CHAPTER XVII

Chapter 177,745 wordsPublic domain

CHARACTERISTICS

THERE is but one authentic portrait of Borrow, it is the painting in the possession of Mr. John Murray, by whose kind permission it has been reproduced for this work. An engraving from it was used as the frontispiece to the first edition of “Lavengro,” and it has always been known as “the ‘Lavengro’ portrait.” If there is anything in the theory that a man reaches a certain climacteric when Nature, having done all she can for him, designs that he shall sit for his portrait, Borrow seems to have sat at the identical moment. It would be impossible to wish for a better view of Don Jorge than this.

The white hair, the swart complexion, the brilliant eyes, the almost affectedly unconventional dress, give an impression of the man which irresistibly recalls the romance of his youthful exploits and the weird poetry of the most poetical part of his career. It was this striking appearance of his, and his commanding height, combined with his unorthodox outlook, which gave him his unquestionable influence with the gypsies. It helped to make him, during the one blazing season of his social celebrity, the lion of the London drawing-rooms. If he failed to maintain his popularity, it was in spite of his appearance, which had wonderful distinction.

No Borrovian regrets that Borrow failed, that he did not remain the pet of society, and that he was only for a brief space encouraged to Byronic affectations and ambitions. In following his wayward sprites into all the _bêtises_ he committed, in alienating himself from the fashionable world and getting himself infinitely disliked by people who were ready to idolise him if he would have subscribed to all their conventions, Borrow wrought better than he knew. He would not have been Borrow, in fact, if, after the publication of “The Bible in Spain,” he had submitted to the influences of the great world and become a manufacturer of popular books. He would have written a great deal more and a great deal worse; he would have lost his piquancy to acquire gentility; he would have become suave, smooth, complacent, and pious, instead of being rugged, rebellious, boorish—and Borrow.

Such speculations are needless. It was impossible for Borrow to be other than Borrow was. The rudeness of his manner was no pose: this was an elemental spirit that could not avoid being itself, whatever veneer it eroded, whatever polish it dulled. The angularity, the abruptness, the most fascinating and most irritating qualities of his work—these also were no affectation. They arose naturally out of the qualities of the man himself. There is no writer who has put more of his ego into his work than Borrow. One looks at his portrait, contemplates his ancestry and his training, and admits that if this man were to become a writer there was no other kind of writer he could have become than the author of “Lavengro.” It is possible to lay too much stress on Borrow’s boorishness, and this is the very last place in which it should be done. His strain of melancholia often verged upon madness: any measured judgment of his life must take account of that fact, and it will explain much that is otherwise difficult to understand. I have been informed that he suffered in his youth from the “touching” mania, and that even if on his travels described in “Lavengro” he did meet a gentleman who was thus afflicted, the extraordinary vigour and vividness of the scenes in which the malady is depicted are due to his own painful acquaintance with it. Again, I have been told that the incident in “The Romany Rye,” where the old man studies the Chinese language through the medium of the legends inscribed on teapots, is drawn from his own experience, and that he turned to pursuits of this kind in order to stave off the horrors of melancholy which afflicted him in his moods of self-concentration. A man of this extraordinary sensibility, passing his youth at the eye-piece of a kaleidoscope, so to speak, afflated with poetry in boyhood, in narrow circumstances, buffeted by ill-fortune for many years, chasing many a Will-o’-the-wisp, could not help being “a queer chap,” as Ford said. He was soured by circumstance in his early days. In middle life, when the sunshine of success burst upon him for a time, he became more genial. The picture of him one gets in his Cornish and Welsh tours is very pleasant. But he became cold again in later years, and was a bitter man after the death of his wife had broken the strongest link between him and his fellows.

His personal and his literary characteristics were, of course, deeply intermingled. The impatience of pusillanimity which appears in many a passage of his life was reflected in his works. He had an overpowering admiration of courage and strength, either mental or physical. There is a sentence or two in “The Bible in Spain,” describing the last day of Quesada, which gives light upon Borrow’s idols:

“No action of any conqueror or hero on record is to be compared with this closing scene in the life of Quesada, for who, by his single desperate courage and impetuosity, ever stopped a revolution in full course? Quesada did; he stopped the revolution at Madrid for one entire day, and brought back the uproarious and hostile mob of a huge city to perfect order and quiet. His burst into the Puerta del Sol was the most tremendous and successful piece of daring ever witnessed. I admired so much the spirit of the brute bull that I frequently during his wild onset shouted ‘Vive Quesada!’”

And the same note of admiration is struck with reference to many a pugilist and criminal in whose career it is difficult to find anything to approve.

Herein is to be found the secret of much of the power of what I have called Borrow’s naturalism. The characters he depicts are all intensely alive, and act without reference to any theory of action. When he was compiling the “Celebrated Trials” he had an education in naturalism which merely developed his own tendencies. When he introduced into “Lavengro” David Haggart, the friend of his youth at Edinburgh, it was as a real person, and not as a biographical lay-figure upon which to hang moral speculations. Not one writer in a hundred would have treated the Haggart incident as Borrow did, for, courageous as he was, David was an ingrained rascal, whose villainies would probably have continued for another half-century if the hangman had not got hold of him. Borrow did not speculate on criminology, as the fashion is, and discuss the extent to which environment was responsible for the career of his blackguards. He just accepted them in their environment, and, with glowing admiration for their bravery—Haggart was brave enough to run mortal risks for the crimes of his associates—transferred them to his pages in their habit as they lived. Professor Chandler, an American critic, has accomplished a luminous comparison when he says that Borrow’s realism is of a different quality from Thackeray’s—the former sympathetic and the latter satiric. A hundred instances of the truth of this observation will occur to those who review the regiments of rascals which march through the pages of the two authors.

