampson; but +Borrow was the first to bring the cult of Gypsyism into popularity. +Before he wrote, the general view of Gypsies was that they were +uncomfortable people who robbed the clothes-lines and hen-roosts, told +fortunes and incidentally intimidated the housewife if unprotected by man +or dog. Borrow changed all this. The suspicion remained, so strongly in +fact that he himself was looked at askance for consorting with such +vagabonds; but with the suspicion was more than a spice of interest, and +the Gypsies became epitomised and immortalised in the person of Jasper +Petulengro. Borrow’s Gypsyism was as unscientific as his “philology.” +Their language, their origin he commented on without first acquainting +himself with the literature that had gathered round their name. Francis +Hindes Groome, “that perfect scholar-gypsy and gypsy-scholar,” wrote:— + + “The meagreness of his knowledge of the Anglo-Gypsy dialect came out + in his _Word Book of the Romany_ (1874); there must have been over a + dozen Englishmen who have known it far better than he. For his + Spanish-Gypsy vocabulary in _The Zincali_ he certainly drew largely + either on Richard Bright’s _Travels through Lower Hungary_ or on + Bright’s Spanish authority, whatever that may have been. His + knowledge of the strange history of the Gypsies was very elementary, + of their manners almost more so, and of their folk-lore practically + _nil_. And yet I would put George Borrow above every other writer on + the Gypsies. In _Lavengro_ and, to a less degree, in its sequel, + _The Romany Rye_, he communicates a subtle insight into Gypsydom that + is totally wanting in the works—mainly philological—of Pott, Liebich, + Paspati, Miklosich, and their confrères.” {340a} + +Groome was by no means partial to Borrow, as a matter of fact he openly +taxed him {340b} with drawing upon Bright’s _Travels in Hungary_ +(Edinburgh 1819) for the Spanish-Romany Vocabulary, and was strong in his +denunciation of him as a _poseur_. + +Borrow scorned book-learning. Writing to John Murray, Junr. (21st Jan. +1843), about _The Bible in Spain_, he says, “I was conscious that there +was vitality in the book and knew that it must sell. I read nothing and +drew entirely from my own well. I have long been tired of books; I have +had enough of them,” {340c} he wrote later, and this, taken in +conjunction with another sentence, viz., “My favourite, I might say my +only study, is man,” {340d} explains not only Borrow’s Gypsyism, but also +his casual philology. Languages he mostly learned that he might know +men. In youth he read—he had to do something during the long office +hours, and he read Danish and Welsh literature; but he did not trouble +himself much with the literary wealth of other countries, beyond dipping +into it. He had a brain of his own, and preferred to form theories from +the knowledge he had acquired first hand, a most excellent thing for a +man of the nature of George Borrow, but scarcely calculated to advance +learning. He hated anything academic. + + “I cannot help thinking,” he wrote, “that it was fortunate for + myself, who am, to a certain extent, a philologist, that with me the + pursuit of languages has been always modified by the love of horses . + . . I might, otherwise, have become a mere philologist; one of those + beings who toil night and day in culling useless words for some _opus + magnum_ which Murray will never publish and nobody ever read—beings + without enthusiasm, who, having never mounted a generous steed, + cannot detect a good point in Pegasus himself.” {341} + +This quotation clearly explains Borrow’s attitude towards philology. As +he told the _émigré_ priest, he hoped to become something more than a +philologist. + +There was nothing in the sale of _The Zincali_ to encourage Borrow to +proceed with the other books he had partially prepared. Nearly seven +weeks after publication, scarcely three hundred copies had been sold. In +the spring of the following year (18th March) John Murray wrote: “The +sale of the book has not amounted to much since the first publication; +but in recompense for this the Yankees have printed two editions, one for +twenty pence _complete_.” As Borrow did not benefit from the sale of +American editions, the news was not quite so comforting as it would have +been had it referred to the English issue. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII +APRIL 1841–MARCH 1844 + + +DURING his wanderings in Portugal and Spain Borrow had carried out his +intention of keeping a journal, from which on several occasions he sent +transcriptions to Earl Street instead of recapitulating in his letters +the adventures that befell him. Many of his letters went astray, which +is not strange considering the state of the country. The letters and +reports that Borrow wrote to the Bible Society, which still exist, may be +roughly divided as follows:— + +From his introduction until the end of the Russian 17.50 +expedition +Used for _The Bible in Spain_ 30.00 +Others written during the Spanish and Portuguese periods 52.50 +and not used for _The Bible in Spain_ + 100.00 + +Thirty per cent, of the whole number of the letters was all that Borrow +used for _The Bible in Spain_. In addition he had his Journal, and from +these two sources he obtained all the material he required for the book +that was to electrify the religious reading-public and make famous its +writer. + +Between Borrow and Ford a warm friendship had sprung up, and many letters +passed between them. Ford, who was busily engaged upon his Hand-Book, +sought Borrow’s advice upon a number of points, in particular about Gypsy +matters. There was something of the same atmosphere in his letters as in +those of John Hasfeldt: a frank, affectionate interest in Borrow and what +affected him that it was impossible to resent. “How I wish you had given +us more about yourself,” he wrote to Borrow _apropos_ of _The Zincali_, +“instead of the extracts from those blunder-headed old Spaniards, who +knew nothing about Gypsies! I shall give you . . . a hint to publish +your whole adventures for the last twenty years.” But Hayim Ben-Attar, +son of the miracle, had already brought lights, and _The Bible in Spain_ +had been begun. + +Ford’s counsel was invariably sound and sane. He advised _El Gitano_, as +he sometimes called Borrow, “to avoid Spanish historians and _poetry_ +like Prussic acid; to stick to himself, his biography and queer +adventures,” {343} to all of which Borrow promised obedience. Ford wrote +to Borrow (Feb. 1841) suggesting that _The Bible in Spain_ should be what +it actually was. “I am delighted to hear,” he wrote, “that you meditate +giving us your travels in Spain. The more odd personal adventures the +better, and still more so if _dramatic_; that is, giving the exact +conversations.” + +In June 1841 Borrow received from Earl Street the originals of his +letters to the Bible Society, and when he was eventually called upon to +return them he retained a number, either through carelessness or by +design. It was evidently understood that there should be no reference to +any contentious matters. Borrow set to work with the aid of his “Country +Amanuensis” to transcribe such portions of the correspondence as he +required. The work proceeded slowly. + + “I still scribble occasionally for want of something better to do,” + he informs John Murray, Junr. (23rd Aug. 1841), and continues: “ . . + . A queer book will be this same _Bible in Spain_, containing all my + queer adventures in that queer country whilst engaged in distributing + the Gospel, but neither learning, nor disquisitions, fine writing, or + poetry. A book with such a title and of this description can + scarcely fail of success.” + +Through a dreary summer and autumn he wrote on complaining that there was +“scarcely a gleam of sunshine.” Remote from the world “with not the +least idea of what is going on save in my immediate neighbourhood,” he +wrote merely to kill time. Such an existence was, to the last degree, +uncongenial to a man who for years had been accustomed to sunshine and a +life full of incident and adventure. + +He grew restless and ill-content. He had been as free as the wind, with +occupation for brain and body. He was now, like Achilles, brooding in +his tent, and over his mind there fell a shadow of unrest. As early as +July 1841 he had thought of settling in Berlin and devoting himself to +study. Hasfeldt suggested Denmark, the land of the Sagas. Later in the +same year Africa had presented itself to Borrow as a possible retreat, +but Ford advised him against it as “the land from which few travellers +return,” and told him that he had much better go to Seville. Still later +Constantinople was considered and then the coast of Barbary. Into his +letters there crept a note of querulous complaint. John Hasfeldt +besought him to remember how much he had travelled and he would find that +he had wandered enough, and then he would accustom himself to rest. + +The manuscript of _The Bible in Spain_ was completed early in January +(1842) and despatched to John Murray, who sent it to Richard Ford. From +the “reader’s report” it is to be gathered that in addition to the +manuscript Borrow sent also the letters that he had borrowed from the +Bible Society. Ford refers to the story of the man stung to death by +vipers {344} “in the letter of the 16th August 1837,” and advises that +“Mr Borrow should introduce it into his narrative.” He further +recommends him “to go carefully over the whole of his Letters, as it is +very probable that other points of interest which they contain may have +been omitted in the narrative. Some of the most interesting letters +relate to journies not given in the MS.” + +The work when it reached Ford was apparently in a very rough state. In +addition to many mistakes in spelling and grammar, a number of words were +left blank. In a vast number of instances short sentences were run +together. Mrs Borrow does not appear to have been a very successful +amanuensis at this period. Perhaps the most interesting indication of +how much the manuscript, as first submitted, differed from the published +work is shown by one of Ford’s criticisms:— + + “In the narrative there are at present two breaks—one from about + March 1836 to June 1837 [Chapters XIII.–XX.],—and the other from + November 1837 to July 1839 [Chapters XXXVI.–XLIX.]” + +This represents a third of the book as finally printed. Ford objected to +the sudden ending; but Borrow made no alteration in this respect. There +were a number of other suggestions of lesser importance in this admirable +piece of technical criticism. Ford disliked Borrow’s striving to create +an air of mystery as “taking an unwarrantable liberty with the reader”; +he suggested a map and a short biographical sketch of the author, and +especially the nature of his connection with the Bible Society. Finally +he gives it as his opinion that it is neither necessary nor advisable to +insert any of his letters to the Bible Society, either in the body of the +book or as an Appendix. + + “The Dialogues are amongst the best parts of the book,” Ford wrote; + “but in several of them the tone of the speakers, of those especially + who are in humble life, is too correct and elevated, and therefore + out of character. This takes away from their effect. I think it + would be very advisable that Mr Borrow should go over them with + reference to this point, simplifying a few of the turns of expression + and introducing a few contractions—_don’ts_, _can’ts_, etc. This + would improve them greatly.” + +This criticism applies to all Borrow’s books, in particular to the +passages dealing with the Gypsies, who, in spite of their love of +high-sounding words, which they frequently misuse, do not speak with the +academic precision of Borrow’s works any more than do peers or princes or +even pedagogues. Borrow met Ford’s criticism with the assurance that +“the lower classes in Spain are generally elevated in their style and +scarcely ever descend to vulgarity.” + +Borrow’s first impulse appears to have been to disregard the suggestion +that the two breaks should be filled in. On 13th Jan. he wrote to John +Murray, Junr.: + + “I have received the MS. and likewise your kind letter . . . Pray + thank the Gentleman who perused the MS. in my name for his + suggestions, which I will attend to. [By this it is clear that + Borrow was not told that Ford was ‘the Gentleman.’] I find that the + MS. was full of trifling mistakes, the fault of my amanuensis; but I + am going through it, and within three days shall have made all the + necessary corrections.” + +No man, of however sanguine a temperament, could seriously contemplate +the mere transcription of some eighty thousand words, in addition to the +correction of twice that amount of manuscript, within three days. Nine +days later Borrow wrote again to John Murray, Junr. “We are losing time; +I have corrected seven hundred _consecutive_ pages of MS., and the +remaining two hundred will be ready in a fortnight.” That he had taken +so long was due to the fact that the greater part of the preceding week +had been occupied with other and more exciting matters than correcting +manuscript. + + “During the last week,” he continues, “I have been chiefly engaged in + horse-breaking. A most magnificent animal has found his way to this + neighbourhood—a half-bred Arabian—he is at present in the hands of a + low horse-dealer; he can be bought for eight pounds, but no person + will have him; it is said that he kills everybody who mounts him. I + have been _charming_ him, and have so far succeeded that at present + he does not fling me more than once in five minutes. What a + contemptible trade is the Author’s compared to that of the jockey.” + +It was not until towards the end of February that the corrected +manuscript of the first volume of _The Bible in Spain_ reached Albemarle +Street. Later and better counsels had apparently prevailed, and Borrow +had become reconciled to filling up the breaks. + +Borrow had other occupations than preparing his manuscript for the +printer’s hands. He was ill and overwrought, and small things became +magnified out of all proportion to their actual importance. There had +been a dispute between Borrow’s dog and that of the rector of Oulton, the +Rev. E. P. Denniss, and as the place was small, the dogs met frequently +and renewed their feud. Finally the masters of the animals became +involved, and an interchange of frigid notes ensued. It appears that +Borrow threatened to appeal to the Law and to the Bishop of the Diocese, +and further seems to have suggested that in the interests of peace, the +rector might do away with his own dog. The tone of the correspondence +may be gathered from the following notes:—{347} + + “Mr Denniss begs to acknowledge Mr Borrow’s note, and is sorry to + hear that his dog and Mr Borrow’s have again fallen out. Mr Denniss + learns from his servant that Mr D’s dog was no more in fault than Mr + B’s, which latter is of a very quarrelsome and savage disposition, as + Mr Denniss can himself testify, as well as many other people. Mr + Denniss regrets that these two animals cannot agree when they meet, + but he must decline acceding to Mr Borrow’s somewhat arbitrary + demand, conceiving he has as much right to retain a favourite, and in + reality very harmless, animal, as Mr Borrow has to keep a dog which + has once bitten Mr Denniss himself, and oftentimes attacked him and + his family. Mr Borrow is at perfect liberty to take any measure he + may deem advisable, either before the magistrates or the Bishop of + the Diocese, as Mr Denniss is quite prepared to meet them.” + + “OULTON RECTORY, 22_nd_ _April_ 1842.” + +Borrow’s reply (in the rough draft found among his papers after his +death) ran: + + “Mr Borrow has received Mr Denniss’ answer to his note. With respect + to Mr Denniss’ recrimination on the quarrelsome disposition of his + harmless house-dog, Mr Borrow declines to say anything further. No + one knows better than Mr Denniss the value of his own assertions . . + . Circumstances over which Mr Borrow has at present no control will + occasionally bring him and his family under the same roof with Mr + Denniss; that roof, however, is the roof of the House of God, and the + prayers of the Church of England are wholesome from whatever mouth + they may proceed.” + +Borrow’s most partisan admirer could not excuse the outrage to all +decency contained in the last paragraph of his note, if indeed it were +ever sent, in any other way than to plead the writer’s ill-health. + +It had been arranged that _The Bible in Spain_ should make its appearance +in May. In July Borrow wrote showing some impatience and urging greater +expedition. + + “What are your intentions with respect to the _Bible in Spain_?” he + enquires of John Murray. “I am a frank man, and frankness never + offends me. Has anybody put you out of conceit with the book? . . . + Tell me frankly and I will drink your health in Romany. Or would the + appearance of the _Bible_ on the first of October interfere with the + avatar, first or second, of some very wonderful lion or Divinity, to + whom George Borrow, who is _neither_, must of course give place? Be + frank with me, my dear Sir, and I will drink your health in Romany + and Madeira.” + +He goes on to offer to release John Murray from his “share in the +agreement” and complete the book himself remitting to the printer “the +necessary money for the purchase of paper.” + +To Ford, who had acted as a sort of godfather to _The Bible in Spain_, it +was “a rum, very rum, mixture of gypsyism, Judaism, and missionary +adventure,” as he informed John Murray. He read it “with great delight,” +and its publisher may “depend upon it that the book will sell, which, +after all, is the rub.” He liked the sincerity, the style, the effect of +incident piling on incident. It reminded him of _Gil Blas_ with a touch +of Bunyan. Borrow is “such a _trump_ . . . as full of meat as an egg, +and a fresh-laid one.” All this he tells John Murray, and concludes with +the assurance, “Borrow will lay you golden eggs, and hatch them after the +ways of Egypt; put salt on his tail and secure him in your coop, and +beware how any poacher coaxes him with ‘raisins’ or reasons out of the +Albemarle preserve.” {349} + +Ford was never tired of applying new adjectives to Borrow and his work. +He was “an extraordinary fellow,” “this wild missionary,” “a queer chap.” +Borrow, on the other hand, cherished a sincere regard for the man who had +shown such enthusiasm for his work. To John Murray, Junr., he wrote (4th +April 1843): “Pray remember me to Ford, who is no humbug and is one of +the few beings that I care something about.” + +Throughout his correspondence with Borrow, Richard Ford showed a judgment +and an appreciation of what the public would be likely to welcome that +stamped him as a publishers’ “reader” by instinct. Such advice as he +gave to Borrow in the following letter set up a standard of what a book, +such as Borrow had it in his power to write, actually should be. It +unquestionably influenced Borrow:— + + 10_th_ _June_ 1842. + + “My advice again and again is to avoid all fine writing, all + descriptions of mere scenery and trivial events. What the world + wants are racy, real, genuine scenes, and the more out of the way the + better. Poetry is utterly to be avoided. If Apollo were to come + down from Heaven, John Murray would not take his best manuscript as a + gift. Stick to yourself, to what you have seen, and the people you + have mixed with. The more you give us of odd Jewish people the + better . . . Avoid words, stick to deeds. Never think of how you + express yourself; for good matter must tell, and no fine writing will + make bad matter good. Don’t be afraid that what you may not think + good will not be thought so by others. It often happens just the + reverse . . . New facts seen in new and strange countries will please + everybody; but old scenery, even Cintra, will not. We know all about + that, and want something that we do not know . . . The grand thing is + to be bold and to avoid the common track of the silver paper, silver + fork, blue-stocking. Give us adventure, wild adventure, journals, + thirty language book, sorcery, Jews, Gentiles, rambles, and the + interior of Spanish prisons—the way you get in, the way you get out. + No author has yet given us a Spanish prison. Enter into the + iniquities, the fees, the slang, etc. It will be a little à la + Thurtell, but you see the people like to have it so. Avoid rant and + cant. Dialogues always tell; they are dramatic and give an air of + reality.” + +_The Bible in Spain_ was published 10th December, and one of the first +copies that reached him was inscribed by the author to “Ann Borrow. With +her son’s best love, 13th Decr. 1842.” + +From the critics there was praise and scarcely anything but praise. It +was received as a work bearing the unmistakable stamp of genius. +Lockhart himself reviewed it in _The Quarterly Review_, confessing the +shame he felt at not having reviewed _The Zincali_. “Very good—very +clever—very neatly done. Only one fault to find—too laudatory,” was +Borrow’s comment upon this notice. + +And through the clamour and din of it all, old Mrs Borrow wrote to her +daughter-in-law telling her of the call of an old friend, whom she had +not seen for twenty-eight years, and who had come to talk with her of the +fame of her son, “the most remarkable man that Dereham ever produced. +Capt. Girling is a man of few words, but when he _do_ speak it is to some +purpose.” Ford wrote also (he was always writing impulsive, boyish +letters) telling how Borrow’s name would “fill the trump of fame,” and +that “Murray is in high bone” about the book. Hasfeldt wrote, too, +saying that he saw his “friend ‘tall George,’ wandering over the +mountains until I ached in every joint with the vividness of his +descriptions.” + +In all this chorus of praise there was the complaint of the _Dublin +Review_ that “Borrow was a missionary sent out by a gang of conspirators +against Christianity.” Borrow’s comment upon this notice was that “It is +easier to call names and misquote passages in a dirty Review than to +write _The Bible in Spain_.” + +A second edition of _The Bible in Spain_ was issued in January, to which +the author contributed a preface, “very funny, but wild,” he assured John +Murray, Junr., and he promised “yet another preface for the third +edition, should one be called for.” The third edition appeared in March, +the fourth in June, and the fifth in July. When the Fourth Edition was +nearing completion Borrow wrote to Murray: “Would it be as well to write +a preface to this _fourth_ edition with a tirade or two against the Pope, +and allusions to the Great North Road?” To which Murray replied, “With +due submission to you as author, I would suggest that you should not +abuse the Pope in the new preface.” + +In the flush of his success Borrow could afford to laugh at the few +cavilling critics. + + “Let them call me a nonentity if they will,” he wrote to John Murray, + Junr. (13th March). “I believe that some of those, who say I am a + phantom, would alter their tone provided they were to ask me to a + good dinner; bottles emptied and fowls devoured are not exactly the + feats of a phantom. No! I partake more of the nature of a Brownie + or Robin Goodfellow, goblins, ’tis true, but full of merriment and + fun, and fond of good eating and drinking.” + +America echoed back the praise and bought the book in thousands. +Publishers issued editions in Philadelphia and New York; but Borrow did +not participate in the profits, as there was then no copyright protection +for English books in the United States of America. The _Athenæum_ +reported (27th May 1843) that 30,000 copies had been sold in America. “I +really never heard of anything so infamous,” wrote Borrow to his wife. +The only thing that America gave him was praise and (in common with other +countries) a place in its biographical dictionaries and encyclopædias. +_The Bible in Spain_ was translated into French and German and +subsequently (abridged) into Russian. + +What appeared to please Borrow most was Sir Robert Peel’s reference to +him in the House of Commons, although he regretted the scanty report of +the speech given in the newspapers. Replying to Dr Bowring’s (at that +time Borrow’s friend) motion “for copies of the correspondence of the +British Government with the Porte on the subject of the Bishop of +Jerusalem,” Sir Robert remarked: “If Mr Borrow had been deterred by +trifling obstacles, the circulation of the Bible in Spain would never +have been advanced to the extent which it had happily attained. If he +had not persevered he would not have been the agent of so much +enlightment.” {352} + +There were many things that contributed to the instantaneous success of +_The Bible in Spain_. Apart from the vivid picture that it gave of the +indomitable courage and iron determination of a man commanding success, +its literary qualities, and enthralling interest, its greatest commercial +asset lay in its appeal to the Religious Public. Never, perhaps, had +they been invited to read such a book, because never had the Bible been +distributed by so amazing a missionary as George Borrow. _Gil Blas_ with +a touch of Bunyan, as Ford delightfully phrased it, and not too much +Bunyan. Thieves, murderers, gypsies, bandits, prisons, wars—all knit +together by the missionary work of a man who was _persona grata_ with +every lawless ruffian he encountered, and yet a sower of the seed. The +Religious Public did not pause to ponder over the strangeness of the +situation. They had fallen among thieves, and with breathless eagerness +were prepared to enjoy to the full the novel experience. + +Here was a religious book full of the most exquisite material thrills +without a suggestion of a spiritual moral. Criminals were encountered, +their deeds rehearsed and the customary sermon upon the evils arising +from wickedness absent. It was a stimulating drink to unaccustomed +palates. _The Bible in Spain_ sold in its thousands. + +The accuracy of the book has never been questioned; if it had, Borrow’s +letters to the Bible Society would immediately settle any doubt that +might arise. If there be one incident in the work that appears invented, +it is the story of Benedict Moll, the treasure-hunter; yet even that is +authentic. In the following letter, dated 22nd June 1839, Rey Roméro, +the bookseller of Santiago, refers to the unfortunate Benedict Moll:— + + “The German of the _Treasure_,” he writes, “came here last year + bearing letters from the Government for the purpose of discovering + it. But, a few days after his arrival, they threw him into prison; + from thence he wrote me, making himself known as the one you + introduced to me; wherefore my son went to see him in prison. He + told my son that you also had been arrested, but I could not credit + it. A short time after, they took him off to Coruña; then they + brought him back here again, and I do not know what has become of him + since.” {353} + +Borrow now became the lion of the hour. He was fêted and feasted in +London, and everybody wanted to meet the wonderful white-haired author of +_The Bible in Spain_. One day he is breakfasting with the Prussian +Ambassador, “with princes and members of Parliament, I was the star of +the morning,” he writes to his wife. “I thought to myself ‘what a +difference!’” Later he was present at a grand _soirée_, “and the people +came in throngs to be introduced to me. To-night,” he continues, “I am +going to the Bishop of Norwich, to-morrow to another place, and so on.” +{354} + +Borrow had been much touched by the news of the death of Allan Cunningham +(1785–1842). + + “Only think, poor Allan Cunningham dead!” he wrote to John Murray, + Junr. (25th Nov. 1842). “A young man—only fifty-eight—strong and + tall as a giant; might have lived to a hundred and one, but he + bothered himself about the affairs of this world far too much. That + statue shop was his bane; took to book making likewise, in a word too + fond of Mammon—awful death—no preparation—came literally upon him + like a thief in the dark. Am thinking of writing a short life of + him; old friend—twenty years’ standing, knew a good deal about him; + _Traditional Tales_ his best work . . . + + “Pray send Dr Bowring a copy of Bible. Lives No. 1, Queen Square, + Westminster, another old friend. Send one to Ford—capital fellow. + Respects to Mr M. God bless you. Feel quite melancholy, Ever + yours.” + +In these Jinglelike periods Borrow pays tribute to the man who praised +his Romantic Ballads and contributed a prefatory poem. He returned to +the subject ten days later in another letter to John Murray, Junr. “I +can’t get poor Allan out of my head,” he wrote. “When I come up I intend +to go and see his wife. What a woman!” + +Fame did not dispel from Borrow’s mind the old restlessness, the desire +for action. He was still unwell, worried at the sight of “Popery . . . +springing up in every direction . . . _There’s no peace in this world_.” +{355a} A cold contracted by his wife distressed him to the point of +complaining that “there is little but trouble in this world; I am nearly +tired of it.” {355b} Exercise failed to benefit him. He was suffering +from languor and nervousness. And through it all that Spartan woman who +had committed the gravest of matrimonial errors, that of marrying a +genius, soothed and comforted the sick lion, tired even of victory. + +Small things troubled him and honours awakened in him no enthusiasm. The +_Times_ in reviewing _The Bible in Spain_ had inferred that he was not a +member of the Church of England, {355c} and the statement “must be +contradicted.” The Royal Institution was prepared to confer an honour +upon him, and he could not make up his mind whether or not to accept it. + + “What would the Institute expect me to write?” he enquires of John + Murray, Junr., 25th Feb. 1843. “(I have exhausted Spain and the + Gypsies.) Would an essay on the Welsh language and literature suit, + with an account of the Celtic tongues? Or would something about the + ancient North and its literature be more acceptable? . . . Had it + been the Royal Academy, I should have consented at once, and do + hereby empower you to accept in my name any offer which may be made + from that quarter. I should very much like to become an Academician, + the thing would just suit me, more especially as ‘they do not want + _clever_ men, but _safe_ men.’ Now I am safe enough, ask the Bible + Society, whose secrets I have kept so much to their satisfaction, + that they have just accepted at my hands an English Gypsy Gospel + _gratis_.” {356} + +He declined an invitation to join the Ethnological Society. + + “Who are they?” he enquires in the same letter. “At present I am in + great demand. A Bishop has just requested me to visit him. The + worst of these Bishops is that they are all skinflints, saving for + their families; their _cuisine_ is bad and their Port-wine execrable, + and as for their cigars—. . . ” + +Borrow strove to quiet his spirit by touring about Norfolk, “putting up +at dead of night in country towns and small villages.” He returned to +Oulton at the end of a fortnight, having tired himself and knocked up his +horse. Even the news that a new edition of _The Bible in Spain_ was +required could not awaken in him any enthusiasm. He was glad the book +had sold, as he knew it would, and he would like a rough estimate of the +profits. A few days later he writes to John Murray, Junr., with +reference to a new edition of _The Zincali_, saying that he finds “that +there is far more connection between the first and second volumes than he +had imagined,” and begging that the reprint may be the same as the first. +“It would take nearly a month to refashion the book,” he continues, “and +I believe a month’s mental labour at the present time would do me up.” +The weather in particular affected, him. For years he had been +accustomed to sun-warmed Spain, and the gloom and greyness of England +depressed him. + + “Strange weather this,” he had written to John Murray (31st Dec. + 1842)—“very unwholesome I believe both for man and beast. Several + people dead and great mortality amongst the cattle. Am intolerably + well myself, but get but little rest—disagreeable dreams—digestion + not quite so good as I could wish—been on the water system—won’t + do—have left it off, and am now taking lessons in singing.” + +Many men have earned the reputation of madness for less eccentric actions +than taking lessons in singing as a cure for indigestion, after the +failure of the water cure. + +Although he was receiving complimentary letters from all quarters and +from people he had never even heard of, he seemed acutely unhappy. + + “I did wrong,” he writes to his wife from London (29th May 1843), + “not to bring you when I came, for without you I cannot get on at + all. Left to myself, a gloom comes upon me which I cannot describe. + I will endeavour to be home on Thursday, as I wish so much to be with + you, without whom there is no joy for me nor rest. You tell me to + ask for _situations_, etc. I am not at all suited for them. My + place seems to be in our own dear cottage, where, with your help, I + hope to prepare for a better world . . . I dare say I shall be home + on Thursday, perhaps earlier, if I am unwell; for the poor bird when + in trouble has no one to fly to but his mate.” And a few days later: + “I wish I had not left home. Take care of yourself. Kiss poor Hen.” + +During his stay in London, Borrow sat to Henry Wyndham Phillips, R.A., +for his portrait. {357} On 21st June John Murray wrote: “I have seen +your portrait. Phillips is going to saw off a bit of the panel, which +will give you your proper and characteristic height. Next year you will +doubtless cut a great figure in the Exhibition. It is the best thing +young Phillips has done.” The painting was exhibited at the Royal +Academy in 1844 as “George Borrow, Esq., author of _The Bible in Spain_,” +and is now in the possession of Mr John Murray. + +There is a story told in connection with the painting of this portrait. +Borrow was a bad sitter, and visibly chafed at remaining indoors doing +nothing. To overcome this restlessness the painter had recourse to a +clever stratagem. He enquired of his sitter if Persian were really a +fine language, as he had heard; Borrow assured him that it was, and at +Phillips’ request, started declaiming at the top of his voice, his eyes +flashing with enthusiasm. When he ceased, the wily painter mentioned +other tongues, Turkish, Armenian, etc., in each instance with the same +result, and the painting of the portrait became an easy matter. + +On 23rd June John Murray (the Second) died, at the age of sixty-five, and +was succeeded by his son. “Poor old Murray!” Ford wrote to Borrow, “We +shall never see his like again. He . . . was a fine fellow in every +respect.” In another letter he refers to him as “that Prince of +Bibliophiles, poor, dear, old Murray.” Borrow’s own relations with John +Murray had always been most cordial. On one occasion, when writing to +his son, he says: “I shall be most happy to see you and still more your +father, whose jokes do one good. I wish all the world were as gay as +he.” Then without a break, he goes on to deplore the fact that “a +gentleman drowned himself last week on my property. I wish he had gone +somewhere else.” Such was George Borrow. + + [Picture: John Murray the Third. From a photograph by Maull and Fox] + +For some time past Borrow’s thoughts had been directed towards obtaining +a Government post abroad. The sentence, “You tell me to ask for +situations, etc.,” in a letter to his wife had reference to this +ambition. He had previously (21st June 1841) written to Lord Clarendon +suggesting for himself a consulship; but the reply had not been +encouraging. It was “quite hopeless to expect a consulship from Lord +Palmerston, the applicants were too many and the appointments too few.” + +Borrow recognised the stagnation of his present life. + + “I wish the Government would give me some command in Ireland which + would call forth my energies,” he wrote to John Murray (25th Oct. + 1843). “If there be an outbreak there I shall apply to them at once, + for my heart is with them in the present matter: I hope they will be + firm, and they have nothing to fear; I am sure that the English + nation will back them, for the insolence and ingratitude of the + Irish, and the cowardice of their humbug chief, have caused universal + disgust.” Later he wrote, also to John Murray, with reference to + that “trumpery fellow O’Connell . . . I wish I were acquainted with + Sir Robert Peel. I could give him many a useful hint with respect to + Ireland and the Irish. I know both tolerably well. Whenever there’s + a row I intend to go over with Sidi Habismilk and put myself at the + head of a body of volunteers.” + +He had previously written “the old Duke [Wellington] will at last give +salt eel to that cowardly, bawling vagabond O’Connell.” Borrow detested +O’Connell as a “Dublin bully . . . a humbug, without courage or one +particle of manly feeling.” Again (17th June) he had written: “Horrible +news from Ireland. I wish sincerely the blackguards would break out at +once; they will never be quiet until they have got a sound licking, and +the sooner the better.” + +The finer side of Borrow’s character was shown in his eagerness to obtain +employment. There is a touch of pathos in the sight of this knight, +armed and ready to fight anything for anybody, wasting his strength and +his talents in feuds with his neighbours. + +In the profits on the old and the preparation of new editions of _The +Bible in Spain_, Borrow took a keen interest. The money he was making +enabled him to assist his wife in disembarrassing her estate. “I begin +to take considerable pleasure in making money,” he wrote to his +publisher, “which I hope is a good sign; for what is life unless we take +pleasure in something?” Again he enquires, “Why does not the public call +for another edition of them [_The Gypsies of Spain_]. You see what an +unconscionable rascal I am becoming.” During his lifetime Borrow +received from the firm of Murray, £3437, 19s., most of which was on +account of _The Bible in Spain_ and, consequently, was paid to him during +the first years of his association with Albemarle Street. + +Caroline Fox gives an interesting picture of Borrow at this period as he +appeared to her:— + + “25_th_ _Oct._ 1843. + + “Catherine Gurney gave us a note to George Borrow, so on him we + called,—a tall, ungainly, uncouth man, with great physical strength, + a quick penetrating eye, a confident manner, and a disagreeable tone + and pronunciation. He was sitting on one side of the fire, and his + old mother on the other. His spirits always sink in wet weather, and + to-day was very rainy, but he was courteous and not displeased to be + a little lionised, for his delicacy is not of the most susceptible. + He talked about Spain and the Spaniards; the lowest classes of whom, + he says, are the only ones worth investigating, the upper and middle + class being (with exceptions, of course) mean, selfish, and proud + beyond description. They care little for Roman Catholicism, and bear + faint allegiance to the Pope. They generally lead profligate lives, + until they lose all energy and then become slavishly superstitious. + He said a curious thing of the Esquimaux, namely, that their language + is a most complex and highly artificial one, calculated to express + the most delicate metaphysical subtleties, yet they have no + literature, nor are there any traces of their ever having had one—a + most curious anomaly; hence he simply argues that you can ill judge + of a people by their language.” {360a} + +One of the strangest things about Borrow’s personality was that it almost +invariably struck women unfavourably. That he himself was not +indifferent to women is shown by the impression made upon him by the +black eyes of one of the Misses Mills of Saxham Hall, where he was taken +to dinner by Dr Hake, who states that “long afterwards, his inquiries +after the black eyes were unfailing.” {360b} He was also very kind and +considerate to women. “He was very polite and gentlemanly in ladies’ +society, and we all liked him,” wrote one woman friend {360c} who +frequently accompanied him on his walks. She has described him as +walking along “singing to himself or quite silent, quite forgetting me +until he came to a high hill, when he would turn round, seize my hand, +and drag me up. Then he would sit down and enjoy the prospect.” {360d} + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII +MARCH 1844–1848 + + +IN March 1844 Borrow, unable longer to control the _Wanderlust_ within +him, gave up the struggle, and determined to make a journey to the East. +He was in London on the 20th, as Lady Eastlake (then Miss Elizabeth +Rigby) testifies in her Journal. “Borrow came in the evening,” she +writes: “now a fine man, but a most disagreeable one; a kind of character +that would be most dangerous in rebellious times—one that would suffer or +persecute to the utmost. His face is expressive of wrong-headed +determination.” {361} + +He left London towards the end of April for Paris, from which he wrote to +John Murray, 1st May:— + + “Vidocq wishes very much to have a copy of my _Gypsies of Spain_, and + likewise one of the Romany Gospels. On the other side you will find + an order on the Bible Society for the latter, and perhaps you will be + so kind as to let one of your people go to Earl Street to procure it. + You would oblige me by forwarding it to your agent in Paris, the + address is Monsr. Vidocq, Galerie Vivienne, No. 13 . . . V. is a + strange fellow, and amongst other things dabbles in literature. He + is meditating a work upon _Les Bohemiens_, about whom I see he knows + nothing at all. I have no doubt that the _Zincali_, were it to fall + into his hands, would be preciously gutted, and the best part of the + contents pirated. By the way, could you not persuade some of the + French publishers to cause it to be translated, in which event there + would be no fear. Such a work would be sure to sell. I wish Vidocq + to have a copy of the book, but I confess I have my suspicions; he is + so extraordinarily civil.” + +From Paris he proceeded to Vienna, and thence into Hungary and +Transylvania, where he remained for some months. He is known to have +been “in the steppe of Debreczin,” {362a} to Koloszvar, through +Nagy-Szeben, or Hermannstadt, on his journey through Roumania to +Bucharest. He visited Wallachia “for the express purpose of discoursing +with the Gypsies, many of whom I found wandering about.” {362b} + +So little is known of Borrow’s Eastern Journey that the following +account, given by an American, has a peculiar interest:— + + “My companions, as we rode along, related some marvellous stories of + a certain English traveller who had been here [near Grosswardein] and + of his influence over the Gypsies. One of them said that he was + walking out with him one day, when they met a poor gypsy woman. The + Englishman addressed her in Hungarian, and she answered in the usual + disdainful way. He changed his language, however, and spoke a word + or two in an unknown tongue. The woman’s face lighted up in an + instant, and she replied in the most passionate, eager way, and after + some conversation dragged him away almost with her. After this the + English gentleman visited a number of their most private gatherings + and was received everywhere as one of them. He did more good among + them, all said, than all the laws over them, or the benevolent + efforts for them, of the last half century. They described his + appearance—his tall, lank, muscular form, and mentioned that he had + been much in Spain, and I saw that it must be that most ubiquitous of + travellers, Mr Borrow.” {362c} + +This was the fame most congenial to Borrow’s strange nature. Dinners, +receptions, and the like caused him to despise those who found pleasure +in such “crazy admiration for what they called gentility.” It was his +foible, as much as “gentility nonsense” was theirs, to find pleasure in +the _rôle_ of the mysterious stranger, who by a word could change a +disdainful gypsy into a fawning, awe-stricken slave. Fame to satisfy +George Borrow must carry with it something of the greatness of Olympus. + +A glimpse of Borrow during his Eastern tour is obtained from Mrs Borrow’s +letters to John Murray. After telling him that she possesses a privilege +which many wives do not (viz.), permission to open her Husband’s letters +during his absence, she proceeds:— + + “The accounts from him are, I am thankful to say, very satisfactory. + It is extraordinary with what marks of kindness even Catholics of + distinction treat him when they know who he is, but it is clearly his + gift of tongues which causes him to meet with so many adventures, + several of which he has recorded of a most singular nature.” {363} + +At Vienna Borrow had arranged to wait until he should receive a letter +from his wife, “being very anxious to know of his family,” as Mrs Borrow +informed John Murray (24th July). + + “Thus far,” she continues, “thanks be to God, he has prospered in his + journey. Many and wonderful are the adventures he has met with, + which I hope at no distant period may be related to his friends. + Doctor Bowring was very kind in sending me flattering tidings of my + Husband.” + +Borrow was at Constantinople on 17th Sept. when he drew on his letter of +credit. Leland tells an anecdote about Borrow at Constantinople; but it +must be remembered that it was written when he regarded Borrow with +anything but friendly feelings:— + + “Sir Patrick Colquhoun told me that once when he was at + Constantinople, Mr Borrow came there, and gave it out that he was a + marvellous Oriental scholar. But there was great scepticism on this + subject at the Legation, and one day at the _table d’hôte_, where the + great writer and divers young diplomatists dined, two who were seated + on either side of Borrow began to talk Arabic, speaking to him, the + result being that he was obliged to confess that he not only did not + understand what they were saying, but did not even know what the + language was. Then he was tried in Modern Greek, with the same + result.” {364} + +The story is obviously untrue. Had Borrow been ignorant of Arabic he +would not have risked writing to Dr Bowring (11th Sept. 1831; see _ante_, +page 85) expressing his enthusiasm for that language. Arabic had, +apparently, formed one of the subjects of his preliminary examination at +Earl Street. With regard to Modern Greek he confessed in a letter to Mr +Brandram (12th June 1839), “though I speak it very ill, I can make myself +understood.” + +Having obtained a Turkish passport, and after being presented to Abdûl +Medjîd, the Sultan, Borrow proceeded to Salonika and, crossing Thessaly +to Albania, visited Janina and Prevesa. He passed over to Corfù, and saw +Venice and Rome, returning to England by way of Marseilles, Paris and +Havre. He arrived in London on 16th November, after nearly seven months’ +absence, to find his “home particularly dear to me . . . after my long +wanderings.” + +It is curious that he should have left no record of this expedition; but +if he made notes he evidently destroyed them, as, with the exception of a +few letters, nothing was found among his papers relating to the Eastern +tour. There is evidence that he was occupied with his pen during this +journey, in the existence at the British Museum of his _Vocabulary of the +Gypsy Language as spoken in Hungary and Transylvania_, _compiled during +an intercourse of some months with the Gypsies in those parts in the +year_ 1844, _by George Borrow_. In all probability he prepared his +_Bohemian Grammar_ at the same time. {365a} + +From the time that he became acquainted with Borrow, Richard Ford had +constituted himself the genius of _La Mezquita_ (the Mosque), as he +states the little octagonal Summer-house was called. He was for ever +urging in impulsive, polyglot letters that the curtain to be lifted. +“Publish your _whole_ adventures for the last twenty years,” he had +written. {365b} Ford saw that a man of Borrow’s nature must have had +astonishing adventures, and with _his_ pen would be able to tell them in +an astonishing manner. + +As early as the summer of 1841 Borrow appears to have contemplated +writing his _Autobiography_. On the eve of the appearance of _The Bible +in Spain_ (17th Dec.) he wrote to John Murray: “I hope our book will be +successful; if so, I shall put another on the stocks. Capital subject: +early life; studies and adventures; some account of my father, William +Taylor, Whiter, Big Ben, etc. etc.” + +The first draft of notes for _Lavengro_, _an Autobiography_, as the book +was originally advertised in the announcement, is extremely interesting. +It runs:— + + “Reasons for studying languages: French, Italian, D’Eterville. + + Southern tongues. Dante. + + Walks. The Quaker’s Home, Mousehold. Petulengro. + + The Gypsies. + + The Office. Welsh. Lhuyd. + + German. Levy. Billy Taylor. + + Danish. Kœmpe Viser. Billy Taylor. Dinner. + + Bowring. + + Hebrew. The Jew. + + Philosophy. Radicalism. Ranters. + + Thurtell. Boxers. Petulengres.” {365c} + +_Lavengro_ was planned in 1842 and the greater part written before the +end of the following year, although the work was not actually completed +until 1846. There are numerous references in Borrow’s letters of this +period to the book on which he was then engaged, and he invariably refers +to it as his _Life_. On 21st January 1843 he writes to John Murray, +Junr.: “I meditate shortly a return to Barbary in quest of the _Witch +Hamlet_, and my adventures in the land of wonders will serve capitally to +fill the thin volume of _My Life_, _a Drama_, By G. B.” Again and again +Borrow refers to _My Life_. Hasfeldt and Ford also wrote of it as the +“wonderful life” and “the _Biography_.” + +In his letters to John Murray, Borrow not only refers to the book as his +_Life_, but from time to time gives crumbs of information concerning its +progress. The Secretary of the Bible Society has just lent him his +letters from Russia, “which will be of great assistance in the Life, as I +shall work them up as I did those relating to Spain. The first volume,” +he continues, “will be devoted to England entirely, and my pursuits and +adventures in early life.” He recognises that he must be careful of the +reputation that he has earned. His new book is to be original, as would +be seen when it at last appears; but he confesses that occasionally he +feels “tremendously lazy.” On another occasion (27th March 1843) he +writes to John Murray, Junr.: “I hope by the end of next year that I +shall have part of my life ready for the press in 3 vols.” Six months +later (2nd Oct. 1843) he writes to John Murray:— + + “I wish I had another _Bible_ ready; but slow and sure is my maxim. + The book which I am at present about will consist, if I live to + finish it of a series of Rembrandt pictures interspersed here and + there with a Claude. I shall tell the world of my parentage, my + early thoughts and habits; how I became a sap-engro, or + viper-catcher; my wanderings with the regiment in England, Scotland + and Ireland . . . Then a great deal about Norwich, Billy Taylor, + Thurtell, etc.; how I took to study and became a lav-engro. What do + you think of this as a bill of fare for the _first_ Vol.? The second + will consist of my adventures in London as an author in the year ’23 + (_sic_), adventures on the Big North Road in ’24 (_sic_), + Constantinople, etc. The third—but I shall tell you no more of my + secrets.” + +In a letter to John Murray (25th Oct. 8843), the title is referred to as +_Lavengro_: _A Biography_. It is to be “full of grave fun and solemn +laughter like the _Bible_.” On 6th December he again writes:— + + “I do not wish for my next book to be advertised yet; I have a + particular reason. The Americans are up to everything which affords + a prospect of gain, and I should not wonder that, provided I were to + announce my title, and the book did not appear forthwith, they would + write one for me and send forth their trash into the world under my + name. For my own part I am in no hurry,” he proceeds. “I am writing + to please myself, and am quite sure that if I can contrive to please + myself, I shall please the public also. Had I written a book less + popular than the _Bible_, I should be less cautious; but I know how + much is expected from me, and also know what a roar of exultation + would be raised by my enemies (and I have plenty) were I to produce + anything that was not first rate.” + +Time after time he insists upon his determination to publish nothing that +is not “as good as the last.” “I shall go on with my _Life_,” he writes, +to Ford (9th Feb. 1844), “but slowly and lazily. What I write, however, +is _good_. I feel it is good, strange and wild as it is.” {367} + +From 24th–27th Jan. 1844 that “most astonishing fellow” Richard Ford +visited Borrow at Oulton, urging again in person, most likely, the +lifting of the veil that obscured those seven mysterious years. Ford has +himself described this visit to Borrow in a letter written from Oulton +Hall. + + “I am here on a visit to _El Gitano_;” he writes, “two ‘rum’ coves, + in a queer country . . . we defy the elements, and chat over _las + cosas de España_, and he tells me portions of his life, more strange + even than his book. We scamper by day over the country in a sort of + gig, which reminds me of Mr Weare on his trip with Mr THURTELL + [Borrow’s old preceptor]; ‘Sidi Habismilk’ is in the stable and a + Zamarra [sheepskin coat] now before me, writing as I am in a sort of + summer-house called _La Mezquita_, in which _El Gitano_ concocts his + lucubrations, and _paints_ his pictures, for his object is to colour + up and poetise his adventures.” + +By this last sentence Ford showed how thoroughly he understood Borrow’s +literary methods. A fortnight later Borrow writes to Ford:— + + “You can’t think how I miss you and our chats by the fireside. The + wine, now I am alone, has lost its flavour, and the cigars make me + ill. I am frequently in my valley of the shadows, and had I not my + summer jaunt [the Eastern Tour] to look forward to, I am afraid it + would be all up with your friend and _Batushka_.” + +The Eastern Tour considerably interfered with the writing of _Lavengro_. +There was a seven months’ break; but Borrow settled down to work on it +again, still determined to take his time and produce a book that should +be better than _The Bible in Spain_. + +Ford’s _Hand-Book for Travellers in Spain and Readers at Home_ appeared +in 1845, a work that had cost its author upwards of sixteen years of +labour. In a letter to Borrow he characterised it as “a _rum_ book and +has queer stuff in it, although much expurgated for the sake of Spain.” +Ford was very anxious that Borrow should keep the promise that he had +given two years previously to review the _Hand-Book_ when it appeared. +“You will do it _magnificently_. ‘Thou art the man,’” Ford had written +with the greatest enthusiasm. On 2nd June an article of thirty-seven +folio pages was despatched by Borrow to John Murray for _The Quarterly +Review_, with the following from Mrs Borrow:— + + “With regard to the article, it must not be received as a specimen of + what Mr Borrow would have produced had he been well, but he + considered his promise to Mr Ford sacred—and it is only to be wished + that it had been written under more favourable circumstances.” + Borrow was ill at the time, having been “very unwell for the last + month,” as Mrs Borrow explains, “and particularly so lately. + Shivering fits have been succeeded by burning fever, till his + strength was much reduced; and he at present remains in a low, and + weak state, and what is worse, we are by no means sure that the + disease is subdued.” + +Ford saw in Borrow “a crack reviewer.” “ . . . You have,” he assured him +in 1843, “only to write a _long letter_, having read the book carefully +and thought over the subject.” Ford also wrote to Borrow (26th Oct. +1843): “I have written several letters to Murray recommending them to +_bag_ you forthwith, unless they are demented.” There was no doubt in +his, Ford’s, mind as to the acceptance of Borrow’s article. + + “If insanity does not rule the _Q. R._ camp, they will embrace the + offer with open arms in their present Erebus state of dullness,” he + tells Borrow, then, with a burst of confidence continues, “But, + barring politics, I confidentially tell you that the _Ed_[_inburgh_] + _Rev._ does business in a more liberal and more business-like manner + than the _Q_[_uarterly_] _Rev._ I am always dunning this into + Murray’s head. More flies are caught with honey than vinegar. Soft + sawder, especially if plenty of _gold_ goes into the composition, + cements a party and keeps earnest pens together. I grieve, for my + heart is entirely with the _Q. R._, its views and objects.” + +The article turned out to be, not a review of the _Hand-Book_, but a +bitter attack on Spain and her rulers. The second part was to some +extent germane to the subject, but it appears to have been more concerned +with Borrow’s view of Spain and things Spanish than with Ford’s book. +Lockhart saw that it would not do. In a letter to John Murray he +explains very clearly and very justly the objections to using the article +as it stood. + + “I am very sorry,” he writes (13th June), “after Borrow has so kindly + exerted himself during illness, that I must return his paper. I read + the MS. with much pleasure; but clever and brilliant as he is sure + always to be, it was very evident that he had not done such an + article as Ford’s merits required; and I therefore intended to adopt + Mr Borrow’s lively diatribe, but interweave with his matter and add + to it, such observations and extracts as might, I thought, complete + the paper in a _review sense_. + + “But it appears that Mr B. won’t allow anybody to tamper with his + paper; therefore here it is. It will be highly ornamental as it + stands to any _Magazine_, and I have no doubt either _Blackwood_ or + _Fraser_ or _Colburn_ will be [only] too happy to insert it next + month, if applied to now. + + “Mr Borrow would not have liked that, when his _Bible in Spain_ came + out, we should have printed a brilliant essay by Ford on some point + of Spanish interest, but including hardly anything calculated to make + the public feel that a new author of high consequence had made his + appearance among us—one bearing the name, not of Richard Ford, but of + George Borrow.” + +Lockhart was right and Borrow was wrong. There is no room for +equivocation. Borrow should have sunk his pride in favour of his +friendship for Ford, who had, even if occasionally a little tedious in +his epistolary enthusiasm, always been a loyal friend; but Borrow was ill +and excuses must be made for him. Lockhart wrote also to Ford describing +Borrow’s paper as “just another capital chapter of his _Bible in Spain_,” +which he had read with delight, but there was “hardly a word of _review_, +and no extract giving the least notion of the peculiar merits and style +especially, of the _Hand-Book_.” “He is unwell,” continued Lockhart, “I +should be very sorry to bother him more at present; and, moreover, from +the little he has said of your _style_, I am forced to infer that a +_review_ of your book by him would never be what I could feel authorised +to publish in the _Q. R._” The letter concludes with a word of +condolence that the _Hand-Book_ will have to be committed to other hands. + +Ford realised the difficulty of the situation in which he was placed, and +strove to wriggle out of it by telling Borrow that his wife had said all +along that + + “‘Borrow can’t write anything dull enough for your set; I wonder how + I ever married one of them,’—I hope and trust you will not cancel the + paper, for we can’t afford to lose a scrap of your queer sparkle and + ‘thousand bright daughters circumvolving.’ I have recommended its + insertion in _Blackwood_, _Fraser_, or some of those clever + Magazines, who will be overjoyed to get such a hand as yours, and I + will bet any man £5 that your paper will be the most popular of all + they print.” + +It is evident that Ford was genuinely distressed, and in his anxiety to +be loyal to his friend rather overdid it. His letter has an air of +patronage that the writer certainly never intended. The outstanding +feature is its absolute selflessness. Ford never seems to think of +himself, or that Borrow might have made a concession to their friendship. +Happy Ford! The unfortunate episode estranged Borrow from Ford. Letters +between them became less and less frequent and finally ceased altogether, +although Borrow did not forget to send to his old friend a copy of +_Lavengro_ when it appeared. + +Worries seemed to rain down upon Borrow’s head about this time. Samuel +Morton Peto (afterwards Sir Samuel) had decided to enrich Lowestoft by +improving the harbour and building a railway to Reedham, about half-way +between Yarmouth and Norwich. He was authorised by Parliament and duly +constructed his line, which not even Borrow’s anger could prevent from +passing through the Oulton Estate, between the Hall and the Cottage. +Borrow could not fight an Act of Parliament, which forced him to cross a +railway bridge on his way to church; but he never forgave the man who had +contrived it, or his millions. His first thought had been to fly before +the invader. All quiet would be gone from the place. “Sell and be off,” +advised Ford; “I hope you will make the railway pay dear for its +whistle,” quietly observed John Murray. At first Borrow was inclined to +take Ford’s advice and settle abroad; but subsequently relinquished the +idea. + +He was not, however, the man quietly to sit down before what he conceived +to be an unjustifiable outrage to his right to be quiet. He never +forgave railways, although forced sometimes to make use of them. Samuel +Morton Peto became to him the embodiment of evil, and as “Mr Flamson +flaming in his coach with a million” he is immortalised in _The Romany +Rye_. + +It is said that Sir Samuel boasted that he had made more than the price +he had paid for Borrow’s land out of the gravel he had taken from off it. +On one occasion, after he had bought Somerleyton Hall, happening to meet +Borrow, he remarked that he never called upon him, and Borrow remembering +the boast replied, “I call on you! Do you think I don’t read my +Shakespeare? Do you think I don’t know all about those highwaymen +Bardolph and Peto?” {372} + +The neighbourhood of Oulton appears to have been infested with thieves, +and poachers found admirable “cover” in the surrounding plantations, or +small woods. On several occasions Borrow himself had been attacked at +night on the highway between Lowestoft and Oulton. Once he had even been +shot at and nearly overpowered. John Murray (the Second) on hearing of +one of these assaults had written (1841) artfully enquiring, “Were your +wood thieves Gypsies, and have the _Calés_ got notice of your publication +[_The Zincali_]?” + +Borrow had written to John Murray, Junr. (10th May 1842):— + + “I have been dreadfully unwell since I last heard from you—a regular + nervous attack. At present I have a bad cough, caught by getting up + at night in pursuit of poachers and thieves. A horrible + neighbourhood this—not a magistrate dares do his duty.” On 18th + September 1843 he again wrote to John Murray: “One of the Magistrates + in this district is just dead. Present my compliments to Mr + Gladstone and tell him that the _The Bible in Spain_ would have no + objection to become ‘a great unpaid!’” + +Gladstone is said greatly to have admired _The Bible in Spain_, even to +the extent of writing to John Murray counselling him to have amended a +passage that he considered ill-advised. Gladstone’s letter was sent on +to Borrow, and he acknowledges its receipt (6th November 1843) in the +following terms:— + + “Many thanks for the perusal of Mr Gladstone’s letter. I esteem it a + high honour that so distinguished a man should take sufficient + interest in a work of mine as to suggest any thing in emendation. I + can have no possible objection to modify the passage alluded to. It + contains some strong language, particularly the sentence about the + scarlet Lady, which it would be perhaps as well to omit.” + +The offending passage was that in which Borrow says, when describing the +interior of the Mosque at Tangier: “I looked around for the abominable +thing, and found it not; no scarlet strumpet with a crown of false gold +sat nursing an ugly changeling in a niche.” In later editions the words +“no scarlet strumpet,” etc., were changed to “the besetting sin of the +pseudo-Christian Church did not stare me in the face in every corner.” + +The amendment was little likely to please a Churchman of Gladstone’s +calibre, or procure for the writer the magistracy he coveted, even if it +had been made less grudgingly. “We must not make any further alterations +here,” Borrow wrote to Murray a few days later, “otherwise the whole +soliloquy, which is full of vigor and poetry, and moreover of _truth_, +would be entirely spoiled. As it is, I cannot help feeling that [it] is +considerably damaged.” There seems very little doubt that this passage +was referred to in the letter that John Murray encloses in his of 10th +July 1843 {374} with this reference: “(The writer of the enclosed note is +a worthy canon of St Paul’s, and has evidently seen only the 1st +edition).” Borrow replied:— + + “Pray present my best respects to the Canon of St Paul’s and tell him + from me that he is a _burro_, which meaneth Jackass, and that I wish + he would mind his own business, which he might easily do by attending + a little more to the accommodation of the public in his ugly + Cathedral.” + +Borrow appears to have set his mind on becoming a magistrate. He had +written to Lockhart (November 1843) enquiring how he had best proceed to +obtain such an appointment. Lockhart was not able to give him any very +definite information, his knowledge of such things, as he confessed, +“being Scotch.” For the time being the matter was allowed to drop, to be +revived in 1847 by a direct application from Borrow to Lord Clarendon to +support his application with the Lord Chancellor. His claims were based +upon (1) his being a large landed-proprietor in the district (Mrs Borrow +had become the owner of the Oulton Hall Estate during the previous year); +(2) the fact that the neighbourhood was over-run with thieves and +undesirable characters; (3) that there was no magistrate residing in the +district. Lord Clarendon promised his good offices, but suggested that +as all such appointments were made through the Lord-Lieutenant of the +County, the Earl of Stradbroke had better be acquainted with what was +taking place. This was done through the Hon. Wm. Rufus Rous, Lord +Stradbroke’s brother, whose interest was obtained by some of Borrow’s +friends. + +After a delay of two months, Lord Stradbroke wrote to Lord Clarendon that +he was quite satisfied with “the number and efficiency of the +Magistrates” and also with the way in which the Petty Sessions were +attended. He could hear of no complaint, and when the time came to +increase the number of J.P.’s, he would be pleased to add Borrow’s name +to the list, provided he were advised to do so by “those gentlemen +residing in the neighbourhood, who, living on terms of intimacy with them +[the Magistrates], will be able to maintain that union of good feeling +which . . . exists in all our benches of Petty Sessions.” + +Borrow would have made a good magistrate, provided the offender were not +a gypsy. He would have caused the wrong-doer more fear the instrument of +the law rather than the law itself, and some of his sentences might +possibly have been as summary as those of Judge Lynch. + + “It was a fine thing,” writes a contemporary, “to see the great man + tackle a tramp. Then he scented the battle from afar, bearing down + on the enemy with a quivering nostril. If the nomad happened to be a + gypsy he was courteously addressed. But were he a mere native + tatterdemalion, inclined to be truculent, Borrow’s coat was off in a + moment, and the challenge to decide there and then who was the better + man flung forth. I have never seen such challenges accepted, for + Borrow was robust and towering.” {375} + +It is not strange that Borrow’s application failed; for he never refused +leave to the gypsies to camp upon his land, and would sometimes join them +beside their campfires. Once he took a guest with him after dinner to +where the gypsies were encamped. They received Borrow with every mark of +respect. Presently he “began to intone to them a song, written by him in +Romany, which recounted all their tricks and evil deeds. The gypsies +soon became excited; then they began to kick their property about, such +as barrels and tin cans; then the men began to fight and the women to +part them; an uproar of shouts and recriminations set in, and the quarrel +became so serious that it was thought prudent to quit the scene.” {376a} +“In nothing can the character of a people be read with greater certainty +and exactness than in its songs,” {376b} Borrow had written. {376c} + +These disappointments tended to embitter Borrow, who saw in them only a +conspiracy against him. There is little doubt that Lord Stradbroke’s +enquiries had revealed some curious gossip concerning the Master of +Oulton Hall, possibly the dispute with his rector over the inability of +their respective dogs to live in harmony; perhaps even the would-be +magistrate’s predilection for the society of gypsies, and his profound +admiration for “the Fancy” had reached the Lord-Lieutenant’s ears. + +The unfortunate and somewhat mysterious dispute with Dr Bowring was +another anxiety that Borrow had to face. He had once remarked, “It’s +very odd, Bowring, that you and I have never had a quarrel.” {376d} In +the summer of 1842 he and Bowring seem to have been on excellent terms. +Borrow wrote asking for the return of the papers and manuscripts that had +remained in Bowring’s hands since 1829, when the _Songs of Scandinavia_ +was projected, as Borrow hoped to bring out during the ensuing year a +volume entitled _Songs of Denmark_. The cordiality of the letter may +best be judged by the fact that in it he announces his intention of +having a copy of the forthcoming _Bible in Spain_ sent “to my oldest, I +may say my _only_ friend.” + +In 1847 Bowring wrote to Borrow enquiring as to the Russian route through +Kiakhta, and asking if he could put him in the way of obtaining the +information for the use of a Parliamentary Committee then enquiring into +England’s commercial relations with China. Borrow’s reply is apparently +no longer in existence; but it drew from Bowring another letter raising a +question as to whether “‘two hundred merchants are allowed to visit Pekin +every three years.’ Are you certain this is in practice now? Have you +ever been to Kiakhta?” It would appear from Bowring’s “if summoned, your +expenses must be paid by the public,” that Borrow had suggested giving +evidence before the Committee, hence Bowring’s question as to whether +Borrow could speak from personal knowledge of Kiakhta. + +Borrow’s claim against Bowring is that after promising to use all his +influence to get him appointed Consul at Canton, he obtained the post for +himself, passing off as his own the Manchu-Tartar New Testament that +Borrow had edited in St Petersburg. There is absolutely no other +evidence than that contained in Borrow’s Appendix to _The Romany Rye_. +There is very little doubt that Bowring was a man who had no hesitation +in seizing everything that presented itself and turning it, as far as +possible, to his own uses. In this he was doing what most successful men +have done and will continue to do. He had been kind to Borrow, and had +helped him as far as lay in his power. He no doubt obtained all the +information he could from Borrow, as he would have done from anyone else; +but he never withheld his help. It has been suggested that he really did +mention Borrow as a candidate for the Consulship and later, when in +financial straits and finding that Borrow had no chance of obtaining it, +accepted Lord Palmerston’s offer of the post for himself. It is, +however, idle to speculate what actually happened. What resulted was +that Bowring as the “Old Radical” took premier place in the +Appendix-inferno that closed _The Romany Rye_. {378a} + +Fate seemed to conspire to cause Borrow chagrin. Early in 1847 it came +to his knowledge that there were in existence some valuable Codices in +certain churches and convents in the Levant. In particular there was +said to be an original of the Greek New Testament, supposed to date from +the fourth century, which had been presented to the convent on Mount +Sinai by the Emperor Justinian. Borrow received information of the +existence of the treasure, and also a hint that with a little address, +some of these priceless manuscripts might be secured to the British +Nation. It was even suggested that application might be made to the +Government by the Trustees of the British Museum. {378b} Borrow’s reply +to this was an intimation that if requested to do so he would willingly +undertake the mission. Nothing, however, came of the project, and the +remainder of the manuscript of the Greek Testament (part of it had been +acquired in 1843 by Tischendorf) was presented by the monks to Alexander +II. and it is now in the Imperial Library at St Petersburg. + +The information as to the existence of the manuscripts, it is alleged, +was given to the Museum Trustees by the Hon. Robert Curzon, who had +travelled much in Egypt and the Holy Land. It was certainly no fault of +his that the mission was not sent out, and Borrow’s subsequent antagonism +to him and his family is difficult to understand and impossible to +explain. + +Borrow had achieved literary success: before the year 1847 _The Zincali_ +was in its Fourth Edition (nearly 10,000 copies having been printed) and +_The Bible in Spain_ had reached its Eighth Edition (nearly 20,000 copies +having been printed). He was an unqualified success; yet he had been far +happier when distributing Testaments in Spain. The greyness and inaction +of domestic life, even when relieved by occasional excursions with Sidi +Habismilk and the Son of the Miracle, were irksome to his temperament, +ever eager for occupation and change of scene. He was like a war-horse +champing his bit during times of peace. + + “Why did you send me down six copies [of _The Zincali_]?” he bursts + out in a letter to John Murray (29th Jan. 1846). “Whom should I send + them to? Do you think I have six friends in the world? Two I have + presented to my wife and daughter (in law). I shall return three to + you by the first opportunity.” + +In 1847, through the Harveys, he became acquainted with Dr Thomas Gordon +Hake, who was in practice at Brighton 1832–37 and at Bury St Edmunds +1839–53, and who was also a poet. The two families visited each other, +and Dr Hake has left behind him some interesting stories about, and +valuable impressions of, Borrow. Dr Hake shows clearly that he did not +allow his friendship to influence his judgment when in his _Memoirs_ he +described Borrow as + + “one of those whose mental powers are strong, and whose bodily frame + is yet stronger—a conjunction of forces often detrimental to a + literary career, in an age of intellectual predominance. His temper + was good and bad; his pride was humility; his humility was pride; his + vanity in being negative, was one of the most positive kind. He was + reticent and candid, measured in speech, with an emphasis that made + trifles significant.” {379} + +This rather laboured series of paradoxes quite fails to give a convincing +impression of the man. A much better idea of Borrow is to be found in a +letter (1847) by a fellow-guest at a breakfast given by the Prussian +Ambassador. He writes that there was present + + “the amusing author of _The Bible in Spain_, a man who is remarkable + for his extraordinary powers as a linguist, and for the originality + of his character, not to speak of the wonderful adventures he + narrates, and the ease and facility with which he tells them. He + kept us laughing a good part of breakfast time by the oddity of his + remarks, as well as the positiveness of his assertions, often rather + startling, and like his books partaking of the marvellous.” {380a} + +Abandoning paradox, Dr Hake is more successful in his description of +Borrow’s person. + + “His figure was tall,” he tells us, “and his bearing very noble; he + had a finely moulded head, and thick white hair—white from his youth; + his brown eyes were soft, yet piercing; his nose somewhat of the + ‘semitic’ type, which gave his face the cast of the young Memnon. + His mouth had a generous curve; and his features, for beauty and true + power, were such as can have no parallel in our portrait gallery.” + {380b} + +When not occupied in writing, Borrow would walk about the estate with his +animals, between whom and their master a perfect understanding existed. +Sidi Habismilk would come to a whistle and would follow him about, and +his two dogs and cat would do the same. When he went for a walk the dogs +and cat would set out with him; but the cat would turn back after +accompanying him for about a quarter of a mile. {381a} + +The two young undergraduates who drove in a gig from Cambridge to Oulton +to pay their respects to Borrow (_circa_ 1846) described him as employed + + “in training some young horses to follow him about like dogs and come + at the call of his whistle. As my two friends {381b} were talking + with him, Borrow sounded his whistle in a paddock near the house, + which, if I remember rightly, was surrounded by a low wall. + Immediately two beautiful horses came bounding over the fence and + trotted up to their master. One put his nose into Borrow’s + outstretched hand and the other kept snuffing at his pockets in + expectation of the usual bribe for confidence and good behaviour.” + +Borrow’s love of animals was almost feminine. The screams of a hare +pursued by greyhounds would spoil his appetite for dinner, and he +confessed himself as “silly enough to feel disgust and horror at the +squeals of a rat in the fangs of a terrier.” {381c} When a favourite cat +was so ill that it crawled away to die in solitude, Borrow went in search +of it and, discovering the poor creature in the garden-hedge, carried it +back into the house, laid it in a comfortable place and watched over it +until it died. His care of the much persecuted “Church of England cat” +at Llangollen {381d} is another instance of his tender-heartedness with +regard to animals. + +Borrow had ample evidence that he was still a celebrity. “He was much +courted . . . by his neighbours and by visitors to the sea-side,” Dr Hake +relates; but unfortunately he allowed himself to become a prey to moods +at rather inappropriate moments. As a lion, Borrow accompanied Dr Hake +to some in the great houses of the neighbourhood. On one occasion they +went to dine at Hardwick Hall, the residence of Sir Thomas and Lady +Cullum. The last-named subsequently became a firm friend of Borrow’s +during many years. + + “The party consisted of Lord Bristol; Lady Augusta Seymour, his + daughter; Lord and Lady Arthur Hervey; Sir Fitzroy Kelly; Mr + Thackeray, and ourselves. At that date, Thackeray had made money by + lectures on _The Satirists_, and was in good swing; but he never + could realise the independent feelings of those who happen to be born + to fortune—a thing which a man of genius should be able to do with + ease. He told Lady Cullum, which she repeated to me, that no one + could conceive how it mortified him to be making a provision for his + daughters by delivering lectures; and I thought she rather + sympathised with him in this degradation. He approached Borrow, who, + however, received him very dryly. As a last attempt to get up a + conversation with him, he said, ‘Have you read my Snob Papers in + _Punch_?’” + + “‘In _Punch_?’ asked Borrow. ‘It is a periodical I never look at!’ + + “It was a very fine dinner. The plates at dessert were of gold; they + once belonged to the Emperor of the French, and were marked with his + “N” and his Eagle. + + “Thackeray, as if under the impression that the party was invited to + look at him, thought it necessary to make a figure, and absorb + attention during the dessert, by telling stories and more than half + acting them; the aristocratic party listening, but appearing little + amused. Borrow knew better how to behave in good company, and kept + quiet; though, doubtless he felt his mane.” {382} + +There were other moments when Borrow caused acute embarrassment by his +rudeness. Once his hostess, a simple unpretending woman desirous only of +pleasing her distinguished guest, said, “Oh, Mr Borrow, I have read your +books with so much pleasure!” “Pray, what books do you mean, madam? Do +you mean my account books?” was the ungracious retort. He then rose from +the table, fretting and fuming and walked up and down the dining-room +among the servants “during the whole of the dinner, and afterwards +wandered about the rooms and passage, till the carriage could be ordered +for our return home.” {383a} The reason for this unpardonable behaviour +appears to have been ill-judged loyalty to a friend. His host was a +well-known Suffolk banker who, having advanced a large sum of money to a +friend of Borrow’s, the heir to a considerable estate, who was in +temporary difficulties, then “struck the docket” in order to secure +payment. Borrow confided to another friend that he yearned “to cane the +banker.” His loyalty to his friend excuses his wrath; it was his +judgment that was at fault. He should undoubtedly have caned the banker, +in preference to going to his house as a guest and revenging his friend +upon the gentle and amiable woman who could not be held responsible for +her husband’s business transgressions. + +Unfortunate remarks seemed to have a habit of bursting from Borrow’s +lips. When Dr Bowring introduced to him his son, Mr F. J. Bowring, and +with pardonable pride added that he had just become a Fellow of Trinity, +Borrow remarked, “Ah! Fellows of Trinity always marry their bed-makers.” +Agnes Strickland was another victim. Being desirous of meeting him and, +in spite of Borrow’s unwillingness, achieving her object, she expressed +in rapturous terms her admiration of his works, and concluded by asking +permission to send him a copy of _The Queens of England_, to which he +ungraciously replied, “For God’s sake, don’t, madam; I should not know +where to put them or what to do with them.” “What a damned fool that +woman is!” he remarked to W. B. Donne, who was standing by. {383b} + +There is a world of meaning in a paragraph from one of John Murray’s (the +Second) letters (21st June 1843) to Borrow in which he enquires, “Did you +receive a note from Mme. Simpkinson which I forwarded ten days ago? I +have not seen her since your abrupt departure from her house.” + +It is rather regrettable that the one side of Borrow’s character has to +be so emphasised. He could be just and gracious, even to the point of +sternly rebuking one who represented his own religious convictions and +supporting a dissenter. After a Bible Society’s meeting at Mutford +Bridge (the nearest village to Oulton Hall), the speakers repaired to the +Hall to supper. One of the guests, an independent minister, became +involved in a heated argument with a Church of England clergyman, who +reproached him for holding Calvinistic views. The nonconformist replied +that the clergy of the Established Church were equally liable to attack +on the same ground, because the Articles of their Church were +Calvinistic, and to these they had all sworn assent. The reply was that +the words were not necessarily to be taken in their literal sense. At +this Borrow interposed, attacking the clergyman in a most vigorous +fashion for his sophistry, and finally reducing him to silence. The +Independent minister afterwards confessed that he had never heard “one +man give another such a dressing down as on that occasion.” {384a} + +Borrow was capable of very deep feeling, which is nowhere better shown +than in his retort to Richard Latham whom he met at Dr Hake’s table. +Well warmed by the generous wine, Latham stated that he should never do +anything so low as dine with his publisher. “You do not dine with John +Murray, I presume?” he added. “Indeed I do,” Borrow responded with deep +emotion. “He is a most kind friend. When I have had sickness in the +house he has been unfailing in his goodness towards me. There is no man +I more value.” {384b} + +Borrow was a frequent visitor to the Hakes at Bury St Edmunds. W. B. +Donne gives a glimpse to him in a letter to Bernard Barton (12th Sept. +1848). + + “We have had a great man here—and I have been walking with him and + aiding him to eat salmon and mutton and drink port—George Borrow—and + what is more we fell in with some gypsies and I heard his speech of + Egypt, which sounded wondrously like a medley of broken Spanish and + dog Latin. Borrow’s face lighted by the red turf fire of the tent + was worth looking at. He is ashy-white now—but twenty years ago, + when his hair was like a raven’s wing, he must have been hard to + discriminate from a born Bohemian. Borrow is best on the tramp: if + you can walk 4.5 miles per hour, as I can with ease and do by choice, + and can walk 15 of them at a stretch—which I can compass also—then he + will talk Iliads of adventures even better than his printed ones. He + cannot abide those Amateur Pedestrians who saunter, and in his chair + he is given to groan and be contradictory. But on Newmarket-heath, + in Rougham Woods he is at home, and specially when he meets with a + thorough vagabond like your present correspondent.” {385a} + +The present Mr John Murray recollects Borrow very clearly as + + “tall, broad, muscular, with very heavy shoulders” and of course the + white hair. “He was,” continues Mr Murray, “a figure which no one + who has seen it is likely to forget. I never remember to have seen + him dressed in anything but black broad cloth, and white cotton socks + were generally distinctly visible above his low shoes. I think that + with Borrow the desire to attract attention to himself, to inspire a + feeling of awe and mystery, must have been a ruling passion.” + +Borrow was frequently the guest of his publisher at Albemarle Street, in +times well within the memory of Mr Murray, who relates how on one +occasion + + “Borrow was at a dinner-party in company with Whewell {385b} [who by + the way it has been said was the original of the Flaming Tinman, + although there is very little to support the statement except the + fact that Dr Whewell was a proper man with his hands] both of them + powerful men, and both of them, if report be true, having more than a + superficial knowledge of the art of self-defence. A controversy + began, and waxed so warm that Mrs Whewell, believing a personal + encounter to be imminent, fainted, and had to be carried out of the + room. Once when Borrow was dining with my father he disappeared into + a small back room after dinner, and could not be found. At last he + was discovered by a lady member of the family, stretched on a sofa + and groaning. On being spoken to and asked to join the other guests, + he suddenly said: Go away! go away! I am not fit company for + respectable people. There was no apparent cause for this strange + conduct, unless it were due to one of those unaccountable fits to + which men of genius (and this description will be allowed him by + many) are often subject. + + “On another occasion, when dining with my father at Wimbledon, he was + regaled with a ‘haggis,’ a dish which was new to him, and of which he + partook to an extent which would have astonished many a hardy + Scotsman. One summers day, several years later, he again came to + dinner, and having come on foot, entered the house by a garden door, + his first words—without any previous greetings—were: ‘Is there a + haggis to-day?’” {386} + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV +LAVENGRO—1843–1851 + + +DURING all these years _Lavengro_ had been making progress towards +completion, irregular and spasmodic it would appear; but still each year +brought it nearer to the printer. “I cannot get out of my old habits,” +Borrow wrote to Dawson Turner (15th January 1844), “I find I am writing +the work . . . in precisely the same manner as _The Bible in Spain_, +viz., on blank sheets of old account books, backs of letters, etc. In +slovenliness of manuscript I almost rival Mahomet, who, it is said, wrote +his _Coran_ on mutton spade bones.” “His [Borrow’s] biography will be +passing strange if he tells the _whole_ truth,” Ford writes to a friend +(27th February 1843). “He is now writing it by my advice. I go on . . . +scribbling away, though with a palpitating heart,” Borrow informs John +Murray (5th February 1844), “and have already plenty of scenes and +dialogues connected with my life, quite equal to anything in _The Bible +in Spain_. The great difficulty, however, is to blend them all into a +symmetrical whole.” On 17th September 1846 he writes again to his +publisher: + + “I have of late been very lazy, and am become more addicted to sleep + than usual, am seriously afraid of apoplexy. To rouse myself, I rode + a little time ago to Newmarket. I felt all the better for it for a + few days. I have at present a first rate trotting horse who affords + me plenty of exercise. On my return from Newmarket, I rode him + nineteen miles before breakfast.” + +Another cause of delay was the “shadows” that were constantly descending +upon him. His determination to give only the best of which he was +capable, is almost tragic in the light of later events. To his wife, he +wrote from London (February 1847): “Saw M[urray] who is in a hurry for me +to begin [the printing]. I will not be hurried though for anyone.” + +In the _Quarterly Review_, July 1848, under the heading of Mr Murray’s +List of New Works in Preparation, there appeared the first announcement +of _Lavengro_, _an Autobiography_, by George Borrow, Author of _The Bible +in Spain_, etc., 4 vols. post 8vo. This was repeated in October. During +the next two months the book was advertised as _Life_; _A Drama_, in _The +Athenæum_ and _The Quarterly Review_, and the first title-page (1849) was +so printed. On 7th October John Murray wrote asking Borrow to send the +manuscript to the printer. This was accordingly done, and about +two-thirds of it composed. Then Borrow appears to have fallen ill. On +5th January 1849 John Murray wrote to Mrs Borrow: + + “I trust Mr Borrow is now restored to health and tranquillity of + mind, and that he will soon be able to resume his pen. I desire this + on his own account and for the sake of poor Woodfall [the printer], + who is of course inconvenienced by having his press arrested after + the commencement of the printing.” + +Writing on 27th November 1849, John Murray refers to the work having been +“first sent to press—now nearly eighteen months.” This is clearly a +mistake, as on 7th October 1848, thirteen and a half months previously, +he asks Borrow to send the manuscript to the printer that he may begin +the composition. John Murray was getting anxious and urges Borrow to +complete the work, which a year ago had been offered to the booksellers +at the annual trade-dinner. + +“I know that you are fastidious, and that you desire to produce a work of +distinguished excellence. I see the result of this labour in the sheets +as they come from the press, and I think when it does appear it will make +a sensation,” wrote the tactful publisher. “Think not, my dear friend,” +replied Borrow, “that I am idle. I am finishing up the concluding part. +I should be sorry to hurry the work towards the last. I dare say it will +be ready by the middle of February.” The correspondence grew more and +more tense. Mrs Borrow wrote to the printer urging him to send to her +husband, who has been overworked to the point of complaint, “one of your +kind encouraging notes.” Later Borrow went to Yarmouth, where +sea-bathing produced a good effect upon his health; but still the +manuscript was not sent to the despairing printer. “I do not, God knows! +wish you to overtask yourself,” wrote the unhappy Woodfall; “but after +what you last said, I thought I might fully calculate on your taking up, +without further delay, the fragmentary portions of your 1st and 2nd +volumes and let us get them out of hand.” + +Letters continued to pass to and fro, but the balance of manuscript was +not forthcoming until November 1850, when Mrs Borrow herself took it to +London. Another trade-dinner was at hand, and John Murray had written to +Mrs Borrow, “If I cannot show the book then—I must throw it up.” To Mrs +Borrow this meant tragedy. The poor woman was distracted, and from time +to time she begs for encouraging letters. In response to one of these +appeals, John Murray wrote with rare insight into Borrow’s character, and +knowledge of what is most likely to please him: “There are passages in +your book equal to De Foe.” + +The preface when eventually submitted to John Murray disturbed him +somewhat. “It is quaint,” he writes to Mrs Borrow, “but so is everything +that Mr Borrow writes.” He goes on to suggest that the latter portion +looks too much as if it had been got up in the interests of “Papal +aggression,” and he calls attention to the oft-repeated “Damnation cry”. +There appears to have been some modification, a few “Damnation Cries” +omitted, the last sheet passed for press, and on 7th February 1851 +_Lavengro_ was published in an edition of three thousand copies, which +lasted for twenty-one years. + +The appearance of _Lavengro_ was indeed sensational: but not quite in the +way its publisher had anticipated. Almost without exception the verdict +was unfavourable. The book was attacked vigorously. The keynote of the +critics was disappointment. Some reviews were purely critical, others +personal and abusive, but nearly all were disapproving. “Great is our +disappointment” said the _Athenæum_. “We are disappointed,” echoed +_Blackwood_. Among the few friendly notices was that of Dr Hake, in +which he prophesied that “_Lavengro’s_ roots will strike deep into the +soil of English letters.” Even Ford wrote (8th March): + + “I frankly own that I am somewhat disappointed with the very _little_ + you have told us about _yourself_. I was in hopes to have a full, + true, and particular account of your marvellously varied and + interesting biography. I do hope that some day you will give it to + us.” + +In this chorus of dispraise Borrow saw a conspiracy. “If ever a book +experienced infamous and undeserved treatment,” he wrote, {390} “it was +that book. I was attacked in every form that envy and malice could +suggest.” In _The Romany Rye_ he has done full justice to the subject, +exhibiting the critics with blood and foam streaming from their jaws. In +the original draft of the Advertisement to the same work he expresses +himself as “proud of a book which has had the honour of being rancorously +abused and execrated by every unmanly scoundrel, every sycophantic +lacquey, and _every political and religious renegade_ in Britain.” A few +years previously, Borrow had written to John Murray, “I have always +myself. If you wish to please the public leave the matter [the revision +of _The Zincali_] to me.” {391a} From this it is evident that Borrow was +unprepared for anything but commendation from critics and readers. + +Dr Bowring had some time previously requested the editor of _The +Edinburgh Review_ to allow him to review _Lavengro_; but no notice ever +appeared. In all probability he realised the impossibility of writing +about a book in which he and his family appeared in such an unpleasant +light. It is unlikely that he asked for the book in order to prevent a +review appearing in _The Edinburgh_, as has been suggested. + +In the Preface, _Lavengro_ is described as a dream; yet there can be not +a vestage of doubt that Borrow’s original intention had been to +acknowledge it as an autobiography. This work is a kind of biography in +the Robinson Crusoe style, he had written in 1844. This he contradicted +in the Appendix to _The Romany Rye_; yet in his manuscript autobiography +{391b} (13th Oct. 1862) he says: “In 1851 he published _Lavengro_, a work +in which he gives an account of his early life.” Why had Borrow changed +his mind? + +When _Lavengro_ was begun, as a result of Ford’s persistent appeals, +Borrow was on the crest of the wave of success. He saw himself the +literary hero of the hour. _The Bible in Spain_ was selling in its +thousands. The press had proclaimed it a masterpiece. He had seen +himself a great man. The writer of a great book, however, does not +occupy a position so kinglike in its loneliness as does gentleman a +gypsy, round whom flock the _gitanos_ to kiss his hand and garments as if +he were a god or a hero. The literary and social worlds that _The Bible +in Spain_ opened to Borrow were not to be awed by his mystery, or, +disciplined into abject hero-worship by one of those steady penetrating +gazes, which cowed jockeys and _alguacils_. They claimed intellectual +kinship and equality, the very things that Borrow had no intention of +conceding them. He would have tolerated their “gentility nonsense” if +they would have acknowledged his paramountcy. He found that to be a +social or a literary lion was to be a tame lion, and he was too big for +that. His conception of genius was that it had its moods, and mediocrity +must suffer them. + +Borrow would rush precipitately from the house where he was a guest; he +would be unpardonably rude to some inoffensive and well-meaning woman who +thought to please him by admiring his books; he would magnify a fight +between their respective dogs into a deadly feud between himself and the +rector of his parish: thus he made enemies by the dozen and, +incidentally, earned for himself an extremely unenviable reputation. A +hero with a lovable nature is twice a hero, because he is possessed of +those qualities that commend themselves to the greater number. +Wellington could never be a serious rival in a nation’s heart to dear, +weak, sensitive, noble Nelson, who lived for praise and frankly owned to +it. + +Borrow’s lovable qualities were never permitted to show themselves in +public, they were kept for the dingle, the fireside, or the inn-parlour. +That he had a sweeter side to his nature there can be no doubt, and those +who saw it were his wife, his step-daughter, and his friends, in +particular those who, like Mr Watts-Dunton and Mr A. Egmont Hake, have +striven for years to emphasise the more attractive part of his strange +nature. + +Borrow’s attitude towards literature in itself was not calculated to gain +friends for him. He was uncompromisingly and caustically severe upon +some of the literary idols of his day, men who have survived that +terrible handicap, contemporary recognition and appreciation. + +He was not a deep reader, hardly a reader at all in the accepted meaning +of the word. He frankly confessed that books were to him of secondary +importance to man as a subject for study. In his criticisms of +literature, he was apt to confuse the man with his works. His hatred of +Scott is notorious; it was not the artist he so cordially disliked, but +the politician; he admitted that Scott “wrote splendid novels about the +Stuarts.” {393a} He hailed him as “greater than Homer;” {393b} but the +House of Stuart he held in utter detestation, and when writing or +speaking of Scott he forgot to make a rather necessary distinction. He +wrote: + + “He admires his talents both as a prose writer and a poet; as a poet + especially. {393c} . . . As a prose writer he admires him less, it + is true, but his admiration for him in that capacity is very high, + and he only laments that he prostituted his talents to the cause of + the Stuarts and gentility . . . in conclusion, he will say, in order + to show the opinion which he entertains of the power of Scott as a + writer, that he did for the spectre of the wretched Pretender what + all the kings of Europe could not do for his body—placed it on the + throne of these realms.” {393d} + +In later years Borrow paid a graceful tribute to Scott’s memory. When at +Kelso, in spite of the rain and mist, he “trudged away to Dryburgh to pay +my respects to the tomb of Walter Scott, a man with whose principles I +have no sympathy, but for whose genius I have always entertained the most +intense admiration.” {393e} It was just the same with Byron, “for whose +writings I really entertained considerable admiration, though I had no +particular esteem for the man himself.” {393f} + +With Wordsworth it was different, and it was his cordial dislike of his +poetry that prompted Borrow to introduce into _The Romany Rye_ that +ineffectual episode of the man who was sent to sleep by reading him. +Tennyson he dismissed as a writer of “duncie books.” + +For Dickens he had an enthusiastic admiration as “a second Fielding, a +young writer who . . . has evinced such talent, such humour, variety and +profound knowledge of character, that he charms his readers, at least +those who have the capacity to comprehend him.” {394a} He was delighted +with _The Pickwick Papers_ and _Oliver Twist_. + +His reading was anything but thorough, in fact he occasionally showed a +remarkable ignorance of contemporary writers. Mr A. Egmont Hake tells +how: + + “His conversation would sometimes turn on modern literature, with + which his acquaintance was very slight. He seemed to avoid reading + the products of modern thought lest his own strong opinions should + undergo dilution. We were once talking of Keats whose fame had been + constantly increasing, but of whose poetry Borrow’s knowledge was of + a shadowy kind, when suddenly he put a stop to the conversation by + ludicrously asking, in his strong voice, ‘Have they not been trying + to resuscitate him?’” {394b} + +By the time that _Lavengro_ appeared, Borrow was estranged from his +generation. The years that intervened between the success of _The Bible +in Spain_ and the publication of _Lavengro_ had been spent by him in war; +he had come to hate his contemporaries with a wholesome, vigorous hatred. +He would give them his book; but they should have it as a stray cur has a +bone—thrown at them. Above all, they should not for a moment be allowed +to think that it contained an intimate account of the life of the supreme +hater who had written it. When there had been sympathy between them, +Borrow was prepared to allow his public to peer into the sacred recesses +of his early life. Now that there was none, he denied that _Lavengro_ +was more than “a dream”, forgetting that he had so often written of it as +an autobiography, had even seen it advertised as such, and insisted that +it was fiction. + +When _Lavengro_ was published Borrow was an unhappy and disappointed man. +He had found what many other travellers have found when they come home, +that in the wilds he had left his taste and toleration for conventional +life and ideas. The life in the Peninsula had been thoroughly congenial +to a man of Borrow’s temperament: hardships, dangers, imprisonments,—they +were his common food. He who had defied the whole power of Spain, found +himself powerless to prevent his Rector from keeping a dog, or a railway +line from being cut through his own estate and his peace of mind +disturbed by the rumble of trains and the shriek of locomotive-whistles. +He had beaten the Flaming Tinman and Count Ofalia, but Samuel Morton Peto +had vanquished and put him to flight by virtue of an Act of Parliament, +in all probability without being conscious of having achieved a signal +victory. Borrow’s life had been built up upon a wrong hypothesis: he +strove to adapt, not himself to the Universe; but the Universe to +himself. + +It is easy to see that a man with this attitude of mind would regard as +sheer vindictiveness the adverse criticism of a book that he had written +with such care, and so earnest an endeavour to maintain if not improve +upon the standard created in a former work. It never for a moment struck +him that the men who had once hailed him “great”, should now admonish him +as a result of the honest exercise of their critical faculties. No; +there was conspiracy against him, and he tortured himself into a pitiable +state of wrath and melancholy. A later generation has been less harsh in +its judgment. The controversial parts of _Lavengro_ have become less +controversial and the magnificent parts have become more magnificent, and +it has taken its place as a star of the second magnitude. + +The question of what is actual autobiography and what is so coloured as +to become practically fiction, must always be a matter of opinion. The +early portion seems convincing, even the first meeting with the gypsies +in the lane at Norman Cross. It has been asked by an eminent gypsy +scholar how Borrow knew the meaning of the word “sap”, or why he +addressed the gypsy woman as “my mother”. When the Gypsy refers to the +“Sap there”, the child replies, “what, the snake”? The employment of the +other phrase is obviously an inadvertent use of knowledge he gained +later. + +In writing to Mrs George Borrow (24th March 1851) to tell her that W. B. +Donne had been unable to obtain _Lavengro_ for _The Edinburgh Review_ as +it had been bespoken a year previously by Dr Bowring, Dr Hake adds that +Donne had written “putting the editor in possession of his view of +_Lavengro_, as regards verisimilitude, vouching for the +Daguerreotype-like fidelity of the picture in the first volume, etc., +etc., in order to prevent him from being _taken in by_ a spiteful +article.” This passage is very significant as being written by one of +Borrow’s most intimate friends, with the sure knowledge that its contents +would reach him. It leaves no room for doubt that, although Borrow +denied publicly the autobiographical nature of _Lavengro_, in his own +circle it was freely admitted and referred to as a life. + +“What is an autobiography?” Borrow once asked Mr Theodore Watts-Dunton +(who had called his attention to several bold coincidences in +_Lavengro_). “Is it the mere record of the incidents of a man’s life? or +is it a picture of the man himself—his character, his soul?” {396} Mr +Watts-Dunton confirms Borrow’s letters when he says “That he [Borrow] sat +down to write his own life in _Lavengro_ I know. He had no idea then of +departing from the strict line of fact.” + +At times Borrow seemed to find his pictures flat, and heightened the +colour in places, as a painter might heighten the tone of a drapery, a +roof or some other object, not because the individual spot required it, +but rather because the general effect he was aiming at rendered it +necessary. He did this just as an actor rouges his face, darkens his +eyebrows and round his eyes, that he may appear to his audience a living +man and not an animated corpse. + +Borrow was drawing himself, striving to be as faithful to the original as +Boswell to Johnson. Incidents! what were they? the straw with which the +bricks of personality are made. A comparison of _Lavengro_ with Borrow’s +letters to the Bible Society is instructive; it is the same Borrow that +appears in both, with the sole difference that in the Letters he is less +mysterious, less in the limelight than in _Lavengro_. + +Mr Watts-Dunton, with inspiration, has asked whether or not _Lavengro_ +and _The Romany Rye_ form a spiritual autobiography; and if they do, +whether that autobiography does or does not surpass every other for +absolute truth of spiritual representation. Borrow certainly did colour +his narrative in places. Who could write the story of his early life +with absolute accuracy? without dwelling on and elaborating certain +episodes, perhaps even adjusting them somewhat? That would not +necessarily prove them untrue. + +There are, unquestionably, inconsistencies in _Lavengro_ and _The Romany +Rye_—they are admitted, they have been pointed out. There are many +inaccuracies, it must be confessed; but because a man makes a mistake in +the date of his birth or even the year, it does not prove that he was not +born at all. Borrow was for ever making the most inaccurate statements +about his age. + +In the main _Lavengro_ would appear to be autobiographical up to the +period of Borrow’s coming to London. After this he begins to indulge +somewhat in the dramatic. The meeting with the pickpocket as a +thimble-rigger at Greenwich might pass muster were it not for the +_rencontre_ with the apple-woman’s son near Salisbury. The Dingle +episode may be accepted, for Mr John Sampson has verified even the famous +thunder-storm by means of the local press. Isopel Berners is not so easy +to settle; yet the picture of her is so convincing, and Borrow was unable +to do more than colour his narrative, that she too must have existed. + +The failure of _Lavengro_ is easily accounted for. Borrow wrote of +vagabonds and vagabondage; it did not mitigate his offence in the eyes of +the critics or the public that he wrote well about them. His crime lay +in his subject. To Borrow, a man must be ready and able to knock another +man down if necessity arise. When nearing sixty he lamented his +childless state and said very mournfully: “I shall soon not be able to +knock a man down, and I have no son to do it for me.” {398} He glorified +the bruisers of England, in the face of horrified public opinion. +England had become ashamed of its bruisers long before _Lavengro_ was +written, and this flaunting in its face of creatures that it considered +too low to be mentioned, gave mortal offence. That in _Lavengro_ was the +best descriptions of a fight in the language, only made the matter worse. +Borrow’s was an age of gentility and refinement, and he outraged it, +first by glorifying vagabondage, secondly by decrying and sneering at +gentility. + + “Qui n’ a pas l’esprit de son âge, + De son âge a tout le malheur.” + +And Borrow proved Voltaire’s words. + +It is not difficult to understand that an age in which prize-fighting is +anathema should not tolerate a book glorifying the ring; but it is +strange that Borrow’s simple paganism and nature-worship should not have +aroused sympathetic recognition. Poetry is ageless, and such passages as +the description of the sunrise over Stonehenge should have found some, at +least, to welcome them, even when found in juxtaposition with bruisers +and gypsies. + +Borrow loved to mystify, but in _Lavengro_ he had overreached himself. +“Are you really in existence?” wrote one correspondent who was unknown to +Borrow, “for I also have occasionally doubted whether things exist, as +you describe your own feelings in former days.” + +John Murray wrote (8th Nov. 1851):— + + “I was reminded of you the other day by an enquiry after _Lavengro_ + and its author, made by the Right Honourable John Wilson Croker. + {399a} Knowing how fastidious and severe a critic he is, I was + particularly glad to find him expressing a favourable opinion of it; + and thinking well of it his curiosity was piqued about you. Like all + the rest of the world, he is mystified by it. He knew not whether to + regard it as truth or fiction. How can you remedy this defect? I + call it a defect, because it really impedes your popularity. People + say of a chapter or of a character: ‘This is very wonderful, _if + true_; but if fiction it is pointless.’—Will your new volumes explain + this and dissolve the mystery? If so, pray make haste and get on + with them. I hope you have employed the summer in giving them the + finishing touches.” + +“There are,” says a distinguished critic, {399b} “passages in _Lavengro_ +which are unsurpassed in the prose literature of England—unsurpassed, I +mean, for mere perfection of style—for blending of strength and graphic +power with limpidity and music of flow.” Borrow’s own generation would +have laughed at such a value being put upon anything in _Lavengro_. + +Another thing against the books success was its style. It lacked what +has been described as the poetic ecstacy or sentimental verdure of the +age. Trope, imagery, mawkishness, were all absent, for Borrow had gone +back to his masters, at whose head stood the glorious Defoe. Borrow’s +style was as individual as the man himself. By a curious contradiction, +the tendency is to overlook literary lapses in the very man towards whom +so little latitude was allowed in other directions. Many Borrovians have +groaned in anguish over his misuse of that wretched word “Individual.” A +distinguished man of letters {400a} has written:—“I would as lief read a +chapter of _The Bible in Spain_ as I would _Gil Blas_; nay, I positively +would give the preference to Señor Giorgio.” Another critic, and a +severe one, has written:— + + “It is not as philologist, or traveller, or wild missionary, or + folk-lorist, or antiquary, that Borrow lives and will live. It is as + the master of splendid, strong, simple English, the prose Morland of + a vanished road-side life, the realist who, Defoe-like, could make + fiction seem truer than fact. To have written the finest fight in + the whole world’s literature, the fight with the Flaming Tinman, is + surely something of an achievement.” {400b} + +It is Borrow’s personality that looms out from his pages. His mastery +over the imagination of his reader, his subtle instinct of how to throw +his own magnetism over everything he relates, although he may be standing +aside as regards the actual events with which he is dealing, is worthy of +Defoe himself. It is this magnetism that carries his readers safely over +the difficult places, where, but for the author’s grip upon them, they +would give up in despair; it is this magnetism that prompts them to pass +by only with a slight shudder, such references as the feathered tribe, +fast in the arms of Morpheus, and, above all, those terrible puns that +crop up from time to time. There is always the strong, masterful man +behind the words who, like a great general, can turn a reverse to his own +advantage. + +In his style perhaps, after all, lay the secret of Borrow’s unsuccess. +He was writing for another generation; speaking in a voice too strong to +be heard other than as a strange noise by those near to him. It may be +urged that _The Bible in Spain_ disproves these conclusions; but _The +Bible in Spain_ was a peculiar book. It was a chronicle of Christian +enterprise served up with _sauce picaresque_. It pleased and astonished +everyone, especially those who had grown a little weary of godly +missioners. It had the advantage of being spontaneous, having been +largely written on the spot, whereas _Lavengro_ and _The Romany Rye_ were +worked on and laboured at for years. Above all, it had the inestimable +virtue of being known to be True. To the imaginative intellectual, Truth +or Fiction are matters of small importance, he judges by Art; but to the +general public of limited intellectual capacity, Truth is appreciated out +of all proportion to its artistic importance. If Borrow had published +_The Bible in Spain_ after the failure of _Lavengro_, it would in all +probability have been as successful as it was appearing before. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV +SEPTEMBER 1849–FEBRUARY 1854 + + +ONE of the finest traits in Borrow’s character was his devotion to his +mother. He was always thoughtful for her comfort, even when fighting +that almost hopeless battle in Russia, and later in the midst of bandits +and bloody patriots in Spain. She was now, in 1849, an old woman, too +feeble to live alone, and it was decided to transfer her to Oulton. An +addition to the Hall was constructed for her accommodation, and she was +to be given an attendant-companion in the person of the daughter of a +local farmer. + +For thirty-three years she had lived in the little house in Willow Lane; +yet it was not she, but Borrow, who felt the parting from old +associations. “I wish,” she writes to her daughter-in-law on 16th +September 1849, “my dear George would not have such fancies about _the +old house_; it is a mercy it has not fallen on my head before this.” The +old lady was anxious to get away. It would not be safe, she thought, for +her to be shut up alone, as the old woman who had looked after her could, +for some reason or other, do so no longer. She urges her daughter-in-law +to represent this to Borrow. + + “There is a low, noisy set close to me,” she continues. “I shall not + die one day sooner, or live one day longer. If I stop here and die + on a sudden, half the things might be lost or stolen, therefore it + seems as if the Lord would provide me a _safer home_. I have made up + my mind to the change and only pray that I may be able to get through + the trouble.” + +It would appear that the move, which took place at the end of September, +was brought about by the old lady’s appeals and insistence, and that +Borrow himself was not anxious for it. He felt a sentimental attachment +to the old place, which for so many years had been a home to him. + +In 1853 Borrow removed to Great Yarmouth. During the summer of that +year, Dr Hake had peremptorily ordered Mrs George Borrow not to spend the +ensuing winter and spring at Oulton, and the move was made in August. +The change was found to be beneficial to Mrs Borrow and agreeable to all, +and for the next seven years (Aug. 1853–June 1860) Borrow’s headquarters +were to be at Great Yarmouth, where he and his family occupied various +lodgings. + +Shortly before leaving Oulton, Borrow had received the following +interesting letter from FitzGerald:— + + BOULGE, WOODBRIDGE, 22nd _July_ 1853. + + MY DEAR SIR,—I take the liberty of sending you a book [Six Dramas + from Calderon], of which the title-page and advertisement will + sufficiently explain the import. I am afraid that I shall in general + be set down at once as an impudent fellow in making so free with a + Great Man; but, as usual, I shall feel least fear before a man like + yourself, who both do fine things in your own language and are deep + read in those of others. I mean, that whether you like or not what I + send you, you will do so from knowledge and in the candour which + knowledge brings. + + I had even a mind to ask you to look at these plays before they were + printed, relying on our common friend Donne for a mediator; but I + know how wearisome all MS. inspection is; and, after all, the whole + affair was not worth giving you such a trouble. You must pardon all + this, and believe me,—Yours very faithfully, + + EDWARD FITZGERALD. + +Soon after his arrival by the sea, Borrow performed an act of bravery of +which _The Bury Post_ (17th Sept. 1852) gave the following account, most +likely written by Dr Hake:— + + “INTREPIDITY.—Yarmouth jetty presented an extra-ordinary and + thrilling spectacle on Thursday, the 8th inst., about one o’clock. + The sea raged frantically, and a ship’s boat, endeavouring to land + for water, was upset, and the men were engulfed in a wave some thirty + feet high, and struggling with it in vain. The moment was an awful + one, when George Borrow, the well-known author _of Lavengro_, and + _The Bible in Spain_, dashed into the surf and saved one life, and + through his instrumentality the others were saved. We ourselves have + known this brave and gifted man for years, and, daring as was this + deed we have known him more than once to risk his life for others. + We are happy to add that he has sustained no material injury.” + +Borrow was a splendid swimmer. {404a} In the course of one of his +country walks with Robert Cooke (John Murray’s partner), with whom he was +on very friendly terms, + + “he suggested a bathe in the river along which they were walking. Mr + Cooke told me that Borrow, having stripped, took a header into the + water and disappeared. More than a minute had elapsed, and as there + were no signs of his whereabouts, Mr Cooke was becoming alarmed, lest + he had struck his head or been entangled in the weeds, when Borrow + suddenly reappeared a considerable distance off, under the opposite + bank of the stream, and called out ‘What do you think of that?’” + {404b} + +Elizabeth Harvey, in telling the same story, says that on coming up he +exclaimed: “There, if that had been written in one of my books, they +would have said it was a lie, wouldn’t they?” {404c} + +The paragraph about Borrow’s courage was printed in various newspapers +throughout the country, amongst others in the _Plymouth Mail_ under the +heading of “Gallant Conduct of Mr G. Borrow,” and was read by Borrow’s +Cornish kinsmen, who for years had heard nothing of Thomas Borrow. +Apparently quite convinced that George was his son, they deputed Robert +Taylor, a farmer of Penquite Farm (who had married Anne Borrow, +granddaughter of Henry Borrow), to write to Borrow and invite him to +visit Trethinnick. The letter was dated 10th October and directed to +“George Borrow, Yarmouth.” Borrow replied as follows:— + + YARMOUTH, 14_th_ _Octr._, 1853. + + MY DEAR SIR,—I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of + the 10th inst. in which you inform me of the kind desire of my + Cornish relatives to see me at Trethinnock (sic). Please to inform + them that I shall be proud and happy to avail myself of their + kindness and to make the acquaintance of “one and all” {405} of them. + My engagements will prevent my visiting them at present, but I will + appear amongst them on the first opportunity. I am delighted to + learn that there are still some living at Trethinnock who remember my + honoured father, who had as true a Cornish heart as ever beat. + + I am at present at Yarmouth, to which place I have brought my wife + for the benefit of her health; but my residence is Oulton Hall, + Lowestoft, Suffolk. With kind greetings to my Cornish kindred, in + which my wife and my mother join,—I remain, my dear Sir, ever + sincerely yours,— + + GEORGE BORROW. + +Borrow was not free to visit his kinsfolk until the following Christmas. +First advising Robert Taylor of his intention, and receiving his approval +and instructions for the journey, Borrow set out from Great Yarmouth on +23rd December. He spent the night at Plymouth. Next morning on finding +the Liskeard coach full, he decided to walk. Leaving his carpet-bag to +be sent on by the mail, and throwing over his arm the cloak that had seen +many years of service, he set out upon his eighteen-mile tramp. He +arrived at Liskeard in the afternoon, and was met by his cousin Henry +Borrow and Robert Taylor, as well as by several local celebrities. + +After tea Borrow, accompanied by Robert Taylor, rode to Penquite, four +miles away. “Ride by night to Penquite, Borrow records in his _Journal_. +House of stone and slate on side of a hill. Mrs Taylor. Hospitable +reception. Christmas Eve. Log on fire.” He found alive of his own +generation, Henry, William, Thomas, Elizabeth (who lived to be 94 years +of age) and Nicholas, the children of Henry Borrow, Captain Borrow’s +eldest brother. Also Anne, daughter of Henry, who married Robert Taylor, +and their daughter, likewise named Anne, and William Henry, son of +Nicholas. + +In the Cornish Note Books there appears under the date of 3rd January the +following entry: “Rain and snow. Rode with Mr Taylor to dine at +Trethinnick. House dilapidated. A family party. Hospitable people.” +On first entering his father’s old home tears had sprung to Borrow’s +eyes, and he was much affected. There was present at the dinner the +vicar of St Cleer, the Rev. J. R. P. Berkeley, a pleasant Irish clergyman +who, years later, was able to give to Dr Knapp an account of what took +place. He noticed the “vast difference in appearance and manners between +the simple yet shrewd Cornish farmers and the betravelled gentleman their +kinsman;” yet for all this there were shades of resemblance—in a look, +some turn of thought or tone of voice. George Borrow was not at his best +that evening, Mr Berkeley relates of the dinner at Trethinnick: + + “his feelings were too much excited. He was thinking of the time + when his father’s footsteps and his father’s voice re-echoed in the + room in which we were sitting. His eyes wandered from point to + point, and at times, if I was not mistaken, a tear could be seen + trembling in them. At length he could no longer control his + feelings. He left the hall suddenly, and in a few moments, but for + God’s providential care, the career of George Borrow would have been + ended. There was within a few feet of the house a low wall with a + drop of some feet into a paved yard. He walked rapidly out, and, it + being nearly dark, he stepped one side of the gate and fell over the + wall. He did not mention the accident, although he bruised himself a + good deal, and it was some days before I heard of it. His words to + me that evening, when bidding me good-bye, were: ‘Well, we have + shared the old-fashioned hospitality of old-fashioned people in an + old-fashioned house.’” {407a} + +Borrow created something of a sensation in the neighbourhood. As a +celebrity his autograph was much sought after; but he would gratify +nobody. His hosts experienced many little surprises from their guest’s +strange ways. He would plunge into a moorland pool to fetch a bird that +had fallen to his gun, or, round the family fireside, he would shout his +ballads of the North, at one time alarming his audience by seizing a +carving-knife and brandishing it about in the air to emphasize the +passionate nature of his song. When a card-party proved too dull he +slipped off and found his way into some slums, picking up all the +disreputable characters he could find, working off his knowledge of cant +on them, and getting out of them what he could. {407b} + +On one occasion when dining at the house of a local celebrity he was +suddenly missed from table during dessert. + + “A search revealed him in a remote room surrounded by the children of + the house, whom he was amusing by his stories and catechising in the + subject of their studies and pursuits. He excused his absence by + saying that he had been fascinated by the intelligence of the + children, and had forgotten about the dinner.” {407c} + +His hatred of gentility led him into some actions that can only be +characterised as childish. Even in Cornwall he was on the lookout for +his fetish. On one occasion when dining with the ex-Mayor of Liskeard, +he pulled out of his pocket and used instead of a handkerchief, a dirty +old grease-stained rag with which he was wont to clean his gun. {408} +This was done as a protest against something or other that seemed to him +to suggest mock refinement. + +When at Wolsdon as the guest of the Pollards there arrived a lady and +gentleman of the name of Hambly, according to the Note Books. In spite +of this brief reference, Borrow immediately recognised a hated name. +Never was one of the name good, he informed Mr Berkeley. He may even +have been informed that they were descendants of the Headborough whom his +father had knocked down. He showed his detestation for the name by being +as rude as he could to those who bore it. + +Borrow was as incapable of dissimulating his dislikes as he was of +controlling his moods. Even during his short stay at Penquite he was on +one occasion, at least, plunged into a deep melancholy, sitting before a +huge fire entirely oblivious to the presence of others in the room. Mrs +Berkeley, who, with the vicar himself, was a caller, thinking to produce +some good effect upon the gloomy man, sat down at the piano and played +some old Irish and Scottish airs. After a time Borrow began to listen, +then he raised his head, and finally “he suddenly sprang to his feet, +clapped his hands several times, danced about the room, and struck up +some joyous melody. From that moment he was a different man.” He told +them “tales and side-splitting anecdotes,” he joined the party at