It was the same influence which made Borrow’s gypsies so real that, in spite of all the errors into which imperfect knowledge of the subject led him, his pictures of the Romany race remain unapproached for truth of line and naturalness of colour. Ainsworth drew gypsies; they were stage figures; they are forgotten. Borrow’s gypsies are immortal. Other authors of his own time visualised rascality in many forms; Dickens especially created a marvellous gallery of rogues. But Dickens set up his villains either in order to punish them in the interests of altruism or to reform them in the interests of propaganda. Borrow regarded them from a widely different point of view. They were studies in real life, and not material for the administration of poetic justice. It is interesting to contrast his view of a very popular book with that of a contemporary writer. Charles Reade was an unequivocal admirer of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which he said was “great by theme and great by skill.” We have seen what Borrow said about a lot of “Uncle Toms and Uncle Tom-fools.” It is idle, perhaps, but not without charm, to guess what he would have made of a character like Legree if he had been able to persuade Isopel Berners to take him with her to America and had met with a slave-driver in that continent. Parallel with this worship of strength and courage may be placed his taste in literature. He had little sense of the verbal niceties of style; his affection was reserved for the robust and vigorous writing of authors like Defoe, and for the hefty, rousing force of the narratives which he discovered among the biographies and autobiographies of criminals in many an aged pamphlet and forgotten broadsheet. It would, however, be easy to exaggerate this side of Borrow’s character. He was not merely a non-moral literary berserker. There was a softer, a more imaginative side to his nature—not irreconcilable with the other, because it arose out of the same quality of sympathy and the same acuteness of vision. This was manifested most strongly, perhaps, in his later and more settled years, and perhaps more plainly in his relations with children than in any others.

Apart from those episodes of his life which form the staple of his books, the most pleasant picture of the man is to be found in his days of comparative leisure in East Anglia, when he divided his time between study, literary work, visits to friends, the entertainment of friends, and rambles about rural Norfolk and Suffolk. It was a red-letter day when a gypsy tribe arrived in the neighbourhood of Oulton. His Romany friends would be invited to camp in his grounds, to receive him and his people by their camp-fires, to rokker (talk) Romany with him, and to listen to his gypsy songs. When there were no gypsies, he would make explorations into the character and the dialect of the Norfolk or Suffolk natives, picking up any chance companion of the road. He generally succeeded in eliciting a life history and in pursuing, as far as the duration of the companionship would allow, a psychological study. Some of his philological adventures on the country roads have been amusingly related by Miss Harvey:

“When they used some word peculiar to Norfolk (or Suffolk) countrymen, he would say, ‘Why, that’s a Danish word.’ By and by the man would use another peculiar expression: ‘Why, that’s Saxon!’ A little later, another: ‘Why, that’s French! . . . 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.”

His taste revolted against the use of foreign words or phrases in common conversation, though he resorted to the practice very largely in his books and correspondence. He would chaff his wife or Miss Clarke if either of them introduced a French word into talk around the table, crying, “What’s that? Trying to come over me with strange languages!” The picture of his life at this time, apart from the petty distractions of his disputes with neighbours and the controversies with his publisher, is that of a quiet and pleasant domesticity, occasionally disturbed by fits of “the Horrors.” When, nervously depressed into the depths of gloom, he was unable to sleep, he would get up in the night and set off on long walks, often stretching them over the twenty-five miles of road to Norwich. He would return the next night invigorated by the exercise, and freed from his enemy. While in good health his existence at the Cottage was that of a quiet, studious man, spending his evenings with his wife and her daughter, reading voraciously, entertaining his acquaintances, and behaving in a tamely rational manner till his passion was roused or his prejudices were assailed. His personal habits were quite temperate. He ate little breakfast, a hearty dinner, and subsequently took only a glass of cold water before going to bed.

He did not drink nearly so much ale as his panegyrics of malt liquor might lead the unwary to suppose. Miss Harvey spoke to him of a lady who had a fondness for a certain gentleman. “Well,” said Borrow, “did he make her an offer?” “No,” answered Miss Harvey. “Ah!” he exclaimed, “if she had given him some good ale he would.”

He appears never to have concerned himself about the character of the food he ate so long as he had substantial fare. He amazed the landlady of a Cromer hotel by replying to her inquiry what he would have for dinner, “Give me a piece of flesh!” The landlady mentioned the strange request to a lady staying in the hotel, and described the person who made it. “Oh!” she laughed, “that’s Mr. Borrow. What he wants is a good rump steak.” And a rump steak, being served, quite satisfied him, for it was his favourite dish. He was exceedingly susceptible to music—we have seen his comparison of Mrs. Berkeley’s piano to David’s harp—but he does not appear to have possessed a highly cultured ear, for Miss Harvey tells us that “one piece he seemed never to tire of hearing. It was a polka, ‘The Redowa,’ I think, and when I had finished he used to say, ‘Play that again, H—.’”

Richard Ford summarises Borrow’s character in three sentences: “Borrow is a queer chap. . . . I believe Borrow to be honest, albeit a gitano. His biography will be passing strange if he tells the _whole_ truth.” {347} There is one strange error in this. Borrow was not a gypsy, of course, though the vagrant spirit was lively in him. But he was honest, even when most mistaken. The most deplorable thing in his career was his unfounded and grotesque libels upon Bowring, about which it can only be suggested that he was beside himself with rage and disappointment when he wrote them, having failed to obtain the mission from the Government which was the _ignis fatuus_ of his life. There can be as little question that Borrow believed himself to have been ill-treated by Bowring as there is that Bowring was innocent of his charges. The subtle hint in Ford’s phrase, “if he tells the _whole_ truth,” will be appreciated. Borrow did not reveal everything in his books. It is unreasonable to expect any man to do so; but in Borrow’s case, ellipsis was often used where statement would have been preferable and more straight-forward. Yet the criticism must fall when we cease to regard his works as purely personal documents and consider them as works of art. In this respect, addition would not improve them. Elimination might be tolerated in the interests of some of the victims of his wrath; but the destruction of the Appendix, for example, would deprive us of some of the most powerful vituperative writing in English literature. The debt that literature owes to Borrow is great, for he sustained into the nineteenth century the traditions of the great narrative writers, and his successor is still to seek.

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THE END

INDEX

“Aager and Eliza,” 331, 334 Abraham, John, of Liskeard, 152 _Academy_, _The_, 251 Addington, Lord, Ford’s letters to, 113, 125, 346 (_note_) Ainsworth, Harrison, 342 Ale, Borrow’s fondness for, 20, 235, 244, 259, 309, 345 Altarnun, Cornwall, 194 Anglo-Saxonism, Borrow’s, 17, 18, 313 Anstis, Bernard, 149, 152 Arabic, Borrow’s knowledge of, 83 “Army of Faith,” 72 Arnold, Matthew, 287 _et seq._, 305, 336 (_note_) Arthurian Legend, The, 161, 162, 189, 195 _et seq._, 204 _et seq._ _Athenæum_, _The_, 8, 117, 130, 133, 252, 253 (_note_) Avery (or Every), John, 175

Bailly, Juan Antonio, 99 (_note_), 110, 111 Belfast, Borrow at, 237 Belgians, Borrow on, 82, 83 Benson, A. C, 255, 256 Berkeley, Rev., Vicar of St. Cleer, 152 _et seq._ Berners, Isopel, 7, 10, 55 _et seq._, 291, 304, 308, 342 Bevan, Mrs., 139 “Bible in Spain, The,” 11, 12, 22, 75 (_note_), 114 _et seq._, 207, 271, 293 _et seq._, 338 Bible Society, The, 85 _et seq._, 98, 99, 104, 114, 115, 296 Birrell, A., 22, 65 _Blackwood_, 133 Blyth, Esther (“Queen of the Nokkums”), 237, 244, 284 _et seq._ Boconnoc Pillar, The, 179 (_note_) Bolventor, Cornwall, 193 Borde, Andrew, 267 Borlase, William, 180 Borrow, George, his birth, 25; at Huddersfield school, 27; at Edinburgh High School, 28; at Norwich Grammar School, 29, 30; at Clonmel School, 29; articled to solicitors, 35; and Sir John Bowring, 40, 73, 132; starts for London, 45; his literary-life in London, 46–54; his wanderings in England, 54–69; in Paris in 1826, 70; his imprisonments, 72, 93; applies for work at British Museum, 80; seeks post under Belgian Government, 82; employed by Bible Society, 86; at St. Petersburg, 88; returns to London, 90; visits Portugal and Spain, 91–103; his marriage, 104; separates from Bible Society, 104; at Oulton, 105–124, 125, 132, 137, 252, 258–262; takes prolonged tour abroad, 124; in the East, 131; his view of “Lavengro,” 135; and Dr. Hake, 138; at Yarmouth, 145, 224; his prowess as a swimmer, 146; visits Cornwall, 147–199; returns to London, 199; tours in Wales, 208–215, 227; visits Isle of Man, 216; tours in the Highlands, 230; visits Ireland, 230, 237; takes up residence in London, 232; tramps in Lowlands and Border Country, 237; death of his wife, 238; and Mr. Watts-Dunton, 246, 253; and Edward FitzGerald, 254; his last days in Norwich, 258; his death, 262 Borrow, Captain Thomas, 2, 22 _et seq._, 121, 147, 176, 192; marriage of, 25; death of, 45 —, John, 2, 25, 50; death of, 90 —, Mrs. Geo., 104, 106 _et seq._ 116, 120, 133, 145, 177, 208, 215; illness and death of, 238 _et seq._ (_see also_ CLARKE, MRS.) —, Mrs. Thomas, 2, 24, 25, 66, 67, 145; death of, 229 Borrows, The Cornish, 147 _et seq._, 190 _et seq._ Bosvil (Bosvile), Gypsy tribe, 55 —, Ryley, 244, 275, 287 Bowring, Sir John, 40, 41, 70, 73 _et seq._, 91, 129, 132, 133, 136, 234, 313, 332, 346 —, L. B. and F. H., 73 (_note_) —, Edgar, 84 Brandram, J., Secretary of Bible Society, 94, 99, 104, 300 British Museum (_see_ MUSEUM) Brontë, Emily, 249 Brook, Sir James, 31 Brown Willy, Cornwall, 194 Bryan, B. (“Ben Brain”), 24, 33, 121 Buddhist Doctrines, Borrow on, 90 Burney, of Mousehole, 177 _et seq._ _Bury Post_, _The_, 146 Byron, 6, 15, 16, 293

Camelford, Cornwall, 195 Campbell, Thomas, 44 “Canting Nonsense,” 34, 318 Caradon Hills, The, Cornwall, 146, 151 _et seq._, 202 Carew, Bampfylde Moore, 247 Carlism, Borrow on, 301 Carlyle, Thomas, 305, 313 Carn Brea, Cornwall, 180 “Celebrated Trials,” 49, 50, 52, 341 Celtic strain in Borrow, 17, 19, 20, 150, 202, 210, 320 Chandler, F. W., 341 Children’s Bill, The, 268 (_note_) Christian, John William (“Shan Dhu”), 217, 218 Clarendon, Lord, 123, 124 Clarke, Miss Henrietta, 97, 137; in Wales, 208 _et seq._, marriage of, 236 (_see also_ MACOUBREY, MRS.) Clarke, Mrs. (Mrs. George Borrow), 85, 96, 97 _et seq._; marriage with Borrow, 104 (_see also_ BORROW, MRS. GEORGE) Clausel, and Bedouin campaign, 79, 83 Clonmel, Borrow at school in, 29 Cobbe, Frances Power, 232, 238, 239, 240 Coldstream Guards, Thomas Borrow enlists in, 23, 24 Coloma, Santa, the Carlist, 93 Cooper, Mrs. (gypsy celebrity), 286 Cordova, General, 103 Cork, Borrow at, 29 _Cornhill Magazine_, _The_, 235 Cornish language, 174, 186 _et seq._, 203 Cornwall, Borrow, family in, 17, 18, 21; Borrow’s visit to, 146 _et seq._; Borrow leaves, 199; suggested book on, 199 _et seq._; gypsies in, 278 Crofton, H. T., 267 (_note_) Cronan, the guide, 185 “Croppies, lie down!” 213 Cruikshank, and Elis Wyn, 229 Cunningham, Allan, 69, 332 —, Rev. F., 85, 90