supper, +and when the vicar and his wife rose to take their leave he pressed Mrs +Berkeley’s hands, and told her that her music had been as David’s harp to +his soul. + +To the young man he met during this visit who informed him that he had +left the Army as it was no place for a gentleman, Borrow replied that it +was no place for a man who was not a gentleman, and that he was quite +right in leaving it. To speak against the Army to Borrow was to speak +against his honoured father. + +How Borrow struck his Cornish kinsfolk is shown in a letter written by +his hostess to a friend. “I must tell you,” she writes, “a bit about our +distinguished visitor.” She gives one of the most valuable portraits of +Borrow that exists. He was to her: + + “A fine tall man of about six feet three, well-proportioned and not + stout; able to walk five miles an hour successively; rather florid + face without any hirsute appendages; hair white and soft; eyes and + eyebrows dark; good nose and very nice mouth; well-shaped + hands—altogether a person you would notice in a crowd. His character + is not so easy to portray. The more I see of him the less I know of + him. He is very enthusiastic and eccentric, very proud and + unyielding. He says very little of himself, and one cannot ask him + if inclined to . . . He is a marvel in himself. There is no one here + to draw him out. He has an astonishing memory as to dates when great + events have taken place, no matter in what part of the world. He + seems to know everything.” {409} + +Borrow was gratified at the welcome he received, and was much pleased +with the neighbourhood and its people. “My relations are most excellent +people,” he wrote to his wife, “but I could not understand more than half +they said.” He was puzzled to know why the head of a family, which was +reputed to be worth seventy thousand pounds, should live in a house which +could not boast of a single grate—“nothing but open chimneys.” + +He remained at Penquite for upwards of a fortnight, at one time galloping +over snowy hills and dales with Anne Taylor, Junr., “as gallant a girl as +ever rode,” at another, alert as ever for fragments of folk-lore or +philology, jotting down the story of a pisky-child from the dictation of +his cousin Elizabeth. + +On 9th January Borrow left Penquite on a tour to Truro, Penzance, +Mousehole, and Land’s End, armed with the inevitable umbrella, grasped in +the centre by the right hand, green, manifold and bulging, that so +puzzled Mr Watts-Dunton and caused him on one occasion to ask Dr Hake, +“Is he a genuine Child of the Open Air?” It was one of the first things +to which Borrow’s pedestrian friends had to accustom themselves. With +this “damning thing . . . gigantic and green,” Borrow set out upon his +excursion, now examining some Celtic barrow, now enquiring his way or the +name of a landmark, occasionally singing in that tremendous voice of his, +“Look out, look out, Swayne Vonved!” + +At Mousehole he called upon a relative, H. D. Burney (who was, it would +seem, in charge of the Coast Guard Station), to whom he had a letter of +introduction from Robert Taylor. Mr Burney entertained him with stories, +showed him places and things of interest in the neighbourhood, and +accompanied him on his visit to St Michael’s Mount. Borrow returned to +Penquite on the 25th with a considerable store of Cornish legends and +Cornish words, and the knowledge that you can only see Cornwall or know +anything about it by walking through it. + +The next excursion was to the North Coast, Pentire Point, Tintagel, King +Arthur’s Castle, etc. On the 1st of February he left Penquite, and slept +the night at Trethinnick. The next morning he set out on horseback +accompanied by Nicholas Borrow. + +To the vicar of St Cleer and his family, Borrow was a very welcome +visitor. Mr Berkeley’s eldest son, a boy of ten years of age, on being +introduced to the distinguished caller, gazed at him for some moments and +then without a word left the room and, going straight to his mother in +another apartment cried, “Well, mother, that _is_ a man.” Borrow was +delighted when he heard of the child’s enthusiasm. Mr Berkeley give a +picture of his distinguished visitor far more prepossessing than many +that exist. He was particularly struck, as was everybody, by the beauty +of Borrow’s hands, and their owner’s vanity over them as the legacy of +his Huguenot ancestors. Mr Berkeley found Borrow’s countenance pleasing, +betokening calm firmness, self-confidence and a mind under control, +though capable of passion. He could on occasion prove a delightful +talker, and he gave to the vicar’s family a new maxim to implant upon +their Christianity, the old prize-fighters receipt for a quiet life: +“Learn to box, and keep a civil tongue in your head.” He would often +drop in at the vicarage in the evening, when he would + + “sit in the centre of a group before the fire with his hands on his + knees—his favourite position—pouring forth tales of the scenes he had + witnessed in his wanderings. . . . Then he would suddenly spring from + his seat and walk to and fro the room in silence; anon he would clap + his hands and sing a Gypsy song, or perchance would chant forth a + translation of some Viking poem; after which he would sit down again + and chat about his father, whose memory he revered as he did his + mother’s; {411} and finally he would recount some tale of suffering + or sorrow with deep pathos—his voice being capable of expressing + triumphant joy or the profoundest sadness.” + +It was Borrow’s intention to write a book about his visit to Cornwall, +and he even announced it at the end of _The Romany Rye_. He was +delighted with the Duchy, and evidently gave his relatives to understand +that it was his intention to use the contents of his Note Books as the +nucleus of a book. “He will undoubtedly write a description of his +visit,” Mrs Taylor wrote to her friend. “I walked through the whole of +Cornwall and saw everything,” Borrow wrote to his wife after his return +to London. “I kept a Journal of every day I was there, and it fills +_two_ pocket books.” + +Borrow left Cornwall the second week in February and was in London on the +10th, where he was to break his journey home in order to obtain some data +at the British Museum for the Appendix of _The Romany Rye_. {412a} On +13th February he writes to his wife:— + + “For three days I have been working hard at the Museum, I am at + present at Mr Webster’s, but not in the three guinea lodgings. I am + in rooms above, for which I pay thirty shillings a week. I live as + economically as I can; but when I am in London I am obliged to be at + certain expense. I must be civil to certain friends who invite me + out and show me every kindness. Please send me a five pound note by + return of post.” + +His wife appears to have been anxious for his return home, and on the +17th he writes to her:— + + “It is hardly worth while making me more melancholy than I am. Come + home, come home! is the cry. And what are my prospects when I get + home? though it is true that they are not much brighter here. I have + nothing to look forward to. Honourable employments are being given + to this and that trumpery fellow; while I, who am an honourable man, + must be excluded from everything.” + +Of literature he expressed himself as tired, there was little or nothing +to be got out of it, save by writing humbug, which he refused to do. “My +spirits are very low,” he continues, “and your letters make them worse. +I shall probably return by the end of next week; but I shall want more +money. I am sorry to spend money for it is our only friend, and God +knows I use as little as possible, but I can’t travel without it.” {412b} +A few days later there is another letter with farther reference to money, +and protests that he is spending as little as possible. “Perhaps you had +better send another note,” he writes, “and I will bring it home +unchanged, if I do not want any part of it. I have lived very +economically as far as I am concerned personally; I have bought nothing, +and have been working hard at the Museum.” {413} + +These constant references to money seem to suggest either some difference +between Borrow and his wife, or that he felt he was spending too much +upon himself and was anticipating her thoughts by assuring her of how +economically he was living. He had an unquestioned right to spend, for +he had added considerable sums to the exchequer from the profits of his +first two books. + +Borrow returned to Yarmouth on 25th February. _The Romany Rye_ was now +rapidly nearing completion; but there was no encouragement to publish a +new book. He worked at _The Romany Rye_, not because he saw profit in +it, not because he was anxious to give another book to an uneager public; +but because of the sting in its tail, because of the thunderbolt Appendix +in which he paid off old scores against the critics and his personal +enemies. _The Romany Rye_ was to him a work of hate; it was a bomb +disguised as a book, which he intended to throw into the camp of his +foes. He was tired of literature, by which he meant that he was tired of +producing his best for a public that neither wanted nor understood it. +He forgot that the works of a great writer are sometimes printed in his +own that they may be read in another generation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI +MARCH 1854–MAY 1856 + + +DURING the months that followed Borrow’s return to Great Yarmouth, the +question of the coming summer holiday was discussed. From the first +Borrow himself had been for Wales. He was eager to pursue his Celtic +researches further north. “I should not wonder if he went into Wales +before he returns,” Mrs Robert Taylor had written to her friend during +Borrow’s stay in Cornwall. His wife and Henrietta had “a hankering after +what is fashionable,” and suggested Harrogate or Leamington. To which +Borrow replied that there was nothing he “so much hated as fashionable +life.” He, however, gave way, the two women followed suit, as he had +intended they should, and Wales was decided upon. For Borrow the +literature of Wales had always exercised a great attraction. Her bards +were as no other bards. Ab Gwilym was to him the superior of Chaucer, +and Huw Morris “the greatest songster of the seventeenth century.” It +was, he confessed, a desire to put to practical use his knowledge of the +Welsh tongue, “such as it was,” that first gave him the idea of going to +Wales. + +The party left Great Yarmouth on 27th July 1854, spending one night at +Peterborough and three at Chester. They reached Llangollen, which was to +be their head-quarters, on 1st August. On 9th August Mrs George Borrow +wrote to the old lady at Oulton, “We all much enjoy this wonderful and +beautiful country. We are in a lovely quiet spot. Dear George goes out +exploring the mountains, and when he finds remarkable views takes us of +an evening to see them.” + +Borrow wanted to see Wales and get to know the people, and, above all, to +speak with them in their own language, and on 27th August he started upon +a walking tour to Bangor, where he was to meet his wife and Henrietta, +who were to proceed thither by rail. It was during this excursion that +he encountered the delightful Papist-Orange fiddler, whose fortunes and +fingers fluctuated between “Croppies Get Up” and “Croppies Lie Down.” + +From Bangor Borrow explored the surrounding places of interest. He +ascended Snowdon arm-in-arm with Henrietta, singing “at the stretch of my +voice a celebrated Welsh stanza,” the boy-guide following wonderingly +behind. In spite of the fatigues of the climb, “the gallant girl” +reached the summit and heard her stepfather declaim two stanzas of poetry +in Welsh, to the grinning astonishment of a small group of English +tourists and the great interest of a Welshman, who asked Borrow if he +were _a Breton_. + +There is no question that Borrow was genuinely attached to Henrietta. “I +generally call her daughter,” he writes, “and with good reason, seeing +that she has always shown herself a daughter to me—that she has all kinds +of good qualities, and several accomplishments, knowing something of +conchology, more of botany, drawing capitally in the Dutch style,” {415a} +not to speak of her ability to play on the Spanish guitar. She was “the +dear girl,” or “the gallant girl,” between whom and her stepfather +existed a true spirit of comradeship. In 1844 she wrote to him, “And +then that _funny_ look {415b} would come into your eyes and you would +call me ‘poor old Hen.’” He seemed incapable of laughing, and one +intimate friend states that she “never saw him even smiling, but there +was a twinkle in his eyes which told you that he was enjoying himself +just the same.” {416} + +About this time Mrs George Borrow wrote to old Mrs Borrow at Oulton Hall, +saying that all was well with her son. + + “He is very regular in his morning and evening devotions, so that we + all have abundant cause for thankfulness . . . As regards your dear + son and his peace and comfort, you have reason to praise and bless + God on his account . . . He is fully occupied. He keeps a _daily_ + Journal of all that goes on, so that he can make a most amusing book + in a month, whenever he wishes to do so.” + +The first sentence is very puzzling, and would seem to suggest that +Borrow’s moods were somehow or other associated with outbursts against +religion. “Be sure you _burn_ this, or do not leave it about,” the old +lady is admonished. + +On the day following the ascent of Snowdon, Mrs Borrow and Henrietta +returned to Llangollen by train, leaving Borrow free to pursue his +wanderings. He eventually arrived at Llangollen on 6th September, by way +of Carnarvon, Festiniog and Bala. After remaining another twenty days at +Llangollen, he despatched his wife and stepdaughter home by rail. He +then bought a small leather satchel, with a strap to sling it over his +shoulder, packed in it a white linen shirt, a pair of worsted stockings, +a razor and a prayer-book. Having had his boots resoled and his umbrella +repaired, he left Llangollen for South Wales, upon an excursion which was +to occupy three weeks. During the course of this expedition he was taken +for many things, from a pork-jobber to Father Toban himself, as whom he +pronounced “the best Latin blessing I could remember” over two or three +dozen Irish reapers to their entire satisfaction. Eventually he arrived +at Chepstow, having learned a great deal about wild Wales. + +One of the excursions that Borrow made from Bangor was to Llanfair in +search of Gronwy, the birthplace of Gronwy Owen. He found in the long, +low house an old woman and five children, descendants of the poet, who +stared at him wonderingly. To each he gave a trifle. Asking whether +they could read, he was told that the eldest could read anything, whether +Welsh or English. In _Wild Wales_ he gives an account of the interview. + + “‘Can you write?’ said I to the child [the eldest], a little stubby + girl of about eight, with a broad flat red face and grey eyes, + dressed in a chintz gown, a little bonnet on her head, and looking + the image of notableness. + + “The little maiden, who had never taken her eyes off of me for a + moment during the whole time I had been in the room, at first made no + answer; being, however, bid by her grandmother to speak, she at + length answered in a soft voice, ‘Medraf, I can.’ + + “‘Then write your name in this book,’ said I, taking out a + pocket-book and a pencil, ‘and write likewise that you are related to + Gronwy Owen—and be sure you write in Welsh.’ + + “The little maiden very demurely took the book and pencil, and + placing the former on the table wrote as follows:— + + “‘Ellen Jones yn perthyn o bell i gronow owen.’ {417a} + + “That is, ‘Ellen Jones belonging, from afar off to Gronwy Owen.’” + {417b} + +Ellen Jones is now Ellen Thomas, and she well remembers Borrow coming +along the lane, where she was playing with some other children, and +asking for the house of Gronwy Owen. Later, when she entered the house, +she found him talking to her grandmother, who was a little deaf as +described in _Wild Wales_. Mrs Thomas’ recollection of Borrow is that he +had the appearance of possessing great strength. He had “bright eyes and +shabby dress, more like a merchant than a gentleman, or like a man come +to buy cattle [others made the same mistake]. But, dear me! he did speak +_funny_ Welsh,” she remarked to a student of Borrow who sought her out, +“he could not pronounce the ‘ll’ [pronouncing the word “pell” as if it +rhymed with tell, whereas it should be pronounced something like +“pelth”], and his voice was very high; but perhaps that was because my +grandmother was deaf.” He had plenty of words, but bad pronunciation. +William Thomas {418a} laughed many a time at him coming talking his funny +Welsh to him, and said he was glad he knew a few words of Spanish to +answer him with. Borrow was, apparently, unconscious of any imperfection +in his pronunciation of the “ll”. He has written: “‘Had you much +difficulty in acquiring the sound of the “ll”?’ I think I hear the +reader inquire. None whatever: the double l of the Welsh is by no means +the terrible guttural which English people generally suppose it to be.” +{418b} + +Mrs Thomas is now sixty-seven years of age (she was eleven and not eight +at the time of Borrow’s visit) and still preserves carefully wrapped up +the book from which she read to the white-haired stranger. The episode +was not thought much of at the time, except by the child, whom it much +excited. {418c} + +It was in all probability during this, his first tour in Wales, that +Borrow was lost on Cader Idris, and spent the whole of one night in +wandering over the mountain vainly seeking a path. The next morning he +arrived at the inn utterly exhausted. It was quite in keeping with +Borrow’s nature to suppress from his book all mention of this unpleasant +adventure. {419a} + +The Welsh holiday was unquestionably a success. Borrow’s mind had been +diverted from critics and his lost popularity. He had forgotten that in +official quarters he had been overlooked. He was in the land of Ab +Gwilym and Gronwy Owen. “There never was such a place for poets,” he +wrote; “you meet a poet, or the birthplace of a poet, everywhere.” {419b} +He was delighted with the simplicity of the people, and in no way +offended by their persistent suspicion of all things Saxon. At least +they knew their own poets; and he could not help comparing the Welsh +labouring man who knew Huw Morris, with his Suffolk brother who had never +heard of Beowulf or Chaucer. He discoursed with many people about their +bards, surprising them by his intimate knowledge of the poets and the +poetry of Wales. He found enthusiasm “never scoffed at by the noble +simple-minded genuine Welsh, whatever treatment it may receive from the +coarse-hearted, sensual, selfish Saxon.” {419c} Sometimes he was +reminded “of the substantial yoemen of Cornwall, particularly . . . of my +friends at Penquite.” {419d} Wherever he went he experienced nothing but +kindness and hospitality, and it delighted him to be taken for a Cumro, +as was frequently the case. + +What Borrow writes about his Welsh is rather contradictory. Sometimes he +represents himself as taken for a Welshman, at others as a foreigner +speaking Welsh. “Oh, what a blessing it is to be able to speak Welsh!” +{420a} he exclaims. He acknowledged that he could read Welsh with far +more ease than he could speak it. There is absolutely no posing or +endeavour to depict himself a perfect Welsh scholar, whose accent could +not be distinguished from that of a native. The literary results of the +Welsh holiday were four Note Books written in pencil, from which _Wild +Wales_ was subsequently written. Borrow was in Wales for nearly sixteen +weeks (1st Aug.—16th November), of which about a third was devoted to +expeditions on foot. + +In the annual consultations about holidays, Borrow’s was always the +dominating voice. For the year 1855 the Isle of Man was chosen, because +it attracted him as a land of legend and quaint customs and speech. +Accordingly during the early days of September Mrs Borrow and Henrietta +were comfortably settled at Douglas, and Borrow began to make excursions +to various parts of the island. He explored every corner of it, +conversing with the people in Manx, collecting ballads and old, +smoke-stained _carvel_ {420b} (or carol) books, of which he was +successful in securing two examples. He discovered that the island +possessed a veritable literature in these _carvels_, which were +circulated in manuscript form among the neighbours of the writers. + +The old runic inscriptions that he found on the tombstones exercised a +great fascination over Borrow. He would spend hours, or even days (on +one occasion as much as a week), in deciphering one of them. Thirty +years later he was remembered as an accurate, painstaking man. His +evenings were frequently occupied in translating into English the Manx +poem _Illiam Dhoo_, or Brown William. He discovered among the Manx +traditions much about Finn Ma Coul, or M‘Coyle, who appears in _The +Romany Rye_ as a notability of Ireland. He ascended Snaefell, sought out +the daughter of George Killey, the Manx poet, and had much talk with her, +she taking him for a Manxman. The people of the island he liked. + + “In the whole world,” he wrote in his ‘Note Books,’ “there is not a + more honest, kindly race than the genuine Manx. Towards strangers + they exert unbounded hospitality without the slightest idea of + receiving any compensation, and they are, whether men or women, at + any time willing to go two or three miles over mountain and bog to + put strangers into the right road.” + +During his stay in the Isle of Man, news reached Borrow of the death of a +kinsman, William, son of Samuel Borrow, his cousin, a cooper at +Devonport. William Borrow had gone to America, where he had won a prize +for a new and wonderful application of steam. His death is said to have +occurred as the result of mental fatigue. In this Borrow saw cause for +grave complaint against the wretched English Aristocracy that forced +talent out of the country by denying it employment or honour, which were +all for their “connections and lick-spittles.” + +The holiday in the Isle of Man had resulted in two quarto note books, +aggregating ninety-six pages, closely written in pencil. Again Borrow +planned to write a book, just as he had done on the occasion of the +Cornish visit. Nothing, however, came of it. Among his papers was found +the following draft of a suggested title-page:— + + BAYR JAIRGEY + AND + GLION DOO + + THE RED PATH AND THE BLACK VALLEY + + WANDERINGS IN QUEST OF MANX LITERATURE + +A curious feature of Mrs Borrow’s correspondence is her friendly +conspiracies, sometimes with John Murray, sometimes with Woodfall, the +printer, asking them to send encouraging letters that shall hearten +Borrow to greater efforts. On 26th November 1850 John Murray wrote to +her: “I have determined on engraving [by W. Holl] Phillips’ portrait +{422} . . . as a frontispiece to it [_Lavengro_]. I trust that this will +not be disagreeable to you and the author—in fact I do it in confident +expectation that it will meet with _your_ assent; I do not ask Mr +Borrow’s leave, remember.” + +It must be borne in mind that Mrs Borrow had been in London a few days +previously, in order to deliver to John Murray the manuscript of +_Lavengro_. Mrs Borrow’s reply to this letter is significant. With +regard to the engraving, she writes (28th November), “_I like the idea of +it_, and when Mr Borrow remarked that he did not wish it (as we expected +he would) I reminded him that _his_ leave _was_ not asked.” + +Again, on 30th October 1852, Mrs Borrow wrote to Robert Cooke asking that +either he or John Murray would write to Borrow enquiring as to his +health, and progress with _The Romany Rye_, and how long it would be +before the manuscript were ready for the printer. “Of course,” she adds, +“all this is in perfect confidence to Mr Murray and yourself as you +_both_ of you know my truly excellent Husband well enough to be aware how +much he every now and then requires an impetus to cause the large wheel +to move round at a quicker pace . . . Oblige me by committing this to the +flames, and write to him just as you would have done, without hearing _a +word from me_.” On yet another occasion when she and Borrow were both in +London, she writes to Cooke asking that either he “or Mr Murray will give +my Husband a look, if it be only for a few minutes . . . He seems rather +low. Do, _not_ let this note remain on your table,” she concludes, “or +_mention_ it.” + +If Borrow were a problem to his wife and to his publisher, he presented +equal difficulties to the country folk about Oulton. To one he was “a +missionary out of work,” to another “a man who kep’ ’isself to ’isself”; +but to none was he the tired lion weary of the chase. “His great delight +. . . was to plunge into the darkening mere at eventide, his great head +and heavy shoulders ruddy in the rays of the sun. Here he hissed and +roared and spluttered, sometimes frightening the eel-catcher sailing home +in the half-light, and remembering suddenly school legends of +river-sprites and monsters of the deep.” {423a} + +In the spring following his return from the Isle of Man, Borrow made +numerous excursions on foot through East Anglia. He seemed too restless +to remain long in one place. During a tramp from Yarmouth to Ely by way +of Cromer, Holt, Lynn and Wisbech, he called upon Anna Gurney. {423b} +His reason for doing so was that she was one of the three celebrities of +the world he desired to see. The other two were Daniel O’Connell {423c} +and Lamplighter (the sire of Phosphorus), Lord Berners winner of the +Derby. Two of the world’s notabilities had slipped through his fingers +by reason of their deaths, but he was determined that Anna Gurney, who +lived at North Repps, should not evade him. He gave her notice of his +intention to call, and found her ready to receive him. + + “When, according to his account, {424} he had been but a very short + time in her presence, she wheeled her chair round and reached her + hand to one of her bookshelves and took down an Arabic grammar, and + put it into his hand, asking for explanation of some difficult point, + which he tried to decipher; but meanwhile she talked to him + continuously; when, said he, ‘I could not study the Arabic grammar + and listen to her at the same time, so I threw down the book and ran + out of the room.’” + +It is said that Borrow ran until he reached Old Tucker’s Inn at Cromer, +where he ate “five excellent sausages” and found calm. He then went on +to Sheringham and related the incident to the Upchers. + +These lonely walking tours soothed Borrow’s restless mind. He had +constant change of scene, and his thoughts were diverted by the +adventures of the roadside. He encountered many and interesting people, +on one occasion an old man who remembered the fight between Painter and +Oliver; at another time he saw a carter beating his horse which had +fallen down. “Give him a pint of ale, and I will pay for it,” counselled +Borrow. After the second pint the beast got up and proceeded, “pulling +merrily . . . with the other horses.” + +Ale was Borrow’s sovereign remedy for the world’s ills and wrongs. It +was by ale that he had been cured when the “Horrors” were upon him in the +dingle. “Oh, genial and gladdening is the power of good ale, the true +and proper drink of Englishmen,” he exclaims after having heartened Jack +Slingsby and his family. “He is not deserving of the name of +Englishman,” he continues, “who speaketh against ale, that is good ale.” +{425a} To John Murray (the Third) he wrote in his letter of sympathy on +the death of his father: “Pray keep up your spirits, and that you may be +able to do so, take long walks and drink plenty of Scotch ale with your +dinner . . . God bless you.” + +He liked ale “with plenty of malt in it, and as little hop as well may +be—ale at least two years old.” {425b} The period of its maturity +changed with his mood. In another place he gives nine or ten months as +the ideal age. {425c} He was all for an Act of Parliament to force +people to brew good ale. He not only drank good ale himself; but +prescribed it as a universal elixir for man and beast. Hearing from +Elizabeth Harvey “of a lady who was attached to a gentleman,” Borrow +demanded bluntly, “Well, did he make her an offer?” “No,” was the +response. “Ah,” Borrow replied with conviction, “if she had given him +some good ale he would.” {425d} + +He loved best old Burton, which, with ’37 port, were his favourites; yet +he would drink whatever ale the roadside-inn provided, as if to +discipline his stomach. It has been said that he habitually drank +“swipes,” a thin cheap ale, because that was the drink of his gypsy +friends; but Borrow’s friendship certainly did not often involve him in +anything so distasteful. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII +_THE ROMANY RYE_. 1854–1859 + + +BORROW was not a great correspondent, and he left behind him very few +letters from distinguished men of his time. Among those few were several +from Edward FitzGerald, whose character contrasted so strangely with that +of the tempestuous Borrow. In 1856 FitzGerald wrote:— + + 31 GREAT PORTLAND STREET, + LONDON, 27_th_ _October_ 1856. + + MY DEAR SIR,—It is I who send you the new Turkish Dictionary + [Redhouse’s Turkish & English Dictionary] which ought to go by this + Post; my reasons being that I bought it really only for the purpose + of doing that little good to the spirited Publisher of the book (who + thought when he began it that the [Crimean] War was to last), and I + send it to you because I should be glad of your opinion, if you can + give it. I am afraid that you will hardly condescend to _use_ it, + for you abide in the old Meninsky; but if you _will_ use it, I shall + be very glad. I don’t think _I_ ever shall; and so what is to be + done with it now it is bought? + + I don’t know what Kerrich told you of my being too _lazy_ to go over + to Yarmouth to see you a year ago. No such thing as that. I simply + had doubts as to whether you would not rather remain unlookt for. I + know I enjoyed my evening with you a month ago. I wanted to ask you + to read some of the _Northern Ballads_ too; but you shut the book. + + I must tell you. I am come up here on my way to Chichester to be + married! to Miss Barton (of Quaker memory) and our united ages amount + to 96!—a dangerous experiment on both sides. She at least brings a + fine head and heart to the bargain—worthy of a better market. But it + is to be, and I dare say you will honestly wish we may do well. + + Keep the book as long as you will. It is useless to me. I shall be + to be heard of through Geldeston Hall, Beccles. With compliments to + Mrs Borrow, believe me, + + Yours truly, + + EDWARD FITZGERALD. + + _P.S._—Donne is well, and wants to know about you. + +A few months later FitzGerald wrote again: + + ALBERT HOUSE, GORLESTON, + 6_th_ _July_ 1857. + + DEAR BORROW,—Will you send me [The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam] by + bearer. I only want to look at him, for that Frenchman {427} has + been misquoting him in a way that will make [Professor] E. Cowell [of + Cambridge] answerable for another’s blunder, which must not be. You + shall have ’_Omar_ back directly, or whenever you want him, and I + should really like to make you a copy (taking my time) of the best + Quatrains. I am now looking over the Calcutta MS. which has + 500!—very many quite as good as those in the MS. you have; but very + many in _both_ MSS. are well omitted. + + I have been for a fortnight to Geldeston where Kerrich is not very + well. I shall look for you one day in my Yarmouth rounds, and you + know how entirely disengaged and glad to see you I am here. I have + two fresh Nieces with me—and I find I gave you the _worst_ wine of + two samples Diver sent me. I wish you would send word by bearer you + are better—this one word written will be enough you see. + + My old Parson Crabbe is bowing down under epileptic fits, or + something like, and I believe his brave old white head will soon sink + into the village Churchsward. Why, _our_ time seems coming. Make + way, Gentlemen!—Yours very truly, + + EDWARD FITZGERALD. + +What effect the sweet gentleness of FitzGerald’s nature had upon that of +Borrow is not known, for the replies have not been preserved. FitzGerald +was a man capable of soothing the angriest and most discontented mind, +and it is a misfortune that he saw so little of Borrow. In the early +part of the following year (24th Jan. 1857) FitzGerald wrote to Professor +E. B. Cowell of Cambridge:— + + “I was with Borrow a week ago at Donne’s, and also at Yarmouth three + months ago: he is well, but not yet agreed with Murray. He read me a + long Translation he had made from the Turkish: which I could not + admire, and his Taste becomes stranger than ever.” {428a} + +From Wales Mrs George Borrow had written (Sept. 1854) to old Mrs Borrow: +“He [Borrow] will, I expect at Christmas, publish his other work [_The +Romany Rye_] together with his poetry in all the European languages.” +{428b} In November (1854) the manuscript of _The Romany Rye_ was +delivered to John Murray, who appears to have taken his time in reading +it; for it was not until 23rd December that he expressed his views in the +following letter. Even when the letter was written it was allowed to +remain in John Murray’s desk for five weeks, not being sent until 27th +January:— + + MY DEAR BORROW,—I have read with care the MS. of _The Romany Rye_ and + have pondered anxiously over it; and in what I am about to write I + think I may fairly claim the privilege of a friend deeply interested + in you personally, as well as in your reputation as author, and by no + means insensible to the abilities displayed in your various works. + It is my firm conviction then, that you will incur the certainty of + failure and run the risque of injuring your literary fame by + publishing the MS. as it stands. Very large omissions seem to me—and + in this, Elwin, {429} no mean judge, concurs—absolutely + indispensable. That _Lavengro_ would have profited by curtailment, I + stated before its publication. The result has verified my + anticipations, and in the present instance I feel compelled to make + it the condition of publication. You can well imagine that it is not + my _interest_ to shorten a book from two volumes to one unless there + were really good cause. + + _Lavengro_ clearly has not been successful. Let us not then risque + the chance of another failure, but try to avoid the rock upon which + we then split. You have so great store of interesting matter in your + mind and in your notes, that I cannot but feel it to be a pity that + you should harp always upon one string, as it were. It seems to me + that you have dwelt too long on English ground in this new work, and + have resuscitated some characters of the former book (such as F. + Ardry) whom your readers would have been better pleased to have left + behind. Why should you not introduce us rather to those novel scenes + of Moscovite and Hungarian life respecting which I have heard you + drop so many stimulating allusions. Do not, I pray, take offence at + what I have written. It is difficult and even painful for me to + assume the office of critic, and this is one of the reasons why this + note has lingered so long in my desk. Fortunately, in the advice I + am tendering I am supported by others of better literary judgment + than myself, and who have also deep regard for you. I will specify + below some of the passages which I would point out for omission.—With + best remembrances, I remain, my dear Borrow, Your faithful publisher + and sincere friend, + + JOHN MURRAY. + + _Suggestions for Omission_. + + The Hungarian in No. 6. + + The Jockey Story, terribly spun out, No. 7. + + Visit to the Church, too long. + + Interview with the Irishman, Do. + + Learning Chinese, too much repetition in this part of a very + interesting chapter. + + The Postilion and Highwayman. + + Throughout the MS. condensation is indispensable. Many of the + narratives are carried to a tedious length by details and repetition. + + The dialogue with Ursula, the song, etc., border on the indelicate. + I like much Horncastle Fair, the Chinese scholar, except objection + noted above. + + Grooming of the horse. + + January 27, 1855. + +On 29th January, Mrs Borrow wrote to John Murray a letter that was +inspired by Borrow himself. Dr Knapp discovered the original draft, some +of which was in Borrow’s own hand. It runs:— + + DEAR MR MURRAY,—We have received your letters. In the first place I + beg leave to say something on a very principal point. You talk about + _conditions_ of publishing. Mr Borrow has not the slightest wish to + publish the book. The MS. was left with you because you wished to + see it, and when left, you were particularly requested not to let it + pass out of your own hands. But it seems you have shown it to + various individuals whose opinions you repeat. What those opinions + are worth may be gathered from the following fact. + + The book is one of the most learned works ever written; yet in the + summary of the opinions which you give, not one single allusion is + made to the learning which pervades the book, no more than if it + contained none at all. It is treated just as if all the philological + and historical facts were mere inventions, and the book a common + novel . . . + + With regard to _Lavengro_ it is necessary to observe that if ever a + book experienced infamous and undeserved treatment it was that book. + It was attacked in every form that envy and malice could suggest, on + account of Mr Borrow’s acquirements and the success of _The Bible in + Spain_, and it was deserted by those whose duty it was, in some + degree to have protected it. No attempt was ever made to refute the + vile calumny that it was a book got up against the Popish agitation + of ’51. It was written years previous to that period—a fact of which + none is better aware than the Publisher. Is that calumny to be still + permitted to go unanswered? + + If these suggestions are attended to, well and good; if not, Mr + Borrow can bide his time. He is independent of the public and of + everybody. Say no more on that Russian Subject. Mr Borrow has had + quite enough of the press. If he wrote a book on Russia, it would be + said to be like _The Bible in Spain_, or it would be said to be + unlike _The Bible in Spain_, and would be blamed in either case. He + has written a book in connection with England such as no other body + could have written, and he now rests from his labours. He has found + England an ungrateful country. It owes much to him, and he owes + nothing to it. If he had been a low ignorant impostor, like a person + he could name, he would have been employed and honoured.—I remain, + Yours sincerely, + + MARY BORROW. + +On 5th April 1856 Mrs Borrow wrote again, requesting Murray to return the +manuscript, but for what purpose she does not state. Two days later it +was despatched by rail from Albemarle Street. + +Some years before, Borrow had met Rev. Whitwell Elwin, Rector of Booton, +somewhere about the time he (Elwin) came up to London to edit _The +Quarterly Review_, viz., 1853. {431} The first interview between the two +men has been described as characteristic of both. + + “Borrow was just then very sore with his slashing critics, and on + someone mentioning that Elwin was a ‘_Quartering_ reviewer,’ he said, + ‘Sir, I wish you a better employment.’ Then hastily changing the + subject, he called out, ‘What party are you in the Church—Tractarian, + Moderate, or Evangelical? I am happy to say, _I_ am the old _High_.’ + ‘I am happy to say I am _not_,’ was Elwin’s emphatic reply. Borrow + boasted of his proficiency in the Norfolk dialect, which he + endeavoured to speak as broadly as possible. ‘I told him,’ said + Elwin, ‘that he had not cultivated it with his usual success.’ As + the conversation proceeded it became less disputatious, and the two + ended by becoming so cordial that they promised to visit each other. + Borrow fulfilled his promise in the following October, when he went + to Booton, and was ‘full of anecdote and reminiscence,’ and delighted + the rectory children by singing them songs in the gypsy tongue. + Elwin during this visit urged him to try his hand at an article for + the Review. ‘Never,’ he said, ‘I have made a resolution never to + have anything to do with such a blackguard trade.’” {432a} + +Elwin became greatly interested in _The Romany Rye_. He endeavoured to +influence its composition, and even wrote to Borrow begging him “to give +his sequel to _Lavengro_ more of an historical, and less of a romancing +air.” He was not happy about the book. He wrote to John Murray in +March:— + + “‘It is not the statements themselves which provoke incredulity, but + the melodramatic effect which he tries to impart to all his + adventures.’ Instead of ‘roaring like a lion,’ in reply, as Elwin + had expected, he returned quite a ‘lamb-like’ note, which gave + promise of a greater success for his new work than its precursor.” + {432b} + +Borrow appears to have become tired of biding his time with regard to +_The Romany Rye_, and on 27th Feb. 1857 he wrote to John Murray to say +that “the work must go to press, and that unless the printing is +forthwith commenced, I must come up to London and make arrangements +myself. Time is passing away. It ought to have appeared many years ago. +I can submit to no more delays.” The work was accordingly proceeded +with, and Elwin wrote a criticism of the work for _The Quarterly Review_ +from the proof-sheets:— + + “When the review was almost finished, it was on the point of being + altogether withdrawn, owing to a passage in _Romany Rye_ which Elwin + said was clearly meant to be a reflection on his friend Ford, ‘to + avenge the presumed refusal of the latter to praise _Lavengro_ in + _The Quarterly Review_.’ ‘I am very anxious,’ he said, ‘to get + Borrow justice for rare merits which have been entirely overlooked, + but if he persists in publishing an attack of this kind I shall, I + fear, not be able to serve him.’ The objectionable paragraphs had + been written by Borrow under a misapprehension, and he cancelled them + as soon as he was convinced of his error.” {433} + +John Murray determined not to publish the book unless the offending +passage were removed. He wrote to Borrow the following letter:— + + 8_th_ _April_ 1857. + + MY DEAR BORROW,—When I have done anything towards you deserving of + apology I will not hesitate to offer one. As it is, I have acted + loyally towards you, and with a view to maintain your interests. + + I agreed to publish your present work solely with the object of + obliging you, and in a great degree at the strong recommendation of + Cooke. I meant (as was my duty) to do my very best to promote its + success. You on your side promised to listen to me in regard to any + necessary omissions; and on the faith of this, I pointed out one + omission, which I make the indispensable condition of my proceeding + further with the book. I have asked nothing unfair nor + unreasonable—nay, a compliance with the request is essential for your + own character as an author and a man. + + You are the last man that I should ever expect to “frighten or + bully”; and if a mild but firm remonstrance against an offensive + passage in your book is interpreted by you into such an application, + I submit that the grounds for the notion must exist nowhere but in + your own imagination. The alternative offered to you is to omit or + publish elsewhere. Nothing shall compel me to publish what you have + written. Think calmly and dispassionately over this, and when you + have decided let me know. + + Yours very faithfully, + + JOHN MURRAY. + +The reference that had so offended Murray and Elwin had, in all +probability been interpolated in proof form, otherwise it would have been +discovered either when Murray read the manuscript or Elwin the proofs. +By return of post came the following reply from Borrow, then at Great +Yarmouth:— + + DEAR SIR,—Yesterday I received your letter. You had better ask your + cousin [Robert Cooke] to come down and talk about matters. _After_ + Monday I shall be disengaged and shall be most happy to see him. And + now I must tell you that you are exceedingly injudicious. You call a + chapter heavy, and I, not wishing to appear unaccommodating, remove + or alter two or three passages for which I do not particularly care, + whereupon you make most unnecessary comments, obtruding your private + judgment upon matters with which you have no business, and of which + it is impossible that you should have a competent knowledge. If you + disliked the passages you might have said so, but you had no right to + say anything more. I believe that you not only meant no harm, but + that your intentions were good; unfortunately, however, people with + the best of intentions occasionally do a great deal of harm. In your + language you are frequently in the highest degree injudicious; for + example, in your last letter you talk of obliging me by publishing my + work. Now is not that speaking very injudiciously? Surely you + forget that I could return a most cutting answer were I disposed to + do so. + + I believe, however, that your intentions are good, and that you are + disposed to be friendly.—Yours truly, + + GEORGE BORROW. + +The tone of this letter is strangely reminiscent of some of the Rev +Andrew Brandram’s admonitions to Borrow himself, during his association +with the Bible Society. Borrow bowed to the wind, and the offending +passage was deleted, and _The Romany Rye_ eventually appeared on 30th +April 1857, in an edition of a thousand copies. The public, or such part +of it as had not forgotten Borrow, had been kept waiting six years to +know what had happened on the morning after the storm. _Lavengro_ had +ended by the postilion concluding his story with “Young gentleman, I will +now take a spell on your blanket—young lady, good-night,” and presumably +the three, Borrow, Isopel Berners and their guest had lain down to sleep, +and a great quiet fell upon the dingle, and the moon and the stars shone +down upon it, and the red glow from the charcoal in the brazier paled and +died away. + +_The Romany Rye_ is a puzzling book. The latter portion, at least, seems +to suggest “spiritual autobiography.” It reveals the man, his +atmosphere, his character, and nowhere better than among the jockeys at +Horncastle. It gives a better and more convincing picture of Borrow than +the most accurate list of dates and occurrences, all vouched for upon +unimpeachable authority. It is impressionism applied to autobiography, +which has always been considered as essentially a subject for +photographic treatment. Borrow thought otherwise, with the result that +many people decline to believe that his picture is a portrait, because +there is a question as to the dates. + +Among the reviews, which were on the whole unfriendly, was the remarkable +notice in _The Quarterly Review_, by the Rev. Whitwell Elwin:—{435} + + “Nobody,” he wrote, “sympathises with wounded vanity, and the world + only laughs when a man angrily informs it that it does not rate him + at his true value. The public to whom he appeals must, after all, be + the judge of his pretensions. Their verdict at first is frequently + wrong, but it is they themselves who must reverse it, and not the + author who is upon his trial before them. The attacks of critics, if + they are unjust, invariably yield to the same remedy. Though we do + not think that Mr Borrow is a good counsel in his own cause, we are + yet strongly of the opinion that Time in this case has some wrongs to + repair, and that _Lavengro_ has _not_ obtained the fame which was its + due. It contains passages which in their way are not surpassed by + anything in English Literature.” + +The value of these prophetic words lies in the fine spirit of fatherly +reproof in which the whole review was written. It is the work of a +critic who regarded literature as a thing to be approached, both by +author and reviewer, with grave and deliberate ceremony, not with +enthusiasm or prejudice. From any other source the following words would +not have possessed the significance they did, coming from a man of such +sane ideas with the courage to express them:— + + “Various portions of the history are known to be a faithful narrative + of Mr Borrow’s career, while we ourselves can testify, as to many + other parts of his volumes, that nothing can excel the fidelity with + which he has described both men and things. Far from his showing any + tendency to exaggeration, such of his characters as we chance to have + known, and they are not a few, are rather within the truth than + beyond it. However picturesquely they may be drawn, the lines are + invariably those of nature. Why under these circumstances he should + envelop the question in mystery is more than we can divine. There + can be no doubt that the larger part, and possibly the whole, of the + work is a narrative of actual occurrences.” {436} + +The Appendix itself, which had drawn from Elwin the grave declaration +that “Mr Borrow is very angry with his critics,” is a fine piece of +rhetorical denunciation. It opens with the deliberate restraint of a man +who feels the fury of his wrath surging up within him. It tells again +the story of _Lavengro_, pointing morals as it goes. Then the studied +calm is lost—Priestcraft, “Foreign Nonsense,” “Gentility Nonsense,” +“Canting Nonsense,” “Pseudo-Critics,” “Pseudo-Radicals” he flogs and +pillories mercilessly until, arriving at “The Old Radical,” he throws off +all restraint and lunges out wildly, mad with hate and despair. As a +piece of literary folly, the Appendix to _The Romany Rye_ has probably +never been surpassed. It alienated from Borrow all but his personal +friends, and it sealed his literary fate as far as his own generation was +concerned. In short, he had burnt his boats. + +Borrow had sent a copy of _The Romany Rye_ to FitzGerald, which is +referred to by him in a letter written from Gorleston to Professor Cowell +(5th June 1857):— + + “Within hail almost lives George Borrow who has lately published, and + given me, two new Volumes of Lavengro called _Romany Rye_, with some + excellent things, and some very bad (as I have made bold to write to + him—how shall I face him!). You would not like the Book at all, I + think.” {437a} + +Borrow was bitterly disappointed at the effect produced by _The Romany +Rye_. On someone once saying that it was the finest piece of literary +invective since Swift, he replied, “Yes, I meant it to be; and what do +you think the effect was? No one took the least notice of it!” {437b} + +_The Romany Rye_ was not a success. The thousand copies lasted a year. +When it appeared likely that a second edition would be required, Borrow +wrote to John Murray urging him not to send the book to the press again +until he “was quite sure the demand for it will at least defray all +attendant expenses.” He saw that whatever profits had resulted from the +publication of the first edition, were in danger of being swallowed up in +the preparation of a second. When this did eventually make its +appearance in 1858, it was limited to 750 copies, which lasted until +1872. + +Borrow’s own attitude with regard to the work and his wisdom in +publishing it is summed up in a letter to John Murray (17th Sept. 1857):— + + “I was very anxious to bring it out,” he writes; “and I bless God + that I had the courage and perseverance to do so. It is of course + unpalatable to many; for it scorns to foster delusion, to cry ‘peace + where there is no peace,’ and denounces boldly the evils which are + hurrying the country to destruction, and which have kindled God’s + anger against it, namely, the pride, insolence, cruelty, + covetousness, and hypocrisy of its people, and above all the rage for + gentility, which must be indulged in at the expense of every good and + honourable feeling.” + +The writing of the Appendix had aroused in Borrow all his old enthusiasm, +and he appears to have come to the determination to publish a number of +works, including a veritable library of translations. At the end of _The +Romany Rye_ appeared a lengthy list of books in preparation. {438} + +In August 1857 Borrow paid a second visit to Wales, walking “upwards of +four hundred miles.” Starting from Laugharne in Carmarthenshire, he +visited Tenby, Pembroke, Milford Haven, Haverford, St David’s, Fishguard, +Newport, Cardigan, Lampeter; passing into Brecknockshire, he eventually +reached Mortimer’s Cross in Hereford and thence to Shrewsbury. In +October he was at Leighton, Donnington and Uppington, where he found +traces of Gronwy Owen, the one-time curate and all-time poet. + +Throughout his life Borrow had shown by every action and word written +about her, the great love he bore his mother. When his wife wrote to her +and he was too restless to do so himself, he would interpolate two or +three lines to “My dear Mamma.” She was always in his thoughts, and he +never wavered in his love for her and devotion to her comfort; whilst she +looked upon him as only a mother so good and so tender could look upon a +son who had become her “only hope.” + +For many years of her life it had been ordained that this brave old lady +should live alone. {439} In the middle of August 1858 the news reached +Borrow that his mother had been taken suddenly ill. She was in her +eighty-seventh year, and at such an age all illnesses are dangerous. +Borrow hastened to Oulton, and arrived just in time to be with her at the +last. + +Thus on 16th August 1858, of “pulmonary congestion,” died Anne Borrow, +who had followed her husband about with his regiment, and had reared and +educated her two boys under circumstances of great disadvantage. She had +lost one; but the other, her youngest born, whom she had so often +shielded from his father’s reproaches, had been spared to her, and she +had seen him famous. Upon her grave in Oulton Churchyard the son caused +to be inscribed the words, “She was a good wife and a good mother,” than +which no woman can ask more. {440a} + +The death of his mother was a great shock to Borrow. “He felt the blow +keenly,” Mrs Borrow wrote to John Murray, “and I advised a tour in +Scotland to recruit his health and spirits.” Accordingly he went North +early in October, leaving his wife and Henrietta at Great Yarmouth. He +visited the Highlands, walking several hundred miles. Mull struck him as +“a very wild country, perhaps the wildest in Europe.” Many of its +place-names reminded him strongly of the Isle of Man. At the end of +November he finished up the tour at Lerwick in Shetland, where he bought +presents for his “loved ones,” having seen Greenock, Glasgow, Perth, +Aberdeen, Inverness, Wick, Thurso among other places. His impressions +were not altogether favourable to the Scotch. “A queerer country I never +saw in all my life,” he wrote later . . . “a queerer set of people than +the Scotch you would scarcely see in a summer’s day.” {440b} + +In the following year (1859) an excursion was made to Ireland by Borrow +and his family. Making Dublin his headquarters, where he left his wife +and Henrietta comfortably settled, he tramped to Connemara and the +Giant’s Causeway, the expedition being full of adventure and affording +him “much pleasure,” in spite of the fact that he was “frequently wet to +the skin, and indifferently lodged.” + +Borrow had inherited from his mother some property at Mattishall Burgh, +one and a half miles from his birth-place, consisting of some land, a +thatched house and outbuildings, now demolished. This was let to a +small-holder named Henry Hill. Borrow thought very highly of his tenant, +and for hours together would tramp up and down beside him as he ploughed +the land, asking questions, and hearing always something new from the +amazing stores of nature knowledge that Henry Hill had acquired. This +Norfolk worthy appears to have been possessed of a genius for many +things. He was well versed in herbal lore, a self-taught ’cellist, +playing each Sunday in the Congregational Chapel at Mattishall, and an +equally self-taught watch-repairer; but his chief claim to fame was as a +bee-keeper, local tradition crediting him with being the first man to +keep bees under glass. He would solemnly state that his bees, whom he +looked upon as friends, talked to him. On Sundays the country folk for +miles round would walk over to Mattishall Burgh to see old Henry Hill’s +bees, and hear him expound their lore. It was perforce Sunday, there was +no other day for the Norfolk farm-labourer of that generation, who seemed +always to live on the verge of starvation. Borrow himself expressed +regret to Henry Hill that it had not been possible to add the education +of the academy to that of the land. He saw that the combination would +have produced an even more remarkable man. + +In Norfolk all strangers are regarded with suspicion. Lifelong +friendships are not contracted in a day. The East Anglian is shrewd, and +requires to know something about those whom he admits to the sacred inner +circle of his friendship. Borrow was well-known in the Mattishall +district, and was looked upon with more than usual suspicion. He was +unquestionably a strange man, in speech, in appearance, in habits. He +could and would knock down any who offended him; but, worst of all, he +was the intimate of gypsies, sat by their fires, spoke in their tongue. +The population round about was entirely an agricultural one, and all +united in hating the gypsies as their greatest enemies, because of their +depredations. Add to this the fact that Borrow was a frequenter of +public-houses, of which there were _seven_ in the village, and was wont +to boast that you could get at the true man only after he had been +mellowed into speech by good English ale. Then he would open his heart +and unburden his mind of all the accumulated knowledge that he possessed, +and add something to the epic of the soil. Borrow’s overbearing manner +made people shy of him. On one occasion he told John, the son and +successor of Henry Hill, that he ought to be responsible for the debt of +his half-brother; the debt, it may be mentioned, was to Borrow. + +There is no better illustration of the suspicion with which Borrow was +regarded locally, than an incident that occurred during one of his visits +to Mattishall. He called upon John Hill at Church Farm to collect his +rent. The evening was spent very agreeably. Borrow recited some of his +ballads, quoted Scripture and languages, and sang a song. He was +particularly interested on account of Mrs Hill being from London, where +she knew many of his haunts. He remained the whole evening with the +family and partook of their meal; but was allowed to go to one of the +seven public-houses for a bed, although there were spare bedrooms in the +house that he might have occupied. Such was the suspicion that Borrow’s +habits created in the minds of his fellow East Anglians. {442} + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII +JULY 1859–JANUARY 1869 + + +AFTER his second tour in Wales, Borrow had submitted to John Murray the +manuscript of his translation of _The Sleeping Bard_, which in 1830 had +so alarmed the little Welsh bookseller of Smithfield. “I really want +something to do,” Borrow wrote, “and seeing the work passing through the +press might amuse me.” Murray, however, could not see his way to accept +the offer, and the manuscript was returned. Borrow decided to publish +the book at his own expense, and accordingly commissioned a Yarmouth man +to print him 250 copies, upon the title-page of which John Murray +permitted his name to appear. + +In the note in which he tells of the Welsh bookseller’s doubts and fears, +Borrow goes on to assure his readers that there is no harm in the book. + + “It is true,” he says, “that the Author is any thing but mincing in + his expressions and descriptions, but there is nothing in the + Sleeping Bard which can give offence to any but the over fastidious. + There is a great deal of squeamish nonsense in the world; let us hope + however that there is not so much as there was. Indeed can we doubt + that such folly is on the decline, when we find Albemarle Street in + ’60, willing to publish a harmless but plain speaking book which + Smithfield shrank from in ’30.” + +The edition was very speedily exhausted, largely on account of an article +entitled, _The Welsh and Their Literature_, written years before, that +Borrow adapted as a review of the book, and published anonymously in _The +Quarterly Review_ (Jan. 1861). _The Sleeping Bard_ was not reprinted. + +The next event of importance in Borrow’s life was his removal to London +with Mrs Borrow and Henrietta. Towards the end of the Irish holiday (4th +Nov. 1859), Mrs Borrow had written to John Murray: “If all be well in the +Spring, I shall wish to look around, and select a pleasant, healthy +residence within from three to ten miles of London.” Borrow may have +felt more at liberty to make the change now that his mother was dead, +although whilst she was at Oulton he was as little company for her at +Great Yarmouth as he would have been in London. Whatever led them to the +decision to take up their residence in London, Borrow and his wife left +Great Yarmouth at the end of June, and immediately proceeded to look +about them for a suitable house. Their choice eventually fell upon +number 22 Hereford Square, Brompton, which had the misfortune to be only +a few doors from number 26, where lived Frances Power Cobbe. The rent +was £65 per annum. The Borrows entered upon their tenancy at the +Michaelmas quarter, and were joined by Henrietta, who had remained behind +at Great Yarmouth during the house-hunting. + +Miss Cobbe has given in her Autobiography a very unlovely picture of +George Borrow during the period of his residence in Hereford Square. No +woman, except his relatives and dependants, will tolerate egoism in a +man. Borrow was an egoist. If not permitted to lead the conversation, +he frequently wrapped himself in a gloomy silence and waited for an +opportunity to discomfit the usurper of the place he seemed to consider +his own. Among his papers were found after his death a large number of +letters from poor men whom Borrow had assisted. His friend the Rev. +Francis Cunningham once wrote to him a letter protesting against his +assisting Nonconformist schools. He gave to Church and Chapel alike. +This disproves misanthropy, and leaves egoism as the only explanation of +his occasional lapses into bitterness or rudeness. When in happy vein, +however, “his conversation . . . was unlike that of any other man; +whether he told a long story or only commented on some ordinary topic, he +was always quaint, often humorous.” {445a} + +Miss Cobbe would not humour an egoist, because constitutionally women, +especially clever women, dislike them, unless they wish to marry them. +When she heard it said, as it very frequently was said, that Borrow was a +gypsy by blood, she caustically remarked that if he were not he “_ought_ +to have been.” Miss Cobbe had living with her a Miss Lloyd who, “amused +by his quaint stories and his (real or sham) enthusiasm for Wales, . . . +cultivated his acquaintance. I,” continued Miss Cobbe frankly, “never +liked him, thinking him more or less of a hypocrite.” {445b} + +On one occasion Borrow had accepted an invitation from Miss Cobbe to meet +some friends, but subsequently withdrew his acceptance “on finding that +Dr Martineau was to be of the party . . . nor did he ever after attend +our little assemblies without first ascertaining that Dr Martineau would +not be present!” This she explained by the assertion that Dr Martineau +had “horsed” Borrow when he was punished for running away from school at +Norwich. It appeared “irresistibly comic” to her mind. + +There is an amusing account given by Miss Cobbe of how she worsted +Borrow, which is certainly extremely flattering to her accomplishments. +Once when talking with him she happened to say + + “something about the imperfect education of women, and he said it was + _right_ they should be ignorant, and that no man could endure a + clever wife. I laughed at him openly,” she continues, “and told him + some men knew better. What did he think of the Brownings? ‘Oh, he + had heard the name; he did not know anything of them. Since Scott, + he read no modern writer; Scott _was greater than Homer_! What he + liked were curious, old, erudite books about mediæval and northern + things.’ I said I knew little of such literature, and preferred the + writers of our own age, but indeed I was no great student at all. + Thereupon he evidently wanted to astonish me; and, talking of + Ireland, said, ‘Ah, yes; a most curious, mixed race. First there + were the Firbolgs,—the old enchanters, who raised mists.’ . . . + ‘Don’t you think, Mr Borrow,’ I asked, ‘it was the Tuatha-de-Danaan + who did that? Keatinge expressly says that they conquered the + Firbolgs by that means.’ (Mr B. somewhat out of countenance), ‘Oh! + Aye! Keatinge is _the_ authority; a most extraordinary writer.’ + ‘Well, I should call him the Geoffrey of Monmouth of Ireland.’ (Mr + B. changing the _venue_), ‘I delight in Norse-stories; they are far + grander than the Greek. There is the story of Olaf the Saint of + Norway. Can anything be grander? What a noble character!’ ‘But,’ I + said, ‘what do _you_ think of his putting all those poor Druids on + the Skerry of Shrieks, and leaving them to be drowned by the tide?’ + (Thereupon Mr B. looked at me askant out of his gipsy eyes, as if he + thought me an example of the evils of female education!) ‘Well! + Well! I forgot about the Skerry of Shrieks. Then there is the story + of Beowulf the Saxon going out to sea in his burning ship to die.’ + ‘Oh, Mr Borrow! that isn’t a Saxon story at all. It is in the + Heimskringla! It is told of Hakon of Norway.’ Then, I asked him + about the gipsies and their language, and if they were certainly + Aryans? He didn’t know (or pretended not to know) what Aryans were; + and altogether displayed a miraculous mixture of odd knowledge and + more odd ignorance. Whether the latter were real or assumed I know + not!” {446} + +These were some of the neighbourly little pleasantries indulged in by +Miss Cobbe, regarding a man who was a frequent guest at her house. + + “His has indeed been a fantastic fate!” writes Mr Theodore + Watts-Dunton. “When the shortcomings of any illustrious man save + Borrow are under discussion, ‘_les défauts de ses qualités_’ is the + criticism—wise as charitable—which they evoke. Yes, each one is + allowed to have his angularities save Borrow. Each one is allowed to + show his own pet unpleasant facets of character now and then—allowed + to show them as inevitable foils to the pleasant ones—save Borrow. + _His_ weaknesses no one ever condones. During his lifetime his + faults were for ever chafing and irritating his acquaintances, and + now that he and they are dead, these faults of his seem to be chafing + and irritating people of another generation. A fantastic fate, I + say, for him who was so interesting to some of us!” {447a} + +On occasion Borrow could be inexcusably rude, as he was to a member of +the Russian Embassy who one day called at Hereford Square for a copy of +_Targum_ for the Czar, when he told him that his Imperial master could +fetch it himself. Again, no one can defend him for affronting the “very +distinguished scholar” with whom he happened to disagree, by thundering +out, “Sir, you’re a fool!” Such lapses are deplorable; but why should we +view them in a different light from those of Dr Johnson? + +What would have been regarded in another distinguished man as a pleasant +vein of humour was in Borrow’s case looked upon as evidence of his +unveracity. A contemporary tells how, on one occasion, he went with him +into “a tavern” for a pint of ale, when Borrow pointed out + + “a yokel at the far end of the apartment. The foolish bumpkin was + slumbering. Borrow in a stage whisper, gravely assured me that the + man was a murderer, and confided to me with all the emphasis of + honest conviction the scene and details of his crime. Subsequently I + ascertained that the elaborate incidents and fine touches of local + colour were but the coruscations of a too vivid imagination, and that + the villain of the ale-house on the common was as innocent as the + author of _The Romany Rye_.” {447b} + +If Borrow had been called upon to explain this little pleasantry he would +in all probability have replied in the words of Mr Petulengro, that he +had told his acquaintance “things . . . which are not exactly true, +simply to make a fool of you, brother.” + +It is strange how those among his contemporaries who disliked him, denied +Borrow the indulgence that is almost invariably accorded to genius. +Those who were not for him were bitterly against him. In their eyes he +was either outrageously uncivil or insultingly rude. Dr Hake, although a +close friend, saw Borrow’s dominant weakness, his love of the outward +evidences of fame. Dr Hake’s impartiality gives greater weight to his +testimony when he tells of Borrow’s first meeting with Dr Robert Latham, +the ethnologist, philologist and grammarian. Latham much wanted to meet +Borrow, and promised Dr Hake to be on his best behaviour. He was +accordingly invited to dinner with Borrow. Latham as usual began to show +off his knowledge. He became aggressive, and finally very excited; but +throughout the meal Borrow showed the utmost patience and courtesy, much +to his host’s relief. When he subsequently encountered Latham in the +street he always stopped “to say a kind word, seeing his forlorn +condition.” + +Dr Hake had settled at Coombe End, Roehampton, and now that the Borrows +were in London, the two families renewed their old friendship. Borrow +would walk over to Coombe End, and on arriving at the gate would call +out, “Are you alone?” If there were other callers he would pass by, if +not he would enter and frequently persuade Dr Hake, and perhaps his sons, +to accompany him for a walk. + +“There was something not easily forgotten,” writes Mr A. Egmont Hake, “in +the manner in which he would unexpectedly come to our gates, singing some +gypsy song, and as suddenly depart.” {448} They had many pleasant tramps +together, mostly in Richmond Park, where Borrow appeared to know every +tree and showed himself very learned in deer. He was + + “always saying something in his loud, self-asserting voice; sometimes + stopping suddenly, drawing his huge stature erect, and changing the + keen and haughty expression of his face into the rapt and half + fatuous look of the oracle, he would without preface recite some long + fragment from Welsh or Scandinavian bards, his hands hanging from his + chest and flapping in symphony. Then he would push on again, and as + suddenly stop, arrested by the beautiful scenery, and exclaim, ‘Ah! + this is England, as the Pretender said when he again looked on his + fatherland.’ Then on reaching any town, he would be sure to spy out + some lurking gypsy, whom no one but himself would have known from a + common horse-dealer. A conversation in Romany would ensue, a + shilling would change hands, two fingers would be pointed at the + gypsy, and the interview would be at an end.” {449a} + +One day he asked Dr Hake’s youngest boy if he knew how to fight a man +bigger than himself, and on being told that he didn’t, advised him to +“accept his challenge, and tell him to take off his coat, and while he +was doing it knock him down and then run for your life.” {449b} + +Once Borrow arrived at Dr Hake’s house to find another caller in the +person of Mr Theodore Watts-Dunton, and they “went through a pleasant +trio, in which Borrow, as was his wont, took the first fiddle . . . +Borrow made himself agreeable to Watts [-Dunton], recited a fairy tale in +the best style to him, and liked him.” {449c} Borrow did not recognise +in Mr Watts-Dunton the young man whom he had seen bathing on the beach at +Great Yarmouth, pleased to be near his hero, but too much afraid to +venture to address him. Writing of this meeting at Coombe End, Mr +Watts-Dunton says: “There is however no doubt that Borrow would have run +away from me had I been associated in his mind with the literary calling. +But at that time I had written nothing at all save poems, and a prose +story or two of a romantic kind.” {450} Borrow hated the literary man, +he was at war with the whole genus. + + [Picture: The Rev. Andrew Brandram. From an old silhouette in the + possession of the British and Foreign Bible Society] + +Mr Watts-Dunton confesses that he made great efforts to enlist Borrow’s +interest. He touched on Bamfylde Moore Carew, beer, bruisers, philology, +“gentility nonsense,” the “trumpery great”; but without success. Borrow +was obviously suspicious of him. Then with inspiration he happened to +mention what proved to be a magic name. + + “I tried other subjects in the same direction,” Mr Watts-Dunton + continues, “but with small success, till in a lucky moment I + bethought myself of Ambrose Gwinett, . . . the man who, after having + been hanged and gibbeted for murdering a traveller with whom he had + shared a double-bedded room at a seaside inn, revived in the night, + escaped from the gibbet-irons, went to sea as a common sailor, and + afterwards met on a British man-of-war the very man he had been + hanged for murdering. The truth was that Gwinett’s supposed victim, + having been attacked on the night in question by a violent bleeding + of the nose, had risen and left the house for a few minutes’ walk in + the sea-breeze, when the press-gang captured him and bore him off to + sea, where he had been in service ever since. The story is true, and + the pamphlet, Borrow afterwards told me (I know not on what + authority), was written by Goldsmith from Gwinett’s dictation for a + platter of cow-heel. + + “To the bewilderment of Dr Hake, I introduced the subject of Ambrose + Gwinett in the same manner as I might have introduced the story of + ‘Achilles’ wrath,’ and appealed to Dr Hake (who, of course, had never + heard of the book or the man) as to whether a certain incident in the + pamphlet had gained or lost by the dramatist who, at one of the minor + theatres, had many years ago dramatized the story. Borrow was caught + at last. ‘What?’ said he, ‘you know that pamphlet about Ambrose + Gwinett?’ ‘Know it?’ said I, in a hurt tone, as though he had asked + me if I knew ‘Macbeth’; ‘of course I know Ambrose Gwinett, Mr Borrow, + don’t you?’ ‘And you know the play?’ said he. ‘Of course I do, Mr + Borrow,’ I said, in a tone that was now a little angry at such an + insinuation of crass ignorance. ‘Why,’ said he, ‘it’s years and + years since it was acted; I never was much of a theatre man, but I + did go to see _that_.’ ‘Well I should rather think you _did_, Mr + Borrow,’ said I. ‘But,’ said he, staring hard at me, ‘you—you were + not born!’ ‘And I was not born,’ said I, ‘when the “Agamemnon” was + produced, and yet one reads the “Agamemnon,” Mr Borrow. I have read + the drama of “Ambrose Gwinett.” I have it bound in morocco, with + some more of Douglas Jerrold’s early transpontine plays, and some + Æschylean dramas by Mr Fitzball. I will lend it to you, Mr Borrow, + if you like.’ He was completely conquered, ‘Hake!’ he cried, in a + loud voice, regardless of my presence, ‘Hake! your friend knows + everything.’ Then he murmured to himself. ‘Wonderful man! Knows + Ambrose Gwinett!’ + + “It is such delightful reminiscences as these that will cause me to + have as long as I live a very warm place in my heart for the memory + of George Borrow.” {451a} + +After this, intercourse proved easy. At Borrow’s suggestion they walked +to the Bald-Faced Stag, in Kingston Vale, to inspect Jerry Abershaw’s +sword. This famous old hostelry was a favourite haunt of Borrow’s, where +he would often rest during his walk and drink “a cup of ale” (which he +would call “swipes,” and make a wry face as he swallowed) and talk of the +daring deeds of Jerry the highwayman. + +Many people have testified to the pleasure of being in the company of the +whimsical, eccentric, humbug-hating Borrow. + + “He was a choice companion on a walk,” writes Mr A. Egmont Hake, + “whether across country or in the slums of Houndsditch. His + enthusiasm for nature was peculiar; he could draw more poetry from a + wide-spreading marsh with its straggling rushes than from the most + beautiful scenery, and would stand and look at it with rapture.” + {451b} + +Since the tour in Wales in 1854, from which he returned with the four +“Note Books,” Borrow had been working steadily at _Wild Wales_. In 1857 +the book had been announced as “ready for the press”; but this was +obviously an anticipation. The manuscript was submitted to John Murray +early in November 1861. On the 20th of that month he wrote the following +letter, addressing it, not to Borrow, but to his wife:— + + DEAR MRS BORROW,—The MS. of _Wild Wales_ has occupied my thoughts + almost ever since Friday last. + + I approached this MS. with some diffidence, recollecting the + unsatisfactory results, on the whole, of our last publication—_Romany + Rye_. I have read a large part of this new work with care and + attention, and although it is beautifully written and in a style of + English undefiled, which few writers can surpass, there is yet a want + of stirring incident in it which makes me fearful as to the result of + its publication. + + In my hands at least I cannot think it would succeed even as well as + _Romany Rye_—and I am fearful of not doing justice to it. I do not + like to undertake a work with the chance of reproach that it may have + failed through my want of power to promote its circulation, and I do + wish, for Borrow’s own sake, that in this instance he would try some + other publisher and perhaps some other form of publication. + + In my hands I am convinced the work will not answer the author’s + expectations, and I am not prepared to take on me this amount of + responsibility. + + I will give the best advice I can if called upon, and shall be only + too glad if I can be useful to Mr Borrow. I regret to have to write + in this sense, but believe me always, Dear Mrs Borrow, + + Your faithful friend, + + JOHN MURRAY. + +The reply to this letter has not been preserved. It would appear that +some “stirring incidents” were added, among others most probably the +account of Borrow blessing the Irish reapers, who mistook him for Father +Toban. This anecdote was one of John Murray’s favourite passages. It is +evident that some concession was made to induce Murray to change his +mind. In any case _Wild Wales_ appeared towards the close of 1862 in an +edition of 1000 copies. The publisher’s misgivings were not justified, +as the first edition produced a profit, up to 30th June 1863, of £531, +14s., which was equally divided between author and publisher. The +second, and cheap, edition of 3000 copies lasted for thirteen years, and +the deficiency on this absorbed the greater part of the publisher’s +profit. + +In a way it is the most remarkable of Borrow’s books; for it shows that +he was making a serious effort to regain his public. It is an older, +wiser and chastened Borrow that appears in its pages, striding through +the land of the bards at six miles an hour, his satchel slung over his +shoulder, his green umbrella grasped in his right hand, shouting the +songs of Wales, about which he knew more than any man he met. There are +no gypsies (except towards the end of the book a reference to his meeting +with Captain Bosvile), no bruisers, the pope is scarcely mentioned, and +“gentility-nonsense” is veiled almost to the point of elimination. It +seems scarcely conceivable that the hand that had written the appendix to +_The Romany Rye_ could have so restrained itself as to write _Wild +Wales_. Borrow had evidently read and carefully digested Whitwell +Elwin’s friendly strictures upon _The Romany Rye_. Instead of the pope, +the gypsies and the bruisers of England, there were the vicarage cat, the +bards and the thousand and one trivial incidents of the wayside. There +were occasional gleams of the old fighting spirit, notably when he +characterises sherry, {453} as “a silly, sickly compound, the use of +which will transform a nation, however bold and warlike by nature, into a +race of sketchers, scribblers, and punsters,—in fact, into what +Englishmen are at the present day.” He has created the atmosphere of +Wales as he did that of the gypsy encampment. He shows the jealous way +in which the Welsh cling to their language, and their suspicion of the +_Saesneg_, or Saxon. Above all, he shows how national are the Welsh +poets, belonging not to the cultured few; but to the labouring man as +much as to the landed proprietor. Borrow earned the respect of the +people, not only because he knew their language; but on account of his +profound knowledge of their literature, their history, and their +traditions. No one could escape him, he accosted every soul he met, and +evinced a desire for information as to place-names that instantly +arrested their attention. + +The most curious thing about _Wild Wales_ is the omission of all mention +of the Welsh Gypsies, who, with those of Hungary, share the distinction +of being the aristocrats of their race. Several explanations have been +suggested to account for the curious circumstance. Had Borrow’s +knowledge of Welsh Romany been scanty, he could very soon have improved +it. The presence of his wife and stepdaughter was no hindrance; for, as +a matter of fact, they were very little with him, even when they and +Borrow were staying at Llangollen; but during the long tours they were +many miles away. In all probability the Welsh Gypsies were sacrificed to +British prejudice, much as were pugilism and the baiting of the pope. + +In spite of its simple charm and convincing atmosphere, _Wild Wales_ did +not please the critics. Those who noticed it (and there were many who +did not) either questioned its genuineness, or found it crowded with +triviality and self-glorification. It was full of the superfluous, the +superfluous repeated, and above all it was too long (some 250,000 words). +_The Spectator_ notice was an exception; it did credit to the critical +faculty of the man who wrote it. He declined “to boggle and wrangle over +minor defects in what is intrinsically good,” and praised _Wild Wales_ as +“the first really clever book . . . in which an honest attempt is made to +do justice to Welsh literature.” + +Borrow had much time upon his hands in London, which he occupied largely +in walking. He visited the Metropolitan Gypsyries at Wandsworth, “the +Potteries,” and “the Mounts,” as described in _Romano Lavo-Lil_. +Sometimes he would be present at some sporting event, such as the race +between the Indian Deerfoot and Jackson, styled the American Deer—tame +sport in comparison with the “mills” of his boyhood. He did very little +writing, and from 1862, when _Wild Wales_ appeared, until he published +_The Romano Lavo-Lil_ in 1874, his literary output consisted of only some +translations contributed to _Once a Week_ (January 1862 to December +1863). + +In 1865 he was to lose his stepdaughter, who married a William MacOubrey, +M.D., described in the marriage register as a physician of Sloane Street, +London, and subsequently upon his tombstone as a barrister. In the July +of 1866 Borrow and his wife went to Belfast on a visit to the newly +married pair. From Belfast Borrow took another trip into Scotland, +crossing over to Stranraer. From there he proceeded to Glen Luce and +subsequently to Newton Stewart, Castle Douglas, Dumfries, Ecclefechan, +Gretna Green, Carlisle, Langholm, Hawick, Jedburgh, Yetholm (where he saw +Esther Blyth of Kirk Yetholm), Kelso, Abbotsford, Melrose, Berwick, +Edinburgh, Glasgow, and so back to Belfast, having been absent for nearly +four weeks. + +Mrs Borrow’s health had been the cause of the family leaving Oulton for +Great Yarmouth, and about the time of the Irish visit it seems to have +become worse. When Borrow was away upon his excursion he received a +letter at Carlisle in which his wife informed him that she was not so +well; but urging him not to return if he were enjoying his trip and it +were benefiting his health. + +In the autumn of the following year (1867) they were at Bognor, Mrs +Borrow taking the sea air, her husband tramping about the country and +penetrating into the New Forest. On their return to town Mrs Borrow +appears to have become worse. There was much correspondence to be +attended to with regard to the Oulton Estate, and she had to go down to +Suffolk to give her personal attention to certain important details. +Miss Cobbe throws a little light on the period in a letter to a friend, +in which she says: + + “Mr Borrow says his wife is very ill and anxious to keep the peace + with C. (a litigious neighbour). Poor old B. was very sad at first, + but I cheered him up and sent him off quite brisk last night. He + talked all about the Fathers again, arguing that their quotations + went to prove that it was _not_ our gospels they had in their hands. + I knew most of it before, but it was admirably done. I talked a + little theology to him in a serious way (finding him talk of his + ‘horrors’) and he abounded in my sense of the non-existence of Hell, + and of the presence and action on the soul of _a_ Spirit, rewarding + and punishing. He would not say ‘God’; but repeated over and over + again that he spoke not from books but from his own personal + experience.” {456} + +On 24th January (1869) Mrs Borrow was taken suddenly ill and the family +doctor being out of town, Borrow sent for Dr W. S. Playfair of 5 Curzon +Street. A letter from Dr Playfair, 25th January, to the family doctor is +the only coherent testimony in existence as to what was actually the +matter with Mrs Borrow. It runs:— + + “I found great difficulty in making out the case exactly,” he writes, + “since Mr Borrow himself was so agitated that I could get no very + clear account of it. I could detect no marked organic affection + about the heart or lungs, of which she chiefly complained. It seemed + to me to be either a very aggravated form of hysteria, or, what + appears more likely, some more serious mental affection. In any + case, the chief requisite seemed very careful and intelligent nursing + or management, and I doubt very much, from what I saw, whether she + gets that with her present surroundings. If it is really the more + serious mental affection, I should fancy that the sooner means are + taken to have her properly taken care of, the better.” + +Dr Playfair saw in Borrow’s highly nervous excitable nature, if not the +cause of his wife’s breakdown, at least an obstacle to her recovery, and +was of opinion that Mrs Borrow’s disorder had been greatly aggravated by +her husband’s presence. + +Mrs Borrow never rallied from the attack, and on the 30th she died of +“valvular disease of the heart and dropsy,” being then in her +seventy-seventh year. On 4th February she was buried in Brompton +Cemetery, and the lonely man, her husband, returned to Hereford Square. +The grave bears the inscription, “To the Beloved Memory of My Mother, +Mary Borrow, who fell asleep in Jesus, 30th January 1869.” It is strange +that this should be in Henrietta’s and not Borrow’s name. + +Mrs Borrow evidently made over her property to her husband during her +lifetime, as there is no will in existence, and no application appears to +have been made either by Borrow or anyone else for letters of +administration. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX +JANUARY 1869–1881 + + +THE death of his wife was a last blow to Borrow, and he soon retired from +the world. At first he appears to have sought consolation in books, to +judge from the number of purchases he made about this time; but it was, +apparently, with pitiably unsuccessful results. In a letter to a friend +Miss Cobbe gives a picture in his lonliness: + + “Poor old Borrow is in a sad state,” she wrote. “I hope he is + starting in a day or two for Scotland. I sent C. with a note begging + him to come and eat the Welsh mutton you sent me to-day, and he sent + back word, ‘Yes.’ Then, an hour afterwards, he arrived, and in a + most agitated manner said he had come to say ‘he would rather not. + He would not trouble anyone with his sorrows.’ I made him sit down, + and talked as gently to him as possible, saying: ‘It won’t be a + trouble Mr. Borrow, it will be a pleasure to me.’ But it was all of + no use. He was so cross, so _rude_, I had the greatest difficulty in + talking to him. I asked about his servant, and he said I could not + help him. I asked him about Bowring, and he said: ‘Don’t speak of + it.’ (It was some dispute with Sir John Bowring, who was an + acquaintance of mine, and with whom I offered to mediate.) ‘I asked + him would he look at the photos of the Siamese,’ and he said: ‘Don’t + show them to me!’ So, in despair, as he sat silent, I told him I had + been at a pleasant dinner-party the night before, and had met Mr L—, + who told me of certain curious books of mediæval history. ‘Did he + know them?’ ‘No, and he _dare said_ Mr L— did not, either! Who was + Mr L—?’ I described that _obscure_ individual, (one of the foremost + writers of the day), and added that he was immensely liked by + everybody. Whereupon Borrow repeated at least twelve times, + ‘Immensely liked! As if a man could be immensely liked!’ quite + insultingly. To make a diversion (I was very patient with him as he + was in trouble), ‘I said I had just come home from the Lyell’s and + had heard—’ . . . But there was no time to say what I had heard! Mr + Borrow asked: ‘Is that old Lyle I met here once, the man who stands + at the door (of some den or other) and _bets_?’ I explained who Sir + Charles was, {459a} (of course he knew very well), but he went on and + on, till I said gravely: ‘I don’t think you will meet those sort of + people here, Mr Borrow. We don’t associate with blacklegs, + exactly.’” {459b} + +In the Autumn of 1870 Borrow became acquainted with Charles G. Leland +(“Hans Breitmann”) as the result of receiving from him the following +letter:— + + BRIGHTON, 24_th_ _October_ 1870. + + DEAR SIR,—During the eighteen months that I have been in England, my + efforts to find some mutual friend who would introduce me to you have + been quite in vain. As the author of two or three works which have + been kindly received in England, I have made the acquaintance of many + literary men and enjoyed much hospitality; but I assure you very + sincerely that my inability to find you out or get at you has been a + source of great annoyance to me. As you never published a book which + I have not read through five times—excepting _The Bible in Spain_ and + _Wild Wales_, which I have only read once—you will perfectly + understand why I should be so desirous of meeting you. + + As you have very possibly never heard of me before, I would state + that I wrote a collection of Ballads satirising Germany and the + Germans under the title of _Hans Breitmann_. + + I never before in my life solicited the favour of any man’s + acquaintance, except through the regular medium of an introduction. + If my request to be allowed the favour of meeting and seeing you does + not seem too _outré_, I would be to glad to go to London, or wherever + you may be, if it can be done without causing you any inconvenience, + and if I should not be regarded as an intruder. I am an American, + and among us such requests are _parfaitment_ (sic) _en régle_. + + I am, . . . + + CHARLES G. LELAND. + +Borrow replied on 2nd Nov.: + + SIR, + + I have received your letter and am gratified by the desire you + express to make my acquaintance. + + Whenever you please to come I shall be happy to see you. + + Truly yours, + + GEORGE BORROW. {460a} + +The meeting unquestionably took place at Hereford Square, and Leland +found Borrow “a tall, large, fine-looking man who must have been handsome +in his youth.” {460b} The result of the interview was that Leland sent +to Borrow a copy of his _Ballads_ and also _The Music Lesson of +Confucius_, then about to appear. At the same time he wrote to Borrow +drawing his attention to one of the ballads written in German Romany +_jib_, and enquiring if it were worth anything. Whilst deprecating his +“impudence” in writing a Romany _gili_ and telling, as a pupil might a +master, of his interest in and his association with the gypsies, he +continues: “My dear Mr Borrow, for all this you are entirely responsible. +More than twenty years ago your books had an incredible influence on me, +and now you see the results.” After telling him that he can _never_ +thank him sufficiently for the instructions he has given in _The Romany +Rye_ as to how to take care of a horse on a thirty mile ride, he +concludes—“With apologies for the careless tone of this letter, and with +sincere thanks for your kindness in permitting me to call on you and for +your courteous note,—I am your sincere admirer.” + +The account that Leland gives of this episode in his _Memoirs_ is +puzzling and contradictory in the light of his first letter. He writes: + + “There was another hard old character with whom I became acquainted + in those days, and one who, though not a Carlyle, still, like him, + exercised in a peculiar way a great influence on English literature. + This was George Borrow. I was in the habit of reading a great deal + in the British Museum, where he also came, and there I was introduced + to him. {461a} [Leland seems to be in error here; see _ante_, page + 460.] He was busy with a venerable-looking volume in old Irish, and + made the remark to me that he did not believe there was a man living + who could read old Irish with ease (which I now observe to myself was + ‘fished’ out of Sir W. Betham). We discussed several Gypsy words and + phrases. I met him in the same place several times.” {461b} + +Leland states that he sent a note to Borrow, care of John Murray, asking +permission to dedicate to him his forthcoming book, _The English Gypsies +and Their Language_; but received no reply, although Murray assured him +that the letter had been received by Borrow. “He received my note on the +Saturday,” Leland writes—“never answered it—and on Monday morning +advertised in all the journals his own forthcoming work on the same +subject.” {461c} Had Borrow asked him to delay publishing his own book, +Leland says he would have done so, “for I had so great a respect for the +Nestor of Gypsyism, that I would have been very glad to have gratified +him with such a small sacrifice.” {462a} + +However Borrow may have heard that Leland had in preparation a book on +the English Gypsies, he seemed to feel that it was a trespass upon ground +that was peculiarly his own. Having revised and prepared for the press +the new edition of the Gypsy St Luke for the Bible Society (published +December 1872), and the one-volume editions of _Lavengro_ and _The Romany +Rye_, he set to work to forestall Leland with his own _Romano Lavo-Lil_. + +In spite of his haste, however, Borrow was beaten in the race, and Leland +got his volume out first. When the _Romano Lavo-Lil_ {462b} appeared in +March 1874, Borrow found what, in all probability he had not dreamed of, +that the thirty-three years intervening between its publication and that +of _The Zincali_, had changed the whole literary world as regards “things +of Egypt.” In 1841 Borrow had produced a unique book, such as only one +man in England could have written, and that man himself {462c}; but in +1874 he found himself not only out of date, but out-classed. + +The title very thoroughly explains the scope of the work. The Vocabulary +had existed in manuscript for many years. For some reason, difficult to +explain, Borrow had omitted from this Vocabulary a number of the gypsy +words that appeared in _Lavengro_ and _The Romany Rye_. In spite of this +“Mr Borrow’s present vocabulary makes a goodly show,” wrote F. H. Groome, +“. . . containing no fewer than fourteen hundred words, of which about +fifty will be entirely new to those who only know Romany in books.” +{463a} + +After praising the Gypsy songs as the best portion of the book, Groome +proceeds: + + “Of his prose I cannot say so much. It is the Romany of the study + rather than of the tents [!] Mr Borrow has attempted to rehabilitate + English Romany by enduing it with forms and inflections, of which + some are still rarely to be heard, some extinct, and others + absolutely incorrect; while Mr Leland has been content to give it as + it really is. Of the two methods I cannot doubt that most readers + will agree with me in thinking that Mr Leland’s is the more + satisfactory.” {463b} + +The _Athenæum_ sternly rebuked Borrow for seeming “to make the mistake of +confounding the amount of Rommanis which he has collected in this book +with the actual extent of the language itself.” The reviewer pays a +somewhat grudging tribute to other portions of the book, the accounts of +the Gypsyries and the biographical particulars of the Romany worthies, +but the work suffers by comparison with those of Paspati and Leland. He +acknowledges that Borrow was one of the pioneers of those who gave +accounts of the Gypsies in English, who gave to many their present taste +for Gypsy matters, + + “but,” he proceeds, “we cannot allow merely sentimental + considerations to prevent us from telling the honest truth. The fact + is that the _Romano Lavo-Lil_ is nothing more than a _réchauffé_ of + the materials collected by Mr Borrow at an early stage of his + investigations, and nearly every word and every phrase may be found + in one form or another in his earlier works. Whether or not Mr + Borrow _has_ in the course of his long experience become the _deep_ + Gypsy which he has always been supposed to be, we cannot say; but it + is certain that his present book contains little more than he gave to + the public forty years ago, and does not by any means represent the + present state of knowledge on the subject. But at the present day, + when comparative philology has made such strides, and when want of + accurate scholarship is as little tolerated in strange and remote + languages as in classical literature, the _Romano Lavo-Lil_ is, to + speak mildly, an anachronism.” + +This notice, if Borrow read it, must have been very bitter to him. All +the loyalty to, and enthusiasm for, Borrow cannot disguise the fact that +his work, as far as the Gypsies were concerned, was finished. He had +first explored the path, but others had followed and levelled it into a +thoroughfare, and Borrow found his facts and theories obsolete—a +humiliating discovery to a man so shy, so proud, and so sensitive. + +The _Romano Lavo-Lil_ was Borrow’s swan song. He lived for another seven +years; but as far as the world was concerned he was dead. In an obituary +notice of Robert Latham, Mr Watts-Dunton tells a story that emphasizes +how thoroughly his existence had been forgotten. At one of Mrs Procter’s +“at homes” he was talking of Latham and Borrow, but when he happened to +mention that both men were still alive, that is in the early Seventies, +and that quite recently he had been in the company of each on separate +occasions, he found that he had lost caste in the eyes of his hearers for +talking about men as alive “who were well known to have been dead years +ago.” {464} + +There is an interesting picture of Borrow as he appeared in the +Seventies, given by F. H. Groome, who writes: + + “The first time I ever saw him was at Ascot, the Wednesday evening of + the Cup week in, I think, the year 1872. I was stopping at a wayside + inn, half-a-mile on the Windsor road, just opposite which inn there + was a great encampment of Gypsies. One of their lads had on the + Tuesday affronted a soldier; so two or three hundred redcoats came + over from Windsor, intending to wreck the camp. There was a babel of + cursing and screaming, much brandishing of belts and tent-rods, when + suddenly an arbiter appeared, a white-haired, brown-eyed, calm + Colossus, speaking Romany fluently, and drinking deep draughts of + ale—in a quarter of an hour Tommy Atkins and Anselo Stanley were + sworn friends over a loving-quart. “Mr Burroughs,” said one of the + Gypsies (it is the name by which Gypsies still speak of him), and I + knew that at last I had met him whom of all men I most wished to + meet. Matty Cooper, the ‘celebrated Windsor Frog’ (_vide_ Leland), + presented me as ‘a young gentleman, _Rya_, a scholard from Oxford’; + and ‘H’m,’ quoth Colossus, ‘a good many fools come from Oxford.’ It + was a bad beginning, but it ended well, by his asking me to walk with + him to the station, and on the way inviting me to call on him in + London. I did so, but not until nearly a twelve-month afterwards, + when I found him in Hereford Square, and when he set strong ale + before me, as again on the occasion of my third and last meeting with + him in the tent of our common acquaintance, Shadrach Herne, at the + Potteries, Notting Hill. Both these times we had much talk together, + but I remember only that it was partly about East Anglia, and more + about ‘things of Egypt.’ Conversations twenty years old are easy to + imagine, hard to reproduce . . . Probably Borrow asked me the Romany + for ‘frying-pan,’ and I modestly answered, ‘Either _maasalli_ or + _tasseromengri_’ (this is password No. 1), and then I may have asked + him the Romany for ‘brick,’ to which he will have answered, that + ‘there is no such word’ (this is No. 2). But one thing I do + remember, that he was frank and kindly, interesting and interested; I + was only a lad, and he was verging on seventy. I could tell him + about a few ‘travellers’ whom he had not recently seen—Charlie + Pinfold, the hoary polygamist, Plato and Mantis Buckland, Cinderella + Petulengro, and Old Tom Oliver (‘Ha! so he has seen Tom Oliver,’ I + seem to remember that).” {466a} + +There was nothing now to keep Borrow in London. Nobody wanted to read +his books, other stars had risen in the East. His publisher had +exclaimed with energy, as Borrow himself would relate, “I want to meet +with good writers, but there are none to be had: I want a man who can +write like Ecclesiastes.” There is something tragic in the account that +Mr Watts-Dunton gives of his last encounter with Borrow: + + “The last time I ever saw him,” he writes, “was shortly before he + left London to live in the country. It was, I remember well, on + Waterloo Bridge, where I had stopped to gaze at a sunset of singular + and striking splendour, whose gorgeous clouds and ruddy mists were + reeling and boiling over the West-End. Borrow came up and stood + leaning over the parapet, entranced by the sight, as well he might + be. Like most people born in flat districts, he had a passion for + sunsets. Turner could not have painted that one, I think, and + certainly my pen could not describe it . . . I never saw such a + sunset before or since, not even on Waterloo Bridge; and from its + association with ‘the last of Borrow,’ I shall never forget it.” + {466b} + +In 1874 Borrow withdrew to Oulton, there to end his lonely life, his +spirit seeming to enjoy the dreary solitude of the Cottage, with its +mournful surroundings. His stepdaughter, the Henrietta of old, remained +in London with her husband, and Borrow’s loneliness was complete. +Sometimes he was to be seen stalking along the highways at a great pace, +wearing a broad-brimmed hat and a Spanish cloak, a tragic figure of +solitude and despair, speaking to no one, no one daring to speak to him, +who locally was considered as “a funny tempered man.” + +In a fragment of a letter from Edward FitzGerald to W. B. Donne (June +1874), there is an interesting reference to Borrow:— + + “Wait!” he writes. “I have one little thing to tell you, which, + little as it is, is worth all the rest, if you don’t know already. + + “_Borrow_—has got back to his own Oulton Lodge. My Nephew, Edmund + Kerrich, now Adjutant to some Volunteer Battalion, wants a house + _near_, not _in_, Lowestoft: and got some Agent to apply for + Borrow’s—who sent word that he is himself there—an old Man—wanting + Retirement, etc. This was the account Edmund got. + + “I saw in some Athenæum a somewhat contemptuous notice of G. B.’s + ‘Rommany Lil’ or whatever the name is. I can easily understand that + B. should not meddle with _science_ of any sort; but some years ago + he would not have liked to be told so, however Old Age may have + cooled him now.” {467} + +Borrow sent a message to FitzGerald through Edmund Kerrich of Geldeston, +asking him to visit Oulton Cottage. The reply shows all the sweetness of +the writer’s nature:— + + LITTLE GRANGE, WOODBRIDGE, + _Jan._ 10/75. + + DEAR BORROW,—My nephew Kerrich told me of a very kind invitation that + you sent to me, through him, some while ago. I think the more of it + because I imagine, from what I have heard, that you have slunk away + from human company as much—as I have! For the last fifteen years I + have not visited any one of my very oldest friends, except the + daughters of my old [?friend] George Crabbe, and Donne—once only, and + for half a day, just to assure myself by—my own eyes how he was after + the severe illness he had last year, and which he never will quite + recover from, I think; though he looked and moved better than I + expected. + + Well—to tell you all about _why_ I have thus fallen from my company + would be a tedious thing, and all about one’s self too—whom, + Montaigne says, one never talks about without detriment to the person + talked about. Suffice to say, ‘so it is’; and one’s friends, however + kind and ‘loyal’ (as the phrase goes), do manage to exist and enjoy + themselves pretty reasonably without one. + + So with me. And is it not much the same with you also? Are you not + glad now to be mainly alone, and find company a heavier burden than + the grasshopper? If one ever had this solitary habit, it is not + likely to alter for the better as one grows older—as one grows _old_. + I like to think over my old friends. There they are, lingering as + ineffaceable portraits—done in the prime of life—in my memory. + Perhaps we should not like one another so well after a fifteen-years + separation, when all of us change and most of us for the worse. I do + not say _that_ would be your case; but you must, at any rate, be less + inclined to disturb the settled repose into which you, I suppose, + have fallen. I remember first seeing you at Oulton, some twenty-five + years ago; then at Donne’s in London; then at my own happy home in + Regent’s Park; then _ditto_ at Gorleston—after which, I have seen + nobody, except the nephews and nieces left me by my good sister + Kerrich. + + So shall things rest? I could not go to you, after refusing all this + while to go to older—if not better—friends, fellow Collegians, fellow + schoolfellows; and yet will you still believe me (as I hope _they_ + do) + + Yours and theirs sincerely, + + EDWARD FITZGERALD. + +Borrow was still a remarkably robust man. Mr Watts-Dunton tells how, + + “At seventy years of age, after breakfasting at eight o’clock in + Hereford Square, he would walk to Putney, meet one or more of us at + Roehampton, roam about Wimbledon and Richmond Park with us, bathe in + the Fen Ponds with a north-east wind cutting across the icy water + like a razor, run about the grass afterwards like a boy to shake off + some of the water-drops, stride about the park for hours, and then, + after fasting for twelve hours, eat a dinner at Roehampton that would + have done Sir Walter Scott’s eyes good to see. Finally, he would + walk back to Hereford Square, getting home late at night. And if the + physique of the man was bracing, his conversation, unless he happened + to be suffering from one of his occasional fits of depression, was + still more so. Its freshness, raciness and eccentric whim no pen + could describe. There is a kind of humour the delight of which is + that while you smile at the pictures it draws, you smile quite as + much or more to think that there is a mind so whimsical, crotchetty, + and odd as to draw them. This was the humour of Borrow.” {469a} + +He was seventy years of age when, one March day during a bitterly-cold +east wind, he stripped and plunged into one of the Fen Ponds in Richmond +Park, which was covered with ice, and dived and swam under the water for +a time, reappearing some distance from the spot where he had entered the +water. {469b} + +The remaining years of Borrow’s life were spent in Suffolk. He would +frequently go to Norwich, however; for the old city seemed to draw him +irresistibly from his hermitage. He would take a lodging there, and +spend much of his time occupying a certain chair in the Norfolk Hotel in +St Giles. There were so many old associations with Norwich that made it +appear home to him. He was possessed of sentiment in plenty, it had +caused his old mother to wish that “dear George would not have such +fancies about _the old house_” in Willow Lane. + +Later, Dr and Mrs MacOubrey removed to Oulton (about 1878), and Borrow’s +life became less dismal and lonely; but he was nearing his end. +Sometimes there would be a flash of that old unconquerable spirit. His +stepdaughter relates how, + + “on the 21st of November [1878], the place [the farm] having been + going to decay for fourteen months, Mr Palmer [the tenant] called to + demand that Mr Borrow should put it in repair; otherwise he would do + it himself and send in the bills, saying, ‘I don’t care for the old + farm or you either,’ and several other insulting things; whereupon Mr + Borrow remarked very calmly, ‘Sir, you came in by that door, you can + go out by it’—and so it ended.” {470a} + +It was on an occasion such as this that Borrow yearned for a son to knock +the rascal down. He was an infirm man, his body feeling the wear and +tear of the strenuous open-air life he had led. In 1879, according to +Mrs MacOubrey, he was “unable to walk as far as the white gate,” the +boundary of his estate. He was obviously breaking-up very rapidly. The +surroundings appear to have reflected the gloomy nature of the master of +the estate. The house was dilapidated, “with everything about it more or +less untidy,” {470b} although at this period his income amounted to +upwards of five hundred pounds a year. + + “During his latter years,” writes Mr W. A. Dutt, “his tall, erect, + somewhat mysterious figure was often seen in the early hours of + summer mornings or late at night on the lonely pathways that wind in + and out from the banks of Oulton Broad . . . the village children + used to hush their voices and draw aside at his approach. They + looked upon him with fear and awe. . . . In his heart, Borrow was + fond of the little ones, though it amused him to watch the impression + his strange personality made upon them. Older people he seldom spoke + to when out on his solitary rambles; but sometimes he would flash out + such a glance from beneath his broad-brimmed hat and shaggy eyebrows + as would make timid country folk hasten on their way filled with + vague thoughts and fears of the evil eye.” {470c} + +Even to the last the old sensitiveness occasionally flashed out, as on +the occasion of a visit from the Vicar of Lowestoft, who drove over with +an acquaintance of Borrow’s to make the hermit’s acquaintance. The +visitor was so incautious as to ask the age of his host, when, with +Johnsonian emphasis, came the reply: “Sir, I tell my age to no man!” +This occurred some time during the year 1880. Immediately his +discomfited guest had departed, Borrow withdrew to the summer-house, +where he drew up the following apothegm on “People’s Age”:— + + “Never talk to people about their age. Call a boy a boy, and he will + fly into a passion and say, ‘Not quite so much of a boy either; I’m a + young man.’ Tell an elderly person that he’s not so young as he was, + and you will make him hate you for life. Compliment a man of + eighty-five on the venerableness of his appearance, and he will + shriek out: ‘No more venerable than yourself,’ and will perhaps hit + you with his crutch.” + +On 1st December 1880 Borrow sent for his solicitor from Lowestoft, and +made his will, by which he bequeathed all his property, real and +personal, to his stepdaughter Henrietta, devising that it should be held +in trust for her by his friend Elizabeth Harvey. It was evidently +Borrow’s intention so to tie up the bequest that Dr MacOubrey could not +in any way touch his wife’s estate. + +The end came suddenly. On the morning of 26th July 1881 Dr and Mrs +MacOubrey drove into Lowestoft, leaving Borrow alone in the house. When +they returned he was dead. Throughout his life Borrow had been a +solitary, and it seems fitting that he should die alone. It has been +urged against his stepdaughter that she disregarded Borrow’s appeals not +to be left alone in the house, as he felt himself to be dying. He may +have made similar requests on other occasions; still, whatever the facts, +it was strange to leave so old and so infirm a man quite unattended. + +On 4th August the body was brought to London, and buried beside that of +Mrs George Borrow in Brompton Cemetery. On the stone, which is what is +known as a saddle-back, is inscribed: + + IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF + + GEORGE HENRY BORROW, ESQ., + + WHO DIED JULY 26TH, 1881 (AT HIS RESIDENCE “OULTON COTTAGE, SUFFOLK”) + + IN HIS 79TH YEAR. + + (AUTHOR OF THE BIBLE IN SPAIN, LAVENGRO—AND OTHER WORKS.) + + “IN HOPE OF A GLORIOUS RESURRECTION.” + +A fruitless effort was made by the late J. J. Colman of Carrow to +purchase the whole of Borrow’s manuscripts, library, and papers for the +Carrow Abbey Library; but the price asked, a thousand pounds, was +considered too high, and they passed into the possession of another. +Eventually they found their way into the reverent hands of the man who +subsequently made Borrow his hero, and who devoted years of his life to +the writing of his biography—Dr W. J. Knapp. + +It was Borrow’s fate, a tragic fate for a man so proud, to outlive the +period of his fame. Not only were his books forgotten, but the world +anticipated his death by some seven or eight years. His was a curiously +complex nature, one that seems specially to have been conceived by +Providence to arouse enmity among the many, and to awaken in the hearts +of the few a sterling, unwavering friendship. It is impossible to +reconcile the accounts of those who hated him with those whose love and +respect he engaged. + +He was in sympathy with vagrants and vagabonds—a taste that was perhaps +emphasised by the months he spent in preparing _Celebrated Trials_. If +those months of hack work taught him sympathy with pariahs, it also +taught him to write strong, nervous English. + +He was one of the most remarkable characters of his century—whimsical, +eccentric, lovable, inexplicable; possessed of an odd, dry humour that +sometimes failed him when most he needed it. He lived and died a +stranger to the class to which he belonged, and was the intimate friend +and associate of that dark and mysterious personage, Mr Petulengro. He +hated his social equals, and admired Tamerlane and Jerry Abershaw. It +has been said {473} that he was born three centuries too late, and that +he belonged to the age when men dropped mysteriously down the river in +ships, later to return with strange stories and great treasure from the +Spanish Main. Mr Watts-Dunton has said:— + + “When Borrow was talking to people in his own class of life there was + always in his bearing a kind of shy, defiant egotism. What Carlyle + called the ‘armed neutrality’ of social intercourse oppressed him. + He felt himself to be in the enemy’s camp. In his eyes there was + always a kind of watchfulness, as if he were taking stock of his + interlocutor and weighing him against himself. He seemed to be + observing what effect his words were having, and this attitude + repelled people at first. But the moment he approached a gypsy on + the heath, or a poor Jew in Houndsditch, or a homeless wanderer by + the wayside, he became another man. He threw off the burden of + restraint. The feeling of the ‘armed neutrality’ was left behind, + and he seemed to be at last enjoying the only social intercourse that + could give him pleasure. This it was that enabled him to make + friends so entirely with the gypsies. Notwithstanding what is called + ‘Romany guile’ (which is the growth of ages of oppression), the basis + of the Romany character is a joyous frankness. Once let the + isolating wall which shuts off the Romany from the ‘Gorgio’ be broken + through, and the communicativeness of the Romany temperament begins + to show itself. The gypsies are extremely close observers; they were + very quick to notice how different was Borrow’s bearing towards + themselves from his bearing towards people of his own race, and + Borrow used to say that ‘old Mrs Herne and Leonora were the only + gypsies who suspected and disliked him.’” {474a} + +This convincing character sketch seems to show the real Borrow. It +accounts even for that high-piping, artificial voice (a gypsy trait) that +he assumed when speaking with those who were not his intimate friends, +and which any sudden interest in the conversation would cause him to +abandon in favour of his own deep, rich tones. Mr F. J. Bowring, himself +no friend of Borrow’s for very obvious reasons, has described this +artificial intonation as something between a beggar’s whine and the +high-pitched voice of a gypsy—in sort, a falsetto. He tells how, on one +occasion, when in conversation with Borrow, he happened to mention to him +something of particular interest concerning the gypsies, Borrow became +immensely interested, immediately dropped the falsetto and spoke in his +natural voice, which Mr Bowring describes as deep and manly. + +Even his friends were led sometimes into criticisms that appear +unsympathetic. {474b} He was, Dr Hake has said, “essentially +hypochondriacal. Society he loved and hated alike: he loved it that he +might be pointed out and talked of; he hated it because he was not the +prince that he felt himself in its midst.” {474c} It is the son who +shows the better understanding, although there is no doubt about Dr +Hake’s loyalty to Borrow. There is a faithful presentation of a man such +as Borrow really seems to have been, in the following words:— + + “Few men have ever made so deep an impression on me as George Borrow. + His tall, broad figure, his stately bearing, his fine brown eyes, so + bright yet soft, his thick white hair, his oval beardless face, his + loud rich voice and bold heroic air were such as to impress the most + indifferent lookers-on. Added to this there was something not easily + forgotten in the manner in which he would unexpectedly come to our + gates, singing some gypsy song, and as suddenly depart.” {475a} + +If Borrow wrote that he was ashamed of being an Englishman and referred +to their “pinched and mortified expressions,” if he found the virtues of +the Saxons “uncouth and ungracious,” he never permitted others to make +disparaging remarks about his country or his countrymen. {475b} He was +typically English in this: agree with his strictures, add a word or two +of dispraise of the English, and there appeared a terrifying figure of a +patriot; “not only an Englishman but an East Englishman,” which in +Borrow’s vocabulary meant the finest of the breed. He might with more +truth have said a Cornishman. “I could not command myself when I heard +my own glorious land traduced in this unmerited manner,” {475c} he once +exclaimed. He permitted to himself, and to himself only, a certain +latitude in such matters. + +That Borrow exaggerated is beyond all question, but it must not be called +deliberate. He desired to give impressions of scenes and people, and he +was inclined to emphasize certain features. Isopel Berners he wished it +to be known was a queenly creature, and he described her as taller than +himself (he was 6 feet 2 inches without his shoes). Exaggeration is +colour, not form. A disbelief in his having encountered the convict son +of the old apple-woman near Salisbury does not imply that the old woman +herself is a fiction. Borrow insisted upon Norfolk as his county, “where +the people eat the best dumplings in the world, and speak the purest +English.” He even spoke with a strong, if imperfect, East Anglian +accent. As a matter of fact his father was Cornish and his mother of +Huguenot stock. It would be absurd to argue from this obvious +exaggeration of the actual facts that Borrow was a myth. + +Then he has been taken to task for not being a philologist as well as a +linguist. He may have used the word philologist somewhat loosely on +occasion. “Think what the reader would have lost,” says one eminent but +by no means prejudiced critic {476} with real sympathy and insight, “had +Borrow waited to verify his etymologies.” In all probability Nature will +never produce a Humboldt-Le Sage combination of intellect. Language was +to Borrow merely the key that permitted him access to the chamber of +men’s minds. It must be confessed that sometimes he invaded the sacred +precincts of philology. His chapter on the Basque language in _The Bible +in Spain_ has been described as “utterly frantic,” and German +philologists, speechless in their astonishment, have expressed themselves +upon his conclusions in marks of exclamation! He was not qualified to +discourse upon the science of language. + +He was a staunch member of the Church of England, because he believed +there was in it more religion than in any other Church; but this did not +hinder him from consorting with the godless children of the tents, or +contributing towards the upkeep of Nonconformist-schools. The gypsies +honoured and trusted him because, crooked themselves, they appreciated +straightness and clean living in another. They had never known him use a +bad word or do a bad thing. He was, on occasion, arrogant, overbearing, +ungracious, in short all the unattractive things that a proud and +masterful man can be; but his friendship was as strong as the man +himself; his charity above the narrow prejudices of sect. When he threw +his tremendous power into any enterprise or undertaking, it was with the +determination that it should succeed, if work and self-sacrifice could +make it. “The wisest course,” he thought, was, “ . . . to blend the +whole of the philosophy of the tombstone with a portion of the philosophy +of the publican and something more, to enjoy one’s pint and pipe and +other innocent pleasures, and to think every now and then of death and +judgment.” {477} + +Borrow loved mystery for its own sake, and none were ever able quite to +penetrate into the inner fastness of his personality. Those who came +nearest to it were probably Hasfeldt and Ford, whose persistent +good-humour was an armour against a reserve that chilled most men. Of +all Borrow’s friends it is probable that none understood him so well as +Hasfeldt. He recognised the strength of character of the white-haired +man who sang when he was happy, and he refused to be affected by his +gloomy moods. “Write and tell me,” he requests, “if you have not fallen +in love with some nun or Gypsy in Spain, or have met with some other +romantic adventure worthy of a roaming knight.” On another occasion +(June 1845) he boasts with some justification, “Heaven be praised, I can +comprehend you as a reality, while many regard you as an imaginary, +fantastic being. But they who portray you have not eaten bread and salt +with you.” + +Borrow’s contemporary recognition was a chance; he was writing for +another generation, and some of the friends that he left behind have +loyally striven to erect to him the only monument an artist desires—the +proclaiming of his works. + +Nature it appeared had framed Borrow in a moment of magnificence, and, +lest he should be enticed away from her, had instilled into his soul a +hatred of all things artificial and at variance with her august decrees. +He was shy and suspicious with the men and women who regulated their +lives by the narrow standards of civilisation and decorum; but with the +children of the tents and the vagrants of the wayside he was a +single-minded man, eager to learn the lore of the open air. He +recognised in these vagabonds the true sons and daughters of “the Great +Mother who mixes all our bloods.” + + * * * * * + + THE END + + * * * * * + + + + +LIST OF BORROW’S WORKS + + +1825 + + +_Celebrated Trials_, _and Remarkable Cases of Criminal Jurisprudence_, +_from the Earliest Records to the Year_ 1825. Six volumes, with plates. +London. + +_Faustus_: _His Life_, _Death_, _and Descent into Hell_. Translated from +the German [of F. M. von Klinger]. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, London. + + + +1826 + + +_Romantic Ballads_. Translated from the Danish: and Miscellaneous +Pieces. S. Wilkin, Norwich. + + + +1835 + + +_Targum_: _or_, _Metrical Translations from Thirty Languages and +Dialects_. St Petersburgh. Reprinted later by Jarrold & Sons, Norwich. + +_The Talisman_. From the Russian of Alexander Pushkin. With _Other +Pieces_. St Petersburg. + + + +1841 + + +_The Zincali_; _or_, _An Account of the Gypsies of Spain_. With an +Original Collection of their Songs and Poetry, and a Copious Dictionary +of their Language. Two volumes. John Murray, London. + + + +1842 + + +_The Bible in Spain_; _or_, _the Journeys_, _Adventures_, _and +Imprisonments of an Englishman in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures +in the Peninsula_. Three volumes. John Murray, London. + +_Lavengro_: The Scholar—The Gypsy—The Priest. Three volumes. John +Murray, London. + +_The Romany Rye_: _a Sequel to Lavengro_. Two volumes. John Murray, +London. + +_The Sleeping Bard_; _or_, _Visions of the World_, _Death_, _and Hell_. +By Elis Wyn. Translated from the Cambrian British. John Murray, London. + + + +1862 + + +_Wild Wales_: _Its People_, _Language_, _and Scenery_. Three volumes. +John Murray, London. + +_Romano Lavo-Lil_: _Word-Book of Romany_; _or_, _English Gypsy Language_. +With Many Pieces in Gypsy, Illustrative of the Way of Speaking and +Thinking of the English Gypsies; with Specimens of Their Poetry, and an +Account of Certain Gypsyries or Places Inhabited by Them, and of Various +Things Relating to Gypsy Life in England. John Murray, London. + + + +1884 + + +_The Turkish Jester_; _or_, _the Pleasantries of Cogia Nasr Eddin +Effendi_. Translated from the Turkish. Jarrold & Sons, Norwich. + + + +1892 + + +_The Death of Balder_. Translated from the Danish of Evald. Jarrold & +Sons, Norwich. + +From the foregoing list has been omitted the mysterious _Life and +Adventures of Joseph Sell_, _the Great Traveller_, and those works that +Borrow edited or translated for the British and Foreign Bible Society. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +{3} Afterwards General Morshead and friend of the Duke of York. Captain +Morshead, himself a Cornishman, is credited with doing everything in his +power to dissuade Thomas Borrow from enlisting, but without result. + +{4a} _Lavengro_, page 2. References to Borrow’s works throughout this +volume are to the Standard Edition, published by John Murray. + +{4b} Ann, the third of eight children born to Samuel Perfrement and Mary +his wife, 23rd January 1772. + +{4c} Locally, the name is pronounced “_Par_frement.” This is quite in +accordance with the Norfolk dialect, which changes “e” into “a.” Thus +“Ernest” becomes “Arnest”; “Earlham,” “Arlham”; “Erpingham,” “Arpingham,” +and so on. In Norfolk there are grave peculiarities of pronunciation, +which have caused many a stranger to wish that he had never enquired his +way, so puzzling are the replies hurled at him in an incomprehensible +vernacular. + +{5} Married the Rev. Wm. Holland, rector of Walmer and afterwards rector +of Brasted, Kent. + +{6a} _Lavengro_, page 5. + +{6b} _Lavengro_, page 5. + +{7a} George in honour of the King, it is said, and Henry after his +father’s eldest brother. + +{7b} _Lavengro_, page 6. + +{7c} _Lavengro_, page 6. + +{7d} _Lavengro_, page 6. + +{7e} _Lavengro_, page 7. + +{7f} _Lavengro_, page 7. + +{9a} _Lavengro_, page 16. + +{9b} The widow of Sir John Fenn, editor of the _Paston Letters_. + +{9c} _Lavengro_, page 15. + +{10a} _Lavengro_, pages 398–9. + +{10b} “Many years have not passed over my head, yet during those which I +can call to remembrance, how many things have I seen flourish, pass away, +and become forgotten, except by myself, who, in spite of all my +endeavours, never can forget anything.”