“Death Raven, The” 333 Defoe, Borrow’s exemplar, 13, 14, 26, 134, 297, 303, 343 Delabole, Cornwall, 199 Denew, of Yarmouth, 231 “Denmark, Songs of,” 75 Denniss, Vicar of Oulton, 120 (_note_) Dereham, East, 14, 24; Borrow born at, 25 D’Éterville, Abbé, 31, 33, 35 Dickens, Charles, Borrow and, 240, 285, 305, 342 Dilke, Sir Charles, reviews “Lavengro,” 133 Doniert, King of Cornwall, 178, 193 Donne, W. B., 134, 139, 255, 256 Dowden, Professor, 37, 38 Dozmary Pool, 161 _et seq._ Druids, Borrow and the, 179 Dublin, Borrow in, 230 Dutt, W. A., of Lowestoft, 260

East Anglia, Borrow and, 18, 222, 250, 343 _Eastern Daily Press_, _The_, 146 (_note_) Edey, Mrs., of Liskeard, 168, 169 Edinburgh, Borrow in, 27 _Edinburgh Review_, _The_, 117 Edwards, Francis, 330 “Egipt speche,” Borde’s, 267 Elwin, Rev. Whitwell, 52, 141, 142, 226, 304 Every (or Avery), John, 175 Every, Miss, 175, 176 (_note_) _Examiner_, _The_, 75 (_note_), 117

Faa, Will (Gypsy “King”), 283 “Faustus,” Klinger’s, Borrow translates, 44, 52, 69 Finn, Legends of, 185, 218 _et seq._ FitzGerald, Edward, 107, 254 _et seq._; his letter to Borrow, 257 Ford, Richard, 68, 72 (_note_), 112 _et seq._, 116, 117, 118, 123, 125, 126, 129, 340, 346 Ford, Mrs., 113 (_note_), 126 (_note_) _Foreign Quarterly_, _The_, 78, 82 _Fraser’s Magazine_, 133, 234

Gaelic language (_see_ SHELTA) Gayangos, Librarian of the “Nacional,” 99 “Gentility Nonsense,” 20, 151, 152, 314 _et seq._ German, Borrow’s knowledge of, 49; literature, 313 Ghost story, Lope de Vega’s, 214 Gifford, William, 48 “Gil Blas,” 118, 294 Gladstone, W. E., and “The Bible in Spain,” 128 _Globe_, _The_, 245 Grampound, Borrow at, 179 Graydon, Lieutenant, 93, 94, 115 Groome, Hindes, 251 Grundtvig, Danish poet, 78 “Guinevere,” Borrow’s suggestion, 157 Gumb, Daniel, 159 Gurney, Joseph, 35, 85 —, Anna, 225 Guter Vawr, 214 Gwinett, Ambrose, 248 Gypsies, Borrow and, 1–4, 17, 295, 303, 314, 342, 343; Spanish, 92, 99, 110; in London, 127, 233; songs and stories of, 151; in Cornwall, 181; in Wales, 211; and C. G. Leland, 241 _et seq._; and Watts-Dunton, 248 _et seq._; their language, 251, 264–292, 342, 343 “Gypsies of Spain, The” (_see_ “ZINCALI”) Gypsy Lore Society, 265 (_note_), 267 (_note_)

Haggart, David, 28, 341 Hake, Dr. Gordon, 8, 109 (_note_), 134, 137, 138 _et seq._, 145, 156, 169, 246, 249 (_note_), 253 —, Mr. Egmont, 8 —, Mr. Thomas, 143 Hambly, Edmund, 19, 22 “Handbook for Spain,” Ford’s, 126 (_note_), 128, 129 Harford Bridge, 33 Harvey, Miss Elizabeth, 108, 109, 116, 137, 146 (_note_), 344 _et seq._ Hasfeldt, 88, 89, 117, 119, 124 Hawker of Morwenstow, 191, 205; on Methodists, 221 Haydon, Benjamin, 50, 51, 70 Hayim Ben Attar, 103 Hayle, Borrow at, 182 Hazlitt, William, 310 “Herne, Mrs.” 35, 270 Highland Society of London, The, 80 Homer, and Gronwy Owen, 240, 241, 272 Horncastle Fair, 66, 69, 70 “Horrors, The,” 51, 90, 155, 238, 239, 344 Huddersfield, Borrow at school in, 27, 28 Huguenots, Mrs. Thomas Borrow’s descent from, 19, 24 Hume, Martin, 301 Hurlers, The, 160

Imprisonments, Borrow’s, 72, 93 “Ingeborg, Queen,” 10, 57 Ireland, Borrow’s love for, 19; first visit to, 29; suggested service in, 83, 153; tour in, 230

Jago, James, of Liskeard, 149, 194 Jenner, Henry, 187 Jessopp, Dr., 33; on Borrow and children, 142 “Jew of Fez, The,” 103 John, S. R., 187 (_note_) Johnson, the Pugilist, 24 “Jones, John,” of Llangollen, 212 “Joseph Sell,” 53, 54

Kerrison, Roger, 35, 45, 51 Killey (Manx poet), 221 Kingsley, Charles, 305 King’s Lynn, 225 Kirk Yetholm, 237, 244, 248 (_note_), 251, 283 _et seq._ “Kjaempe Viser,” The, 69, 76 Klinger (_see_ “FAUSTUS”) Knapp, Professor W. I., LL.D., 32, 45, 51, 72, 97, 127 (_note_), 129, 154, 185, 211, 213, 240 (_note_), 262 (_note_)