—_Lavengro_, page 166. + +{10c} _Lavengro_, page 16. + +{11a} _Lavengro_, pages 19–20. + +{11b} _Lavengro_, page 22. + +{12a} The gypsies “have a double nomenclature, each tribe or family +having a public and private name, one by which they are known to the +Gentiles, and another to themselves alone . . . There are only two names +of trades which have been adopted by English gypsies as proper names, +Cooper and Smith: these names are expressed in the English gypsy dialect +by _Vardo-mescro_ and _Petulengro_ (_Romano Lavo-Lil_, page 185). Thus +the Smiths are known among themselves as the Petulengros. Petul, a horse +shoe, and engro a “masculine affix used in the formation of figurative +names.” Thus Boshomengro (a fiddler) comes from Bosh a fiddle, +Cooromengro (a soldier, a pugilist) from Coor = to fight. + +{12b} The Rev. Wentworth Webster heard narrated at a provincial Bible +Society’s meeting that when Borrow first called at Earl Street “he said +that he had been stolen by gypsies in his boyhood, had passed several +years with them, but had been recognised at a fair in Norfolk and brought +home to his family by his uncle.” There is, however, nothing to confirm +this story. + +{13a} _Lavengro_, page 164. + +{13b} The prisoners occupied much of their time in straw-plait making; +but the quality of their work was so much superior to that of the English +that it was forbidden, and consequently destroyed when found. + +{13c} _Lavengro_, page 45. + +{14} David Haggart, born 24th June 1801, was an instinctive criminal, +who, at Leith Races, in 1813, enlisted, whilst drunk, as a drummer in the +West Norfolks. Eventually he obtained his discharge and continued on his +career of crime and prison-breaking, among other things murdering a +policeman and a gaoler, until, on 18th July 1821, he was hanged at +Edinburgh. + +{15a} _Lavengro_, page 138. + +{15b} John Crome (1768–1821), landscape painter. Apprenticed 1783 as +sign-painter; introduced into Norwich the art of graining; founded the +Norwich School of Painting; first exhibited at the Royal Academy 1806. + +{17} Borrow was always a magnificent horseman. “Vaya! how you ride! It +is dangerous to be in your way!” said the Archbishop of Toledo to him +years later. In _The Bible in Spain_ he wrote that he had “been +accustomed from . . . childhood to ride without a saddle.” The Rev. +Wentworth Webster states that in Madrid “he used to ride with a Russian +skin for a saddle and _without stirrups_.” + +{20} Letter from “A School-fellow of _Lavengro_” in _The Britannia_, +26th April 1851. + +{21a} “It is probable, that had I been launched about this time into +some agreeable career, that of arms, for example, for which, being the +son of a soldier, I had, as was natural, a sort of penchant, I might have +thought nothing more of the acquisition of tongues of any kind; but, +having nothing to do, I followed the only course suited to my genius +which appeared open to me.”—_Lavengro_, page 89. + +{21b} The Rev. Thomas D’Eterville, M.A., “Poor Old Detterville,” as the +Grammar School boys called him, of Caen University, who arrived at +Norwich in 1793. He acquired a small fortune by teaching languages. +There were rumours that he was engaged in the contraband trade, an +occupation more likely to bring fortune than teaching languages. + +{21c} Letter from “A School-fellow of _Lavengro_” in _The Britannia_, +26th April 1851. + +{22} It was here, in 1827, that he saw the world’s greatest trotter, +Marshland Shales, and in common with other lovers of horses lifted his +hat to salute “the wondrous horse, the fast trotter, the best in mother +England.” In _Lavengro_ Borrow antedated this event by some nine years. + +{23} Manuscript autobiographical notes supplied by Borrow to Mr John +Longe, 1862. + +{24} _Lavengro_, page 134. + +{25a} This account is taken from a letter by “A Schoolfellow of +_Lavengro_” in _The Britannia_, 26th April 1851. + +{25b} In a letter to Borrow, dated 15th October 1862, John Longe, J.P., +of Spixworth Park, Norwich, in acknowledging some biographical +particulars that Borrow had sent him for inclusion in Burton’s +_Antiquities of the Royal School of Norwich_, wrote:— + + “You have omitted an important and characteristic anecdote of your + early days (fifteen years of age). When at school you, with + Theodosius and Francis W. Purland, _absented_ yourself from home and + school and took up your abode in a certain ‘Robber’s Cave’ at Acle, + where you _resided_ three days, and once more returned to your + homes.” + +{26} According to the original manuscript of _Lavengro_, it appears that +Roger Kerrison, a Norwich friend of Borrow’s, strongly advised the law as +“an excellent profession . . . for those who never intend to follow +it.”—_Life of George Borrow_, by Dr Knapp, i., 66. + +{27a} The Rev. Wm. Drake of Mundesley, in a letter which appeared in +_The Eastern Daily Press_, 22nd September 1892:— + + “ . . . I was at the Norwich Grammar School nine years, from 1820 to + 1829, and during that time (probably in 1824 and 1825) George Borrow + was lodging in the Upper Close . . . The house was a low + old-fashioned building with a garden in front of it, and the fact of + Borrow’s residence there is fixed in my memory because I had spent + the first five or six years of my own life in the same house, from + 1811 to 1816 or 1817. My father occupied it in virtue of his being a + minor canon in Norwich Cathedral. I remember Borrow very distinctly, + because he was fond of chatting with the boys, who used to gather + round the railings of his garden, and occasionally he would ask one + or two of them to have tea with him. I have a faint recollection + that he gave us some of our first notions of chess, but I am not sure + of this. I . . . remember him a tall, spare, dark-complexioned man, + usually dressed in black. In person he was not unlike another + Norwich man, who obtained in those days a very different notoriety + from that which now belongs to Borrow’s name. I mean John Thurtell, + who murdered Mr Weare.” + +{27b} _Wild Wales_, page 3. + +{28a} _Wild Wales_, page 157. + +{28b} Forty years later Borrow wrote of these days:—“‘How much more +happy, innocent, and holy I was in the days of my boyhood when I +translated Iolo’s ode than I am at the present time!’ Then covering my +face with my hands I wept like a child.”—_Wild Wales_, page 448. + +{30a} There is no doubt that Borrow became possessed of a copy of +_Kiæmpe Viser_, first collected by Anders Vedel, which may or may not +have been given to him, with a handshake from the old farmer and a kiss +from his wife, in recognition of the attention he had shown the pair in +his official capacity. He refers to the volume repeatedly in _Lavengro_, +and narrates how it was presented by some shipwrecked Danish mariners to +the old couple in acknowledgment of their humanity and hospitality. It +is, however, most likely that he was in error when he stated that “in +less than a month” he was able “to read the book.”—_Lavengro_, pages +140–4. + +{30b} _Wild Wales_, page 2. + +{30c} _Wild Wales_, page 374. + +{30d} _Wild Wales_, page 9. There is an interesting letter written to +Borrow by the old lawyer’s son on the appearance of _Lavengro_, in which +he says: “With tearful eyes, yet smiling lips, I have read and re-read +your faithful portrait of my dear old father. I cannot mistake him—the +creaking shoes, the florid face, the polished pate—all serve as marks of +recognition to his youngest son!” + +{31a} _Wild Wales_, page 374. + +{31b} During the five years that he was articled to Simpson & Rackham, +Borrow, according to Dr Knapp, studied Welsh, Danish, German, Hebrew, +Arabic, Gaelic, and Armenian. He already had a knowledge of Latin, +Greek, Irish, French, Italian, and Spanish. + +{31c} _Lavengro_, page 235. + +{32a} Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786–1846), the historical painter. + +{32b} _Lavengro_, page 166. + +{33a} William Taylor (1765–1836) was an admirer of German literature and +a defender of the French Revolution. He is credited with having first +inspired his friend Southey with a liking for poetry. He travelled much +abroad, met Goethe, attended the National Assembly debates in 1790, +translated from the German and contributed to a number of English +periodicals. + +{33b} Harriet Martineau’s _Autobiography_, 1877. + +{33c} Harriet Martineau’s _Autobiography_, 1877. + +{33d} Letter from “A School-fellow of _Lavengro_” in The Britannia, 26th +April 1851. + +{34a} _Memoir of Wm. Taylor_, by J. W. Robberds. + +{34b} _Memoir of Wm. Taylor_, by J. W. Robberds. + +{34c} Letter from “A School-fellow of _Lavengro_” in The Britannia, 26th +April 1851. + +{35a} The Rev. Whitwell Elwin, in a letter, 17th February 1887. + +{35b} Harriet Martineau’s _Autobiography_, 1877. + +{35c} _Lavengro_, page 355. + +{36a} John Bowring, F.R.S. (1792–1872), began life in trade, went to the +Peninsula for Milford & Co., army contractors, in 1811, set up for +himself as a merchant, travelled and acquired a number of languages. He +was ambitious, energetic and shrewd. He became editor of _The +Westminster Review_ in 1824, and LL.D., Grönigen, in 1829. He was sent +by the Government upon a commercial mission to Belgium, 1833; to Egypt; +Syria and Turkey, 1837–8; M.P. for Clyde burghs, 1835–7, and for Bolton, +1841; was instrumental in obtaining the issue of the florin as a first +step toward a decimal system of currency; Consul of Canton, 1847; +plenipotentiary to China; governor, commander-in-chief, and vice-admiral +of Hong Kong, 1854; knighted 1854; established diplomatic and commercial +relations with Siam, 1855. He published a number of volumes of +translations from various languages. He died full of years and honours +in 1872. + +{36b} _The Romany Rye_, page 368, _et seq._ + +{38} _Lavengro_, pages 177–8. + +{39} _Lavengro_, pages 179–80. Captain Borrow was in his sixty-sixth +year at his death; b. December 1758, d. 28th February 1824. He was +buried in St Giles churchyard, Norwich, on 4th March 1824. + +{40a} _The Romany Rye_, page 302. + +{40b} In his will Captain Borrow bequeathed to George his watch and “the +small Portrait,” and to John “the large Portrait” of himself; his mother +to hold and enjoy them during her lifetime. Should Mrs Borrow die or +marry again, elaborate provision was made for the proper distribution of +the property between the two sons. + +{41} In particular Borrow believed in Ab Gwilym “the greatest poetical +genius that has appeared in Europe since the revival of literature” +(_Wild Wales_, page 6). “The great poet of Nature, the contemporary of +Chaucer, but worth half-a-dozen of the accomplished word-master, the +ingenious versifier of Norman and Italian Tales.” (_Wild Wales_, page +xxviii.). + +{42a} Lines to Six-Foot-Three. _Romantic Ballads_. Norwich 1826. + +{42b} Sir Richard Phillips (1767–1840) before becoming a publisher was a +schoolmaster, hosier, stationer, bookseller, and vendor of patent +medicines at Leicester, where he also founded a newspaper. In 1795 he +came to London, was sheriff in 1807, and received his knighthood a year +later. + +{43} It has been urged against Borrow’s accuracy that Sir Richard +Phillips had retired to Brighton in 1823, vide _The Dictionary of +National Biography_. In the January number (1824) of _The Monthly +Magazine_ appeared the following paragraph: “The Editor [Sir Richard +Phillips], having retired from his commercial engagements and removed +from his late house of business in New Bridge Street, communications +should be addressed to the appointed Publishers [Messrs Whittakers]; but +personal interviews of Correspondents and interested persons may be +obtained at his private residence in Tavistock Square.” This proves +conclusively that Sir Richard was to be seen in London in the early part +of 1824. + +{44a} _Celebrated Trials and Remarkable Cases of Criminal Jurisprudence +from the Earliest Records to the Year_ 1825, 6 vols., with plates. +London, 1825. + +{44b} _Proximate Causes of the Material Phenomena of the Universe_. By +Sir Richard Phillips. London, 1821. + +{45a} Dr Knapp identified the editor as “William Gifford, editor of _The +Quarterly Review_ from 1809 to September 1824.” (Life of George Borrow, +i. 93.) The late Sir Leslie Stephen, however, cast very serious doubt +upon this identification, himself concluding that the editor of _The +Universal Review_ was John Carey (1756–1826), whose name was actually +associated with an edition of Quintilian published in 1822. Carey was a +known contributor to two of Sir Richard Phillips’ magazines. + +{45b} _The Monthly Magazine_, July 1824. + +{46a} It appeared in six volumes. + +{46b} The work when completed contained accounts of over 400 trials. + +{46c} It appeared on 19th March following. + +{46d} _Lavengro_, page 210. + +{47} The picture was duly painted in the Heroic manner, the artist +lending to the ex-mayor, for some reason or other, his own unheroically +short legs. Haydon received his fee of a hundred guineas, and the +picture now hangs in St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich. + +{48a} Letter from Roger Kerrison to John Borrow, 28th May 1824. + +{48b} _Memoirs_, _C. G. Leland_ 1893. + +{49a} Borrow himself gave the sum as “eighteen-pence a page.” The books +themselves apparently did not become the property of the reviewer.—_The +Romany Rye_, page 324. + +{49b} Borrow says that he demanded lives of people who had never lived, +and cancelled others that Borrow had prepared with great care, because be +considered them as “drugs.”—_Lavengro_, pages 245–6. + +{50a} “‘Sir,’ said he, ‘you know nothing of German; I have shown your +translation of the first chapter of my Philosophy to several Germans: it +is utterly unintelligible to them.’ ‘Did they see the Philosophy?’ I +replied. ‘They did, sir, but they did not profess to understand +English.’ ‘No more do I,’ I replied, ‘if the Philosophy be +English.’”—_Lavengro_, page 254. + +{50b} A German edition of the work appeared in Stuttgart in 1826. + +{52a} This sentence is quoted in _The Gypsies of Spain_ as a heading to +the section “On Robber Language,” page 335. + +{52b} _Lavengro_, pages 216–7. + +{52c} _Lavengro_, page 271. + +{53a} _Faustus_: _His Life_, _Death and Descent into Hell_. Translated +from the German. London: W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 1825, pages xxii., +251. Coloured Plate. + +{53b} A letter from Borrow to the publishers, which Dr Knapp quotes, and +dates 15th September 1825, but without giving his reasons, was written +from Norwich, and runs: + + Dear Sir,— + + As your bill will become payable in a few days, I am willing to take + thirty copies of _Faustus_ instead of the money. The book has been + _burnt_ in both the libraries here, and, as it has been talked about, + I may, perhaps, be able to dispose of some in the course of a year or + so.—Yours, G. BORROW. + +{55a} _Lavengro_, page 310. + +{55b} _The Romany Rye_, Appendix, page 303. + +{57} Probably it was only a portion of the whole amount of £50 that +Borrow drew after the completion of the work. One thing is assured, that +Sir Richard Phillips was too astute a man to pay the whole amount before +the completion of the work. + +{58} Dr Knapp’s _Life of George Borrow_, i., page 141. + +{60} Dr Knapp gives the date as the 22nd; but Mr John Sampson makes the +date the 24th, which seems more likely to be correct. + +{61a} _The Athenæum_, 25th March 1899. + +{61b} _Lavengro_, page 362. + +{62a} _Lavengro_, page 362. + +{62b} _Lavengro_, page 374. + +{63a} _Lavengro_, pages 431–2. + +{64a} _Lavengro_, page 451. + +{64b} Mr Watts-Dunton in a review of Dr Knapp’s _Life of Borrow_ says +that she “was really an East-Anglian road-girl of the finest type, known +to the Boswells, and remembered not many years ago.”—_Athenæum_, 25th +March 1899. + +{66a} Mr Petulengro is made to say the “Flying Tinker.” + +{66b} Dr Knapp sees in the account of Murtagh’s story of his travels +Barrow’s own adventures during 1826–7, but there is no evidence in +support of this theory. Another contention of Dr Knapp’s is more likely +correct, viz., that the story of Finn MacCoul was that told him by Cronan +the Cornish guide during the excursion to Land’s End. + +{67a} It will be remembered that in _The Romany Rye_ Borrow takes his +horse to the Swan Inn at Stafford, meets his postilion friend and is +introduced by him to the landlord, with the result that he arranges to +act as “general superintendent of the yard,” and keep the hay and corn +account. In return he and his horse are to be fed and lodged. Here +Borrow encounters Francis Ardry, on his way to see the dog and lion fight +at Warwick, and the man in black. + +{67b} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 360. + +{68} Introduction to _The Romany Rye_ in The Little Library, Methuen & +Co., Ltd. + +{69a} _The Romany Rye_, page 162. + +{69b} _The Romany Rye_, page 162. + +{69c} _The Romany Rye_, page 50. + +{69d} “Let but the will of a human being be turned to any particular +object, and it is ten to one that sooner or later he achieves +it.”—_Lavengro_, page 16. + +{73} They appeared as _Romantic Ballads_, _translated from the Danish_, +_and Miscellaneous Pieces_, by George Borrow. Norwich. S. Wilkin, 1826. +Included in the volume were translations from the _Kiæmpe Viser_ and from +Oehlenschlæger. + +{74} _Correspondence and Table-Talk of B. R. Haydon_. London, 1876. +The position of the letter in the _Haydon Journal_ is between November +1825 and January 1826; but it is more likely that it was written some +months later. Unfortunately, Borrow’s portrait cannot be traced in any +of Haydon’s pictures. + +{75a} _Lavengro_, page 9. + +{75b} There was a tradition that Borrow became a foreign correspondent +for the _Morning Herald_, and it was in this capacity that he travelled +on the Continent in 1826–7; but Dr Knapp clearly showed that such a +theory was untenable. + +{75c} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 11. + +{75d} _The Bible in Spain_, page 219. + +{75e} Letter to his mother, August 1833. + +{75f} _The Bible in Spain_, page 172. + +{75g} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 31. + +{76a} _The Bible in Spain_, page 703. + +{76b} _The Bible in Spain_, page 67. + +{76c} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 19. + +{76d} _Excursions Along the Shores of the Mediterranean_, by Lt.-Col. E. +H. D. E. Napier. London, 1842. + +{76e} _The Gypsies of Spain_, pages 10–11. + +{76f} _Patteran_, or _Patrin_; a gypsy method of indicating by means of +grass, leaves, or a mark in the dust to those behind the direction taken +by the main body. + +{76g} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 31. + +{77a} If he went abroad, he certainly did so without obtaining a +passport from the Foreign Office. The only passports issued to him +between the years 1825–1840 were: + + 27th July 1833, to St Petersburg; + + 2nd November 1836 and 20th December 1838, to Spain, + +as far as the F. O. Registers show. + +{77b} Dr Knapp takes Borrow’s statement, made 29th March 1839, “I have +been three times imprisoned and once on the point of being shot,” as +indicating that he was imprisoned at Pamplona in 1826. The imprisonments +were September 1837, Finisterre; May 1838, Madrid; and another unknown. +The occasion on which he was nearly shot, which may be assumed to be +connected with one of the imprisonments (otherwise he was more than “once +nearly shot”), was at Finisterre, when he, with his guide, was seized as +a Carlist spy “by the fishermen of the place, who determined at first on +shooting us.” (Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 15th September 1837.) + +{78} The incident is given in _Lavengro_ under date of 1818, when +Marshland Shales was fifteen years old. It was not, however, until 1827 +that he appeared at the Norwich Horse Fair and was put up for auction. +“Such a horse as this we shall never see again; a pity that he is so +old,” was the opinion of those who lifted their hats as a token of +respect. + +{79} This and subsequent letters from Borrow to Sir John Bowring not +specially acknowledged have been courteously placed at the writer’s +disposal by Mr Wilfred J. Bowring, Sir John Bowring’s grandson. + +{81} In _The Monthly Review_, March 1830, there appeared among the +literary announcements a paragraph to the same effect. + +{83} From the original draft of his letter of 20th May to Dr Bowring, +omitted from the letter itself. + +{86a} Mr Thomas Seccombe in _Bookman_, February 1902. + +{86b} It is only fair to add that Mr Seccombe wrote without having seen +the correspondence quoted from above. His words have been given as +representing the opinion held by most people regarding the Borrow-Bowring +dispute. It has been said that Bowring sought to suck Borrow’s brains; +it would appear, however, that Borrow strove rather to make every +possible use that he could of Bowring. + +{87a} Preface to _The Sleeping Bard_, 1860. + +{87b} _Ibid._ + +{88a} _The Bible in Spain_, page 201. + +{88b} Dr Knapp gives the date as during the early days of September, but +without mentioning his authority. + +{90} _The Romany Rye_, page 362. + +{91a} _Lavengro_, page 403. + +{91b} _Lavengro_, page 446. + +{92} Vicar of Pakefield, in Norfolk, 1814–1830; Lowestoft, 1830–63. He +married a sister of J. J. Gurney of Earlham Hall. + +{93a} Dr Knapp was in error when he credited J. J. Gurney with the +introduction. In a letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 10th Feb. 1833, Borrow +wrote, “I must obtain a letter from him [Rev. F. Cunningham] to Joseph +Gurney.” + +{93b} T. Pell Platt, formerly the Hon. Librarian of the Society; W. +Greenfield, its lately deceased Editorial Superintendent. + +{94a} S. V. Lipovzoff (1773–1841) had studied Chinese and Manchu at the +National College of Pekin, and had lived in China for 20 years; belonged +to the Russian Foreign Office (Asiatic section); head of Board of Censors +for books in Eastern languages printed in Russia: Corresponding member of +Academy of Sciences for department of Oriental Literature and +Antiquities. “A gentleman in the service of the Russian Department of +Foreign Affairs, who has spent the greater part of an industrious life in +Peking and the East.”—J. P. H[asfeldt] in the _Athenæum_, 5th March 1836. + +{94b} Asmus, Simondsen & Co., Sarepta House. + +{95} Borrow’s report upon Puerot’s translation, 23rd September 5th +October, 1835. + +{96a} _The Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society_, vol. i., July 1888 to +October 1899. In the MS. autobiographical note he wrote later for Mr +John Longe, Borrow stated that he walked from London to Norwich in +November 1825. He may have performed the journey twice. + +{96b} Letter from Borrow to the Rev. Francis Cunningham, to whom he +wrote on his return home, _circa_ January, acquainting him with what had +transpired in London, assuring him that “I am returned with a firm +determination to exert all my energies to attain the desired end [the +learning of Manchu]; and I hope, Sir, that I shall have the benefit of +your prayers for my speedy success, for the language is one of those +which abound with difficulties against which human skill and labour, +without the special favour of God, are as blunt hatchets against the oak; +and though I shall almost weary Him with my own prayers, I wish not to +place much confidence in them, being at present very far from a state of +grace and regeneration, having a hard and stony heart, replete with +worldy passions, vain wishes, and all kinds of ungodliness; so that it +would be no wonder if God to prayers addressed from my lips were to turn +away His head in wrath.” + +{97} Borrow always writes Mandchow, but, for the sake of uniformity his +spelling is corrected throughout. + +{98} Letter to Rev. Francis Cunningham, _circa_ January 1833. + +{99a} Dr Knapp ascribes the translation to Dr Pazos Kanki, who undertook +it at the instance of the Bishop of Puebla, but gives no authority. Dr +Kanki was a native of La Paz, Peru, and translated St Luke into his +native dialect Aimará. He had no more connection with Mexico than “stout +Cortez” with “a peak in Darien.” + +{99b} _Life of George Borrow_, by Dr Knapp, i., page 157. + +{100a} Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 18th March 1833. + +{100b} Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 18th March 1833. + +{100c} Letter to Rev J. Jowett, 18th March 1833. + +{101} Caroline Fox wrote in her _Memories of Old Friends_ (1882): +“Andrew Brandram gave us at breakfast many personal recollections of +curious people. J. J. Gurney recommended George Borrow to their +Committee [!]; so he stalked up to London, and they gave him a hymn to +translate into the Manchu language, and the same to one of their own +people to translate also. When compared they proved to be very +different. When put before their reader, he had the candour to say that +Borrow’s was much the better of the two. On this they sent him to St +Petersburg, got it printed [!] and then gave him business in Portugal, +which he took the liberty greatly to extend, and to do such good as +occurred to his mind in a highly executive manner [22nd August 1844].” + +{102} Mr Lipovzoff’s unfortunate name was a great stumbling-block. +Borrow spelt it many ways, varying from Lipoffsky to Lipofsoff. It has +been thought advisable to adopt Mr Lipovzoff’s _own_ spelling of his +name, in order to preserve some uniformity. + +{104} Minutes of the Editorial Sub-Committee, 29th July 1833. + +{105} Harriet Martineau’s _Autobiography_. + +{106} Letter to his mother, 30th July 1833. + +{107a} Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 4th August 1833. + +{107b} Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 4th August 1833. + +{108a} Borrow is always puzzling when concerned with dates. He writes +to his mother telling her that he left on the 7th, and later gives the +date, in a letter to Mr Jowett, as 24th July, O.S. (5th August). The 7th +seems to be the correct date. + +{108b} Letter to his mother. + +{109} “If I had my choice of all the cities of the world to live in, I +would choose Saint Petersburg.”—_Wild Wales_, page 665. + +{110} Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, undated: received 26th September 1833. + +{111} In a letter dated 3rd/15th August, the Prince wrote to Mr Venning +at Norwich, “On returning thence, your son came to introduce to me the +Englishman who has come over here about the translation of the Manchu +Bible, and who brought with him your letter.”—_Memorials of John +Venning_, 1862. + +{112a} Best known for his Grammar, written in German. + +{112b} Nephew of J. C Adelung, the philologist. + +{113} Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, undated, but received 26th September +1833. + +{114a} Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 20th January/1st February 1834. + +{114b} Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 20th January/1st February 1834. + +{114c} Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 20th January/1st February 1834. + +{115a} Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 20th January/1st February 1834. + +{115b} Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 20th January/1st February 1834. +Probably this means the New Testament only, as there was no intention of +printing the Old Testament at that date. + +{116} In a letter to his mother, dated 1st/13th Feb., Borrow writes: +“The Bible Society depended upon Dr Schmidt and the Russian translator +Lipovzoff to manage this business [the obtaining of the official +sanction], but neither the one nor the other would give himself the least +trouble about the matter, or give me the slightest advice how to +proceed.” + +{117} Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 4th/16th February 1834. + +{118a} Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 20th Jan./1st Feb. 1834. + +{118b} Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 20th Jan./1st Feb. 1834. + +{118c} Letter to the Rev. F. Cunningham, 17th/29th Nov. 1834. + +{119} 1st/13th May 1834. + +{121a} This spelling is adopted throughout for uniformity. Borrow +writes Chiachta. + +{121b} Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 4th/16th February 1834. + +{121c} Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 4th/16th February 1834. + +{121d} Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 4th/16th February 1834. + +{123a} Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 15th/23rd April 1834. + +{123b} In a letter dated 1st/13th May 1834. + +{123c} A suburb of Norwich. + +{126a} Mrs Borrow eventually received from Allday Kerrison £50, 11s. +1d., the amount realised from the sale of John’s effects. + +{126b} This was partly on account of the Bible Society for storage +purposes. In the minutes of the Sub-Committee, 18th August 1834, there +is a record of an advice having been received from Borrow that he had +drawn “for 400 Roubles for one year’s rent in advance for a suitable +place of deposit for the Society’s paper, etc., part of which had been +received.” + +{126c} Letter to John P. Hasfeldt from Madrid, 29th April 1837. + +{129} In the minutes of the Sub-Committee, 18th August (N.S.) 1834, +there is a note of Borrow having drawn 210 roubles “to pay for certain +articles required to complete the Society’s fount of Manchu type.” + +{132a} “My letters to my private friends have always been written during +gleams of sunshine, and traced in the characters of hope.” + +{132b} “You may easily judge of the state of book-binding here by the +fact that for every volume, great or small, printed in Russia, there is a +duty of 30 copecks, or threepence, to be paid to the Russian Government, +if the said volume be exported unbound.” + +{135a} John Hasfeldt. + +{135b} Letter to Mr J. Tarn, Treasurer of the Bible Society, 15th/27th +December 1834. + +{136} Letter to the Rev. Joseph Jowett, 3rd/15th May 1835. + +{138a} Letter from Borrow to the Rev. J. Jowett, 20th Feb./4th March +1834. In his Report on Puerot’s translation, received on 23rd Sep. 1835, +Borrow writes: “To translate literally, or even closely, according to the +common acceptation of the term, into the Manchu language is of all +impossibilities the greatest; partly from the grammatical structure of +the language, and partly from the abundance of its idioms.” The lack of +“some of those conjunctions generally considered as indispensable” was +one of the chief difficulties. + +{138b} Letter, 31st Dec. 1834. + +{139a} Letter, 31st Dec. 1834. + +{139b} Letter, 20th Feb./4th Mar. 1835. + +{139c} Letter, 20th Feb./4th Mar. 1835. + +{139d} Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 3rd/15th May 1835. + +{139e} _Ibid._ + +{140} Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 3rd/15th May 1835. + +{141a} Letter to Mr J. Tarn. + +{141b} None of these translations ever appeared, owing to the refusal of +the Russian Government to grant permission. John Hasfeldt wrote to +Borrow, June 1837, apropos of the project: “You know the Russian +priesthood cannot suffer foreigners to mix themselves up in the affairs +of the Orthodox Church. The same would have happened to the New +Testament itself. You may certainly print in the Manchu-Tartar or what +the d-l you choose, only not in Russian, for that the long-bearded +he-goats do not like.” + +{142a} Letter to Rev. F. Cunningham, 27th/29th Nov. 1834. + +{142b} The principal interest in Targum lies in the number of languages +and dialects from which the poems are translated; for it must be +confessed that Borrow’s verse translations have no very great claim to +attention on account of their literary merit. The “Thirty Languages” +were, in reality, thirty-five, viz.:— + +Ancient British. Gaelic. Portuguese. + “ Danish. German. Provençal + “ Irish. Greek. Romany. + “ Norse. Hebrew. Russian. +Anglo-Saxon. Irish. Spanish. +Arabic. Italian. Suabian. +Cambrian British. Latin. Swedish. +Chinese. Malo-Russian. Tartar. +Danish. Manchu. Tibetan. +Dutch. Modern Greek. Turkish. +Finnish. Persian. Welsh. +French. Polish. + + + +{143a} A copy was presented by John Hasfeldt to Pushkin, who expressed +in a note to Borrow his gratification at receiving the book, and his +regret at not having met the translator. + +{143b} These two volumes were printed in one and published at a later +date by Messrs Jarrold & Son, London & Norwich. + +{143c} 5th March 1836. + +{143d} From a letter to Borrow from Dr Gordon Hake. + +{143e} Borrow’s Report to the Committee of the Bible Society, received +23rd September 1835. + +{144a} Borrow’s Report to the Committee of the Bible Society, received +23rd September 1835. + +{144b} _Ibid._ + +{145a} _Kak my tut kamasa_. + +{145b} Borrow’s Report to the Committee of the Bible Society, received +23rd September 1835. He gives an account of the episode in _The Gypsies +of Spain_, page 6. + +{146a} The Thirty-First Annual Report. + +{146b} _Athenæum_, 5th March 1836. + +{147} Borrow’s Report to the Committee of the Bible Society, received +23rd September 1835. + +{148} 18th/30th June 1834. + +{149} 27th October 1835. + +{150a} His salary was paid continuously, and included the period of rest +between the Russian and Peninsula expeditions. + +{150b} Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 26th October 1835. + +{150c} In a letter dated 27th October 1835. + +{151} Minutes of the General Committee of the Bible Society, 2nd Nov. +1835. + +{153} In his first letter from Spain, addressed to Rev. J. Jowett (30th +Nov. 1835), Borrow tells of this incident in practically the same words +as it appears in _The Bible in Spain_, pages 1–3. + +{154a} _The Bible in Spain_, pages 73–4. + +{154b} Letter to the Rev. J. Jowett, 30th Nov. 1835. + +{155a} Dr Knapp states that upon this expedition he was accompanied by +Captain John Rowland Heyland of the 35th Regiment of Foot, whose +acquaintance he had made on the voyage out.—_Life of George Borrow_, i., +page 234. + +{155b} Letter to Rev. J. Jowett, 30th Nov. 1835. + +{155c} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 15th Dec. 1835. + +{159a} Letter to Dr Bowring, 26th December 1835. + +{159b} _The Bible in Spain_, page 67. + +{159c} Dated 8th and 10th January 1836, giving an account of his journey +to Evora. + +{160a} _The Bible in Spain_, page 78. + +{160b} _The Bible in Spain_, pages 77–8. + +{161a} _The Bible in Spain_, page 87. + +{161b} _The Bible in Spain_, page 88. + +{162a} _The Bible in Spain_, page 99. + +{162b} _Lavengro_, page 191. + +{162c} _The Bible in Spain_, pages 97–8. + +{162d} Not 5th Jan., as given in _The Bible in Spain_. + +{162e} _The Bible in Spain_, page 103. + +{164a} _The Bible in Spain_, Preface, page vi. + +{164b} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 179. + +{164c} “Throughout my life the Gypsy race has always had a peculiar +interest for me. Indeed I can remember no period when the mere mention +of the name Gypsy did not awaken within me feelings hard to be described. +I cannot account for this—I merely state it as a fact.”—_The Gypsies of +Spain_, page 1. + +{165a} _The Gypsies of Spain_, pages 184–5. + +{165b} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 186. + +{166a} _The Bible in Spain_, page 109. + +{166b} Dr Knapp states that the wedding described in _The Gypsies of +Spain_ took place during these three days.—_Life of George Borrow_, by Dr +Knapp, i., page 242. + +{167a} _The Bible in Spain_, page 162. + +{167b} “I am not partial to Madrid, its climate, or anything it can +offer, if I except its unequalled gallery of pictures.”—Letter to Rev. A. +Brandram, 22nd March 1836. + +{167c} 24th February 1836. + +{167d} Letter to his mother, 24th February 1836. + +{168a} Letter to his mother, 24th February 1836 + +{168b} _Ibid._ + +{168c} _Ibid._ + +{168d} _Ibid._ + +{169} _The Bible in Spain_, page 173. + +{170a} Born 1790, commissariat contractor in 1808 during the French +invasion, he was of great assistance to his country. In 1823 he fled +from the despotism of Ferdinand VII.; he returned twelve years later as +Minister of Finance under Toreno. He resigned in 1837, was again in +power in 1841, and died in 1853. + +{170b} George William Villiers, afterwards 4th Earl of Clarendon, born +12th Jan. 1800; created G.C.B., 19th Oct. 1837; succeeded his uncle as +Earl of Clarendon, 1838; K.G., 1849. He twice refused a Marquisate, also +the Governor-generalship of India. He refused the Order of the Black +Eagle (Prussia) and the Legion of Honour. Lord Privy Seal, 1839–41; +Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1840–1, 1864–5; Lord-Lieutenant of +Ireland, 1847–52. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1853–8, +1865–6, 1868–9. Died 27th June 1870. + +{171} _The Bible in Spain_, page 165. + +{173a} Extracts accompanying letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 22nd March +1836. + +{173b} _Ibid._ + +{173c} _Ibid._ + +{174} Letter of 22nd March 1837. + +{175a} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 22nd May 1836. + +{175b} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 22nd May 1836. + +{175c} Letter dated 6th April 1836. + +{175d} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 20th April 1836. + +{175e} _Ibid._ + +{176a} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 20th April 1836. + +{176b} _Ibid._ Borrow’s destitution was entirely accidental, and +immediately that his letter was received at Earl Street the sum of +twenty-five pounds was forwarded to him. + +{177} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 20th April 1836. + +{178a} Letter of 9th May 1836. + +{178b} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 30th June 1836. + +{178c} _Ibid._ + +{178d} _Ibid._ + +{179a} The Duke’s secretary who had shown so profound a respect for the +decrees of the Council of Trent. + +{179b} Late of the Royal Navy, who for sheer love of the work +distributed the Scriptures in Spain, and who later was to come into grave +conflict with Borrow. + +{180} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 30th June 1836. + +{181a} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 7th July 1836. + +{181b} _Ibid._ + +{181c} _Ibid._ + +{181d} _Ibid._ + +{182a} Dr Usoz was a Spaniard of noble birth, a pupil of Mezzofanti, and +one of the editors of _El Español_. He occupied the chair of Hebrew at +Valladolid. He was deeply interested in the work of the Bible Society, +and was fully convinced that in nothing but the reading of the Bible +could the liberty in Spain be found. + +{182b} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 25th December 1837. + +{182c} La Granja was a royal palace some miles out of Madrid, to which +the Queen Regent had withdrawn. On the night of 12th August, two +sergeants had forced their way into the Queen Regent’s presence, and +successfully demanded that she should restore the Constitution of 1812. +This incident was called the Revolution of La Granja. + +{183a} _The Bible in Spain_, pages 197–206. + +{183b} 30th July 1836. + +{183c} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 10th August 1836. + +{184} 17th October 1836. + +{185a} _The Bible in Spain_, pages 209–11. + +{185b} _Ibid._, page 211. + +{186} The Rev. Wentworth Webster in _The Journal of Gypsy Lore Society_, +vol. i., July 1888–Oct. 1889. + +{187} Letter from Rev. A. Brandram, 6th Jan. 1837. + +{188} Isidor Just Severin, Baron Taylor (1789–1879), was a naturalised +Frenchman and a great traveller. In 1821 he, with Charles Nodier, wrote +the play _Bertram_, which was produced with great success at Paris in +1821. Later he was made Commissaire du Théâtre Français, and authorised +the production of _Hernani_ and _Le Mariage de Figaro_. Later he became +Inspecteur-Général des Beaux Arts (1838). When seen by Borrow in Seville +he was collecting Spanish pictures for Louis-Philippe. + +{189} _The Bible in Spain_, page 221. + +{190a} _The Bible in Spain_, page 237. + +{190b} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 26th Dec. 1836. + +{191a} In letter to the Rev. A. Brandram (26th Dec. 1836), Borrow gives +the quantity of brandy as two bottles. This letter was written within a +few hours of the act and is more likely to be accurate. + +{191b} _The Bible in Spain_, page 254. + +{191c} Borrow’s letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 14th Jan. 1837. + +{191d} He was authorised to purchase 600 reams at 60 _reals_ per ream, +whereas he paid only 45 _reals_ a ream for a paper “better,” he wrote, +“than I could have purchased at 70.” + +{192a} Author of _La Historia de las Córtes de España durante el Siglo +XIX_. (1885) and other works of a political character. He was also +proprietor and editor of _El Español_. Isturitz had intended raising +Borrégo to the position of minister of finance when his government +suddenly terminated. + +{192b} General report prepared by Borrow in the Autumn of 1838 for the +General Committee of the Bible Society detailing his labours in Spain. +This was subsequently withdrawn, probably on account of its somewhat +aggressive tone. In the course of this work the document will be +referred to as _General Report_, _Withdrawn_. + +{192c} To Rev. A. Brandram, 14th Jan. 1837. + +{193} To Rev. A. Brandram, 14th Jan. 1837. + +{194a} 27th January 1837. + +{194b} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 27th Feb. 1837. + +{195a} Letter from Rev. A. Brandram to Borrow, 22nd March 1837. + +{195b} Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 25th Dec. 1837. + +{195c} Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 27th February 1837. + +{195d} Rev. Wentworth Webster in _The Journal of the Gypsy Lore +Society_, vol. i., July 1888–October 1889. + +{196a} _General Report_ withdrawn. + +{196b} _General Report_, withdrawn. + +{196c} Borrow to Richard Ford. _Letters of Richard Ford_ 1797–1858. +Ed. R. E. Prothero. Murray, 1905. + +{197a} Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 7th June 1837. + +{197b} _Ibid._ + +{197c} _Ibid._ + +{198} Letter from Borrow to the Rev. A. Brandram, 27th February 1837. + +{199} As the method adopted was practically the same in every town he +visited, no further reference need be made to the fact, and in the brief +survey of the journeys that Borrow himself has described so graphically, +only incidents that tend to throw light upon his character or +disposition, and such as he has not recorded himself, will be dealt with. + +{200a} Via Pitiegua, Pedroso, Medina del Campo, Dueñas Palencia. + +“I suffered dreadfully during this journey,” Borrow wrote, “as did +likewise my man and horses, for the heat was the fiercest which I have +ever known, and resembled the breath of the simoon or the air from an +oven’s mouth.”—Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 5th July 1837. + +{200b} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 5th July 1837. + +{201} _The Bible in Spain_, pages 352–4. + +{202} _The Bible in Spain_, page 364. + +{203a} This is the story particularly referred to by Richard Ford in +report upon the MS. of _The Bible in Spain_. + +{203b} In the Report to the General Committee of the Bible Society on +Past and Future Operations in Spain, November 1838. + +{204a} _The Bible in Spain_, page 409. + +{204b} In _The Bible in Spain_ Borrow says he was arrested on suspicion +of being the Pretender himself; but in a letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 15th +September 1837, he says that he and his guide were seized as Carlist +spies, and makes no mention of Don Carlos. + +{205a} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 15th September 1837. + +{205b} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 29th September 1837. + +{205c} By way of Ferrol, Novales, Santa María, Coisa d’Ouro, Viviero, +Foz, Rivadéo, Castro Pól, Naváia, Luarca, the Caneiro, Las Bellotas, Soto +Luiño, Muros, Avilés and Gijon. + +{205d} To the Rev. A. Brandram, 29th Sept. 1837. The story also appears +in _The Bible in Spain_, pages 479–480. + +{206} Borrow’s original idea in printing only the New Testament was that +in Spain and Portugal he deemed it better not to publish the whole Bible, +at least not “until the inhabitants become christianised,” because the +Old Testament “is so infinitely entertaining to the carnal man,” and he +feared that in consequence the New Testament would be little read. Later +he saw his mistake, and was constantly asking for Bibles, for which there +was a big demand. + +{207} To Rev. A. Brandram, 29th September 1837. + +{208} George Dawson Flinter, an Irishman in the service of Queen +Isabella II., who fought for his adopted Queen with courage and +distinction, and eventually committed suicide as a protest against the +monstrously unjust conspiracy to bring about his ruin, September 1838. + +{209a} By way of Ontanéda, Oña, Búrgos, Vallodolid, Guadarrama. + +{209b} _General Report_, withdrawn. + +{209c} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 1st November 1837. + +{210} _The Bible in Spain_, page 507. + +{211} He was created G.C.B. 19th Oct. 1837. + +{212a} Letter from Borrow to the Rev. A. Brandram, 20th Nov. 1837. + +{212b} To the Rev. A. Brandram, 20th Nov. 1837. + +{213a} _History of the British and Foreign Bible Society_, W. Canton. + +{213b} Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 30th March 1838. + +{214a} Mr Brandram wrote to Graydon (12th April 1838): “Mr Rule being at +Madrid and having conferred with Mr Borrow and Sir George Villiers, it +appears to have struck them all three that a visit on your part to Cadiz +and Seville could not at present be advantageous to our cause.” + +{214b} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 20th November 1837. + +{214c} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 28th November 1837. The comment on +the badness of the London edition had reference to the translation, which +Borrow had condemned with great vigour; he subsequently admitted that he +had been too sweeping in his disapproval. + +{215a} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 28th November 1837. + +{215b} Sir George Villiers to Viscount Palmerston, 5th May 1838. + +{215c} _Ibid._ + +{216a} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 241. + +{216b} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 25th Dec. 1837. + +{216c} These Bibles fetched, the large edition (Borrow wrote “I would +give my right hand for a thousand of them”) 17s. each, and the smaller +7s. each, whereas the New Testaments fetched about half-a crown. + +{216d} Letter dated 16th Jan. 1838. + +{217a} In _The Bible in Spain_ he says “the greater part,” in _The +Gypsies of Spain_ he says “the whole.” + +{217b} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 275. + +{218a} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 280. + +{218b} _Ibid._ + +{218c} _Ibid._, page 282. + +{219a} On 25th December 1837. + +{219b} It is strange that Borrow should insist that he had Sir George +Villiers’ approval; for Sir George himself has clearly stated that he +strongly opposed the opening of the _Despacho_. + +{220} 15th January 1838. + +{221a} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 30th March 1838. + +{221b} In _The Gypsies of Spain_ Borrow gives the number as 500 (page +281); but the Resolution, confirmed 20th March 1837, authorised the +printing of 250 copies only. In all probability the figures given by +Borrow are correct, as in a letter to Mr Brandram, dated 18th July 1839, +he gives his unsold stock of books at Madrid as:— + +Of Testaments 962 +Of Gospels in the Gypsy Tongue 286 +Of ditto in Basque 394 + +{222a} Original Report, withdrawn. + +{222b} _The Gypsies of Spain_, pages 280–1. + +{224a} Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 17th March 1838. + +{224b} _The History of the British and Foreign Bible Society_, by W. +Canton. + +{225} Mr Canton writes in _The History of the British and Foreign Bible +Society_: “His [Graydon’s] opportunity was indeed unprecedented; and had +he but more accurately appreciated the unstable political conditions of +the country, the susceptibilities, suspicious and precarious tenure of +ministers and placemen, the temper of the priesthood, their sensitive +attachment to certain tenets of their faith, and their enormous influence +over the civil power, there is reason to believe that he might have +brought his mission to a happier and more permanent issue.” + +{226} [11th] May 1838. + +{227a} Letter from George Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram [11th] May 1838. + +{227b} 23rd April 1838. + +{227c} The Marin episode is amazing. The object of distributing the +Scriptures was to enlighten men’s minds and bring about conversion, and a +priest was a distinct capture, more valuable by far than a peasant, and +likely to influence others; yet when they had got him no one appears to +have known exactly what to do, and all were anxious to get rid of him +again. + +{228a} _The Bible in Spain_, page 536. + +{228b} _Ibid._ + +{229a} Original Report, withdrawn. + +{229b} Original Report, withdrawn. + +{231} Sometimes this personage is referred to in official papers as the +“Political Chief,” a too literal translation of _Gefé Politico_. In all +cases it has been altered to Civil Governor to preserve uniformity. Many +of the official translations of Foreign Office papers can only be +described as grotesque. + +{232a} This is the official translation among the Foreign Office papers +at the Record Office. + +{232b} _The Bible in Spain_, page 539. + +{233} There is an error in the dating of this letter. It should be 1st +May. + +{234a} In a letter to Count Ofalia, Sir George Villiers states that +“George Borrow, fearing violence, prudently abstained from going to his +ordinary place of abode.” + +{234b} Borrow pays a magnificent and well-deserved tribute to this queen +among landladies. (_The Bible in Spain_, pages 256–7.) She was always +his friend and frequently his counsellor, thinking nothing of the risk +she ran in standing by him during periods of danger. She refused all +inducements to betray him to his enemies, and, thoroughly deserved the +eulogy that Borrow pronounced upon her. + +{234c} It was subsequently stated that the arrest was ordered because +Borrow had refused to recognise the Civil Governor’s authority and made +use “of offensive expressions” towards his person. The Civil Governor +had no authority over British subjects, and Borrow was right in his +refusal to acknowledge his jurisdiction. + +{235} _The Bible in Spain_, page 547. + +{238a} Dispatch from Sir George Villiers to Viscount Palmerston, 5th +May. + +{238b} _Ibid._ + +{239a} Despatch from Sir George Villiers to Viscount Palmerston, 12th +May 1838. + +{239b} _Ibid._ + +{240a} Despatch from Sir George Villiers to Viscount Palmerston. + +{240b} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 17th May 1838. + +{241a} Despatch from Sir George Villiers to Viscount Palmerston, 5th May +1838. + +{241b} In a letter to the Rev. A. Brandram, 17th May 1838. + +{242a} The Official Translation among the Foreign Office Papers at the +Record Office. + +{242b} Mr William Mark’s (the British Consul at Malaga) Official account +of the occurrence, 16th May 1838. + +{243a} Mr William Mark’s (the British Consul at Malaga) Official account +of the occurrence, 16th May 1838. + +{243b} _Ibid._ + +{243c} Despatch to Viscount Palmerston, 12th May 1838. + +{243d} _Ibid._ + +{244a} Despatch to Viscount Palmerston, 12th May 1838. + +{244b} _Ibid._ + +{244c} Sir George Villiers’ Despatch to Viscount Palmerston, 12th May +1838. + +{246a} The Official Translation among the Foreign Office Papers at the +Record Office. + +{246b} _The Bible in Spain_, page 578. + +{247a} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 241. + +{247b} _The Bible in Spain_, page 579. + +{249} _History of the British and Foreign Bible Society_. By W. Canton. + +{252} On [11th] May 1838. + +{253} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 17th May 1838. + +{254a} Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 25th May 1838. + +{255a} The Official Translation among the Foreign Office Papers at the +Record Office. + +{255b} Sir George Villiers to Count Ofalia, 25th May 1838. + +{255c} Letter to Mr A. Brandram, 25th May 1838. + +{256a} At the time of writing Borrow had not seen any of these tracts +himself; but Sir George Villiers, who had, expressed the opinion that +“one or two of them were outrages not only to common sense but to +decency.”—Borrow to the Rev. A. Brandram, 25th June 1838. + +{256b} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 14th June 1838. + +{257a} Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 14th June 1838. + +{257b} _Ibid._ + +{259} The quotations from Lieut. Graydon’s tracts were not sent by +Borrow to Mr Brandram until some weeks later. They ran:—A True History +of the Dolorous Virgin to whom the Rebellious and Fanatical Don Carlos +Has Committed His Cause and the Ignorance which It Displays. + + EXTRACTS. + +_Page_ 17. You will readily see in all those grandiose epithets showered +upon Mary, the work of the enemy of God, which tending essentially +towards idolatry has managed, under the cloak of Christianity, to +introduce idolatry, and endeavours to divert to a creature, and even to +the image of that creature, the adoration which is due to God alone. +Without doubt it is with this very object that on all sides we see +erected statues of Mary, adorned with a crown, and bearing in her arms a +child of tender years, as though to accustom the populace intimately to +the idea of Mary’s superiority over Jesus. + +_Page_ 30. This, then, is our conclusion. In recognising and +sanctioning this cult, the Church of Rome constitutes itself an +idolatrous Church, and every member of it who is incapable of detecting +the truth behind the monstrous accumulation of impieties with which they +veil it, is proclaimed by the Church as condemned to perdition. The +guiding light of this Church, which they are not ashamed to smother or to +procure the smothering of, by which nevertheless they hold their +authority, to be plain, the word of God, should at least teach them, if +they set any value on the Spirit of Christ, that their Papal Bulls would +be better directed to the cleansing of the Roman Church from all its +iniquities than to the promulgation of such unjust prohibitions. Yet in +struggling against better things, this Church is protecting and hallowing +in all directions an innumerable collection of superstitions and false +cults, and it is clear that by this means it is abased and labelled as +one of the principal agents of Anti-Christ. + +{262} _The History of the British and Foreign Bible Society_, by W. +Canton. + +{265a} This letter reached Borrow when his “foot was in the stirrup,” as +he phrased it, ready to set out for the Sagra of Toledo. He felt that it +could only have originated with “the enemy of mankind for the purpose of +perplexing my already harrassed and agitated mind”; but he continues, +“merely exclaiming ‘Satan, I defy thee,’ I hurried to the Sagra. . . . +But it is hard to wrestle with the great enemy.” _General Report_, +withdrawn. + +{265b} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 14th July 1838. + +{265c} Mr Brandram informed Borrow that the General Committee wished him +to visit England if he could do so without injury to the cause (29th +June). + +{266} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 14th July 1838. + +{269a} _The Bible in Spain_, page 602. + +{269b} _Ibid._, page 606. + +{269c} _Ibid._, page 606. + +{270a} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 27th July 1838. + +{270b} This would have been impossible. If his age were seventy-four, +he would of necessity have been four years old in 1838. + +{271a} By Mr A. G. Jayne in “Footprints of George Borrow,” in _The Bible +in the World_, July 1908. + +{271b} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 17th July 1838. + +{273a} This letter, in which there was a hint of desperation, disturbed +the officials at Earl Street a great deal. Mr Brandram wrote (28th July) +that he was convinced that the Committee would “still feel that if you +are to continue to act with them _they must see you_, and I will only add +that it is _utterly foreign to their wishes_ that you should _expose +yourself in the daring manner you are now doing_. I lose not a post in +conveying this impression to you.” + +{273b} The Translation of this communication runs:—“Madrid, 7th July +1838—I have the honour to inform your Excellency that according to +official advices received in the first Secretary of State’s Office, it +appears that in Malaga, Murcia, Valladolid, and Santiago, copies of the +New Testament of Padre Scio, without notes, have been exposed for sale, +which have been deposited with the political chiefs of the said +provinces, or in the hands of such persons as the chiefs have entrusted +with them in Deposit; it being necessary further to observe that the +parties giving them up have uniformly stated that they belonged to Mr +Borrow, and that they were commissioned by him to sell and dispose of +them. + +“Under these circumstances, Her Majesty’s Government have deemed it +expedient that I should address your Excellency, in order that the above +may be intimated to the beforementioned Mr Borrow, so that he may take +care that the copies in question, as well as those which have been seized +in this City, and which are packed up in cases or parcels marked and +sealed, may be sent out of the Kingdom of Spain, agreeably to the Royal +order with which your Excellency is already acquainted, and through the +medium of the respective authorities who will be able to vouch for their +Exportation. To this Mr Borrow will submit in the required form, and +with the understanding that he formally binds himself thereto, they will +remain in the meantime in the respective depots.” + +{275} _General Report_, withdrawn. + +{277a} Borrow’s letter to the Rev. A. Brandram, 1st Sept. 1838. + +{277b} To Lord William Hervey, Chargé d’Affaires at Madrid (23rd Aug. +1838). + +{278} To Rev. G. Browne, one of the Secretaries of the Bible Society, +29th Aug. 1838. + +{279a} To Rev. A. Brandram, 19th September 1838. + +{279b} _The Bible in Spain_, page 621. + +{279c} Letter to Dr Usoz, 22nd Feb. 1839. + +{279d} _Ibid._ + +{279e} _Ibid._ + +{280} The Report has here been largely drawn upon and has been referred +to as “Original Report, withdrawn.” + +{282} _History of the British and Foreign Bible Society_. + +{284} On the publication of _The Bible in Spain_ the Prophetess became +famous. Thirty-six years later Dr Knapp found her still soliciting alms, +and she acknowledged that she owed her celebrity to the _Inglés rubio_, +the blonde Englishman. + +{285a} _The Bible in Spain_, page 627. + +{285b} To Rev. A. Brandram, 25th Jan. 1839. + +{286} On 6th Feb. 1839. + +{288a} Letter to Mr W. Hitchin of the Bible Society, 9th March 1839. + +{288b} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 26th March 1839. + +{290} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 10th April 1839. + +{293} Letter to the Rev. A. Brandram, 2nd May 1839. + +{294a} _Excursions Along the Shores of the Mediterranean_, by Lt.-Col. +E. Napier, 46th Regt. Colburn, 1842, 2 vols. + +{294b} _Ibid._ + +{295} _Excursions Along the Shores of the Mediterranean_, by Lt.-Col. E. +Napier, 46th Regt. Colburn, 1842, 2 vols. + +{297} A reference to Charles Robert Maturin’s _Melmoth the Wanderer_, 4 +vols., 1820. This book was republished in 3 vols. in 1892, an almost +unparalleled instance of the reissue of a practically forgotten book in a +form closely resembling that of the original. Melmoth the Wanderer was +referred to in the most enthusiastic terms by Balzac, Thackeray and +Baudelaire among others. + +{298} _The Bible in Spain_, page 663. + +{299} Maria Diaz had written on 24th May: “Calzado has been here to see +if I would sell him the lamps that belong to the shop [the _Despacho_]. +He is willing to give four dollars for them, and he says they cost five, +so if you want me to sell them to him, you must let me know. It seems he +is going to set up a beer-shop.” It is not on record whether or no the +lamps from the Bible Society’s _Despacho_ eventually illuminated a +beer-shop. + +{300} Letter from Borrow to the Rev. A. Brandram, 28th June 1839. + +{301} 28th June. + +{302} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 18th July 1839. + +{307a} Letter from Borrow to Rev. A. Brandram, 29th Sept. 1839. + +{307b} _Ibid._ + +{307c} Mr John M. Brackenbury, in writing to Mr Brandram, made it quite +clear that he had no doubt that the “inhibition was assuredly +accelerated, if not absolutely occasioned, by the indiscretion of some of +those who entered Spain for the avowed object of circulating the +Scriptures, and of others who, not being Agents of the British and +Foreign Bible Society, were nevertheless considered to be connected with +it, as they distributed your editions of the Old and New Testaments. Our +objects were defeated and your interests injured, therefore, when the +Spanish Government required the departure from this country of those who, +by other acts and deeds wholly distinct from the distribution of Bibles +and Testaments, had been infracting the Laws, Civil and Ecclesiastical.” + +{307d} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 29th Sept. 1839. + +{308a} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 29th Sept. 1839. + +{308b} _Ibid._ + +{309} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 25th Nov. 1839. + +{310} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 25th Nov. 1839. + +{313} From the Public Record Office. + +{315} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 25th Nov. 1839. + +{316} Rev. Wentworth Webster in _The Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society_. + +{317} The phrasing of the official translation has everywhere been +followed. + +{319} The Official Translation among the Foreign Office Papers at the +Record Office. + +{320} 28th Dec. 1839. + +{321} Henrietta played “remarkably well on the guitar—not the trumpery +German thing so-called—but the real Spanish guitar.”—_Wild Wales_, page +6. + +{322} _Wild Wales_, page 6. + +{323a} Letter to Rev. A. Brandram, 18th March 1840. + +{323b} _Ibid._ + +{328a} _The Romany Rye_, page 312. + +{328b} _Ibid._, page 313. + +{328c} _Wild Wales_, page 289. + +{329a} _Lavengro_, page 261. + +{329b} _The Romany Rye_, page 22. + +{329c} _The Journals of Caroline Fox_. + +{330a} _The Letters of Richard Ford_ 1797–1858.—Edited, R. E. Prothero, +M.V.O., 1905. + +{330b} _Ibid._ + +{331a} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page xiv. + +{331b} E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in _The Eastern Daily Press_, 1st Oct. 1892. + +{331c} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 238. + +{332a} E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in _The Eastern Daily Press_, 1st Oct. 1892. + +{332b} _Ibid._ + +{332c} _Ibid._ + +{332d} _Ibid._ + +{333a} E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in _The Eastern Daily Press_, 1st Oct. 1892. + +{333b} _Ibid._ + +{333c} _The Bible in Spain_, page 41. + +{334a} E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in _The Eastern Daily Press_, 1st Oct. 1892. + +{334b} In _The Eastern Daily Press_, 1st Oct. 1892. She also tells how +“at the Exhibition in 1851, whither we went with his step-daughter, he +spoke to the different foreigners in their own languages, until his +daughter saw some of them whispering together and looking as if they +thought he was ‘uncanny,’ and she became alarmed, and drew him away.” + +{334c} _Ibid._ + +{334d} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page vii. + +{335a} _A Publisher and His Friends_. Samuel Smiles. + +{335b} Richard Ford, 1796–1858. Critic and author. Spent several years +in touring about Spain on horseback. Published in 1845, _Hand-Book for +Travellers in Spain_. Contributed to the _Edinburgh_, _Quarterly_, and +_Westminster_ Reviews from 1837. + +{335c} _The Letters of Richard Ford_, 1797–1858. Ed. R. E. Prothero, +M.V.O., 1905. + +{336a} Dr. Knapp points out that the title is inaccurate, there being no +such word as “Zincali.” It should be “Zincalé.” + +{336b} _The Letters of Richard Ford_, 1797–1858. Ed. R. E. Prothero, +M.V.O., 1905. + +{337a} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 1. As the current edition of _The +Zincali_ has been retitled _The Gypsies of Spain_, reference is made to +it throughout this work under that title and to the latest edition. + +{337b} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 32. + +{338a} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 81. + +{338b} _Ibid._, page 186. + +{338c} _Ibid._, page 283. + +{339} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 274. + +{340a} Introduction to _Lavengro_. The Little Library, Methuen, 2 +vols., 1, xxiii.-xxiv. C. G. Leland expressed himself to the same +effect. + +{340b} _Academy_, 13th July 1874. + +{340c} _Wild Wales_, page 186. + +{340d} _The Bible in Spain_, page 64. + +{341} _Lavengro_, page 81. + +{343} Ford to John Murray. _The Letters of Richard Ford_, 1797–1858. +Ed. R. E. Prothero, M.V.O., 1905. + +{344} Ford to John Murray. _The Letters of Richard Ford_, 1797–1858. +Ed. R. E. Prothero, M.V.O., 1905. + +{347} Dr Knapp’s _Life of George Borrow_. + +{349} _The Letters of Richard Ford_, 1797–1858. Edited, R. E. Prothero, +M.V.O., 1905. + +{352} _Times_, 12th April 1843, Hansard’s summary reads: “It might have +been said, to Mr Borrow with respect to Spain, that it would be +impossible to distribute the Bible in that country in consequence of the +danger of offending the prejudices which prevail there; yet he, a private +individual, by showing some zeal in what he believed to be right, +succeeded in triumphing over many obstacles.” + +{353} This is obviously the letter that Borrow paraphrases at the end of +Chapter XLII. of _The Bible in Spain_. + +{354} In the Appendix to _The Romany Rye_ Borrow wrote, “Having the +proper pride of a gentleman and a scholar, he did not, in the year ’43, +choose to permit himself to be exhibited and made a zany of in London.” +Page 355. + +{355a} Letters to John Murray, 27th Jan. and 13th March, 1843. + +{355b} Letters to John Murray, 27th Jan. and 13th March, 1843. + +{355c} Borrow wrote later on that he was “a sincere member of the +old-fashioned Church of England, in which he believes there is more +religion, and consequently less cant, than in any other Church in the +world” (_The Romany Rye_, page 346). On another occasion he gave the +following reason for his adherence to it: “Because I believe it is the +best religion to get to heaven by” (_Wild Wales_, page 520). + +{356} No trace can be found among the Bible Society Records of any such +translation. + +{357} This portrait has sometimes been ascribed to Thomas Phillips, +R.A., in error. + +{360a} _Memories of Old Friends_ (1835–1871). London 1882. + +{360b} _Memories of Eighty Years_, page 164. + +{360c} E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in _The Eastern Daily Press_, 1st Oct. 1892. + +{360d} E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in _The Eastern Daily Express_, 1st Oct. +1892. + +{361} _Journals and Correspondence of Lady Eastlake_, ed. by C. E. +Smith, 1895. + +{362a} _The Romany Rye_, page 344. + +{362b} Dr Knapp’s _Life of George Borrow_, ii. 44. + +{362c} _Hungary in_ 1851. By Charles L. Brace. + +{363} Mrs Borrow to John Murray, 4th June 1844. + +{364} _Memoirs_, C. G. Leland, 1893. + +{365a} Both these MSS. were acquired by the Trustees of the British +Museum in 1892 by purchase. The _Gypsy Vocabulary_ runs to fifty-four +Folios and the _Bohemian Grammar_ to seventeen Folios. + +{365b} 24th April 1841. + +{365c} Dr Knapp’s _Life of George Borrow_, ii. page 5. + +{367} As late even as 13th March 1851, Dr Hake wrote to Mrs Borrow: “He +[Borrow] had better carry on his biography in three more volumes.” + +{372} Mr A. Egmont Hake in _Athenæum_, 13th Aug. 1881. + +{374} There is something inexplicable about these dates. On 6th +November Borrow agrees to alter a passage that in the 14th of the +previous July he refers to as already amended. + +{375} _Vestiges of Borrow_: _Some Personal Reminiscences_, _The Globe_, +21st July 1896. + +{376a} Mr A. Egmont Hake in _Athenæum_, 13th Aug. 1881. + +{376b} _The Gypsies of Spain_, page 287. + +{376c} “His sympathies were confined to the gypsies. Where he came they +followed. Where he settled, there they pitched their greasy and horribly +smelling camps. It pleased him to be called their King. He was their +Bard also, and wrote songs for them in that language of theirs which he +professed to consider not only the first, but the finest of the human +modes of speech. He liked to stretch himself large and loose-limbed +before the wood fires of their encampment and watch their graceful +movements among the tents” (_Vestiges of Borrow_: _Some Personal +Reminiscences_, _Globe_, 21st July 1896). + +{376d} This was said in the presence of Mr F. G. Bowring, son of Dr +Bowring. + +{378a} Mr F. J. Bowring writes: “I was myself present at Borrow’s last +call, when he came to take tea _as usual_, and not a word of the kind [as +given in the Appendix], was delivered.” + +{378b} There is no record of any correspondence with Borrow among the +Museum Archives. Dr F. G. Kenyon, C.B., to whom I am indebted for this +information, suggests that the communications may have been verbal. + +{379} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892. + +{380a} _Annals of the Harford Family_. Privately printed, 1909. Mr +Theodore Watts-Dunton, in the _Athenæum_, 25th March 1899, has been +successful in giving a convincing picture of Borrow: “As to his +countenance,” he writes, “‘noble’ is the only word that can be used to +describe it. The silvery whiteness of the thick crop of hair seemed to +add in a remarkable way to the beauty of the hairless face, but also it +gave a strangeness to it, and this strangeness was intensified by a +certain incongruity between the features (perfect Roman-Greek in type), +and the Scandinavian complexion, luminous and sometimes rosy as an +English girl’s. An increased intensity was lent by the fair skin to the +dark lustre of the eyes. What struck the observer, therefore, was not +the beauty but the strangeness of the man’s appearance.” + +{380b} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892. + +{381a} E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in _The Eastern Daily Press_, 1st Oct. 1892. + +{381b} The story is narrated by Dr Augustus Jessopp in the _Athenæum_, +8th July 1893. + +{381c} _Wild Wales_, page 487. + +{381d} _Wild Wales_, page 36 et seq. + +{382} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892. + +{383a} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892. + +{383b} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892. + +{384a} _George Borrow in East Anglia_. W. A. Dutt. + +{384b} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_. By Dr Gordon Hake, 1892. + +{385a} _William Bodham Donne and His Friends_. By Catherine B. Johnson. + +{385b} William Whewell (1794–1866), Master of Trinity College, +Cambridge, 1848–66; Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, 1843–56; +secured in 1847 the election of the Prince Consort as Chancellor; +enlarged the buildings of Trinity College and founded professorship and +scholarships for international law. Published and edited many works on +natural and mathematical science, philosophy, theology and sermons. + +{386} Mr John Murray in _Good Words_. + +{390} To John Murray; the letter is in Mrs Borrow’s hand but drafted by +Borrow himself, 29th Jan. 1855. + +{391a} 16th April 1845. + +{391b} See post. + +{393a} _The Romany Rye_, page 338. + +{393b} _Life of Frances Power Cable_, by herself. + +{393c} Borrow goes on to an anti-climax when he states that he “believes +him [Scott] to have been by far the greatest [poet], with perhaps the +exception of Mickiewicz, who only wrote for unfortunate Poland, that +Europe has given birth to during the last hundred years.” + +{393d} _The Romany Rye_, pages 344–5. + +{393e} _Romano Lavo-Lil_, page 274. + +{393f} _The Romany Rye_, page 134. + +{394a} Letter from Borrow to Dr Usoz, 22nd Feb. 1839. + +{394b} _Macmillan’s Magazine_, vol. 45. + +{396} “Notes upon George Borrow” prefaced to an edition of _Lavengro_. +Ward, Lock & Co. + +{398} Mr W. Elvin in the _Athenæum_, 6th Aug. 1881. + +{399a} John Wilson Croker (1780–1857): Politician and Essayist; friend +of Canning and Peel. At one time Temporary Chief Secretary for Ireland +and later Secretary of the Admiralty. Supposed to have been the original +of Rigby in Disraeli’s _Coningsby_. + +{399b} Mr Theodore Watts-Dunton, “Notes upon George Borrow” prefaced to +an edition of _Lavengro_. Ward, Lock & Co. + +{400a} The Rt. Hon. Augustine Birrell in _Obiter Dicta_, and Series, +1887. + +{400b} Francis Hindes Groome in _Bookman_, May 1899. + +{404a} “Swimming is a noble exercise, but it certainly does not tend to +mortify either the flesh or the spirit.”—_The Bible in Spain_, page 688. + +{404b} Mr John Murray in _Good Words_. + +{404c} In _The Eastern Daily Press_, 1st October 1892. + +{405} Borrow’s reference is to the county motto, “One and All.” + +{407a} _The Life of George Borrow_, by Dr Knapp, ii., 79–80. + +{407b} _George Borrow_, by R. A. J. Walling. + +{407c} _George Borrow_, by R. A. J. Walling. + +{408} _George Borrow_, by R. A. J. Walling. + +{409} _The Life of George Borrow_, by Dr Knapp. + +{411} This is rather awkwardly phrased, as Mrs Borrow was alive at that +date. + +{412a} The first reference to the famous Appendix is contained in a +letter to John Murray (11th Nov. 1853) in which Borrow writes: “In answer +to your inquiries about the fourth volume of _Lavengro_, I beg leave to +say that I am occasionally occupied upon it. I shall probably add some +notes.” + +{412b} _The Life of George Borrow_, by Dr Knapp. + +{413} _The Life of George Borrow_, by Dr Knapp. + +{415a} _Wild Wales_, page 6. + +{415b} There appears to have been a slight cast in his (Borrow’s) left +eye. The Queen of the Nokkums remarked that, like Will Faa, he had “a +skellying look with the left eye” (_Romano Lavo-Lil_, page 267). Mr F. +H. Bowring, who frequently met him, states that he “had a slight cast in +the eye.” + +{416} E[lizabeth] H[arvey] in _The Eastern Daily Press_, 1st Oct. 1892. + +{417a} Ellen Jones actually wrote— + + Ellen Jones + yn pithyn pell + i gronow owen + +{417b} _Wild Wales_, pages 227–8. + +{418a} This was the mason of whom Borrow enquired the way, and who +“stood for a moment or two, as if transfixed, a trowel motionless in one +of his hands, and a brick in the other,” who on recovering himself +replied in “tolerable Spanish.”—_Wild Wales_, page 225. + +{418b} _Wild Wales_, page 5. + +{418c} These particulars have been courteously supplied by Mr George +Porter of Denbigh, who interviewed Mrs Thomas on 27th Dec. 1910. +Borrow’s accuracy in _Wild Wales_ was photograph. The Norwich jeweller +Rossi mentioned in _Wild Wales_ (page 159 _et seq._) was a friend of +Borrow’s with whom he frequently spent an evening: conversing in Italian, +“being anxious to perfect himself in that language.” I quote from a +letter from his son Mr Theodore Rossi. “There was an entire absence of +pretence about him and we liked him very much—he always seemed desirous +of learning.” + +{419a} This story is told by Mr F. J. Bowring, son of Sir John Bowring. +He heard it from Mrs Roberts, the landlady of the inn. + +{419b} _Wild Wales_, page 274. + +{419c} _Wild Wales_, page 130. + +{419d} _Wild Wales_, page 130. + +{420a} _Wild Wales_, page 150. + +{420b} These carvels were written by such young people as thought +themselves “endowed with the poetic gift, to compose carols some time +before Christmas, and to recite them in the parish churches. Those +pieces which were approved of by the clergy were subsequently chanted by +their authors through their immediate neighbourhoods.” (Introduction to +_Bayr Jairgey_, Borrow’s projected book on the Isle of Man.) + +{422} Painted by H. W. Phillips in 1843. + +{423a} _Vestiges of Borrow_: _Some Personal Reminiscences_. _The +Globe_, 21st July 1896. + +{423b} The Anglo-Saxon scholar (1795–1857), who though paralysed during +the whole of her life visited Rome, Athens and other places. She was the +first woman elected a member of the British Association. + +{423c} To judge from Borrow’s opinion of O’Connell previously quoted, +“notoriety” would have been a more appropriate word in his case. + +{424} Given to the Rev. A. W. Upcher and related by him in _The +Athenæum_, 22nd July 1893. + +{425a} _Lavengro_, page 361. + +{425b} _The Romany Rye_, page 309. + +{425c} _Wild Wales_, page 285. + +{425d} _The Eastern Daily Press_, 1st Oct. 1892. + +{427} Garcin de Tassy. Note sur les Rubâ’ïyât de ’Omar Khaïyam, which +appeared in the _Journal Asiatique_. + +{428a} _Letters and Literary Remains of Edward FitzGerald_, 1889. + +{428b} _Songs of Europe_, _or Metrical Translations from All the +European Languages_, _With Brief Prefatory Remarks on Each Language and +its Literature_. 2 vols. (Advertised as “Ready for the Press” at the +end of _The Romany Rye_. See page 438.) + +{429} Rev. Whitwell Elwin, editor of _The Quarterly Review_. See +_post_, p. 431. + +{431} Elwin could not very well have known Borrow all his, Borrow’s +life, as Dr Knapp states, for he was fifteen years younger, being born +26th Feb. 1816. + +{432a} _Some XVIII. Century Men of Letters_. Ed. Warwick Elwin, 1902. + +{432b} _Some XVIII. Century Men of Letters_. Ed. Warwick Elwin, 1902. + +{433} _Some XVIII. Century Men of Letters_. Ed. Warwick Elwin, 1902. + +{435} Entitled _Roving Life in England_. March 1857. + +{436} Elwin had already testified, also in _The Quarterly Review_, to +the accuracy of Borrow’s portrait of B. R. Haydon in _Lavengro_, as +confirmed by documentary evidence, and this after first reading the +account as “a comic exaggeration.” + +{437a} _Letters and Literary Remains of Edward FitzGerald_, 1889. + +{437b} Mr A. Egmont Hake in _Athenæum_, 13th Aug. 1881. + +{438} Works by the Author of _The Bible in Spain_, ready for the Press. + +In Two Volumes, Celtic Bards, Chiefs, and Kings.—In Two Volumes, Wild +Wales, Its People, Language, and Scenery.—In Two Volumes, Songs of +Europe; or, Metrical Translations From all the European Languages. With +brief Prefatory Remarks on each Language and its Literature.—In Two +Volumes, Koempe Viser; Songs about Giants and Heroes. With Romantic and +Historical Ballads, Translated from the Ancient Danish. With an +Introduction and Copious Notes.—In One Volume, The Turkish Jester; or, +The Pleasantries of Cogia Nasr Eddin Efendi. Translated from the +Turkish. With an Introduction.—In Two Volumes, Penquite and Pentyre; or, +The Head of the Forest and the Headland. A Book on Cornwall.—In One +Volume, Russian Popular Tales, With an Introduction and Notes. +Contents:—The Story of Emelian the Fool; The Story of the Frog and the +Hero; The Story of the Golden Mountain; The Story of the Seven +Sevenlings; The Story of the Eryslan; The Story of the Old Man and his +Son, the Crane; The Story of the Daughter of the Stroey; The Story of +Klim; The Story of Prince Vikor; The Story of Prince Peter; The Story of +Yvashka with the Bear’s Ear.—In One Volume, The Sleeping Bard; or, +Visions of the World, Death, & Hell. By Master Elis Wyn. Translated +from the Cambrian British.—In Two Volumes (Unfinished), Northern-Skalds, +Kings, and Earls.—The Death of Balder; A Heroic Play. Translated from +the Danish of Evald.—In One Volume, Bayr Jairgey and Glion Doo: The Red +Path and the Black Valley. Wanderings in Quest of Manx Literature. + +{439} “She was a lady of striking figure and very graceful manners, +perhaps more serious than vivacious.”—Mr A. Egmont Hake in _The +Athenæum_, 13th August 1881. + +{440a} She bequeathed to her son by will “all and every thing” of which +she died possessed, charging him with the delivery of any gift to any +other person she might desire. + +{440b} _Wild Wales_, page 548. + +{442} These particulars have been kindly supplied by Mr D. B. Hill of +Mattishall, Norfolk. + +{445a} Mr. A. Egmont Hake in _The Athenæum_, 13th Aug. 1881. + +{445b} _The Life of Frances Power Cobbe_, by Herself, 1894. + +{446} _The Life of Frances Power Cobbe_, by Herself, 1894. + +{447a} “In Defence of Borrow,” prefixed to _The Romany Rye_. Ward, +Locke & Co. + +{447b} _Vestiges of Borrow_; _Some Personal Reminiscences_. _The +Globe_, 21st July 1896. + +{448} _The Athenæum_, 13th August 1881. + +{449a} Mr A. Egmont Hake in _Macmillan’s Magazine_, November 1881. + +{449b} Mr A. Egmont Hake in _The Athenæum_, 13th August 1881. + +{449c} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_, by Dr Gordon Hake, 1892. + +{450} _The Athenæum_, 10th September 1881. + +{451a} _The Athenæum_, 10th September 1881. + +{451b} _The Athenæum_, 13th August 1881. + +{453} “Sherry drinkers, . . . I often heard him say in a tone of +positive loathing, he _despised_. He had a habit of speaking in a +measured syllabic manner, if he wished to express dislike or contempt, +which was certainly very effective. He would say: ‘If you want to have +the Sherry _tang_, get Madeira (that’s a gentleman’s wine), and throw +into it two or three pairs of old boots, and you’ll get the taste of the +pig skins they carry the Sherry about in.”—Rev. J. R. P. Berkeley’s +_Recollections_. _The Life of George Borrow_, by Dr Knapp. + +{456} _Life of Frances Power Cobbe_, by Herself, 1894. + +{459a} _The Geologist_, 1797–1875. + +{459b} _The Life of Frances Power Cobbe_, by Herself, 1894. + +{460a} _Charles Godfrey Leland_, by E. R. Pennell, 1908 + +{460b} _Memoirs_, by C. G. Leland, 1893. + +{461a} In her biography of Leland, Mrs Pennell states that an American +woman, a Mrs Lewis (“Estelle”) introduced Leland to Borrow at the British +Museum and that they talked Gypsy. “I hear he expressed himself as +greatly pleased with me,” was Leland’s comment. The correspondence +clearly shows that Leland called on Borrow. + +{461b} _Memoirs_ of C. G. Leland, 1893. + +{461c} _Memoirs_ of C. G. Leland, 1893. + +{462a} Leland’s annoyance with Borrow did not prevent him paying to his +memory the following tribute:— + +“What I admire in Borrow to such a degree that before it his faults or +failings seem very trifling, is his absolutely vigorous, marvellously +varied originality, based on direct familiarity with Nature, but guided +and cultured by the study of natural, simple writers, such as Defoe and +Smollett. I think that the ‘interest’ in, or rather sympathy for +gypsies, in his case as in mine, came not from their being curious or +dramatic beings, but because they are so much a part of free life, of +out-of-doors Nature; so associated with sheltered nooks among rocks and +trees, the hedgerow and birds, river-sides, and wild roads. Borrow’s +heart was large and true as regarded English rural life; there was a +place in it for everything which was of the open air and freshly +beautiful.”—_Memoirs_ of C. G. Leland, 1893. + +{462b} _Romano Lavo-Lil_. Word-Book of the Romany, or English Gypsy +Language. With Specimens of Gypsy Poetry, and an Account of Certain +Gypsyries or Places Inhabited by Them, and of Various Things Relating to +Gypsy Life in England. + +{462c} “There were not two educated men in England who possessed the +slightest knowledge of Romany.”—F. H. Groome in _Academy_,—13th June +1874. + +{463a} F. H. Groome in _Academy_, 13th June 1874. + +{463b} _Ibid._ + +{464} _The Athenæum_, 17th March 1888. + +{466a} _The Bookman_, February 1893. + +{466b} _The Athenæum_, 10th Sept. 1881. + +{467} _William Bodham Donne and His Friends_. Edited by Catherine B. +Johnson, 1905. + +{469a} Mr T. Watts-Dunton, in _The Athenæum_, 3rd Sept. 1881. + +{469b} Mr A. Egmont Hake, in _The Athenæum_, 13th Aug. 1881. + +{470a} _The Life of George Borrow_, by Dr Knapp. + +{470b} _East Anglia_, by J. Ewing Ritchie, 1883. + +{470c} _George Borrow in East Anglia_. + +{473} W. E. Henley. + +{474a} _The Athenæum_, 25th March 1899. + +{474b} Many attacks have been made upon Borrow’s memory: one well-known +man of letters and divine has gone to lengths that can only be described +as unpardonable. It is undesirable to do more than deplore the lapse +that no doubt the writer himself has already deeply regretted. + +{474c} _Memoirs of Eighty Years_, 1892. + +{475a} Mr A. Egmont Hake in _The Athenæum_, 13th August 1881. + +{475b} In _The Bible in Spain_. “Next to the love of God, the love of +country is the best preventative of crime.” (Page 53.) + +{475c} _The Bible in Spain_, page 97. + +{476} Mr Thomas Seccombe in _The Bookman_, Feb. 1892. + +{477} _Wild Wales_, page 628. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF GEORGE BORROW*** + + +******* This file should be named 3481-0.txt or 3481-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/4/8/3481 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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