Languages, Borrow’s capacity for, 1, 30, 31 Latham, Dr., 252, 253 “Lavengro,” 4, 12, 22, 24, 26, 29, 46, 47, 53, 54 _et seq._, 73, 76, 121 _et seq._, 125, 130, 151, 199, 244, 266, 293 _et seq._, 302 _et seq._, 339; publication of, 131; reviews of, 133, 226; Borrow’s view of, 135; fascination exercised by, 303 “— Portrait,” The, 337 Leland, C. G., 232, 241 _et seq._, 265, 284, 309 Le Sage, Borrow compared with, 12, 118, 294 Lipotsof, translator, 87 Liskeard, Cornwall, 21, 23; Borrow at, 147 _et seq._ Lockhart, J. G., 52, 76, 128, 129, 142 Lockyer, Sir Norman, 160 Logan Rock, The, 184 London, Borrow family in, 231 Longstone, The, 161 Lopez, Antonio, 92, 281 _et seq._ Lostwithiel, Borrow at, 178

Macaulay, Lord, 305 Mackay, William, of Oulton, 244 _et seq._, 249 (_note_), 260 MacOubrey, Dr., 236, 237, 258, 262 —, Mrs., 236, 237, 258, 262 (_see also_ CLARKE, MISS H.) MacRitchie, D., 280 (_note_) Malory’s Arthurian Legend, 162 Man, Isle of, Borrow’s visit to, 216 _et seq._ Manchu, The Scriptures in, 86 _et seq._ Manx language, Borrow and the, 217 Martineau family, The, 25, 90, 157 —, Harriett, 38, 86 —, James, 31, 32 Mendizabal, Prime Minister of Spain, 300 Menheniot Pair, 23, 24, 147, 203 Meredith, George, 234 “Merman, The Deceived,” 335 Metaphysics, Phillips’s, 49 Methodists, in Cornwall, 153; in Isle of Man, 220; and gypsies, 275 Militia, West Norfolk, 24, 27, 28; Captain Thomas Borrow’s commission in, 25 Miracle Plays, Cornish, 206 _Monthly Magazine_, _The_, 44, 46 _et seq._, 335 Moore (Manx poet), 217 _Morning Chronicle_, _The_, 301 Morshead, Captain W., 23 Moscow, Borrow’s visit to, 89 Mousehold Heath, Norwich, 1 Mumber Lane (“Mumper’s Dingle”), 55, 309 Murray, John, 51, 64, 75 (_note_), 110 _et seq._, 116, 121, 123, 129, 130, 133, 134, 200, 201, 215, 231, 233, 337; and “Romany Rye,” 224 _et seq._ “Murtagh,” Wild Irish boy, 29, 70, 184, 265 Museum, British, and Borrow, 80, 130 Mutiny, The Indian, 228

Napier, Colonel Elers, 95, 96, 102 Naturalism, Borrow’s, 341 _New Monthly_, _The_, 44 “Nokkums, Queen of the” (_see_ BLYTH, ESTHER) Nonconformity, Borrow on, 321 Norman Cross, 2, 26, 27 Norwich, 1, 4; West Norfolks’ return to, 29; Borrow’s home-coming, 66, 67, 72, 79; Borrow’s old age in, 258 — Grammar School, 29, 30

Oehlenschläger, 78, 330 _et seq._ Omar Khayyam, 255 _Once a Week_, 218, 234 Oulton, 69, 97; Borrow settles at, 105, 106, 116, 132; Borrow returns to, 252, 258; picture of Borrow’s last years at, 260; Richard Ford at, 125 Owen, Gronwy, 197, 228 _Oxford Review_, 47

Padstow, Cornwall, 199 Palmerston, Lord, 124 Parnell’s “Hermit,” 221 Patriotism, Borrow’s, 222 Pengelly, Cornwall, 199 Penquite, Cornwall, 147, 151 _et seq._; Borrow leaves, 199 Pentire Point, Cornwall, 199 Pentreath, Dolly, 183, 186 Penzance, Borrow at, 182 _et seq._ Perfrement, Ann (_see_ BORROW, MRS. THOMAS) “Perpinia,” Story of, 289 _et seq._ Peto, Sir Morton, 121, 137 “Petulengro, Jasper” (Ambrose Smith), 1, 4, 5, 6, 35, 53, 65, 263, 308 Peyrecourt, 71 Phillips, Sir Richard, publisher, 44, 45, 46 _et seq._, 69, 335 Pixies, The Cornish, 166 _et seq._ Playfair, Dr., 239 Plymouth, 148 _Plymouth Mail_, 147 Poetry, Borrow’s, 234 Pollards, The, of Woolston, 168 _et seq._ Portugal, Borrow’s first visit to, 91 _et seq._ Procter, Mrs., 252 Protestantism, Borrow’s, 19, 211, 295, 307, 313; Berkeley’s, of St. Cleer, 153 Pugilism, Borrow’s admiration of, 1, 5, 8, 9, 12, 22, 24, 33, 34, 156, 203, 245, 259 _Punch_ (quoted), 156 Pushkin, on Borrow’s “Targum,” 90

_Quarterly Review_, 52, 117, 128, 129, 130, 142, 226, 231 Quesada, Spanish leader, 72; assassination of, 301, 340 Quevedo, and Elis Wyn, 324 Quiller-Couch, Thomas, 166 (quoted), 174 (_note_) Quincey, De, 34 (quoted)

“Rasselas” and “Joseph Sell,” 53 Reade, Charles, 342 Redruth, Borrow at, 180 Religion, Gypsies and, 272 _et seq._ Restormel Castle, 178 Richmond, Borrow gives dinner at, 233 Ritchie, Ewing, 140 “Romano Lavo-Lil,” 243, 248 (_note_), 275, 284 _et seq._; its publication, 251 “Romantic Ballads,” The, 69, 74, 329 _et seq._ Romany language, 264 _et seq._ “Romany Rye,” The, 9, 11, 34, 60 _et seq._, 70, 125, 193, 199, 215, 302, 339; attack on Bowring in, 73, 75; Dr. Jessopp on, 142; its publication, 201, 224 _et seq._, 244 Rough Tor, Cornwall, 194

St. Cleer, Cornwall, 21, 147 _et seq._ St. Michael’s Mount, 183 Salisbury Plain, 54 Sampson, John, 264 _Saturday Review_, 227 “Scandinavia, Songs of, 74 “Scholar Gypsy, The,” 287 Scotland, Borrow’s tramp through, 230; tour of 1866, 237 Scott, Sir W., 218 (_note_), 237, 240, 285, 316 _et seq._ Scott-Macfie, R.A., 277 Sebastopol, Pall of, 222 Seccombe, Thomas (quoted), 13 “Sell, Joseph,” 53, 54 Seville, Borrow settles in, 95, 97 “Shales, Marshland,” 72, 250 Shaw, Thomas (Lord Advocate), 268 (_note_) Shelta, the Tinkers’ Language, 242, 265 _et seq._ “Sidi Habismilk,” 103, 116, 123, 125 Simpson and Rackham, of Norwich, 4, 35 Simpson, William, 35, 36, 43 Skeppers, The, of Oulton, 85 “Slingsby, Jack” (“Lavengro”), 55, 309 Smith, Ambrose, 4, 68, 69 (see _also_ “PETULENGRO”) —, the elder, 3, 4, 26 “Snob Papers,” The, 139 Southey, Taylor’s letter to, 39 Spain, Borrow’s visits to, 92 _et seq._; his view of, 297 _et seq._ _Spectator_, _The_, 235 Sterne, Borrow compared with, 12, 13 Stevenson, R. L., 13 Stirling-Maxwell, Sir W., reviews “Lavengro,” 133 Stonehenge, 54, 158 Stowe, Mrs. Beecher, 157 Strickland, Agnes, 139 “Swayne Vonved,” 173, 180, 243, 299, 334 _et seq._

Tangier, Borrow’s visit to, 98 _et seq._ “Targum,” Borrow’s, 90, 246 Taylor, Baron, 71 —, John, publisher, 69 —, Miss Jane, of Penquite, 169 _et seq._ —, Robert, of Penquite, 147 _et seq._ —, William, of Norwich, 37, 38, 39, 41, 43, 45, 46, 73, 86, 121, 314 Tennyson, Lord, 305; the Arthurian Legend, 162, 197 Thackeray, W. M., 139, 305, 341 Thomas, Edward, 320 (_note_) Thurtell, John, 28, 33, 34, 125, 224 Tinkers’ language (_see_ SHELTA) Tintagel, Cornwall, 195 _et seq._ Tol-pedn-Penwith, 184 Tombland Fair, 72 Tredinnick, Borrows of, 21 Tregeagle, The legend of, 161 _et seq._ Trethevy Stone, The, 158, 159 “Tristram Shandy” and “Lavengro,” 12 Truro, Borrow at, 180 Turner, Dawson, of Yarmouth, 122

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” 157, 342 _Universal Review_, 47, 52 Usóz, Don Luis, 96, 99, 24

Valpy, Edward, 30, 32; flogs Borrow, 33 “Veiled Period, The,” 68 _et seq._ Vidocq, 71 Villiers, Sir G., Minister at Madrid, 93 “Vipers, King of the,” 3 “Visions of Sleeping Bard,” Publication of, 231

Wales, Borrow’s love of, 19, 320; first visit to, 208 _et seq._; second visit to, 227; gypsies in, 275, 279 Wallace, A. R., 198 Wandsworth, Gypsies at, 286 War Office, Borrow and the, 83 Watts-Dunton, Theodore, 54, 134 _et seq._, 138, 143, 232, 246 _et seq._, 252, 253, 270, 287 _et seq._ Weare, William, Murder of, 34, 125 Welsh language, Borrow learns, 36; criticism of Borrow’s knowledge of, 211 _et seq._, 322 Wherry Hotel, The, 259 Wilby, agent of the Bible Society, 91 “Wild Wales,” 11, 208 _et seq._, 232, 236, 319 _et seq._; publication of, 234; reviews of, 235 Williams, Peter and Winifred, 11, 55, 308 Willow Lane, Norwich, 29, 68 Wilson, Sir Archdale, 31 Woodbridge, FitzGerald at, 257 Woolston, Cornwall, 150 _et seq._ Wrestling, 203, 204 Wyn, Elis, 10, 79, 197, 208, 229 231, 323 _et seq._

Yarmouth, Borrow lives at, 145, 146, 224

“Zincali, The,” 11, 34, 35, 100, 103, 110 _et seq._, 124, 176, 251, 266, 271 _et seq._

* * * * *

PRINTED BY CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD., LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.

FOOTNOTES.

{3} _Bengui_, Romany word for “devil.”

{6} Borrow loved the wind. There is no reason for discrediting Mr. Petulengro’s affection for it, but it should be pointed out that gypsies in general, like all tent-dwellers, regard it as their principal enemy among the elemental forces.

{34} Thurtell, of course, figures in De Quincey’s essay “On Murder as One of the Fine Arts,” in which he guided the studies of his readers “from Cain to Mr. Thurtell.” De Quincey whimsically declared that Thurtell’s was an inferior performance; its style was “as harsh as Albert Dürer and as coarse as Fuseli.” The case created as great a sensation as any murder trial of the nineteenth century. The circumstances were peculiarly gruesome, for it was affirmed that Thurtell and his accomplices, after throwing the body into a pond, went away and sat down to a supper of roast pork; but afterwards, fearing that the body might be discovered where they had placed it, took it up and dropped it in another pond. Thurtell’s arrest was a great surprise; his neighbours accounted him a gentleman. This led to the celebrated definition, given at the trial by one of the witnesses, who was asked, “What do you mean by a gentleman?” and answered, “Well, a person who drives a gig.”

{45} The letter may be consulted in Dr. Knapp.

{72} Opinions have differed acutely about Quesada. Richard Ford’s letters show that he held the general of the Army of the Faith in considerable respect. Borrow himself devoted one of the most fascinating chapters of “The Bible in Spain” to a sketch of Quesada.

{73} Through the kind exertions of Sir John Bowring’s sons, Mr. Lewin Bowring, of Torquay, and Mr. F. H. Bowring, of Hampstead.

{75} It will be useful to print this letter in full:—

“OULTON, LOWESTOFT, SUFFOLK. June 14, 1842.

“MY DEAR SIR,—Pray excuse my troubling you with a line. I wish you would send me as many of the papers and manuscripts, which I left at yours some twelve years ago, as you can find. Amongst others, there is an essay on Welsh Poetry, a translation of the Death of Balder, etc. If I am spared to the beginning of next year I intend to bring out a volume called ‘Songs of Denmark,’ consisting of some selections from the K. Viser, and specimens from Evald, Gruntvig, Oehlenschläger, etc. I suppose that I must give a few notices of those people. Have you any history of Danish literature from which I could glean a few hints? I think you have a book in two volumes containing specimens of Danish poetry. It would be useful to me, as I want to translate Ingemann’s ‘Dannebrog,’ and one or two other pieces. I shall preface all with an essay on the Danish language. It is possible that a book of this description may take, as Denmark is quite an untrodden field.

“Could you lend me for a short time a Polish and French or Polish and German dictionary? I am going carefully through Mukiewitz, about whom I intend to write an _article_.

“‘The Bible in Spain’ is in the Press, and, with God’s permission, will appear about November, in three volumes. I shall tell Murray to send a copy to my oldest, I may say my _only_, friend. Pray let me know how you are getting on. I every now and then see your name in the _Examiner_, the only paper I read. Should you send the papers and the books, it must be by the Yarmouth coach, which starts from Tottenham. Address—George Borrow, Crown Inn, Lowestoft, Suffolk. With kindest remembrances to Mrs. B., Miss B., and family,

“I remain, dear Sir,

“Ever yours,

“GEORGE BORROW.

“Doctor Bowring.”

{91} Borrow contemplated carrying out a plan of his own for the teaching of the Gospel. On December 27th, 1835, he wrote from Evora in the Alemtejo to Dr. Bowring as follows:—

“For the last six weeks I have been wandering amongst the wilds of the Alemtejo, and have introduced myself to its rustics, banditti, etc., and become very popular amongst them; but 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 of Portugal. I likewise want a letter from the Foreign Office to Lord 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 foundation of something similar in Spain.”

{99a} Juan Antonio Bailly. _See_ chap, vi., p. 110.

{99b} Don Luis de Usóz y Rio was one of Borrow’s staunchest friends in Spain, and looked after his affairs in Madrid while he was on his provincial journeys. Usóz was largely responsible for the great collection in twenty volumes of the works of Spanish Reformers of the Sixteenth Century.

{99c} Librarian of the “National.”

{103} “The Bible in Spain,” chap. lv.

{104} Dr. Knapp, vol. i., p. 341.

{109} _Eastern Daily Press_, October 1st, 1892. Miss Harvey and her sister Susan were two of the closest friends of the Borrows. Their father had been articled to the law at the same time as Borrow, and had similar tastes in sport, and their association was long and genial. The intercourse between these two families led to an important acquaintanceship for Borrow, that of Gordon Hake. _See_ p. 137.

{112} Richard Ford was almost as interesting a person as Borrow himself, though a much more amenable. The discoverer of Velazquez was, at the time of their acquaintance, living in Heavitree mainly because his brother James had a prebendal stall in Exeter Cathedral. There he had built himself a house, in which he had expressed his own taste in architecture and decoration. His long series of articles in the _Quarterly Review_ began with an architectural subject, the “cob-walls” of Devonshire—a mixture of “mud” and straw, said to be the warmest, and among the most durable of all walls. Many examples of this form of building remain in the neighbourhood of Exeter. Ford traced a connection between the mud walls of Devon and the concrete used by the Moors and Phœnicians. Ford visited Borrow, at Oulton, in 1844. He was thrice married, the last time in 1851, to Mary, only daughter of Sir A. Molesworth, the head of the distinguished Cornish family of that name. Mrs. Ford still survives, and the author has the privilege of acknowledging her kindly interest and valuable assistance in his inquiries into the relations between Borrow and her husband.

{118} This was no case of like to like. Borrow had no great admiration for Le Sage, and supported the absurd theory that “Gil Blas” was “a piratical compilation from the works of old Spanish novelists.”

{126a} I am indebted to the courtesy of Mrs. Ford for permission to reproduce this letter.

{126b} Referring to the review of the _Handbook for Spain_.

{132} Lady Bowring’s “Memoir,” prefixed to “Matins and Vespers.”

{140} In his “East Anglian Reminiscences.”

{142} _Daily Chronicle_, April 30th, 1900.

{143} Quoted by Mr. Watts-Dunton in his introduction to “The Romany Rye”—“In Defence of Borrow” (Minerva Library).

{146} Miss Harvey related (in the _Eastern Daily Press_) a story of Borrow’s prowess as a swimmer and diver. He was bathing with a friend, and after he had plunged under water, nothing was seen of him for so long a time that his companion began to be alarmed. Presently, Borrow’s voice was heard from afar off, crying: “There! If that had been written in one of my books, they would have said it was a lie, wouldn’t they?”

{154} Borrow’s admiration of Irish women was comprehensive. He notes that on one of his visits to the vicarage, Berkeley’s aunt was present: “Fine old Irish lady; received me in most kind and hospitable manner.” Later, when Berkeley spent an evening at Penquite, they discussed and compared Irish and Cornish women with many illustrations of points of resemblance in vivacity and difference in character.

{166} Related by Mr. Thomas Quiller-Couch to W. C. Hazlitt.

{168} Mr. William Pollard, of Woolston, Mr. Robert Pollard, and Mrs. Edey, of Liskeard, and Mrs. Toll, of Pensilva (1908).

{174a} This is the characteristic Cornish version of the rhyme, as cited by Mr. Couch in “Folklore in a Cornish Village.” The natural rhyme (and the common version) substitutes “birth” for “death.”

{174b} He records a visit at Tremar to Henry Goodman, ninety years old, who in his boyhood had heard the Cornish language spoken. If this was true, the old tongue must have lingered in these hills after the death of Dolly Pentreath, who in the Far West was said to be the last person who spoke it. And, with regard to the dialect then current, he remarks that he “hardly understood” old Goodman. “Miss Taylor and his daughter, Ann Honeychurch, interpreted.”

{176} Miss Every’s companion on this visit was a Miss Hambly—name of ill omen! Mr. William Pollard gave me an amusing addition to Borrow’s observations. “At the beginning of last century,” said he, “things were very different from what they are now. We had no police or anything of the kind, except parish constables. Miss Hambly was a descendant of Edmund Hambly, the parish constable of Menheniot, whom George Borrow’s father fought at Menheniot Fair. He detested the name, and was as near being rude to Miss Hambly as he could be. He neglected her all the evening, while Miss Every was in great feather with him. This is her book.” It was an old edition of “The Gypsies of Spain,” in Murray’s Home and Colonial Library, with the signature “M. Every” in a fine-pointed handwriting and faded ink; the book had been kept with care; here and there it was interleaved with neat little cuttings of sentimental verses, slit from casual newspapers. It should have lain beside a Victorian jar of rose-leaves.

{179} This was the locally celebrated Pillar at Boconnoc, on “Druid’s Hill.” It is an unquestionably ancient round-headed cross, raised to its present position by modern piety.

{185} See Dr. Knapp’s transcript.

{187} I am much indebted for the marshalling of these points of comparison to Mr. S. R. John, the editor of _Celtia_.

{205} R. S. Hawker: “The Quest of the Sangraal.”

{218} See Sir Walter Scott: Introduction to “Peveril of the Peak.” Resentment against the alleged injustice of this execution lingered long in some Celtic districts, even those which were most Royalist in tendency. This was the case, at any rate, wherever there were descendants of Christian. So far from the island as Penzance and so far from the date of the event as the ’eighties reference was made to it in tones of indignation at the gathering of a learned society. There was a lineal descendant of Brown William, residing in the town.

{241} This letter was written in Spanish, and is translated by Dr. Knapp.

{245} _The Globe_, July 21st, 1896.

{248} This was one of Borrow’s favourite hostelries. Another was the Bald-faced Hind, on the hill above Fairlop the “trysting-place” of the gypsies: “There they musters from all parts of England, and there they whoops, dances, and plays; keeping some order nevertheless because the Rye of all the Romans is in the house, seated behind the door” (“Romano Lavo-Lil,” “Kirk Yetholm”).

{249} It would have been about the same period that, Borrow being at Dr. Gordon Hake’s house at Coombe End, an encampment of gypsies was formed near by on Wimbledon Common. According to Mr. Mackay, Borrow got Hake to give the gypsies permission to take water from his well. “They came and helped themselves to the water, and to everything else to which they became attracted. Hake represented the circumstances to Borrow. Borrow eloquently resented the aspersions cast on his friends, and left Coombe End in high dudgeon—to return, however, at a subsequent date.”

{253} _The Athenæum_, March 17th, 1888.

{255} Letter to W. H. Thompson.

{259} They certainly do not confirm the impression of one who informed me that a friend of Borrow in his last days in East Anglia told him that the old man was frequently “well-oiled” (!), and that when in a condition of perfect lubrication he was “a terrible fellow indeed.”

{260} “George Borrow in East Anglia” (1896).

{262} This was written in 1880. A facsimile of a portion of the first draft is given by Dr. Knapp.

{265} _Journal_ of the Gypsy Lore Society, July, 1907, p. 81.

{267} _See_ Mr. H. T. Crofton’s article in the Gypsy Lore Society’s _Journal_, October, 1907, p. 157. Borrow, by the way, knew his Andrew Borde, but had apparently failed to identify the “Egipt speche” as Romany.

{268} There was a curious reference in the debate on the Second Reading of the Children’s Bill (House of Commons, March 24th, 1908) to Borrow and his gypsies. Mr. Thomas Shaw, the Lord Advocate, was describing the measures proposed by the Bill for dealing with tramp or wandering children, and “reminded the House that the most beautiful parts of the United Kingdom were often infested by such children, going about under the charge, not of any regular type of gypsy, but of mere wandering vagabonds. These children went from parish to parish, and no local authority got hold of them. What the Bill did was to say that, if they had no settled home, or if they were with a guardian who was unfit to take care of them, they should be subject to seizure. Not begging alone, but the mere fact of living in a wandering state and not receiving the education which they would otherwise receive, would bring them within the range of the provisions of the Bill. They could be taken before the magistrates and committed to an industrial school. George Borrow never did a worse service to his country than by writing ‘Lavengro,’ in which he praised this tramping and wandering life till even the most well-disposed citizens came to think that there might be something beautiful in it. The life of children brought up in this way was a life of squalor, and sometimes of very little else but immorality, and it was high time the State saw that they were rescued from it” (_The Times_, March 25th). One does not propose to criticise the provisions of the Children’s Bill, but it is strange that a Minister should quote “Lavengro” in this way. Borrow was always insisting upon the very facts that Mr. Shaw cites about the squalor and misery of the mumpers, “pikers,” “Abrahamites,” and the other vagrom denizens of the roads, and his praise was reserved (in so far as it was praise at all) for the life of the “regular type of gypsy.”

{279} “The Zincali,” part 11, chap. vi. No rule lacks exceptions. We have noted the gypsy belief in the New Testament as a talisman, and their faith in the occult powers of the loadstone will fall for consideration presently.

{280} It is to be observed that “The Zincali” is still referred to as an authority on Spanish gypsydom. Pott used it in his great work. Mr. MacRitchie adopts its accounts of the Spanish gypsy nobles (Gypsy Lore Society’s _Journal_, New Series, No. 2, pp. 98–99).

{284} “Nokkum?” said I; “the root of _nokkum_ must be _nok_, which signifieth a nose . . . and I have no doubt that your people call themselves _Nokkum_ because they are in the habit of _nosing_ the gorgios.”—_Romano Lavo-Lil_, “Kirk Yetholm.”

{320} Mr. Edward Thomas: “Beautiful Wales.”

{334} Words undecipherable.

{336} This is perhaps the most striking illustration of Borrow’s lack of the genius of verse. Compare Matthew Arnold’s poem, “The Forsaken Merman,” based on the same legend.

{347} Letter to Addington, February 27th, 1843.